The Safari Concept from Jeep:

 

Next project: The full clear doors from that Safari concept!

Does the JL grill sit more upright than the JK? It looks that way here.

 

I've been thinking about doing half doors for a while, although I'm not thinking they'll be clear. I could build them so that's possible though.

As a proof of concept, a while back I did the molds for the rear hard uppers, here are a few photos of the first hard one out of the molds. I did the rear first because one mold can be used to make both left and right side uppers. I painted this one "hardtop color" but it could also be done in gloss body color.



Next photo shows testing a hard upper on a Jeep. The front upper is a factory soft upper with the Retrofit Offroad slider kit installed, the rear door has a hard upper installed.



Here's a peek at the design I've been working on for the half doors. The design accepts either factory uppers, Rugged Ridge or Bestop uppers or my hard uppers. The outside skin isn't just smooth like the factory doors, it's got some structure reminiscent of some military vehicle doors.



Haven't decided if I'll build molds for the full set of 4 hard uppers and 4 hard half doors, still thinking about it.

The JK grille does look a little more vertical but I haven't measured the angle.

 

We have had an idea for half doors for quite some time but havent been able to determine if the market wants a fiberglass door.

Are you planning on fiberglass if you move forward?

How does everyone feel about a fiberglass half door?

 

Preparing for my trip to Overland Expo, I installed an Overland Rack today. This is a preproduction one for testing, but very nearly production ready. Later in the week I'll put the roof top tent up there.

 

Except for installing the root top tent, the Jeep is outfitted for the road trip and Overland West. This morning I added the roof rack - Rubicans are mounted in front of where the tent will go, and sand ladders are mounted under where the tent will go (they slide out from the sides when the tent is in place). Also installed a side mount on the driver's side with another Rotopax and a side mount on the passenger side with a jerry can. The DIY awning mounts to the roof rack and shelters the kitchen area.





I'll install the tent on Friday or Saturday - since the Jeep won't fit in the garage with the tent in place that's always the last thing to be installed.

 

Got the July issue of Four Wheeler in the mail today; it's always fun to be surprised by something like this in a magazine...

 

 

I'm planning to mold another grille with turn signal buckets when I get back from this trip. I'll likely do the buckets in the Safari concept position to see how that looks. I'm not sure if I'll do the buckets for factory turn signals or for something a little smaller; the Safari concept grille turn signals are a little smaller than the JK factory ones so I may do something smaller.

To help me decide what size turn signals I use for the next grille I mold and where to put them, here are a few simulations. First, the grille as I built it:



With buckets for the turn signals molded into the next grille so the signals won't stand proud of the grill surface. These next images are edits of the existing photo, so the new grille will look slightly different once the turn signals are flush, but being almost head-on, these images are pretty close.

The factory turn signals moved to the Safari Concept location (inboard from the factory position, outboard from where I put mine):



Same Safari Concept position, but smaller lights - 2.5" instead of the factory 3.5":



The small 2.5" turn signals moved inboard as far as possible.



I think I like the smaller turn signals better.

 

Definitely the smaller lights......I'm liking the slightly inboard look. It narrows up the front end visually.