Supertrooper's CJ5 build

sorry it took awhile to reply. i dont think there will be a problem. H pipes have been used in hot rods for decades and they seem to work fine. i did the exhaust that way because i dont have a way to bend or porperly notch the tubing. as long as the engine runs ill be happy.

 

the frame is now a complete rolling chassis. in the last few weekends i was able to finish reassembling the rear axle, putting the hard brake lines, and cleaned up and installing the transmission skid plate. the hydro clutch slave cylinder is also installed. and the rear tires finally showed up from being on backorder and now i can roll it out of the garage.


i started working on the tub today. i welded up the almost two dozen hole along the body from the old hard top. i also welded a couple cracks in the hat channels near the front body mount holes. the floor board rust came off easy with a wire wheel but the rust under the the bed worries me, i don't have much experience with rust repair on sheet metal. after wire wheeling a small section under the bed the metal is heavily pitted. a new bed floor from classic ent isn't in the budget.

should i clean the rust the best i can or cut out the bed and put in new sheet metal?

 

The rust looks pretty extensive and it's going to be a lot of work. On the other hand, now is the easiest time to do it. I replaced quite a bit of sheet metal on my tub. Kinda depends on what you want to have when you are all done (as if that ever happens). I planned for a 4 - 6 month build and it took me 2 1/2 years. Your frame and running gear look so good, it would be nice to get the body looking nice too. Once you get the metal work done the bondo and putty are easy.

 

Supertrooper, I gotta say that your build is one of my favorite on the forum. Keep up the good work, you keep the rest of us inspired to trudge on!

 

+1

This is what I ultimately want to do with the Tux-in-a-barn, although its going to take a lot longer since things are in worse shape.

 

this is my first read of this thread , everything looks great , can"t wait to wheel with you somewhere local .
I"m with Posi ,you did too good a job on the chassis ,,,,now you HAVE to clean that rust / body just as good . sorry .

 

thanks for the complements guys. i have lincoln flux core welder and im having problems burning through the thin rusty sheet metal and think the flux core wire is getting too hot. im getting the mig conversion fot it and see if that helps.

steve- i cant wait to go wheelin either. i have been wanting to check out the trails in big bear

 

MIG will be much better for sheet metal. I used .024 wire and still had to be very careful. Best to hack out the bad metal and weld to good metal. In spots where I could do it I tacked in a strip of sheet metal behind the weld area for the patch I was putting it. Helps prevent burn-through and gives you something to butt the patch piece to so things flush out nice.

 

I run 023 wire on bottle and short bursts of the trigger and build the puddle very slowly with heat on C,very frustrating

 

Welding sheet metal is definitely a challenge with MIG or flux core. In the perfect world we'd all own TIG welders and plasma cutters too.

 

Hell, I'd just settle for electricity in the barn.

 

Posi / Supertrooper........the Tig does weld light sheet metal better than the MIG using a silicon bronze rod but..........The Tig would not work good on rusty metal since the contamination from the rust would continue to boil up in the weld zone............I would go to a Oxy/Acetylene and braze those rusty thin joints ..........easy to control the heat and still get a decent joint.............or cut it back to good sheetmetal..............in either case Supertrooper your build is lookin Good!

 

I just got done replace the sheet metal you are talking about. Replace the rear floor would be easy and it looks like the riser behind the seats will need to be replaced too. The rear riser at the tail gate, I can not tell how bad it is from looking at the pictures. I bought a rear riser to replace on my jeep but it looked like it would be a lot of work and since mine did not look so bad, I did not replace it. If the sides of the wheel wells are bad you can use flat stock sheet metal for that. If you do this work, a rotisserie really helps.

 

No joke. After my first try at sheet metal work I wish I was able to do TIG. The wire speed on my flux core was shotty at best at such a low setting.

 

this morning i started to clean off the rust from the bottom of the tub with a flap disk and wire wheel. after an hour and a half i gave up and took the tub to sandblast. they quoted me $80 to blast the underside of the tub. that sounded better than a full day of breathing in rust and lead paint dust. i also got my argon tank filled and did a few practice beads. i wish i converted my welder to mig years ago, its so much nicer looking and cleaner than flux core.

 

i picked up the tub from the sandblasters on thursday and the rust under the bed wasnt as bad as i looked. i did find some small cracks in couple hat channels and three small sections that had to be patched. today i patched the floor, welded in a reenforcement plate on the firewall for hanging pedals and started the passenger side wheel housing notch. hopefully i can finish the welding on tuesday so i can paint the on the bottom of the tub and mount it on the frame, then i can start wiring.

 

i have been working 6 days a week for the last few weeks so progress was been alittle slow. i got a new gas tank skid mounted and e brake and speedo cables installed and finished installing the hydo clutch. i got the rear valance under the tail gate that was rotted out replaced with a classic enterprise and it fit great. i painted the bottom of the tub with tan bedliner in a can. tonight i was able to get the body bolted to the frame with the help of my cousin and neighbor. it looks like getting the steering shaft around the headers is going to be a PITA.

 

If you haven't already done so can you post some more info about the hydro clutch set up plans and the parts you are using

 

its just a universal pull type slave cylinder from ebay. im using a YJ master to go with YJ hanging pedals and a braided hose from speedway motors.

 

Got any pics of the YJ pedal set up mounted?