It has been a while since anything was posted.  To be honest my job has been far more difficult that I really expected and that has resulted in me coming home and not doing much.  I have found some motivation as of late and have been doing a lot of body work.  It is  slow going, so don't judge.

I have been welding up every place where body panels meet.  That is my little custom touch to make it look slick.  I am waiting for the day when it is finished and someone asks me how I smoothed it all out.

Too little time and six trips to the bolt store.

I was home from Afghanistan from 12-12-12 to 12-29-12.  It may sound like a good bit of time off (don't get me wrong it is), but when you have to fix things around the house, catch up of everything in life, see friends and family, ect you are not left with much time to wrench.

I set a low bar for myself while I was home, mate the motor and transmission and drop it in the frame.  Or so I thought...  The transmission was pretty much ready, but needed a bit of wire wheel work and paint.  I realized that I needed to bolt in the frame cross member that the transfer case rests upon.  I then realized in my efforts to add some stiffness to the frame (I boxed it) that I had welded sheet metal over the cross member mounting point.  This led me to break out a telescoping magnet and a new light that Mike and Rusiko gave me for Christmas (see photo) and try to drop the bolts in place from inside the frame.  Not fun, but it happened.  I next realized that I need to put a bit of a squeeze on the frame so that the cross member would fit, again not much fun but done.

The transmission and transfer case was bolted in leaving me just the job of slotting in the motor.  Right!  I knew that I needed some nuts and bolts from Ace Bolt in Bryan and had laid out the parts next to my keys so that I could wake up in the morning and get the parts I needed.  I failed to grab one of the parts I needed and this led to me making two trips to the bolt store before 0900.  The rest of the day did not get much better.  I had a bolt snap in the flywheel (I was able to drill and use an easy out successfully for the first time in my life), you guessed it, back to the bolt store.

In the end I made six trips to the bolt store that day.  In the end my motor hoist was not long enough to swing the motor into place.  I tried everything, but even with the help of a kind man (Thank you Dick) I was not able to get the motor and transmission to line up.  I struck upon the idea of using a threaded rod and some nuts to bring the two units together.  This worked well because I was able to line up the splines and pull the units into place evenly.

Not much left at all now... Just fuel lines, brake lines, steering, body work, seats, wiring, paint, roll bar.

Oh yeah, here is a photo of Mike shooting a bow that my father bought me when I was his age.

Enjoy the photos!













   

Back home for a few days and a bit of progress was made!

I have to admit that I find myself day dreaming of my Jeep or follow on projects while I am in Afghanistan. I went home for a few weeks of leave, and while I was not able to work on the Jeep as much as I wanted because I was having to fix things around the house, I did get a bit accomplished. I gathered up the transmission and transfer case and had them rebuilt. The shop did not order all of the parts that they needed and as a result I did not get the transmission back until after I had to go back to Afghanistan. Oh well, I will mate the motor and transmission when I come back for Christmas and bolt it to the frame. I put a quick coat of paint on the wheels. I did not put a lot of effort into the wheels because I intend to replace them at some point in the future. Next it was off the a used tire shop to get some rubber. Once I was able to put the wheels and tires on the frame I used some wheel dollies that enable me to push the Jeep closer to the wall and out of the way when I am gone, and away from the wall when I am home so that I can get to the areas I need to work on. The donor Jeep was a pretty close match to the original, but there are a few small details that are not the same. I had to cut the original bits out and weld them into place on the donor body. I also cut out a really bent up portion of the body and welded in a nice new flat sheet of metal. It all needs a lot more work, but it was really nice to get back home and push the project forward. Enjoy the photos!

A cleanish garage

The last month or so has been quite a slog. I have had quite a few $5 parts fail or break on me, but things are starting to shape up a bit. I have however discovered that the front end is dripping gear oil at the dif gasket and the pinion seal. This is a bit upsetting seeing as I have put many hours into the front end along, but I can replace these parts without a lot of effort.

