Sneak Peek: My Jurassic Park Explorer WIP

I'll post some "progress" pics too but I just took these tonight...







Here it is a few months ago:





This is in the cargo area:







So I still have to apply decals to the hood and sides. LOTS to do but for now I'm gonna go ahead and integrate a temporary dash monitor while I fab a custom dash out of fiberglass. Interior thus far is stock so I'm working on building the center console and dash while looking at quotes for seat upholstery. My taillight guards, brush guard, running boards, and antenna light are ALL off brand but work on a temporary basis (Found this forum after I bought all the parts. I'm looking for the correct items constantly!). Eventually I hope to obtain the screen accurate parts but there's no telling how long that may take.


This project went a little deeper than I hoped. When I bought the Explorer ('93 XLT 141K miles) it had LOTS of regular maintenance but there was something that sounded like a head/valve knock... so I bought it anyway based on A.) The paint color (Tan! Maybe I can skip repainting the door jambs!) and B.) Many systems were serviced or replaced (power steering pump, AC compressor, suspension, radiator, tranny...etc). Long story short it needed a new motor or a rebuild due to a rod knock... so I learned how to swap a motor. Found a donor with low mileage on craigslist for $240. Bought an engine hoist for $120 then sold the hoist when I was done for the same amount.


Paint job is the "$50 paint job". Used rustoleum exterior gloss enamel, thinned with mineral spirits and applied with foam rollers. Wet sanded, buffed, and waxed. Rustoleum stock 'Sunburst Yellow' and 'Burgundy' and the green is a custom color in Valspar exterior alkyd enamel. Still working on touchups and perfecting the paint, but needed to get the car on the road so naturally some bits need more attention.


Anyway I'll throw out some "progress" pics soon!

Re: Sneak Peak: My Jurassic Park Explorer

Wow! I've seen a couple of the jeeps but this will be very cool to see. :thumbsup

Re: Sneak Peak: My Jurassic Park Explorer

The paint job and wheels look great

Re: Sneak Peak: My Jurassic Park Explorer

This is dino-licious!
Really fantastic; I'd love to have this parked in my driveway!:thumbsup

Re: Sneak Peak: My Jurassic Park Explorer

Awesome!!!! This is Number 4 (maybe 3) of the coolest movie cars ever...

Can't wait to see it finished...

Re: Sneak Peak: My Jurassic Park Explorer

Whats the plan for the sunroof bubble? Could you actually fit one or would that compromise the structure of the car?

Re: Sneak Peak: My Jurassic Park Explorer

This is great, makes me want to get off my duff and have the Avengers Jeep project be more than a parts list.

Re: Sneak Peak: My Jurassic Park Explorer

Fantastic! Love Jp stuff...can't wait to see this finished

mike

Re: Sneak Peak: My Jurassic Park Explorer

Ha! Looks great!
Looking forward to seeing more pics.

How did you fabricate the FLIR assembly on the front?

Re: Sneak Peak: My Jurassic Park Explorer

Thanks for the feedback guys! I'll get some more pics online in a few days.

skint said:

Whats the plan for the sunroof bubble? Could you actually fit one or would that compromise the structure of the car?

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Found a guy that fabs aircraft canopies that can make it for me. The general consensus is that the integrity of the car would be ok given it's construction. If it were unibody or something then you'd run into issues. The durable aircraft material would, I think, manage any structural duties just as well as the thin metal roof. That stuff was really flimsy when I was on top of the car removing the old luggage rack. Now which one stands up better to a t-rex attack is anyone's guess.

Booyotch said:

Ha! Looks great!
Looking forward to seeing more pics.

How did you fabricate the FLIR assembly on the front?

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The little "track sensor" thingy is just boat battery box lid with some camera domes on it, and an old black & white "Ultrak" security camera above that. I think I'm gonna hook the camera into the dash monitor just for fun.

Re: Sneak Peak: My Jurassic Park Explorer

Be sure to head over to Redirecting to Jurassic Park Jeep Forum because the more Explorers the better.

As a JP Jeep owner seeing a correct Explorer under construction just makes me smile from ear to ear...she is gorgeous!!
The fact you're going all out on the interior as well is just fantastic.

I'm just north in Oklahoma so be sure to check into events in Dallas and bring her up to show off!!

Re: Sneak Peak: My Jurassic Park Explorer

cpltony said:

Be sure to head over to Redirecting to Jurassic Park Jeep Forum because the more Explorers the better.

As a JP Jeep owner seeing a correct Explorer under construction just makes me smile from ear to ear...she is gorgeous!!
The fact you're going all out on the interior as well is just fantastic.

