Blair Jeep Project III

[Tatsadasayago]

Finally got the time, funds and motivation to give The Blair III a makeover.
I picked this one up in May for 1300.00 and since I was out of town all summer, I didn't get to do much with it till now.
The Chief is a '77 but titled as a '74, which is fine with me since this makes it smog exempt. (Does Happy Dance)
It has a freshly built 81 360 with a mild performance cam (Somewhat lumpy so I would guess around 260 degrees duration), Fresh TH400, QT with P/T kit, Dana 44s F/R with open 3:73s, additional 33 gallon fuel tank and 3" exhaust through a flowmaster.
I've already replaced the radiator with a NEW one from Eagle Radiator (Diamond Springs, CA), removed the carpet and padding. Cleaned and converted the rust pitted floor boards, added factory rubber base and purchased black seats and interior panels.
The rig had 3" blocks in the rear, so I added two long front shackles from a late model Ram pickup list kit till I can order a 6" kit from B&Js...so no wise-cracks about the shackles!!!
I chose to leave the Jeep factory blue and began bodywork last week. The problem areas are the left front fender and flare, right fender, left rear quarter, tailgate, right rear quarter and the right rear flare.
Compared to the jeeps I owned in Montana, this one is VERY clean indeed. Some weenie added a swinging tire rack to the back and mucked the quarter and gate up, and a r/r tire blowout took out the rusty flare and rocker panel.
I put in a couple of good afternoons into the left fender and door and got some primer shot tonight before things started to rust. I did alot of plug welding to get rid of the holes left behind from three separate mirror installs as well as repairing and re-attaching the fender extension. I got impatient and missed a few divots in the door as well as a few dimples in my flare repair so tomorrow or the next day I'll re-visit those items.
I have plenty of time to do this so I will attempt to do this one right!
Thanks for letting me share the project with the rest of you FSJ addicts!

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/b4after.jpg

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/leftdorB4Primer.JPG
http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/lsb4primer.JPG
http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/lsAfterPrimer.JPG
http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/leftfrontfender.JPG

[jMedia]

Looks great so far, what did you use to get all that paint off? Wire wheel?
Did you use any body filler?
Can't wait to see more progress

[men in black]

Looks good so far :thumbsup:

What color are you going with?

[Tatsadasayago]

Looks great so far, what did you use to get all that paint off? Wire wheel?
Did you use any body filler?
Can't wait to see more progress
Heya! I used a Sears 5" electric DA to bust down the old pant then a longboard with 80 grit to find the low spots. I'd climbed up to 180 before primer. I tried to avoid filler but some places required it ie; around the L/F fender flare damage and the mirror hole areas. Where possible I used dollies, spoons and shrinking files to get the metal straight....and those doors skins are VERY THIN on 77s I discovered. I've used about a tennis ball-sized amount of filler so far.
Seems a previous owner was either a Ham, CB'r or scanner junkie as I've found 4 locations where antenna mounts had been cut into the body and closed up poorly. This is probabl Karma for when I used to do that to vehicles hehehe.

[Tatsadasayago]

Looks good so far :thumbsup:

What color are you going with?
Thanks!
I'm sticking with the metallic blue factory color. I'm thinking of using gloss black instead of vinyl decals for the lower stripes and still up in the air about the flat black around the windows. I have a louvered hood for this rig and if I use it, I'll gloss the hood out to the detail lines and carry it along the body lines to the tailgate .
If I use the standard hood, I'll flat black it to reduce glare and take it all the way back in the same manner.

I know it may look gaudy...but I am liking the idea of having a set of the cherokee chief letters made in white and place them over the lower black stripe in the factory location. I think the white over black with blue surrounding it would look very 70s and possibly even look good.

[710 Burner]

Looking good.
Sooo....does your Ram Charger have an AMC 360 in it? ;)

[Brizio]

Nice job!

[Tatsadasayago]

Looking good.
Sooo....does your Ram Charger have an AMC 360 in it? ;)HAHAHA!
No, it's got a 70 440 Six Pak.

The only AMC parts on it is the spare distributor drive gear, timing set and alternator in the back for when I need to rescue one of my 'Ramblers'!

[Carleysjeep]

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/lsAfterPrimer.JPG


I love the smell of primer in the morning!!!

Looking good! Keep the pics and nice work coming. :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[dusty]

:rolleyes: Now if your bonehead of a brother would have told me this BACK in MAY i wouldnt have got rid of so much crap when i sold the chief............................................. ......


Yep the Blair Jeep project gave your identity away. ;)

Congrats anything i can find around here to help i'll bring over to you. Do you want to put a 6.2L boat anchor in there? or are you still oogling over that .512 lift cam out of the old 401....


Learning how to program GM TBI right now so when you are ready and decide to go the route of EFI we can put our heads together on a junkyard combo.

[jaber]

Nicely done!!!!:thumbsup::thumbsup:

[Tatsadasayago]

Bonehead is an understatement! HAHAHA

How are ya doing Dustpan?
Yeh, I was reading the tech article about salvage yard EFI earlier and the gears n wheels began turning since I'm handy with computers n stuff.
I've got plenty to keep me busy for the forseeable future and am hoping to make a Hangover Run with this biatch on the 1st.

Thanks for saying hello!



:rolleyes: Now if your bonehead of a brother would have told me this BACK in MAY i wouldnt have got rid of so much crap when i sold the chief............................................. ......


Yep the Blair Jeep project gave your identity away. ;)

Congrats anything i can find around here to help i'll bring over to you. Do you want to put a 6.2L boat anchor in there? or are you still oogling over that .512 lift cam out of the old 401....


Learning how to program GM TBI right now so when you are ready and decide to go the route of EFI we can put our heads together on a junkyard combo.

[Tatsadasayago]

Well this week was full of surprises and some struggles....
Upon my last post, I'd just shot the first coat of primer on the left fender and drivers door.
When the 'Primer' dried, I discovered that Duplicolor had mis-labeled the can. It turned out to be their WHITE color paint....not primer.
I stripped the semi-glossy stuff off and shot again with REAL primer. I noticed right away that I'd missed quite a few spots that needed more attention than I'd given them. The drivers door still had odd marks around the old tripod mirror mounting holes that looked like the lacquer primer had lifted the filler away from the bare steel. The left fender had the same issue wherever I used a fine layer of filler to finish over my metal repairs.
Apparenly lacquer reducer likes to attack thin layers of polyester and I should have used a sealer over these areas prior to priming. Lesson learned.
I struggled all week on the leading edge of the left fender flare....just couldn't get the metal to behave....then saw the mess after priming.
Finally got it down to only needing an edge repair with filler and a good pre-prime sanding to make the extensive damage invisible.
http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/leftfenderstruggle.jpg

The next step was to remove the filler in the left quarter panel where some sort of heavy bracket was mounted at some point...and 'repaired' with lots of mud.
I took it all down to the metal and was rewarded with three LARGE holes and several small ones hidden under the bondo.
I pulled the inner panel and placed a porta-power and block of wood behind the skin and started slapping and hammering the panel and holes as flat as I could.
http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/bulletholes.jpg
http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/portapowerdolly.jpg
http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/giveuponholes.jpg
After slapping, shrinking, hammering and alot of cussing at the thin sheetmetal, I chose to add a piece of sheet steel over the area to keep it stable. I could move the existing metal with a slight finger poke and didn't want flexing metal problems later. I mig'd the metal over the area and floated the transitions with filler. (Broke my rule of NO BONDO IF POSSIBLE)
http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/bulletpatch.jpg

The rest of the quarter was very straightforward. I used the airboard with 80g to guide me for highs and lows (Many of them)then used the slapping file and spoon to get things straight. The area above the first shoulder and below the window was heavily rippled/wavy....but the steel is stronger there and went back flat easily with the spoon and file. The hassle was getting the dolly in the proper place behind the repair area. The porta-power and many 2x4 blocks helped get things lined up with pressure behind the dolly.
I prepped the steel with 180g using the electric DA, manual longboard and the electric square sander.
http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/lquarter3.jpg

Still have a few bobbles in the left fender and door to deal with as well as a couple of oopsies at the repair panel area. I cannot stress enough the importance of good lighting. Had I planned this project better, I'd have lined the walls with one or two runs of horizontal florescent shop lights so I could see every little ding, wave or divot. Would have saved me a bunch of time going back over an area I'd thought was ready to paint.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/lquarterprimed.jpg

Considering how many 'warts' this part of the project had, I am fairly happy with the progress to Primer at this point.
The Next stage is the tailgate........UGH

Stay tuned for that ugliness in a few days.

So far, I am into this project the following amounts:
145.00 Primer, color and clear
62.45 Abrasives: DA disks, longboard, 5" Electric DA disks etc.
655.00 4 HVLP paint guns, porta power, sanders, air hoses/fittings, body tools and misc. tools

See you for the next update!

[Tatsadasayago]

I finally got some things done to the Blair Jeep this week....

I stripped the tailgate and after removing the decal I started noticing alot of flex in the sheeting around the center of the panel above the license plate alcove. I looked around inside and saw a large crack forming beyond the obvious damage. Thinking I might be better off getting another gate, I decided to bag this one in favor of the one on the GagOneer.
http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/gatedamage.jpg
http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/gatedamage2.jpg

I said PHOOEY on this and pulled the gate off (By myself) which went VERY easily without the glass installed.
The trick is to remove two of the three hinge bolts, but leave the solo one alone till you raise the gate till it just about latches. Removing this bolt releases the hinge without any popping or banging!
The torsion springs stay with the gate and the hinge for a nice neat package for re-installing.
Wiring was interesting. I located the harness plugs right behind the left rear spring hangar and pulled the connectors apart....and removed the ground to the shackle bracket. There was NO WAY I was going to be able to pull wires through the hardened sheath that runs up through the floor to the gate. I tried for 3 hours and finally gave up. I cut all the wires midway between the motor/switches and fed them out the hole. The donor gate will be cut long as well which will allow me to place a barrier strip somewhere accessible so the next time I need to remove the gate I'll just pull the spade connectors from the vehicle side and feed the wires out without cutting anything.
So, the next move was to the right rear quarter cap which was the location of a home-brew tire and gas can rack.
I knew this would be ugly....and of course it was.....and then some.
http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/capbefore.jpg
From the damage I saw on the tailgate, I figured this plate was covering some ugly welding sins.
http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/hingebefore.jpg

This is the lower rack hinge and as you can see someone wasn't shy about making a huge welding blob for me to sort through. I could see cracking on the tailgate side and the outer side flexed oddly when I leaned on the hinge.
http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/rightcapbefore.jpg
When I removed the steel plate I found another thinner one welded over the sheet metal as expected. On with the goggles and ON with the grinder......
http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/capdrilled.jpg
After removing the second plate I found this mess. It seems the rack with a tire/wheel and two gas cans was just too much for the sheet metal so this looks to be a repair of the carnage.
http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/capaftergrinding.jpg
After using the roto-zip with a cut-off wheel I was able to get through the welds on the lower hinge. No sooner did I release those welds then the stressed metal around it cracked out leaving this ugly hole. I decided to remove the whole cap and use a good one from a donor rig.
http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/capremoved.jpg

To my surprise, drilling out the spot-welds and running a sawz-all between the quarter skin and the cap took about 30 minutes before the cap was sitting on the floor!
I started a gap with the roto-zip/cut-off to make a slot wide enough for the saw blade and simply split the spotwelds as I went. Since I plan on brazing the cap back in, I wasn't worried about messing up the seam too much. Only one slight boo boo when I got out of the gap and into the quarter skin about a 16" before stopping.
http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/capremovedlookingdown.jpg

There is quite a gap in the lower body filler panel so when I cut the donor I'll have to be sure to cut deeper toward the center to make sure I have enough metal to fill this in.

Next up, The right rear quarter panel extension and fender flare.....Yipeeeee

[Tatsadasayago]

With the rear quarter cap off I decided to focus on the next ugly mess by the right rear tire.....

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/rrqtrdamage.jpg

Of course the rear of the flare had rusted out and was weak. According to the kid I bought the rig from, he had an explosive tire blowout that sent the steel belt into the flare and quarter panel extension.


http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/insidertquarterdamage.jpg

First things first.
I grabbed my wonderful 89.00 porta-power and stuffed it into the inner quarter.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/ppowertop.jpg

You can see the nice strong 3 layer lap seam at the top of the body shoulder. Plenty strong so no need for a 2x4 block to make things difficult.
I used the grippy spud attachment on the lower side and placed it directly onto the peak of the dented metal.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/pushingdown2.jpg

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/pushingdown1.jpg

A few strokes of the lever later I was fairly flush with the rest of the extension. I re-positioned the spud on the top of that creased part of the inner vertical panel and things got straight in a hurry.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/extandflaredamage2.jpg
Now that the lower part of the quarter extension was fairly straight I then turned my attention to the flare....

I used a hard rubber mallet and beat the daylights out of hte inner flare metal until it unwound the rusted wad you see below.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/rflarepushedout1.jpg
http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/rflarepushedout2.jpg

I got what was left of the bottom of the flare as straight as I could and laid the inner flare panel back down where it should be.
I took the roto-zip and cut-off wheel to the flare and cute a rectangle around the rusty stuff and ran the long lines down to the bottom. I was going to use my air nibbler till I remembered a wise man saying that rust will dull them in a heartbeat. Thanks to whoever the IFSJ'r that was!
http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/rflaretrimmed.jpg

As you can see, I left the existing edges wherever possible when I straightened and cut. This gives me a semi-solid place to lay in my repair sheet metal as well as being a guide so I get the right contour.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/rrflaretemplate.jpg

I got a piece of thin cardboard and made a template from the left side flare which is intact.
Lining everything up I made some index marks so I can place the template in the same spot every time.

I'll go to home-depot tomorrow and snap up a few sheets of the hot rolled steel sheeting for the replacement metal. It's cheap, forms fairly easily and most important to me.....brazes VERY well.
While I'm out and about I'll also hit the welding shop for some copper strip heat sink materials so I don't warp the steel when I am ready to braze everything back in.

I'll also be shrinking that extension down more and dollying things straight so I won't need to use much if any filler. This is one place where sand and rocks can beat the paint right off mud so I'll settle for wrinkles and divots before putting mud in there.

See you next time!

[GW Fisherman]

Be careful clicking on this link that takes you to Sacramento killers. Messed/ locked up my computer. May be just my computer but it did not happen until I clicked the link. I have since rebooted and run a scan.:cool:

[vintagetrks]

Your doing an awesome job. Please keep the picks and updates comming.I look forward to seeing the progress and the final outcome this rig is gonna be awesome. :thumbsup:

[Tatsadasayago]

Thanks VT!
Grabbed a pair of 89 GW electric mirrors today while I was scrounging parts for the other guys.

8.00 at Home Depot netted me an 18"x24" sheet of 18g sheet metal so I'll start on the cap and rear flare tomorrow hopefully.

I had forgotten about the Viaair onboard system I got from my brother last fall....so now I'm hunting a nice location for the tank.

I also bought a 'racy' TH400 and two D20s from him that may or may not go in before the Chief rolls out of the garage.

The 401 in the GagOneer got water in it after my roomie borrowed my Edelbrock......so that will have to come out and be torn down :(:(
Might end up putting it in the chief to complete the 'Package'.

TTYL and thanks for the words of support!

[Tatsadasayago]

W00T! :cool:

I got a rare case of motivation and got busy on the tailight surround and R/R fender flare today and got much farther than I expected!

I murdered a nice 89 GW for the surround and started this morning by drilling out the spot welds to get the excess metal away from the cap.
Once that was done I began straightening the cap for proper fitment.
I did learn that there IS a difference between the 89 GW and 77 Chief....Minor, but caused some heartburn.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/capfitted.jpg
Right where the yellow extension cord meets the quarter in the picture above you can see a large puddle weld. From there to the point where the body line turns sharply upward is a 5/8" half teardrop gap. The 89quarter doesn't flare out at this point like the older ones do.
Just a heads-up!

