Superjeep: Three (now Ten)(now Twelve) Years Later

HAD a lot of work to do. Thats a photo from last year.

 

L

Oh, I see what you were saying. The irregular edge was just to excise the floor. Later that was cut srtaight and new rocker welded on.

 

Please tell me it's going back as a super Jeep?

 

Undecided. My fenders are pretty bad. Got some tube fenders for it. Also added under-seat tank. Enough different that it will never be a restoration. Decals are expensive. Pretty sure I don't like yellow. Prospects of a Go-Fund-Me account to pay for the cost of SuperJeep upholstery and decals seem unfavorable. Maybe a muddy OD green satin.

 

Just the decals would be good enough for me. lol. But it's your Jeep and your build!

 

if you not going superjeep please contact me with any offerings

starting to collect parts

 

If it retained more of what made it a superjeep Id probably restore it muself. Seats were changed. Rear seat is black, maybe painted with vinyl paint. Same with sun visors and dash pad. Wheels were changed. Top was changed and is trashed. Still has chrome front bumper that I probably wont retain. I'll keep you in mind if I change it out.

 

Smeared floor patch weld joints with filler. Purpose is to fill voids before applying liner, not cosmetics. Will knock it back so only the voids still hold filler. But it is looking pretty good.



Took a little creativity to retain stiffener ribs while spanning rotten spots. Little circles are spot welds that I needed to cut.


Excise the cancer


Insert patch


Underside of one such patch.

The area under the rib will want to hold trash so might load it up with some kind of sealant. Or spray the heck out of it with bedliner.

 

And for no good reason, my high school ride, circa 1988.

 

Now that I have it looking very nice in primer I'm rethinking the color. Might just go back to Daisy Yellow with decals. It will never be a real restoration but it is a neat piece of Jeep history.

 

I have always felt that there was something romantic about restoring a vehicle back to its original color. Kind of a resto mod look.

 

If Id have painted a different color in first few years I think I could not have regretted it. But now, ten years later, thise crazy stripes have become familiar, and have good memories of the yellow with stripes.

 

Today I threw all of the original hardware into bucket of mineral spirits, then into the WD40 brand rust dissolver. The Jeep still had the original panel screws for the dash and other places. Minor thing but they are in good shape so might as well reuse them.

I have a bunch of smaller panel screws. Maybe they were for the tranny hump panel, which would explain the residual Zebart on them. I probably scraped 25 lb of that stuff off the tub. A mess to remove, but the only reason the Jeep was still in one piece in W. PA.

Stripped paint off rear seat brackets, mirror arms and brackets, battery tray struts, grab bar, other stuff. If the sun comes out I'll hit it with epoxy primer. Tub needs touch-up primer where I sanded off some filler.

I need a big breakthrough to raise my motivation. Still progressing but it's drudgery. Refuse to take up two bays of the garage for another winter.

 

Tedious small parts priming today.

 

Epoxy primed, new springs.

 

Found old photos I thought were lost. Here is the day I found her. I can still smell the racoon poop and mildew.

Dash view. Forgot about that shifter.

That's a gasoline fired heater under the seat. Ignited by a spark plug, and fed from an electric fuel pump on frame rail underneath. Made by Hunter Manufacturing.

Drove it 20 miles home on four rotten Power Cats, no tags or insurance, a coolant leak, and at least one dead cylinder, laying a smoke screen like you wouldnt believe.

 

Awesome story about the drive home. Nice job on the sheet metal work too. I vote for super jeep stripes

 

Decided to stick with Daisy Yellow, but hold off on stripes until I source OEM fenders and hood. Tube fenders and my dented hood will get me by for now.

 

Drove over an hour to pull PS bump, brackets, and hoses out of a 78 Wagoneer. Went very well, no stuck bolts or hornet nests. Also brought back a nice straight hood from a CJ7. Much straigher than what I currently have.

 

Got the lines free of the steering gear so I have an idea of what replacements should look like. Didnt bother to get a steering gear. For the hassle I'll eat the core charge for a rebuild and sell my Saginaw manual box to offset.