Build Thread Rough but Ready Renegade

[BC CJ]

Update: E-brake

One of only a few things that didn’t work on this Jeep was the E-brake. As mentioned, fixing it was a priority for me. I was happy to find that it seemed to work fine but was out of adjustment. Well, fixing it turned out to be a bit more involved than simply adjusting it. There were a few issues:

1-The adjuster bolt was topped out; there was no room to tighten the brake due to stretched, old cables (the brake shoe thickness is still good at ¼”). This was easily fixed with a cheesy spacer made of washers and what not.

2-The peddle bracket was cracked and would buckle under the force of pushing on the peddle hard. To remedy this I built a simple brace using 2” metal tube chopped up and bolted on using existing holes in the E-brake bracket. The pic will explain better than I can!


3-The existing routing of the cables allowed for very little down travel of the suspension because the cables looped over a cross member. So I took it all apart and cleaned the components up.


And then re-routed the cables to cross over each other rather than stick to their respective sides as before. By doing it this way the cables are no longer stuck over a cross member and since they travel from the center of the axle out they should hardly move as one side droops and the other raises. I think they will also be fine if both wheels droop… so long as I don’t install revolver shackles or anything like that. A final point is that the angle at which the cables enter the brakes has only changed a bit. Maybe some rubber or plastic sleeves to allow the cables to slide around easier on the rear diff?


So now they are adjusted, I can force as hard as I want on the peddle, and they work – sort of. I could still turn the drum forward by hand but there was significant resistance however, in the reverse direction I could’t budge it. Now, this is in the air with an open diff… so the other side was turning the opposite way. So in the end I have no idea what component might need attention. I am hoping that once I’m driving the Jeep the brakes will auto-adjust and things will work themselves out (as if anything is that easy!). For now I have a functioning (but not perfect) E-brake.


The other big news is I am finished with undercoat scraping! Until I get the front fenders off. Maybe interior next... so much to do!

 

[CJ BRIAN NJ]

Update: E-brake

One of only a few things that didn’t work on this Jeep was the E-brake. As mentioned, fixing it was a priority for me. I was happy to find that it seemed to work fine but was out of adjustment. Well, fixing it turned out to be a bit more involved than simply adjusting it. There were a few issues:

1-The adjuster bolt was topped out; there was no room to tighten the brake due to stretched, old cables (the brake shoe thickness is still good at ¼”). This was easily fixed with a cheesy spacer made of washers and what not.

2-The peddle bracket was cracked and would buckle under the force of pushing on the peddle hard. To remedy this I built a simple brace using 2” metal tube chopped up and bolted on using existing holes in the E-brake bracket. The pic will explain better than I can!


3-The existing routing of the cables allowed for very little down travel of the suspension because the cables looped over a cross member. So I took it all apart and cleaned the components up.


And then re-routed the cables to cross over each other rather than stick to their respective sides as before. By doing it this way the cables are no longer stuck over a cross member and since they travel from the center of the axle out they should hardly move as one side droops and the other raises. I think they will also be fine if both wheels droop… so long as I don’t install revolver shackles or anything like that. A final point is that the angle at which the cables enter the brakes has only changed a bit. Maybe some rubber or plastic sleeves to allow the cables to slide around easier on the rear diff?


So now they are adjusted, I can force as hard as I want on the peddle, and they work – sort of. I could still turn the drum forward by hand but there was significant resistance however, in the reverse direction I could’t budge it. Now, this is in the air with an open diff… so the other side was turning the opposite way. So in the end I have no idea what component might need attention. I am hoping that once I’m driving the Jeep the brakes will auto-adjust and things will work themselves out (as if anything is that easy!). For now I have a functioning (but not perfect) E-brake.


The other big news is I am finished with undercoat scraping! Until I get the front fenders off. Maybe interior next... so much to do!

i have seen the pivot cams get rounded out before and if they are worn down until round they just cant spread the pads far enough to grab. we did complete brakes on my old cherokee and still barely any movement so i pulled them off again and the cams were almost completely round...you will figure it out im sure ! great job cleaning her up under there !

 

[BC CJ]

Hey Brian. I'll wait until I have a chance to test the E-brake in real situations before I dig into it again... for now it holds enough to keep me on the ramps!

