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MD Juan Tub Kit 1969 CJ5 4CLY (7/2016)

Discussion in 'Builds and Fabricators Forum' started by Wirework, Jul 10, 2016.

  1. May 4, 2017
    Twin2

    Twin2 not him 2024 Sponsor 2023 Sponsor 2022 Sponsor

    Virginia Beach, VA
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    nice work :) OJT
     
  2. May 5, 2017
    Wirework

    Wirework Navy_Jim

    Pittsburgh, PA
    Joined:
    Apr 26, 2016
    Messages:
    542
    Another full day sewing today. I got to trace the second front seat ribbed pieces, cut them out, and assemble and sew the second front seat. It is identical to the first, above. Then I put the back on the rear seat backrest and the vented bottom on the rear seat bench seat.

    And then I started trying to figure out how to replace the rear seat bench and backrest closure zippers with Velcro instead. The zipper sub assembly had a surprising number of fabric parts; replacing them properly will be a challenge. But Dan says fitting Velcro will be much easier than fitting new zippers. I finished about 25% of it.

    I made two assembly mistakes and had to cut out the stitching on two large pieces, twice. And Dan needed his machine for an hour, so I lost a fair amount of time today. After the second big mistake, I figured it was time to give the sewing a break, and I shifted attention to the frames and padding.

    Joe and I have already painted the seat frames which I had disassembled several months ago. It was my intention to replace all the front seat foam because of previous mildew contamination (bad smell). But upon close examination today, we couldn't find even a trace of mildew smell anywhere. So, I'm just going to treat the original foam with I biocide and use it! I reattached the rear bench seat springs to the rear seat frame just before I ran out of time.

    Next week, I'll finish the rear seat closure sewing, treat the foam with biocide, install the foam and seat heaters (with local power switches at seats), and install the seat covers on the frames and foam. By Friday they should be back on the Jeep!
     
  3. May 6, 2017
    Wirework

    Wirework Navy_Jim

    Pittsburgh, PA
    Joined:
    Apr 26, 2016
    Messages:
    542
    My wife went shopping today so and I got to squeeze in a trip up to the upholstery shop to scoop up my seat frames and foam. I got some nylon washers for the folding hinge joint on the passenger seat, so I wanted to finish that off. One seat is fixed, the other has a fold and tumble design, I suppose to make it easier to get into the back through the passenger doorway.

    [​IMG]

    And I already had some biocide at home I could spray on the foam. Getting that biocide sprayed was a 20 minute job, but getting it done this weekend will save me two days next week!

    Here they are treated and drying with two fans focused on them. It's been raining so much for so long, it may take a while to dry them...

    [​IMG]

    They appear a bit rough. They'll need a bit of TLC (and some of Dan's pink foam) to bring them around.

    If they dry quickly enough, I can mount the treated original foam to the frames here at home tomorrow and then jump right on installing the front seat heaters and covers on Monday at the upholstery shop. I just need one front seat to drive my Jeep, so... Tuesday on the road?? :):):)
     
    Last edited: Nov 2, 2021
    75 DJ likes this.
  4. May 7, 2017
    Wirework

    Wirework Navy_Jim

    Pittsburgh, PA
    Joined:
    Apr 26, 2016
    Messages:
    542
    My PA ANTIQUE plate arrived in the mail yesterday... I paid $100 extra to pick my own letters/numbers. The PA ANTIQUE plates give you just 4 characters. In PA you go to AAA auto club and they handle all the paperwork for the state. Right there in the office they go on a special web site to confirm the availability of you personalized selection. They checked my request, (USNA), it was available (!), so I paid my extra $100 and they sent it in.

    It was supposed to take 6-8 weeks to get the plate. The good news: it came in under 3 weeks!... The bad news: they gave me some random 4 characters and not the personalized and confirmed 4 characters I asked for... and they kept my $100.

    Back to AAA on Monday... yea, 'good luck with that...

