Westtown Willy's 2004 Jeep Wrangler X

[Apparition]

I picked up a set of pretty ugly but otherwise sound half doors a couple months ago for $200. These are the two photos from the Facebook Marketplace ad:

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test fit at the seller's house:

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The project proceeded in two sections:

First was exterior paint. The sheet metal was in nearly perfect condition & no rust so it was a good canvass to start with. When I removed the weather stripping I did find a patch of rust about 4 inches long & ½ an inch wide on the interior metal at the bottom though it didn’t extend to the exterior skin. I grinded it down, soaked it in rust reforming gel then painted it. At the end of the entire job before affixing the interior panels I fluid filmed inside the panel (opposite side of where I grinded the rust) to be sure that was good. Not too concerned, these doors will never see H2O except when I wash it, I’ll wheel it through water with my cloth half doors.

Second was repairing and painting the interior plastic panels, one had a large-ish hole on the top & the other had a two inch long crack & they were filthy as hell but otherwise in good shape.

Over the course of a couple weeks I stripped, repaired, prepped, & painted everything.

For the doors I picked up factory flame red paint from automotivetouchup.com & for the interior I went with factory slate gray flexible coating from SEM.

Here’s the tale in pictures:

First I removed the interior panels and hinges then stripped the paint off with some 80 grit sandpaper:

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This is the rust spot midway through remediation:

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Got hungry & baked a loaf of Italian bread, came out real nice:

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By the time I was ready for paint it was too cold out so I needed an alternative, but where to find a stable, wind free, 70 degree spot to paint everything? It occurred to me my wife wouldn’t object to using the family room because she’s objecting to her new husband’s shenanigans somewhere else , so I built a makeshift paint booth in the family room & hung those fuckers from the ceiling all proper like – side story, the hooks I hung them from hold the chains that my chin up bar hangs from in my prehistoric home gym:

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This bar has been in continuous use since 1978 when my dad got me a 120lb weight set from K-Mart for my 12th birthday, anyone remember those, $20 all in for the set including bench. I started using it then & never stopped. The plastic covered concrete weights & old bench are long, long gone, but the weight bar itself has remained in continuous use & transitioned to my chin up bar in the early 90’s when I bought my first house & hung it from the ceiling in the basement for my gym. Since then it has moved to my new house where it first hung in my shed for about 10 years, got tired of walking all the way out there to work out so I moved it into the garage for a few more years then also grew tired of working out out there & moved it inside & hung it where you see it in 2011, probably about 10 minutes after the ex-wife packed her shit & rolled. That fucker has history & has now figured into my TJ project.

Anyway I had a pretty good system down for painting, I’ve got an enormous whole house fan upstairs so for each coat I’d open the windows to the family room, spray a coat on then turn the fan on for 10 minutes sucking all the nastiness out, worked pretty good for all 16 coats :O

Did 2 coats of gray primer, 4 red primer, 5 basecoat & 5 clear coat.

Just before beginning this project I wrapped up a home improvement project, re-did both my kid’s rooms turning my son’s room into a yoga studio for Kimberly & my daughter’s room into a legitimate guest room. The mattress in these photos was her old one I was tossing & figured I’d position it under the doors in case somehow one fell I’d avoid catastrophe. Though in all likelihood if one fell it would’ve just bounced off the mattress & catapulted into my shin on its way to crashing on the tile floor so who’s kidding who. Nevertheless it remained.

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The finished product:

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Looks great, I have some doors that need the same project done soon.

I once painted engine components in a walk in shower at an apartment I had once. Rebuilt the engine in the living room.

 

[Westtown Willy]

Looks great, I have some doors that need the same project done soon.

I once painted engine components in a walk in shower at an apartment I had once. Rebuilt the engine in the living room.

haha that's the way to do it. I moved the operation up into my living room for phase two of this operation, started Monday night after work patching the hole on the interior panel while simultaneously watching episodes of Alias, seriously can watch Jennifer Garner kick dudes in the head all day long

 

[2001slvrstntj]

Turned out real nice!

