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2007 Jeep JK Wrangler Paint - UAJKPart 5: The Rubi Wagon Gets Paint & Bumpers From the February, 2009 issue of 4Wheel & Off-Road By Fred Williams Photography by The 4-Wheel & Off-Road Staff
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It's the fifth and almost final installment of our Ultimate Adventure Jeep buildup, and there is still much to cover. We started with a two-wheel-drive '07 Jeep Wrangler with less than 1,000 miles on it, and we cut out the factory rollcage and installed acustom cage at Twisted Customs in Rapid City, South Dakota (Sept. '07). Then we took it to American Expedition Vehicles (AEV) in Missoula, Montana, where we proceeded to have it torn apart and cut up to fit a new drivetrain (Oct. '07). We then revealed how we shortened a Dodge Mega Cab frame, channeled and manipulated the Jeep tub to fit over it, and then started fabricating a new firewall to clear the Cummins diesel that will power our Jeep. Last month we got into the nitty gritty of bolting the Cummins to an NV4500 five-speed transmission and Atlas transfer case from Advanced Adapters, adjusting the suspension with some Superlift shocks and add-a-leaves, and finally bolting in some axle from a new Dodge Power Wagon (equipped with 4.56 gears and selectable lockers). We christened her the Rubi Wagon, since it epitomizes all the best stuff Jeep and Dodge have to offer for the off-roader-part Jeep Rubicon, part Power Wagon. This Jeep was being built to lead a troop of 18 rigs during a weeklong off-road trip known as Ultimate Adventure (seen elsewhere in this issue), and as such it has to be capable off road, driveable on road, and have all the gear and requirements for the trip. Since a winch is required on the trip and both Warn and Fab Fours are sponsors, we had the Jeep outfitted with some of Fab Four's Jeep bumpers with the most timeless winch Warn makes-the 8274. And since the rig has to be unique (as if a Cummins-powered Jeep isn't unique enough), we had to get the Jeep painted a non-factory color so it doesn't get confused with all the other new four-door Jeeps out there. The final touches required to finish up a freshly built Jeep before a long trip, like the PSC steering, the Poison Spyder Customs bead-lock wheels and tube fenders, and the sliding-drawer toolboxes installed from Slee Off Road. We'll try to stuff them all into these final two installments, but don't expect to never see this Jeep in the magazine again. It will definitely be getting other upgrades over the years, plus you can see it at upcoming events like the Off Road Expo in Pomona, California, October 6-7 as well as out at Moab for the Red Rock Fourwheeler's Easter Safari next year.  Here it is as we were leaving...  Here it is as we were leaving AEV, the first ever Cummins-powered four-door Jeep Wrangler. Though it looks like a short four-cylinder engine, there are in fact two more cylinders of this massive 5.9L, 24-valve, 325hp, 610-lb-ft of torque diesel engine hiding back under the cowl. Note the S&B air filter and the Optima blue-top battery. Many people told us we would need two batteries to crank over the Cummins, but we never ran out of power from this single unit. That includes starting, winching, and powering an ARB fridge/freezer as well as a Lowrance GPS, Sirius satellite radio receiver, CB, and multiple cell-phone chargers over the course of the week.  The next part of the build...  The next part of the build took place in South Dakota, where we enlisted Twisted Customs to help with paint. The first step to a good paint job is good prep, so we started by tearing the Jeep back apart and giving it a rough sanding so the new paint would stick. We knew we weren't going to keep the plastic fenders so those came off, plus we planned to spray the interior of the Jeep with Rhino Lining so any slight overspray of paint on the interior floor wasn't a problem either.  With the body getting prepped,...  With the body getting prepped, we knew that to make our new 42-inch BFGoodrich Mud-TerrainKM2 tires fit, we were going to do a little fender trimmage. We had a tire mounted on one of the 20x10-inch bead locks from Poison Spyder customs, and it was pretty obvious that the Sawzall was going to be needed. Rather than wait, we hacked away at it prior to paint.  Once chopped, sanded, and...  Once chopped, sanded, and papered, we shot the paint. Shane Dalquist from Shadow Coatings volunteered to help get our green Jeep even greener. Choosing the color was a major battle in this buildup since Jeeps have been every color under the sun. We were very close to painting it pink like the Surrey Jeep in UAJK Part 1 (Aug. '07), but we just didn't feel manly enough to drive a pink Jeep so we settled on Army Green. And not just any olive drab; this is the same color paint used when restoring World War II Jeeps. We got it straight from Rapco Parts Company, where they sell everything you need to restore a classic Jeep.  With the paint barely dry...  With the paint barely dry we hauled the Rubi Wagon over to Rhino Linings of Western South Dakota, where Scott Sime and his crew prepped the Jeep and gave it a coating of black bedliner in the tub. We've used Rhino on trucks before and found it helpful for sound deadening, plus it's a great way to protect the interior of an open-topped 4x4.  Spraying Rhino liner helped...  Spraying Rhino liner helped to clean up all the bodywork we had done to the tub. The liner gave the floor a clean, uniform look, and though you can see how we channeled the rear floor to cover the Dodge frame, you don't notice all the spot welds holding the bodywork together.
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