TJ Flares on a Zuk... *gasp*

[LowNSlowNeon]

Well, what a day.. what a day....

The Zuki definitely took a lot longer than we thought she would take...

I was going to do a tech article.. but we really just winged it by what we saw and what we needed to do. ;)

We trimmed a lot of the front fenders and left the rears alone.. found out I have A LOT of bondo on my whole right side of the zuk (front AND rear) :eek:

We were going to mount the front flares the normal way but some how it got pushed up and we saw an idea pop in our heads... we thought it looked DARN good with it.. (as we have in the picture)

I still need to go get some self tapping screws for a part of each flare... (couldnt get a nut and bolt through).. but the rest have stainless steel nuts/bolts/washers/lock washer on them.. They are mounted pretty nice...

Anyways on the the pics.


http://www.lownslowneon.com/upload/uploads/natecuttingfront.jpg

http://www.lownslowneon.com/upload/uploads/natecuttingfront2.jpg

http://www.lownslowneon.com/upload/uploads/mecutting.jpg

http://www.lownslowneon.com/upload/uploads/cut.jpg

http://www.lownslowneon.com/upload/uploads/frontmockup.jpg

http://www.lownslowneon.com/upload/uploads/frontmockup3.jpg

http://www.lownslowneon.com/upload/uploads/frontmockup2.jpg

http://www.lownslowneon.com/upload/uploads/frontnrear.jpg

(the last pic - you can see we need some self tapping screws to get the front flare to go straight down like in the previous picture)

I've never seen the fronts mounted on a Zuki like in the pictures... all the other front flares Ive seen were mounted lower and exposed the stock Zuki parking light as well as the tj flare light too.. so in turn they look somewhat "ghetto"..

Im really happy with how they came out.. I might rhino line them or something to give them their color back and add some texture...

Big thanks to Nate and Gamble...

Nate for the flares.. for the garage.. and for doing al ot of the work..

Gamble for bsin and doing some BFH action.... :cool:

[akram]

Looks real good man. How much did you end up cutting off? And are you going to do the rear ones sometime too or is there not enough there?
Once again looks good.

[LowNSlowNeon]

We installed the rear TJ flares.. we just didn't cut a lot of my rear wheel well off... we cut some.. just not much. :)

I don't rub in the rear... so we didnt hack away much...


PS: I like to call her the "Jezuki"

[AK20]

Man that's a sexy sawzall you got there!!! Anyway it looks outstanding, turned out really clean with the TJ flares on there, hack jobs rule!

[gamble71]

hey now, I'm more of a technical advisor than a BS artist :cool: :rolleyes: Actually it was a good time.... the zuk's still pretty rough, but it's more of a diamond in the rough. Pretty suprised by how it turned out, like it was meant to be. Now get over here and bleed some brakes :p :sign bastard:

[LowNSlowNeon]

Man that's a sexy sawzall you got there!!! Anyway it looks outstanding, turned out really clean with the TJ flares on there, hack jobs rule!


Actually BOTH sawzall batteries died very fast :(....

I still need to trim some.. but it's dead

[AK20]

Hmmm, how long did they last? They both must not have been fully charged then, one of them I've never used and the other has lasted me a good couple of hours in the drill/radial saw.

[gamble71]

when I left they had cut the front fenders.... but just barely... Nate was workin it pretty hard. It got the majority of the job done... next time John just needs to make sure of the battery status when he picks em up... that or get a charger too :cool: If they allowed 220 on on-post garages it woulda have been a lot quicker. Thanks for the use of the saw-zall though, couldn't have done anything without it.

[AK20]

Well it's pretty much my fault, they say the batteries lose charge if you don't use them and there not on the charger...it's been about 2 months since they really got used and charged, I threw them both on the charger for an hour or so before I left...figured they'd be good to go, didn't think they would lose that much charge. Heck even one battery should have been enough, guess I know for next time!

[LowNSlowNeon]

its no biggie man.. i appreciate you letting me borrow it :)

[naturalbornmudder]

hey man, I got to sawzall!! Too cool!

[LowNSlowNeon]

Got new hardware tonight... gonna finish em up tomorrow.. also got like 10ft of hose so I can do that diff breather as well....

Now uh if the clanking will stop. (it wasnt that bad in the morning when i drove to your house otherwise I wouldnt of gone lol)

[jeepin_al]

man, that looks like it was made for the zuk. Haven't seen it before but I bet you will see more zuks with TJ flares in the future.

Nice......

[Advent]

Could you get a shot from the side?

That's gotta be the only install of TJ flares on a Samurai that I've seen that looks good. I'm just not so sure about making the front flares vertical. Gives it that 'conveyor belt' look.

Maybe mount the flares so they aren't bent and paint any sheetmetal under them black to match?

[LowNSlowNeon]

Could you get a shot from the side?

