LINE-X Patriot Jeep

[LINE-X]

More images:

Of note, the first image below is the cross brace we welded in due to cutting the main cross brace under the front seats in order to give the ATLAS II and NV4500 more space.

 

[LINE-X]

The next task was to seal off the rear corners for our air system and fueling station. To do this we used some piano hinges kindly donated by Truck Covers USA, another friend of ours. I don't want mud and water getting thrown into the rear corners, anyone with an old Jeep knows this is bad. So in order to hide wires and plumbing we decided to put the air system in the driver rear corner, and a refueling station in the passenger. These will have locks and be water "resistant". Simply put, we build storage boxes. We also ben some stainless brake l;ines with AN-3 connectors for running our air lockers lines to the frame. More on this as we build out the inner frame.

 

[LINE-X]

Next we almost finished the dash when we decided to scrap it and laser cut one. Due to the doors and roll-bar we had to move the glove box. This lead to lots of cutting and spot welding 20 gauge. Although now we can run beads on 20 gauge it was much harder when we were learning to work with such thin metal. In the end I took a downloaded CJ DXF File and brought it to my local water jet facility after editing the dash and speaker as well as placing our SPOD Controller.

 

[LINE-X]

One of the challenges of doing this build and the reason I wanted to run trailing arms is, a) it's not common and b) I did not want to cut the towers through the tub, think stock Jeep here. The trailing arms are allowing us to run a shorter length coil-over than would be otherwise required if we were going to the axle. What we wanted to do is have the Jeep tub far enough from the frame that I can run a cross brace from tower to tower under the tub rather than behind the rear seats. At this time I can only provide the images of the process and the CAD drawing which is 95% complete. This is the next challenge but I wanted to share what we have going on right now.

I will be moving into this part of the build in the near future, I will try to not take so long to get PICTURES up for the anit-YouTube crowd.

 

[LINE-X]

Other challenges to overcome.

I wanted to keep my Tuffbox which at one point housed a full PC Computer with a dash mounted touchscreen. Now it will house a hand tooled leather pouch for my pistols in the location that was for the stereo and in accordance with local ordinance and laws the main compartment will house a magazine holder keeping ammo separate from firearm but all in one convenient location. Due to cutting the bottom of the tub to house the transmission and transfer case the the Tuffbox had to be modified.


Website is not allowing the images.... More to follow perhaps I hit a daily limit....

 

[SLOWPOKE693]

I envy your patience with the fiberglass work. The top looks great.

 

[SLOWPOKE693]

One more request..... When you upload the pictures click "insert" and select full size.

 

[LINE-X]

One more request..... When you upload the pictures click "insert" and select full size.

 

[LINE-X]

Finally had time to get the foam sprayed in. I have to admit, this was the second shot at it. On the first run we were using foam that Expired in March 2022. In our tests it worked fine however after completing 2/3 the Jeep we realized that it was not consistently setting up. Parts had a bread texture which was clearly due to expired isocyanate (A Side). Once we got a fresh set it all went well. We also started some of the bondo / high-build primer.

 

[1Sinner]

What's the foam for? Sound deadening? Panel rigidity?

 

[LINE-X]

Since this is out show truck we are trying to put a little of everything we do into it. Believe it or not we have done several LINE-X over foam jobs.

Next I had a few goals...

First I wanted a clean look and to hide the conduit. Second Sound Deadening / Insulation. This is structural foam but I don't think it will do much for rigidity.

 

[LINE-X]

A few more photos after the foam is shaped and we add few layers of body filler and high-build primer.

 

[gt1guy]

When you Line-X over the structural foam, does it end up squishy?

 

[LINE-X]

When you Line-X over the structural foam, does it end up squishy?

No, not at all, just the opposite actually. The foam provides a backing for the LINE-X to stick too, once applied I could kick it pretty hard with a steel toe boot before it would really dent. Is it as strong as say wood, fiberglass or a steel substrate no, but the LINE-X makes it structurally sound and on this project were using our full polyurea version (XS-350 TDS ) which is 300% stronger than normal LINE-X. Check out this video, it one of the first advertising campaigns LINE-X shops did years and years ago. We have one in our shop.

Years ago we had a gay artist craft a penis chair out of a huge refrigerator block of foam. He brought it to us to LINE-X in blue. True story, we have a photo that is missing somewhere in my shop, if I ever find it I will post it. It's the most unique thing we've sprayed when people ask.

 

[FLUX]

The sharpie in the torch head trick is stellar, I am using that!

 

[LINE-X]

The sharpie in the torch head trick is stellar, I am using that!

As I recall one of my guys cut a 1" disc with a .5 in hole out of 1/2" Plate, due to the torch kerf in that thick of plate put a nice bevel angle which holds a sharpie perfect. Saves allot of money when you want to prototpye a part.