I got the cap fitted then tacked it as you see above. I also grabbed a section of the valence from the donor to fill in the ugliness left behind from that lamer tire rack hinge monstrosity.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/capwelded.jpg

Here you can see that I sectioned in the valence piece and welded the cap into place.
I left the factory gap on the valence alone so it matches the other side. Other than a few holes blown through the existing sheetmetal, this part went fast.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/valencewelded.jpg

I did run into some hassles with the lower part of the end cap since it didn't have the same shape as my quarter panel....so lots of clamping then welding to get things to fit.

I ground down my welds and prepped the surface with 60 grit.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/capfloated.jpg

Welds are hidden and the surface is smooth!

Then it was time to tackle the one part I was dreading the most.......the rotted fender flare.

I took my cardboard template and marked out the shape on the 18g steel sheet I picked up from Home Depot, then dragged out my air nibbler and got busy.

I left the bottom edge 1/2" long for a rolled edge. I walked over to check my cut and was astounded that the cut was perfect! I simply rolled the sheet metal along the flare to get the proper turn....fiddled with the radius pie cuts at the bottom...hand braked the bottom and checked for fit.
Pffft! I grabbed the welder and tacked the thing on and was ready for filler within 30 minutes!!!!!
I got so far so fast I forgot to take pictures until I had finished for the night.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/floatedflare1.jpg

I've got some high welds that need to be taken down as well as getting the flare to quarter transition smoother.
I admit I got lazy and didn't bother shrinking/dollying the quarter to perfection after all.
Now you all can call my Chief a Bondo Buggy and I cannot disagree!! :p

Tomorrow I'll finish out the lower radius and get everything smooth. I may even get this and the rest of the quarter panel in primer before I knock off for the night.

Thanks for hanging with me and following this project!

:drivin::fsj:

[Brizio]

Very impressive work done!!!:thumbsup:

[andyjamesdio]

looks like great work. i cant wait to see the finished paint job.

[fireman91186]

Lookin real good can't wait to see it finished. Keep the pics coming they might inspire me.

[Tatsadasayago]

I got back out to the Blair III this morning and didn't feel like messing with the flare first off so I tackled the right quarter panel itself.
I already expected mud back by the tail light since the other side was the same way. I chose to let sleeping dogs lie and not dig out the filler. I longboarded the quarter and was pleasantly surprised that I only had 4 dings and one crease to deal with.
Being wide awake and full of ambition for a change, I thought i'd refresh my metal shrinking skills.

A super duper Bosch heat gun and a bowl of ice cubes are all that's needed.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/dentb4.jpg

In the photo above you can see the two dents easily. The longboard will reveal the low spots because the abrasives cannot reach. The trick to good longboarding is to avoid pressing too hard of the panel will deflect giving you the impression that there are no dents or waves.
The upper right dent worried me because it was just into the body line. I didn't figure I would get away without using filler on that one. I couldn't get a dolly into position with enough pressure to shrink either dent so I had few options unless I waited all day for my roomie to arrive home. SCREW THAT!
The lower left dent I felt would flatten out and not require any filler or glazing.

Metal, when heated will expand and contract when cold. The trick to heat shrinking metal is to take it from hot to cold as soon as possible. I use Ice most of the time, but will use wet rags and even canned air depending on the size of the dent and type of heat I am using.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/heating.jpg

I forgot to take pictures when I was shrinking the lower left dent. As you can see, I longboarded that one and it revealed that my first heat treatment shrunk it about half way. Here I am heating the upper dent and really laying it on. I didn't want to burn the paint if possible, so the gun stayed on the 6 setting, which is about 450F.

When I felt the metal was hot enough I quenched the dent in the center. The rule is First in, first out. In other words, wherever the metal was struck first is the place you want to apply the heat and quench.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/chilling.jpg

I applied the tip of the ice cube directly to the deepest part of the dent and worked in small gradually increasing circles.
As I feared, I wasn't able to get this dent shrunk out completely.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/dentfirstpass.jpg

After shrinking the upper dent, I longboarded the area again.
You can see two dents along the body line where the red arrows are pointing. You can also see where I sanded down to the primer level along the body line leaving a low spot shown my the red horizontal line. A few more shrinkings later I had a better result.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/dentafterheating.jpg

As you can see, the lower left dent is all but gone. The center is no longer blue which means there is now only a few mils difference between the center and the surrounding panel. I got the upper dent fairly close to level and was able to shrink a good bit of the body line depression out as well. I decided to hit this one with some body glazing and call it good.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/dentputtied.jpg

After finishing everything else up I primed the quarter and took a head on photo of this dent while the primer was still wet. You cannot see either dent after glazing and sanding the area. :thumbsup:

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/dentprimed.jpg

Below is a shot of the entire quarter after going into primer!

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/quarterprimed.jpg

I was all excited till I noticed that S O M E H O W I managed to bend the lower lip of the flare CROOKED!!:omfg:

It's much too late to try to fix this screwup. I'll simply explain that this is C H A R A C T E R !!!:p

That's IT, I am done for the night and will tackle the pass door tomorrow.

See you then!

[81j10honcho]

them sum killer pics of ur build

[Tatsadasayago]

Ahh the saga continues.............

I noticed my running gear was complaining a bit when I dragged my tired carcass out of bed this morning.
Note to self: YER NOT YOUNG ANYMORE!!!!

Anyway, out to the garage to see how the Blair looked in dry primer.
The tail light surround, lower valence extension and flare repair all showed that my eyes aren't as good as they used to be.
I had to go over all to straighten out or knock down spots where my welds were high making bumps here and there.
I added some glazing and let it dry while I took on the dreaded passenger's door.

After pulling the mirror, doorhandle, lock and inner panel I removed the old mirror bolts that were covered with black silicone. I ran the longboard over the door and was pleased that other than the mess up top, the rest was pretty straight.
But the top shoulder where a previous mirror installation had been was BAD!

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/rdoorblocked.jpg

In the center you can see the dark triangle-looking shape. This was the top of the tripod mirror mount and it looks like somebody ran into something which pushed the mount downward into the door's shoulder. The metal around the hole was ragged and appeared that the fastener had been yanked out at some point.
You can see the low spot that starts at the OTHER towing mirror mounting location and doesn't come back into plane for 8" on the left.
I ran the air board for quite some time with 80 grit and light pressure to get a visual on the high and low spots.

Obviously the bare metal is the level plane and the darker paint are the low spots. Thankfully, the first character line was straight and would serve as a guide.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/rdoorafter4shrinks.jpg

After using the heat gun and ice I managed to pull a decent amount of the dent out. You can see the I raised the steel along the character line as well as the hip above to make a level panel that extended past the 2nd mirror and into the area where the stock mirror was mounted.
Adding to the difficulty is the radius of the shoulder.
More heat gun on a higher setting to raise the depressed metal....

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/rdoorafter6shrinks.jpg

After the 6th pass with the heat and ice I was able to pull the dent in all the way around. In this photo I now had straight metal surrounding the dent and could get more aggressive with the shrinking.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/rdooraftershrinking.jpg

I tried to get a dolly inside the door to do some slapping but the only available hole is in the wrong spot to allow me to apply much pressure to the dolly. I did the best I could being alone and managed to get the rough steel around the bolt hole somewhat straight. As you can see in the photo above, I raised a dent that was 3/4" deep and roughly 4" in diameter to this using heat and ice. It's a good thing since the little dollying and slapping I did do raised welts on my left wrist that are still swelled up about 1/2".

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/rdooraftershrinking2.jpg
http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/rdoordiagram.jpg

I'll take a little mud in the center as a small price for a straight door panel!

Tomorrow I'll finish this door, go back over the oopsies on the quarter then possibly attack the pass side fender.
That will likely cause some problems as it's rippled and deformed for being ditched at one time.

See you then!

:drivin::fsj:

[Tatsadasayago]

Welcome back!

Today I got the mistakes and oversights dealt with on the right quarter, flares and tail light surround.
I floated a small amount of filler over the remaining uglies on the pass side door and finished it out to 120 grit.

After that I dragged myself reluctantly to the right front fender.

The PO had apparently ditched the Jeep and the impact put the bumper into the fender which stuffed the whole front backward causing the flare to move outward taking the upper part of the fender panel along for the ride.

I setup the porta power against the garage wall and started pushing things back.
http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/portingfender1.jpg

RIght where the rubber end is pushing was a large crease just aft of the marker light bezel. I pushed it in first to get things somewhat straight. You can't really see it in the photo, but the front part of the fender is at LEAST 1" farther away from the body centerline than the rear. I pushed hard enough to move the radiator support over an inch during these pushes.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/portingfender2.jpg

You can see the amount of rippling in this shot.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/portingfender3.jpg

I'm still pushing the crease in. Notice the flare to valence extension joint? That was another issue I had to deal with by pushing from the shock tower into the back of the headlight bucket. This took alot of the bow/bulge out of the flare also.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/portingfender4.jpg

Things are starting to stay put where I want them to.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/afterporting.jpg

Now the upper fender character line/panel isn't so far out on the bottom edge and I've removed the bulging flare as well as pushed the valence extension forward. In this shot you can clearly see where the bumper smashed into the extension.
http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/startingshrink.jpg
http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/fenderb4removing.jpg

Here I've started filing and shrinking the dented metal behind the marker light where the worst of the damage happened.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/shrink1.jpg

Progress is S L O W with the fender on the Jeep. I decided to pull the fender off and work it on sawhorses since I couldn't get my dollies behind the metal due to the headlight bucket blocking my reach.
Off with the fender.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/shrink4.jpg

Now I'm starting to get somewhere!!!!
The process is slow, tedious and tough on the lower back but watching the dents and ripples slowly melt away from my file, spoon and dolly made it worth it.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/shrink5.jpg
http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/shrink6.jpg

As you can see, a few hours later I had just about completely straightened the front part of the fender.
I started running out of energy and enthusiasm at this point so I stopped on the front and began working on the top part thinking flat metal would be easier to straighten.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/shrink8.jpg

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/fenderbackon.jpg
Two hours later I was so frustrated I wanted to start throwing hammers :banghead::banghead:
The flat panels are tougher to straighten and the more I worked the more the metal bubbled, rippled and mis-behaved. I hung the fender back on the jeep and called it a day.

See you next time!

Jim:drivin::fsj:

[vintagetrks]

I really like the detail your showing us in this build thread. I'm learning alot. I sure wish I was as good with metal as you are. This rig is gonna look awesome when your done. I'm hoping to have my Cherokee looking good and back to it's original color some day. But alas I'm gonna have to take it to a paint and body shop to have it painted.
Are you going to do any custom bumpers on your Cherokee? Or are you going to keep it pretty stock?

[Tatsadasayago]

Thank you very much VT! I appreciate feedback good and bad on this project.
I wish I had a real video camera so I could set it up to cover all that I'm doing.

To be honest, I'm not very good with metal yet. I'm learning as I go after watching a TON of metalworking videos on Youtube before I started this project. That's the truth!
In the past I pounded the dents out fairly close with a ball peen hammer and slapped the bondo on then finished things out. For this Jeep I wanted to do it Old School and do it RIGHT, so I spent many an evening searching the net for dent repair info.
By far the BEST info about shrinking/slapping metal came from a New Zealander who goes by the nickname Restolad.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdLDOkEPFgA

Watch this one and you will see where I learned!!

I considered the later aluminum bumpers but gave up the idea when I saw the brackets. I may buy or build something later, but will run the stockers for the time being.
My plans for this rig are a lift, 35x12.50s, lockers, onboard air, perhaps a 68-69 charger or dart console, B&M shifter, 250AMP school bus alternator and a clean install of my ham radio gear for operating in the hills.

The 360 is already fairly wild and other than an Art Carr TH400, converter and Dana 20 conversion, I'm leaving this one alone.
I would like to do the Dakota digital dash from BJs soon though. A 6 channel onboard video recorder is in the works as well as a night vision Heads Up Display just because I want it. :)

This is probably the last rig I'll ever rehab so I am taking my time and enjoying it even when I am ready to throw stuff.

I hope you get to do something similar to your baby when the time comes!
Thanks for tagging along!

Jim

:drivin::fsj:

I really like the detail your showing us in this build thread. I'm learning alot. I sure wish I was as good with metal as you are. This rig is gonna look awesome when your done. I'm hoping to have my Cherokee looking good and back to it's original color some day. But alas I'm gonna have to take it to a paint and body shop to have it painted.
Are you going to do any custom bumpers on your Cherokee? Or are you going to keep it pretty stock?

[vintagetrks]

Mine is pretty straight but it's got a rattle can camo paint job so it's really ugly. I like what you did with your right rear flare, that is the only rust spot on mine and I will probably do a similar repair.
I got mine to run for a short time last weekend but it looks like I'm gonna have to find a TH400 for it as I think the one in her is toast. I don't want to go too crazy with mine I just want to put a 2 or 3 in lift and 32's and some decent shocks. I'd like to do a winch front bumper and a rugged rear bumper but mostly I really want to get the paint back to the original color with the blacked out sides. I think thats what gives the Cherokees their character.
I'm real intrested in the night vision HUD please include that in the build thread when you get to that point in the build. It sounds really cool. Might be something worth getting for night desert runs out here. Iam also intrested in HAMM radio but have'nt yet gotten active in it ,but I've been looking into getting a SW reciever off ebay so I can listen in.
You are doing an awesome job and making very quick progress I'm enjoying the H3ll out of your build. I hope your having just as much fun.

[Tatsadasayago]

Thanks for sharing VT!

Hey, if you have anyone coming and going from this area I can hook you up with a nice TH-400 for free. I'm going to pull the one in the Blair III in favor of this Razoo unit I bought from my brother. Doesn't leak and the shifts are tight for a stocker slushbox. If you can make it happen so can I!

Regarding paint and such. The best route for those who either don't have the location to do it, or don't wish to shoot their own paint is to do the bodywork and prep, then take the rig to Earl Shieb or similar and have them squirt it for you. Since the majority of the cost of a decent paint job is bodywork/prep, you can have a nice looking vehicle on the cheap.

Since I want to do my own and $$$ are a factor, I'll be shooting mine here at the house. Cali has mandated that all auto paint shops must use waterborne base painting processes and my 'buddy' who own his own shop quoted me 5300.00 to shot my prepped vehicle.

I'm going with acrylic lacquer for the simplicity, ease of repair and the fact that dust nibs and so on can be wet sanded and buffed out. That is a HUGE consideration since there is NO WAY I can get my garage sterile enough to paint with urethane or enamel. Should I get some 'Arizona Pinstripes' I can shoot a panel repair and be back to new in short order and not have to worry about the whole BaseCoat/Clear BS.

You can do the same!!

TTYL!

:drivin::fsj:

[vintagetrks]

Just watched that vid on youtube. Man that was amazing. :D That fellow made it look very simple.
I may take you up on that TH400 offer. My boss sometimes goes back to Cali to the San Louis Abispo(sp) area and may be able to hook up a ride for the tranny back here for me. I would be very GREATFULL for the tranny as I think that is the biggest thing holding me back from getting her rolling under her own power.
Do tell us more about the night vision heads up display. How does it work on your rig? Does it project an image on to your windshield?

[Tatsadasayago]

Yeh, Restolad is highly skilled! After watching all his videos and a few from others I felt ready to try my hand and so far I've not messed anything up.

Regarding the Night Vision:
It's actually Thermal Imaging. The display will be a 4-5" LCD monitor mounted where my glove box door is. The other idea is to build a true HUD by placing a 2" lcd monitor inside the dash and placing a reflector mirror in between that passes the image through a hole and onto the windshield OR a dedicated piece of glass similar to the HUD setup in military aircraft. I've pondered the same thing with my gauges. Have them project to either the top or very bottom of the windshield so I can keep my head up and eyes on the road....plus the COOL factor again!

