The next sewing project: the fabric for the new spare tire cover arrived today. The first thing I did was cut out the main circle; I marked the location of the logo and dropped it off at the sign shop to have them heat-press the logo in place. It'll be easier for them to press the logo on to a piece of fabric than onto the completed cover, so I'm having them do that before I do any sewing.



While I'm waiting for them I can sew the side band with the elastic, and when I get the circle back I'll sew the two pieces together.

When I was searching for a source for the Coyote fabric I also discovered that there are lots of bags and Molle pouches available in the same fabric/same color, so if I decide to have color-matched bags for gear that I keep in the Jeep I'm sure I can find an appropriate bag for it. I grabbed these images from different eBay listings so the color varies, but they're all advertised to be made from Coyote Cordura fabric.

 

The SEMA Show in Las Vegas is about 6 weeks away and it looks like my JKU Safari will be playing a small role at the show this year. I'll write more about it when I can, things are still developing.

I go every year, and before I go I always explore the show online - it's such a huge show it helps to check out in advance which companies are going to be exhibiting where so I can make sure I don't miss anything I want to see. SEMA always provides an online floorplan in advance of the show, so if you want to cruise the aisles virtually to see who's exhibiting you can click on the image below you'll get a map of the South Hall upper floor which is where most of the Jeep stuff is.

 

One of the reasons it took me so long to finish the JK Safari project is that I was always being "interrupted" by work on other design projects, like this one that hit the market two weeks ago. Just got this photo of the package from the company (I've blurred the company info on the box because this is a not a commercial thread). The next time one of my Jeeps ends up on a product box I'll have to make sure it's the JK Safari .

 

Congratulations! Definitely keep us informed..can't wait to see more of your ideas!

 

Finished sewing the new spare cover.

 

Awesome!!!!! I would love to have one of these hard tops. Even if it wasn't modular and the vent windows were not electric. This is just what I'm looking for. Wish I could mold fiberglass!!!!!

 

The recent sewing I've done on the soft barn door and the new spare tire cover have gotten me thinking about other sewing projects, so here are two I did today to make use of the usually unused space over the rear inner fenders.

The first one is a Molle panel, it attaches to the hardtop bolts (or those bolt holes if a hardtop isn't installed).



The second is a cargo net, it attaches in the same way.



Both can be installed on either side of the Jeep.

 

More photos of yesterday's sewing projects.

 

I installed the Homelink transmitter in the Safari Cab overhead panel today. Looks right at home up there. It's got three buttons and I've got a three car garage - perfect.





I picked up this transmitter at the u-pull junkyard for a couple of bucks, but they're inexpensive and easy to find on eBay as well.

The next interior enhancement will be a mount that hangs the GPS above the mirror. I've done similar mounts for my other two Jeeps and it's a great place for the GPS for me, here's the one in my LJ:

 

Over the course of this thread I've been working on a few projects that companies have asked me to do - one of those is the slider window kit for factory hardtops. Today I sent the first draft of the installation instructions for the factory hardtop slider window kit to the company that's planning to manufacture/market them. This draft has photos taken during a test install in a modular factory side panel; once the company (or perhaps an early adopter of the kit) does an installation on a full hardtop the photos will be updated.

The sliders are ready, the retrofit kit is ready, everything is pretty much ready for the trigger to be pulled on production; the company now has to decide if there's really enough interest in the slider window idea for them to go ahead.

One thing I suggested is that they do a limited production group buy to test the waters - maybe they should put out a group buy offer and limit it to 10 sets of windows - if they can't get 10 people (or close to that) to sign up, then there probably isn't enough demand to go into full production.

Here's a thumbnail view of the installation instructions. The removal of the factory windows and installation of the slider windows with the retrofit kit is a pretty straightforward process, so this is all there is to the instructions.