My descent into madness.....come along (multi project thread)

Hey kids, been kinda absent for awhile. Other than my keeping my beater crown vic alive I didnt do much with cars other than get rid of them in 2016. So, in usual fashion I'm now going to overcompensate. I thought about doing individual build threads but I thought it would help you feel the absolute ADD build process I am going through to try and follow along in real time as I try to complete not 1, but two builds....before June....

I will introduce you to the projects momentarily and catch you up to where they are now but first let's start with what almost was....I was seeking project 1 for wife, she wanted a Jeep. I was selling a racing kart and looking for trades for a Jeep. I was offered (and accepted) a 53 Dodge M37

I won't go into details as it was sold almost as soon as it was arrived as it was not sufficiently "Jeep" for the wife. But I know y'all would like to kick back with a cold one and think with me on what could have been :)

Ok so back to what we are actually doing. Right before the holidays I started chatting with the owner of a 83 CJ7 who was interested in my 66 F250. As you all know I got into that truck for a good price and while it was a great truck it suffered from quite a bit of amateur body work. I didnt really want to tear it down to do it right, and after meeting up after the holidays and checking out each other's vehicles we agreed we both had solid runners that needed some fixing of former repairs to be right. The trade was done.

By all rights it is a damn fine little Jeep. A sane person would have driven and enjoyed it for many years. I am not a sane person and I have spread my insanity to my wife. She was happy to have "her Jeep" but the color was wrong, it must be orange. And not just orange....I've taken her to too many car shows, no, it must be pearl orange with white ghosted hibiscus flowers in the paint (its a beach cruiser)....kill me. Upside, its not as rusty as most northeast Jeeps, and mechanically its great, new crate motor with under 10k on it (6cyl, manual) new exhaust, brakes,etc. It was well cared for. Downside....we'll get to that.

Project the 2nd....I had to sell my last motorcycle a few years ago and stop riding due to back issues. But being a VW junkie and having started building one previously I really wanted to build a trike. Wife was actually behind this project as she saw many she liked. So with the loot I scored from the M37 I started hunting and came across this old Wilmac. Its exactly what I built previously so I knew how I wanted to do it right this time (I was younger and poorer last time). Seller was in southern VA but offered to deliver for the price of gas....hard to pass up. So now I have this one as well...

Owner had the fiberglass body fully repaired and all holes/cracks/etc fixed by a boat shop then shot in stain black with matte clear. He rewired the whole thing and then...well too many projects too little time, it's mine now. If the paint on the Jeep sounded complex this one will make your head spin, its getting done in monster metal flake, purple, but not a straight flake job, lots of silvers and candies and well, think old school lowrider, Im still trying to map out the paintjob but it will be insane, or I will screw it all up and flat black over it again...let's see.

Both projects are well under way so I will catch you up in my next couple of posts :)

If you find it hard to follow along...welcome to my world. I have UPS dropping stuff off daily and I have no idea where any of it goes.

This is escalating quickly. I like it!

Oh, this is gonna be fun!

Ok since the Jeep arrived first let's start there. Plans. Change out the wheels for some period slot mags, I got lucky and scored a set locally for $200

I will also be switching the transfer case to a twin stick because....well I just like them better. Bunch of other little parts bought and waiting simple stuff like new dash lights and junk. Most of the stuff on the Jeep is good so not quite the parts bill on this one.

So painfully we take a perfectly nice jeep and start to strip it..

And gut it....

Seller was very proud of the fact that it had "new floors" let's take a closer look.....

Sigh, you know what's coming. For those that can't tell from the pics yes someone very poorly slapped some really cheap replacement pans over top of the existing floors and let a drunk blind monkey weld them in. To make things worse they didnt even remove the roll bar while doing it, just cut the patch panels around it.

This will not do...lets see what we got...removal started.

Removal of the roll bar immediately showed that there was no floor left under it at all...not off to a good start.

It was also rotted under the roll bar in the rear

So pulled the rest of the "new" floor out on the passenger side and under it was.....a perfectly good floor. They failed to patch the only area that actually needed a patch...FML

Not quite as lucky on the drivers side however, the "new floor was laid over a patch laid over the original floor. 3 layers of garbage collecting water and dirt for who knows how long...the front half of the floor was toast and the rear roll bar mount area was worse than the passenger side.

Oh and during disassembly I ran into this wonderful bit of PO "doh"

Yes they installed an aftermarket seatbelt kit with the reinforcing washers on top of the floor, no there were not any washers on the other side. So as I've been going along I fixed that along with welding the washers and nuts in place so its a little easier to install them later.

And yes, yet again I'm out of shielding gas and build a car with flux core so my welds are ugly.

You are not the only one that never has shielding gas and build toll cars with a cheap flux core welder. I'm just glad I'm not alone!

Ok so I got some good replacement floor pans, $100 on ebay from some guy that makes em himself and they are way better than the pans that were in there (which I found online for over $100)

But first lets fix the rear of the tub, cut out and cleaned up that rear roll bar mount and made a new patch

Then welded it in (grinding will happen when I start on paint prep)

Cut out and patched a small bit of rust in the rear end as well.

