Project Jeep Paint Job - Part 1

I finally did it. Against all my better judgment, I decided to paint my Jeep…by myself. Over the years I’ve installed lift kits, transmissions, water pumps, alternators and virtually everything in between. During that time, not once have I tried to do a full blown, pro-quality paint job. So I rolled my oxidized tan ’92 Jeep Wrangler Sahara into the garage and went to work.

My first project was stripping essentially everything that was bolted or screwed to the Jeep. That included bumpers, seats, windshield frame, tailgate, hood and about a thousand other miscellaneous parts. HINT: It’s a good idea to buy some high quality zip lock bags so you can store and label your hardware as you go. Trust me, you might think you can remember where everything goes, but it all starts looking the same after a while.

One of the snags I ran into during the tear down was the torx bolts that secure all the hinges to the body. The bolt heads had been painted over at the factory and over the years the bolts themselves had essentially fused to the threads. Most of them came out ok, but there were half a dozen that simply wouldn’t budge. Of course I tried to muscle the first one out and completely stripped the head causing me to have to drill it out. (Which takes a lot of time and really isn’t that fun.)

With everything unbolted I began prepping the body. First on my list were some nasty rust spots common to the seams on the rear quarter panels. Since I planned on covering the corners with diamond plate, I didn’t feel the need to be extremely careful with the rust removal. I purchased a couple of different drill mounted abrasive wheels and went to work on the rust spots. Luckily all of the rust was fairly superficial, so I simply sanded each spot down to good metal.

Next on my list was removing the original pinstriping and Sahara logo stickers. With the help of a heat gun and a sharp razor blade I carefully peeled off the stickers. I took care of the residual adhesive with a can of Acetone and a clean rag.

Now that I had the body free of rust, pinstripes, stickers and bolted on parts, I went to a local auto body supply store and purchased a can of paint prep solvent. The solvent is great for removing wax, silicone, grease and other contaminates that could really screw up your paint job. Using a clean rag, I thoroughly wiped down every surface I planned on painting.

My next task was sanding down what was left of the original clear coat to ensure the primer adhered to the body properly. For this I used a coarse grit ScotchBrite pad and sanded the entire body. Don’t forget to hit spots like between the grille, under the fenders, edges of the windshield, etc.

When I had everything sanded I used a compressor to blow everything down. Again make sure to get those hard to reach places. The last thing you want is to be shooting paint and have a huge cloud of sanding dust settle on the finish.

With everything blown down, I began taping. I recommend using good quality paper and tape. The blue 3M tape worked well for me and it’s available at any hardware store. HINT: Use fresh tape, not that stuff that’s been sitting in the garage for a year. Fresh tape will be softer and easier to work with.

I used tape, paper and a razor blade to carefully mask off areas like the windshield, side windows on the hard doors, dash (it didn’t want to deal with removing this), engine compartment, etc. For the dash, engine compartment and tires, I used plastic sheeting instead of paper.

Continue to Part 2...