Project Red Roof Inn

[BigDaveZJ]

I've probably got a couple days of solid work into it. A lot of it has been a couple hours here, couple hours there.

[BigDaveZJ]

Finished up the first round of exterior welding tonight. Still need to grind it all down and find the holes, as well as weld up the seam on the interior and plate them. I'm really starting to get sick of welding sheet metal, but overall the project is still going much better than I ever anticipated.

[BigDaveZJ]

We set a record hi temp in Denver today and I spent a lot of the day out in the garage working on the ZJ. Got quite a bit done, and it's definitely more driveable than it was before. On a couple test drives that the Jeep wasn't really ready for yet there was a lot of movement and noise coming from the rear. I had only welded the outside of the unibody though, so I didn't expect perfection.

Here's some more detailed pics of how everything sat this morning:


Notice the pretty substantial gaps in the d-pillar, no big surprise that it wasn't really all that strong.




I've got pieces cut to fill the gap in the roof line, just haven't gotten to those yet.


Roof seam is welded and riveted, added more rivets today too.


These are the plates I cut out today to distribute the load on the interior seams on the unibody.


And welded/riveted in place


I figure the combination of the two should really help add some strength, distribute the load, and stay strong for a long time.

I grabbed some new hatch struts today too, and after putting them on I dove in to some of the wiring for the hatch. Here is where I noticed a mistake I had made. When I originally pulled the roof and hatch back in the day I left a lot of the wiring intact, and just had it kinda laying on the floor board. Well when I welded in the mini-cage I trapped the wire loom. So I had to cut it apart and connect it all back together. Wasn't really all that big of a deal, since only a few wires actually go from side to side. I got the license plate lights working, as well as the power locks mechanism for the hatch.

We took it on a test drive today too, and I have to say the improvement was significant. No squeaks from the back, and it felt much more solid. I still need to work on the roof line and reinforce that, as well as a metric shit-ton of body work left.

[MoonWorks]

Pretty cool man. I've seen plenty of roofs come off but none of them go back on.

[leeanderthal]

Progress looks good! Gotta fell better about the ability to lock stuff away! Does the hatch work good?

[BigDaveZJ]

Hatch works perfectly. I thought getting the hatch to line up was going to be one of the biggest challenges but it honestly was pretty easy.

[leeanderthal]

Glad to hear that. I think it looked pretty cool with the hatch cut off, I just like to lock my stuff up also.

[BigDaveZJ]

Drove it on the washboarded gravel road this morning that exposed the major weaknesses a couple weeks ago and it did MUCH better. Very little noise and movement from the backend. I still need to do some additional reinforcements on that gap on the roof and tie the tube in a couple more places, but it should be plenty solid with all of that.

[BigDaveZJ]

Laid down some bondo today.





After sanding it down I shot some primer.


Sprayed some semi-gloss black too, but didn't get a pic of that.

In between bondo and paint I also finally got around to installing the radiator support that I got from KOR last fall. Looks like I was about do, lol.


Install was super easy even with my rig being wheeled for 10 years.

After I get some more flap discs I'm gonna move back to the roof line and finish that up.

[dp96zj]

It's looking pretty good, the hard work's gonna make it look (almost) like a ZJ again!

I remember when I put on my rad support, comparing the two supports was like night and day . That thing is pure beef.

[Jeeptech01]

Lookin good. That is def a big undertaking to put the roof back on like that esp on a rig that has been wheeled hard with it off. God did that sound like ass kissing? Ugh not intentional LOL

[BigDaveZJ]

Lookin good. That is def a big undertaking to put the roof back on like that esp on a rig that has been wheeled hard with it off. God did that sound like ass kissing? Ugh not intentional LOL

My biggest concern is will it still hold up after wheeling it hard, that'll be the true test of how well this all worked.

[Jeeptech01]

You still have a cage in it right? If it didnt flex enough to prevent you from putting a straight roof on it after all that wheeling I doubt you will have issue with it. At this point your rig probably isnt counting on it for structural rigidity (since it has obviously done fine without it) so it may as well be an 85 pound roof ornament that you chose to weld on... To keep the neighborhood kids from stealing it? ed: the ornament not the Rig Heh

[zj95maxx]

Show the interior "cage". I am interested in seeing how you mounted and designed it.

I know it is just the rear part, but still.

[ajmorell]

Looks good Dave. Maybe I missed it but are you painting the hatch to match?

[BigDaveZJ]

Show the interior "cage". I am interested in seeing how you mounted and designed it.

I know it is just the rear part, but still.

Last pic in post 153. Just a hoop and some down bars. More to strengthen the unibody than act like a cage. 1.75" .120 wall HREW. 1/8" plate tie in's to the floor in 4 places. Additional connections will most likely be added to the c and d pillar where the reinforcement plates are.

[BigDaveZJ]

Looks good Dave. Maybe I missed it but are you painting the hatch to match?

The hatch was originally red, I did a crappy job prepping it the first time I painted it, so it will get another round of prep with more black. I'll also probably paint most of the red interior too.

[zj95maxx]

Last pic in post 153. Just a hoop and some down bars. More to strengthen the unibody than act like a cage. 1.75" .120 wall HREW. 1/8" plate tie in's to the floor in 4 places. Additional connections will most likely be added to the c and d pillar where the reinforcement plates are.

Plates underneath? Tube going to "frame"?

[BigDaveZJ]

Nope. If it were a roll cage, then yes I would have done those, but it is there to regain some of the structural rigidity of the unibody and distribute the load away from the welded seams in the body.

[BigDaveZJ]

Couple shots with paint


Both doors are cracked a bit so this one looks off a bit

[CrawlerReady]

Nice!!! I doubt anyone would even know that you had done this unless they saw your build. Looks good Dave!

[Pitch]

Awesome work Dave!

You should have left the ZJ blue, red, and black and called it "Patches."

[SirFuego]

That looks great, Dave!

[BigDaveZJ]

I was working on welding some more on the roof line last week when my welding hood had an unfortunate run-in with floor and the headpiece shattered into a bazillion pieces. So while waiting for a new headpiece to show up I worked on some other stuff yesterday. I haven't put pics online yet, but we started work on a storage box/platform that will take the place of the rear seats.

We made it out of 3/4" plywood, and the top sits on the rear floor and goes to about 1/2" shy of my c-hoop, and then far enough forward to still allow the front seats to recline, about 33" total. We took more plywood and tried to contour to the floor as best as possible, and used 4 L-brackets to attach the front panel to the floorboard. The back section will be attached to the tube on the c-hoop somehow.

For access, we cut two doors into the top, a total of about 35" x 17". They're hinged with piano hinge on the back, so they are accessible from the front seats. We still need to carpet everything, and put it some tie downs and latches. The doors are held up by some 2" strips of plywood mounted to the bottom of the top panel that stick out into the opening about 5/8".

The cooler will sit on one side, with a spot for the dog on the other. I'm really happy with how it's turning out so far, and will try to get some pics up tonight.

[Sudz]

Does the heater still work? if so, you're back in business. It's nice to be able to lock your shit up too

Looks good, welcome back