 

[Westtown Willy]

beginning my journey back towards a stock rig, stuck plus anyway, the plus will be the wheels/tires/lift and the existing performance related internal guts, the stock will be the balance of appearance related items. Step one was replacement of my current stubby bumper/winch up front in favor of a stock bumper with jugs, picked it up a couple months ago, and a stock rear bumper with jugs. My rear bumper was already stock but it was beat to death & modified enough that wasn't working for this scheme anymore. For now, here's some photos of the progress:

The Warn 8s with Motobilt stubby, I'll toss this in the closet for now

removal of the bumper & winch revealed a whole slew of scuffs & scratches on the lower part of the grill so I sanded it down & painted it, had a bunch of primer & paint left over from the half door job:

All bolted on

Jugs on

this is the first time in my ownership of this TJ that I've had an unobstructed view of the grill, it's nice to see

baked a few pies

after removing the rear bumper I took the opportunity to give it a coat of black satin

the new stock rear with jugs, no more redneck tire carrier or CB bracket

took it out for a quick spin, not sure if its all in my head but losing 100lbs up front felt different, like a breast reduction I'd imagine

Next on my list will be potentially removing the sliders & replacing the original flares with a new full set, the ones on there are weathered & dinged up beyond repair at this point. I'll do an exploratory removal of one of the sliders to see what's going on underneath, not too sure what I'll find. I'll also have to deal with the big holes left behind.

Then I'll be done. Until this time next year, when I find the 4th front bumper that will find its way onto my rig

 

[ExitLeft]

Nice read....enjoyed your thread. I just picked up an ‘03 and returned it to stock height and tires. Mine isnt nearly as nice as yours, but you’ve given me inspiration.

 

[MeanGreen86]

If you want to sell the bumper let me know. The build is great!

 

[Westtown Willy]

If you want to sell the bumper let me know. The build is great!

I'm not sure what I'm doing long term with it yet, it really doesn't take more than about 15 minutes to swap them. I left the electrical connections under the hood for the winch in case I want to hit the trails again, though that possibility has been fading rapidly. At some point I envision selling it and the winch.

Nice read....enjoyed your thread. I just picked up an ‘03 and returned it to stock height and tires. Mine isnt nearly as nice as yours, but you’ve given me inspiration.

Thanks.

Anyway after I posted the bumper swap yesterday I couldn't resist moving on to the exploration stage. I figured if I removed the sliders & discovered rust or other foulness I'd fix it & then put the sliders right back on to hide it all.

The sliders have 5 body mounted bolts & also attach to two of the body mounts. Pulled the body bolts out first, they came out without an issue. When I pulled the first body mount bolt out I was hit with a giant pile of dirt crammed all up in there, so for the next two I didn't have my eyeball directly in the line of fire. I don't know why I'm always amazed at how much dirt is still packed away in various crevices of my rig, but I am. Here's one of the piles:

Once I had the three long bolts out I soaked them in a combination of ATF & brake fluid to try and eat some of the corrosion away caused by being immersed in crud for God knows how long. I'll be removing all body mount bolts just to clean them out, de-corrode the bolts and anti-seize them. They were in pretty decent shape all things considered.

Here's the driver's side slider, big nasty chunk of steel, very heavy, the TJ is losing weight with each step

the moment of truth, was relieved to find a filthy but otherwise rust free body. Had patches of over-spray from painting the sliders, I think I did that myself

washed it off, then some acetone & the over-spray was gone

Altogether I'm pretty happy, the only thing I'll need to address are the 5 bolt holes left behind, I'm thinking about some plastic push pins, painting them red & slapping them in, but I'm open to suggestions if anyone has one

I ordered a new set of stock flares too, they should be in by the weekend. By then I'll have pulled the passenger side slider off & hopefully it's also in good shape, so I'm not quite out of the woods yet. Either way the new flares are going on, I had a pair of new extensions already from a prior purchase of 7 inch stock looking flares, I must've forgotten to put them back in the box when I returned those butt-ugly flares. I like these things, they'll cover up those bottom holes too & really help complete the stock look.

