Grandpa's Willys Wheeler

Thanks
Now that I've come this far I thought I would kind of give everyone a idea of what I'm thinking & why on my build.
I've heard several times now I need a lift & tires & I wish I could do that but... & on that note I will start my story of building Willy(Wife named him) :shock:
The 1st few mods I had to do for the wife, she's 5' nothing, almost blind & handicapped so she needed steps & something to pull herself in with. I 1st bought Mopar steps & hung the Mopar grab handles for her but the handles just didn't work for her so I heard about the Grabars. Great product & works great for her. Then the door kept closing on her as she climbed in so I installed door stops. Then after installing the Mopar bars(plastic) I realized even though we aren't going to be doing any heavy duty offroading plastic just won't cut it. So I took my chances on the smittybuilt rock rails even though a lot don't talk to kindly about the smittybuilt brand. All is well as they work great, look great & fit nicely.
The 1 mod I needed for me was the hood struts, I couldn't open the hood, hold it up & put the bar in with 1 arm. With my previous import it sat lower so I could use my head to hold the hood up while putting the bar up but not so with this much higher sitting Jeep.
Then I thought we needed a few security things. We had already had the alarm installed @ the dealer, so I installed wheel locks, locking gas cap & hood lock. I had read on the forums about the hood flutter problem which I had experienced in my 07 Mustang so I replaced the rubber hood latches with the aluminum ones.

continued on in the next post...

There where a couple of mods I needed to protect the Jeep from my wife, 1st off she never fails to scratch doors inside the door handle with her nails or ring so I installed the half moon plastic protectors(inserts) under the handles.
She also scratches up door sills so installed sill protectors.
A lot of the mods that followed where I want mods. I was trying to add to the black on Copperhead look but it got out of control & got to the point I needed to reverse direction & add copperhead to the black :doh:
I did the very slight painting on the interior & now I was hooked on painting copperhead
I only need to do several more things in copperhead, the rear bumper cover, buy 1 pass. side rear tow hook & paint both tow hooks copperhead. I'll be doing those in August when I send my wife off to California for 10 days, she says the work will keep me out of trouble. You see 2 years ago I quit smoking & drinking after my 3rd heart attack. I then sent her off to calif. several months later & I was bored...you guessed it what I did then & I ended up back in the hospital & the wife had to take an emerg. flight back here.
I've been on the straight & narrow since & she's gone back to calif. several times since but I had something to do to keep me out of trouble.
Anyway, back to the Jeep. After buying the Jeep in June of 2014 I drove it home & thought the A/C didn't work right but it was putting out cold air. The Jeep was absorbing the heat from the hot desert sun faster than the AC could keep up so before it started getting hot this summer I installed the full hotheads kit & it works great.
Then we wanted to do some offroading & it scared the hell out of me that our only means of transportation could end up being dead with a hole in the oil pan or worse so I picked up a full set of Rock hard Skid plates in aluminum.
The reason why I went aluminum was that with the mild offroading we are doing I didn't think I need dragging around 150 lbs of steel around to stop a rock that bounces up.
I'm not going to go with aftermarket bumpers or winch because of the same reason, very light offroading & will always be with someone else.
So all the other mods where I want mods, always have done intake, exhaust, programmer whether they do any good or not, I like the looks of the them.
That's about it for now, thanks for reading.

Rick

Oh yea, heres a pic of the offroad trip we went on to Rogers Trough east of Mesa, az. This was @ the half way point.
Also a current pic.

