DuncLJ's Big Bolt-On Bonanza

I installed a new bumper 3 months ago but never relocated my KC driving lights.
My new UCF bumper is fairly minimal so simply drilling new mount holes wasn't an option. Savvy has some pretty slick light mounts, but they didn't position the lights where I want them.
I want the mounts inboard of the tow hooks and slightly back behind the hooks and winch guard.

I made some mounts out of 12 gauge steel. They mount on the tow hooks.
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I sprayed an amber coating on the lenses because I like the old school fog light look.
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Mounted the lights up. Right where I wanted them.
Hopefully they can pierce the thick smoke that is blanketing the valley due to all the fires.

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About 8 months ago I installed a 4" lift with new coils, shocks and track bars. My original plan was to go with Currie coils, but I got suckered into buying a set of new unused Rubicon Express coils from a buddy for only $80 for all 4.

Technically they are sold as 3.5", but I got exactly 4" of lift up front and 4.5" in the rear.
They provide a good ride height but they are short stiff springs. They almost fall out at full droop.

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I bought a new set of Currie coils with the LJ specific coils in the rear.

The Curries have a much longer free length (Apparently everyone already knows this, I'm just a bit slow sometimes).
At full droop they are still in there tight.

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In the end the front is measuring 4.5" of lift , and over 5" in the rear. They may settle a bit.

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I'm sure you can see the dramatic 1/2" raise in ride height.......nah, me neither. I'm glad they are there though, They are a much better spring and I'll never have to worry about a coil dropping out or getting hung up on another part while off roading.

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Not a total loss on the old coils either. I'll use them (fronts at least) on my son's ZJ project.
 
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I've been really busy lately, supporting fire fighting efforts for the Creek fire east of Fresno. I had my first day off in 3 weeks and promptly proceeded to bust my ass and get as much done to the Jeep as I could.

Decided to replace my Thrush welded muffler and factory tailpipe with a Banks Monster Cat Back.

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The Thrush was a cheap mod that I did a few years ago. It had a deeper tone than stock, but was very buzzy and "import" sounding. I didn't care for it.


The Banks kit included everything and was built much sturdier than the Thrush.

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Installation was pretty easy. All parts fit well and the 2 piece tailpipe provided a lot of adjustment around the axle and track bar.


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I didn't care for the provided "Trumpet Horn " exhaust tip provided in the kit, so I went with a classic Slash tip.

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So after install, the exhaust sound is pretty cool. It's not loud per se. It just has a low rumble. Acceleration is throaty and deep, but at cruising speed it is pretty quiet. I think it is just right. I'm happy with it.



So ends a very busy 3 week period. I've been providing maintenance support to fire fighting helicopters for 3 weeks now. Pretty burnt out, but I had enough energy on my day off to install my cat-back, drink some beer and smoke some pork.


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Any part number or link to that Slash style exhaust tip? My banks kit has the chrome trumpet horn. Not my fav, but I wouldn't mind ripping off your style...:D
 
Cross-Threaded-06TJ said:
Any part number or link to that Slash style exhaust tip? My banks kit has the chrome trumpet horn. Not my fav, but I wouldn't mind ripping off your style...:D
Click to expand...

Honestly, I got it at Autozone off a shelf with about 30 other random exhaust tips.
Nothing fancy, but I like it better than the Banks tip. 🍻
 
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My 6am drive into work every morning started to get a bit to chilly. I regrettably switched out the trail half doors with my full ones.
I also added the sides back onto the soft top.

I have done a lot of mods this year, but the trail doors were, without a doubt, my favorite daily driver mod by far.
I bought them just to use for the drive to the trails and back, but I liked them so much, they stayed on everyday for the last 5 months.

Can't wait till spring to put them back on...

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DuncLJ said:
Back in action. I've been prepping and painting my doors. 200, 400, and then 600 grit sanding, primer, basecoat and clearcoat.
I got the factory paint color in rattle cans from
https://www.automotivetouchup.com/
It sprayed pretty nicely. It doesn't quite look factory, but still looks pretty good.




