2X4 frame for my CJ2A

yeah, it will get straightened when i weld it in place. I will drill holes to spot weld and every third one or so will get threaded for small bolts to pull it tight, then weld. While i am doing that ,as I go along, I will clamp it straight. Problem is that the sheet will always have a bit of wave to it. Its fine really, forward of the middle support there is no distortion at all.

 

30 bucks for 25 pins and the plier shipped. they are real cleco made in USA too. I hope these make life a bit easier for me.

 

Amazon. free 2 day shipping with prime. Havent used them yet. Been raining, so I have torn apart my SM420. http://www.earlycj5.com/xf_cj5/index.php?threads/sm-420-new-synchros-and-bearings.117467/

 

combination of cleco pins and 1/4-20 cap screws work great.

Gas tank filler hoses fit.

going to be tight to recess any brake lights

 

I might have to go that route for your stated reasons. The hoses were not expensive, so if I don't use them I won't be heartbroken. I will have to get some straight fuel rated hose in the same dimensions. The good thing is that the hoses clear the frame and the bed.

 

Screwed, cleco'ed and clamped the parts where they are going to be. Drilled holes where panels get welded to 3/8.


cleco's work good

 

Welded the 1x1 and the sheet steel together for the top rail of the rear panel. Welded up the holes from the steels previous life and rosette welded the bed to the rear panel.


I hate working on any original part of this tub and body. Its pure garbage and is some form of semi compressed rust that somehow stays in one piece most of the time. When you try and weld a piece of it the original steel/rust turns to vapor that is slowly making my lungs plated with iron oxide. Maybe I will become bulletproof If i keep inhaling my jeep?

Anyway enough stupid drivel.

I have a way of making this work. I turn the heat down and use a piece of TIG filler wire where the rust vaporizes. It allows there heat to be somewhat absorbed by the filler wire and melt while still melting some of the sheet metal. It makes a big ugly blob, but the grinder doesn't care.

It turned out pretty good. The waviness you may see in the pic is more than it actually is. Don't care much anyway cause this body is not remotely straight or good or.... i should have just bought a new repro tub and just cut it in half.

The wheel well will need trimmed and things moved around a bit because its on a straight, square frame. The divots next to the welds will get filled with body filler. Not perfect, don't care. The body is no longer twisted and its strong.

 

Holy orange dumpster!

Well the old wheelhouses fit

As you can see the riser panel is in the wrong spot now. I expected this as the asymmetrical body where the wheels fit made me cut out a part of the old riser on the passenger side. I just made the riser even and square to the rear frame crossmember.

The front of the wheelhouses where it connected to the riser was rusted out. There is a gap now.


I dont plan on using the old wheelhouses. I just shoved them in there to see if I could use them as a pattern. I don't even think I will use them as a pattern. I think I will take out the side to wheelhouse support and just make something new that is similar in design but specifically made for this custom mess I got going on. I have an extra 12" in the door so i don't need to care about wheelhouse notch for seat placement and i also have a tilt steering column, so no need to worry about leg room.

 

Had 2 hours before I had to drive to a job. Cut this out and bent 2 bends. No brake. It has some hammer marks, but not bad. Going to make the bend down to the riser at 34 inches, she the cut in the top tab is.I will then scribe the side panel and cut to fit correctly with a 1" tab to bend over. I will then cut out a triangle and make a cap to try and replicate somewhat the look of the old panel. This is 11 gauge stuff. It is just thrown in the space, no clamps etc..


No pattern, no cardstock, just measured it, marked it, cut it and bent it. I did make a pattern for the round corner. It turned out better than I had expected. Wish I didn't have to use a hammer, but no way to get in the center of the panel to clamp it. They are mild and in comparison to the old wheelhouse, insignificant.

 

clamp the length of the bend between two heavy angle irons and beat the flap into submission.

 

11 ga about .120" really not so easy to bend 90 degrees even with large angle irons...........especially over that 30-36" distance........in the shop that requires a least the 40 ton brake.
BF-Hammer is just about the only way from a manual perspective.

