Finishing the Jeep Hardtop

[Daless2]

Finishing the Jeep Hardtop

Hi folks

After years of wheeling my Jeep, rolling it once, and twice laying it on the passenger side I thought it was about time to do some body repairs.

These repairs consisted of replacing and painting two Sahara fiberglass flares on the passenger side and welding in a new rear quarter panel.

While I was at it I decided to finally finish the top that Jeep did not see fit to do. I have always disliked the seams in the fiberglass hardtop, so I figured I'd get ride of them. After some grinding and fiberglass lay-up I preceded to sand the rest of the top baby bottom smooth.

After shooting one quart of Sherwin Williams' best Base Coat, the same color as my Forest Green Metallic Jeep, and one gallon of Clear Coat (with hardener) here are the results.







Yes it's a lot of green but I have to tell you it does look nice in real life. At least to my tastes.

I had intended to do a complete write-up on how to refinish the Jeep Hardtop. I even took the pictures too, but.....

For some reason all the pictures on that memory card are simply not there. Sorry.

If anyone does care to do this I have two three tips you will find useful.

1. Remove the hardtop vents by pulling them out about 1/4-inch then stop! There are eight plastic fingers (four on each side). You need to press the fingers in to get the vent to slide out of the hardtop. If you don't know about this (and the FSM doesn't tell you about it) you will break these fingers off and the vents will not stay in place when you put them back in. (Don't ask how I know.)

2. You do not have to remove the side widows to paint around them and under the gasket. What you can do is slide a 1/4-inch nylon rope under, and around, this window mounting gasket. the rope will hold the gasket away from the top so you can sand in there and get the paint inside.

3. When sanding the top, do so BY HAND using #180 grit paper until you get all those little bumps out of the paint. I have no idea what those bumps are made of, perhaps epoxy. What I do know is they will clog up just about any grit paper used on a power sander. Once you get the Bumps off then you can go to the power sander and much finer paper.

This was the first time I have ever sprayed base coat / clear coat paint.

In truth I found this very easy to do compared to lacquers from years ago. The finish is almost perfect (and I am picky). I am quite certain I could get away with leaving it alone, but I have a minor imperfection in the middle of the top.

A "no-see-um" bug decided to do a kamikaze like death dive into my clear coat while it was still wet. I will try to rub it out after about 30 days. If it doesn't come out nicely I have more clear coat.

Look Ma, No More Seams!!! Look Factory too! Now why couldn't Jeep do that?

Frank

[Robert J. Yates]

Very Chili Frank

[jeepik]

i gotta say you NEED a better camera

with all your life spent on internet write ups( as it seems to me) might as well spend the time to show all the hardwork off better to the internet geek community


i like it though, from what i could see

[Paradiddle]

Frank,

Looks great - you sure you wheel that thing? It seems awfully clean...

Jeff

[Daless2]

Originally posted by Robert J. Yates
Very Chili Frank

I like that Robert.

I have a hot Jeep, Roberts says so too!

God Bless my friend,

Frank

[Daless2]

Originally posted by jeepik
i gotta say you NEED a better camera

with all your life spent on internet write ups( as it seems to me) might as well spend the time to show all the hardwork off better to the internet geek community


i like it though, from what i could see

Yea your right, I do need to use a better camera. My mid grade camera doesn't seem to be working any more. These were taken with the poor grade camera.

Tomorrow I will break out the 10 Mega pixel and see if I can crop it down to size.

It really does look great but the pictures just don't show it.

Bear with me I'm still learning.

Have a great night

Frank

[Daless2]

Originally posted by Paradiddle
Frank,

Looks great - you sure you wheel that thing? It seems awfully clean...

Jeff

Hi Jeff,

Yea I wheel it and have to do the battle of the rust every spring too!

I'm not really anal about the Jeep. It has more then it's fair share of scratches. It used to be dented up on the tub too, but no longer!

I even learned how to weld the quarter panel in myself.

Normally I have the soft top on by Memorial Day. This year I just ran around without any top till Friday when I finished this project. I suppose this weekend I will take my Purdy hard top off and put the soft top on till late fall.

Have a great night my friend,

God Bless.

Frank

PS: We have to deal with Jeep pin striping here a lot. (When brush rubs against the sides scratching everything up pretty good.). I solved most of that problem with 7 coats of McGuire's Gold Wax. Get a really good build up of wax on the sides and the brush and branches only scratch Wax. They never make it to the paint. Then you apply another coat of wax and it becomes self healing. Warning, I doubt this technique would work on the rock in Johnson Valley!

