Build Thread Operation Sky Blue Water Trip Build

[007]

So – you’ve gotta be asking…what the heck is “Sky Blue Water” and why is it an “Operation?” The preface is that I’m a huge fan of Colorado, especially southwest Colorado and he Ouray area in particular. When I read that the annual trail ride was to be no more after 2014, I had to figure out a way to make it happen. I mean, I go to Ouray every year anyway – but how can I get my Jeep in shape to be ready for that work and how can I get it out there, and keep my pregnant wife happy and so forth?
Well to save a long story, she “approved” my trip out there and on a whim I asked a buddy of mine if he’d like to go as well. Sure enough he did and even more surprisingly – he too got a kitchen pass!
Well, one night no long after I was tooling around on YouTube and ran across an old Hamms Beer commercial from the 1970’s that showed this guy in an orange CJ5 blowin’ down the some dirt road in the mountains with a bear sitting beside him. I said laughed to myself “Hey, that’s me and Brian in Colorado!” Then I starting laughing out loud and could barely contain myself, and I quickly shot off a link to him and he too about split!
- Hamm's Beer 1970s TV commercial - YouTube -
So now quotes from that (and other Hamms commercials) have become commonplace jokes between us, if only to make our wives roll their eyes. A Hamms catch-phrase from the 50’s to now has been that it’s “…from the land of sky blue water” so our Colorado trip has informally become Operation Sky Blue Water as a codename (and more importantly another trigger for our wives to roll their eyes). For those of you who may not know and my only slightly care – Hamms is still made and actually quite popular here where I live and to be honest, for an amazing $14 for a 30-pack – IT’S NOT TOO DARN BAD!
So now you know why a couple middle-aged dudes with long marriages and five kids between them (sixth (my fourth) in August) are acting like complete children in anticipation of this trip. No worries to the other attendee’s, we only act this way on occasion – we are both IT professionals the other 23.5hrs a day and genuinely look forward to a fun, safe trip out to – in – and back from – Colorado.
That all said, this is the beginning of a pretty minimal “trip-build” thread where I will chronicle some work to the Jeep before the trip and the rest I’m not telling, we will let the thread tell the story.
Wish me luck!

 

[007]

So the main points of this build are going to be centered around getting this CJ in better condition and a bit "more" road worthy.

Here's the initial list...NOT in any particular order...

• I'm going to do a flavor of a TeamRush ignition upgrade as my Prestolite is original and while it is still working in some fashion (engine does run) it's literally held together with a shoestring to keep the cap from slipping.
• I'm going from 235/75/15 Craigslist Goodyear Wrangler Radials to 31/10.50/15 Firestone Destination MT's.
• I'm adding a Rocky-Road 1" shackle lift to help accommodate the 31's as well as replacing shocks.
• I'm adding one-piece axles and doing some welding to my AMC20 .
• I'm adding a compact CB and antenna.
• I'm re-adding an OEM swing-out tire carrier.
• I'm doing some silly/common cosmetic things (turd polishing exercises ) just to make me happy for the time being as this Jeep will morph into a Scrambler in the coming years, but that's a whole other discussion...
• I "plan" on adding a TransGo shift kit into the GM Turbo 400 to give me the option of manual shifting.
• Need to replace ALL vacuum lines (especially to get my QT to go to full-time FWD).
• Replacing all braking hardware mounted to the firewall (bracket, lever, vacuum booster (adding vacuum reservoir) and master cylinder. The calipers and rear wheel cylinders are new and lines seem okay...but we will make sure.
• Replacing exhaust from manifolds back.

This Jeep has yet to reveal any PO tricks, so for that I feel extremely fortunate. Heck it still has the all the emissions stuff required in 1977, which fortunately was very minimal (and very funny if you knew what it did).

 

[007]

So here's the Jeep in when it was delivered in 2012.

As you can see...alot of rust to mitigate.

Keeping the long story short, I spent the first short summer making it "decent" at best. Sandblasted rims and did used tires, hit the body with Meguires and made it run and stop. Not much else and nothing was done over the winter of 2012/2013.

Couldn't spend much time on it again in 2013, but did put on some smooth corners, new tail and marker lights, fabbed in a tailgate replacement and tacked in some studs to hold rear seat. I cut out some rust and hit it with some Bondo and fresh paint. No we are getting somewhere...a little bit...

That brings us to present day...(that was quick...)



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[007]

It was in the 50's here Friday and Saturday and cabin fever nearly had my head spinning on its axis so it was garage cleaning / reorganizing day,where if you're like me you and your 8 year old daughter move you don't need to a place where it can be more efficiently stacked for future lack of use - thus freeing up space to do things you shouldn't be.

The garage still had a bit of a chill to it we quickly knocked off with a propane heater.

Once we got that done...mostly, sort of, you're never really done...I got my air cleaner assembly out of the Expedition as I had it sandblasted to remove all the rust and flaky paint. It drove me nuts.

I hit it with some of that leak seal from TV where it had rusted out at the bottom near the back.

Then hit the whole thing with gloss black.

Now for a nice K&N filter from Amazon...






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[Old Dog]

I grew up in north west Ind. so I remember the Hamm's bear.

 

[007]

So my daughter and I got back out my garage today to get a few cosmetic things taken care of.