I'm still pondering the best/safest location for the camera. Since the engine bay is a huge source of heat I may place a quick detach mount on the roof or rack and insulate the hood with some IR barrier material. No special reason other than the COOL FACTOR for installing it. The camera will send images to an onboard PC based DVR as well as sending a live feed to the display. The other 3-7 video channels will be used for cameras mounted discretely on the corners as well as underneath so I can see it when I hit a rock and noodle a driveshaft etc.
Yeh, I am a NERD!


:drivin::fsj:

[CJ the noisemaker]

I seen this in the comments on that video, and I thought, "LOL...wut?"
http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c227/plato132/bonnet_sex.jpg

[Tatsadasayago]

Eh WOT?

Gotta love the typo hahahaha!
Bonnet=Hood down under.

Reminds me of the time my dear mother misheard me talking to my brother on the phone. She thought we were discussing a 'sex hole deal' instead of six hole wheels for my Jeep.........

:drivin::fsj:

[vintagetrks]

That just sounds sooooo cool. You might be starting a new FSJ trend. That would look awesome to have you guages projected on to your windshield. I'd love to see that.:D Traditionally I have always been a function over form guy,but as I have gotten older I find myself more into gadgets and tech stuff too. That is just gonna be so trick to have a flir on board. Could you possibly mount the camera behind the grill? Or would the headlights interfear with the cameras function?

[CJ the noisemaker]

Eh WOT?

Gotta love the typo hahahaha!
Bonnet=Hood down under.

Reminds me of the time my dear mother misheard me talking to my brother on the phone. She thought we were discussing a 'sex hole deal' instead of six hole wheels for my Jeep.........

:drivin::fsj: :lol:Misunderstandings are sometimes funny!
Once again, good job on the restore.

[dusty]

Part it out Jim.... Part it out.

[Tatsadasayago]

Hahaha!!! Crusher material anyway.....
Thanks for the nice phone chat Dustpan.

*Waving from the back of the bus*

:drivin::fsj:

Part it out Jim.... Part it out.

[Tatsadasayago]

Could you possibly mount the camera behind the grill? Or would the headlights interfear with the cameras function?
These cameras ignore visible light and work in the non-visible light/temprature spectrum. You will notice this if you watch COPS or video footage from the apache gunships etc. Not really an issue since the camera housing is quite long and I'd have to have part of it inside the engine bay to keep the objective lens end flush with the grille. I refuse to cut up a Razor grille also. Cameras don't like heat of that magnitude so that's probably out.
Mounting up top does offer one other feature besides an unobstructed view and that's a (PTZ) Pan Tilt Zoom mount.......which now takes us into another realm of nerdiness.

:drivin::fsj:

[Voodoochiled445]

I have to say, out of all the hot rod, chevy and muscle car forums I visit, I have learned probably more about body work in this thread alone then anything else combined.

very informal read, really enjoying this thread!:thumbsup:

[Tatsadasayago]

Like I said earlier, there is a load of learning about metalworking on the net....especially Youtube.

Visit Harbor Freight, pick up one of those 8 dollar flat files and their bodyworking set for 29.00 and you are set.
I came home and beat up on an old dodge truck door and went to work learning how to work the metal like RestoLad described.
In retrospect, I'd use a shrinking disc along with the tools I am using now. I'm going to try the heat gun today along with the spoon and file to see how I can get the flat parts straighter in a shorter time.

Thanks for following along.

:drivin::fsj:

[Migz]

Tats good tread. Great job on the body work. I have been putting off doing the body work on my rigs as it is the most time consuming and messy process of rebuilding. Slapping in gears or a new engine is almost immediate gratification. Seeing this thread gets me a little more motivated to tackle mine. I liked your fender flair repair. Keep it up.

Z

[mdill]

Your having way too much fun beating on that poor old Cherokee :)

Mike D.

[NVJEEPER]

Indeed...what an art. :thumbsup:

[Tatsadasayago]

Your having way too much fun beating on that poor old Cherokee :)

Mike D.
LOL!

Now that you mention it....yeah I really am enjoying slapping it senseless.
Of course, when that smooth as glass paintjob is done and cured, I'll treat it like it's made of fragile glass.
There is something to be said about rattle can paintjobs.

Part of me wants to roll up next to some Benz/BMW/Escalade driving Wienerhead and blow his doors off while driving a classy piece of old iron that can go places his ride can't.....or would be afraid to!

:drivin::fsj:

[mdill]

Certainly no right universial answer on how nice to build a rig, my 77 beater cherokee, I am trying to force my self to be happy with not getting it too nice to drive and wheel, rattle can touch up is fine, dent? who cares, under the hood and drive train, that is full tilt make it right.

My plans for the other Cherokee, go full tilt the other way, on the body, I am thinking of the full monty, dip and e-ecoat and full nice paint, interior ...

Looks like you are in between my plans, which is cool, make a better DD that way.


Mike D.

LOL!

Now that you mention it....yeah I really am enjoying slapping it senseless.
Of course, when that smooth as glass paintjob is done and cured, I'll treat it like it's made of fragile glass.
There is something to be said about rattle can paintjobs.

Part of me wants to roll up next to some Benz/BMW/Escalade driving Wienerhead and blow his doors off while driving a classy piece of old iron that can go places his ride can't.....or would be afraid to!

:drivin::fsj:

[Tatsadasayago]

Certainly no right universial answer on how nice to build a rig, my 77 beater cherokee, I am trying to force my self to be happy with not getting it too nice to drive and wheel, rattle can touch up is fine, dent? who cares, under the hood and drive train, that is full tilt make it right.

My plans for the other Cherokee, go full tilt the other way, on the body, I am thinking of the full monty, dip and e-ecoat and full nice paint, interior ...

Looks like you are in between my plans, which is cool, make a better DD that way.


Mike D.
I so understand!
All my life my cars and 4x4s have been ugly but had the goods where it counted. For once, I want a capable rig that is PURTY as well.
Looking back at all those OLD GUYS I used to race and wheel with, I remember wondering where the heck they got the time and money to make their vehicles so nice and functional to boot.
I now understand.

You should see my nephew's 70s flatbed Chebby pickup parked in my back yard. The thing is an abomination to good sense and asthetics, but it's a mean wheeling rig.
He's on the same curve I am, just 20-something years behind me.

:drivin::fsj:

[Tatsadasayago]

Sorry for not posting much lately. I took a few days off and ignored the Cherokee. Today I got busy and several important milestones were reached.

I finished out the right fender, grille and hood to primer.

Of course, after shooting it I immediately saw that my finishing at the tail-light and fender left much to be desired. A few more visits with the glazing should take care of that however.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/primedclip2.jpg

The fender overall came out much better than I thought it would! The character line is straight and there is no visible waves above the fender like before. There is some minor soft wrinkling where the flare dives away from the character line, but I will likely be the only one who would notice it.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/primedclip4.jpg

In the photo above you can see the fender actually nose diving. I tried pushing it up but no dice. I have a 2" body lift kit, so perhaps when I have the front end off the frame I can get creative and raise the front 1/4" with some flat stock etc. The fender doesn't stick out to the pass side like it did before so I am happy with that. Since there isn't any real adjustments to the door and fender to get things lined up better, I'll do some washers and cutting to get everything lined up better.
http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/primedclip1.jpg

I even cheated and left the dent on the passenger side valence extension. I am going to replace this fender right away so I felt that any further struggling on it would be a waste of time.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/primedclip3.jpg

Of course, the infamous louvered hood!

This hood came from the factory on the 'Jerarri' that Bill Harrah had built. The head service writer got it for free after it was discovered that whoever did the louvers screwed up on the outermost driver's side. Somehow the spacing got off and there is one punch out that is 1/4" closer that it should be.
Bill Harrah tossed a fit and discarded the idea.
The senior service writer got it and put it on his J-Truck, then a Wagoneer. It sat around for years till my brother Ray located it and brought it to Sacramento for one of his projects. When he gave up on the project I got the hood! :dancingbanana:

On a frosty morning the airflow will defrost the windshield LONG before the heater is warm enough to do anything. It also keeps the windows from fogging up.

The downside is if there is a leak of any kind under the hood, it will end up on the windshield right away....which is good in a way. The other thing is that when it rains....the hood allows water to hit the top of the air cleaner lid. If the lid is not waterproofed, all the water goes right down the throat of the carb.......
Ask me how I know this?

Anyway. Tomorrow I begin the tailgate and roof prep. I will make a decision tomorrow and order the paint. Looking like the factory dark blue or the metallic teal at this point.

See you soon!

Jim

:drivin::fsj:

[Tatsadasayago]

As I posted in another thread, I finally grew a set and chose a color.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/bluetest1.jpg
http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/bluetest2.jpg

After the paint flashed/dried I started wetsanding the glazing and got rid of most of the blue on the hood.
I then removed the roof rack and cut what was left of the roof paint. The PO's had repainted the rest of the rig but ignored the roof! I can now see that this rig was in the desert for a long time as the paint had that 20 years in Reno look to it.
I sanded then cleaned and de-greased it and will prime and paint tomorrow. (Today now)

This leaves the tailgate and left tail light surround to finish out to primer. I'll fill the seam so it matches the other side.

Getting close to paint is making me impatient wanting to see the cool new colors. Knowing that I'll have many coats of color then wet sanding still doesn't keep me from being excited about the project.
I think this is where people screw up and overlook problem areas only to regret them later. Patience is a virgin as they say..........

Till next time!

:drivin::fsj:

[NITRO1977]

Looking good. I wish I had your patience with bodywork................., and your hood:D

[Tatsadasayago]

Looking good. I wish I had your patience with bodywork................., and your hood:D
Thank you very much!
Encouragement is sometimes needed!

:drivin::fsj:

[Hubjeep]

Amazing work, this is a very motivating thread and something I will fully read before starting body work on my Waggy! :)

[Tatsadasayago]

Hello again!
As I said last night, I was planning on getting the roof into primer and painted by tonight.....
Change of plans.
I primed the roof and while it dried I got to thinking about the tail gate situation.
The GagOneer is still complete minus the carb and adapter and I have been struggling with the thought of parting it out. The Gag won!
So, instead of pillaging the Gag for it's tailgate I decided to lean into it and fix this one.
http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/gatedamage.jpg
http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/gatedamage2.jpg

Besides being hideous the main reason I wasn't going to try to fix this one was because the whole panel area around the torn metal was flimsy as paper. This metal flex would make it impossible for me to get a flat finish.
SO, I decided the best move would be to brace the weak area somehow....
Enter RedNeck Garage 101!
First things first. I pulled the window regulator, motor and wiring out so I could get to the damaged area from the inside.
http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/gate1.jpg

You can see the bolts and wanna-be re-enforcement plate some PO had installed. The 3/8" bolt was the lower latch point for the tire/gascan carrier. I think someone either drove into the carrier or the PO backed into something and this is what caused the damage.
Since I was going to weld some sort of backing plate, I needed to clean the undercoat off the area I would be working in.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/gate2.jpg

The heat gun and a putty knife made short work of the tar.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/gate3.jpg

A few moments with the DA using 120 grit and I had a nice clean surface!

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/gate4.jpg

I had some leftover frame brackets and thought they would be perfect for this job.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/gate5.jpg

Don't laugh too much at my welding!! I had the MIG welder turned all the way down on heat and wire feed so I wouldn't blow holes through the sheetmetal. Those are some seriously UGLY welds, but they will hold.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/gate6.jpg

As you can see above, the welds tried to penetrate the sheetmetal. I didn't blow any holes, but got the metal hot enough to thaw and start puddling. Since the area I chose to place the plates was going to be a low spot I merely had to do some slapping and shrinking to get the welds below 'grade'.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/gate7.jpg

This is a door panel spoon and it's ideal for moving thin metal in or out. I placed my comma dolly on the backside of the metal where the spoon is resting in the photo above. To the left you can see the filing marks that revealed the high area created by my welding. You can see three hot spots just to the left of the filed area where I stitched from the other side. I started slapping gently till I heard the spoon hitting the dolly with a noticeable 'Ting Ting' sound then moved the spoon and dolly together as I slapped the high area down, which raised the low area. The trick is to work the line between a high and low spot and slap the high side into the depression. It's easier to see how this works with video.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/gate8.jpg

Here I was able to slap the high area down while raising the low spot. As you can see above, the flat file reveals two high spots remaining between my finger and the shrinking hammer. You can see the straight lines the airboard made, which I use to 'erase' my previous filing or sanding marks.
Below and right of my finger you can see a weld puddle that's half sanded away.
Since the transition from blue to bare metal is so sudden one can immediately see that there is a low spot that will need to be raised before we are done. That will come later. Today's goal was to repair the damage....

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/gate10.jpg

I got busy pounding the torn metal back into it's original shape, then carefully welded the cracks together. After that was done I plug-welded all the holes shut and ground all welds down to flush.
In the photo above you can see that the entire panel area from the middle of the trim plate is still a large low area. I've reduced the depth of this depression by a good 7/16".
Tomorrow I'll see if I can slap this area up so that there is no gap under the trim cover. What I can't straighten will be leveled using filler.
Something interesting I discovered today. There were several decals on the tailgate and without exception all created low spots in the metal. I cannot explain why this happens, but the proof is in the photos.
If any experienced P & B folks are reading this and know, I would love to hear about it.
In the photo below you can see that this tailgate is far from straight. I would expect that most are dinged and wavy from 30-40 years of use.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/gate0.jpg

I'm planning on spending all day on the tailgate and hope to have it in primer by dark.

See you tomorrow!

:drivin::fsj:

[Tatsadasayago]

ARRRGGGHHHHHH!!!!

Seems whenever I post about my plans I jinx myself.

I got up the day after manhandling the tailgate around and discovered that my back couldn't keep up with my brain.
Several days of muscle-relaxers and seat time solved a majority of the problems. I got out there this morning and got busy for a change.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/gate11.jpg

Here you can see that I did as I said I would.........filler.
I didn't need to use much and it was alot less hard on my back than slapping metal for hours on end.
Do you see that patch of bare metal coming away from the window switch at 9:00? I felt a transition between that bare patch and the filler but dis-regarded it as nothing more than the transition from smooth metal to filler. I was soooo wrong.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/gate12.jpg

Here is another view from the driver's side. You can see where the filler and metal line is just about centered in the shot. Another BIG RED FLAG I ignored. :banghead:

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/gate13.jpg

Here you can see that the bare metal patch is quite visible where the wet primer reflects the shop light. The lo/hi/lo causes a Z pattern.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/gate14.jpg

Here I placed arrows to call out the "Oopsies" in my prep.

If the primer ever dries in this rainy spell I'll have to shrink and float these problem areas like I should have the first time.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/gate15.jpg

Here you can see the waves/ripples in the reflection of the ladder I use for a sawhorse. If this isn't taken care of it will show up in the final product and ruin all the work I've done.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/gate16.jpg

With the exceptions of the mistakes I pointed out, the rest of the tailgate came out exceptionally well. All the lines but one were straightened and all the hi/los dealt with properly.

This is a textbook example of being in a hurry to finish the project.
The sad part of this is that it's raining and blowing up to 60MPH gusts outside so I couldn't paint if I chose to. It looks like this series of storms will be around all through next week.....and I knew this.
I cannot explain why I got in a rush when I have plenty of time to do this job right.
I am on a budget and have limited tools/supplies, but one thing I have plenty of is TIME. I have at least two weeks minimum before I can even consider shooting color so there is no reason to cut corners at this stage of the game.

I'll beat myself up for being a maroon and get my head right to finish this project according to my plan of this rig being a '5-footer' quality finish.

See you at the next installment!

:drivin::fsj:

[Tatsadasayago]

Another thing I am going to try is using a 'Light Board'

I see these being used by the paintless dent repair people and figure it will be handy for seeing the ripples and waves that my palms and instincts tell me are there.

