Build Thread The '80 FrankenJeep frame off reassembly

[gert]

LOL I was thinking how did you miss that patch panel adding your ground block nice job P.O.

 

[shum8]

I added mine to the frame before I dropped the tub in place. Maybe I should just leave the extra hole open for easy access to their ground block....


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[shum8]

OK - Remember a while back I said I wasn't welder? Well, I meant it LOL. I "welded" in the patch where the aluminum and bondo was, got it fairly smooth with the grinder this evening, and tomorrow I'll get it as smooth as I can - where it had been beaten in to make room for the bondo, I have it as smooth as I can get it. I mean, it can't need as much filler as what was there......



Yes, I covered up the welds. I didn't wanna hear all the snickering and giggling....



Got it reasonably smooth this afternnoon - tomorrow I'll finish smoothing it and get it ready for filler...

Man, working for a living sure cuts into Jeep rebuilding time...... Time to hit the rack.

 

[gert]

OK - Remember a while back I said I wasn't welder? Well, I meant it LOL. I "welded" in the patch where the aluminum and bondo was, got it fairly smooth with the grinder this evening, and tomorrow I'll get it as smooth as I can - where it had been beaten in to make room for the bondo, I have it as smooth as I can get it. I mean, it can't need as much filler as what was there......



Yes, I covered up the welds. I didn't wanna hear all the snickering and giggling....



Man, working for a living sure cuts into Jeep rebuilding time...... Time to hit the rack.

sheet metal is thin and has to be spot welded one spot at a time which is not going to look good its alright thats what your grinder is for looks good to me

 

[shum8]

Yeah - I tacked the four corners first, then pushing from the other side got the patch and tub lined up, and tacked that. Once I had tacked it every inch or so, I filled in between spots. Once I get it mudded and sanded, it should look just fine

 

[shum8]

Nothing major today - got the rest of the snap holes welded up, right side flare mounting holes, lower tire carrier pivot mount holes, and touched up a couple spots around yesterday's professional looking welding activity. Tomorrow will be prepping for body filler, and that goes on Thurs. as it's supposed to be 74 or so.

 

[shum8]

First batch of the body filler went on Thurs afternoon without complications....... Except the first batch which got a little too much hardener. It set up while I was stirring. Was a WTF moment for sure. I thought man, am I gonna have to work fast or what?? The rest went well. Instructions said to add a ribbon of hardener all the way across a 4" puddle of filler...... To someone who is very literal, that is very confusing. To me, an ribbon is flat, tube puts out a round strip, and when you apply to a flattened spot of filler (there again, puddles or flat), you better be pretty dang fast! Second batch was a 4" blob of filler and a strip of hardener - perfect. Roughed up the areas to receive filler, removing all paint and primer and scuffing sheet metal well, wiped clean with MEK, and the smearing began. Several folks told me to be careful applying so as to get a perfectly smooth finish - yeah, right. Keeping the results of the first batch in mind, I applied copious amounts of *** hauling to the application of the filler - so yeah, I have a few places to fill in where I had small "pock marks" that will need filling. Big deal. Once I get it all smoothed out, it'll be fine.





All of the small spots are fine - the couple large areas need some attention - I'll fix them this afternoon. With any luck, I'll get the tub all primed and stuff later this week...... Which brings me back to the color choice for the wrap. Still torn between the burgundy and the red. The Burgundy was a touch more purple than I wanted, but I haven't seen many, if any, Jeeps around here in that color. The red is very nice - Isn't listed as a metallic, but the sample seems to have a very fine "particulate" effect giving it depth. Down side is lots of red Jeeps on the road. Hard to post pics of specific colors, but here's a close approximation:



The burgundy shows black in low light with reddish purple highlights. The red shows a dark red in low light with pretty bright red highlights. Now I think I'm leaning to the red. Either way, I've been looking at color samples now for the graphics. I think I'm going to cut some striping that combines features from a couple different factory designs...... Haven't nailed that down yet either. I have decided regardless of the red or burgundy body color I'm gonna roll with 2 or 3 shades of gray striping, ranging from a dark charcoal to maybe a darker silver.



Alrighty then - Time to get productive..... Sorta

 

[Peanut Butter]

You know that since you're going with red, you gotta have a motor that backs that up! Good thing you put some serious time in that already!

 

[shum8]

Thanky - But it only backs it up in looks. Just a AMC 304 .......


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[shum8]

Yesterday was fairly productive - Got the tub ready for a final sanding and primer. The area around the factory fuel filler took the longest - even with a hammer and dolly I was only able to get the sheet metal close to where it used to be. Working in the rear corner of the tub was very similar to practicing your golf swing in a phone booth - a little tight.



There was also some waviness under the driver door opening. Don't know the history of this tub as it was already in place when I bought the Jeep, but it appears it was NOT a garage queen. Got that part straightened out so that the aluminum rocker moulding would fit nicely....... Not that you can tell that in this pic.....



Passenger side didn't have the same issues as the driver's side, just the welded up holes.......

Pic 3

Spent a good bit of time today messing with the fiberglass fenders - Don't fit as nicely as I would like, but I don't see it as a show stopper. The original steel fenders were rotting from the inside out, and these were cheap. First person I see walking around it with a tape measure once I'm finished will get a swift kick in the butt LOL.

 

[Peanut Butter]

Yesterday was fairly productive - Got the tub ready for a final sanding and primer. The area around the factory fuel filler took the longest - even with a hammer and dolly I was only able to get the sheet metal close to where it used to be. Working in the rear corner of the tub was very similar to practicing your golf swing in a phone booth - a little tight.