I'm just north in Oklahoma so be sure to check into events in Dallas and bring her up to show off!!

Click to expand...

Hey thanks man! I've been a member on the JP Jeep forums for a while but I'm not sure where I should post my build. Keep me posted if you find something... I just missed out on Space City Comic Con here in Houston where my Predator buddy found a JP Jeep.

Re: Sneak Peak: My Jurassic Park Explorer

Faux wood finish on door handles (old pic. They're all installed in the car now):



Dash monitor running the "tour program" dvd:

Re: Sneak Peak: My Jurassic Park Explorer

Ok, but acurate would be a CD-ROM, right?

Is this a real "working" tour program?!?

Re: Sneak Peak: My Jurassic Park Explorer

Interactive CD-ROM!

Re: Sneak Peak: My Jurassic Park Explorer

Onkelpsycho said:

Ok, but acurate would be a CD-ROM, right?

Is this a real "working" tour program?!?

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Eventually I'll use a touchscreen overlay on the monitor and program the tour screens into one of those android tv boxes (like the MK808 or better). Seems like I can either have it be CD/DVD-ROM or Interactive, but not both... at least practically. Then again it's not "all electric" and "running on a track in the middle of the road" either... seems I did spare some expense!

Re: Sneak Peak: My Jurassic Park Explorer

Started with this:



Used these:



Wheels first:





Added red. Oops you need a frikkin motor! Here ya go!



Roll-on lookin sexy:



Old (top) new (bottom) headlights:



Painted the aluminum running boards with rustoleum trim and bumper rattle can:



Tape. So much tape. Don't wait too long to remove it. It's a pain.







Bam!

Re: Sneak Peak: My Jurassic Park Explorer





Lots of work left to do but it's getting there.

Re: Sneak Peak: My Jurassic Park Explorer

Very cool... It is sprayed, right? Don't tell me that you used a brush... :lol It's so awesome... I think this is more afordable than an Ecto 1 or a DeLorean Timemachine or a batmolile or something...

Good idea for a first prop-car?!?

Re: Sneak Peak: My Jurassic Park Explorer

Onkelpsycho said:

Very cool... It is sprayed, right? Don't tell me that you used a brush... :lol It's so awesome... I think this is more afordable than an Ecto 1 or a DeLorean Timemachine or a batmolile or something...

Good idea for a first prop-car?!?

Click to expand...

Sprayed the bumpers and rubber bits with the yellow, and also used spray on the yellow ->green gradient. All the sprayed bits looked bad though and I wound up using the roll on method, except on the gradient which is still a little iffy. Will be mostly covered by vinyl decal though so no big.

Painted the whole car using high density foam rollers. Thinned the paint appx 40/60 mineral spirits to paint and rolled on two coats between wet sanding. Yellow came out gorgeous after about 8 - 10 coats and so did the maroon. Buffed to a beautiful shine. The green needed a couple more than that and the pigments kept separating after adding the mineral spirits. Would've gone rustoleum on the green but their greens are all too dark. It bugs me a little though because I wish I went a shade darker on the green, but I'll have to live with it the way it is now.

Basically the mineral spirits thins the paint enough for it to self-level after you roll it on, leaving a nice smooth finish. Worked my way to a 2000 grit wet sand after the final coats then buffed with a polishing cream and finished with 2 coats of maguires liquid wax. The method works beautifully but I rushed parts of it since painting this mother three different colors was a bigger job than I wanted, so the paint job does have room for improvement. It photographs well, thankfully!. I'd paint a whole car (in one color!) using the method any day of the week though. It yields surprisingly good results.

Since getting your hands on an unmodified DeLorean is already $20k+ I'd say this is a pretty cheap movie car. Never looked into the Ecto and any of the Batmobiles are basically 95% custom fabrication so yeah, this is probably less expensive than all of them. Explorers are cheap. The expensive parts on the car are the paint job ($2-$5k professionally done), tires ($800), bubble roof and fiberglass roof box ($1k-$2k), custom dash and seat upholstery ($1k+). Then there's the rarity of the brushguard to deal with and such. And Explorers aren't that fantastic, mechanically speaking. Hence my DIY approach to save a few bucks since my budget for this project is teeny tiny.

Freaking love Jurassic Park though. Saw it in the theater when I was a kid about 10 times. It's been really nice to see people's faces light up when they see the Explorer... it feels like I injected some movie magic onto the drab streets of Houston. Plus, it's the car I've always wanted and now I have it.