In essence, a lightboard provides a straight line of light that's reflected by the paint that shows the damage. The photo below shows a before and after shot of a dual element florescent lightboard reflected off the paint. Some have many thin lines and use either natural light or bulbs behind them.

I think a small single or dual element shoplight will do wonders for finding those hard-for-these-old-eyes-to-see things that have been getting past me before the first coat of primer.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/lightboard.jpg

:drivin::fsj:

[Justin Kerns]

Very impressive! Body work is truly an art form and I always enjoy watching someone who clearly knows what they're doing with it.

[Tatsadasayago]

Very impressive! Body work is truly an art form and I always enjoy watching someone who clearly knows what they're doing with it.
Thanks Justin!
To be honest I have no idea what I'm doing. I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express once though.

:drivin::fsj:

[Tatsadasayago]

Just for giggles, I'll add a link to a video I shot after priming the tailgate.....
11mb and best opened with Internet Exloder or right click and save as...

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/tailgate.avi

You can clearly see the bobbles in the video.......

:drivin::fsj:

[Tatsadasayago]

Welcome back!
Since I last posted I spent quite a bit of time on the rear gate.

After three days of shrinking, slapping and cussing I got the metal as straight as possible and laid a fine layer of filler over everything.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/gate17.jpg

I hung the tailgate and started final prep for primer.

The red stuff is acrylic body glaze which is used to fill in minor imperfections, pinholes and scratches.
It was after adjusting the gate that I got a nasty surprise.....


http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/gate18.jpg

I was stunned to see the gate didn't match up the the quarter/taillight surround. That is well over 1/2" difference!!!

I immediately thought that the 89 surround was a different shape, but then remembered that I had not changed the shape of the quarter panel at all during the graft......

A quick review of the before photos showed the gap there.....

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/gate21.jpg

The question is: How the heck did I miss that????

Since there is no evidence of quarter, floor or frame damage I have to assume that this is either sloppy factory fit/finish OR this gate came from another year SJ with the same original color.
I raised the gate so that the swell by the taillight aligned with the swell on the gate. I am too far along to mess with this and will have to just deal with it.....sorta like the crooked flare repair.

:drivin::fsj:

[Tatsadasayago]

Yesterday I dragged everything out of the garage, swept and washed the floors down very thoroughly.

I drove the Jeep outside and gave it a good scrubdown with hot soapy water. I moved it back inside and quit for the day to allow everything to dry out.

This morning I ate a big breakfast and headed out to wet sand the driver's side from the roof to the rockers.

By 3:00 PM I was done wet sanding up to 400 grit. I rolled the jeep back outside and gave it another solid scrubdown.

I decided that the roof was ready for a color coat. Out came the heaters and tarps. I created a 'tent' of sorts with the tarps and by 4:30 the temp in the garage was 65F.....best I was going to get without a REAL heater.

I mixed up a half quart of color coat and shot the roof.
The color coat covers so much better than the primer so after a nice wet coat of color I still had a pint of paint left in the hopper. I did a quick degreaser run over the tailgate and taillight surrounds and shot the remaining paint in the gun.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/gate19.jpg

I had enough extra paint left over that I shot the area behind the quarter window to see how it would look all blue.
DEFINITELY needs to be blacked out to hide the Wagoneer C pillar lines!
I had so much paint left over I shot the whole gate twice!

This color of blue is frigging B L U E .
It's such an odd combination of pigments and a fine silver and mica flake that my high dollar Fuji camera couldn't process the areas where the flash reflected. You can see that my camera chose to interpret the bright reflections as some sort of turquoise.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/gate20.jpg

In the photo above you can see the blue better. Over by the right side taillight the camera freaked again.

I went to the store later on and when I was outside I noticed a large drip on the top of my boot. It looked very silver-ish under an overcast sky.
This paint color is called "The Electric Blues" and I think it's going to be pretty FARKINGRÜÜVEN outside under good sunlight.

Since I hadn't planned on shooting the tailgate today, I'll need to go back and fix a few oopsies I missed during prep.

I plan on wet sanding the roof a bit then hitting it with a good clear coat on Tuesday.

Thanks for hanging with me during this adventure!!

:drivin::fsj:

[CJ the noisemaker]

Mmmm... tasty blue. I like how far this project is going!

[Rainman]

Very nice work!:thumbsup:

[Tatsadasayago]

Very nice work!:thumbsup:

Thanks Rainman!

Seems we have quite a few FSJ'rs in and around Sactown. Will have get us all togther sometime!

:drivin::fsj:

[CJ the noisemaker]

Thanks Rainman!

Seems we have quite a few FSJ'rs in and around Sactown. Will have get us all togther sometime!

:drivin::fsj:You should have that invite to Pyramid Lake, invite all of the IFSJA members in the area, should be a big turnout!:D

[Tatsadasayago]

You should have that invite to Pyramid Lake, invite all of the IFSJA members in the area, should be a big turnout!:D

That's what I was thinking!!!

I think an IFSJA West group photo of us and our rides with the lake behind in the distance would ROCK!

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/pyramidfromrockpile.jpg

:drivin::fsj:

[CJ the noisemaker]

That's what I was thinking!!!

I think an IFSJA West group photo of us and our rides with the lake behind in the distance would ROCK!

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/pyramidfromrockpile.jpg

:drivin::fsj:Got it planed out, huh?

[letank]

VERY impressive work, I wonder how I miss this post neighbour! You have patience with the tailgate..... In my case, I replace because my doors/tailgate were so rusty that the skin started to separate. Will post later, as I need to shoot a few more picts for the latch conversion details to fit the older latch. 2 weeks ago there was a nice white wagoneer (C4C) at the Antelope Pnp, I have the 2 rear doors.

Pyramid lake invite.....?

[Tatsadasayago]

VERY impressive work, I wonder how I miss this post neighbour! You have patience with the tailgate..... In my case, I replace because my doors/tailgate were so rusty that the skin started to separate. Will post later, as I need to shoot a few more picts for the latch conversion details to fit the older latch. 2 weeks ago there was a nice white wagoneer (C4C) at the Antelope Pnp, I have the 2 rear doors.

Pyramid lake invite.....?
Ahh Howdy Neighbor!
I know the Waggy you got the doors from! I snapped up the rear gate bezel from that one. The maroon one about 8 rows back had alot of goodies left on it as well. I grabbed the mirrors from that one.

Yes, I think a Cali/Nevada FSJ meet is in order sometime in the future. When the Blair II is drivable, I'd like to take it up to Sly Park for a snow run before things melt. At the rate I'm going, it will be summer before I roll it out of the garage hahahaha!

Thanks for stopping by!

:drivin::fsj:

[Tatsadasayago]

Today I got out early and checked the color coat I shot yesterday. It was cured so I decided to wetsand the tailgate.

For demonstration purposes I chose the passenger side taillight surround since it wasn't prepped correctly before I shot the color coat and knew there would be some UGLYNESS hiding under that new paint. I was right....

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/gate22.jpg

Here you see I have a sheet of worn-out 3M 400 grit wet/dry sandpaper. I use the new sheets on the primer coat and save them for color coat touch-up. The main reasons are that used 400 has enough grit left over to 'cut' the paint surface and do minor fixes and has the added bonus of not burning through the color coat as quickly as new paper would. 220 grit is too rough and the next size up in commonly available wet/dry is 600 grit....so used 400 acts alot like 450-500 grit which is what I like for fixing orange peel and sags or runs.

So, with my paper in hand I grab my squirt bottle (Murphy's Oil Soap works great) full of warm water (With a dab of dish soap added for lube) and spray the area I am working on.
As I sand, I can hear the paper cutting the film and when it's through, the dry 'hissing' goes away and I can feel the reduction in friction when I am swirling the paper. I keep the squirt bottle in my other hand and will flood the working area with fresh water to remove the 'mud' which allows me to see what's going on.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/gate23.jpg

Here I've worked the area over for about 3 minutes and cut through the top layer of film and gotten into the 'meat' of the color coat. You can see the color change at the red arrow pointing to the right. Below the point is fresh paint and above it is 'cut' color. As I suspected, I had some nasties hiding under the color and as I sanded more of the warts began to appear. I knew I would have to remove almost ALL of the paint I shot on the tailgate because I hadn't finished prepping the body, wet-sand the primer and forgot to apply a sealer. This gave me a good opportunity to show you the wetsanding process.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/gate24.jpg

In the photo above you can really see the uglies where the red arrows are pointing. This is a result of laziness and bad eyes since both are glazing lines I hadn't sanded down properly. The flat area that the yellow arrow points to gives a great example of the value of color sanding a vehicle. Most of the flat is smooth except for three small dimples below the arrowhead. Those are called 'Bondo Pits' or 'Pinholes'. This is caused by either using too much hardener in the filler or by improperly mixing the filler.
If you 'whip' the filler, air bubbles will form and unless you fold it and press down with the spreader....you get these irritating pinholes when the bubbles pop.
If too much hardener is used, the polyester gets too hot during it's curing process and gas bubbles form. Another cause is using a too thick layer of filler. This is the main reason I chose to learn how to mend panels so I could avoid the thick bondo layers, which prevents the pinholes.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/gate25.jpg

Here I've cut the color coat about 1 to 2 mils thickness and that ugly depression in the curve is going away. I've also taken down the color to remove the orangepeel texture like that below my finger. The silvery areas are the highs and the darker blue are the lows.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/gate26.jpg

Now I'm starting to get somewhere. The paper is cutting the color coat down and slowly the orangepeel is going away. This is the danger area since the color coat is thin which means I could burn through the coat if I am not careful.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/gate27.jpg

Sure enough....I burned through the color trying to get the last of that ugly curved line out. The yellow arrows show the primer coat underneath that I've exposed by sanding too much.
The red arrows point out the nasties I uncovered during the color sanding that I didn't know where there!

You may wonder why I have such a textured color coat....
There are several reasons for this.
1) Low temperature in the garage when I shot the color.
2) The thinner used was medium-fast which evaporates rather quickly.
3) Not enough air pressure at the cup of the HVLP gun.
4) Excited to see how the color would look and got in a hurry.

At low temps with the conditions and materials I was using the paint droplets strike the surface and begin to cure immediately. The impact of the droplet against the surface, combined with the evaporation rate will determine how far the droplet will 'flow out' till it's flat. In this case, Low pressure at the gun, fast thinner and cold temps were the recipe for orangepeel. The only other things I could have done to make matters worse would be water in the air line, high humidity and dust/dirt particles in the air.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/gate28.jpg

Here is the upper left part of the tailgate. I color sanded it to show a barely detectable paint feather-edge line that I didn't take care of.
Right below it is a repair area where I had to raise a dent right on the shoulder of the body line. I was so focused on making the repair invisible that I overlooked the vertical area where my sanding uncovered the steel below the OEM paint.
Normally I see or feel these, sand them out to a feather-edge, then shoot the area with primer, then a sealer.
I just plain missed this line. If something like this is overlooked during prep and not caught at the color-sanding stage it will definitely show up in the finished product and make the bodyman and painter look like an idiot. In this case, I am both, so I stripped most of the color coat off the gate, primed, wet-sanded then shot a repair coat of sealer.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/gate29.jpg

In this last photo you can see where I had to apply dabs of glazing to fill pinholes and imperfections. Since I am trying for the best quality finish possible under the circumstances, I halted my progress for the day to fix these issues.

You can see I had to re-glaze the seam on the driver's side taillight surround because I found areas where I hadn't levelled the glazing across the weld.....which would have shown up easily. Tomorrow, when the glaze if fully cured, I wetsand these areas with my rubber sanding block to assure a flat surface, then prime, wetsand and seal for a REAL coat of color.

Since it's raining and the humidity is above 50%, there will be no shooting of anything....including primer till the level drops.

I'll colorsand the roof and as soon as conditions are favorable, I'll clear coat it and be done with the top. I need to get off my butt and order the roof rack seal kit from BJ's as well as the rear gate seals, wipes and rails.

In case you were wondering about the rear gate switch.....
I left it on as a mask since I have a new one on hand. When I install it, I don't want it to press down on the paint and I'll be using a new gasket to keep things sealed up.

See you later!

:drivin::fsj:

[Gutter]

Looking good! :cool:

[dusty]

from the earlier pictures i was thinking two or three shades lighter than Ray's Dodge now i am seeing Ocean blue with a bunch of ground up aluminium cans. I like it get some flat black on there and the color will darken up a touch:thumbsup: I found a rear cargo compartment rubber floor liner for the back remind me and ill bring it with me

[vintagetrks]

I gotta say you do AWESOME WORK. I'm really learning alot from this thread. Thank You for taking the additional time to show us the details of the different processes you are using. You would'nt happen to be putting this on youtube would you?

[Badawg]

Wow! Awesome job!. my waggy came from the valley too. it got earl shiebed without proper prep, so i will have to deal with that later...

[Rompn]

Subscribing...:thumbsup:

[Rainman]

Will have get us all togther sometime!

:drivin::fsj:

for sure!

[Tatsadasayago]

Welcome back to another episode of the Blair Jeep Project 3.

Yesterday I did some house-keeping since it was too cold to paint at all. I've been shooting primer in small sections and didn't need a whole lot of spray booth cleanliness and air filtration. Now that I am getting close to shooting color on the important parts I figured it was time to build my spray booth.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/painting1.jpg

I had 100' x 4' of sailcloth grade canvas so I strung it up vertically along the garage door and on the opposite end of the shop. That two purposes of the cloth were to keep the shop warm and to seal the place off to keep dust and dirt levels down.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/painting3.jpg

This is the other end of the shop. The problem I had here was that the dogs needed to come and go from the laundry room where their beds are, to the outside. The exit to the back yard is directly behind the jeep in this photo.
What I did was crate two separate 'walls' of canvas. This one behind the jeep, and another at a 45 degree angle which closes off the rear door from the garage.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/painting4.jpg

Here I am standing between both walls looking up to the trusses. There are actually 3 walls between the jeep and the back door. I put up plastic sheeting along the ceiling to block and airflow in, as well as keeping paint fumes from getting out....and into the house. I love the smell of Lacquer, but my roomie and his little boy don't, so it was a good idea.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/painting5.jpg

This little critter is a VERY important addition to the shop. It's a Mr. Heater tank-top heating unit that's rated from 5000 to 20,000 BTU's. I picked this up at Orchard Supply (Sear's owned) for 55.00 I use an open element elctric heater under the jeep to keep the body fairly warm and an oil-filled electric alongside to keep the body panels warm. Before I do any spraying, I'll fire up the Mr. Heater and raise the temperature above 70F for a good shooting temp.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/painting6.jpg

My purple Sata gun is having issues, so I purchased this tank HVLP gun for the color shots and use the smaller Sata with the 1.4 cup for the clear. This one is from harbor Freight and cost 119.00. The color coat will be it's maiden voyage and it will make or break that stage. I am gambling on this gun since it will be three weeks before the parts for my main gun will be available.
The ladder thing the gun is sitting on is one of those multi-function units from Sears. It's PERFECT for working on the roof! I cut a piece of 5/16" plywood for a floor and it works fantastic! When not using it up top, it makes a nice high workbench of sorts.

Before I quit for the night I placed an HVAC filter down low by the temporary entry I made, and created a plenum type duct for airflow which runs along the baseboard into the spray booth. The air is then drawn upward to another plenum above the Jeep and sent to the attic turbine exhaust vent where I rigged up a cage fan to push air out.

This will help keep dust and overspray from falling on my frsh paint. It's Hokey, but it should work well enough.

Tomorrow is the big day as I plan on finishing my prep and start shooting color for serious this time.

:drivin::fsj:

[Tatsadasayago]

After dinking with the tailgate and taillight surrounds, then doing some housekeeping yesterday, I was ready to get busy today.

The weatherguesser said something about it being almost in the 50s today so I wanted to take advantage of this and get color shot on the tailgate and driver's side before shutting down for the day.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/painting2.jpg

While I was building the paintbooth setup, I was trying to get all the nagging problems sorted on the rear end of the Jeep.

