Scott's 1969 Rebuild Thread

You are in luck-FOCKER said he would work with you after he gets done with the "Pay The Bills" stuff today.
Back in the olden days-or maybe last year-there was a lot of trouble saving pics so they could be posted. But he came up with a way that is both easy to use and fairly priced. The program is called BeamingPix. If you ask him about it he will explain it to you. WestCoastPat

 

New real panel arrived today from Quadratec, ordered last Friday, shipped to my door for $333 all day. Came in decent shape, some rubs and scratches, but no major bends. The box on a skid was odd though. Metal measures 16 gauge at all points. And of course, wooden inserts in the channels.

 

I broke out an old Canon digital camera, by old I mean four years. The pics are coming in around 100k. At that rate I can upload about 1,000 pictures into the online gallery. By comparison, my Samsung 9+ pics are a minimum of 4MB.

 

I bit the bullet and bought an MD Juan floor panel from Quadratec. The bozo who packed it bent it to fit in the box and the wrapped it in cellophane. It can be hammered out, but it's just stupid. The floor is also not stamped where it should be and there is wood in the hat channels.

 

Wood was originally used in the floor channels. I found some in my `64.

 

While researching what side panel parts I might need I notice that the embossed JEEP logo was inside coated with cheap undercoating. After flap sanding for about 45 minutes I found the JEEP logo on the outside under about 1/4 inch of Bondo. One of the POs welded a repair panel on top of the original sheet metal, pounded down the logo and then laid on a crap ton of bondo. Some more grinding and cutting...that has got to go. The logo is pretty beat up though.

 

i strongly recommend the geo tracker/suzuki sidekick disk brake upgrade. its almost painless, and then you have modern disk brakes. night and day difference, and worth it. total cost foe me was $250.00, +/- a few bucks.

 

I got the 11" upgrade from Herm, did the rears, need to do the front and master cylinder. Now is the perfect time for the MC as I have no front floor!

 

Previous owner had a serious Bondo addiction.

 

Now I see what the PO did. Covered the rusted out area and tack welded a panel over it, then filled the gaps and entire side with Bondo. This was a disaster waiting to happen with rust underneath. I'll be cutting out all the panels and bad areas an replacing with new metal.

 

I'm slightly ashamed to say I did something similar, but it lasted 20 years before it started to bubble

 

I get it. I was tempted to just cover it back up and repaint. But getting a new front and rear floor in will be difficult in it's current configuration. It's only a hobby vehicle and something to play with. Lots of time to figure it out. If I play my cards right, I think I can reuse the sheet metal, it's the right thickness and only has surface rust on the back side. I think I can use a thin metal saw and cut the panel free and it should fit right back in place for butt welding. I messed up the first one and cut it with a cutting wheel. The gap is too wide for welding. Live and learn.

 

It sounds like you're in the same boat as I am, only I'm my own PO, lol. When I repaired my parts I didnt own a welder, so my dad and I just pop riveted patch panels on and bondo'd over it. I'm hoping to convince my wife to invest in a replacement tub this year. Then, I'll fiddle with the old tub and maybe eventually sell it to recoup some cost and learn something in the process.

 

It took us a few hours, but we got the rear floor removed. The PO built a box type frame out of angle iron and metal brackets, then bolted a steel plate on top. I'm guessing that plate weighs twice as much as the Omix replacement. So if I'm replacing the front and rear floors and possibly the wheel housings, what order do I go in?

 

I would brace everything up first, and make sure its square. Then personally I think I'd do the rear floor and wheel wells, and then the front last. Keeping everything square and level on both planes is the hardest part.

Johns1967 cj5 thread is probably one of the best I've seen for rebuilding a tub. He took it down to individual panels. My 67 CJ5 build

 

Got the dash out last night. More of the original color coming through. I think it's Prairie Gold?

 

I have visited Johns build thread many times. It inspired me to take this project to a whole new level!

 

Several hours of grinding and cutting. The

 

Good progress. Now several more hours with a wire wheel and a paint removal disk.