Very nice! I think the spice will look great against the dark red, similar to the other Jeeps you compared. Sounds like you're nearing completion. Eager to see how it turns out!

 

Thanks! Yes, the fiberglass construction is complete, now it's pretty much down to the finishing phase - paint, headliners, etc. And then doing the options - roll-up soft sides, soft barn door, possible the soft roof option... still lots of things to do.

The rattle can of Spice paint should be here in a few days, when it arrives I'll spray a sample and photograph it next to the Jeep. Based on all the YJ and TJ photos I've seen with Spice hardtops and soft tops, I think it will look very nice. Assuming I like the look of the sample, I'll then order a few yards of soft top fabric to check it for color match.

I've also ordered samples of several headliner materials for the inside of the roof. Those should arrive in a few days as well.

 

There's a decal/embroidery shop nearby that I've used many times for both decals and embroidery for my projects. I'm going to drop by there next week and see if their embroidery machine can handle a spare tire cover. Might be better to do something this large by silkscreening though, I'll see what they think.

The basic idea...

 

I'm working on something right now that suggests it would be a fairly straightforward project to turn a factory hardtop into a modular top like the Safari Cab. Here's a 2dr hardtop side panel that was cut from a factory hardtop, I added a bolt flange to the top of it. If you cut the sides out of a factory hardtop, added flanges like this to both sides of the cuts, you'd be able to use the flanges to bolt everything back together.



The factory hardtop comes with lines between the panels that make perfect places to cut:



I'm not actually making a factory modular hardtop, but I am working on this side panel for another project so I decided to post it in case anyone might have thought about turning their factory hardtop modular.

The reason I'm doing this panel is to have a test panel for the hardtop slider window project. The idea is that you'd remove the bonded-on factory hardtop windows and replace them with RV-style sliders (or some other type of window, such as tilt-up or cargo hatches). I've designed a retrofit kit to enable the flat RV-style windows to be successfully installed on the curved mounting surface of the factory hardtop, so the next step is to get the RV window company I've been working with to make up some prototype frames that I can test install in some hardtops (which they've agreed to do).

To make the first test install easier and not require removing the windows from an actual hardtop, I'm going to use this hardtop fragment. I believe it was in a rollover accident and the person was selling it for the glass, which wasn't damaged. The fiberglass was damaged, and needed repair, here are before and after photos:



I added the flange to the top in this case to strengthen the panel, but as I was doing it I decided it's an easy way to turn a factory hardtop modular. The flange was added by simple clamping a board to the top of the panel, covering it with masking tape, which polyester resin doesn't stick to, and using the board as a form to lay up fiberglass against to make the flange.



Cutting a factory hardtop apart at the seam lines and adding flanges to both sides of each cut would be a reasonable way to end up with a modular hardtop with removable sides. You could end up with something like this...

 

Someone asked me if the idea I posted yesterday about making a factory hardtop modular would work on a 4-door JK hardtop. I don't see why it wouldn't. The result would look something like this when the side panels were removed:

 

The 2dr JK hardtop side panel I posted I posted the other day is part of the slider window project for factory hardtops. I also made up a side panel with a JKU factory window for testing using a Safari Cab modular side panel. This way I can do test installs of slider windows in a factory hardtop mounting surface, and install the test panel on my JK Safari Cab for road testing. I started with this window/hardtop fragment I found on eBay:



Because the seller cut the fiberglass pretty close to the glass the fiberglass was no longer strong enough to use for window installation testing, so I spliced it into a Safari Cab side panel that I molded on Monday just for this purpose. Here's a work-in progress photo:



And once a little bodywork and some paint were done, here's the result, left to right: this panel with factory JKU window, a Safari Cab panel with a kick-out vent window, a Safari Cab panel with a cargo hatch installed.



Because I spliced in a section of a factory hardtop, the black panel has a curved window mounting surface, which is what I need for testing the slider retrofit kit. The other two panels in the photo have the Safari Cab flat window mounting surface.

Next I'll remove the factory window from the black panel and document the removal process. Then I'll make a mold of the new panel so I can mold several more side panels to use for test installations of prototype slider windows.


Safari Cab project update: the rattle can of Spice paint is due to arrive on Friday, so I'll spray a sample then and photograph it next to the Jeep to see how the color combo looks. I've also got some headliner fabric samples on the way, they should be here by the end of the week as well.

 

The rattle can of Spice paint arrived today, so I primed a small square of fiberglass and shot it in Spice.







The I took the square down to Elmira Auto Paint and they scanned it. Their computer decided it was a close match for Chrysler paint code LTB, which is Spice, so good news there, the rattle can matches what I can get mixed.

They then mixed me a 2 oz sample so I can compare that to the rattle can.

I like the look of the Spice with the Cherry Red JK, but more importantly, Heather approves.

 

Looks pretty dang good.

 

I checked the color Elmira Auto Paint mixed for me, it's a good match for the rattle can I test I sprayed yesterday. When I'm ready to paint, I'll get Elmira Auto Paint to mix a quart of Spice base coat for me.



Since the interior of the Jeep is black with black leather (or whatever marketing name Jeep uses for the black-like color), I'm going to do the headliner in a complementary color. Here's a swatch of the headliner fabric next to the carpet in the cargo area, it's called "Heather Charcoal" and it's more of a gray than a charcoal but I think it will go nicely with the interior.





I've also ordered 4 yards of Spice soft top fabric from Collins Bros. to make the roll-up soft sides and the soft barn door: Haartz Soft top and Seat Material: Spice (37) - Collins Bros. Jeep. BTW I'm going to sew two skins for the soft barn door - one will be Spice to match the Safari Cab, and the second skin will be done in black factory soft top fabric so it will go well with the factory hard and soft tops.

The only color decision left is the inside of the side and rear panels. The interior of factory hardtops is white, so I'm thinking I'll shoot them with white bedliner.

 

How do the rear corners stay attached?