This is how I found the back end this morning.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/painting7.jpg

Looks great huh?

I was all jazzed up that I'd finally massaged all the wrinkles and bumps out and got busy wetsanding the primer for a color coat.

I started on the gate itself with a fresh rubber sanding block loaded with 400 wet dry.
Then......I saw this:

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/painting8.jpg

The arrow are pointing to two areas that are high. I felt them long before I saw em, my eyes not being too good these days. I was caught off guard since I sure as heck didn't feel these two bumps the night before when I was blocking out for a primer coat. I pressed my finger on these bumps and they were squishy......
I immediately went to the driver's taillight surround and found the same thing.
Before long I realized that ALL the areas I'd worked on yesterday were like this. I dragged my fingernail across a few repair areas and several layers of paint came off in a gooey wad....

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/painting9.jpg

The large circle with bare metal in the photo above was a real shock.
I pressed my thumb against that area and dragged the silver-dollar sized skin right off the base metal like a blister.

I then grabbed a fresh bondo spreader and dragged all the goop off the body seam I'd filled in. Same thing.....off came all over yesterday's work.

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/painting10.jpg

Same thing happened on the tailgate itself.....right where I had been working yesterday.

Slowly, as I worked to remove all the goop I began to recognize some of the work I'd done last week. In the photo above you can see some of the red glazing in several areas. This was work I'd done before putting the tailgate back on. I checked teh passenger side surround and only found the goopy stuff way down low on the quarter extension and valence. The only areas I'd worked on in this area for over a week.

Obviously something had changed since last week and I pondered this while I cleaned up the mess and prepped for another sealer coat.

Then it dawned on me. I had bought a fresh tube of glazing since the one I was using had developed a leak and was oozing the red stuff into my hand. I compared it to the new tube and they were identical. Great Googley MoogleyGreat Googley MoogleyGreat Googley Moogley?

I hopped into the Bronco and buzzed over to my local NAPA where I buy my paint supplies and cornered the paint guy.
After explaining what I'd experienced he took the tube of glazing and applied a small bit to cured urethane, enamel and lacquer paint and primer samples/ Within a minute or two ALL of the samples began to soften and lift. He agreed that something was weird and yes, it was acting like it had an incredible amount of some sort of solvent in it that was eating the paint.

He grabbed another fresh tube with a different lot number and repeated the test. This time nothing happened to the paints. The glaze cured and that was that.......

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/painting11.jpg

I returned home and finished prepping the gate and surrounds with GOOD glazing and was ready for primer in no time.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/painting12.jpg

While the primer dried on the back end I focused on the final pre-paint prep and cleaning on the left side of the Jeep.

I decided to remove the hood and paint it solo.

5 hours later I had the perfect conditions for shooting a good color coat.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/painting13.jpg

She be BAHLOOOOOH!!!

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/painting14.jpg
http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/painting15.jpg
http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/painting16.jpg


Overall I am VERY happy with the new tank gun, the effectiveness of the home-made booth and the body prep underneath the driver's side of the old Blair 3.

Tomorrow I'll colorsand for two coats then possibly shoot the other side.

She's getting there!


:drivin::fsj:

[asphaltrockdweller]

That is going to be so pretty!

Can't wait to see the rest of it.

Thanks.

[tgreening]

I can barely comprehend the level of patience you must possess in order to do work of this caliber. My hat is off to you.

[vintagetrks]

You do such awesome work. I dig that shade of blue. It will look really good with the panels on the side windows blacked out. Are you planning to black out the side window panels?

[Tatsadasayago]

I can barely comprehend the level of patience you must possess in order to do work of this caliber. My hat is off to you.
I appreciate the kind comments.
This one has been a real test of my patience I will freely admit.

This is the first rig I've done everything myself.
I've either gotten them to primer and someone else shot them, or I shot a prepped vehicle.

There is a reason why I have been sharing this project with the IFSJA group.
I usually don't care that my Jeeps are 'Experienced' on the outside as long as they have it underneath where it counts.
I wanted this one to be a nice straight rig that was every bit as pretty as it is functional. Knowing that others are following along and will expect a stellar finished product actually keep me from cutting corners or putting up with less than the best.
So many times I've been tempted to slap bondo on a problem and move on. So many times I've discovered a flaw and had to argue with myself before going back and fixing the issue.
So in a way, i am always thinking about you guys who might end up checking my Jeep out in person some day and I want it to be as perfect as possible before that happens.

My step-dad has said he would not be able to finish this project unless everything was PERFECT. I am trying to hold myself to that standard and will surely be glad I did when this is all done.

THANKS GUYS!

:drivin::fsj:
Sounds like a good deal to me!

[tgreening]

I've got question about your gear. I was looking to buy a paint sprayer and had considered the paint pot like you bought but my local supplier talked me out of it. They said that unless you were shooting a LOT of paint, as in a production type environment, it was too wasteful. They said you end up wasting all the paint in the line from the pot to the gun. Have you found this to be the case or no? I'm curious because I already have the pot, a commercial grade unit, and had planned on just adding the gun to it but they talked me out of it.

[Tatsadasayago]

You do such awesome work. I dig that shade of blue. It will look really good with the panels on the side windows blacked out. Are you planning to black out the side window panels?

Oh heck yes!
From the A-pillar all the way back will be flat black.

The hood, mid stripe and rocker stripe are still un-decided.

I love the flat black, but I think it needs to be in the window area. This area will extend down to the factory blackout line on the shoulder and run back to the rear and cross on top of the tailgate. The C-pillar area by the rear glass will also be flat black which will set off the tinted rear window.

The lower stripe will be semi-gloss as it will be a vinyl decal from BJs. That leaves the mid stripe and the flare blackouts if I stay with the stock lines for 77.

The mid-stripe will only go on if the blue is overpowering.
This color is very similar to the anodized aluminum blue....and too much of that is not a good thing.

This is why I am painting the entire body blue as a base, so I can change my mind at any point without having to re-shoot any more blue.

Thanks for chiming in!

:drivin::fsj:

[Tatsadasayago]

I've got question about your gear. I was looking to buy a paint sprayer and had considered the paint pot like you bought but my local supplier talked me out of it. They said that unless you were shooting a LOT of paint, as in a production type environment, it was too wasteful. They said you end up wasting all the paint in the line from the pot to the gun. Have you found this to be the case or no? I'm curious because I already have the pot, a commercial grade unit, and had planned on just adding the gun to it but they talked me out of it. Your local supplier has a very valid point. There is a gap of about 1/4 inch between the feed tube and the bottom of the pot. He is also spot on about the paint in the line.

I chose this style setup for the basecoat stage at first.
Now that my Clear gun is down, I had to use something else.
When I clear a vehicle in Lacquer, i shoot a new coat every 15 minutes plus or minus evap/flash rate and so on.
This gun will get a full pot of the clear and will likely get emptied at least once before I am done shooting.
I want to have each coat exactly the same mix every time if possible, so this pot should give me 4 trips around the jeep before I have to re-mix and fill. If I lose 2-4 ounces of clear, not a big deal considering there will be over 2 gallons of clear going on this Jeep if nibs, runs and sags aren't a factor.

Should I have to stop for some reason, the pot life will be much longer than a hopper style HVLP gun because the pot is under pressure and sealed.

Had I not lost the caps for my Sata gun, I would probably have used it and dealt with a LARGE mix of paint in the bucket. There is a huge difference in the control and shot quality between this gun and the Sata.....that's for SURE!

In the end it's what you are doing and whether you want a bigger pot with a light gun, or a standard gun with the weight out there. I did find that my dexterity increased with the remote gun. I shot the hard to get places much easier than usual and only had one oops on the whole shot. The flares and rockers went easily with a roll of the forearm and slight wrist flick instead of me having to move around like a ballet dancing monkey.

Hope this makes sense to you.


:drivin::fsj:

[CJ the noisemaker]

Such wonderful work is being done. But are you willing to wheel it if it's that pretty? :D

[Tatsadasayago]

Such wonderful work is being done. But are you willing to wheel it if it's that pretty? :D

Well you have me there.

I am reminded of 'Kelly's Heroes', when Donald Sutherland, pretending to be a general, asks the commander:

"Pretty.....very pretty, but can they FIGHT?"

Yep, I plan on taking this old girl places that mere mortals fear to tread lightly.....THE ROCKPILE and Sand Mountain!

Nice thing about Lacquer, you can spot or panel repair fairly easy as there is no real re-paint window to speak of.

:drivin::fsj:

[CJ the noisemaker]

Nice stuff, keep it up.

[tgreening]

Hope this makes sense to you.
:drivin::fsj:



Perfect sense but....could you go over that just one more time? :)

J/K.

Actually I think some of the details you've provided have convinced me to go ahead and get it functional. I don't really imagine using it on my Jeeps, baby or otherwise, but my Mog on the other hand. Well that I think might require a large enough volume of paint to warrant dealing with whatever loss there might be. My intent (right now) is to shoot the whole thing in satin black and I'm a little concerned about mixing while in the process and ending up with different shades.. It's a radio box model (think run of the mill box truck) so there's a fair amount of real estate to cover. I'm thinking the pot will ensure I can have enough on hand to get all done in one shot with only having to do one mix.

[Tatsadasayago]

Welcome back!
Thanks for the encouraging comments guys....it's helps keep me motivated on days like today.

I shot the first color coat yesterday afternoon and today I color sanded the drivers side. Some areas were almost flawless, like the shoulder and fender flares......others not so good. Lot's of scratches, pinholes and bumps I didn't feel of catch with my eyes till today.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/painting17.jpg

Here is where I stopped around 2PM. This side is ready for another color coat, but I will hold off on doing that till I get the passenger side to this point.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/painting18.jpg

In this shot you can see one edge mapping oversight on the fender just above the center of the flare. I wet sanded down to the primer coat which flattened the area out. Another spot is down below the door, just above the rocker panel. Somehow I completely missed a pair of paint chip spots. You can see where I shot sealer in places that required I use body glazing to fix a scratch or edge map.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/painting19.jpg

And the passenger side is finally shot with a color coat.
What I was most dreading was the fender just above the flare. Just above the reflected light is the area I had the most trouble with a few weeks ago. Those ripples refused to co-operate and I was truly surprised that this area appeared to be straight. If you follow the character line along to the far right of the photo you can see a couple of dark patches right above the black shadow. This is the area where the fender was really beat up and I guess it's not as straight as I thought.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/painting20.jpg

In this photo you can clearly see the character line getting a bit wavy as well as a dimple where the shadow comes off the flare. I remember throwing my hands up in the air and deciding this fender was not worth beating on any further, and that I would find a better one soon. I regret giving up now. Overall, this one came out much better than I thought it would considering I only used about a golf ball sized amount of filler.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/painting21.jpg


This quarter and door are fairly well done. I have a couple of edge maps and scratches to deal with tomorrow.

The plan is to color sand this side during the day and hopefully shoot the whole rig with the second coat by late afternoon.
If I don't run into any snags or major screwups, I'll plan on probably one more full color sand Saturday and possibly start clear coating Sunday if this warmer weather holds.

You might notice the difference in the blue in today's photos.
I didn't use the flash, and the shop lights don't shine over this way too well, so I got less of that purplish/turquoise effect with the camera.
This is more like the blue I wanted,

If things go according to plan and this color sanding doesn't kill me, I may be able to start putting things back together in a week or so. That would be nice!

Thanks for hanging with me and I'll see you next time!

:drivin::fsj:

[Tatsadasayago]

Perfect sense but....could you go over that just one more time? :)

J/K.

Actually I think some of the details you've provided have convinced me to go ahead and get it functional. I don't really imagine using it on my Jeeps, baby or otherwise, but my Mog on the other hand. Well that I think might require a large enough volume of paint to warrant dealing with whatever loss there might be. My intent (right now) is to shoot the whole thing in satin black and I'm a little concerned about mixing while in the process and ending up with different shades.. It's a radio box model (think run of the mill box truck) so there's a fair amount of real estate to cover. I'm thinking the pot will ensure I can have enough on hand to get all done in one shot with only having to do one mix.

If it were me, I'd definitely go with the commercial setup!
It's one thing to stop shooting to move a ladder etc. and quite another to mix another batch. I am not a fan of having to mix a large quantity of color and have it sitting on the bench. If your pot is close to the size mine is, you can shoot the whole Moggie with two pots at the most.
I would say that if your base coat is dark, that you could run the whole side, then pour the second pot and roll the other side.

The alternative is having to mix more than you might likely use.....and that waste will probably greatly exceed the few ounces the pot and hose will murder.

By the way....

I've successfully stored mixed lacquer in a sealed container for several days. The trick is to fill the container completely then seal it. Urethanes and enamels are so forgiving when it comes to pot life.

Hope this helps you!

:drivin::fsj:

[vintagetrks]

Maybe my eyes are going but I just don't see the imperfections your talking about. You rig is looking fantastic.
I'm VERY IMPRESSED at what you have been able to accomplish. Without having a professional booth and such facilities has to present an enourmous challenge.
You're doing awesome work. It is looking OUTSTANDING and I can't wait until you do the black outs on the windows. Thats gonna look very cool. :thumbsup:

[Tatsadasayago]

Maybe my eyes are going but I just don't see the imperfections your talking about. You rig is looking fantastic.
I'm VERY IMPRESSED at what you have been able to accomplish. Without having a professional booth and such facilities has to present an enourmous challenge.
You're doing awesome work. It is looking OUTSTANDING and I can't wait until you do the black outs on the windows. Thats gonna look very cool. :thumbsup:
Your eyes are probably fine VT.
The camera doesn't have the 3D ability that our eyes do. As I said previously, I am aiming for a '5-footer' Jeep.....meaning from 5 feet away, no average person will be able to see the imperfections. I am hoping that the old girl will be photogenic like the red Chief in BJ's catalog.

There is a bit of a challenge doing this at home for sure. I guess what motivated me was remembering an old German body and paint guy I worked for right after getting out of the Army. He took a fender from a 41 Chevy pickup into his little metal Sears tool shed and slapped the fender straight then primed it. The truck was a gorgeous Garnet Red metallic and he shot that fender, wet sanded and cleared it in about 2 hours. He had very little room to move around in that tiny shed, but the finished fender was PERFECT!

I figure if he could do it, so could I.

In all honesty, if this project comes out looking better than an Earl Sheib or Maaco scuff and paint job I'll tolerate it. If not, I'll go back and do it over again!

Thanks for your kind words of support bro!

:drivin::fsj:

[shimniok]

Man, this is just incredible work!! Thanks for posting all this stuff. Some day I hope I can come back to this when I finally tackle the dented, fugly, rust-eaten truck my rig has turned into over the years.

[vintagetrks]

Your eyes are probably fine VT.
The camera doesn't have the 3D ability that our eyes do. As I said previously, I am aiming for a '5-footer' Jeep.....meaning from 5 feet away, no average person will be able to see the imperfections. I am hoping that the old girl will be photogenic like the red Chief in BJ's catalog.

There is a bit of a challenge doing this at home for sure. I guess what motivated me was remembering an old German body and paint guy I worked for right after getting out of the Army. He took a fender from a 41 Chevy pickup into his little metal Sears tool shed and slapped the fender straight then primed it. The truck was a gorgeous Garnet Red metallic and he shot that fender, wet sanded and cleared it in about 2 hours. He had very little room to move around in that tiny shed, but the finished fender was PERFECT!

:drivin::fsj:

I've also enjoyed watching talented fellows slapping metal around. I really enjoy watching Jessie James with his old school techniques and industrial tools. I also really enjoyed that video on youtube you posted up of that fellow from New Zealand. He was very intresting to watch and explained the process in a very easy to understand way. What you guys do with a dinged and dented piece of metal is art.
I am really enjoying your thread and I hope your enjoying beating you Cherokee into submission LOL. Your attention to detail is Outstanding.
Will that shade of blue darken a bit when you clear coat it? I'm thinking the clear coat will make it a deeper blue which will make a very nice contrast with the blacked out windows. I think thats what give a Cherokee it's Destinct look. Thats why I Love the Cherokees they really stand out.

