Posts Tagged ‘Fender Flares’
Jeep #18: Coming Together
Bought a pair of rather generic foglights with plastic grating over them today.
Got the interior door panels in and secured.
Cleaned and primered the fenderflares just as it started pouring rain again.
Hoping hoping hoping to be done mid-week.
Jeep #18: Fender Flare Woes
So for the last week or so I have been at a standstill due to the fenderflares. Apparently, no one on earth knows how to properly paint plastic. I’ve heard a dozen different things from a dozen different sources.
My real snag is in trying to find a flex agent, a chemical you mix in to make your paint (a-duh), flexible. It’s $60 per pint, and I only need about a quarter of that.
It looks like I am going to have to hunker down and buy a pint, or make friends with the paint shop guys and see where else I can get this stuff, or less of it.
After that I have to heat up the flares (leaving them in the sun til mid-day will do the trick) to open up their pores, and then clean them with wax/grease remover and plastic prep. Then I have to coat them with adhesion promoter, which will help the paint bond to the plastic better. After that I rub on a layer of aloe and green tea cream… you get the idea.
After that I can paint them. I figure I’ll put on the flares for the wheel wells first, and then put on all the graphics and the rollbar as soon as the seats get here. I’ll take my time in figuring out how I am going to drill and attach the sidesteps later this month, probably.
The rollbar cover arrived, it’s a beautiful deep brown and is an unbelievable pain in the ass to put on the bars.
More soon, likely.
Jeep #18: Fender Flares and Tires
I was told early on that painting the plastic fender flares with the same paint I was going to use on the body of the car would be a bad idea because of how inflexible it is; anything bumps into the flares and the paint shatters. With that in mind, I decided to do the flares with a latex paint, priming them with average rattlecan primer.
Wrong-o.
Turns out this isn’t the case. Modern paint hardens to about the consistency of a bouncy ball… or so my new sources have said. So I am going to paint the flares with the extra paint I have ( I seriously have enough red and gray to do another jeep… maybe #10 this time, rip off the windshield and cover it in mud… maybe load an injured chaotician in the back?). Unfortunately, the primer I have on it is too weak for the high-quality paint to adhere to. I have to strip all six fender flares now. Luckily it’s not that hard, a little bit of laquer thinner and some steele wool… comes right off. It’s just a pain in the ass.
Now, on to the main event!
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I managed to get the wheels on yesterday. The tires were supposed to be at the store on Saturday, but apparently some driver chipped his tooth and… blah blah blah. The tires I bought were initially WAY too small, they look just goddamn silly. So I shelled out some more cash and got the next size up. They still seem a little small to me, but I figure I’ll wait until I have the flares on to decide if I need to go bigger.
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God they look cool!
There it is…
Right-side mirror arrived yesterday, it is so pretty and new, I may just replace the left-hand mirror as well… I mean they are only $34. Rollcage covers arrive tomorrow, so I’ll have the seatbelts and rollbar attached after I get back from Cheyenne.
Thoughts?
Jeep #18: Jurassic Park Decals
Got them today… about $200 worth of 3-color vinyl, with paid labor to plot and vector out the numbers. Quite a bit of money, but they are soooooo pretty, and sooooo big!
I also scored 5 tires with the correct wheels.
I have tomorrow off, and HUGE to-do list!
-Shop for rollbar covers
-Get crap tires off of wheels
-Paint wheels
-Buy new tires
-Put new tires on shiny red wheels
-Paint fenders
-Put all old tires and wheels on Craigslist
If I have time and Chad lets me use his lift…
-Take old rear flares off
-Attach new flares
-Take off old tires and replace with shiny red ones
Here’s hoping it’s not a million degrees again!
Jeep #18: Flares, Reflectors and More
Tiny update.
Got all the parts save for the fender flares attached last night. The jeep is looking newer and newer.
At work, going through boxes of new toys!
That nw windshield seal (the great big black one at the bottom) really makes a difference. The original was unbelievably corroded, and then it was covered in red paint. It had to go. Notice the new intake grill, restored sprayers, and detailed bolts. It seems I forgot to include the new hood tie-downs, as well.
The whole set-up. New lights, hood tie-downs, bumper horns… can’t wait to get that second mirror on there!
Jeep #18: Some new parts arrived.
Bunch of new toys arrived.
-Rubber windshield seal
-Windshield tie-downs that mount to the hood
-Sidestep guards (these will go inside the doors on the metal frame, preventing damage by stepping in and out of the car)
-Front blinker lenses
-Side blinker lenses
-Fender flares
So with all those added on, every external part of the car will be brand-new!
What a turn-around for a 17-year old Jeep!
Also, getting the angles right for the paint on the fender flares is going to be a BITCH!
