My '62 Rest-Mod

My '62 Resto-Mod

I got my JEEP off of the WillysTech classifieds a couple of summers ago. It was a stock ’62 that had been given some attention over the years, but few things were done right. After looking around up here in NH for months, I was more than happy to pay for southern JEEP that was solid, and I figured I’d drive it for a while and address things as they came up. After spending last summer battling electrical issues, overheating issues, brake issues and the transmission’s refusal to stay in 2nd, I figured it was time to tackle this thing head on.

I’ve never done any real work on vehicles before. I’ve changed fluids, installed bumpers, or swapped out springs on Grand Cherokees, but I’ve never gotten into the mechanical inner workings. I figured the CJ was the best place to start considering its relative simplicity of design. Armed with a couple of manuals, I was ready to start.

Here’s what I started up with… some pictures after cleaning it up last spring:



The goal was to keep things mostly stock, with a few well-chosen upgrades.

After towing it up to my folks’ place, It was time to start stripping it down.
Front clip off:

Interior gutted:

Rat’s nest behind the dash:

The only hold-up we had at this point was not having a pump to siphon off the rest of the gas out of the tank. Once that was taken care of, we continued stripping it down.
Tub off:



Up until this point, things were pretty straightforward. Things I learned through this stage is the JEEP was very solid. The frame didn’t have a bit of rust or corrosion on it. The body was solid except for some spots on the rear floor, the rear joint between the tailgate and corners had split, the sheet metal behind the spare tire, which was solid but wavy and bent, and the front section of the fenders, which were pretty beat up. I also realized how beat my springs were.

John O here on the forums hosts “Resto Nights” for the local club, and he took the time go through the transmission and transfer case with me. Both were stripped down, cleaned and I rebuilt mine alongside his from his Willys pick-up. The only bump was I found out that the T90 had been swapped in from an M38A1, and it required a different rebuild kit with caged bearings. But other than that, the rebuild went smoothly. I also added a new parking brake from Herm.

The previous owner had cut the frame horns off just in front of the spring perch and welded in a winch mount made of angle, channel and plate. After stripping the rest of the frame down, I brought it to someone I knew from work who welded on some frame horns I tracked down, blasted it and painted it, free of charge!

While the frame was getting taken care of, I installed the 11” brake kit from R&P and my father cleaned and painted the axles, transmission and transfer case, cross member, skid plate and most other miscellaneous parts. The parts orders started pouring in, with new 1” Rancho replacement springs, new hard and soft brake lines, a water pump, poly body mounts, a stainless steel bolt kit, distributor, coil, starter solenoid, wires, a reproduction harness from Walck’s, electric wiper kits, a new exhaust, front bumper, gaskets, etc, etc…

Frame blasted & painted:

Front axle cleaned & painted with new 11” brakes from R&P & Rancho 1” springs:

Rear axle cleaned & painted with new Rancho 1” springs:

Chassis ready to go:

Drive train back in:


Engine cleaned & painted:

After running the exhaust, here's the tub back on the chassis:


The 1" Rancho springs gave me a little more lift than I expected, but I really like the stance.

At this point I have some bodywork to wrap up, then it’ll be time from primer and paint. I’m pretty sure the original color was Fountain Green Poly, and it was white when I got it. I’ve gone back and forth on the color, but I think I’ve decided on Steel Glow Grey Poly. I also have a set of smooth bare corners and rockers from Off Your Rocker on the way that will require attention with prep and primer… At this point I’m going body-color for those. Then I'm going to go with Herculiner or Durabak for the interior. That should wrap up the body.

Then it’ll be plumb the fuel system, plumb the cooling system, wrap up the steering and then wire the whole thing. I need to decide what to do about the seats. The previous owner fabbed some brackets for the Bestop seats, but I'd love to track down some original seats and brackets. The only other parts left to pick up are mirrors, a battery and a few odds and ends. I’m hoping to have it wrapped up by the end of May. We’ll see, but I finally feel like its getting close.

Thanks to everyone on the site. Searching the forums and tech articles has answered questions before I ever had them!

 

that's gotta be the first time I've seen a frame on the roof of a Grand
surprised it held up okay
the project is coming along nicely
thanks for the pics

 

Nice job and great pics what color do you have in mind..

 

sweeet!

 

Looks good; I'll be happy if my "After" pics turn out as nice as your "Before" pics.

 

Thanks, everyone.

Mike,
I understand your complaints about the bedliner, but I really liked it in the CJ I had it in before. I saw your progress on the removal... You're a brave man!
And I'm hoping the springs don't settle too much... I'd be fine losing an inch or so, but I'm really liking where it is now.

Jim,
The frame travelled really well up there. The Thule rails landed just between the spring perches, and I strapped it down to the factory rails. I actually had lines front and rear tying it down, but took them off because the noise of them vibrating was making the trip intolerable.

Duke & Txjake,
Thanks a lot. It's been a hell of a learning experience, and a lot of fun. Right now I'm leaning towards the Steel Glow Grey Poly, though there are a number of greens I like as well.

Clint,
Thanks, but don't be fooled. The JEEP was a 15-20' JEEP before. It photographed really well, but looked pretty tired from a few feet away. And mechanically it was a basketcase. Your project is looking great, and I know my bodywork won't end up as nice as yours. But I'm hoping with a non-metallic paint, it won't have to!

 

You started with a dandy, I'd say. That's the way to do it. A few extra Franklins up front saves thousands later if the goal is a true restoration/refurbishment.

