Daily Driver, Go Where I Want To Build

[jjvw]

I double checked and finalized the fender heights and drilled the front two bolts for the Savvy sliders. Doing so locks in the fender height and paves the way for the final hood cut.

And I installed two of the three inner fender pieces to get a feel for how the rest will come together.

I also closely chopped off the new extra length of the Savvy aluminum rocker.

I'll go back in with a router to match the fender curve once the new patterning bit arrives.

I never really touched the hood. I'll get to that this week sometime.

 

[NashvilleTJ]

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.

View attachment 512128

View attachment 512129

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.
View attachment 512130

Highlines are definitely a puzzle.

 

[jjvw]

Highlines are definitely a puzzle.

They are a lot of work. There is easily a week's worth of building and rebuilding if the goal is to do a halfway decent job. Then I have to go back and reengineer the electrical for the SwitchPros.

 

[FarFire70]

I double checked and finalized the fender heights and drilled the front two bolts for the Savvy sliders.
View attachment 512131

And I installed two of the three inner fender pieces to get a feel for how the rest will come together.

I also closely chopped off the new extra length of the Savvy aluminum rocker.
View attachment 512139

View attachment 512138

I'll go back in with a router to match the fender curve once the new patterning bit arrives.
View attachment 512132

I never really touched the hood. I'll get to that this week sometime.

I'm curious, are you planning to run this router bit on the vehicle while using the fender for the bearing to ride along?

Is there enough thickness on the fender to not fall into this gap on the bit?

 

[jjvw]

I'm curious, are you planning to run this router bit on the vehicle while using the fender for the bearing to ride along?

Is there enough thickness on the fender to not fall into this gap on the bit?

View attachment 512142

That's the plan. The steel slider rail will come off and the fender will become the template for the aluminum rocker. All done on the Jeep. Then I will free cut and shape the underside with a grinder.

I'm not concerned about the gap between the bit and the bearing. The fender is 3/16" thick and that gap is far less than that. As long as the bearing has good contact with the fender, it will work as it ought to.

 

[FarFire70]

That's the plan. The steel slider rail will come off and the fender will become the template for the aluminum rocker. All done on the Jeep. Then I will free cut and shape the underside with a grinder.

I'm not concerned about the gap between the bit and the bearing. The fender is 3/16" thick and that gap is far less than that. As long as the bearing has good contact with the fender, it will work as it ought to.

Curious to see the outcomes. I'm sure you're not the first to go this way on the forum. That picture just concerned me on tolerances. I'm sure it's exaggerated on the enlarged pic.

 

[jjvw]

The battery is now slid back enough to clear the inner fender.

3M expanding foam has been injected into the front stiffener. This is another Blaine trick that I borrowed from @toximus.

3M Rigid Pillar Foam 08458, Urethane, High Performance, Expanding, 200 mL Cartridge https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005RNE2U4?tag=wranglerorg-20

The purpose of the foam is to restore the structural rigidity to the stiffener where the hood bumpers live after the welds are cut away. Without the welds or the foam, the stiffener is only attached at the front and is able to bend and flex under the weight of the hood.

Hood pins are mostly installed.

The four screws that keep the grommet from rotating are not installed yet because I didn't want to drill a giant hole in the underside of the hood. And I ran out of daylight.

I'm wondering why I can't tap the sheet metal and use loctite instead of trying to get nyloc nuts up there.

 

[jjvw]

This is the first view with most of the tape removed.

Now that the fender positions are finalized and the hood is secure, I can do the final hood cut, start on all the finish work of fitting the inner fenders and build new mounting for everything that needs to be attached to them.

 

[mrblaine]

The battery is now slid back enough to clear the inner fender.

3M expanding foam has been injected into the front stiffener. This is another Blaine trick that I borrowed from @toximus.
View attachment 513005

3M Rigid Pillar Foam 08458, Urethane, High Performance, Expanding, 200 mL Cartridge https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005RNE2U4?tag=wranglerorg-20

The purpose of the foam is to restore the structural rigidity to the stiffener where the hood bumpers live after the welds are cut away. Without the welds or the foam, the stiffener is only attached at the front and is able to bend and flex under the weight of the hood.

