Varg In Jeep's Clothing

BRICKED

 

You have my address, I’ll be watching the mail for it.

 

I don’t have a vice.

 

I have a vice. I don’t have patience ofr one of those Japanese saws. I do have sharp chisels though.

 

Have I mentioned how much I hate body work?

At some point, this body was re-painted, and they must’ve removed the old paint with a 9” grinder. There are deep gouges in the metal everywhere.

Two days spent on two fenders, and they look about the same as they did before I started.

They both had a bunch of bondo that I really wasn’t expecting. The old bodywork was done with a torch, and the heat-warped panels were concealed with filler.

Again, I’m going for the “used but structurally sound” look. Mainly because I just don’t have the patience to make it showroom-pretty.

Both the fenders had the same issues. (I only photographed one of them.) The corners looked fine until I poked through with the wire wheel. They looked like this after I dug back to a strong foundation.



I filled it with weld. Because... why not.



This must’ve had those old fender-mounted lights at some point, and the holes were brazed shut then puttied over. Braze and MIG do not mix, so I fit patch panels in instead. The piece I cut out is in the foreground. The other uglies just got welded shut.



A little lumpy, but good enough for tools to rest on.



The colors are disappearing.



The 24 extra holes in the windshield frame are next.

 

Why? I can’t sell the hippo for top dollar with the impending recession, so now I have no money to finish this. When the body work is done, I’m done.

 

I'm with ya on body work... I hate that stuff.

 

Nothing exciting to add. I’ve just been putting in long hours in making old junk look presentable.

There were actually 37 holes to fill in the windshield frame. I still need to address how to mount the vent cover (I had to forcefully remove the welded-in nuts) and the hood stand-offs (one was broken - those are getting remade). Otherwise, it’s just about ready for paint.

The tailgate was another headache. I’m using the one from the 3b because it’s in better shape. It was mangled, twisted and rear-ended, but at least it wasn’t rusted too badly like the 3a’s. It took a few hours to bang it straight and weld up all of the holes and cracks.



I’m to the point of removing the cage for final welding and paint, then the tub is coming off for final welding and bodywork.

 

Windshield is done. I made new stand-offs this morning and got them welded on from inside. Also welded nuts for the vent to mount to, and I filled the last three giant holes in the top of the frame that I left open until any sandblasting was done (to drain the sand). They were for mounting the hardtop.

 

Can I ask how you dealt with rust bubbling along the seam in the top of the windshield/bottom of the picture? I have a generally nice cj5 windshield that I've procrastinated on stripping down. Did you have to drill out spot welds and disassemble the whole windshield?

 

I’ll start by saying this windshield design has to be one of the worst in history. Just a sheet of metal spot-welded to a frame. I can’t believe it lasted more than 5 years.

Yes, the rust is in there, and yes, I should have drilled out all of the welds, but I didn’t. There were three welds that the rust pried apart. I drilled those, and around four other ones out, cleaned out what rust I could, smacked the rest of it with a hammer to break out the crustiest stuff, and buttoned it back up. I could easily spend three weeks on this thing to do it right, but I just don’t have that kind of drive. If it continues to be a problem, maybe some time down the road it will bug me enough to remove the glass and completely cut it apart. At this point though, I just want to get it done and drive it.

 

I don't see anything wrong here Rust is only a problem if you acknowledge it.

 

I painted in phosphoric acid to the seams. Its the active ingredient in rust neutralizer. The thin liquid gets in the seams pretty good to convert it. If you buy concrete etcher, its generally Phosphoric acid and can gee bought at your local store in gallons.

 

Good tip!

 

One last shot before it comes all back apart again...



Cage is loose and ready to pull out. I should have all the cage parts ready to paint by some time this weekend.



I’m glad I’m on the home stretch, because I’m really tired of disassembling and reassembling this thing.