bzauche

Today was a major success in my book! Here's the story:

Yesterday, I disassembled all of the lights, scuffed them up real good, and put two coats of Rustoleum Self-etching primer on. I also picked up some steel and got it cut, and drilled all my necessary holes. So today, I started with this:





My homebrew mounting tabs:



First thing, I made quick work of the lights with Rustoleum Spray-On Truck Bed Liner, which I also used for my entire roof rack.











Two full coats and some touch-ups later, it was time to mount the tabs to the rack:







Then it was time to reassemble the lights!



Naturally, the next step was to get the lights mounted on their tabs!
















That's how I spent a couple hours of my day! I still need to do some touch ups on the rack, and paint the hardware. Hopefully all my electrical supplies will be here this week so I can get them wired up before I have to go back to school! The agenda for tomorrow includes repainting my faded factory roof side bars, and not much else!

Brent T

That is one seriously clean rig. Looks nice.

Bimmer_2002

Looking good man!! I'm jealous! Keep up the good work!

bzauche

Thank you very much! I try to keep it clean, but I definitely have fun with it!

Thanks! I'll do my best!

Just ordered 4 soft vinyl KC light covers to protect the lights when I'm driving down the road. I think they'll look great too!

I'll update tomorrow with pics of my roof rail restoration after I finish it up.

TransAm79

Awesome build. Looking forward to following it, I'm doing a college build myself. Good luck, hope to help you out on some parts.

bzauche

Thanks man! Slow and steady...

bzauche

I completed another little restoration project today; my factory roof rails! I figured since I just refurbished my entire roof rack and added new lights, I wanted my factory rails to look nice too

So a couple of hours ago, they look like this:





Did a little bit of sanding:



Primed:



As the 4th coat of paint dries!





Much better!

I'll probably go out and put them back on in a few hours. I don't want to take any chances with condensation/rain/moisture getting into the holes in the roof overnight! My Del City order should get here tomorrow, so I'll hopefully be able to start all my wiring for the lights!

pastrickland901

Nice jeep man, looks supper clean!

bzauche

Thanks!

MCObray

Loving this thread so far. It even makes it that much more better with the quality pictures... what do you shoot with?

Anyway, keep it up man. Your XJ is coming along nicely.

bzauche

Thanks for the compliments! I shoot with my trusty 'ole Nikon D80 that I bought back in '07. Since then, I've learned how to use it/adjust it like the back of my hand; even made a good bit of money with it too! If you want, check out www.zauche.com - my personal photography page. Anywho, thanks for the compliments and it seems like we'll be following each others builds!

wiggles

Wow..... Great looking xj and those shots in the parking garage were amazing! Looked like a planned photo shoot!

bzauche

Thank you! Those photos weren't "planned" in every sense of the word...I had just waxed the Jeep and decided it needed some proper pictures!

UPS just dropped off my electrical stuff, so today I'll be starting the wiring of the lights!

MCObray

Cool photos man. I've been very VERY tempted to pick up a Nikon D5100, but I just have to get my priorities straight right now and keep saving up money towards moving down to Eugene to attend UofO (Go Ducks). Keep it at it man, I enjoy the pics!

bzauche

Thanks! Nikons are good cameras. I did months of research before getting mine. Camera stuff has certainly taken a back seat since the Jeep came into my life! I'm in the middle of wiring up my rack so I'll definitely keep updating!