skins: material and mounting

[N-Smooth]

okay so i decided i wanted to put some skins on the xj and i have a couple q's for you experienced people.
i am not sure what kind of material i want to use, so what is the best, cheapest and easiest. and what thickness? i do not plan on beating the hell out of them, but if i crush one i don't want it to be a huge pita to get a new piece and mount it. they also should be paintable, because i want to paint them to match the remaining body (hood, fenders)

also, what is a good way to mount them? i would like them to be removable, it doesn't have to be easy to remove them, but doable. i wish i could just tack weld them on, but then it would be no fun to remove them. i was thinking about just bolting them on in a few places by drilling a hole in the tube and welding a small nut in there and then bolting through the material with a washer. it could also be an option to ziptie them on, i like using zipties

well let me know what is cool , easy and affordable :-\

thanks
-nate

 

[Caleb]

ok, I went with plastic you get from most race shops. its cheap (about $35 for 25 ft. if I remember right) and comes in the color of your choice (its solid color so it wont show scratches as much too)...I was planning on bolting it on but after thinking about it I decided that would be a PITA and just went with zip ties...again easy and cheap.

You can use thin steel but (especially with the price of steel right now) that is going to be the most expensive option probably, its paintable where the plastic really isn't. I would highly recommend agaisnt the drillign holes in the tube as that just gives a place for water to get in and start rusting from the inside out...a lot of guys run the plastic because its very easy to work with, you can cut it with regular scisors (kinda hard to do but its doable) or with a razor blade or a set of HD scissors...just about anything so it makes it very easy to work with...

 

[Herzog]

I have the same stuff as Supergper, but I bolted my skins on. I had a friend cut out 100 tabs on a cnc cutter and I welded them on about 10" - 12" apart.

Problem with bolting the plastic on is that when the plastic gets hot in the sun, it expands and bulges in a few places which looks funny. Purely cosmetic though. Zip ties look like the work really well too.

I got my roll plastic from http://www.daymotorsports.com/product/137/c/13

 

[RockMonkey]

Blue plastic and zip ties here.

 

[Caleb]

if you do decide to bolt them on I have some tabs that I bought that I was going to use that I would sell for pretty cheap...

 

[N-Smooth]

I have the same stuff as Supergper, but I bolted my skins on. I had a friend cut out 100 tabs on a cnc cutter and I welded them on about 10" - 12" apart.

Problem with bolting the plastic on is that when the plastic gets hot in the sun, it expands and bulges in a few places which looks funny. Purely cosmetic though. Zip ties look like the work really well too.

I got my roll plastic from http://www.daymotorsports.com/product/137/c/13

that stuff is only 24" wide, i am not sure if that will cut it. where do you guys get yours from? somewhere local maybe?

 

[Caleb]

that stuff is only 24" wide, i am not sure if that will cut it. where do you guys get yours from? somewhere local maybe?

both Braden and I got ours from Stock Car Products...not local...I would reccomend using Day as Stock Car Products took forever and would not respond to any emails...if you want I bet I will have some good size scraps left over you are welcome to have and see if they will work...I am willing to bet 24" is plenty unless you are trying to do a FULL body in one piece(roof and all)

 

[fergusor]

my little accident...

I used .040 aluminum. I wanted to paint it and it was cheap and very light. I think plastic would be good if you can find the color you want.

 

[RockMonkey]

both Braden and I got ours from Stock Car Products...not local...I would reccomend using Day as Stock Car Products took forever and would not respond to any emails...if you want I bet I will have some good size scraps left over you are welcome to have and see if they will work...I am willing to bet 24" is plenty unless you are trying to do a FULL body in one piece(roof and all)

Oh, so you ended up having problems with Stock Car Products too? Glad it's not just me this time... I really like the plastic stuff, I'll just get it somewhere else next time.

 

[K85k03]

I saw a bonco in Moab that had the plastic panels. Looked really sweet. then he was about to get into a spot that would damage his panels and his spotter walked over and pulled the panels right off. it was something. turned out that the panels were just held on with velcro. made since to me just didn't know how well it would hold up at high speeds. just a thought

 

[Cody]

backing off from an obstacle because of body damage is one thing, but because you're going to damage your 20 dollar plastic panels? That's weak.

Cody

 

[N-Smooth]

cool how they delete the posts in my own thread

 

[Greg]

cool how they delete the posts in my own thread

Look around before you jump to conclusions...

 

[Caleb]

Look around before you jump to conclusions...

thank you Greg...

we TRY to keep things on topic in Gen4x4...

 

[fordy4]

I know this is a really old thread, but... I bought some roll plastic for some body panels and keep switching between weather I should weld on tabs or just zip tie the stuff on. Any pics of those who did either or some opinions on what is best would be greatly appreciated. I am leaning towards the zip ties for just plain ease, but am wondering if the plastic would tend to rip at the holes more that rivets and tabs.

 

[Caleb]

I personally don't think you'll have any issues with it ripping or tearing anymore than if you bolt it...however, if done correctly, I think bolting looks nicer. I did do zip ties and didn't have any issues, it was nice also becasue I could remove my pannels (both sides) in about 60 second and put them back on in about twice that time (in other words, very quickly). I would by all means avoid rivets, they may look good but what a PITA they would be to remove...having to drill all them out would get old FAST.

As for the Bronco mentioned earlier, I bet it was JR's bronco from TTC (silver and blue). He used Dzues(sp?) fasteners...his pannels were more than just roll plastic though, I'd be remving them as well if I were him

 

[Shawn]

I guess it depends on the look you are after. For me, I think zip ties would look half ass. However, it would have saved me alot on time on the Cruiser build, I have welded on over 200 of those tabs on (not just for the body pannels)

 

[fordy4]

Yea, I think the tabs could look better, I am leaning towards cheap and easy right now as long as it's a fairly good alternative. When you zip tied the panels did you make the panels come to about the center of the tubing and drill the holes fairly close to the edge of the plastic?

 

[Caleb]

Yea, I think the tabs could look better, I am leaning towards cheap and easy right now as long as it's a fairly good alternative. When you zip tied the panels did you make the panels come to about the center of the tubing and drill the holes fairly close to the edge of the plastic?

pretty much, I kept the holes off the edge of the plastic about .5"-1" dependign ont eh hole location, some places (because of tube joints, etc) it was a couple inches off the edge. It looked fine when it was completed.

 

[Herzog]

I bolted mine on, but if I were to do it again with Roll Plastic, I'd Zip tie it. The plastic expands in the sun and gets very wavy. I'd imagine that the zip ties would give it a little more give and look better in that situation.

The zip ties don't look bad at all. In fact, I didn't even notice many of the skins had zip ties out there. It's all about how closely you look at it.