There was also some waviness under the driver door opening. Don't know the history of this tub as it was already in place when I bought the Jeep, but it appears it was NOT a garage queen. Got that part straightened out so that the aluminum rocker moulding would fit nicely....... Not that you can tell that in this pic.....



Passenger side didn't have the same issues as the driver's side, just the welded up holes.......

Pic 3

Spent a good bit of time today messing with the fiberglass fenders - Don't fit as nicely as I would like, but I don't see it as a show stopper. The original steel fenders were rotting from the inside out, and these were cheap. First person I see walking around it with a tape measure once I'm finished will get a swift kick in the butt LOL.

That's looking really good! All of that sanding is the hard part. Can't wait to see it with the wrap on it. Will you put a primer coat on and then the wrap, or a base coat of some color then the wrap?

 

[shum8]

Yeah, I'm over the sanding.... and I'm not quite done yet. Found a low spot on the cowl.... gonna build that up just a smidge, then I'm done. Right side fender needs a little work, as does the left side of the hood. As for the primer - was planning on getting a good primer coat down and sanded nice and smooth, then sealed nicely as a base for the wrap, but since I already bought paint a while back, I think I'll shoot it with a color coat as well - be a good time to practice laying down color while giving the vinyl a better surface to stick to. If somehow I screw up,and get a nice coat of paint on it I'll have a new paint job under the wrap. And I've about decided on the '83 Renegade striping, only in a silver / dark gray scheme. Also gonna rework the tape on the hood - less coverage.

 

[shum8]

Got the low spot on the cowl today - but didn't have time to get it nice and smooth. Should be able to get at it tomorrow. After hittin it with the wire wheel, I determined why there was a low spot - there was already body filler there - just wasn't built up quite enough. It is now :biggrin:





Then I turn my attention to one of two spots on the hood that need a little TLC - the results of the hood having smacked the windshield frame rather hard...... When I had first gotten the Jeep, I had it out running it a bit and had stuck the fiberglass hood on - it actually fit better than the steel one - go figure. The safety latch doesn't grab anything on the f/g hood, and of course I forgot to latch the hold downs and somewhere around 35 - 40 mph, the world exploded. I had always heard the phrase "... Didn't know whether to sh#t or go blind", but in this instance, I did both!! Scared the outta me!! Anyways, got one of em all "glued" up, sanded, and a dab of filler - this will also get sanded smooth tomorrow...



Tomorrow, we sand!!

 

[Petescj]

So your going to paint it and put Renegade decals and stripes on it , but then cover it with a wrap? I'm hoping the paint comes out so good you forget the wrap if that's the case. Did I miss what base color your using?

 

[shum8]

LOL - No, prime, seal, paint. If the color coat looks nice, then it stays and I decal. If it sucks, then sand smooth, wrap, then decal. I already have the paint, but I like the wrap color better. Paint I have is a screaming bright red.


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[shum8]

OK- First let me apologize for the double tap - Tapatalk does that for me on occasion, but I didn't catch this one till it was too late to delete it.

Got the cowl and spot on the hood smoothed up today along with evening up the hood / cowl gap. The pics don't look much better than the previous ones, but i'll throw em up here anyway...



The lower corner of the cowl was pretty banged up - would still love to hear what it would say if it could talk.... Got the corner built back up and sanded down



The hood / fender gaps are buggin me a bit - drivers side looks good, but the passenger side is jacked up. It's good at the cowl, and the fender droops so the gap increases to about an inch and a quarter at the front. Measuring from the floor, everything is where it should be but the right fender. If you pull the front up to even the gap, then it all measures correctly. It appears the mounting flange that bolts to the tub is not at the correct angle, so I have come up with a creative (and in my head, a magnificently effective) fix....... I'll work up a few sketches, diagrams, and what not...... and when those folks who actually work with fiberglass and can smell BS 50 yards out aren't paying attention, I'll post 'em. I just might be able to sneak 'em thru LOL. Seriously, I'm pooped and hittin the rack - Tomorrow I'll describe my potential fix, and get you guys to throw rocks at it.

 

[shum8]

Ok - Here's my thoughts on the fender issue.... In my head I have two courses of action (assuming the fiberglass fenders stay) - Cut and reglass the flange to it's proper location, or remove the flange altogether and replace with a section of 1" steel angle.

Here's the deal currently (and the pic is of the driver's side because I was too lazy to maneuver to the other side this morning)



Here's my thoughts on fix number one:



Grind the back side of the flange and fender enough to get to clean fiberglass, gap the flange to the proper location, and fill in with glass cloth and resin.

Option 2 would be to remove the flange, grind back side to clean fiberglass, attach 1" steel angle that's been drilled for the 4 fender mounting bolts and drilled and tapped for 12-32 flat head screws. Countersink holes in the fender to allow screw heads to sit below surface, tighten screws just short of gorilla strength, then weld screw threads on back side of angle to prevent loosening, then glass over screw heads on outer surface. Smooth / fill joint, prime, and proceed as usual.



I'm leaning towards option 2 - whadya think - both stupid ideas???

 

[FLYNHYCJ7]

I like idea #2. Maybe add some bounding adhesive between the glass and metal along with the screws incase of cracking at screw holes from body flex. Just a thought.

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[shum8]

Yeah, I had included the adhesive in the process. I've also accepted the fact that I'm almost guaranteed a crack at the glass / steel interface due to different expansion and contraction rates due to temp. The adhesive won't let go but any body filler might. If I wind up going the wrap route you'd never see the crack......


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[FLYNHYCJ7]

The body wrap sounds like a good idea. I'm toying with the idea myself, mainly because I can't paint to save my butt.

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