Buzzard's '65 Cj5 Patina Build

Does anyone know if the portion of the frame circled in red in the image below sat directly under the sheet metal of the rear floor? Or is there a brace that sits between it and the sheet metal?

 

There is a channel that sits on it.

 

Perfect, thank you Garage Gnome!

 

From the factory, there are two standoffs with rubber pads on the bottom of the brace. Picture from my '69:

 

Thanks for posting this picture Fireball, it is very helpful!

 

The remaining braces were cut and welded in over the weekend. This just about wraps up the fab work on the tub with the exception of re-mounting the tail gate hinges and capping open tube ends. I have moved it out of the garage for now to free up some space for disassembly of the rolling chassis. I plan to paint the raw steel at the same time as the frame.

 

Some progress from the week; got the motor pulled from the chassis and torn down.

It’s definitely been rebuilt in the past. The bores measure .040” over stock. Hoping to get the block, heads, and crank checked out by a machine shop in the next couple weeks to see if the block is good enough shape to go .060” over stock.

In the meantime, I will pull the axles off and need to redo the radiator mount that the PO had made. Then I plan to get the frame prepped for sand blasting and powder coat.

Are there any specific locations that are prone to cracking on the frame that I should inspect before sending the the blasters?

 

Cracks are common around the rear cross member and around the spring mounts.

 

Been a bit since an update but making good progress.

Got the Frame sandblasted and then sprayed it flat black. As you can tell, I kept the original patina on the front bumper to keep with the theme. I wasn’t sure how it would turn out but I like it.

When it was driveable I noticed the steering box flexed a bit when steering and that I could never get the bolts tighten up properly. After all the grime was removed from sandblasting I was able to see that the mounts were in need of attention

out with the old:

In with the new:

I primed the tub and after looking at it, I think I am going to keep the brown on the interior. The bottom I will paint black.

I cleaned up the axles, leaf’s, shock mounts and got new spring bushings and hardware installed and was able to make it a roller again

I saw the cj7 rear fuel tank mod on here and thought it was a good idea since I had to remove the rear bumper and cross member due to rust anyways. so I pulled the trigger on the tank and skid plate and started mocking it up along with a custom bumper.

 

Really enjoying the character of this build. Well done!

 

I like the couch in the garage mostly.

 

best part of the garage honestly

 

It’s done!

Just kidding…. There’s nothing under that hood. It is nice to see it back as a complete jeep again, definitely gives some motivation to truck on.

I am test fitting the tub and so far so good. Gonna work the following next:

- Mount Seats
- finish body mounts
- remount the tailgate hinges & tail gate
- roll cage… can’t decide between building off of existing roll bar or go the custom route. I will most likely go the custom route because I have access to a tube bender and I will have the time since the motor will still be the gating item.

 

Rad! What wheels are those?

 

I think they are stock 15” wheels but I could be wrong. They were a rusty chrome so I painted them this bronze color

 

I've heard good things about "poppy's patina" products. They have a Gloss coating or a Matte finish coating. One of these days I'm going to buy a kit and test it out on my Ford or old Chevy before I do the CJ6.

 

The poppy’s patina looks like a pretty good product, just alittle too shiny for my liking. I couldn’t really tell a difference between the matte and gloss finishes from their pictures online. If you give it a go please let me know how it goes!

 

Will do! I'm probably going to do gloss when the time comes.

 

No progress on the jeep but I did score some goodies from a local estate sale!

 

Wow I am bad at keeping this updated, sorry about that. I have been plugging away at getting the parts and installing the new motor and trans.

Stoked on this Novak sm420 to Dana 18 adapter. Here is is bolted up to the trans:

Fresh clutch:

Motor and trans installed in the frame!

Currently working on rebuilding the transfer case:

hope you enjoyed the update!