I would rock that visor. My brother had one on his XJ and i always liked it.

 

I've always liked the look of the visors, so when this one came on eBay for a good price on my birthday a couple of years ago, I decided it had to be my birthday present. I don't know if I'll ever install it on anything, but I keep experimenting with it on my various Jeeps and projects to see what it might look like. Maybe one day I'll find a home for it .

 

Between other projects and a three-week off-road trip to Easter Jeep Safari Moab, Death Valley and the Mojave Desert I haven't had much time to work on finishing the JK Safari Cab lately, but I'll be back to it very soon.

One of the projects that has taken priority is my slider window project for factory hardtops. The idea is to produce a slider window kit than can replace the glued-in-place side windows in the factory hardtop.

Today I'm making a mold for a special JK Safari Cab side panel - here's a photo of the mold master, it's a modular Safari Cab side panel but with a factory window mounting surface. A piece of factory bonded glass would glue right in place on this panel just like on the factory hardtop, but the reason for making the mold is so I can make a few test panels for installing the sliders. These test panels will replicate the installation in the factory hardtop, but since it's cheap and easy to make these panels I can do the first slider install tests on these instead of a real hardtop.



Once this mold is made I'll make a few panels and send one to the window company for them to use as a template for making the prototype slider window frames.

 

Would love a safari top. It may sound blasphemous but I like the LandCruiser style it gives it.

 

Here's a look at the window frame template for the factory hardtop slider retrofit kit that I plan to send over to the window manufacturer. I've made up the template using the minimum radius available in their standard window frames to keep these windows very affordable.



Here it is edited to be black and to give a better idea of what the corners might look like when the frame is installed:



For comparison, here's a factory glass with the corners that were cut off the template after tracing the glass, this shows the difference between the factory glass and the slider window frame.

 

I finished sewing the prototype soft barn door over a month ago, but because of travel and other commitments haven't had the time to try it on the Jeep until today.

It fits and closes very well, and pushes firmly on the seal all the way around.

Zipped up:



The reason the "glass" is a little wavy is that it's a $3 piece of clear vinyl from the Walmart fabric department. When I sew a final cover in Spice I'll use Jeep factory soft top window material so it'll be nice and flat. Since this was a prototype to serve for making a pattern and testing the overall fit, there wasn't any need to spend $ on the window material. The camo material isn't as stiff as the soft top fabric I'll use for the final version either.

Rolled down:



View from the inside with it rolled down:



And with 4 wing nuts, it removes completely in less than a minute.



So now having tested it on the Jeep, I can use the patterns to make a final one out of factory soft top fabric and vinyl window material.

 

Very nice work and great concepts. I wanted to ask is there yet any market company production initiative in making the JKU Safari top?

 

Thank you very much.

Three companies have contacted me about the JK Safari Cab, but at this time I don't have any interest in seeing it go into production.

 

That makes me sad. :(

Unless you want to install one on mine lol!

 

Lots of other commitments and projects have kept me from starting the paint work on the JK Safari Cab, but hopefully I'll get back to it soon.

One of those projects is the slider window kit for factory hardtops, the prototype slider window frame arrived from the window company today. It's just a frame, no glass yet at this stage. Once I verify the fit in the hardtop panel the next step will be to get complete prototypes made with glass.



So far everything looks good - my first impression is that the window company got the angles exactly correct; this next photo shows the frame just sitting on top of the test hardtop panel.



Next I'll trim the window opening in the hardtop panel and mount the frame along with the retrofit kit that adapts the flat window to the curved mounting surface.

BTW this window will fit both the factory hardtop (with the retrofit kit) and the JK Safari Cab (no retrofit kit required).