Ewan's 79 CJ-5 restoration project

Okay, lets try this whole seat installation thing again.....mehh

Dingus here got the two seats & brackets mixed up, figured that one out when I tried to install the "drivers" seat using passenger side brackets.

The seats are in decent condition for being 35 years old but a new pair is definitely going on my wish list. I might have them re-upholstered depending on what it will cost.

 

I banged out a couple body dents and patched the rusted spots above the wheel wells. I also finished lining the inside of the tub. It doesn't look *that* great, but I plan on installing carpet. The steering column is cleaned up and ready to go, I was going to install it but I forgot to order a new firewall seal. I also discovered my column lower bearing was completely shot. More parts on order....the madness never ends. :twisted:

 

I'm so ****ed right now.:evil:

Bondo, and I mean crazy amounts of bondo. 3/16" layer down the drivers side panel, and 1/4" down the passenger side panel. What kills me is there is perfectly good metal underneath. Very straight and only a few small bumps you can feel as you run your hand down the panel. Why would anyone in their right mind put this much bondo on clean straight metal? There is a patch on the rear left quarter panel near the top, but other than that everything looks good. I suppose it could have been worse, I could have discovered tons of rust. Taking this bondo off is making a giant mess, I wish I found it sooner. I would have just spent the extra money to get it blasted off. /rant off.

 

I started a new job last month so there hasn't been much progress. The few times I've been motivated enough to work on the Jeep, I've gotten ****ed off after about 10 minutes. Bondo removal makes such a huge dusty mess, and it doesn't help when the whole tub is covered in thick layers.

 

I'm almost finished with removing the 8 millions layers of bondo, about 30 more minutes worth of work still on the drivers side.

 

Not much done over the weekend, had to spend my free time replacing a water heater. The body filler has been applied where need be and I'm waiting for it to dry. I took the distributor apart, cleaned it well, new pickup coil, spinny metal castle thingy, cap and rotor. Local NAPA had a cap with brass terminals and built in the USA which is a plus. Very impressed how heavy / solid it is, puts the old cap to shame.



*EDIT*
I forgot what the part was called, the metal spinny thingy is actually a "ignition reluctor".

 

I fixed up the cowl the best I could, sanded and primed. There was a huge dent on the drivers side, I worked it over quite a bit with a body tool set. Leveled it out by using a bit of body filler. It doesn't look too bad, but you can kind of tell there is a patch job if you look close. I'm hoping it looks better with some more priming and sanding before the paint goes on.

 

Finished painting the tub a few days ago. Front clip is painted and drying in the garage. I found a pair of OEM fenders on craigslist but they are pretty nasty. The need a good cleaning and I discovered a pretty sloppy weld job on a patch. I was hoping to be done with bodywork already.

 

Looks great.
I'm always amazed at how much bondo people use. Nice job on cleaning it up. Some hammer and dolly work and maybe even a shrinking disc (Been dying to try one out) will help keep the Bondo down to a minium. Wray Schelin makes a shrinking disc that helps level out those small dents. Very nice work. Looks like a great project.

Your making great progress.

Dave

 

Thanks for the kind words. This has been a learning lesson in bodywork. Areas which I thought were perfectly flat, now have a small dent or two that you can see after painting. Most of them are only visible if you look at a certain angle. Call me crazy but I'd rather have a few small dents in place of crazy thick layers of filler. It is after all, a 35 year old Jeep and not some rare classic or Lambo.

 

Looks great!

 

Roll bar and rear bench seat installed, not bolted down completely. Made a fastener run and forgot a bunch of bolts.mehh I decided to purchase carpet later since it is rather expensive, I'd rather spend the money to get this Jeep mobile. Grill was also installed, minus the radiator. My high pressure power steering line is in the way of the radiator, it will probably need to come off and get re-bent. It was custom hard / braided lines and I wasn't thinking this far ahead.

 

I don't have a dash to take pictures of. Not yet anyways. The original dash was in pretty bad shape, and a previous owner welded a rifle mount on. Welded probably isn't the correct term, I should have used the word melted. It did come with a brand new heavy gauge steel dash, the one with pre-cut holes. It still needs to be primed and painted. Seats installed, pay no attention to the organized chaos in the background.

 

I came home the other night to find my Jeep was already trying to preserve itself by leaking fluid all over the place. Typical Jeep anti-rust behavior. Power steering pressure hose fitting at the gearbox didn't make a good seal. I think the nut I purchased wasn't tall enough and ran out of thread, tube was still loose. I replaced it tonight with a standard power steering hose.

 

I had the same problem. If you haven't painted the hood yet, make sure to watch for the places that it is spot welded from the factory.. I have 2 rows of small "dents" from them, also on my fenders on the I guess trim piece that goes on where it meets the body. Looking great though. I like the roll bar painted the body color, I have been trying to make up my mind on which way to go on mine.

 

Thanks for the info. The hood is going to take some work. The inside is pretty crusty, and the front lip has a huge dent. I can't get to it with a hammer, I may try a dent puller. I may just have to fill it in.

 

Cooling system plumbed and partially filled. No green leaks, so far so good. I worked on the windshield frame today, managed to strip and prep it for primer. I bought more paint but forgot to buy primer so it will have to wait until tomorrow.

 

put a long screw in the dent puller and tack the pointy end to the dent and pull that. no holes that way.

 

Thanks for the tip sterlclan, that is a good idea.

Not enough daylight today. I only had enough time to strip and prep one side of the windshield frame.