It was a beautiful day today! I cleaned the drivetrain with some 'gunk' cleaner then started stripping everything out to work on the interior. It was a productive day: the soft top is off (rails and everything), the seats and mount brackets are out, the windshield is folded down and I am working on cleaning some rust on the bottom of it. Still a lot to do in there though!

I took some flex pics! Will need longer brake hoses for sure and I think 33x12.5s will fit perfectly (current tires measue in at about 33.5x14.5).

 

[CJ BRIAN NJ]

Looking great buddy ,glad to see your baby is sitting pretty flay even with the ramps under opposite corners ! I cant believe the previous owner stuffed those 35's on your jeep it looks cool but they had to be rubbing all over.. My windshield frame is shot so im looking for a new one i also started scraping the silicone / foam and caulk from around the windshield and the hard doors. It looks like 5-6 different layers of half *** attempts to get the doors to seal up , i found new weather stripping kits for the doors but im not sure if my doors are exactly the same shape as the kit?? I was told my doors are origional but they dont have the flat recessed door handles so now im not sure?? Mine have the chrome handels that turn 90 degrees to open , and they have locks with no key

brian

 

[BC CJ]

Ya these tires are nuts. 33x12.5 should be perfect though. The front has some custom bump stops but the rear has none... another thing for the list.

I am working on the windshield frame too. it's pretty rusty at the bottom but I'm going to use it for now. When I have more $ for this project I'll look into an aluminum frame... no more rust!

I have been picking away at the interior for the last couple days. My plan was to make it look mint so you can only tell this Jeep is a 'rough' but ready Renegade by looking underneath. Anyhow... turns out that is a bit beyond the scope of what I am currently doing. There are a couple corners that will need reinforcing and it wont look anything like 'mint' when its done!
So the new plan is to make the dash look good and just make the floor super solid. I did see some rolls of rubber at the store that would make great custom floormats... custom like LOTS of coverage

 

[CJ BRIAN NJ]

Ya these tires are nuts. 33x12.5 should be perfect though. The front has some custom bump stops but the rear has none... another thing for the list.

I am working on the windshield frame too. it's pretty rusty at the bottom but I'm going to use it for now. When I have more $ for this project I'll look into an aluminum frame... no more rust!

I have been picking away at the interior for the last couple days. My plan was to make it look mint so you can only tell this Jeep is a 'rough' but ready renegade by looking underneath. Anyhow... turns out that is a bit beyond the scope of what I am currently doing. There are a couple corners that will need reinforcing and it wont look anything like 'mint' when its done!
So the new plan is to make the dash look good and just make the floor super solid. I did see some rolls of rubber at the store that would make great custom floormats... custom like LOTS of coverage

i think we are both truley in the same boat! im still confident i can get my body looking good and straight with fresh paint but im finding other things i was not expecting like all the new floor sections were welded in directly on top of the rotted floors without cutting the rot away???? also the ribs on the bottom of the tub that ad structure are just hollow rotted shells made of undercoating!!! so i will put up more pics after some scraping! im so glad im not alone in this i was starting to doubt my skill level a bit but i think if i take my time i can get it done!! if my jeep didnt run so damn smooth and quiet i might start looking for another one but im sticking with it and im hoping someday you me and our other cj brothers can get together and play in the dirt!!! keep up the good work you are inspiring me!

 

[BC CJ]

Ouch. that sounds like a fair bit of rot! I'm not doing too bad; there are 3 bad spots:

1-the bottom of the windshied frame. fortunately it is confined to the windshield frame. the tub is spotless on the other side of the rubber.

2- the floor at the back of the front seat area (in the tool box on the passenger side) is rusted out to a long narrow hole. Will be bolting in some angle iron make that strong.

3- the ribs under the floor at the very front of the tub, one on each side. the ones that run forward out the front of the tub. I am going to cut whats left of them out and replace it with 1x2 box tube steel... thinking I will extend it to also add a mount point for the fenders.

Recently I've been picking away at the interior. Will hopefully get some pics of the dash soon. I'm filling in those awful speaker holes.

 

[BC CJ]

OK, I've been plugging away at the interior. As mentioned the windshield is a bit rough but since it isn't spreading to the tub I just scrubbed at the rust for a bit and covered it in paint. And the floor has also got some attention.

