Red powder coat, OEM red paint, and then rattle can Duplicolor. 3 different finishes there that look pretty good. But yes, ridiculous that they match that well.
Daily Driver, Go Where I Want To Build
- Thread starter jjvw
- Start date
Red powder coat, OEM red paint, and then rattle can Duplicolor. 3 different finishes there that look pretty good. But yes, ridiculous that they match that well.
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deadbeat son
TJ Addict
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deadbeat son
TJ Addict
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Highlines are a huge amount of work.
Today was mostly disassembly, fitting the fenders, figuring out the battery tray, and getting a rough cut on the hood.
Not a lot of pictures.
The main goal was to get the hood cut, which requires determining where the fenders will live and getting the fronts and the backs marked.
The rear gets positioned off of the upper body line on the cowl. Once that height is determined, the fender is temporarily bolted in place. And the height of the horizontal surface of the fender is transferred to the body. Top of blue tape, in this case.
With the grill loose enough to move around, the fenders are attached and everything positioned evenly, before snugging down. Then I again transferred the height of the horizontal surface to the grill.
The 2" wide tape is useful in helping confirm the heights from side to side.
With all four corners marked, the new fenders are removed and the hood is lowered. I took out the spring to allow the hood to sit on the two rubber bumpers that rest on the grill.
I used a laser on a camera tripod to line up three points, front and back of one fender and the front of the opposite fender. Center of laser beam is now the height of the horizontal fender surface.
From there, I added another tape seam at the top of the laser line, this will give me not quite an 1/8" gap between the fender and the new rough cut hood line
Followed by the cut along the tape seam using a cut off wheel for the single thickness sheet metal and a recip saw for the front and rear stiffeners and to turn the corner at the grill.
Many years ago, I planned my sticker collection placement thinking I might do highlines some day. I was pretty close on my guess way back in 2014.
Next is to cover the contacting surfaces with more tape, lower the hood, and begin fine tuning the cut to make it sit nicely on the bumpers.
Today was mostly disassembly, fitting the fenders, figuring out the battery tray, and getting a rough cut on the hood.
Not a lot of pictures.
The main goal was to get the hood cut, which requires determining where the fenders will live and getting the fronts and the backs marked.
The rear gets positioned off of the upper body line on the cowl. Once that height is determined, the fender is temporarily bolted in place. And the height of the horizontal surface of the fender is transferred to the body. Top of blue tape, in this case.
With the grill loose enough to move around, the fenders are attached and everything positioned evenly, before snugging down. Then I again transferred the height of the horizontal surface to the grill.
The 2" wide tape is useful in helping confirm the heights from side to side.
With all four corners marked, the new fenders are removed and the hood is lowered. I took out the spring to allow the hood to sit on the two rubber bumpers that rest on the grill.
I used a laser on a camera tripod to line up three points, front and back of one fender and the front of the opposite fender. Center of laser beam is now the height of the horizontal fender surface.
From there, I added another tape seam at the top of the laser line, this will give me not quite an 1/8" gap between the fender and the new rough cut hood line
Followed by the cut along the tape seam using a cut off wheel for the single thickness sheet metal and a recip saw for the front and rear stiffeners and to turn the corner at the grill.
Many years ago, I planned my sticker collection placement thinking I might do highlines some day. I was pretty close on my guess way back in 2014.
Next is to cover the contacting surfaces with more tape, lower the hood, and begin fine tuning the cut to make it sit nicely on the bumpers.
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deadbeat son
TJ Addict
OP
The paint is very very close. Depending on the light, the color is a tiny bit brighter and the pearl fleck is a little "coarser", for lack of a better description. And my clear coat has a very small amount of orange peel texture. Regardless, this is much much nicer than black would have been. I'm happy I did it.
OP
I solved the clearance and small up travel interference with the MCE flares years ago. Those also solved the other problem of having crushed the factory outer fenders.
But while the MCEs served a purpose and solved a problem, I never really liked them. And I liked them less and less as time went on and they sagged and got beat up more and more.
When I first saw the Crawltechs a few years ago, I knew I wanted them specifically over other highlines. Their purpose for me is to visually clean up the front end, while also further reducing the physical bulk and profile of the Jeep.
Ditto.
Looking so good! Crawltek a great choice for HiLines. Paint looking really good. Glad you’re getting a good match. Way better than black.
Nice work, JJ. Will the extra clearance give you more room for articulation compared to the old setup?
Great job on the hood cut. The laser definitely helps. No matter how much you prep, it’s still a little nerve wracking when you finally hack into it, isn’t it?
Great job on the hood cut. The laser definitely helps. No matter how much you prep, it’s still a little nerve wracking when you finally hack into it, isn’t it?
OP
With the MCEs and the 12s, the tire would push the flare up a small amount. My recollection is that the tire rises about 3/8" above the factory outer steel fender lip.
The extra room I have now is just to keep the body away from the rocks that were tearing up the floppy flares.
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Great job on the hood cut. The laser definitely helps. No matter how much you prep, it’s still a little nerve wracking when you finally hack into it, isn’t it?
I knew the layout was good, but I still checked and came at it several ways multiple times before the actual cut looking for ways I might have screwed up.
The fine tuning happens today, so there is still a chance it could happen!
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Most of today was spent on the battery tray. The Crawltech tray comes to us with two legs that attach to the existing upper pair of factory fender mounts on the firewall. Then there is a third leg that attaches to the new outer fender.
The third leg is too long to allow the battery flat. It really can't even be forced into place. I needed to shorten it about 3/4".
Then I added a fourth leg back to the firewall to better support the new raised platform the battery will now live on.
Then I attached a pair of tabs to remount the HVAC vacuum reservoir that I didn't know existed.
After cutting a hole for the temp sensor, the factory tray goes back in place. It's a tight fit against the new inner fenders. So, I am going to pull it all apart again and slide the tray back a bit.
The third leg is too long to allow the battery flat. It really can't even be forced into place. I needed to shorten it about 3/4".
Then I added a fourth leg back to the firewall to better support the new raised platform the battery will now live on.
Then I attached a pair of tabs to remount the HVAC vacuum reservoir that I didn't know existed.
After cutting a hole for the temp sensor, the factory tray goes back in place. It's a tight fit against the new inner fenders. So, I am going to pull it all apart again and slide the tray back a bit.