Cap-it ARB Jeep at Edmonton International Autoshow

Cap-it is now Open in West Edmonton

CAP-IT WEST EDMONTON

17930 Stony Plain Road.
Edmonton, AB, T5S 1N5

PH: 780 481-0448 

Look for Cap-it's Booth at this years

 Edmonton International Auto Show,

April 14th - 17th

as our Cap-it ARB Jeep Build will be on Display



Cap-it / ARB Jeep COMPLETED

Finally!! After a fast and furious pace these last few weeks, the Cap-it / ARB Jeep Project in now Complete.

Be sure to come by Cap-it's Booth and see the Jeep on display for the first time.

Grande Prairie Sports Expo show April 1-3 2011,

The TEC Center at Evergreen Park, Grande Prairie

Stay tuned as we give a complete run down on the last remaining accessories on completing the Cap-it/ARB Jeep project.

Update #9 - Safari Snorkel Install

Time to Snorkelize the Jeep with a Safari Snorkel from ARB.

For those who want quality and durability in protecting their engines from what mother nature has to throw at it, Safari Snorkel is the one to go with.

First things first, we make a few measurements with templates that are provided in the kit. This is going to help insure us in drilling holes in the right place.

Now we mark the holes and drill them out.

The last hole to drill out we need to use a 76mm holesaw. This is where check and recheck yourself comes into the equation. You got only one shot with this.

Now that the hole is drilled out in the body, we can line up the snorkel to the windshield, mark out for the upper mount and install it.

As for the intake box, we remove the intake horn and seal it up a plate that’s provided. Make sure to use ample amount of silicone for a good seal.

Next we use a template to mark out the side of the intake box to cut out for snorkel tube attachment.

I used a 1¼” holesaw to get a cleaner cut around the corners.  

Once again be generous with the silicone and install the intake plate with pop rivets supplied.

Here we install the airbox back on the fender. As you can see the block off and intake plates now installed.

Now we hook up the intake hose and apply a bit of silicone on the ends for a water tight seal.

When then attach the hose to the intake pipe by crawling under the Jeep to access the area that’s below the battery tray.

We now install the intake grille to complete our install of the Safari Snorkel.

The finished look.

Here’s a few video’s on what Safari Snorkels are all about.

LINKS

Cap-it Off-Road

Safari Snorkel by ARB

Stay tuned as we tackle more accessories

Phase VIII - Install a Customer Headliner and Repainting the Hardtop

So the past couple of weeks we’ve made some really good progress on coming close to getting our Jeep on the road. We’ve repainted the Hardtop and Carpet Lined the inside to get rid of the factory white interior roof.

Here’s what the inside of a Jeep Hardtop looks like.  It’s plain, white & boring looking. Just about every Jeep out there with a Hardtop looks like this and when we’re finished carpeting this, you’d wonder why Jeep didn’t offer this as a standard option. Especially with the ever so popular Jeep JK’s now.

To do this we took the rear glass off, removed any hinges and interior lighting to make the job easier. Then flipped it upside down on some moving blankets to not scratch it up.

The style of headliner we’re using is called Foss Lining in Charcoal color. It’s a material that is marine grade that doesn’t collect water and create mildew. In our industry its widely used in the Leer Canopy’s to cut down moisture. So this is really going to help in regards to fogging of windows, help with insulation and also cut down on interior noise.

If you’ve never done upholstery work of any sort, leave this job to the Cap-it guys. It takes a lot of experience to make this job look like it was done at the factory.

First we mask off all the area’s we don’t want to have glue sprayed on, then we start from the middle and work our way out. The glue we’re using is moisture resistant and will ensure that the liner stays up for many years.

Then carefully wrap it up the side and contour it to the groves in the fiberglass.

Once both sides are done, I then go with a new blade and carefully trim off the access material.

Then we start re-installing all the hardware/wiring plugs and the window rubber.

Here’s the finished look on our Hardtop Interior. As you can see this really cleans up the inside.

To make this job look like a million bucks you have to take your time and be patient. For having over 15 years of experience, this job took me around 4 hours from prep work to reinstalling the hardware. Call your local Cap-it Store to get a quote on getting your Hardtop carpeted, as this adds a great look and cleans up the interior to a factory finish.