Is the shipyard still open? I spent 18 mo in the yard when I got orders to my boat. That's a beautiful town but man do you have long winters. Real decent Americans up there, too. I'll be back up someday on the bi-moto.

Chilly

 

Thanks.

The shipyard is still going strong, though there was quite a scare last year. I love it here, though. And lately winters haven't seemed long at all!

Now's a good time to take a moment to thank my father. He's a self-employed carpenter/contractor who just finished a job and has some free time. So he's been spending a ton of time, and saving me even more, by cleaning and painting all of the miscellaneous parts, the axles, the transmission and transfer case and countless other things. And since putting the body back on, he's been using his drywall skills to work magic on the body. He's cleaned up the small dents, bigger dents and made some big progress to getting this ready for paint.

A progress pic:

 

That is a very nice JEEP! I couldn't help but notice just how organized you are in your shop. I hope one day my JEEP will be something worthy of a photograph or two.

 

All you normally see elsewhere is pics of crawlers with the latest fad doo-dads. That's gonna be sweet.

 

Hey Ian,

Greetings from a fellow New Hampsha Jeepah. Your project looks great. You seem to be making record progress compared to mine. Congratulations on a great find. I painted my CJ5 grey last summer and love the color on it. I painted mine with Rustoleum Gloss grey paint and it came out really good (for a Jeep).

Looking forward to more progress pics...Glenn

 

Hey Ian, you've got a nice rig. Can't wait to see it finished. I envy you having your Dad helping with it. Mine used to help me in the shop until he passed on in 2004. Man, what a void it left. Enjoy your time with him while you can......

 

looks great! although im gunna have to say dont herculine it, your floor is way to nice!

 

WOW!!! Lookin' great! I need to get working on mine again....

 

Thanks again, everyone. I'm loving the project. I just wish the JEEP wasn't over an hour away... I'm sure it would get a lot more attention.

Anyway, today was another great day. Unfortuneately nothing was really worthy of pictures, but progress was made. I spent 3-4 hours block-sanding the sides, hood, fenders and floors, priming some more, block-sanding again, priming again, etc. I did this until even under the worst lighting conditions, I had gotten rid of most of the high spots on the sides and things were looking good.

When I was sick of doing body work, I moved to the engine and got the new distributor on, the new thermostat in and the new thermostat housing on, the new radiator hoses in and a new valve cover gasket on. A previous owner has already converted to an alternator, so I also got that back in.

Then I spent some time familiarizing myself with the Walck's replacement harness, the wiring diagrams and the accessories I pulled off during the tear-down. So while I'm still a little intimidated with hooking everything back up, the harness, Walck's own diagrams and the original wiring diagrams should lead the way pretty well.

And to wrap up the day, I took some measurements for the places inside the tub where the Off Your Rockers corners' and rockers' fasteners would interfere so I can lay out the pattern in AutoCAD. I also packed up the armor, which had already been cleaned and primed with some self-etching primer, so I can bring them to a friend's place who has a drill press. That should make drilling through the heavy armor easy. Then I'll clamp them in place on the body and drill out the mounting holes on the tub.

Because the last few weekends have resulted in some impressive and very visible progress, today was a little different because everything looked pretty much the same when I left. But I still got a lot done, and I'm definitely looking forward to getting back up there next Sunday.

I also made my decision on the color... I was looking around over at The CJ-3B Page and came across a '53 3B in Willow Green Poly (more pictures here). I love the color and will probably be sourcing the paint in the next few weeks. I'm more than a little nervous about shooting the paint myself, but I'm pretty sure that if I keep paying attention to the prep and am careful laying it down, things will turn out pretty well.

 

As always, I didn't get as much done as I hoped, but there were a few developments to note.

I didn't get my Off Your Rocker rockers and corners mounted, but I did a bunch of prep work on the front clip. They still need some more attention, but I got them to the point where I thought the hood, grill and fenders were looking pretty good. Then I got the grill and fenders on and the hood set in place. It's amazing to see it actually looking like a JEEP again! The fenders were beat to hell, so I was a little surprised how clean they ended up. Long-term I'd love to replace them, but for now they'll do just fine.

And while I had settled on Willow Green Poly for the color, when I was picking up some odds and ends at the hardware store I found what will be my short-term solution for paint to get it on the road for this summer. Once I got stuff together, I decided to test it out...


It's a Rustoleum Moss Green satin. Considering I will be spending considerably more time doing prep, I'm amazed at how good it looks as is. I was a little aprehensive about the satin, but I really like how it's turned out. It seems very close to the '53 Willys color I had chosen, and it's definitely something I can live with short-term until I get everything else sorted out.

 

Thanks. I'm really glad I tried it out... It was kind of on a whim. I was getting some strip caulking to put between the fenders and tub and the paint was right behind me.

I did rattle can it, and it only took 2 1/2 cans for 1st pass. It covers very well, surprisingly so. I did one small area with a 2nd coat after hitting it with some 400 and the color and satin finish really look good. The color got much deeper, and the finish looked pretty even. I think most of the JEEP has only seen 220, so some time with 400 and then wetsanding with 600 between coats and I should end up with a look I can be very happy with.

From Rustoleum's site:

• Quarts and half-pints are acrylic latex (soap and water clean-up)
• Aerosol sprays are oil-based (solvent clean-up)

So I'm guessing the aerosol would be the way to go.

 

I'm going to go with the original-style white wheels, so we got some primer on them to start covering the black. Also got the dash is in temporarily to see how things are looking. I'm getting pretty excited about this all coming together.