 

Yeah, its impossible to bend it with anything but huge machines.

Yeah I use big water pump pliers, channel locks, to bend where I can

My steel topped table has an angle I have used for this where i clamp another on top.

As you guys obviously know, 34" long 90* bends 11 or so inches in for a bend in 11 gauge sheet is purely impossible without special jigs or heavy machinery. In that sense what I have done here is really good, I am not patting myself on the back, I will share my hacktivism with you. This kind of bend in much thinner material will be fine at the edges but will "bubble out in the center where you can't get a clamp. One idea I had was to take some heavy steel, put it over the bend and use a jack up to the floor joist on my house over my bench to create the pressure needed. I just didn't want to do it, so I used the same method I used for everything else.

If you don't have a brake its really difficult to get a straight line in your bends, especially in thicker material.

I scribe a line, clamp a steel straight edge right up next to that line and use an angle grinder to cut about half way into the sheet without going through across that line. That is my bend. Where I need extra strength I weld the angle and grind if I can see it or leave it if I can't.

Out at the ends I don't have to cut so deep, but in the center of the panel I do.

I make the bend. In this case I had to hammer it in the center a bit to get it to come in straight. I have some cheap HF body hammers, so they did it ok.

I am pretty happy with how this one turned out. The small dents are nothing compared to the outside of the tub and fenders and hood.

I have not abandoned the idea of tool boxes, but they might just really have to be access panels for tail lights and tank fillers or maybe I will just forget I ever mentioned them.. I Will be driving this thing in the spring and there is a lot of mechanical work to do..... lot of work for little gain.

 

Carry on. I'm impressed so far. always amazes me what you can accomplish with some good manual labor. It's good to see someone who isn't threatened by a seemingly impossible task.

 

You are much too nice to me. I have a lot of experience messing this sort of thing up. I can either learn from my past screwups, be an idiot forever, pay someone to do it for me or figure out how to do a better job. There is still plenty of time to witness something gone totally wrong. stay tuned!

I don't have a torch. I would really like one AND a plasma cutter that will do to 1/2" Cut off wheels are 36 bucks a pack of 25 shipped (makita brand) and an angle grinder is 100 bucks. A plasma cutter is at least a grand and forget about an acetylene tank. It was like 800 bucks for a full tank and O2. I had the cutting touch head too. That was just for the tanks!

I had really looked into converting a torch head to propane in lieu of acetylene but decided that cut off wheels and angle grinders were the cheapest best solution. I cut all my tube with one, all the sheet, scored all the sheet and has cost me 75 bucks in cut off wheels, but still have most of the second pack. The Makita ones are real thin, last longer than the diablo or advantage home depot ones and cost less.

Had to actually work all day today, so nothing got done on the jeep pile.

 

In my experience, unless you're working with nonferrous metals, a plasma cutter is just not worth it. A torch is much more versatile. Combined with good technique and a grinder, it's amazing what you can do.

My setup is oxy/propane and is awesome. I'm never going back to acetylene. I payed $100 for the regs, hose and torch on CL, $30 for the new propane tank, and around $200 (IIRC) for the big oxy tank.

Even all the 3/16" plates I'm cutting right now on the bandsaw, I'm roughly zipping them out with the torch, then cutting to the line with the saw.

But hey, everyone has their dream tool, right? Mine is a $22k, 90 ton ironworker.

 

The iron worker I can get. thats not an issue, the issue is moving it! They do come up for sale for scrap prices occasionally. For a while I really wanted a plasma cutter, but got over it. I am VERY interested in your propane setup. I have read some people say there are issues. I do know you need a different hose and different things inside the cutting head. its a bit late for this project, but i probably will never be done doing this kind of projects until i die.

Honestly I am able to do everything with an angle grinder that I need to so far. I might be getting better with it too? I am actually trying to not buy any more tools that i don't use. Things like a monarch floor mortiser and an oliver 585, 5 station low speed sharpener. The mortiser is an amazing piece of 1950s stationary tool and the sharpener even has the cone wheel. No body wants it.