Here it is; not bad condition overall, mostly minor surface rust with a couple insignificant holes but you can see how the floor has separated from the rest of the tub along the back...


So to make it nice and solid I added in some angle iron. Nothing fancy, but it should be plenty solid for a long time now. If I keep on top of washing out the dirt and re-painting occasionally I think the rust wont spread to much for many years.


Soon I'll be painting the whole Jeep. Keeping to the theme this baby is going to be covered in Tremclad. Brushed and rolled for a base coat then rattle can to create a decent finish... or something like that

 

[BC CJ]

I went for it and started painting this weekend! I wanted a light colour with a basic gloss finish, something that has an old school feel to it. I looked at factory Jeep colours for 1974 (mine is basically that model sold in 75) and I liked the 'jetset blue.' The few examples I found online all looked different but in general it is a light 'sky' blue. The next criteria was to find a generic off the shelf paint so I can easilly buy more in the future that will match. Tremclad medium blue fit the bill.

I'm half way done and so far the color is a bit loud - it's bright! But I am getting used to it and I think with all the trim and seats back in it to break up the color it will look pretty good.

first quick coat; something for the thicker coats to stick too.


and after a second, thicker coat its starting to look even but there are runs and stuff that I'll sand out before covering it in a light, hopefully even, layer of spray paint. You can also see the bondo covering the old speaker holes in the dash. Trying to smooth that out to a nice finish will be my next challenge.


I'm cutting corners now because I'm going away for a couple months and want the paint done first. The fenders have some rough spots and are still covered in undercoating but a previous owner's bondo job is holding up well on the outside so I've decided to leave that job for another time. for now I'm just going to paint it.

I'm really starting to like this color

 

[BC CJ]

Lots more paint slapped on today The colour sceme and look I'm going for is starting to show. The brush-on finish looks good from 1-2 jeep lengths away; any closer and some of the runs and imperfections start to be noticable. Hopefully a final layer of spray paint will reduce that to .5 jeep lengths or so... scientifically speaking

a good angle on the paint


The dash... speaker hole bondo job is OK. It's smooth but there are some waves and holes still. Guess I need to work on my bondo-skills.


Here's the overall look! Opinions anyone?

 

[CJ BRIAN NJ]

i think it looks great! i saw a video on youtube of a guy drilling a small hole in upsidedown spray paint cans to let the gas out , then he poured the paint into a hvlp sprayer so he could shoot it with a gun! my white paint was all rattle can paint for $1 per can and after seeing how well it came out im sure i can lay it down with a gun even better! your idea for using a common paint for future matching is a great plan too. i called a paint place for advice on paint products and the manager told me i can get a shop to shoot it cheaper than i can buy all the supplies and chems i would need to do it myself so now im really not sure if i want to paint it myself or not. down here we have Macco , its a cheap paint place with a bad reputation but if you bring them a prepped jeep ready for paint they can lay down a few nice coats and bake it for under $300 usd. so i might go that route??
i found 33's for $AMC 150
a tank with skid and sending unit for $AMC 150
and a windshield frame for $75
so those and the frame rot are hopefully going to be done in the next week or two. now that your jeep is all shiny and fresh im getting jealous so its time to kick it into high gear and work a little later every night !

i also saw a video of a guy painting a bmw with high density foam rollers , he thinned the paint a little bit and it flowed really smooth before drying and the roller marks disappeared so maybe you can give it one more coat like that if the brush marks are bugging you!

brian

 

[CJ BRIAN NJ]

and a quick bondo tip for the flat areas , a long flat sanding block or 2x4 with 120 grit paper on it will really flatten things out! thank god jeeps have alot of flat areas so guys like us can pull off decent bondo work

and im starting to like the windshield being a different color! with a black top it will look really cool!

 

[BC CJ]

Thanks Brian. I might try again at the bondo (I know the paint will match!)

I'm fussing over the paint now because I have my nose to it all day painting and notice every little mark. Once its done as best I can I'll forget about it and it should look fine anyhow. The brush strokes aren't bad but there are some runs. Runs usually seem to be worse with spray paint so I am trying to get a thick coat on everywhere with the brush then just a light dash or two of spray to smooth it out.

