BUILD THREAD “The Juggernaut”

Great work as always.
 
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Donovan, looks awesome! I was curious as to how you were making out. I was going to try the bleach trick on my headlight buckets to remove the chrome, my grill will be fabricated pieces.

The HIDs look great, I was always weary of those since I never seem to see a set that has the light directed correctly, they always seem scattered. I plan on using the HELLA E code conversion lenses for the wagon (H6054), with some nice bulbs. But, I may try the HID if they are available.

Looking forward to more progress and updates!
 
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Donovan,
I love the way the lights turned out..very trick. Man, those suckers are bright too, I must say. I'm running Hella H4's and they don't hold a candle to them...pardon the pun. 🙂

After having the grilles de-chromed, how will they be finished?...just curious.
 
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Donovan, looks awesome! I was curious as to how you were making out. I was going to try the bleach trick on my headlight buckets to remove the chrome, my grill will be fabricated pieces.

The HIDs look great, I was always weary of those since I never seem to see a set that has the light directed correctly, they always seem scattered. I plan on using the HELLA E code conversion lenses for the wagon (H6054), with some nice bulbs. But, I may try the HID if they are available.

Looking forward to more progress and updates!

Thanks for the kind words Jim.

The bleach process actually did work fairly well, it was just time consuming and required changing out the bleach about every 2 days as it lost its effectiveness. At approx 8L of bleach at a time, you can see how it wouldn't take long for it not to be cost effective.

I'm not sure if the Hella conversion lenses you speak of are similar to the H4 conversion ones or not, but I used the H4 conversions for a couple years on the car and was very disappointed with them.

You mention "light scatter", I found that exact problem with them, even with good xenon halogen bulbs in them. Your wagon takes the larger 5x7 housings tho, so maybe you'll have different results with them than I did.

Hopefully most of my hiccups are behind me, and I can make some good progress in the next coupl'a days.

Thanks for checking back!
 
Donovan,
I love the way the lights turned out..very trick. Man, those suckers are bright too, I must say. I'm running Hella H4's and they don't hold a candle to them...pardon the pun. 🙂

After having the grilles de-chromed, how will they be finished?...just curious.

Thanks Jack, I'm really happy with the results so far as well!

Yea, the HIDs are bright for sure, but I've already aimed them, and the light pattern is surprisingly focused all things considered. Those are just the low beams, I'm going to wire the lights up like the factory did so that when you flick on the high beams, they all light up. THAT should light up my life. (Pun fully intended)
:rofl:
As I mentioned to Jim above, I ran the H4 conversions for a while and was quite disappointed with them. I figured they should've been better than they were. It was part of the catalyst that drove this lighting upgrade.

I don't want to give away too much as to the finish that the grilles and the headlight bezels will get just yet, but suffice to say, it will be similar to the factory chrome finish, but with a slight touch of attitude to make it my own. It'll be a new experiment for me as I've never had it done before, so I'm holding off saying much more until I see the results first hand.

You guys will see the results almost as soon as I do, and that's about all I can tell you for now!

Thanks for checking in on the progress, it's much appreciated!
🙂
 
Thanks for the kind words Jim.

The bleach process actually did work fairly well, it was just time consuming and required changing out the bleach about every 2 days as it lost its effectiveness. At approx 8L of bleach at a time, you can see how it wouldn't take long for it not to be cost effective.

I'm not sure if the Hella conversion lenses you speak of are similar to the H4 conversion ones or not, but I used the H4 conversions for a couple years on the car and was very disappointed with them.

You mention "light scatter", I found that exact problem with them, even with good xenon halogen bulbs in them. Your wagon takes the larger 5x7 housings tho, so maybe you'll have different results with them than I did.

Hopefully most of my hiccups are behind me, and I can make some good progress in the next coupl'a days.

Thanks for checking back!
I may still try the bleach method for the headlight buckets since you say it was working. I'll just get the smallest bin I can find to put them in. I'll be painting all the trim, black epoxy, black base, the clear with a flattener in it to make it semi/satin.

I have seen some of those conversion headlights on fleabay, haven't heard great things about them and I hate when the light get all scattered. I have Sylvania silverstars right now for those 5x7 housings, and they work well. A few of my Jeep buddies run the Hella 5x7 conversion so you can use a brighter new style H4 bulb, and claim they work well, I may just try them out at a later date.

I look forward to you updates as always, keep it up!:wax:
 
I may still try the bleach method for the headlight buckets since you say it was working. I'll just get the smallest bin I can find to put them in. I'll be painting all the trim, black epoxy, black base, the clear with a flattener in it to make it semi/satin.

I have seen some of those conversion headlights on fleabay, haven't heard great things about them and I hate when the light get all scattered. I have Sylvania silverstars right now for those 5x7 housings, and they work well. A few of my Jeep buddies run the Hella 5x7 conversion so you can use a brighter new style H4 bulb, and claim they work well, I may just try them out at a later date.

I look forward to you updates as always, keep it up!:wax:

If you do decide to go the bleach route, just a strong word of caution:

DO NOT, under ANY circumstances let that stuff soak inside any enclosed area or next to any air intake. The process off gasses chlorine gas, and we all know how potentially dangerous and deadly that can be.
When I started soaking the 2 bezels, it started off gassing so much it looked like steam coming off the bin. Just make sure you let it soak outside away from children and animals. Nasty stuff.
 
Believe you me, they'll be left outdoors behind the garage to do their thing.
 
Just wanted to share a few pics with you guys.

In preparation of priming the fronts of the fenders and the header panel again, I blocked out the rest of the fenders with 120 grit and decided to do the doors and rockers at the same time.

The drivers door didn't block out as nicely as the rest of the panels, but it's still not too bad all things considered as the primer that's on there is still only the first coat after the bodywork was done.

It may not seem like much to you guys who are farther along or closer to paint than I am, but wanted to post these pics as this is the most significant visual change the car has undergone in about 3 or 4 years. I'm still trying to get used to it to be honest!

Let me know what you guys think. Can you see past the primer burn throughs and minor imperfections and see the direction and vision I have for the car? I can, and I'm excited to see the car starting to match the vision I've had of it in my head all these years!

Thanks,
Donovan

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