Barn Door for JK factory hardtops

[jscherb]

Turn signals installed and working.

 

[MattJ]

Can't wait to see it with the mesh and painted!

 

[jscherb]

This morning I installed mesh behind the slots.

This completes the construction phase of the project, next is paint prep and paint.

 

[jscherb]

A few more shots before I pull it off and start the paint prep.

 

[jscherb]

I'm prepping the grille for paint now and I need to decide what color the inserts should be. There are two factory colors for JL...

Gun metal gray:

Silver:

I will be painting the grille Deep Cherry Red to match my Jeep, what do you guys think about the color for the inserts?

 

[rubicon91]

Gun Metal Gray has my vote Jeff! The grill looks awesome btw just caught up on the thread.

 

[jscherb]

Gun Metal Gray has my vote Jeff! The grill looks awesome btw just caught up on the thread.

Hey Donny, welcome back !

I agree bright silver isn't right, but I'm just hoping gunmetal gray and the dark cherry red won't be too dark together.

 

[jscherb]

The paint process is underway. Step 1 was sealing with epoxy primer, I shot that this morning:

This afternoon I'll shoot it with high build primer, which will cure overnight and get a fine sanding tomorrow morning. After that the steps for tomorrow are:

- color coat
- mask the slots/headlight buckets and shoot the insert color
- clear coat

If everything goes according to plan, it'll be done tomorrow.

 

[jscherb]

Maybe it will be boring to some of you for me to post photos of the grille in another shade of gray, if so I apologize. In these photos it's been shot with several coats of high build primer. In the photo I posted this morning the darker gray was epoxy primer, which serves as a sealer, has very high adhesion properties, and makes a very good base for subsequent layers. High build primer, which is this lighter gray, is a high solids primer that builds thickness quickly and sands very easily. It (and the epoxy) are 2k (two-part) coatings, requiring a catalyst (epoxy) or a hardener (high build) in order for the coating to cure.

The goal of the high build is to fill any minor surface irregularities and sand very easily to provide a perfectly smooth surface for the application of the base color coat and clear. High build it not a substitute for bodywork and sanding to perfect the surface, I spent several hours hand sanding the grille before starting with the epoxy this morning even though the surface was very nice coming out of the mold.

High build needs to cure overnight so to be sanded well, so in the morning I'll lightly hand sand the grille with 220 grit sandpaper. At that point the surface should be extremely smooth and ready for the base color coats to be applied.

Sorry if I might have bored some of you with this but I'm often told that people appreciate me providing lots of detail on materials and techniques.

 

[Matt.H]

Maybe it will be boring to some of you for me to post...

Nope, nope, nope, nope. It is like Pavlov every time I see this bumped and it is worth it.

What may be mundane for one member could be the one step the other was never taught. Thanks for continuing to post with such detail.

 

[amongmany]

Seriously, no apologies. This process is fascinating to see happening.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[BradS]

Maybe it will be boring to some of you for me to post photos ...

The last fiberglass project I did was in 1989 when I did up a 15' canoe in grade 12 wood shop class, which I still have and use!
Familiar with the process and appreciate every post you make with these projects.
Love it Jeff.

 

[jscherb]

Seriously, no apologies. This process is fascinating to see happening.

Nope, nope, nope, nope. It is like Pavlov every time I see this bumped and it is worth it.

What may be mundane for one member could be the one step the other was never taught. Thanks for continuing to post with such detail.

The last fiberglass project I did was in 1989 when I did up a 15' canoe in grade 12 wood shop class, which I still have and use!
Familiar with the process and appreciate every post you make with these projects.
Love it Jeff.

Thanks for the support .

 

[jscherb]

Today's paint process so far:

1: Base color coat.

2. Masking to paint the inserts

3. Inserts painted.

I'll let the insert color dry a bit and then I'll remove the tape.

 

[Yuke]

I want one!