Now for the repainting the exterior.

The top has a textured finish that I wanted to keep sanding it down is out of the question. So I gave it a very good wash and towel dried it to make sure I removed all the dirt and grime. I then turned up the heat in the shop to get the hard top nice and warm. As for prepping, the only thing to do is to mask off the windows and door openings for over spray not to ruin the carpet.

I used about 2½ cans of Duplicolor semi gloss black and gave it about 4 coats of paint. I was a little surprised how much the hardtop absorb the paint.

Now that the Hardtop is looking like brand new, its time to put it back on the Jeep and take it outside and have a look.

Check back shortly as we’re on a mission to finish up the Project

Some of the items to finish up our Cap-it/ARB Project are:

ARB's Roof Top Tent

ARB’s Safari Snorkel

ARB’s IPF Off Road Lighting

Rampage Products

 

Phase VII - ARB Front & Rear Bumpers

So we’re finally going to install the Front and Rear ARB Bumpers on our Jeep.

ARB is world renown for their Air Lockers but when it comes to Bumpers they’re above the rest. The quality and engineering that go into them is second to none. ARB Bumpers are the only ones that are AIRBAG Certified on the market today. They are designed to be highly durable, lightweight and yet designed to absorb impact if the unmentionable happens.

The front bumper is pretty basic. Undo the 6 bolts holding the factory bumper, light up the new bumper up and bolt back on using all new hardware.

Seeing that we just installed a winch bumper, it be rude not to put a winch on.

For this we are going to be installing WARN’s latest hi-tech 9.5ti winch. This  powerhouse is a work of art, it has Thermo Integrated technology that let’s you know when the winch is close to overheating. This will reduce down time and wear and tear on the winch. It does this from a red LED light on the winch remote. COOL STUFF!

It’s pretty basic to install a winch, the only challenge was trying to get the winch inside the bumper. After shoe-horning the winch in from the side, it’s a really tight fit inside the mounting location. But it sure look great in there.

The Rear Bumper is a little more challenging.

Extra attention should be taken when reading the instructions. There are a lot of prep work and hidden clip-on-nuts that need to be attached before you mount the bumper on the frame. If you miss one, you’re going to be taking the whole bumper off to get at it.

Here you seen the nuts clipped onto the backside of the bumper

Now we have to insert the alignment bolt for the swing away spare tire carrier. This seemed to be very difficult as there is not a lot of room to get your finger in there.

As for the bumper brackets, they mount up to the factory slotted holes in the frame. The nuts have to be fed up through access holes and left loose to center the bumper.

After we loosely mount up the bumper on the brackets, we attach some of the bumper latches on.

Once the bumper is centered to the body, there are 2 holes in the middle of the bumper that need to be marked put for drilling. The bumper then has to be removed to drill out the 2 marked locations and an additional 2 to hold the back bracket in place.

Now we mount the bumper back on and drill 2 more additional holes up through the frame brackets and bumper mounts on each side.

As you can see there’s about 5 bolts and 2 more on top (hidden from view) which gives you 7 attached mount points for superior strength. This will be necessary to support the weight of the tire carrier & 35” spare and the additional use for HI-LIFT jacks to change flats and towing purposes.

After the bumper is lined up and bolted together, its time for the swing away carrier.

Insert the huge bolt supplied with some grease and snug it up. No too tight or it won’t swing free.

The lock out pin, hydraulic gas shock and latching mechanism with urethane guide can be attached.

There’s a cover plate that needs to be attached over the support guide on the bumper.

From here we attach the wheel studs to the mounting plate for our spare. There are several holes to allow for different size wheel patterns. We’re configuring ours for 5-on-4.5”. the mounting plate then has to be adjusted out to allow our spare tire to sit flat up against the carrier. You’ll be taking it on and off serval times to get the right fit.

With the full weight of everything we finally mount the 35” spare on and make sure it opens. Some minor adjustments with the alignment bolt on the carrier hinge, we make sure that it operates easy and latches up properly to the bumper.

Stay tuned for more as next week we install a Customer Carpet Headliner and repaint the Hardtop.

For more info on ARB Product visit www.arbusa.com and  http://www.cap-it.com/offroad.html