I always wonder why that little nugget of info was never mentioned in any of the hood cutting write-ups. Do they just let it fold up against the hood and not worry about it?

Hood pins are mostly installed.
View attachment 513000

View attachment 513003

View attachment 513002
The four screws that keep the grommet from rotating are not installed yet because I didn't want to drill a giant hole in the underside of the hood. And I ran out of daylight.
View attachment 513001

I'm wondering why I can't tap the sheet metal and use loctite instead of trying to get nyloc nuts up there.

10-24 nutserts??

 

[jjvw]

I always wonder why that little nugget of info was never mentioned in any of the hood cutting write-ups. Do they just let it fold up against the hood and not worry about it?
...

It's an odd omission because the stability of the hood at the front impacts both the position of the cut and the function of the hood pins.

After the rough cut and before the foam, there is a lot of movement where the hood rests on the grill.

If the front stiffener is left free to flop around, then the hood will bounce, the cut edge will smack into the fenders and the hood pins can't be adjusted with any consistency.

There is a reason I haven't done the finish cut and didn't build the pins until I locked in the height of the fenders and until the front of the hood was stabilized. I want the hood to stay still so the final hood cut line stays the same and not damage the new paint any more than I already have.

 

[jjvw]

...

10-24 nutserts??

This is a good idea. Especially if I can add a counter bore to the back of the grommet or add small dimples to the hood to bury the nutsert flanges and have the grommet sit tight to the hood.

 

[NashvilleTJ]

It's an odd omission because the stability of the hood at the front impacts both the position of the cut and the function of the hood pins.

After the rough cut and before the foam, there is a lot of movement where the hood rests on the grill.

If the front stiffener is left free to flop around, then the hood will bounce, the cut edge will smack into the fenders and the hood pins can't be adjusted with any consistency.

There is a reason I haven't done the finish cut and didn't build the pins until I locked in the height of the fenders and until the front of the hood was stabilized. I want the hood to stay still so the final hood cut line stays the same and not damage the new paint any more than I already have.

JJ - My cut us similar to yours, but I've never had any type of strength or stability issue - but I've also never really thought about it either.

Here is a pic. Where is the issue?

I do like the esthetics of adding the foam, and may do that for that reason alone. Nice tip.

 

[mrblaine]

JJ - My cut us similar to yours, but I've never had any type of strength or stability issue - but I've also never really thought about it either.

Here is a pic. Where is the issue?

View attachment 513152

I do like the esthetics of adding the foam, and may do that for that reason alone. Nice tip.

Grab the front edge where the bumper attaches and give it a little squeeze. You'll see it move when it shouldn't. It has to since the support was cut away.

 

[jjvw]

Not too bad!

 

[AirborneTexasRanger]

I didn't do the foam, but I did weld a sliver of metal I cut from the left over bits of the hood. I should have done the foam. Would have been way less work with similar results

 

[jjvw]

RotM after it gets finished!

 

[psrivats]

I wonder how couple of these below or similar on the curved front edge of the fender would look. Too much JL like? Or perhaps a bad idea?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/2x-20-LED-SMD-Motorcycle-LED-Strip-Turn-Signal-Indicator-Blinker-Light-Amber-/123189256478

 

[tworley]

RotM after it gets finished!
View attachment 513478

How is your fox reservoir mounted in this pic?

 

[jjvw]

How is your fox reservoir mounted in this pic?

Zipties

 

[jjvw]

The final panel for the inner fender needs to be cut out for the Poly shock tower and the relocated upper spring seat.

I started with a rough cut enough to get the panel in place.

Then I used 1" wide tape to trace out the boundaries of what I needed to nicely cut out.

A jig saw, flap disc and half round hand file are used to make the clean cuts. Followed by more paint.