ZMotorSports 2011 JKUR Build Thread

I am new here but thought I would throw up some pictures of my latest Jeep build. It is not real time as I have owned it now for almost two years.

I bought the Jeep with only 3208 miles on the odometer and commenced building my "Dream Jeep". This is my daily driver and weekend wheeler.

On lift just before sitting it down with the 4" BDS Suspension Lift and 35" KM2 tires/ATX Crawl wheels.

Backed outside the shop after just barely sitting her on the ground with new lift and tires/wheels.

More to come as I dig through the pictures. Also pictured here is the Warn Rockcrawler bumper/Powerplant combination that I purchased used just to get me by until I could fabricated my own bumpers.

Mike.

 

[zmotorsports]

I think I can guess where you're heading, but looking forward to the details.

Are you thinking I'm leaning towards coilovers?

If so you would be incorrect.

 

[zmotorsports]

I finished up my front suspension between Friday night and Saturday morning.

After removing the ACOS spacers that provide about 1-1/2” of lift at their lowest setting I had to install a bit longer spring to compensate. I have been so impressed with the ride quality and flex of the Metalcloak dual rate springs that I have installed in the rear that I again went with some Metalcloak coil springs for the front.

Here is a side by side comparison of the old BDS 4.5” coil springs compared to the new Metalcloak 4.5” dual rate springs with a higher spring rate. The Metalcloaks have a 22.5” free length which also prevent them from unseating at full droop so no need to run my spring retainers.

OEM Mopar spring isolators that will reside on top of the spring between the spring and coil bucket. Also in the picture are TJ/LJ OE replacement jounce buckets. On a JK/JKU these jounce buckets are welded to the coil supporting tubes but seeing as how I cut them off when I installed the JKS ACOS & years ago I had to come up with an alternate plan. These will be bolted to the vertical tubes for an OEM function and appearance.

OEM jounce stops on the left and new Metalcloak Duro-spring microcellular urethane jounce stops on the right.

OEM isolator, OE style jounce bucket and Metalcloak jounce stops installed and ready to accept the new 4.5” Metalcloak coil springs.

Springs installed along with Synergy stackable bump stop adapters.

Shocks and sway bar links reconnected.

Rear OEM jounce stops with new Metalcloak rear Duro-springs.

Metalcloak rear jounce stops installed.

Final assembly and sitting back down on its tires/wheels.

Before backing it out of the shop and taking off with the wife for a drive I wanted to do one more small mod.

I have been disgusted by these ugly door nets that FCA thought were a good idea. Not only are they as ugly as Fido’s butt but they’re useless. I’ve been eying these JK Pockets for a few years but finally pulled the trigger and bought a set. I went with the standard black as I didn’t want the carbon fiber ones.

Thanks for looking.

Mike

 

[zmotorsports]

Yesterday my wife and I took off for a drive up and over the Mirror Lake Highway (US 150) out of Evanston, WY and down through Kamas, UT.

We put about 250 miles on and put the Jeep through its paces as well as just relaxed with the wife and enjoying the drive and conversation.

The Jeep is so planted and sure footed through the curves even at speed and flexed out nicely on the couple of obstacles I tested it out on.

We even saw a few people out on the little kettle lakes ice fishing although I don’t think it was thick enough and especially with it being in the mid-50 degree range today.

Thanks for looking.

Mike

 

[zmotorsports]

Used my test ramp to confirm no interferences.

Drivers side fully drooped out against the limiting strap and the passenger’s side at full stuff up against the new jounce stop.

At full stuff the tire clears the front bumper by nearly an inch and the tire clears the underside of the flare by about 1/2". Also no rubbing at the frame nor the lower control arm (lower link), which seems to be a common place of rubbing but when I built the lower links several years ago I put a pretty decent kick in the lower links.

I can live with this flex. Now to get more off-road seat time on this iteration.

 

[zmotorsports]

Deleted.

 

[zmotorsports]

On Saturday I made a couple of minor alterations to the Jeep to appease the local law.