Rick

Willy Mod list:

Mopar door sill protectors
Mopar taillight covers
Mopar gas door with body colored bolts
Mopar locking gas cap
Mopar wheel locks
Trailer hitch, receiver & cover
Door stops
Dead Pedal
Shift knobs(auto & 4x4)
Grabars
Hood struts
Custom made rear cargo mat
14” black billet antenna
Black Door Handle Recess Guards
Painted black exterior keylocks
Hinge covers(hood & doors)( powder coated black)
“Jeep” license plate frame
“Jeep” license plate screws
“Jeep” valve stem caps
Wiper cowl cover(powder coated black)
Black Aluminum Hood Catch Set
Hood lock
Billet grille inserts(black)
Firestik CB antenna
RR spare tire CB antenna mount bracket(black)
Banks Ram Air Intake
Magnaflow Dual outlet axleback muffler
Superchips 3872 Flashpaq Tuner
Painted interior trim bolts & vent trim rings(Copperhead)
Rough Country Front Skid Plate
Smittybilt Classic Rock Rails W/ Step
RockHard Aluminum Skid Plates(Engine/Trans, Transfer case, Gas Tank, Evap. Cannister)
Drake Off Road™ Door & Tailgate Handle Inserts painted Copperhead
Hotheads complete headliners kit
Painted Front Bumper insert(Copperhead)
Painted Front Tow Hooks(Copperhead)
Painted Centercaps(Copperhead)

1st step towards doing the rear tow hooks & rear bumper cover like I did the front.

Rick

I really like all the accent work! Lookin' great! :thumb:

Just seeing this thread, Love what you have done with it so far to make it a much better vehicle for you and your wife. I also noticed you put in the banks intake, I put one in as well and love the sound it gives off! I have a stock muffler still so you can really hear it roar at higher rpms.

Thank you for the kind comments. Believe it or not & most won't but once I finish up the rear bumper & tow hooks I'm done modding. Then I can start saving for either a very small tear drop trailer or a tent trailer. I like the Jeep trailer but way to overpriced for how their equiped & none come in Copperhead. If I do get a small trailer I hear there will be rear sag from the tongue weight. If so I'll install a set of Firestone Air Bag Helper Springs in the rear, very cheap @ around $100.00.

Rick

Painted the 2nd rear tow hook today in a 3 step process. In August I'll pull the rear bumper off, paint the bumper insert & reinstall the 2 freshly painted tow hooks & rear bumper for the final process & I'll be done with all my planned mods.

Rick

RHuckster said:

Painted the 2nd rear tow hook today in a 3 step process. In August I'll pull the rear bumper off, paint the bumper insert & reinstall the 2 freshly painted tow hooks & rear bumper for the final process & I'll be done with all my planned mods.

Rick
View attachment 149634

Click to expand...

Very nice.
I'm tempted to do the same but too lazy

Thanks
Pulled the rear bumper & removed the bumper cover from the bumper. Sanded some knicks out of the cover, hit the entire cover with a scotchbrite pad & its ready for paint tomorrow. Installed the 2 rear tow hooks I painted several weeks ago, cut the bumper for clearance for the pass. side tow hook & re-installed the bumper for a week or so. I need to wait several days after paint to color sand & polish the bumper cover.

Rick

Well, after 4 attempts finally here's the painted rear bumper cover. I'll wait about a month before I do the final color sand & polish so its still a bit rough right now. After cutting through the clear & base the last 3 times I want to make sure the paint is cured & hard before finishing. I would have never made it as a painter as a career.

Rick

Everyone builds their vehicles differently for their own use. I think you've done a great job for you and your wife with great attention to detail. :thumb:

Thank you very much

Rick

Good luck with the trailer hunt.

I like the accenting and mods you've done, to make your jeep more user friendly for your needs.

Thank you

Rick

Nothing earth shattering, just a bug deflector.

Rick

I really like what you've to your bumpers. Looks great.

Thank you

Rick

Last but not least I've ordered a set of JKS Sway bar disconnects & will install them when they show up. This will be my last mod. I do however still need to remove the rear bumper cover & color sand & final polish, will be doing that @ the end of August. I'm going to miss doing mods but I can't go any further without really making the Jeep look overdone, I've tried to take a balanced approach with the black & copperhead.

Thanks all for looking & the kind comments.



Rick