[Tatsadasayago]

I've also enjoyed watching talented fellows slapping metal around. I really enjoy watching Jessie James with his old school techniques and industrial tools. I also really enjoyed that video on youtube you posted up of that fellow from New Zealand. He was very intresting to watch and explained the process in a very easy to understand way. What you guys do with a dinged and dented piece of metal is art.
I am really enjoying your thread and I hope your enjoying beating you Cherokee into submission LOL. Your attention to detail is Outstanding.
Will that shade of blue darken a bit when you clear coat it? I'm thinking the clear coat will make it a deeper blue which will make a very nice contrast with the blacked out windows. I think thats what give a Cherokee it's Destinct look. Thats why I Love the Cherokees they really stand out.

Thanks VT!
Mending panels is really quite fun for the most part. It's not knowing what tools and methods are right for a specific situation is what separates the pro's from morons like me.
I will tell you it was a RUSH to see that wrinkled fender slowly straighten out without throwing bondo at it.

Yes, the Blue should darken a shade or two after the clear.
I agree with you about the blackout treatment. It does help hide the almost AFTERTHOUGHT way they added the side windows without changing the C-pillar or any of the body lines.
The Razor grille, the flares and that blackout is what captured me when these rigs were new and I've loved em since.

:drivin::fsj:

[Tatsadasayago]

Man, this is just incredible work!! Thanks for posting all this stuff. Some day I hope I can come back to this when I finally tackle the dented, fugly, rust-eaten truck my rig has turned into over the years.
Why thanks Shimniok!!

Hey, what OBA unit are you using? Also, where did you put the tank?
I have the VIAIR system that's 2nd from the largest and haven't come up with a good location for that tank. Ideas?

:drivin::fsj:

[shimniok]

Why thanks Shimniok!!

Hey, what OBA unit are you using? Also, where did you put the tank?
I have the VIAIR system that's 2nd from the largest and haven't come up with a good location for that tank. Ideas?

:drivin::fsj:

I got a tiny little tank from a local 4x4 shop, it's about 1.5 gal... practically useless :) I think the compressor duty cycle is like 95% :D I mounted the tank on the rear side of the frame crossmember above the axle, parallel with axle/crossmember. The OBA is my old York ac compressor with a rube goldberg manifold of brass fittings that feed the 90psi ARB front locker and the high side that I use for tires. It *is* functional... but would probably do better with a bigger tank and air hose tapped direct from the tank instead of up front... and a trimmer manifold. :)

[Tatsadasayago]

I got a tiny little tank from a local 4x4 shop, it's about 1.5 gal... practically useless :) I think the compressor duty cycle is like 95% :D I mounted the tank on the rear side of the frame crossmember above the axle, parallel with axle/crossmember. The OBA is my old York ac compressor with a rube goldberg manifold of brass fittings that feed the 90psi ARB front locker and the high side that I use for tires. It *is* functional... but would probably do better with a bigger tank and air hose tapped direct from the tank instead of up front... and a trimmer manifold. :)

COOL! My tank is about 10" by 30" and I hadn't considered that location. I will hafta check it out.

Thanks!

:drivin::fsj:

[vintagetrks]

Thanks VT!
Mending panels is really quite fun for the most part. It's not knowing what tools and methods are right for a specific situation is what separates the pro's from morons like me.
I will tell you it was a RUSH to see that wrinkled fender slowly straighten out without throwing bondo at it.

Yes, the Blue should darken a shade or two after the clear.
I agree with you about the blackout treatment. It does help hide the almost AFTERTHOUGHT way they added the side windows without changing the C-pillar or any of the body lines.
The Razor grille, the flares and that blackout is what captured me when these rigs were new and I've loved em since.

:drivin::fsj:

I'm very curious to see what your interior turns out like too. You mentioned before that you were going to be outting in a F.L.I.R. and possibly a H.U.D. I really wanna see that. That is gonna be BAD AZZ. Heck I'd settle for some NVG's LOL With that setup you should be able to run the trails in complete blackout.
Someday I'm gonna get the rattle can cammo off my Cherokee and get it back to it original color. This thread having been my inspiration. ;)

[Tatsadasayago]

I'm very curious to see what your interior turns out like too. You mentioned before that you were going to be outting in a F.L.I.R. and possibly a H.U.D. I really wanna see that. That is gonna be BAD AZZ. Heck I'd settle for some NVG's LOL With that setup you should be able to run the trails in complete blackout.
Someday I'm gonna get the rattle can cammo off my Cherokee and get it back to it original color. This thread having been my inspiration. ;)

Tonight, sitting here haunting the IFSJ forums and sipping my rum, I cannot possible consider all the work that has YET to be done. If my joints are creaking BEFORE I go to bed, the AM ought to be fun fun.....

While I was working in Seattle, my brother and my roomie found an orange chief with the black and grey interior at one of the local pick n pulls. I had them grab all teh panels and the three seats.
I'll prep and shoot the interior steel Jet black gloss with clearcoat, dye the dashpad black and go with black carpet from BJ's.
I am still debating that Dakota digital dash......

If not, I'll rehabd the factory gauges with new windings around the bi-metal strips and calibrate everything......plus a refacing treatment of the bezel.
I liked the LED setup a fellow member posted up recently, so that's gonna have to happen as well.

As far as the NV/HUD goes, that will probably happen later, or in the fall when it cools off. That's going to take some work as the path between the display, mirror and windshield must be STURDY or vibration will render it useless. The other issues are where to mount the onboard PC and cameras.....
I'm almost tempted to go with a laptop mount and use my HP lappy for that instead of a regular ATX machine. This will serve as my EFI tuning/logging unit as well.

I'd mention how I came home with a pair of AN/NVS-6 goggles, but the statute of limitations has not expired :cool:

Many plans.......

I think finishing this project and doing the Art Carr TH400/Dana 20 is at the top of my priority list.

If I do things right, I'll be busy till it's time to go back to work like the rest of your guys n gals!

:drivin::fsj:

[vintagetrks]

I'd mention how I came home with a pair of AN/NVS-6 goggles, but the statute of limitations has not expired.

:drivin::fsj:

I'd like to hear that story some time. LOL I have some goodies I managed to bring back to the world with me when I ETS'ed.
I'm like you got alot of plans for my Cherokee but just getting it up and running and dependable will be the largest portion. My interior should just be a little bit of reapholstering cleanup and carpet. I also want to run a laptop for GPS navigation and mapping if I can get all the software and stuff to make that a viable option. I really like watching your rig come together. Mines pretty much stalled out right now till I get some mo money. Got a razor grill for it though (gotta get rid of the fugly pignose).
Heres her current state of disrepair.
http://i629.photobucket.com/albums/uu14/vintagetrks/IMG_0036.jpg

[Tatsadasayago]

From the internet, that looks like a great candidate for a B n P project!

That's a pretty good representation of Desert BDU's!

If the other side is the same, then the biggest hassles aren't that big. Your flares look cherry and that's the one thing I would be worried about.

When the time comes to put a nice dress on that lass, I'd be happy to help you out!

[Edit] Did everyone put those darn West Coast mirrors on back in the day? ARRGGGHHHH.

By the way, how far are you from Williams? I have some friends who work for the KC lights outfit there and Bro, step-sis and I are planning to visit them when we can for some wheeling action.
:drivin::fsj:

[vintagetrks]

From the internet, that looks like a great candidate for a B n P project!

That's a pretty good representation of Desert BDU's!

If the other side is the same, then the biggest hassles aren't that big. Your flares look cherry and that's the one thing I would be worried about.

When the time comes to put a nice dress on that lass, I'd be happy to help you out!

:drivin::fsj:

It's a rattle can paint job and they did a pretty good job of covering the whole exterior. Interior is still the original color. Been trying to figure out a way to get the cammo off and down to the original paint by using some type of mild chemical. The rear flares have a little rust on the bottom back edges but thats pretty much the only rust on her. She's been rode hard and put up wet though I got alot of work to do on her. She needs a tranny and I have no idea what shape the TC in but in time I'll get the engine and drive train running good. Then I can figure out how to make here pretty. I'm thinking of naming her MA short for MA Deuce my favorite weapon. :D

[Tatsadasayago]

It's a rattle can paint job and they did a pretty good job of covering the whole exterior. Interior is still the original color. Been trying to figure out a way to get the cammo off and down to the original paint by using some type of mild chemical. The rear flares have a little rust on the bottom back edges but thats pretty much the only rust on her. She's been rode hard and put up wet though I got alot of work to do on her. She needs a tranny and I have no idea what shape the TC in but in time I'll get the engine and drive train running good. Then I can figure out how to make here pretty. I'm thinking of naming her MA short for MA Deuce my favorite weapon. :D

HAHAHA the good ole M2~

Well, as I said, the TH400/QT with p/t kit in the Blair III is yours for the asking. Either your friend can truck it over or we might be able to arrange a drop should Williams not be too darn far away from your place.
Shame that just today i sent a perfectly good TH400/low range QT to the scrap yard to get it out of my way........

Regarding the camo:
If it was rattle canned, the chances are good that it was alkd enamel, which is similar to the factory paint on your Cherk.
If there isn't a ton of bodywork to be done, and the camo paint isn't lifting/cracking, you can use it as a primer coat for your new paintjob.

There is no sense in scrubbing it off unless there is a problem with the substrates (Underlying layers of paint etc.)

For a cheapy paintjob, the existing paint coats are in effect paid-for-primer coats. :)

:drivin::fsj:

[vintagetrks]

HAHAHA the good ole M2~

Well, as I said, the TH400/QT with p/t kit in the Blair III is yours for the asking. Either your friend can truck it over or we might be able to arrange a drop should Williams not be too darn far away from your place.
Shame that just today i sent a perfectly good TH400/low range QT to the scrap yard to get it out of my way........

Regarding the camo:
If it was rattle canned, the chances are good that it was alkd enamel, which is similar to the factory paint on your Cherk.
If there isn't a ton of bodywork to be done, and the camo paint isn't lifting/cracking, you can use it as a primer coat for your new paintjob.

There is no sense in scrubbing it off unless there is a problem with the substrates (Underlying layers of paint etc.)

For a cheapy paintjob, the existing paint coats are in effect paid-for-primer coats. :)

:drivin::fsj:

I'm not far from Williams Az at all. About sixty miles. I thought you were in Sacramento? I coulda saved ya a trip to the dump or where ever ya took that tranny and TC arrrggggh :banghead: Thats my luck. I've got a th400 with a cracked up bell housing that I really don't want to put under the old girl. Thats probably going to the dump this weekend.
The only real paint thats peeling is the bumpers grill and the chrome trim they painted over. If your willing to part with that tranny please just tell me when you want me up to Williams and I'm there. :thumbsup:

[Tatsadasayago]

I'm not far from Williams Az at all. About sixty miles. I thought you were in Sacramento? I coulda saved ya a trip to the dump or where ever ya took that tranny and TC arrrggggh :banghead: Thats my luck. I've got a th400 with a cracked up bell housing that I really don't want to put under the old girl. Thats probably going to the dump this weekend.
The only real paint thats peeling is the bumpers grill and the chrome trim they painted over. If your willing to part with that tranny please just tell me when you want me up to Williams and I'm there. :thumbsup:

I am in Sactown....
It's still up in the air regarding our visit to Williams. I am hoping to drive the Blair III over and take Mark and Rene out and show em how to wheel.

I'll put the 400 and QT from either the Blair or the Gag to the side for you. I would think that in a worst case, 75.00 and a pallet will truck freight them to AZ via Yellow or JB Hunt if time is a factor for you.

:drivin::fsj:

[vintagetrks]

I am in Sactown....
It's still up in the air regarding our visit to Williams. I am hoping to drive the Blair III over and take Mark and Rene out and show em how to wheel.

I'll put the 400 and QT from either the Blair or the Gag to the side for you. I would think that in a worst case, 75.00 and a pallet will truck freight them to AZ via Yellow or JB Hunt if time is a factor for you.

:drivin::fsj:

It's not a huge hurry and if you are going to be comming this way some time in the future it would be cool to meet you and maybe do some wheeling I could go up there in my waggy. Just take the back seat out. :D
I would be very greatful for the tranny. Anything to get old Ma on the trail. We are trying to organize a trail ride up the Smiley Rock trail this spring.

[Tatsadasayago]

It's not a huge hurry and if you are going to be comming this way some time in the future it would be cool to meet you and maybe do some wheeling I could go up there in my waggy. Just take the back seat out. :D
I would be very greatful for the tranny. Anything to get old Ma on the trail. We are trying to organize a trail ride up the Smiley Rock trail this spring.
Then consider it a deal.

Bro has a dodge diesel 4x4 that can tow the Blair on the trailer so I wouldn't have to be concerned about walking. Adding a trans and TC would be no biggy.

You would be surprised at how hard it can be to give away good jeep parts in this pooh hole of a town.....

:drivin::fsj:

[vintagetrks]

Then consider it a deal.

Bro has a dodge diesel 4x4 that can tow the Blair on the trailer so I wouldn't have to be concerned about walking. Adding a trans and TC would be no biggy.

You would be surprised at how hard it can be to give away good jeep parts in this pooh hole of a town.....

:drivin::fsj:

Not hard to here. There is another member that lives a couple miles from me Jaber that is always needing jeep parts he just used his last TC to fix his GW, he's a really nice guy and has helped me out alot. I'm very new to the FSJ scene I can't believe I've got two rigs and I've only been into this hobby less than a year.

[Tatsadasayago]

Not hard to here. There is another member that lives a couple miles from me Jaber that is always needing jeep parts he just used his last TC to fix his GW, he's a really nice guy and has helped me out alot. I'm very new to the FSJ scene I can't believe I've got two rigs and I've only been into this hobby less than a year.
Well heckfire....gonna have to meet the JaberMan too then!

Between now and then, i will likely have a bunch more extra stuff I won't want to keep around.

I am still contemplating what to do with the GagOneer.
A pretty nice rig, but I just don't like the four doors over a 2 door Cherokee. I'm going to rob the 401 from it for the Blair III, so after that who knows. I won't license it in Cali again due to the smog nazi's so either it gets turned into an off road only monster or it goes far far away.
Tell him to make a list should I decide to scrap it.

:drivin::fsj:

[CJ the noisemaker]

Between now and then, i will likely have a bunch more extra stuff I won't want to keep around.*nudge nudge*

[vintagetrks]

Well heckfire....gonna have to meet the JaberMan too then!

Between now and then, i will likely have a bunch more extra stuff I won't want to keep around.

I am still contemplating what to do with the GagOneer.
A pretty nice rig, but I just don't like the four doors over a 2 door Cherokee. I'm going to rob the 401 from it for the Blair III, so after that who knows. I won't license it in Cali again due to the smog nazi's so either it gets turned into an off road only monster or it goes far far away.
Tell him to make a list should I decide to scrap it.

:drivin::fsj:

If it's a 76 Waggy I'd be intrested in it. I need lots of parts for my waggy. Mostly body panels and trim parts, but I want to redue alot of things in the interior as well. I want to try and convert it to bucket seats eventually. But waggy parts are always welcome in this neck of the woods.
As I said before I really want the Cherokee up and running. Like you I prefer the Cherokees over the waggy but I'm glad I have one of each. One of these days I'm gonna get an M715 too. Maybe find an M2 to mount in the back of it too. hehehe. :thumbsup:

[Ristow]

perty cool metal work there tats. something i never picked up in the skills dept. well, i can make the dents.

[Tatsadasayago]

If it's a 76 Waggy I'd be intrested in it. I need lots of parts for my waggy. Mostly body panels and trim parts, but I want to redue alot of things in the interior as well. I want to try and convert it to bucket seats eventually.
If yer into blue interior .....got ya covered. I won't be using much out of the GagOneer's insides except the black tilt column I put in last year. All the exterior chrome and beauty plating is there....even a 'boobie grille'!