I have the front and rear end under the frame again and I must say that I am proud. There are a number of rough edges on the bumper that require new metal being welded in, but I am ready to move on to this phase of the project. As a matter of fact I am ready to move on to any other phase of the project that does not require me to touch grease. I do not mind oil. You can pour oil over my head and I would not care. However, grease sticks to everything and smears onto tools and before you know it your garage is a hazmat zone. I am proud to say that my garage is now much cleaner than it has been.

Enjoy the photos!











Your daily hoon!

Little Bits and more heat!

I fear that the update for this week will be rather short. Not that anyone is reading this! I have hit the point in the project where it seems as if the stars are aligned against me. I have been trying to get the front and rear end rebuild for about two weeks, but a number of small parts kept me from doing this. I am happy to report that the front end is back together and I thought that I was going to be able to mount wheels to the brake drums, but as I was installing the brakes a retaining spring broke. It is much better that the spring broke now rather than when the car was going down the road, but it was a sign as to how my weekend would turn out.

I feel that I put in two heroic days in the garage in 100+ heat, but I am worn out now. After having my knees bent for so long today it feels very good to stretch out on the couch. Not only did I have front in problems, but the rear end (he he he) did not cooperate either. It appears that at some point someone must have driven the "key pin" further into the wheel assemble then necessary. The end result is that I had to use a cut off wheel (several) and a grinding disk to try and remove part of the wheel assembly. In the end it was just too hot and I had been at it for too long. I do not drag my feet when I walk, but I noticed that I was today. I stopped and decided that rather than bang on and potentially mess something up that I would clean and organize my garage.

Sorry the photos are not so exciting this weekend!

Time to consolidate projects!

Well my project ADD has turned into project ADHD. I was trying to rebuild the front and rear end, but that plot was foiled when UPS failed to deliver the pieces I needed on time. No worries though, I can just address the transmission that has been gathering dust! Well I have it in about a thousand pieces. I am not happy with the condition of some of the needle bearings so I will have to hold off on putting that back together until I can get them in the post.

After hitting so many setbacks this weekend and putting in such a hard day Saturday I was a bit demotivated this morning, but then I remembered that I had the air filter housing to clean and paint. This was not a large project, but it was just enough of a win to put some wind in my sails today. Because my Jeep has a snorkel cutout in the hood I will mount the filter unit to the roll cage because this would allow the Jeep to drive in water five feet deep. I removed the OEM wire and oil filter setup and replaced it with a cone paper filter. I admit to making a hash of trimming the foam rubber to fit the area inside of the filter housing, but rather than purchase another filter as suggested by a foolish friend I spent fifteen minutes cutting a large washer out of some scrap I found in my back yard. I have no idea where this scrap came from, but I was glad to find some nice flat metal laying about. :-P

Enjoy the photos!

Bits and Bobs from Kaiser Willys

I have reached the point in the project that I have had to purchase a few bits and bobs to move me along in the process. I would like to throw in a plug for a company that anyone rebuilding a Jeep should go to for parts. The company is Kaiser Willys (1-888-648-4923). These guys have everything you need short of a new frame. You can really purchase everything you need from these guys, they have a solid depth of knowledge about older Jeeps, and they are very friendly.

Now on the important stuff... I made one of the most important decisions in my life recently. I decided to replace the reverse threaded studs in the hubs with another set of reverse thread studs. Yes, I know that by not adopting the modern method of having all wheel studs loosen and tighten in the same manner that I have had to give up several things. Yes, I know that I have given up the 15% boost in horsepower, but this is a small price to pay for originality. :-)

I am going to make a huge push this weekend and try to get the front and rear end under the frame. I have been telling myself this for several weeks now, but I mean it this weekend. Really, I do. Stop looking sideways at me like that. It will happen.

I threw in a picture of a tire swap that I did on Mike's kart. Mike now has rally tires on his kart! Let the hooning begin!

Enjoy the photos.





Oh, and I made these!