Then on to the front floors. Cut out all the bad junk, clean, prep, weld through primer

trim and prep the floor patches

As you can see there are some bits where the patches dont cover that I'll have to form by hand...speaking of forming by hand...

Three layers of poorly installed floor caused the b-pillar to rot and the outer rocker with it. A bondo artisan had tried their hand at covering this up at one point.

Problem is there is no patch panel for this corner. You need to buy the whole rear quarter ($$$) and Im a cheap bastard. Sooo....lets make a hammerform

Test fit the patch

Weld 'er in

Finish grinding and smoothing to come with body prep.

I plan to make the passenger side floor patch this weekend then weld in all the floor patches at once and form the fillers where needed.

This brings you up to date with the Jeep.

Trike info to come....

I say get another bottle so you have one for when you run out. Or get a really big bottle. Got to love the inovation on the panel work there.

Ok have to ask why do you have a Yugo sign in your garage?

brad131a4 wrote: I say get another bottle so you have one for when you run out. Or get a really big bottle. Got to love the inovation on the panel work there.

I actually have a large bottle, I just got lazy, at my old house my neighbor was a pipefitter for the refineries so he'd just bring me bottles. Now I have to drive like 45 minutes to get a bottle filled, Im lazy.

brad131a4 wrote: Ok have to ask why do you have a Yugo sign in your garage?

Because I used to have a little Yugo problem

If you were a woman I'd marry you. Never had one but for some reason they have always pushed the right buttons for me. I really like the flairs on that, I'd run that on the street and just terrorize the entitled E36 M3s here in the Seattle area.

And the box parade started today....I have steady shipments coming in every day for the next week. I will not be waiting on parts with deadlines like these.

Lots of little stuff that adds up but the butt puckering moment was ordering all the paints, primers, clears, pearls, flakes and associated supplies. I've bought cars for less....my daily driver cost less. But I'm aimin for something special here. Sadly I dont think the Jeep paintjob will photo well when done, going to be very subtle. The trike on the other hand....

brad131a4 wrote: If you were a woman I'd marry you. Never had one but for some reason they have always pushed the right buttons for me. I really like the flairs on that, I'd run that on the street and just terrorize the entitled E36 M3s here in the Seattle area.

Thx, that one is affectionately known around these parts as the YFH, Yugo from Hell. I built it but it's had other owners in the GRM family since then. I cant find the original build pics, it used to be on some period magnesium wheels, pretty little bugger.

The flares were hand made and worked out pretty good. It tore up a few BMWs in EPrepared :)

Nice. Now if you could find some rims for the trike that mimiced the front rim that would be sweet. I'll be saving that pic as I think I found my next car and project once I finish my 71 fiat spider.

In reply to JThw8:

You state "My descent into madness" like this is a new thing? I'm still pulling for a Jeep-trike though.

brad131a4 wrote: Nice. Now if you could find some rims for the trike that mimiced the front rim that would be sweet. I'll be saving that pic as I think I found my next car and project once I finish my 71 fiat spider.

Patience grasshopper....I haven't finished updates yet. The 80s wheels on the rear are a goner for sure ;)

petegossett wrote: In reply to JThw8: You state "My descent into madness" like this is a new thing? I'm still pulling for a Jeep-trike though.

No Jeep trike but yes, I've gone mad quite some time ago, but I figured following my ADD process with a simultaneous 2 build thread would help folks understand just how mad I am. Yes I fully intend for both these vehicles to be ready to cruise and show by June...this year....

Ok, so we're caught up on Jeep, let's talk Trike. It was delivered saturday. Seller said "mount body, connect wires, drive. And he was right, that would have done it. But anyone who knows me knows that for me step 1 is make it fall apart. So I did.

Engine is a 60s 1300 block that has been upgraded to a 1600 (or possibly larger) dual port at some point. Has the old non doghouse cooler so that's first on the list, I had a doghouse shroud already. So I ordered a doghouse adapter and cooler and the new fan and then I dropped the generator and it makes funny crunchy noises so screw it, alternator conversion kit while we are at it.

Also ordered, new throttle cable kit, new brake MC and all new hard and soft lines for the brakes. Gauges, lights, well the list goes on and on, you'll see it as I install it.

Seller rewired the whole thing and did a nice job but I have this issue where I cant really grasp a wiring harness unless I do it myself so I've unloomed the whole thing to re run it just so I understand it. Also got a modern fuse box to get rid of the old VW fuses.

Fuel cell is a steel box...bit crusty inside. Ordered a 5 gallon custom tank to fit the space. Really wanted more but there's just no space for it.

Seller mentioned he was parting out another trike, drivetrain was sold but he might have parts if I want them. So I ended up buying a rear disk brake conversion kit from that and more importantly (Im lookin at you brad) new wheels

Perfect vintage look for this trike and the spoked look will go good with the front wheel. I was actually going to get a chrome wire spoke wheel for the front but I think the current one will work well with these when they are all paint matched.