One of these days I'm gonna get an M715 too. Maybe find an M2 to mount in the back of it too. hehehe. :thumbsup:

Yer a sick man! I like it.

:drivin::fsj:

[Tatsadasayago]

perty cool metal work there tats. something i never picked up in the skills dept. well, i can make the dents.
Hehehehe I hear you there!
After today I am about to practice my dent making skills.....

:banghead::banghead::banghead:

[vintagetrks]

If yer into blue interior .....got ya covered. I won't be using much out of the GagOneer's insides except the black tilt column I put in last year. All the exterior chrome and beauty plating is there....even a 'boobie grille'!


Yer a sick man! I like it.

:drivin::fsj:

Boobie grills and Razor grills are my favorites. I just put a tilt column in my Cherokee but for some reason it is'nt shifting the tranny right. I figure it's because the tranny is toasted.
Were you able to make any progress on your Cherokee today. I'm really enjoying watching it be born again so to speak. I wish I was as talented as you are with the metal and paint.

[Tatsadasayago]

Hello campers!
Where were we? Oh yeah. Yesterday I shot the passenger side with color and planned on getting it color sanded and possibly shoot the whole rig (minus hood) with a color coat.

Up and out to the garage at 6AM to beat the heavy rain (That never appeared....Thanks Weather-Guessers)
I fired up the heaters and got busy with the 400 wet/dry.

I started on the right fender as it was the worst of all.....I thought.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/painting22.jpg

This is the mid-stripe panel just below the hood. I sprayed some water on the area and lightly ran the sanding block fore and after about 20 times to map out the scratches etc. As you can see, this side of the jeep is like the other was....lots of orange peel texture. I think this side (west side) of the garage is cooler than the other which connects to the house. Every time I've painted on this side I get more orange peel......but I didn't think about this till an hour ago, long after I shut down for the day.

Anyway, you can see the dark blue spots where I needed to cut the paint down some for a smooth finish. Rub rub rub, spray, wipe, check the surface....rub rub rub...repeat.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/painting23.jpg

Then there is this sort of stuff to deal with. Chances are that getting this flat is going to use up all the color coat....and possibly even some sealer before it's smooth.
Rub rub rub.....

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/painting24.jpg

You can see above that I've gotten the main area of this panel nice and flat and have started to burn through the color at the top. That top area is pretty rough....alot worse than I figured. At the lwoer left you can see where I've already broken through the film and into the sealer and even the primer coat. This is the area where my worst ripples were when repairing this fender. Everything said, it's still mucho bettero than it was and I am simply obsessing for the smoothest finish possible.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/painting25.jpg

Here is the front of the fender where the metal was shrunk, slapped, heated, cooled, beaten and cussed at a few weeks ago. The arrows clearly call out the rough prep finishing and scratches. These defects are about 1 mil deep....which is about equal to one regular coat of paint. Here I would expect to be through the color and into the sealer before things are somewhat smooth.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/painting26.jpg
Ahhh the fender/valance extension joint......

If you were following along back when I was working the steel in this area, you will recall I said I'd weld this all together to match the other side. After that, I ground the welds down then added some filler and topped everything off with glazing putty. As you can clearly see, I missed some areas. At the lower left you can see the 80 grit sanding scratches I overlooked as well. Seems to be alot of that on my part.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/painting27.jpg

13:00 hours and I am to the back of the door....and quite tired, sore and hungry at this point. This side has been much tougher that the driver's side for some reason. I am paying the price for lowering my attention to detail level when I prepped this side.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/painting28.jpg

This is one of the dwonsides of color sanding. When I took this shot I had just come back from lunch and hadn't gotten too messy yet.
Makes me feel like I am auditioning for the Blue Man Group. :D

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/painting29.jpg

It's now 16:30 and I've finished color sanding the passenger side....finally.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/painting30.jpg

Notice the amount of sealer/primer showing through? This is what happens when the body man sends substandard work to the guys in the paint shop. At this point I would have gone and gotten in the fender-mender's face about lousy work....but there aren't any mirrors in my garage. :banghead:

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/painting31.jpg

After a serious cleaning and degreasing, I let everything dry for over an hour while I took a short siesta and put some advil in my belly.
I came back out and shot the entire rig minus the hood.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/painting32.jpg

I'm thinking 'OH YEAH' !!!!
The color coat was coming out so well that I was already planning on mixing 2 quarts of clear and finishing this bad boy two days ahead of schedule!!!

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/painting33.jpg

OH YEAH.....smooth as a baby's behind and no tiger stripes, runs, sags or other oopsies. I'm already mixing the clear in my mind now!

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/painting34.jpg

Running along the quarter and Oh Emm Gee, I can see the finish line now!!!

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/painting35.jpg

W00t! Looking great! Interesting aspect of this shot is the front of the Jeep. If you look closely, everything to the right of the marker light looks funky. It looked normal in the booth, but while I was cropping and resizing the photos for upload I noticed that the front of the rig looks like it was a picture from a late 40s-early 50s book....when they used to touch up the photos and add color. I stared at the marker light bulb for a long time and SWEAR it's been photoshopped in with the rest of the grille area. It's not till the area above the tire does it look like a regular photograph.
I think this effect was caused by the white tarp reflecting off the fresh paint. Still, that lower valence area looks weird...


So, After seeing how nice everything came out I decided to roll with the clear. Before that could be done, a 'mist coat' needed to be applied which assures the metal flake and color is even all the way around.

Well that's where things went wrong.
I hung the color coat gun on the hook, but it fell off and hit the floor, breaking the inline water filter and pressure regulator clean off....which sent the air hose whipping around like a python on meth.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/painting36.jpg

So, without my color gun available, I was left with the detail or cheapy Harbor Freight 19.00 gun.

I adjusted the cheapy gun with thinner, loaded the pot full with color and started at the left fender for a mist coat.
When I got around just past the pass side quarter I started on the pass side door.
I had the bright shop lights right behind me and suddenly noticed that there was way more metal flake action going on than normal. I stopped, stepped out of the way of the lights and to my HORROR, saw that the gun had lost it's pattern adjustment. Instead of a nice 8" vertical fan, it had gone to about a 2" round pattern and a LARGE horizontal run was already making it's way down the door skin...........
The pattern adjuster knob was loose and I must have moved it with my had without realizing it.....since it's near my thumb on this gun.

I stopped and dumped the remaining paint, threw the cheap piece of junk gun on the trash and closed the shop down for the night.

I'll need to let the color coat cure overnight and go repair that monster run and all the 'Flat' overspray the gun created when it started spewing almost pure paint.

Looks like I might be clearing tomorrow night OR on Sunday as I had planned. That is IF I don't snap and shoot the whole Jeep with flat black in a fit of rage.

:banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead: :banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead: :banghead::banghead:



Stuff happens....

Jim
:drivin::fsj:

[gas4blood]

The joys of body & paint work! :thumbsup: Itll get there man! Believe me, I know how you feel!!

[Tatsadasayago]

Thanks Brother!

The rum has kicked in and now it don't seem so bad hehehehe.

As much as I love B n P, I think I'll go back to building engines and drivetrain.....

:drivin::fsj:

[vintagetrks]

Hang in there guy. She's gonna be beautiful when you get her done. She's the kinda gal that just likes alot of rubbin.hehehe But seriously. Your almost there.
Do you have to mask off the window surrounds to keep from getting clear on them so you can black those out? How exactly do you do that process?

[Tatsadasayago]

Hang in there guy. She's gonna be beautiful when you get her done. She's the kinda gal that just likes alot of rubbin.hehehe But seriously. Your almost there.
Do you have to mask off the window surrounds to keep from getting clear on them so you can black those out? How exactly do you do that process?
I was going to mask the surrounds out....but since I'm shooting all this paint I decided to shot that area as well for base coats.

I can clear it even, since before I shoot the flat black I'll use a 2 part sealer and use Urethane for the flat areas. At this point, the old girl can use all the base coating I can throw at her to help smooth out the ripples..........

Yep, at this point (00:26) I am not too worried!

Thanks for the encouragement!

:drivin::fsj:

[jaber]

Well heckfire....gonna have to meet the JaberMan too then!

Between now and then, i will likely have a bunch more extra stuff I won't want to keep around.

I am still contemplating what to do with the GagOneer.
A pretty nice rig, but I just don't like the four doors over a 2 door Cherokee. I'm going to rob the 401 from it for the Blair III, so after that who knows. I won't license it in Cali again due to the smog nazi's so either it gets turned into an off road only monster or it goes far far away.
Tell him to make a list should I decide to scrap it.

:drivin::fsj:

YES, I would love to meet up with y'all in Williams. Heck, we could even take the Perkinsville road back. It runs down by Drake and comes out on the Jerome trail we took last year.

Parts is parts...:D
I like to keep as many Jeeps on the road as I can find. Makes me feel good to see other on the road like mine.

Your attention to detail on this is awesome. I was I had your skills. Or at least someone close enough to teach me. As you can see by my sig, I'm going to have a lot of this to do, and I'm not rich, so I'm going to have to do it...:rolleyes: LOL...

GREAT WORK Tats!!!!
Thanks for sharin....

[Tatsadasayago]

Cool Beans Jaber!

Even if the Brother and Sis can't make it, I may steal his truck and go anyway. I could use some out of town time away from Cali.

Got 10 hours of solid sleep so I think I'll go out to the garage and see how bad the paint fix is going to be.....

:drivin::fsj:

[Tatsadasayago]

Well it's 5:30 PM and I am chilling in the house feeling much better about the world compared to last night.

This is what I did this morning:

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/painting40.jpg

That nagging tailgate again....

Since I was going to re-shoot color I figured I best worry that tailgate and surround a bit more to get those shallow craters a bit more flat. Here I've already glazed, wetsanded and shot sealer over the repair areas.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/painting41.jpg

This is something I caught this morning. Seems I forgot about using that new glaze on this lower spot. It was still soft and gooey, so I scraped the stuff out of the two depressions and did the same as the tailgate. You can see the little divot as a lighter spot in the middle of the tan sealer.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/painting42.jpg

This is the run area I told you about last night. I was able to wet sand it down flat without burning through the color!!
You can see some of the base coat showing around the door lock hole where the paint run bunched up.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/painting43.jpg

And she is shot with a decent color coat using the gun I recovered from the trash can. I wasted some color adjusting it, but in the end it shot fairly decent for a pile of junk.

I left the garage for a few hours to let the paint dry. When I came back, I stripped the tarping away from the door and drove the Blair III out into the lovely partly sunny and 55F Sacramento Saturday.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/painting44.jpg

And there she is........

If you think that's BLUE....check the other shots out.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/painting45.jpg

Do ya think I will be able to hide in the hills with this color? :cool:

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/painting46.jpg

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/painting47.jpg

I took a bunch of other photos for a separate installment detailing all the oversights, screwups and shooting mistakes.

For now, she's all one color and getting her out in the sun showed me where it needs more work. I will have to make a firm decision tonight about fixing all the mistakes or letting it go and try to do better the next time.

Should I decide to roll ahead, I'll mask for the black and shoot some Jet black tomorrow (Weather permitting) or write off the last two weeks and strip some panels to the steel and start over.

Thanks for staying with me during this project so far.

:drivin::fsj:

[vintagetrks]

Man it's looking great. Glad to see it's all painted. It's gonna look awesome when you get the black on. I noticed your front shackles. Where did you get those? Are they lift shackles? If so are they 1in lift or 2in lift shackles?

[Tatsadasayago]

Man it's looking great. Glad to see it's all painted. It's gonna look awesome when you get the black on. I noticed your front shackles. Where did you get those? Are they lift shackles? If so are they 1in lift or 2in lift shackles?

Thanks Brother. It looks better than it truly is as you will see.

Yes, those are lift shackles off a late model Dodge fullsize lift kit. I think it was an opened/pillaged Energy Suspension 3" kit I got from my brother.
I needed something to get the body level and threw them on till I can get a proper lift from one of the vendors. It was looking like a stinkbug with the rear high and the nose in the dirt when I bought it. It drives surprisingly well since I added 8 degree shims to roll the caster back where it is stock.

:drivin::fsj:

[shimniok]

I can't even imagine how much determination, patience, and gumption it takes to do all that work and deal with all the setbacks.

Btw, was going to mention the 'home made' tire rack looked an awful lot like a Valley spare tire carrier... like the one on my jeep :eek: ... may have to yank that before my rear fender rots out too

[vintagetrks]

Thanks Brother. It looks better than it truly is as you will see.

Yes, those are lift shackles off a late model Dodge fullsize lift kit. I think it was an opened/pillaged Energy Suspension 3" kit I got from my brother.
I needed something to get the body level and threw them on till I can get a proper lift from one of the vendors. It was looking like a stinkbug with the rear high and the nose in the dirt when I bought it. It drives surprisingly well since I added 8 degree shims to roll the caster back where it is stock.

:drivin::fsj:

I thought they were lift shackles. The only ones I've ever seen were at BJ's but they're only one inch lift shackles. I have'nt been able to talk myself into shelling out sixty bucks for them yet but I'm gonna have to so I can get 32's under the waggy.
I hope the weathers good for ya tommorrow I'm really looking forward to seeing the black on her. A Cherokee just does'nt look like a Cherokee without the blacked out windows in my opinion.
Will you clear coat the blue and leave the black without clear coat? How does that work?

[Tatsadasayago]

Well, as I said, here is the ugly truth on the Blair III paint project:

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/flaw1.jpg

You might recall that this is the grafted in taillight surround. Out in the sunlight the flaws became quite evident.
The arrows point to the arc of the panel and you can see that it doesn't follow the inner or outer contour at all. the middle arrow shows where the flat border starts to get thin and down by the lower arrow it's almost non-existent.
We already knew about the upper tailgate not aligning with the quarter and there's not much I can do about that unless I break out the welder and bondo.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/flaw2.jpg

The side view is where you see all the waves, ripples and dents. Here I pointed out the 5 most obvious problems.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/flaw3.jpg

And this shot shows the lower panel screwups.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/flaw4.jpg

This is perhaps the worst shot....and it was tough to share it.
I don't think I need to point out the flaws in this one.....they are obvious. :thumbsdown::thumbsdown::thumbsdown::thumbsdown::t humbsdown:

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/flaw5.jpg

This area wasn't too bad.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/flaw6.jpg

Other than the factory induced pinch above the rear part of the flare, the quarter came out really nice. :)
Of course, that stops at the door which is bulging. There are some fine/small ripples just this side of the door jamb that don't appear till you get at this shallow angle.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/flaw7.jpg

The R/R quarter looks great and I have no problem with this area. :thumbsup:

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/flaw8.jpg

You can see the two lower towing mirror bolt holes I filled in, just below the top character line. Door is too high at the back, but I did that trying to get the front edge to line up with the fender. Down low on teh door are a pair of divots I didn't see or feel. There is a slight vertical ripple on the mid section of the quarter between the door jamb and the flare.
Up top you can see that the mid-stripe line on the fender bulges outward...quite different than the door. :thumbsdown::thumbsdown:


http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/flaw9.jpg

The passenger side has it's share of boo boo's....
The fender shows plainly those areas I didn't slap flat enough. Almost directly above the center of the flare is one wide vertical bulge with smaller ones on each side. I'll give myself a Bye-run on the fender since I stopped fixing it and decided to find a better replacement.
The door looks okay except at the upper hinge area...a tweak in the steel or something.
Quarter looks okay except for the factory induced pinch at the front and rear of the flare.
The upper mid-stripe line gets a bit thick a foot or so away from the end of the panel then tapers back to normal at the end.
Flares are both smooth and look very straight.
Only one thumb down on this shot. :thumbsdown:

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/flaw10.jpg

Okay....in all fairness, this can be fixed (Hopefully) with a door adjustment. I might be able to move the rear of the fender up by oval-drilling the mounting holes......or might leave it till the replacement fender is located.
This shot earns :thumbsdown::thumbsdown::thumbsdown::thumbsdown:

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/flaw11.jpg

This shot shows the shoulder that I put so much heat/ice effort into and it shows. The body line on the door appears to be sagging halfway down, then rises back. The quarter looks good. :thumbsup:

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/flaw12.jpg

A small depression where the front part of the door handle mounts and three faint ripples on the shoulder behind the door jamb. :thumbsup::thumbsup:

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/flaw13.jpg

What appears to be ripples along the mid-stripe line is actually the reflection of the Bronco's tires.
Very slight wobblies here so I'll take a single :thumbsup:

So....there it is.

