Ginga - Reverse Build

[Poseidon20]

*EDIT - I changed the name of this thread because apparently there’s a name for what me and my wife are going for, “OEM+”. We’re calling it the reverse build because we are undoing some of the mods it came with to give it a more stock look. It’s been a lot of fun learning these things with my wife, she’s been really into it. *


About a month ago my wife and I drove over 3 hours to get the only blue jeep for sale within a 200 miles radius. I was so excited I got a speeding ticket on the way there. I’ve since driven a lot slower on the jeep.

I first had a Jeep in college, a 2001 SE. I was just a poor college student so I didt do anything to it, but I always knew Id get another Jeep one day to build out.

Let me introduce Ginga.

Ginga basically means movement in Portuguese. She is a 2021 Sport. Apparently the previous owner was a kid who put half a suspension lift, 35in tires with Rockstar wheels, plastic armor, a new bumper and a winch. Overall not too bad but she needs some work.

We are really excited to get started and making her our own. We have many ideas but limited funds lol. We’ll be sharing some updates as we go.

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[Tethmes]

Lookin good, congrats! You obviously have good taste in color as well.

 

[Deleted User 38384]

About a month ago my wife and I drove over 3 hours to get the only blue jeep for sale within a 200 miles radius. I was so excited I got a speeding ticket on the way there. I’ve since driven a lot slower on the jeep.

I first had a Jeep in college, a 2001 SE. I was just a poor college student so I didt do anything to it, but I always knew Id get another Jeep one day to build out.

Let me introduce Ginga.

Ginga basically means movement in Portuguese. She is a 2021 Sport. Apparently the previous owner was a kid who put half a suspension lift, 35in tires with Rockstar wheels, plastic armor, a new bumper and a winch. Overall not too bad but she needs some work.

We are really excited to get started and making her our own. We have many ideas but limited funds lol. We’ll be sharing some updates as we go.

Not to talk about myself too much, but my whole build style is low cost, mostly self-creation mods.

I just finished making my own aluminum front bumper from raw materials for a total cost of about $300.

Considering my rough Country steel front bumper was $650, and that's an inexpensive one, $300 is a pretty good deal.

It's like way too many pages, but here's my build page. Feel free to give it a skim, you might see some ideas you like.

https://www.jlwranglerforums.com/forum/threads/tredsdert-jlu-willys-sport-ecodiesel-–-destroying-70-years-of-advancement-one-mod-at-a-time.106122/

Haven't posted about it yet, but I just purchased my new hardtop rear window earlier today at Lowe's... $14.

 

[Poseidon20]

We’ve had the Jeep for just over a month now. In the meantime we’ve done a few little things. We initially wanted to call this thread “Ginga, the de-evolution”, because we like a more stock look, but beefier. A small lift and 35s were always part of the plan, but with a more subtle look than what’s currently there. However having them is definitely a plus and allows us to work on other smaller things first.

The first thing we had to do though was fix the suspension. The previous owner, according to the salesman, was a “kid”, who didn’t do a complete suspension lift. He put on a 3inch fabtech lift that only included the shocks, springs, and a rear track bar relocation bracket. The Jeep looked badass but drove like a wild animal. We bought Mammoth adjustable LCAs and a rough country adjustable front track bar. Got them installed at a local 4x4 garage and now the Jeep drives amazing. We love it.

With that out of the way we can move on to our plans for the Jeep. Below is a list of what we plan to do to give it that more stock look.

Short Term:
- Paint the grill insert a flat black
- Remove plastic armor
- Paint gas cap cover
- Get brake light relocation bracket
- Get foldout table for tailgate
- sprint correction pad for bowed front passenger spring

Long Term:
- New wheels (this should be in short term bucket but until we find the one we absolutely want, we keep searching). If anyone has suggestions for wheels that look stock but that next level look we are all ears.
- Rubicon steel bumper
- Replace the fab tech suspension with something better
- Mopar Rubicon honeycomb grill inserts.

Not originally in the short or long term lists that I bought lol:
- Apex AutoLynx quick disconnect
- M.O.R.E Engine skid plate (x-mas gift, not yet installed)
- Rough Country front and rear diff skids (x-mas gift, not yet installed)
- Rough Country rear LCA skids (x-mas gift, not yet installed)

This build won’t be as extreme as some of the other ones in this site. We like plain and simple but with that beefy, strong and rugged look that Jeeps are famous for. We are very excited for this journey. We will update as we go and the adventures we go on.

 

[Poseidon20]

The first thing the Jeep needed was doing something about the fang grill the previous owner put. We didn’t get a good picture of it because we are anxious to get it gone, but trust us you don’t want to see it.

To remove the grill, I had to move the winch out of the way. You can kind of see the fang grill there.

After I got everything off, my wife painted it with just some black spray paint from Home Depot. It’s a temporary solution for the short term. We plan to eventually put the OEM Rubicon grill.

Final look, we really like it. So far have had no overheating issues.

 

[Poseidon20]

A couple of weeks later we found some time to do a quick and easy mod. Remove the plastic armor. We just used my wife’s hairdryer to soften the glue and it peeled off nice and easy. Simple and quick that to us made a big difference.

Before:

After:

 

[Poseidon20]

What are those?!

Fit is so perfect it’s like it was meant to be.

 

[Poseidon20]

Finally got our new wheels! Love them.

 

[Blues Fan 30]

Look i think you just had your wife hold the heat gun just so you could show her off. Tell me I'm wrong? Haha!

 

[ParadigmDawg]

Look i think you just had your wife hold the heat gun just so you could show her off. Tell me I'm wrong? Haha!

...I mean....I was thinking it....

 

[Poseidon20]

Look i think you just had your wife hold the heat gun just so you could show her off. Tell me I'm wrong? Haha!

haha no she really was into it. She actually did most of it, I was doing something else on the tailgate.

 

[The Last Cowboy]

Looking good. The Rockstar wheels were wildly popular there for awhile, then everyone got sick of seeing them. They age poorly too.

And those grille fangs were terrible. I'm surprised you out the screen back in. You must live in a area where it it never really gets too hot.

 

[Poseidon20]

Looking good. The Rockstar wheels were wildly popular there for awhile, then everyone got sick of seeing them. They age poorly too.

And those grille fangs were terrible. I'm surprised you out the screen back in. You must live in a area where it it never really gets too hot.

Yea I really wasnt a fan of those wheels. I like the all black look and when/if I switch wheels again it will most likely be all black.

It can get pretty hot and humid, but havent had any problems with overheating. I do plan to eventually take them out for the OEM Rubicon grill inserts. I'll probably add them in at the same time I change the bumper, but in the meantime this will do.

 

[Poseidon20]

Did a few more things to the Jeep. First was just a cheap seat cover from Amazon. We actually really like it. It feels really good and gives the Sport a more premium feel. Would definitely buy again when these start to go.

With the 35s and the third brake light it was definitely hard to see out of the back. Installed another cheap Amazon part to relocate the light. Super easy and quick. Still can’t see much out the back window but it definitely helped lol.

 

[Shelly_16_86]

If you don’t mind me asking, what seat covers did you go with?

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