    EDIT AND UPDATE:
    Joe and I stopped into AAA yesterday (Monday) and told our story to a very nice lady there. She took notes, checked all our claims, confirmed the availability of the requested characters and promised to call the state DOT office to try and straighten out our "personalized" ANTIQUE plate quandary. Her final words were, "good luck with that"... she wasn't very hopefull.

    Well... she called back today, and you"ll never guess... PA has reserved the requested personalized ANTIQUE plate characters I requested, and will replace the temporaty issue one they sent me within in 6 to 8 weeks... The one they sent me is my second temporary issue plate, in addition to the other temporary issue plate AAA already gave me. (More garage wall decorations!) So, I get a happy ending.
     
    Last edited: May 9, 2017
  5. May 7, 2017
    Wirework

    Wirework Navy_Jim

    Pittsburgh, PA
    Joined:
    Apr 26, 2016
    Messages:
    542
    My biocide treatment on my seat foam was completely dry today. I wanted to finish attaching the foam to the frames so I'd be ready to install at least the front seat covers tomorrow, Monday. The 2 front seat back rest foams appear identical, but the two frames appeared to have some differences (in addition to the folding feature). The back rest on the passenger seat did not have a lower metal brace the way the driver's seat did. (See frame to the left, below.)

    [​IMG]

    I thought the lower bracket might be integrated into the foam somehow until I realized both seat backs had the same vertical serpentine springs. Bother would need to attach to the frame in the same way.

    Uh oh...

    So, I started with the passenger seat. Sure enough, the passenger's seat frame lower brace attachment spot welds had separated from the frame uprights, and the brace was a bit mangled.

    [​IMG]

    I'm guessing something hit it hard from behind, twisted it, and broke it loose.

    [​IMG]

    But since the foam is injected and formed around the complete frame when it is manufactured, the seat pretty much held together with all the pieces in about the right place.

    I gave the brace several good whacks with a hammer on my vice anvil until it sufficiently resembled the one on the other seat frame, and I painted it. I used the other seat as a template, located the repaired lower brace on the frame, drilled 4 holes and bolted it in place (rear seat frame in photo).

    [​IMG]

    Not too shabby.

    The backrest seat foam and springs were in relatively decent condition, but the lower seat halves were not. One had both obvious fire damage on the bottom and major erosion about the diameter of my arm and reaching half way back... animal?

    [​IMG]

    Some of the serpentine spring ends were broken off on one seat bottom, and on the other the springs were so rusted, they deformed as I tried to pull them over the frame spring retainer tabs. I don't think the front seat bottoms are salvageable.

    Fortunately, Dan has foam and springs and talent. ...Me? I'm "labor".

    No driving my Jeep home on Tuesday... Rats!
     
    Last edited: Nov 2, 2021
    ojgrsoi likes this.
  6. May 8, 2017
    Wirework

    Wirework Navy_Jim

    Pittsburgh, PA
    Joined:
    Apr 26, 2016
    Messages:
    542
    Joe joined me at Dan's upholstery shop today (I think to escape remodeling his daughter's bathroom for a day :rolleyes:). He read my weekend post and hoped that with an extra set of hands, we'd complete at least the front seats and set up a road test tomorrow, Tuesday.

    First, we had to replace the springs. Dan had a continuous roll of serpentine spring, the same size as the one we had. So I rolled out 8 lengths and parted them from the roll with a die grinder. Then Joe put the spring end in the vice and bent it to duplicate the end shape of the existing spring (to help resist sliding out of the spring retainer tab in the seat frame.) When we pulled the old springs out of the old seat foam, we found wires running front to back. Dan says the wires distribute seat pressure more evenly to more of the springs all at the same time. We had to fabricate the wires and install them. Here are the springs and wires installed.

    [​IMG]

    Unlike the original seat foam shot into a seat mold with the frames inside, our foam came UPS in rectangular blocks. We picked the closest available thickness and hogged out a piece closely resembling the outline if the original piece.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    Interesting that the foam is cut with an electric kitchen carving knife.

    But our original seat foam had two raised sides and a dip in the middle. So we had to approximate that with glue and a smaller foam block. I was a bit taken by just how crude the foam shapes can be. They rely on the finished covers to give them their final shape.

