In reply to ClemSparks :
You mean the Jeep that has to watch the van get all the love and attention because it wanted to be a troublemaker?
In reply to ClemSparks :
You mean the Jeep that has to watch the van get all the love and attention because it wanted to be a troublemaker?
That would be the one...lol. ;)
Made some progress today on the passenger door. Still have a bit of work to do but Im over the hump.
I decided to poke a bit at the right rear wheel arch (the better of the two). The school district had fixed these spots with bondo at some point in the past, just like the door and fender.
These spots dont look like they will be too tough to fix.
This one will be tough for my current skill set since its got so many curves. But its small enough I think I will be able to figure something out.
While Im waiting on filler to dry, I tackled the hinge pins and bushings. It was a tossup between stock and lambo door, but stock won out.
Im calling the passenger door done for now. Im not going to spray the color until after I reinstall it. Im going to leave it off until I take care of the floor by the front seats. It needs wire brushed and treated for the surface rust.
I pulled the seats and doghouse since I don't have a second set of hands tonight around to pull the drivers door.
Im leaning towards getting some colored roll in bedliner for the front floor. I saw some in a dark tan that would work well. First things first, gotta wire wheel it all.
One other thing I would like to fix is the parking brake. Since its been used so much over the years, it has fatigued the metal around the firewall. Not the greatest pic, but you can see the crack and light coming in from the engine bay. Not sure exactly how Im going to fix it. I will need to stare at it and scratch myself a bit more.
Tonight was Grinding Night. Flap discs, grinding discs, wire wheels, everyone was in on the action.
The drivers door had a lot more bondo in it than the passenger door did.
I found some holes in the drivers floor board I will need to fix.
I knew the ones on the passenger side were there. I found them after pulling up the mat from the heater core failure.
I also installed the new pins on the drivers door. Its wierd how they were more worn than the passenger ones!
Lemons posted the wrap-up video for the Fall Rally today. We get our shout out around the 5 minute mark. Plus Danica gets her screen time.
We added a little bit of swag to the van. We got a 3 pack of the sales brochures from ebay that arrived today. The plan is to keep 1 in the van, maybe next to the scratch off map, as a conversation piece.
If I had to bend a bunch of panels, I would either make a better brake or just buy one. But my scrap pile unistrut and door hinge one is working ok for the couple bends I need for this project. You only need 5 hands to set it up!
I decided to challenge myself to make the drivers door outer from a single piece. Getting the bends on 3 sides was a little tricky for me but Im happy so far. I will still be making the inner out of multiple pieces but thats a project for Future Logdog, time to clean up for the night. Metal work definitely takes more time than mechanical work!
Our trophy for Fall Failiage arrived! Gonna have to find a way to incorporate it in the decor of the van.
logdog (Forum Supporter) said:One other thing I would like to fix is the parking brake. Since its been used so much over the years, it has fatigued the metal around the firewall. Not the greatest pic, but you can see the crack and light coming in from the engine bay. Not sure exactly how Im going to fix it. I will need to stare at it and scratch myself a bit more.
After staring at it awhile I realized the cracks at the base are a result of a broken bracket at the front, which was causing the dash to move whenever you stepped on the parking brake.
The factory bracket was part of the dash sheet metal.
So I basically duplicated it with some 1/8 inch scrap.
Now the pedal and dash are rock solid. I will likely put some seam sealer on the firewall crack under the hood.
I should also add I will be hitting the jagged edge of the old bracket with a file. Future Logdog will thank me.
I attacked the drivers floorboard today. She ain't the prettiest but she has a nice personality.
Im doing roll in bedliner in the front. Hit the first coat tonight and will roll a couple more tomorrow.
Today is a bit of a milestone. The doors, fender, grill, etc, are all back on. The welding is as done as its gonna get as the rear wheel archs are as good as the they are gonna get. Still need to finish the bondo work/primer/paint all over.
I can safely say I am not a big fan of welding sheet metal and I don't see myself taking on a total restoration of something anytime soon. But....Its going to look better than it did, so I consider that a win.
Just caught up on the last several weeks of metalwork. Great progress. Welding sheetmetal, especially questionable old sheetmetal is no fun, but I bet you're better at it now.
logdog (Forum Supporter) said:If I had to bend a bunch of panels, I would either make a better brake or just buy one. But my scrap pile unistrut and door hinge one is working ok for the couple bends I need for this project. You only need 5 hands to set it up!
Wait. You have a Mustang II in your collection along with all this other cool stuff?!
Did we jut become best friends?!
GhiaMonster said:Just caught up on the last several weeks of metalwork. Great progress. Welding sheetmetal, especially questionable old sheetmetal is no fun, but I bet you're better at it now.
Yep, much better today than I was last fall! I always wanted to take on these types of repairs and now I can say I have scratched the itch.
In reply to ClemSparks :
Yep! Just picked it up a couple weeks ago. Read more here
Welp... The paint is as done as its going to get for this winter, 40 year old paint is hard to match. The stupid expensive custom can I had mixed up and was close, but not exact. I tried another body supply place that was recommended, and the paint was several shades off and way too metallic. I actually ended up finding an off the shelf Krylon at Lowes that was closer than either of the paint stores. The long and short is I will have to circle back around and give it a complete paint job, but I have to call this a stopping point because I need to move on to other projects for awhile (Van interior/Chumpcar racing season/making the Mustang 2 drivable/hopefully making the CJ5 drivable) and this can will get kicked down the road to a future winter. The paint isn't perfect but it looks so much better than it did.
The current plan is to get the interior done by the end of March now that Im finished welding.
Look Ma! No rust holes!!
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