Barn Door for JK factory hardtops

[jscherb]

I'm in Elkhart Indiana today and tomorrow, turning over the final prototype retrofit kit and slider frame to begin the production process, as well as having meetings on a few other projects/products I've got in the works. Since Elkhart is the "Detroit of the RV industry", it's a great place for Jeep projects - there are lots of manufacturers here with capabilities that are perfect for Jeep products, and also if you know where to go and who to ask, it's a great place to source components for building one-offs and prototypes. For example, today I picked up a cargo hatch that's the perfect size for the late model 2dr JK hardtop window opening. It's a hatch intended for a generator compartment, so it's got a grille on part of it, but I can replace the panel with a solid panel and hey, beggars can't be choosers, and it is the perfect size, so I'll use it to prototype the cargo hatch version of the 2dr retrofit kit.

They had a bunch of these on hand but I only grabbed one because that's all I'll need to do the prototype work, I may go back tomorrow and grab a few more.

 

[jscherb]

I've finished prepping the Safari Cab parts, so the paint process begins today. Step 1 is to seal the raw fiberglass on the inside of all of the parts with epoxy primer. Tomorrow I'll shoot the insides of the sides with white-tinted bedliner, so I'm using the same color epoxy as a sealer coat.

I sealed the inside of the jambs with black epoxy because those parts will get a black finish coat on the inside.

Next, this afternoon the outside of all the parts and both sides of the barn door get shot in gray epoxy primer.

 

[jscherb]

Everything is now sealed inside and out with epoxy primer. Tomorrow I'll shoot the bedliner on the inside of the sides and rear panel.

 

[jscherb]

Shot the white-tinted bedliner on the inside of the parts this morning.

Tomorrow the exterior surfaces of all the parts and the inside of the barn door get shot with high-build primer. That'll be followed by block sanding to perfect the surface and when that's done the base color (spice) can be shot.

 

[akpostal]

Hey Scherb, any MFGs have any interest in the JK barn door for production?

Great progress on the Safari Top.

Looking forward to late model JK widow kits.

 

[jscherb]

Hey Scherb, any MFGs have any interest in the JK barn door for production?

Great progress on the Safari Top.

Looking forward to late model JK widow kits.

Funny you should ask right now, just yesterday I received a call from another company about the barn door. Based on the companies that have expressed interest in it to date I think that if I decide the barn door should be a production product it can happen, but I still doubt there would be enough demand for it (or for the JK Safari Cab).

About the Safari Cab, thanks, it's moving along well and I should be shooting the color and clearcoat on all the parts except the roof next week. Once they're done I'll go through the same paint process on the roof.

On Monday I dropped off the window retrofit kit with the hardware manufacturer and also met with the window company to finalize a few details of the slider windows. Both companies owe me a final quote for manufacturing cost, and once those quotes are in I'll turn them over to the Jeep accessories company I did the project for and they can place production orders and decide on what the retail price of the kit needs to be. If things move right along I'd guess the kit for the late model JKU will be available in August.

Tuesday I'll be picking up the late model 2-dr hardtop I'll be using to prototype that window kit.

In other news...

A few days ago I turned over another product design I've been working on. It'll be called TrailVision, it's a trail camera system that supports up to 4 cameras and includes DVR capability. I haven't posted about it in this thread, but I've been working on it for the past few months and it's turned out to be a great tool to help negotiate obstacles on the trail.

 

[jscherb]

The next step in the paint process was shooting high-build primer, that's the last step I needed to do before the color goes on. High build goes on very thick, has high solids content and sands beautifully, so it fills any tiny imperfections remaining in the surface and provides a good medium for block-sanding, which ensures no low or high spots on the surface. Maybe all of this is overkill for a Jeep hardtop, but this is how I was taught to do a quality finish so this is what I do.

All the parts shot in high build primer...

If you find this tedious and boring, think of how I feel . Painting isn't my favorite pastime.

 

[Zeep]

What's the plan for the doors hanging on the wall?

 

[jscherb]

What's the plan for the doors hanging on the wall?

No plans. They came with a tub I bought some years ago for a project; they weren't needed for the project and they've been hanging there ever since.

 

[Yuke]

Any idea on potential cost of the slider retrofits?

Will they have screens? Screens are key

 

[jscherb]

Any idea on potential cost of the slider retrofits?

Will they have screens? Screens are key

My target price for this project has been under $400 per pair complete with everything needed to do the installation. Won't know the exact price until the final manufacturing quotes come in and the company that's going to market them makes their pricing decision, could be less or more. Screens are a standard part of the window assembly.

 

[Yuke]

Great news.

Will they allow the top to be able to go back to glass of ever desired?

 

[jscherb]

Great news.

Will they allow the top to be able to go back to glass of ever desired?

A slight amount of trimming of the inside of the window opening will be required, I showed that in this post: http://www.expeditionportal.com/for...for-JK-factory-hardtops?p=2097640#post2097640

The factory glass could be bonded back in after trimming, but the trimming would be visible inside the hardtop so what it would look like with the factory glass reinstalled depends on how nicely the trimming was done.

 

[jscherb]

A couple of people have told me they're following the paint process, so here's where it stands at the end of today - the block sanding of the high build primer is done, the parts are masked and ready for the color to go on. Here are three of the main pieces on the workbench, the barn door and upper door jambs are out of the frame but also ready for color.

I've got another commitment tomorrow, so I'll shoot the paint on Wednesday. It'll be a 3-step process. First, the inside of the barn door will be shot in white base coat. This is so it matches the white bedliner I shot on the inside of the side and end panels the other day. That's the can on the left below, it's PPG Omni base coat which is their lower-end paint. Doesn't matter much for white so I went with that. I used this same base coat to tint the Raptor bed liner the other day, so the match should be perfect.

After the white is shot and dried on the inside of the barn door, I'll mask that off and paint the outside of the barn door and the rest of the parts in Spice. The Spice base color is the middle can, it's PPG Deltron which is their high-end paint. Unfortunately PPG only has a mix formula for the Jeep factory Spice color in Deltron, it isn't available in Omni. Deltron is about $130 a quart!

And when the Spice is dry, the clear coat goes on, the cans on the right are Eastwood's 2-part urethane matte clear finish, which will topcoat everything.

I'll post photos of the painted parts end of day Wednesday.

 

[jscherb]

Today I picked up a late model 2-dr hardtop shell. I'll use it for prototyping the slider window retrofit kit, but first I'll probably cut it up to convert it into a modular top with removable side panels. I don't really have room to store it in one piece, and it'll be easier to work on the slider window prototype with just a side panel on the workbench.