 

[TWiG01]

I like the transformation back to stock. Your Jeep looks good! I need to find some half doors now

 

[Westtown Willy]

I like the transformation back to stock. Your Jeep looks good! I need to find some half doors now

thanks, and as for the half doors I found these the other day & they appear to still be available & not too far from you:

https://www.facebook.com/marketplac...wse_serp:ca1e60f1-de8e-4b79-8335-10eae8269df9

 

[TWiG01]

thanks, and as for the half doors I found these the other day & they appear to still be available & not too far from you:

https://www.facebook.com/marketplac...wse_serp:ca1e60f1-de8e-4b79-8335-10eae8269df9

I actually saw those the other day too. Seems like a fair price based off of what they seem to go for around here

 

[Irun]

Great progress and a good feeling to go in the other direction!

 

[Westtown Willy]

Great progress and a good feeling to go in the other direction!

thanks, and I've always liked my rig each step of the way but I also always concentrated on additions that would enhance its abilities off road. The winch was a big part of that & I used it plenty of times over the years. But last year I only went off road once, & between the closure of parks where I go due to the plague & my increasing disdain for hammering on the rig anymore I didn't return even after they reopened. Over the winter I wasn't too sure what this year would hold but so far I haven't had much if any interest in returning. When I first started wheeling it decent TJ's were still pentiful & not too expensive so I thought if I destroy this one I can always replace it pretty easily. That's really no longer the case, so all things considered it's looking like this one will live out its days on the street. As that view has taken hold over the past year the winch started looking really stupid to me, almost the ultimate piece of Jeep jewelry if it's not actually being used. While I cannot see returning it to 100% stock, I'll never understand those wheels/tires, I'd like to get it as close as possible to factory weight. Taking all this crap off is a nice step in that direction. I also run no back seat or spare so I'm saving some weight there to offset the heavier tires & diff covers which as far as I know are the only things on my rig anymore that add weight over stock. It's geared appropriately for 33s with 456s so if I get the weight right it'll roll like stock, power-wise.

 

[Irun]

When I first started wheeling it decent TJ's were still pentiful & not too expensive so I thought if I destroy this one I can always replace it pretty easily. That's really no longer the case, so all things considered it's looking like this one will live out its days on the street.

The reality is most of our Jeeps spend the majority of their life on the street. However, a lot of builds are done with the opposite in mind, without doing so in a way that keeps them fun to drive. And, you're 100% correct. I had the same mentality, i.e. if it gets messed up, I'll just replace it. That's a whole lot easier said than done these days!

I'd like to get it as close as possible to factory weight. Taking all this crap off is a nice step in that direction.

The correlation between weight and vehicle performance is, in my opinion, the most overlooked thing in building Jeeps. It really does make a huge difference!

 

[Westtown Willy]

The reality is most of our Jeeps spend the majority of their life on the street. However, a lot of builds are done with the opposite in mind, without doing so in a way that keeps them fun to drive. And, you're 100% correct. I had the same mentality, i.e. if it gets messed up, I'll just replace it. That's a whole lot easier said than done these days!


The correlation between weight and vehicle performance is, in my opinion, the most overlooked thing in building Jeeps. It really does make a huge difference!

Yup, and I love driving my rig on the street, particularly this time of year with the top down, that’s originally the whole reason I bought it, I fell down the wheeling rabbit hole by accident. Glad I did as I had some amazing times but it has run its course at least as far as this rig is concerned. I’ve entertained the thought of adding a beater for wheeling, even an older JK because they’re still a dime a dozen, but then I woke up & got real, truth is I’m just not enough into the whole thing to piss away another brick on such folly. At least not today, tomorrow is always another day

Regarding the weight, it is amazing feeling the difference when you remove it. I attribute the success I’ve had with a comparatively low lift to tire size ratio to the weight, I’ve managed to maintain factory up travel with less than the doctor’s prescribed minimum lift and that has to be due at least in part to the lack of stacks of aftermarket bullshit adorning the rig.

