Posi's Do-over

I'm finally making some progress on the frameup. Lots of head scratching and measuring. So far I've taken all the brackets and mounts off the M38A1 frame, sandblasted it, boxed it, piled the whole Jeep on the frame so I could setup the suspension and taken it all apart again. It's got stock height Wrangler springs from Full Traction, sprung-over. I'm right at the height I was before when I was using the 4" lift springs. Getting ready to cut out the rusted hat channel and floor boards so I can repair the floors. As you can see, I'm not quite ready for the Rubicon Run in August.
New wheelbase.............94 1/2". I'm using hood and fenders from a '73 to even the front out as I added 6 1/2" to the front frame horns so I could move the axle forward. All in all, I added 13 1/2" to the wheelbase.

Here's what I started with. M38A1 frame unknown year.


1st Frame extension tacked in place.


Setup ready for tack welding.


Bumpers, boxing and spring hangers done.


Detail of rear boxing.


It's a roller.

 

Wow, you have made some great progress. That jeep is sure gonna be flexy when your all done with it....the suspension that is

 

Looking good Posi, wondered why we haven't heard from you in a while....now I know why!

 

Cool Posi!!!!

When you think you will be finished?

 

I have no idea. I'm still taking things apart. I'm stripping the body down now. Time for a real paint job and replace the hat channels and some other body work. I might be back on the raod by late Fall. But I may be optimistic.

 

This looks like a good build! I'm anxious to see how it goes. Good Luck!

 

Bought the steel to make "Tommy B's" rotisserie today. Hope to get started on it tonight. I'm waiting for some new sheetmetal from Classic Ent. so I'm hoping to have the body on the rotisserie by the time it shows up next week. I've had this Jeep completely apart three times, but I've never done any body work on it. Should be a learning experience.

 

Have fun and work fast snow will be coming to the high country soon.

 

Wish I could. But fast isn't in the cards. Hope to be running before the first real snow falls though.

 

Posi, Couple questions about the material used to box your frame?, What thickness did you use? and was there any ryme or reason where the holes were placed? What did you use to cut the metal?
Thanks, Rob

 

I used 1/8" x 4" for the boxing figuring it didn't make sense to use anything thicker than the rest of the frame. I just put the holes wherever, trying to keep things symetrical. I mostly put them in for air flow so I wasn't creating a dead zone for moisture and the evil rust to start. They also allowed me to get some paint in there after the welding was done. I went to Apex Saw in Reno and bought a nice (expensive) holesaw to cut the holes with. All the other cuts were either with a cutoff disc on an angle grinder or shaped with a grinding wheel on an angle grinder. A little loose on the plates fit is a good thing. But it's still pretty time consuming.

 

By the way, you can buy a cheap holesaw at the hardware store, but you'll never get that many holes cut out with it. I think I paid about $25 for the holesaw and another $10+ for the arbor.

 

Hey Posi,
Any new pics??

 

I've got a bunch, but need to go through them and upload. I've been waiting to get complete on the new floorpans and having lots of distractions keeping me away from the warehouse. I had the tub on the frame last week so I could line up the hatchannels and tack them in place. Now the tubs back on the rotisserie and I hope to finish welding the hatchannels on Sunday. I remade all but two of the body mounts that are on the frame so I could put them where I needed them. BTW, if you order hatchannel from Classic Ent. don't expect the mounting holes to line up with your existing body mounts. At least mine didn't. The driver's side floor pan came tweeked and I'm still dealing with the ripples in that. I decided to just make the passenger side pan for about half the cost and it's flat, not rippled. New pics soon, I promise.

 

Posi, Thanks for the info, Im making a plan and collecting all my parts to start my frame next week. I'll post pics as I go.
thanks, Rob

 

No problem Rozcoking23. Take a lot of deep breaths while you are doing it and beer helps. At least it's warm in Stockton. It's supposed to snow here on Tuesday.

 

Well, I laughed out loud when I looked at the date of my last post and what it said. Anyway, here's a little update. I just finished the last of the fabrication (that I know of) on the frame. Turns out there is a lot of work to get a bare frame back to something useable. I've mocked up the entire Jeep twice over the winter and spring. Now I'm finally ready to start bolting things back together. I'll post some updated pics and a list of what I did to the frame tomorrow. For right now, here's where I was about a week ago.


Blew on a coat of Valspar super duper black paint. First time I've used a real paintgun instead of a rattlecan.

 

Back from the dead