Project "Landshark"

[venyago]

Hi all, I wanted to start sharing the journey of my TJ, albeit a little delayed. This past January, I found this '02 Wrangler Sport by accident while searching for a truck. While I briefly owned a bone stock '03 a few years back, it had major rot underneath not worthy of starting to build. I am relatively new to upgrading and modifying Jeeps so this has been a learning experience thus far. I've had it up on the sand dunes twice during the summer but I want to get more into off-roading.

Here's what I know:
4.0L Inline 6 with NV3550 5spd
Only "performance" upgrade is a Poweraid throttle body spacer but I'm skeptical of its real value
Front and Rear dana 44s
Someone swapped in a 44 up front. I noticed it has the vacuum port but I don't have a locker
Sitting on BFGoodrich 35" mud terrains
5"?? suspension lift
PO had terraflex stickers on the fenders so I take it that's the brand of lift. They used pucks on the springs
Body Armor front and rear bumpers

 

[Wildman]

Hi all, I wanted to start sharing the journey of my TJ, albeit a little delayed. This past January, I found this '02 Wrangler Sport by accident while searching for a truck. While I briefly owned a bone stock '03 a few years back, it had major rot underneath not worthy of starting to build. I am relatively new to upgrading and modifying Jeeps so this has been a learning experience thus far. I've had it up on the sand dunes twice during the summer but I want to get more into off-roading.

Here's what I know:
4.0L Inline 6 with NV3550 5spd
Only "performance" upgrade is a Poweraid throttle body spacer but I'm skeptical of its real value
Front and Rear dana 44s
Someone swapped in a 44 up front. I noticed it has the vacuum port but I don't have a locker
Sitting on BFGoodrich 35" mud terrains
5"?? suspension lift
PO had terraflex stickers on the fenders so I take it that's the brand of lift. They used pucks on the springs
Body Armor front and rear bumpers

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Welcome to the forum and looks like a nice Jeep to build on.

 

[venyago]

As a painter by profession, I wanted to give the Jeep a fresh look. It had been painted in the past and was faded with sun scorched and blistering clearcoat. Time limited me to a body-on paint job but I removed everything possible. Queue the teardown!
Lost the corrosion fight with the hood latch bolts and 1 rear bumper bolt.

 

[venyago]

A few areas needed minor body work and priming. Had a great time drilling out body nutserts for fender flares.

 

[Danarch]

Wow, lots of work. Looks like you painting it white? I partial to yellow Jeeps, oh well.

 

[venyago]

Wow, lots of work. Looks like you painting it white? I partial to yellow Jeeps, oh well.

White is just the color of primer I had to use as an undercoat in order for my yellow to show the best. I agree about yellow Jeeps!

 

[Mike_H]

Welcome from a West (BEST) sider!

 

[bobthetj03]

What's your plans for the suspension/tires? Sure will be slick once painted!

 

[venyago]

What's your plans for the suspension/tires? Sure will be slick once painted!

I haven't gotten into any serious off-roading so I have yet to see how it performs. I don't love the current setup of pucks on the springs but I'll work with what I've got for now. Also looks like the PO didn't rotate the tires bc the rears were about 50% gone so I rotated and have been riding like that for the year.

 

[bbaldwin237]

Welcome! Looking forward to seeing the progress

 

[venyago]

I made a sprayout of the yellow I wanted for the body. Did a lot of reading on coatings for the tub and decided on Monstaliner. Luckily, they make a yellow that's nearly a perfect match so I bought a 1 gallon kit of their roll-on, enough for two coats. Next stop paint booth

 

[venyago]

Some shots of the big day in the spray booth. I formulated a pearl yellow tri-stage using Sikkens Autobase Plus Solvent. Reapplied the factory body side decals plus the signature Landshark fin on the yellow mid-coat, then sprayed the pearl over them for some shimmer.

 

[NashvilleTJ]

A few areas needed minor body work and priming. Had a great time drilling out body nutserts for fender flares.

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Oh no. You painted a yellow Jeep white?



I’m out.

 

[NashvilleTJ]

Some shots of the big day in the spray booth. I formulated a pearl yellow tri-stage using Sikkens Autobase Plus Solvent. Reapplied the factory body side decals plus the signature Landshark fin on the yellow mid-coat, then sprayed the pearl over them for some shimmer.

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OK - I’m back!



Beautiful work, Dude.

 

[venyago]

I decided to keep the rock sliders and bumpers that came with the Jeep, at least for now. Freshened them up with a wire wheel and some truck bed liner paint. I like the look and design of the front bumper but the rear is ridiculously heavy and the bushing for its tire carrier is shot.

 

[venyago]

Unfortunately the PO neglected to care for the aluminum rims so this past weekend I went to town with sandpaper and polish. Started with 600 grit wet sandpaper and stepped it up to 3000 trizact. Then used a Mothers mag & aluminum polish. My main concern was removing the built up rail dust from brake pads. I think they turned out decent for the time and effort I committed.