952door4x4

So I finally got fed up of the amazing "air circulation" that most jeeps seem to come standard with (aka rust holes in the cargo area). It took quite a bit of work and a few rides to work from friends. I havent really looked at many other peoples threads about how they did this but this is just one variation of how to do it. I have no idea if it is the best, but it has seemed to work for me so far and is holding up good. I have only been done with it for about a week and there might be a few revisions. For your point of reference here is a pic of what I had to work with in the beginning.





I started by going to my local Metal Supermarket, seriously. I had never heard of this place but a friend told me about it and this place is great for any of your metal needs. I bought a piece of 14ga cold rolled steel 55"X37" to cover the entire cargo area. It was probably a little overkill but I figure the thicker the better, it was like $57.99 pretty reasonable. After I got my giant piece of metal it was time for me to measure and cut out the wheel wells, fuel filler cutout, and the small parts near the edge of the hatch. When I cut the metal I made sure to leave a little extra on the sides and pounded it in with a hammer to help keep it in. At the time, I didnt want to use rivets or bolts because I wanted to keep it looking as clean as possible, but I might have to go back in later with a few bolts just to snug everything up. I used a grinder and went through a few wheels and with a few minor on the car modifications it fit like a charm.



Once I had a good fit, I bought a few tubes of black RTV seam sealer. This is where I might have to make a few adjustments. I only used the RTV to set the new piece of metal in. I used one tube underneath the piece of metal to go in, put the piece in place, and used the other tube to seal the edges. I piled a bunch of heavy stuff on top of the metal to keep it in place and to make sure that everything sealed up nice and tight, and let it sit overnight.

Once the RTV had set it was only a matter of rolling on the herculiner.

It took forever to do because it works best to do many thin layers. I bought 2 quarts of herculiner and the installation kit to put it on. The kit was ok, it had a small roller, paintbrush, and a small paint tray for the roller. It was just nice to have everything that I needed. The directions say to wait 3 hours in between coats and I did 3. I let it sit overnight after the second coat just to make sure that the first one was fully dry before I put more wet liner on top. A few things about putting on the liner, make sure that you go all the way up to the seams on the wheel wells if you are planning on leaving out the carpet because the carpets thickness blocks you from seeing up under the plastic panels when you put them back on. Also I was surprised to see that you can see the wheel well when sitting in the back seat so make sure that you get that as well. Hopefully this guide helps give some people the inspiration or the instruction to do this. I think it looks great and I look forward to using it in the summer for camping, tailgating, or just going to the drive in. Oh, heres a pic of it all finished.

94xjstud

That looks superclean and I love how it is flat. You should add some tie in straps/bolts.