I had her work with the wire brush on the drill getting the spare tire carrier ready for paint.

The next thing I did was replace my hood latches. I had one that worked one that didn't and two that looked like junk. I decided to leave them black I don't think there's any benefit at this point in me painting them.

The next thing I did was hit the base of my radio antenna with the wire brush wheel because it had a lot of oxidation on it. Then I hit it with some matte black paint. I think with what I'm trying to accomplish here it looks fine.

The next thing we did was replace the rearview mirrors. I did cheat though and used the original brackets. I didn't see any advantage getting into the mess that was sure to follow by trying to remove the old torx screws. I painted the brackets to match the Jeep because repainting them in black would've been more work as well.

The next thing we did was apply new white Jeep letters. I didn't take a picture of this cause I'm not real happy with it. Let's put it this way, just get yours from Phoenix graphics...not eBay.

The next thing we did was lay a coat of paint on the spare tire carrier.

And while that was drying we put the 2-Barrel AMC 304 decal on the air cleaner that I painted yesterday.

The last thing we did for the evening was put on a Hamms decal, circa 1950. Ha!

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[mtnwhlr]

So my daughter and I got back out my garage today to get a few cosmetic things taken care of.

I had her work with the wire brush on the drill getting the spare tire carrier ready for paint.

Good job, and I love seeing your daughter out there working with the old man but I don't like seeing her running a wire wheel without safety glasses on theY tend to throw little wires and she could get hurt. SAFETY FIRST

 

[mstar]

The last picture of the Hamms Bear is perfect.I comsumed a couple tanker loads of that stuff. mike

 

[007]

Good job, and I love seeing your daughter out there working with the old man but I don't like seeing her running a wire wheel without safety glasses on theY tend to throw little wires and she could get hurt. SAFETY FIRST

Yeah I don't disagree but that's why she had that particular drill. VERY slow. Was it possible? Perhaps, but extremely unlikely. Point well taken though...


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[007]

This evening was a relatively slow one with not much time or agenda items.

First I put a second coat of paint on the tire carrier and it seems to look okay.

Then I had my daughter work on the mounting hardware with a soft brass brush and a scuff pad.

Next I let her paint the mounting hardware.

We will let that dry overnight and perhaps mount it tomorrow. I do have some other body paint touch up to do as well.

Tomorrow I "hope" to begin pulling off the vacuum booster and master cylinder to put on the set below.

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[007]

Not much time to do a lot today. Had to work out an electrical issue in the house but my daughter and I did get the spare tire carrier mounted.

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[007]

...still working on replacing the master cylinder, booster and mount. My new setup is a different shape master cylinder so it requires some tinkering in so far as the linkage is concerned. So I spent over an hour removing in one single !@#$ing cotter pin...

More to follow...

 

[007]

So as with most CJ projects, with progress comes regression.

I finally got my new booster and linkage installed as well as the master cylinder.

Naturally my brake lines don't fit the master cylinder. They line up but neither fit.

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[mtnwhlr]

I would think you should be able to get adaptors from the part store to make it work.

 

[007]

I would think you should be able to get adaptors from the part store to make it work.

Well I was just looking and the MC I need is about $30 at Autozone so that's probably the best route.


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[007]

I picked up my new master cylinder and I've always wondered...why aren't they painted?


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[Hedgehog]

Paint and most brake fluid doesn't mix well at all!

Back to the Beer commecial:

Couldn't help but laugh when they put the tab in the can. We all did that, today it would be unheard of, especially in a public space like a commercial. I can just see it now, someone pops open a redbull and drops the tab in the can, because that's how they do it in the commercials. Then with one mighty Redbull swig chokes to death on the tab. Imagine the law suites. Ahh the good old days when a pop and candy bar cost a dime.....

 

[007]

Paint and most brake fluid doesn't mix well at all!

Back to the Beer commecial:

Couldn't help but laugh when they put the tab in the can. We all did that, today it would be unheard of, especially in a public space like a commercial. I can just see it now, someone pops open a redbull and drops the tab in the can, because that's how they do it in the commercials. Then with one mighty Redbull swig chokes to death on the tab. Imagine the law suites. Ahh the good old days when a pop and candy bar cost a dime.....

Ya know I'd forgotten about that until I saw it on there. Too funny. Heck today the ASPCA would throw a fit about that bear not being in a seatbelt!

Anyway, I think once I get this all installed, bled, re-bled and bled again I'll shoot it with cleaner and some paint just to fend off the rust a little longer.

 

[Dolamite]

Paint and most brake fluid doesn't mix well at all!

Back to the Beer commecial:

Couldn't help but laugh when they put the tab in the can. We all did that, today it would be unheard of, especially in a public space like a commercial. I can just see it now, someone pops open a redbull and drops the tab in the can, because that's how they do it in the commercials. Then with one mighty Redbull swig chokes to death on the tab. Imagine the law suites. Ahh the good old days when a pop and candy bar cost a dime.....

I have to admit that after watching that commercial I did consider tearing the tab off of my beer and putting it in the can. :wasted:

 

[Hedgehog]

007 - If you use DOT 4 the paint might last, DOT 3 will eat paint off in a hurry. Dot 3 & DOT 4 are compatible with DOT 4 being synthetic it doesn't collect water and won't destroy paint like DOT 3 will.