Before

After

Current

• Remove old body
• Remove old fuel system
  • Tank
  • Lines
• Remove brake lines
• Remove engine
• Clean frame
• Wash frame
• Replace front U joints
• Repair frame
  • Body Mounts
  • Left & Right Rear Frame Members
  • Gas Tank Cross Member
  • Secondary Cross Member
  • Driver Side frame by transmission
  • Rider Side front by front end
• Sandblast frame
• Rustproof frame
• Reinstall front end axel and hardware
• Reinstall rear axel
• Reinstall front and rear bumpers
• New brake lines
• New gas tank
• New fuel lines
• Reinstall engine
• Body
  • Fix body dents
  • Paint body
  • Install body
  • Install Fenders
  • Install Grill
  • Install Windshield
  • Install Tailgate
• Interior
  • Break/clutch pedals
  • Dashboard
  • Steering wheel
  • Seats
  • Center console
  • Rollbar
  • Canvas Top
• Electrical system
• Repair Wreck Damage
  • Straighten Frame
  • Replace Leaf Springs
  • Replace front shocks
  • Straighten tie rod
  • Straighten & Paint Front Fender
  • Replace side marker light
  • Get Comprehensive Insurance Coverage
• Winter 2004 Upgrade
  • Two Barrel Carb
  • Herculiner on floor
  • Paint Roll Bar
  • Replace starter
  • Replace front u-joints
  • Reorient air compressor
• Winter 2005 Upgrade
  • Two new axels w/ 3.4 gears
• Spring 2006 Upgrade
  • New (old) engine!
• Spring 2008 Upgrade
  • Roll Cage!

She's all together! I even took her around the block twice. Got a problem with the break system and need to get that fixed before I can really drive it. But she runs and goes forward! Got more pictures that I'll post tomorrow. Woo hoo!
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Friday, July 27, 2001

It's Alive!

I got her running tonight! Surprisingly it only took about 30 seconds of cranking before she turned over and sputtered to life. I'll post more pictures tomorrow.
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Wednesday, July 25, 2001

Tailgate is back! When I was looking into fiberglass bodies I was stunned to see that it would have cost me $500 more to get a tub with a tailgate opening. I really like having one and would have really missed it. But when this steel tub came up I got an original body and a tail gate to boot! Yea!
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Got the heater ducting installed too.

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Got the battery and battery tray attached as well as the master cylinder and connecting lines. Was fun bending all those loops...

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Have noticed a few problems with the holes in the firewall. Or lack thereof. Notice anything missing in this picture? Let's just say that the firewall on my new body was for a Jeep with an automatic transmission. Yep, no clutch hole. Really hate drilling holes in a freshly painted piece of metal.
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Just a couple of close ups to show the color. She's gonna be real 'perdy!'

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Woo Hoo! There she is!!! That's dad checking it out.

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Monday, July 23, 2001

Tomorrow!

I'm picking up the body tomorrow! Woo hoo!
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Friday, July 20, 2001

Arrrgggghhhh....

The body won't be ready to pick up till Tuesday! They had a)a non-working mother-in-law's car there taking up their time, b)a sick painter (for three days) and c)a swarm of locusts. (Ok, I made up the last one...) Anyway, the body won't be ready till Tuesday. Patience... Yea, yea, yea, how long will that take?
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Thursday, July 19, 2001