That's gotta be the only install of TJ flares on a Samurai that I've seen that looks good. I'm just not so sure about making the front flares vertical. Gives it that 'conveyor belt' look.

Maybe mount the flares so they aren't bent and paint any sheetmetal under them black to match?


I'll get some pics tomorrow if I have time..


We were going to originally do that.. but I dunno they look dang good the way we have em... Ill get a pic from the side with em like we have em.... they look better in person.....

Could I use some herculiner on em to give em texture and color?...

[Suthernboy]

the flares look really good LNS. like the were supposed to be there....:sign killer dude:

[naturalbornmudder]

Big thans to Gamble for comign by and lending a hand with the Zuke. Thanks to Ryan for the sawzall.

We went through 2 sawzall batteries, 1 blade, 6 cutoff wheels, approximately 1/4" thick x 3ft long piece of pure bondo, and app. 6 to 8 feet of sheet metal. I have more Zuki parts on the floor of my garage right now than I do jeep parts. It looks like a episdoe of trucks where stacey throws all the old parts in a pile on the floor.

The TJ flares fit pretty well and looked like they were made ot go on a Zuke. The zuke, however, sounds like it needs some more jeep parts to stop that terrible noise coming from under the hood.

We identified many parts under the hood that could use some tweaking so when the motor rebuild happens, we will address them. Until then, I recommend not driving the Zuke. Loose carb, missing vacuum lines, poorly routed fuel line, broken exhaust and intake manifold bolts, missing exhaust donut, wrong size T case drain plug, overage of loose wiring going to the battery but not connected, oil pressure guage needs repaired, oil pan gasket leaking, etc.

[SamuraiMike]

Lookin Good!!! :orangevertside:
I resemble the "conveyer belt: remark!!! :gunsmilie:

[holeski]

Looks nice guys, good work.

[Advent]

Lookin Good!!! :orangevertside:
I resemble the "conveyer belt: remark!!! :gunsmilie:

Yeah, but yours is SUPPOSED to look that way! ;)

[LowNSlowNeon]

So does anyone see anything wrong with herculining them?....they're pretty faded.

[Advent]

Herculine is pretty flexible, it shouldn't be an issue.

You could just get some vinyl die. It'd color it without the texture. NAPA should have some, it comes in a spray can.

[LowNSlowNeon]

Hrmmm I'll look into that...

I might like the textured look though...we'll see :)

[gamble71]

I stick with my herculiner idea.... it's relative inexpensive and covers a lot that you don't want people to see :o that and I still think a V6 swap would be the way to go... either way, it's comin along nicely

[LowNSlowNeon]

If I do herculiner.. Ill buy the little tub and do the inside of the zuk as well. ( already used a can on the "bed")....

[gamble71]

doin the same to the sploder this summer.... carpet is a thing of the past :punk:

[mousee]

Take some acetone and rub the flares down, that will take off the haze. then just use some armor all or something (partial to 303). It isn't a perfect job but it makes 'emm look good for a while. Done it with mine....

[4x4_MMMH_4x4]

hey lns lemme check out my moms shop... i might have some herculiner lying around from when i did my truck bed... should be enough to finish your flares...

[sevenslats]

1) Don't use armor-all. It will make them shiny for a few hours, but they'll turn grey real fast.
2) don't use Herc that's been open for more than 2 days. Unless you thin it real well with Xylene. herculiner isn't like paint, you can't stir ir up and use it after it's been sitting.

Get some Krylon fusion or a similar paint made for plastics and polyeurethanes. It'll stick and not peel/flake, and it won't fade.

[TJVigilante]

armor-all on plastic = no-no. Not only will it make them gray, that gray results from the chemical reaction between the flares and the solvent. You can dig into the plastic with your fingernail a couple hours after you apply it, and it's irreversible.

Krylon fusion is the way to go.

[Advent]

Get some Krylon fusion or a similar paint made for plastics and polyeurethanes. It'll stick and not peel/flake, and it won't fade.

That would be vinyl dye. It soaks in instead of just painting the exterior.

[mousee]

maybe the armor all I used on mine was differant then all yours:rolleyes: never had that issue.
But I still prefer 303...

[jeepin_al]

I second the 303.

[TJVigilante]

maybe the plastics I used were different from your plastics...and I've never tried it on the flares. Don't think I'm going to try either.

[mousee]

maybe the plastics I used were different from your plastics...and I've never tried it on the flares. Don't think I'm going to try either.


Used it on everything from plexy to pvc to poly... never an issue...

[LowNSlowNeon]

meh see thread in open forum for painted pics.. look pretty good.. i got a run on one or two of em.. meh good nuff'

[4x4_MMMH_4x4]

i have one of the small cans of herculiner unopened im sure of it... couldnt find it today i will look around in the truck tomorrow...

[sevenslats]

303 must be different than armor-all. I'm not familiar with that product. Mother's Protectant did a nice job on my dashboard, and smells like strawberries. Until the bottle froze in my garage.