After lots of sanding and primer

View attachment 168652


Painted the inside gray to match the interior.

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After lots of coats of Bright Silver Metallic and clear.

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Gonna install door latches, hinges and factory mirrors today. With a few beer breaks in-between....
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You're doors look great Mr IPA. Sure have a lot of stickers in your garage!

Ok, reason I'm interrupting your build thread, I'd like to know how you prepped the Aluminum Trail Doors for painting. I read about your sanding. Anything you did prior to that to the Aluminum? What primer did you use? Anything else I don't know to ask.
 
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JMT said:
You're doors look great Mr IPA. Sure have a lot of stickers in your garage!

Ok, reason I'm interrupting your build thread, I'd like to know how you prepped the Aluminum Trail Doors for painting. I read about your sanding. Anything you did prior to that to the Aluminum? What primer did you use? Anything else I don't know to ask.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I do love a good beer, lol. The stickers just kind of happened after years of buying parts for cars, Jeeps, trucks, skateboards, and snowboards.

As far as the doors: I didn't prep them with anything before sanding. I machine sanded with a palm sander at first since it was such a large area. I started with 100 grit, then 200, 300, and 400. I then cleaned them up with acetone.

I got all primer, factory matched paint, and clear coat from
https://www.automotivetouchup.com/

I did a couple coats of primer and then hand sanded with 400 grit. Repeated until smooth and even.
Then I started wet sanding going up to 800 grit.

Once I was satisfied (I'm no pro, I got it as good as I could) I let it dry and cleaned the doors of any remaining material like dust, fingerprints, etc.

I painted them with the spray cans, 3-4 coats. Let it dry, cleaned again, then did 2-3 coats of clear.

It came out very nice. Not perfect, but not bad for a rattlecan job in the garage.

I hope this helps. 🍻
 
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DuncLJ said:
Thanks, I do love a good beer, lol. The stickers just kind of happened after years of buying parts for cars, Jeeps, trucks, skateboards, and snowboards.

As far as the doors: I didn't prep them with anything before sanding. I machine sanded with a palm sander at first since it was such a large area. I started with 100 grit, then 200, 300, and 400. I then cleaned them up with acetone.

I got all primer, factory matched paint, and clear coat from
https://www.automotivetouchup.com/

I did a couple coats of primer and then hand sanded with 400 grit. Repeated until smooth and even.
Then I started wet sanding going up to 800 grit.

Once I was satisfied (I'm no pro, I got it as good as I could) I let it dry and cleaned the doors of any remaining material like dust, fingerprints, etc.

I painted them with the spray cans, 3-4 coats. Let it dry, cleaned again, then did 2-3 coats of clear.

It came out very nice. Not perfect, but not bad for a rattlecan job in the garage.

I hope this helps. 🍻
Click to expand...
Did you use any similar prep on your UCF aluminum front bumper?
 
Cross-Threaded-06TJ said:
Did you use any similar prep on your UCF aluminum front bumper?
Click to expand...
The bumper was a little different. The doors were very rough, they had been machine sanded with a very coarse pad.
The aluminum on the bumper was much smoother but had more burrs from the welds and tooling marks from the press brake making the bends.
I went over the whole bumper with a conditioning disc on an air grinder to smooth it all out.
I hand sanded the rest with 400, then primed and painted with satin black. Should make for easy touch ups.

All said, much easier than the doors. 🍻
 
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DuncLJ said:
The bumper was a little different. The doors were very rough, they had been machine sanded with a very coarse pad.
The aluminum on the bumper was much smoother but had more burrs from the welds and tooling marks from making the bends,
I went over the whole bumper with a conditioning disc on an air grinder to smooth it all out.
I hand sanded the rest with 400, then primed and painted with satin black. Should make for easy touch ups.

All said, much easier than the doors. 🍻
Click to expand...
Nice. I have a UCF front frame width set to be here Next Tuesday. I will get some primer at least, and try to smooth up the metal. I am not the best with paint work. I always painted my old Chevys with military paint on purpose. Cause I suck at painting and they were never nice enough to paint for real.
 
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