As for the black windshield, thats factory for the model. I think it was the last Jeep to come with the black windscreen. Check it out:

Directory Index: Jeep 1970-87 Ads/1974

 

[Petescj]

Im likin the look of that. The blue is bright but I think it looks pretty cool. Like you said once you add the black in there it'll even it out a bit. Exactly what are you brushing on and whered you get it?

 

[BC CJ]

Hi Pete. Thanks! I was a bit worried when I started with this color but it's growing on me quickly. The same thing happened with my old landcruiser; I painted it this Kermit the frog green. I was horrified when I first started to paint but once it was done it looked great.

I bought a can of "Tremclad - Medium Blue," you might know it as 'Rustoleum.' It is available at any hardware store up here in Canada. Also available in spray cans - I got some of them too. About 60 dollars worth of paint.

 

[BC CJ]

Well, I’ve put some spray paint on the last few days. It seems there is always an angle from which you can see the spray lines. Oh well, I think it’s as good as I’m going to get it ; More on that later though.

I took a break from body stuff to fix another one of those small things that was bugging me: there was no battery tie down. The battery was just sitting loose on the battery tray and I didn't want to wait to fix it. So I took the tray out, drilled a couple holes, cut up some ready-rod and an old piece of flat bar and voila, a battery tie down.


For some reason the battery is on the driver side... as is all the propane rigamarol. It's a bit tight but still easier to work on than any other vehicle I've dealt with recently! This also leaves the other side wide open... hmmm 2nd battery? air compressor? One day!

 

[CJ BRIAN NJ]

man i cant wait to hear more about that propane setup! my batt tray is pretty bad so im thinking about moving the batt to the back i can put 2 batteries right behind the rear seat in the plastic batt boxes , i have a large stash of car audio stuff and a 1000 watt amp for my cb so with all that and aux lighting i will probably need the extra power and i can get the high output alternator for right around $100 so i might as well go for it so i have all the power i need in the future.

 

[BC CJ]

man i cant wait to hear more about that propane setup! my batt tray is pretty bad so im thinking about moving the batt to the back i can put 2 batteries right behind the rear seat in the plastic batt boxes , i have a large stash of car audio stuff and a 1000 watt amp for my cb so with all that and aux lighting i will probably need the extra power and i can get the high output alternator for right around $100 so i might as well go for it so i have all the power i need in the future.

My Jeep has a new alternator from the previous owner, 63A. I think thats a pretty good one.

As for the propane, I've figured a couple things out. It has a 16 gallon tank. I think the factory gas tank is 13 - 14 Gallons for 1975. The 16 gallons is water capacity though and you cant fill propane to the same volume. It got really complicated trying to figure out just how much propane in liters I could get, different sources had different conversions numbers etc... Anyhow, in the end I should be able to put between 45 and 50 liters of propane in the tank - pretty similar to the factory gas capacity (which doesn't get you far on a V8!)

So for extra fuel... I have a 'cheater hose' that will allow me to dump propane from another tank into the Jeep's tank. You cant just fill the propane in though, once the tanks equalize in pressure the propane wont flow in anymore and you can only add a little bit. BUT, my tank has a pressure release valve to keep the Jeep's tank pressure lower so you can pretty much dump all the propane from the spare tank in... only catch is you loose propane in vapour form the whole time you are doing this (and it takes a while). So it isn't the most efficient way to fill the Jeep but it will work in a pinch.

 

[BC CJ]

Project Update: Interior

The interior is all back together and I am really happy with how it turned out!

I made some floor mats from some nice thick rubber I found for sale by the foot at a hardware store.


I installed the back seat and seatbelts with plates of metal on the bottom to sandwich the tub metal (which is in good shape, not rusty, but I didn’t think sheet metal was enough to bolt a seat too).


Check out the old brown dash pad, that I spray painted with a charcoal grey multi-surface paint that has a ‘hammered finish.’ I think it came out looking pretty nice.


And a recent order from Morris 4x4 arrived!
New shifter boots.


And sun visors.


So here is the before pic:


And the after pic:


Next I’ll have to put the exterior stuff back on and see the finished (as if any CJ is ever finished) product!

 

[CJ]

BC CJ, where did the body for that 5 come from? It is in great shape!

Great looking build and the mats kick butt!