Nothing like a bit of metal work in 100 degree heat!

Not much of an update today really. I feel like I worked a tremendous amount but accomplished very little. I beat the passenger floor about as straight as I could and welded in some supports that I hand made (read they are not very pretty). Even though they are hand made I can tell that they have stiffened up the body under the passenger seat.

I think that I have just a bit more to do on this side and then I will have to flip it over and fix the rot in the drivers side. In planning out what I will do about the sides of the Jeep I have been leaning more and more toward cutting out the existing skin and welding in new and straight sheet metal. In the end it will save me a ton of work and I know that I will not be driving a bondo bucket around.

Enjoy!

Oh, BTW, here are a few photos of my family and I trying to beat the heat.

The Economist, light metal fabrication, and progress

Earlier this week I was reunited with my family. They went back to Georgia for a month and a bit to rest, have fun, and to make sure that Mike does not forget Georgian. Man it is good to have them back.

I made it up in time to listen to "Click and Clack" this morning. I swear, some of the questions people ask about cars amaze me! I was next able to do some of my favorite things all day. These include drinking enough water to drown a fish, stand around in the heat of the garage all day, listen to world events (via the audio edition of The Economist. Check it out!), and patch up the metal work on the Jeep.

I must say that making progress on this front has the least to do with making the Jeep go or be dependable, but my God it feels good to get the body closer toward being in shape to paint.

I had to make a metal bender today. It is by no means the best, but for a few bucks worth of bolts and 2x4s it works well enough.

Enjoy the photos.

Oh bare metal, how I love thee

The body tub is in the garage! I hope that I will be able to beat, cut, weld, and will it into shape in a short amount of time. Whilst waiting for the completely useless person pictured below to help me move the body tub (which he showed up too late to actually do) I took the paint off the hood. I almost wish that I could paint a clear coat on the bare metal and call it a day. I love the way that bare metal looks, but I know that it would be murderous to drive a vehicle with with a hood that is as shinny as this one would be.

Enjoy the photos!

p.s. The guy in the photos is not really useless. I just like to give him a hard time.

That felt good!

Just to prove that I do put a lot of time into mending this Jeep (not just weekends) I submit to you my last night's efforts. There is not great story to tell in this installment, just that as the light was fading and I could work outdoors no longer I spied the old tailgate looking quite unloved. This inspired me to rescue it from the pale refuse (read white trash) heap of that small corner of my backyard that has become my personal hell. I grabbed the donor tailgate and told him that he has soldered on well, but his time had come and that it was time to breath life into his fellow tail gate.

Sorry about that. I had to fill the space with something other than pictures.

So dirty I was told that I looked like I was performing in "Black Face"

I have to say that I have one of the coolest committee chairs in the world. This man has loaned me his sand blaster and an air compressor. By using his air compressor and mine in tandem I am able to push enough pressure through the sand blaster to really strip off paint and rust in areas that I have a hard time getting an angle grinder to fit.

In an effort to return his equipment in a timely manner I started blasting at around 10:00am. (As a side note, I try to be polite and hold off on using equipment that is loud until 10:00am and I cut it off at 8:00pm.) I sand blast for about 15 minutes and then use the grinder for about 15 minutes. I do this in order to allow the air compressors time to cool down. My chair came by to air up his tires (because I had his compressor. This made me feel like crap for having his equipment. I would be irritated if I had to drive across town to use my own equipment, and he was far more magnanimous about the situation than I may have been.) before going on a road trip with his family.

My chair loved my set-up and my system of allowing the equipment to cool (the grinder gets hot also.) recapture the sand, and minimize the downtime between cycles. He came right as I was about to run out of sand and it was an opportune time to stop and rest a bit. Apparently the undercoating that I stripped off had stuck in my two day shadow and the silt from the sand blaster had covered every inch of my body. He told me I was dirty and I told him that I had gathered as much. When I came in at the end of the day I tool a look at myself in the mirror and I was shocked. I have been dirtier in my life, but this had to have ranked in the top 10 for sure.

So that is enough rambling from me. I know what you are here for. Here are the pictures of the tub being blasted of rust and paint. I hope to have it in the garage by the end of this weekend. By the way, it is late and I have not proofed this. Please just ignore any typos and the like.