To that note. The outer rims of all will be polished and the rest will be painted, and since Im going old school flake on the body why not the wheels, they will all get gunmetal grey flake.

Right now Im just in the process of carefully removing the wiring so I can sort through it and understand it, Im off tomorrow and plan to get it down to a bare frame so I can remove some unused brackets, remake some bad brackets and give it a quick coat of stain black. The frame is all hidden so Im not going overboard with that. Then I'll plumb new brake lines, re-run the wires and sort out the body mounting. It will get a fuel gauge and a GPS speedo, standard VW style idiot lights for oil pressure and alternator and a high beam indicator. That's it. Keeping it as simple and clean as I can.

In my existing spare parts bin I had new urethane trans mounts and some swingaxle boots so I'll change those out and clean and paint the transaxle.

I have half a week off next week so I honestly plan to have this mostly through mock up and ready for paint by the weekend. I'll be finishing the floors in the jeep during the week as well then Im on to paint prep for that one.

I figure the Jeep will take a good long weekend for paint once its prepped. The Trike longer as there are many layers and a few wet sanding stages in between which is why Im trying to get it ready to base coat as soon as possible. I want to paint the Trike first. Its the harder paint job but Im out of practice and I want to feel practiced and confident before I paint the wife's jeep, its simpler but more critical to get right.

Oh...and in a bit of deja vu from my last VW project I pulled the valve covers and hey....new motor!

Seller said the guy he bought it from claimed it was rebuilt but he didnt want to advertise it as such since he didnt have paperwork...Yep, its a fresh motor alright

Sometimes I think I'm horrible at bodywork, then I'm reminded there are people out there like the PO(s) of that Jeep.

brad131a4 wrote: If you were a woman I'd marry you. Never had one but for some reason they have always pushed the right buttons for me. I really like the flairs on that, I'd run that on the street and just terrorize the entitled E36 M3s here in the Seattle area.

The Yugo is, bad jokes aside, a short wheelbase Fiat 128 that rusts less, kinda hard to hate if you're into that kind of thing.

brad131a4 wrote: If you were a woman I'd marry you. Never had one but for some reason they have always pushed the right buttons for me.

A woman or a Yugo?

Excellent! It is always fun to follow your threads.

Ok, lunch break, and time for an update. I took the day off today for other plans which fell through. Feels like a reason to work on more stuff.

Brown santa showed up early. Told him we'd be seeing each other a lot this week. He laughed.

Lots of parts but also FLAKE! Gunmetal grey for the wheels, purple for the body.

So I'm redoing the whole brake system, master was shot and I have a disk brake kit with chevy pattern rotors for the new wheels. Let's remove the old master. Eff me...installed with flathead screws and rusted in place. I was able to cut the outer one but there was no way to get to the inner so I just had to work at it till it came out.

Of course the good replacment (non stock) masters have their mount bolts north south instead of the VW east west arrangement so I'll need to modify the mount but that's not terrible.

The manufacturer used these little stands to hold the hard brake lines. I don't like the lines hanging out in the open like that. I will run them along the frame with stainless clips. So those buggers got cut off.

The previous owner had made a whole new wiring loom. Overall well done so I removed it all carefully. I'll make a few updates to it like a fuse box with blade style fuses and a few more disconnects in critical areas but overall its usable

And the frame is mostly stripped down. I had to cut out the fuel tank, it was welded in solid. I have an aluminum tank on the way so I'll make mounts when that arrives. Next up, engine and trans out, clean and paint the trans and start to assemble the motor with some new bits.

Other than the paintjob on the body which will take quite a bit of time I should be able to have most of this thing finished and ready to run by the end of next week. I am off half the week with lots of time to work. Of course I need to get back on the Jeep too so we'll see where the time gets spent.

Was step one "clean garage" or did you just push everything to the front where my, um, car used to reside? Because i'm at "clean garage" phase right now and it's eating me alive that i'm working on the house instead of a car

patgizz wrote: Was step one "clean garage" or did you just push everything to the front where my, um, car used to reside? Because i'm at "clean garage" phase right now and it's eating me alive that i'm working on the house instead of a car

After your car left, I had cleaned out that bay for my truck. When the truck left the Jeep came but it went into the working garages on the other side. The Maruader was in here for the winter but now she's outside so I can work in here. Kinda sucks working in this garage since all my tools are in the other garage. Brought my travel toolbox over so I have basic hand tools but Im still running back and forth a lot. The other bay in this side is piled with all the stuff that you saw in there when you were here. I had cleaned more from when you saw it but there's still too much junk in there.

After my lunch break Im going to clean up again. I need to try and keep one clean environment. The working side where the jeep is looks like a bomb went off. Hoping for a nice day next week where I can push the jeep outside and clean up a bit.

Waiting for HF to have a sale on their big pop up garages, I'm going to get one of those to use as a paint booth because my garages are never clean enough for painting and since they are not detached it stinks up the house for a week.