I absolutely despise mud flaps but with the bigger tires and aggressive departure angle of my rear bumper it’s a magnet for attention. I’ve been looking at the Teraflex transit flaps and decided to order a set. These remove quickly and easily when going off-road and only leave a small bracket on the frame when the flaps are removed. They didn’t bolt right on as per the instructions because of the design of my bumper but I was able to modify them slightly to work.

I also did some preventive maintenance on my swing away tire carrier as I picked up a little play lately. Removed the bearings, cleaned and repacked.

Next up was to relocate my license plate to my spare tire.

Machining a couple spacers for the standoffs.

I used a bracket that had a LED license plate lights as well as third brake light that mounts under the top two license plate fasteners.

Next I cut the plug off of the OEM license plate housing and created a harness to route the wiring to the passenger side.

Weatherpack connector within easy reach for spare tire removal.

Rear end done and small block off plate added to old license plate mounting.

My son also came over on Saturday and PM’d his lawnmower so it was nice to hang out with him for a few hours.

Thanks for looking.

Mike

 

[zmotorsports]

Last night after work I racked the Jeep to perform a LOF service and tire rotation.

These 37” Nitto’s are wearing quite well. I’m impressed so far. I have 19,800 miles on them and still have between 12 and 13/32”.

I am getting a bit antsy to get off-road as it's been nearly 7 months now and the most off-road my Jeep has seen is the torn up road outside of our subdivision.

We have our annual trips planned to Ouray, South Dakota and Moab in the summer and fall which I hope don't get screwed up due to the pandemic but if I don't get off-road soon I'm going to go out of my freaking mind. Work is starting to slow a bit so maybe a day trip somewhere is in order.

Thanks for looking.

Mike

 

[zmotorsports]

Last night I replaced the radiator in the Jeep due to a leak as well as replaced my high pressure A/C line that also developed a leak over the winter.

Leaking radiator removed. A/C condenser and Camaro SS fan removed.

New radiator with the cooling stack components assembled and ready to install.

Engine bay wiped down and ready to accept cooling stack.

Installed. Vacuum pulled on cooling system and refilled.

Next I’ll have to charge my A/C system as it’s supposed to be mid-90’s by end of the week.

Mike

 

[zmotorsports]

A few pics from last week’s trip to Torrey, UT/Capitol Reef area.

One of our day trips consisted of a picnic lunch out on Cathedral Valley Drive.

While eating lunch this little guy scurried up alongside us and posed for a picture.

Another day we took a highway trip over to Goblin Valley.

We also took off on a day trip/picnic on the Burr Trail.

Thanks for looking.

Mike

 

[zmotorsports]

Just before leaving for vacation my new plates arrived.

 

[zmotorsports]

Some pictures from last night’s quality shop time.

If you look at the driver’s rear quarter you can see where the plastic factory license plate holder had rubbed through the clear and base into the primer. This has bugged me ever since I relocated my license plate to the spare tire carrier a few months back.

I don’t use this particular CB antenna mount any longer so I thought I’d remove it and fill in the holes while I’m at it.

No turning back now.

To plug the holes which were 3/8” and 3/16” I used my 9/16” Hougen RotoKut cutter to cut a slug out of some 18-gauge P&O sheet metal. The ID of the cutter is 3/8” and the plug fit perfectly. For the smaller hole I used my Roper Whitney hand punch with the 3/16” anvil and die.

Test fitting.

Small hole welded and I used a die grinder with 1/8” grinding disc to knock the top of the weld down to nearly flush with the parent material, followed by a Roloc disk to bring everything flush.

Both blended and ready to hit with some 80-grit.

You can’t feel any deviation across the repair so all that should be needed is some epoxy primer followed by some primer surfacer then it should be ready to block, wet sand and go right into paint.

I should receive my order from SPI on Friday containing my epoxy primer, 2k primer surfacer and universal clear. I stopped by my local paint & body supply last night and picked up a pint of PPG DBC 9700 black and I about had a heart attack when I saw a pint of standard base color was $106 bucks. I know it’s been a few years since I bought paint but daaayuuum.

Thanks for looking.

Mike

 

[mbryson]

Auto paint cost is INSANE. Are you just going to blend at the caulk seam around the corner or take the clear all the way to the door jamb?