    I'll include more photos next time, but after making the crude foam form and attaching the heater panels, we simply pulled the finished covers down over the foam, tucked it's edge it around and under the frame, and fastened it with either hog rings through holes provided near the edge, or with staples into a rubber bar provided for that purpose.

    [​IMG]

    If you enlarge this photo, and look at the lower rail on the seat back, you can just make out the rubber bar for stapling. And if you look through the upright at the horizontal seat bottom frame (pointed away from us in the photo) you can see a row of holes all around the inside edge. Those holes are for the hog rings.

    We didn't finish because I had to make a handful of adjustments. I had sewed the cover side seems too far down and had to rip them up almost two inches and refinish the exposed fabric edges. I made the venting bottom of the rear seat too large by an inch in every direction and had to fold and re-sew that entire seam. I had sewed the first half of the Velcro on the wrong side of the bottom edge of the rear bench and had to rip it off and re-sew it all the way around. Then I had to attach the mating Velcro strip in the appropriate place on the opposite side of the rear bench seat closure. The ribbed portion of both front bottom seats was too long and forced us to add an additional layer of foam to the front face of the bottom seat.

    When I made the front seat covers, I used the top visible seat cover as my patern, but there were two more seat cover layers under it. The top cover had a flat shape, i.e. it was not contoured, but the existing foam had raised sides, i.e. it was contoured. The remaining two lower seat covers were too shredded to serve as patterns but the lowest one (the original one?) seemed to be made for a contoured front seat. Anyway, my finished seat cover fit the raised sides of the front bottom seat, but floated above the space over the center seat section. So, Dan had us glue the edges of the cover's center section to the foam under it, immediately adjacent to the raised sides. We couldn't glue the entire center section because the seat heater was in the way. The glue pulled the center cover down and created a contour! It worked great and looked good.

    The rubber bar provided on the underside of the top seat frame, for stapling the seat cover to the frame, had disintegrated and needed to be replaced, so Joe drilled half a dozen holes through them into the frame and he pop rivited them on. A few of the holes near the frame edges provided for hog rings had rusted through to the frame edge, so Joe drilled new ones.

    We still must install the second front seat top cover, and sew the Velcro to the rear seat top cover, and attach that cover too.

    When we get the seats installed in the Jeep, we have to wire the seat heater power and switches. And we need to install the rear seat side latching hardware, bench seat rear feet, and rear seat belts (which I don't have yet.)

    Oh... and no road test Tuesday... maybe Friday.
     
    Last edited: Nov 2, 2021
    ojgrsoi likes this.
  7. May 9, 2017
    Focker

    Focker That's a terrible idea...What time? Staff Member

    WA
    Joined:
    Aug 18, 2014
    Messages:
    7,540
    The continued, detailed updates are great...Thanks!

    Being skilled at upholstery is one of the talents I wish I possessed.
     
  8. May 9, 2017
    Twin2

    Twin2 not him 2024 Sponsor 2023 Sponsor 2022 Sponsor

    Virginia Beach, VA
    Joined:
    Apr 28, 2011
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    what's a sewing machine :worry:
    I have to leave it to the pro's
    jim has this family with talent (y)
     
  9. May 9, 2017
    Wirework

    Wirework Navy_Jim

    Pittsburgh, PA
    Joined:
    Apr 26, 2016
    Messages:
    542
    My wife is retiring Friday. She stayed late for a "good-bye" party, so I finished my lawn work in a hurry and tried to get up to Dan's to finish the seats. Dan said nada... he is sewing today and needs the whole sewing table. So instead, I rushed over to Joe's garage and jumped on the seat heater wiring.

    The seat heaters come with complete wiring harnesses... and I mean complete. All you need to do is... connect the included in-line fuse block to the hot wire, add a slip on terminal to the wire ends, find an open (hot) accessory terminal and an open ground terminal, drill a 3/4" hole for the on/off-hi/low selector switch, route the wires, and plug everything in.

    Here is the finished wiring (the seats with heaters are still 25 miles away, at Dan's). The driver's seat bracket needs to be attached to the seat before it gets installed.