[Paradiddle]

Originally posted by Daless2

PS: We have to deal with Jeep pin striping here a lot. (When brush rubs against the sides scratching everything up pretty good.). I solved most of that problem with 7 coats of McGuire's Gold Wax. Get a really good build up of wax on the sides and the brush and branches only scratch Wax. They never make it to the paint. Then you apply another coat of wax and it becomes self healing. Warning, I doubt this technique would work on the rock in Johnson Valley!

The majority of the trails out here have nasty bushes called manzanita (I think) - man do they pinstripe your rig.

I'm just too lazy to put a bunch of wax on my Jeep!

Hope you are well my friend - can't wait to Jeep with you again. Bring your Jeep out and we'll run the Dusy or something.

How is the supercharger working? Have any speeding tickets yet?

Jeff

[jeepcj]

Awesome color! Forest green is one of my favs and hope mine turnes out just as nice as yours someday.

[Bruce David]

Frank,
Looks real good. You need to hit a shine and show, before the trails.

[Daless2]

I have come to the conclusion that it is beyond my ability to take a photo of a Forest Green Metallic Jeep (with matching hardtop) that shows exactly how nice it looks.

Here are a few more pictures taken with the good camera today.












Frank

[Daless2]

Originally posted by Paradiddle
The majority of the trails out here have nasty bushes called manzanita (I think) - man do they pinstripe your rig.

I'm just too lazy to put a bunch of wax on my Jeep!

Hope you are well my friend - can't wait to Jeep with you again. Bring your Jeep out and we'll run the Dusy or something.

How is the supercharger working? Have any speeding tickets yet?

Jeff

Hi Jeff,

Boy don't you know I'd like to get out there with my Jeep and wheel with you guys. Don't see it happening though. That left coast is just a tad too far. Now Moab...hmmmmm I might be able to do a Moab or Colorado trip someday!!!!

Supercharger is working great. No tickets and don't plan on getting any but I have to tell you; it is so nice to me in 5 th gear doing 55 mph and then going to 85 mph like there is no effort or time laps at all!

I couldn't justify this installation at all, and wouldn't try too. But I have to tell you, driving can be even more fun now!

Have a great evening Jeff,

Frank

[Chuck K.]

Wow Frank, you did a fantastic job!! From the little bit of body work I use to do I know what a PIA all the prep work is. How much will you charge me to do mine? I can head out Sunday morning when I get off graveyards
My hard top is still sitting under the shed since I aquired a late model soft top. I have been considering selling it because I am so pleased with the anti-sail soft top and how quite it is..

[LoneJeeper]

Hey,

man, does that look sweet.

My top is black, and rather "matte". I'd love to have it come out like yours.

I've got a couple questions tho,

Will the fiberglass' flex bother the paint? Won't it crack?

How much paint did you use? enough to affect the weight of the top?

what the hell happened to your rear bumper?

LoneJeeper

[mrblaine]

Originally posted by LoneJeeper
Hey,

man, does that look sweet.

My top is black, and rather "matte". I'd love to have it come out like yours.

I've got a couple questions tho,

Will the fiberglass' flex bother the paint? Won't it crack?

How much paint did you use? enough to affect the weight of the top?

what the hell happened to your rear bumper?

LoneJeeper

I can't get all the answers, but I know one of them.

FRP, fiber reinforced plastic, will not flex far enough to crack the paint. Most modern bumpers are actually urethane covers and then painted with a very small addition of flex agent in the paint and they give a long way without the paint cracking.

[DanB98TJ]

I must've missed this thread the first time around....

The top looks great! The smooth finish has a lot better appearance than the pebbled of the stock top, and the color match is nice.

I'm pulling the camper shell of the truck tomorrow so I can start prepping it for paint - a white and gray truck just doesn't look good with a tan shell - and hopefully I can get it to turn out half as good as your Jeep.

[Dan-H]

Originally posted by Daless2

Tomorrow I will break out the 10 Mega pixel and see if I can crop it down to size.

Hi Frank,

Not sure if you have used irfan before but it might suit your needs.

http://www.irfanview.com/index.htm

- Dan

ps: the HT looks slick.

[LoneJeeper]

Originally posted by mrblaine
I can't get all the answers, but I know one of them.

FRP, fiber reinforced plastic, will not flex far enough to crack the paint. Most modern bumpers are actually urethane covers and then painted with a very small addition of flex agent in the paint and they give a long way without the paint cracking.

Very true... That paint can take a hell of a beating.

What's the flex agent?

LoneJEeper

[mrblaine]

Originally posted by LoneJeeper
Very true... That paint can take a hell of a beating.

What's the flex agent?

LoneJEeper

That's what it's called when you order for the brand of paint you are using- flex agent.