 

[zmotorsports]

Auto paint cost is INSANE. Are you just going to blend at the caulk seam around the corner or take the clear all the way to the door jamb?

Just going from the rear gate jamb to the seam around the corner. All other paint is in pristine condition other than a couple of stratches on the passengers doors that I will polish out and a new Rubicon sticker on the hood that has stgarted to peel from the heat.

Mike

 

[zmotorsports]

Saturday morning I sprayed some SPI 2K primer surfacer onto the rear corner along with some guide coat

 

[zmotorsports]

Last night after arriving home from work I pulled the Jeep out and wet sanded the repair area.

I was very pleased with how the SPI 2K primer sanded. It had sat for about 56 hours so maybe that had something to do with it, meaning I hadn’t rushed it.

After drying everything and blowing the water out of the nooks and crannies I masked it again and mixed up some more SPI epoxy primer as a sealer. I probably could have gone directly to basecoat as there wasn’t any bare metal showing but I thought I’d go the extra step and apply a good uniform sealer prior to the PPG DBC basecoat. I splashed just a little bit of slow reducer into the epoxy primer to help it lay down flat seeing as how I'm using it as a sealer.

Hopefully tonight if I can get out of work on time, or even a bit early I will get the color and clear on it.

Thanks for looking.

Mike

 

[Pile of parts]

. I splashed just a little bit of slow reducer into the epoxy primer to help it lay down flat seeing as how I'm using it as a sealer.

And due to the fact that it was 100*. But then, your shop is probably climate-controlled. Nice repair!

 

[zmotorsports]

And due to the fact that it was 100*. But then, your shop is probably climate-controlled. Nice repair!

Thanks but I'm not shooting this in my shop. No way in HELL I'd spray inside of my shop. I pull it outside, spray it and then back it back into the shop afterwards. And yes, it was hotter than hell yesterday wet sanding it and shooting it outside. And wouldn't ya know it, as soon as I masked the Jeep and pulled it outside around 5:00pm, the freaking wind came up. Kind of a PITA but I swore I would never do paint and body work in my shop. Been there done that a couple of shops ago and it will make a mess that simply can't be fully cleaned up.

Mike

 

[zmotorsports]

Like riding a bike.......

Felt kinda good to have my old Iwata gun in my hand again.

Three coats of PPG DBC base down.

First coat of SPI Universal Clear.

After third and last coat of clear.

And I’ve got my shop back in order.

For the first time spraying this clear I am impressed. It laid down beautifully. I don’t even think I’ll have to color sand it. The very slight, and I mean very slight, bit of orange peel matches the OEM finish perfectly. I’m afraid if I cut & buff it the two panels won’t match.

When I would spray the PPG DC2021 clear I would always over-reduce the final coat of clear by 10% with DT895, which is their extremely slow reducer. This would help the final coat lay down very flat.

I was prepared to do that with the SPI clear but found out I didn’t have to as it laid down so flat mixed 1:1 as instructed.

Time will tell but so far I’m impressed with this clear.

Thanks for looking.

Mike

 

[BlackSheep]

A few pics from last week’s trip to Torrey, UT/Capitol Reef area.

One of our day trips consisted of a picnic lunch out on Cathedral Valley Drive.

While eating lunch this little guy scurried up alongside us and posed for a picture.

Another day we took a highway trip over to Goblin Valley.

We also took off on a day trip/picnic on the Burr Trail.

Thanks for looking.

Mike

In a little over a week I'll be heading west to do some 'overlanding' with my van. The Burr trail is one of my target roads in the loop I have planned. Thanks for posting this mini-trip report.

 

[mbryson]

Good info on the clear! Is it as crazy expensive as everything else out there? My jaw literally dropped last time I was in an auto paint store. (I need to do my bedside on my F350....)

I've never used any SPI products. Good to hear it's laying down nice. Some quick research shows it's not to badly priced? I assume if you let the basecoat flash well, you're fine with a different vendor's clear. I've always been paranoid mixing products and just stick to same/same for base/clear but have heard/read it's not a big issue at all.