Comanche Scott
Expedition Leader
for what it's worth, my vote is color match too. :beer:
Barn Door for JK factory hardtops
- Thread starter jscherb
- Start date
thechadwick
New member
Another angle, slightly better attempt. More I look at it, the better I like the color match. That is until you pointed out the cost of a pint of it, good grief! At least the color match it pretty darn close from the pic. re: tire choice, can't go wrong with the trusty BFG A/T. C-Rated is cheap too considering it's pretty much https://www.4wd.com/p/bf-goodrich-lt315-70r17-tire-all-terrain-t-a-ko2-58424/_/R-BDKZ-58424 Discount tire matches the price to include free shipping when they go on sale.
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thechadwick
New member
One more for good measure, fiddling around with GIMP 2 I bet someone with more skills that me could put a realistic set of 35s on as well.
jscherb
Expedition Leader
Thanks for the new images, it's nice to have someone doing my work for me for a change
. Looks good.One other thing I plan to do is to paint the rear inner fenders black to get red of the red in there; might undercoat them as well.
The paint match I posted earlier today is pretty good, but I've been working to improve it. The PPG color chip looked a little dark, so I sprayed the sample I showed earlier on top of white primer. It ended up slightly light, so I did a few more sprayouts on gray and black primer, with 2, 3, and 4 coats. The photo below has 6 samples - the 3 on the left are on gray primer, with 2 color coats at the bottom, 3 in the middle and 4 at the top. In the light of the garage at dusk, all 3 of them look a bit light. The 3 on the right are on black primer, 2, 3 and 4 color coats. The bottom one (2 coats) is too dark - there's too much transparency in only 2 coats so the black primer makes it darker. The middle one with 3 coats looks about right, just enough influence from the black primer. The top one looks too light; with 4 coats the paint isn't transparent enough to let the black primer influence the color. Of course all of them may look terrible in the sunlight tomorrow
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The thing that makes the exact match expensive is the pearl; the Omni colors I'm testing have a much less expensive metallic/pearl component. So even if I get the color 100% perfect, there will be a slight mismatch due to the OEM pearl - it really is brilliant in bright sun, so maybe that justifies the price. In the real world though, when the Jeep hasn't seen a car wash in a few days, the difference in the pearl isn't so important.
Thanks for the link. Those are 17's, unfortunately the Sahara rims I have are 18". Might change them out, but haven't given that much thought yet. Also it's got a 70 profile, I'd like to have something no wider that a 75. I'll see if those are available in a size that works for me.
thechadwick
New member
True true, tough to really photograph subtle paint differences and get a good representations on a computer screen either way. Fingers crossed there's a good match in the more affordable mix. Even if there isn't though, black looks really good so no worries regardless. Of course there's a much more affordable option out there
.....
Been pricing out tires myself and giving a good long think about ditching the 18" saharas for some 17" takeoffs due to the much wider availability of rubber. I've seen numerous posts at about $100 a set which sometimes pencils out to the price difference even if I include them in the cost vs 35" 18ers. Don't think I'm willing to sacrifice the mpg hit just yet as I daily my jeep, regearing is pretty much a must as well at that point. I wish the 33's looks as good though, 35's just seem to hit that sweet spot on our 4doors.
With my setup I may be in the minority, again, wanting something.
How about a Molle panel that mounts to the inside of the rear lift gate window or even your Barn Door? Nothing very heavy too mount to it, tie it into the hinges and bottom bolts should be plenty for my purposes, to mount a rifle, shotgun, butane torch, and fire extinguisher. The panel will take the weight and forces as I see it and shouldnt transfer to the glass itself.
I cant see out the rear view mirror anyway so a Molle panel wouldnt affect me. Other setups Ive seen they cant see out their *** either.
ETA:
How did you do the sides/edges on that panel?` Was that a ready made panel that you cut the Molle into?
Where could I find a blank panel just like that in 18.5x53ish, and cut my own Molle patern?
How about a Molle panel that mounts to the inside of the rear lift gate window or even your Barn Door? Nothing very heavy too mount to it, tie it into the hinges and bottom bolts should be plenty for my purposes, to mount a rifle, shotgun, butane torch, and fire extinguisher. The panel will take the weight and forces as I see it and shouldnt transfer to the glass itself.