    [​IMG]

    The two white wire connectors at 9:00 below the passenger seat will connect, one to the back heater, and one to the butt heater. The black box at 1:00 is the heater control relay. (I'll tuck the relay up under the bottom edge of the seat, and atach it there.)

    You see two wires exiting above the driver's seat at 12:00. One carries the 4 power wires to both seats, the other leads to the drivers side heater control switch. l located the two control switches in their heater vent bracket at the leading edge of the underside of the dash, one on each side.

    The passenger heater control wire is hidden, but it exits at the seat bracket hinge at the lower right of the of the photo; you can just see it splitting downward at the bracket tube at 3:00. The passenger power wire terminates in the large white connector at the 1:00 position below the passenger seat before I routed it under the driver's seat, where I picked up the driver's heater power wires, too.

    And here is how I mounted the seat heater control switch:

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Nov 2, 2021
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  10. May 10, 2017
    1967 CJ5A

    1967 CJ5A Mike 2024 Sponsor 2023 Sponsor 2022 Sponsor

    Raleigh, NC
    Joined:
    May 12, 2012
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    You won't regret those seat heaters. I have the same ones in my Jeep, and they are amazing.
     
  11. May 10, 2017
    Wirework

    Wirework Navy_Jim

    Pittsburgh, PA
    Joined:
    Apr 26, 2016
    Messages:
    542
    Did you have to switch to an alternator?
     
  12. May 10, 2017
    Wirework

    Wirework Navy_Jim

    Pittsburgh, PA
    Joined:
    Apr 26, 2016
    Messages:
    542
    Full Jeep day, today.

    I spent most of the day finishing the seats at Dan's upholstery shop and then delivered them to Joe's garage where he helped install them.

    I finished sewing the front seats by "making adjustments", which means I ripped out parts of some seams, moved the material around, and sewed them up again.

    I mentioned the staples and hog rings that hold the material to the frame. I got a few photos of them installed:

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    And here is the finished product:

    [​IMG]


    Not too shabby...

    And then I finished the back seat bottom. Here it is:

    [​IMG]

    The second front seat cover had to be taken back off because of a glue issue. We either used too little, or waited too long and removing the cover was the best way to fix it. Dan handled the glue repair because his experience would lead to the best outcome.

    While the cover was back off, I took a shot of the exposed seat heater:

    [​IMG]

    Pretty simple, huh!

    Here is the final front seat finished:

    [​IMG]

    Ditto...

    I wanted to work on the rear seat back, but it went a bit slow because of demands from my host...

    [​IMG]

    Yes, that is Dan's dog. And yes, that is my sewn seat back cover under "Callie". Yep, that's my seat frame and foam under her snout with the ball. And no, we didn't stage this shot. I have never seen a more persistent dog begging to chase a ball. This scene played out 50 times a day. And God help you if the thrown ball crossed the boundary of the invisible fence!

    After a few more throws, I finished the rear seat and hauled everything over to Joe's.

    At Joe's, after installing the driver's seat to its bracket, we leaned it forward to show the finished heater wiring:

    [​IMG]

    And here they are, all installed:

    [​IMG]

    My wife saw this shot and said, "Oh, look at that... you made the seat ribs compliment the tread on your wheels!" :)

    You may have read my frequent mentioning how impressed i am with my old engine starting on the first revolution...

    Once the seats were in, it was FINALLY time to take a test drive! We lifted it, pulled out the four wheel dollies, put on our jackets and sunglasses, (you have to look cool when you take you Jeep for a test drive), and....

    It wouldn't start...

    I said a bad word.

    :poo:

    Yes, that one.

    It was 6:00 PM, our wives were waiting for "retired guy dinner", so we both had to walk away. JOE may get a second shot after dinner.

    We never tried starting it after installing the fuel pressure regulator... hmmmm....

    Maybe Friday.
     
    Last edited: Nov 2, 2021
    75 DJ likes this.
  13. May 10, 2017
    Navy Joe Ret.