Next, the roll bar needed work. I had to cut off the old mount plates (45 miutes with a hand grinder) and clean the metal so we can weld on the new ones. I think instead of welding them on and trying to get them aligned (fat chance), I am just going to drill the holes in them necessary to bolt them down to the body and then sit the roll bar on top of them. Then, tack weld them on, take the whole thing back off, weld it, paint it, and put it back on.
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Both fenders now have marker lights and hood latches. They're ready! Where's that body?
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Paint bolts, nuts, hinges and such is one of my favorite things to do. Not! Right up there with sanding. Sure am glad it's done though! (Look closely at the bolts and you can see that no good paint job (around here) is complete without at least one Zeus hair attached.)
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A coat of paint and even an old emergency break lever looks new. And a couple of coats of paint also made this fresh air grill look like it belongs too. My old one was in good shape but the paint was pealing off and would have taken a couple of hours of sanding to get it to look good. So, while I was scavenging parts I saw this and grabbed it too. It had a good paint job on it already so I just had to scuff it up and paint away!
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I got a windshield motor cover from an old rusty doner Jeep at a local junk yard and put a couple of coats of black on it and viola! Completed windshield just waiting for a body to bolt it onto!
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The latches and gasket went on the tail gate without a hitch.
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I've got most all of the miscellaneous parts painted and attached. (ie. hinges, brackets, latches ) They really set off the yellow. Can't wait to see it all together!
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I learned several very interesting things about my Willys Overland tub today. First, it was one of the last four "real" Jeep tubs to ship from their office. Consequently making it one of the last four "real" jeeps ever assembled in the world! Wow. (Quick history: I bought my tub from a damaged freight company here in Akron for less than half the asking price of $3500!) The second thing is that Willys Overland didn't get the tubs all assembled. They got stacks of parts and welded them together themselves using custom assembly jigs they made. Very industrious guys there. So, since mine was one of the last ones, they used many different parts from many different years of tub. So, my tub is (according to them) an '84'ish tub. Guess that is why the body mount rails didn't quite look right. Still, makes my CJ even more special!
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Monday, July 16, 2001

An hour, $25 and one wasp sting later I have a new emergency break lever, fresh air grill, side marker lights and hood prop-up rod courtesy of the local salvage yard and an old rusted out CJ-7. A bit of work with a wire brush, some paint and they all look like new!
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I spent sunday cleaning and painting bolts, hinges, front grill support rods, etc. The windshield is all assembled (wipers, motor, sun visors) and ready to install. Also, the grill is ready to bolt on. The hood has the hinges and windshield rests installed and only needs the side fender catches attached. The parts look great with the bright yellow and glossy black. Getting really excited!
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B Day is drawing near! The body should be painted and ready for pickup Wednesday (Thursday at the latest.) I am told. Claud over at Norman & Son's Body shop tells me that the yellow paint I'm using doesn't cover very well and they had to put 4(!) coats on the parts they have already painted for me. Consequently, I had to go buy another gallon of $160/gal paint. (Outch!)
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Thursday, July 12, 2001

Its yellow! Or at least parts of it are.
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The dashboard is pretty much back together. Repairing the knobs wasn't too bad actually. They are soft rubber like shells over rigid plastic cores. The plastic had stripped out and cracked so I broke out most of it, filled the hole with epoxy and then drilled new holes. Jammed the steel rods back in them and viola, almost new knobs! (I'll be damned if I'm going to pay $6.00 each for new ones. Sheesh...)

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Couple of fenders and a windshield and we're almost good to go. $93.00 for a new windshield installed by the way. The junk yard wanted $60 for a used one and I had to put it in myself. Figured $33 for installation and a no-leak guarantee isn't too shabby.

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It's got eyes! Damn is this thing starting to look good or what?

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Can you believe this is my old hood? It used to be white, dented and rusty. Now it's yellow, not rusty, and still slightly dented. But oh is it shiny!

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Tuesday, July 10, 2001

I'm on hold waiting for the body shop to get around to painting my parts (hood, grill, fenders, tail gate). They tell me they will be ready on Thursday. Then the body goes there and let's hope it doesn't take another week to get it painted. Till then, I've been tinkering. Rear axel snubbers (axel/frame bumpers), assembling the dashboard, repairing the dashboard knobs, cleaning and painting the spare tire holder. Lot's of little things...
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Sunday, July 01, 2001

The dashboard has a coat of POR 15 and then two coats of satin finish black Krylon. It's good to go. I think I must be getting close to finished, I even put a coat of paint on the ash tray! Couple of more days and then its off to the body shop with the tub!
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Now to finish up the miscellaneous stuff on the frame. A new muffler and tail pipe. Final installation of the gas tank. And finally the power steering box and pump. (Boy is that a pain in the tuckes to put in by the way.)
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The sanding is done! Phew. You don't know how much I hate sanding. But she is all done and ready to go to the body shop. The fenders, hood, grill and tail gate are over there now and may already have a coat of paint on them. I hope to pick them up early next week (Tuesday maybe?) and in the process deliver the tub to them. I've decided to just rent a U-haul truck for the afternoon and take it in that. $19.95 plus some mileage is a whole lot less than a flat bed wrecker.
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