I cant see out the rear view mirror anyway so a Molle panel wouldnt affect me. Other setups Ive seen they cant see out their *** either.
ETA:
.
How did you do the sides/edges on that panel?` Was that a ready made panel that you cut the Molle into?
Where could I find a blank panel just like that in 18.5x53ish, and cut my own Molle patern?
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jscherb
Expedition Leader
I suspect that many people can't see out of the rear given the huge spares some carry so while you may be in the minority in wanting a Molle panel there, I'm sure you wouldn't be the only one.
Doing a Molle panel on the inside of the glass liftgate might be a challenge because there are few attachment points available and any load on the glass may stress it too much. At the top the panel could be attached using the hinge bolts or the upper gas strut bolts, but there aren't any attachment points at the bottom, so using the factory liftgate glass may not be practical, not to mention any load on the panel stressing the glass. Also the gas struts would probably have to be upgraded to hold the liftgate open with a load on it, and stronger struts may also stress the glass too much when trying to close the liftgate.
A better approach would be to replace the factory liftgate with either a metal or fiberglass one, perhaps 3/16" aluminum. The challenge with that is that the liftgate and the gasket surface it seals to on the hardtop are curved in both directions, so you'd have to do compound curves on the aluminum panel to get a weathertight seal. Getting those curves accurate might be difficult, certainly in a home workshop.
Making a compound curved fiberglass replacement would be easier for a DIY-er; learning the fiberglass skills to be successful with the project is a bit of a learning curve but not impossible for a DIY-er to succeed at.
Mounting a Molle panel to the inside of the barn door would be very easy and the barn door is plenty strong enough to support the load a Molle panel would put on it, here's a concept image.
The edges of the panel were bent on a sheet metal bending brake.
There are several local fab shops here that are pretty friendly - when I need metal for something like that I drop by the shop and usually I can find something in their cut-off pile that works and usually I'll have them cut it to rough size for me. The metal for the panel I made for the fridge slide Molle panel cost me $15, so maybe you could find a fab shop near you that's friendly. A fab shop could also bend the edges on their bending brake for you; some shops might charge you for that but a friendly one might do it for nothing if you buy the metal from them.
Or, there are metal suppliers on the web you might try, Metals Depot is one: http://www.metalsdepot.com/. You can get a 2' x 4' sheet of 14-gauge steel sheet from them for about $40; shipping to Alaska will likely cost more than the metal though.
jscherb
Expedition Leader
Thanks again for the colorized images, here they are with the originals for easy comparison...
rubicon91
Explorer
Thanks again for the colorized images, here they are with the originals for easy comparison...
Oh yeah now that I seee them side by side color matched all the way. I dont like the black with the color of your safari top Jeff. Maybe if the safari top was black different story.
thechadwick
New member
Threw in a comparison with the rails as well just bc most the willys out there have uniform paint.
Kind of reminds me of these:
Maybe a swoopy chrome bumper is in order?
jscherb
Expedition Leader
Actually I'm thinking this will look nice with the flat fenders: https://www.quadratec.com/products/12106_0004_07.htm
Comanche Scott
Expedition Leader
My heads been up my rear most of my life. I can confirm there is no view, and the smell isn't so good either... :elkgrin:
A fun experiment would be to build a more heavy duty frame for the Soft Barn Door, and make the window panel with a Kydex reinforced nylon MOLLE panel. Similar to this rear seat unit:
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/477522366711541684
The MOLLE straps could be done inside and outside.
Thanks to the excellent write up of how you did the Soft Barn Door Panel, this shouldn't be too hard for anyone willing to give it a go.
jscherb
Expedition Leader
My heads been up my rear most of my life. I can confirm there is no view, and the smell isn't so good either... :elkgrin:
A fun experiment would be to build a more heavy duty frame for the Soft Barn Door, and make the window panel with a Kydex reinforced nylon MOLLE panel. Similar to this rear seat unit:
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/477522366711541684
The MOLLE straps could be done inside and outside.
Thanks to the excellent write up of how you did the Soft Barn Door Panel, this shouldn't be too hard for anyone willing to give it a go.
Good idea. Maybe someone will try that and if they do I hope they post it here.