 

[Westtown Willy]

Removed the passenger side slider yesterday, same as the other side, filthy nasty with black over spray but still zero rust. Looking at all these bolt holes and the big gash on the door jamb from bashing it off of a rock it's really combining to push me in the direction of getting the whole rig professionally repaired & painted. I regularly flip flop back and forth on that idea, but these newly revealed bolt holes do present a new problem I haven't had until now. After some research I figure the best method is getting them welded shut then painted. I don't have a welder so that would involve taking it somewhere, then there's the painting part which I could do myself but those spots will not match 100%. The color is spot on but the clear coat is where the factory paint looks a ton better than what I've done on my half doors. Good enough, yea, but with these new issues & all the other bumps & bruises, it could all be resolved with a full paint job. Green!

So here's the passenger side after ripping off the slider:

a little more Simple Green & acetone:

 

[Westtown Willy]

one step closer, the new flares came in the other day so I decided to pull the old ones off this afternoon. I've got some work to do on the sheet metal, a few spots on each side of the rear are worn down to bare metal, not sure how that happened but it's a shiny as can be. It's supposed to be sunny & warm this weekend so I'll give it a good bath, sand the trouble spots a bit & a few coats of 'automotive-touchup' primer & factory Flame Red paint before putting on the crispy new & comparably very black flares.

You can see the bare spots on this shot, the larger one is right above the large round hole above the rear control arm mount

these have seen better days, I just realized in looking at that picture I've got to get that side blinker out of there

I ordered a brand called OMIX from Amazon, what showed up was Rugged Ridge, whatever, they look good to me. If I can get everything cleaned up & painted on Saturday I might be able to get these on by Sunday. I popped the driver's side front on just to make sure it all lined up, it did.

 

[Mike_H]

one step closer, the new flares came in the other day so I decided to pull the old ones off this afternoon. I've got some work to do on the sheet metal, a few spots on each side of the rear are worn down to bare metal, not sure how that happened but it's a shiny as can be. It's supposed to be sunny & warm this weekend so I'll give it a good bath, sand the trouble spots a bit & a few coats of 'automotive-touchup' primer & factory Flame Red paint before putting on the crispy new & comparably very black flares.

You can see the bare spots on this shot, the larger one is right above the large round hole above the rear control arm mount

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these have seen better days, I just realized in looking at that picture I've got to get that side blinker out of there

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I ordered a brand called OMIX from Amazon, what showed up was Rugged Ridge, whatever, they look good to me. If I can get everything cleaned up & painted on Saturday I might be able to get these on by Sunday. I popped the driver's side front on just to make sure it all lined up, it did.

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Omix-Ada, Rugged Ridge, and Crown are all the same parent company.

 

[brian0128]

I really enjoyed reading your thread about the progression of your Jeep.

 

[Westtown Willy]

I really enjoyed reading your thread about the progression of your Jeep.

thanks, it's been fun.

So today I wrapped up the final leg of my journey back to stock +.

After sanding and painting the bare spots last night I began fitting the new flares on. Either they're not made correctly or my rig is bent, either way they didn't go on without a slap down fight. Truthfully my money is on my rig being the culprit, I've done more caveman fender repairs with a hammer & a block of wood than I want to admit after off-road buffoonery, but whatever... the old flares form-fit to the newer contours a bit easier but with some effort these new ones got on there & will relax with time too.

Front on:

extension on.

I've never had these on before, the nutserts were missing & the ones that came with the flares weren't large enough to fill the gaps so I hadda add a dab of JB weld to secure them, so that was exciting

rears on

decided to insert pushpins into the giant holes left behind by the rock sliders, sort of a placeholder until I can figure out a longer term fix. As long as they stay put they look good enough:

Gotta say, the rig has never looked happier, I think it likes me more since ripping off all the bullshit

 

[Westtown Willy]

so I couldn't leave it alone, pulled the tire carrier & snubbers off. Once again, spotless underneath (under the filth & crud anyway), zero rust formation. Took the plate off to remove the mounting bracket to clean and inspect, though after removing so many other things I don't anticipate any issues under there.

It's sunny & gorgeous out & the family that was here for Easter have all departed so it's time to take a Sunday drive through the country to enjoy my new look street machine