    Navy Joe Ret. New Member

    Pittsburgh
    Joined:
    Jul 13, 2016
    Messages:
    15
    I went back tonight and checked fuel flow, it was good. Put the fuel line on, pulled the choke cable and hit the key... It started right up. I thought about driving it , but that would be Wrong. I'll wait for Jim to get here for that.
     
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  14. May 11, 2017
    Wirework

    Wirework Navy_Jim

    Pittsburgh, PA
    Joined:
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    After all Joe has done, I would have no problem with Joe taking the inaugural ride, none what so ever... besides, if I know Joe, if he found anything not quite right, it would be fixed before I took my first ride (y)
     
    Last edited: May 11, 2017
  15. May 11, 2017
    Wirework

    Wirework Navy_Jim

    Pittsburgh, PA
    Joined:
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    Joe finished his very first bathroom tile job today (wohoo, Joe!) and he celebrated by spending some time in the garage, some of it with the Jeep.

    He let me know we likely have some sort of cluch issue because he couldn't get it into gear. I wasn't there, but I doubt that Joe said a bad word. No matter what happens, Joe just rolls with the punches.

    So, we know what we'll start with first thing tomorrow.

    Reminder for me and Joe, we still have to make 3 feet for the rear seat, ...and seat belts. And we have to build a bracket to hold the Whitco top bows in the standard bow wells. And the coolant temp sender needs testing to see if its temp vs resistance is correct for a '69 cj5. And to power the seat heaters, we likely need a 10si Delco 3 wire alternator (or equal??) and it's bracket.
     
    Last edited: May 11, 2017
  16. May 12, 2017
    Wirework

    Wirework Navy_Jim

    Pittsburgh, PA
    Joined:
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    Our "clutch issue" symptom was: stepping on the clutch pedal but not being able to push the gearshift into any gear with the engine running. It would go into gear with the engine off, but not with it running. So we killed the engine, stepped on the clutch pedal, grabbed the cable with channel locks, disconnected the clevis, and spun the clevis a few turns to tention the cable. After several attempts, we found the sweet spot that let us put it in gear, but still released the clutch... or so we thought.

    We started it up, put it into gear and backed it out of the garage. Now I've driven nothing but standard shift vehicles for (sigh...) 50 years, but none of them made the noise or created the smell that this one did. There was no odd noise or smell until we put it into gear.

    We moved it in reverse about 4 Jeep lengths and stopped. "Houston, we have a problem". We had our first breakdown. Joe's driveway drops off mildly after about 2-1/2 Jeep lengths. I put it in 1st to pull back in the garage but the clutch spun too much to pull us up the baby grade. So we tried several more times to find the sweet spot between "can't get into gear", and "clutch slipping".

    [​IMG]

    We never found it... bad clutch?

    The Jeep ran without the clutch slipping before, so we aren't sure what's up. And it never made that noise before. So we'll open it up and take a look.

    QUESTION: can anyone please recommend if it is easier to get at the clutch by pulling the engine, or by dropping the transmission??? ...including getting it put back together.

    If you have a thought about why a clutch would slip now when it didn't slip before, we are all ears.

    Thanks in advance.
     
    Last edited: Nov 2, 2021
  17. May 12, 2017
    Howard Eisenhauer

    Howard Eisenhauer Administrator Staff Member

    Tantallon, Nova...
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  18. May 12, 2017
    Wirework

    Wirework Navy_Jim

    Pittsburgh, PA
    Joined:
    Apr 26, 2016
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    542
    Does anyone know how the clutch would behave if the clutch control tube were installed in reverse? Is it even possible to do that?

    Thanks.
     
  19. May 13, 2017
    Wirework

    Wirework Navy_Jim

    Pittsburgh, PA
    Joined:
    Apr 26, 2016
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    542
    Does anyone know it it is possible to put any of the clutch parts in backwards?

    Thanks.
     
  20. May 13, 2017
    jeep peep69

    jeep peep69 Member

    redding ca.
    Joined:
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    If you took the clutch out when you put it back together you could have installed the disk backwards and it wouldn't engage correctly. It is marked flywheel side.
     
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