Now the question is:

Do I stop obsessing over this rig and get it finished OR go back and fix all the warts I've shown you?

If I continue to march, I won't be so worried about denting or scratching the rig. If I make it straighter, I may not want to take it off the pavement at all.

Now that I have not met my goal of STRAIGHT and cannot meet my own standards of craftsmanship I must make this choice.

I would greatly appreciate HONEST feedback and suggestions about this.

Keep the battle moving forward or fall back and regroup?


:drivin::fsj:

[vintagetrks]

I think your being to hard on yourself. For a vehicle of that age I don't think perfection can be obtained on a tight budget. Your craftsmanship is outstanding. I think she looks alot better than when you got her.
I would suggest soldiering on and enjoying her on the trails and the road thats what she was made for. I think you've done an outstanding job on her and would hope that you would continue moving forward. I think in the end you'll be satisfied with the results and enjoy the heck out of that awesome Cherokee YOU BUILT.
But then again if your not happy with the results your getting you'll never be happy with her. Go with your gut and do what makes you happy. Otherwise it will always be nagging at you and you won't enjoy your rig as much as you could. And thats what it's all about enjoying these rigs is'nt it?

[shimniok]

Do I need to post some pics of what my rig's body panels looks like after 10 years of wheeling it? :D If it weren't dark out, I would do it right now.

I'd be ecstatic if my rig came out looking that good.

Still, I know what you mean about setting a standard of perfection and not quite getting there.

That said I think it probably looks better than some of these rigs did from the factory :D Honestly most of that stuff you wouldn't see unless you were looking at it in a car show.

I don't think it has to be a black and white "fix everything or fix nothing"... why not focus on a few of the issues... the worst few flaws or worst couple panels, or the best bang-for-the-buck fixes, or that kind of thing.

If you really want to wheel this thing you are going to cry the first time you drag a side panel across a tree or rock.

Last thought: is the only value in a perfect finished product? Or the learning experience of getting there? :D

[dusty]

that looks better than my silver and black chief ever did. those flaws will all blend in and be hard to identify except to a trained eye.

Jim give yourself credit you took a turd and polished it quite nicely. Id drive that thing and be proud of it. throw the stickers on and put some satin black on the window area and be proud of the quality job you did. everything in life has its limitations and that thing for 98% of the guys on here is better tahn anything they could do, could find could accomplish.

:drivin: I know who i'll be calling to help me pain the cj7 when the time comes in 4-5 years

No balck and grey interior chiefs over here right now but there is one in staging at pick and pull tha i hope they kick out before they crush it looks like it might be black and grey interor anything good i'll grab it for you. id think about high back seats though for the front

[Tatsadasayago]

Coming from you that means alot Brother!

I'll take another good hard look at it tomorrow and make a choice.

4-5 years? LOL! I would expect that you will be needing some fender mending before that! I'll be dead by then anyway :p

Thanks for the supportive words Dustpan!

:drivin::fsj:

that looks better than my silver and black chief ever did. those flaws will all blend in and be hard to identify except to a trained eye.

Jim give yourself credit you took a turd and polished it quite nicely. Id drive that thing and be proud of it. throw the stickers on and put some satin black on the window area and be proud of the quality job you did. everything in life has its limitations and that thing for 98% of the guys on here is better tahn anything they could do, could find could accomplish.

:drivin: I know who i'll be calling to help me pain the cj7 when the time comes in 4-5 years

No balck and grey interior chiefs over here right now but there is one in staging at pick and pull tha i hope they kick out before they crush it looks like it might be black and grey interor anything good i'll grab it for you. id think about high back seats though for the front

[vintagetrks]

that looks better than my silver and black chief ever did. those flaws will all blend in and be hard to identify except to a trained eye.

Jim give yourself credit you took a turd and polished it quite nicely. Id drive that thing and be proud of it. throw the stickers on and put some satin black on the window area and be proud of the quality job you did. everything in life has its limitations and that thing for 98% of the guys on here is better tahn anything they could do, could find could accomplish.

:drivin: I know who i'll be calling to help me pain the cj7 when the time comes in 4-5 years

No balck and grey interior chiefs over here right now but there is one in staging at pick and pull tha i hope they kick out before they crush it looks like it might be black and grey interor anything good i'll grab it for you. id think about high back seats though for the front

X2 I think you have done outstanding. Like Dusty said to the untrained eye you will never see the flaws you mentioned. Heck I was looking at the pics with the arrows trying to figure out what looked so bad. I don't think I could ever do as good a job as you have.

[Tatsadasayago]

Do I need to post some pics of what my rig's body panels looks like after 10 years of wheeling it? :D If it weren't dark out, I would do it right now. Hehehe Good point! But then again, yours is 'trail worn' like this one was, so that's not a fair comparison....even though I get your point.

I don't think it has to be a black and white "fix everything or fix nothing"... why not focus on a few of the issues... the worst few flaws or worst couple panels, or the best bang-for-the-buck fixes, or that kind of thing. Well, another very good point. Due to approaching health issues, this WILL be the last rig of my own I do up in all honesty. Perhaps that's what is driving me so darn hard.

If you really want to wheel this thing you are going to cry the first time you drag a side panel across a tree or rock. Yes indeed!

Last thought: is the only value in a perfect finished product? Or the learning experience of getting there? :D
Your best point of all Sir!

I've always considered that the point of the journey is not to arrive.

I'll freely admit that this project has often reminded me of 'US' being pregnant with my daughter. My girl went through quite a bit during those 9 months and I was there the whole time. I remember wanting it to be OVER, but at the same time savoring something so life changing...even if the mother was a raving psycho-crybaby at times. Made me feel more of a MAN than anything I'd ever done.

Yeah, hanging out in the garage slapping the old girl around has been fun......to a point.

Thanks for your words of advice and wisdom. It wasn't my intent to turn this into a drama.

:drivin::fsj:

[gas4blood]

A little off topic but do you have any pics of the Ram Charger/Trail Duster that is in the pics of your Chief in the driveway? I kinda have a thing for those older rigs! :thumbsup:

[dusty]

............. I'll be dead by then anyway :p

!

:drivin::fsj:


Can you put together a will deeding that bastard to a proper home;)

[Tatsadasayago]

A little off topic but do you have any pics of the Ram Charger/Trail Duster that is in the pics of your Chief in the driveway? I kinda have a thing for those older rigs! :thumbsup:
Other than a few incidental photos where it was in the background no.

It's a 75 with a 440 out of the motor home my family grew up in. It had a 70 440 six-pack engine in it previously, but it's now at my brother's to go into the 68 Power Wagon he got from our dad.

My roomie now owns it and is his daily driver.
3/4 ton 60 rear, HD 44 up front with 3.55s and a 727 driving them.
When I get a chance, I'll snap a few photos of 'Bama' for you.

:drivin::fsj:

[Tatsadasayago]

Can you put together a will deeding that bastard to a proper home;)
I will make sure that it goes to my daughter when she's old enough to drive. Her mother has already agreed to this so it's already got a home when I croak out.

Nice try ya devious bastage!!!! LOL!

:drivin::fsj:

[gas4blood]

Other than a few incidental photos where it was in the background no.

It's a 75 with a 440 out of the motor home my family grew up in. It had a 70 440 six-pack engine in it previously, but it's now at my brother's to go into the 68 Power Wagon he got from our dad.

My roomie now owns it and is his daily driver.
3/4 ton 60 rear, HD 44 up front with 3.55s and a 727 driving them.
When I get a chance, I'll snap a few photos of 'Bama' for you.

:drivin::fsj:

Sweet! Sounds killer! Now I will let your thread get back to normal! haha. Get that thing out of the shop and on to the trail!!! :drivin:

[Rainman]

I say finish up and drive it. While perfection is a noble goal, reality rules.
I hope to see this beautiful machine around town in the near future.:fsj:

[dusty]

yes I is


but Blatantly so. ;)

only making sure you don't pull a RAY, part it out, deed it to someone else or just plain abandon it on the side of the road with the signed title in the front seat. i can't count on all my fingers and toes how many times your brother has done stuff that if he would have made a few phone calls could have kept it in the group where he could have gotten it back years later........ Let me count the ways to build and destroy without finishing.


$100 says the 68 is stalled out for a long while pending the costs associated with the recent pre christmas mishap. betcha the 6 pack 440 ends up getting swapped for some deal that equates to the current possessor taking a sandy prostate examine. We all have a tendancy to throw ourselves under the bus when in survival mode (CJ-8 included)

;)
NOW

Back to the regularly scheduled thread now that the Saturday night hijack is done.


OH quit being a perfectionist A $ $ and get the darned thing done will ya

[Tatsadasayago]

HAHAHA Thanks for the reality check and good belly laugh D Man!
I had to laugh because it's so effinggg TRUE!

I never really gave it much thought, but yeh.....it would be nice to see one of us three yahoos finish a project we started and actually hang onto it.

I already have the panels and seats just like the ones you had in your Cherk. Ray and Rick found all of it at Pick n Pull while I was in Seattle. Going to turn all the blue metal black and install the uncut CHERRY black n grey stuff once the painting and re-assembly is done.

Body lift, TH400/D20 swap is next then the LIFT, Spool & Locker and 35's BABAY!

Have a great night and THANKS for being there!

:drivin::fsj:

I am SK for the night!

yes I is


but Blatantly so. ;)

only making sure you don't pull a RAY, part it out, deed it to someone else or just plain abandon it on the side of the road with the signed title in the front seat. i can't count on all my fingers and toes how many times your brother has done stuff that if he would have made a few phone calls could have kept it in the group where he could have gotten it back years later........ Let me count the ways to build and destroy without finishing.


$100 says the 68 is stalled out for a long while pending the costs associated with the recent pre christmas mishap. betcha the 6 pack 440 ends up getting swapped for some deal that equates to the current possessor taking a sandy prostate examine. We all have a tendancy to throw ourselves under the bus when in survival mode (CJ-8 included)

;)
NOW

Back to the regularly scheduled thread now that the Saturday night hijack is done.


OH quit being a perfectionist A $ $ and get the darned thing done will ya

[gladman]

I have learned so much from this thread, I really appreciate the time and effort and expertise you put into not only the Jeep, but the pics and thread and explanations etc.

My first thought re: your question (stop and make it right or accept it and move on) was accept it and move on, but, its tough, right. I've built several guitars for myself and a few amplifiers over the years and in two cases, after playing them for a while (a year or so) took them back apart and redid sections to make them better.

That might be a happy compromise. it is the old thing Fast, Quality, Cost... pick two. In my case, I know my skills are no where near what you are doing (I have not put in the time nor do I probably have the natural eye you seem to) so, I'd probably have to work so slowly that I'd run out of time before I could get it all right.

I think you have some tough challenges in this rig, so, for my money... I'd say you've made that girl a lot prettier, maybe time to take her dancing so she could see herself in a new light... you can always come back later and rework her again... as it is.. she is a beauty.

[Tatsadasayago]

Thanks for your words of encouragement Gladman!

I too have built a few guitars.....and they are very similar in that you, as the craftsman, see everything. My 6 string was a maple neck through body with mahogany sides. After finishing it out and shooting it with lacquer I found that the two woods were reacting differently to the coating. The 'Hog sucked it in and the maple seemed to let just a little bit in....then closed up solid. This created an awful line where the two met and it drove me absolutely NUTS! Funny, nobody else seemed to care....they were too busy having fun with the A-440 note that the thing would sustain for at least 1 minute without aid of the amp.
I hear you, and thanks to some good advice I got back to the project this morning and after doing some of that metal magic, feel alot better about the old Jeep.
Info to follow shortly!

Again, Thanks!

:drivin::fsj:

[Tatsadasayago]

After the slight meltdown last night over the shape of the Blair III's body I got up early this morning and decided to focus on something else. With the help of some Aerosmith 'Back in the Saddle again' I took on the hood.

I'd already pre-prepped the hood previously with 60 up to 220 grit dry abrasives and shot a coat of primer. If you recall, I shot a test on the passenger side when I finally chose the blue.
The reason I chose that side is I'd found a tennis ball sized dent in the lower section above where the fenderwell is.
I figured I would need a good guide coat to get that dent pulled out.

First things first though.....

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/hood1.jpg

Out with the 400 wet/dry and the trusty squirt bottle full of fresh water. Every one of those louvers was rough and many had rock chips. Not only did I have to block the whole hood (Which flexes like tin foil) I had to wet sand all around the louvers for a smooth surface.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/hood2.jpg

Time, elbow grease and determination is required to get everything smooth for the color coat.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/hood3.jpg

With the louvers finally wet sanded it was time to hit the driver's side flats.
The red arrows point to problem areas that needed lots of care and attention.
The grey patch where the big arrow points to is an abrasion injury that happened over a period of years. Apparently the hood was stacked against something and the Nevada winds buffeted it almost daily. The abrasion went all the way to the metal over a 18" run. I had previously cut the paint around the damaged area and put DTM primer over the finished area. That grey is the Down To the Metal primer and I surely didn't want to bust through it or risk a complete refinish.
It went well and I achieved a smooth surface without cutting through it! (Happy Dance)

After finishing up the driver's side, I switch over to the other side where my one worry-dent was.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/hood4.jpg

This is a shot of it without the flash. It's about the diameter of a tennis ball and roughly 5/16" deep.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/hood5.jpg

With the flash you can still see the dull purplish paint that is untouched by my sanding block.

I got a bow of ice cubes and my trusty heat gun and proceeded to do the one thing I seem to be pretty good at.......heat shrinking dents!

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/hood6.jpg

Here I've run the heat around the perimeter of the dent, then focused some serious heat in the center. A pointed piece of ice dead center over the white dot started shrinking the steel. As soon as I felt the metal rise I began moving the ice in circles around the dot. When you shrink with ice, you can literally FEEL the metal moving under the cube as you swirl it on circles. If you feel a low spot under the ice, you can stop there to shrink just that spot. It's also a great way to map out the other low spots.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/hood7.jpg

This is after the third application of heat. You cane see the brown spots among the others.....this is where the heat caused the paint to bubble and blister. I hit this area with too much heat and after shrinking and cooling I found the two low spots next to the dent I was working.
I would now have to control the shrinking to avoid aggravating these two lows. You can see here that I've gotten trough my primer coat and into my seal coat.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/hood8.jpg

Here I took the time to take a photos just before I quenched the left low spot. Same drill here....start in the center and begin describing ever larger circles around the dent. I call this 'Circling the Drain'.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/hood9.jpg

Here I've shrunk the left and right low spots, cooled the entire area, then hit the center with heavy heat in a vertical fashion. In this photo I'm quenching the metal in a lateral way toward and away from the camera.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/hood10.jpg

After that I block sanded the area and was given this off image. The outer lows have come up nicely but they are too concentrated. I didn't have each area hot enough and didn't start my ice swirling soon enough which only raised the center area about the size of a dime. The nice thing about both is they are each the same size which means I did okay on the timing. We now have exposed the bare metal which had a black layer of paint under the white and my primer/sealer coats.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/hood11.jpg

More heat and freeze created this alien looking shape. The center of the dent is coming up slowly each pass and I've managed to keep the outer spots coming up at the same rate. My goal here is to keep shrinking till the outer 'eyes' flow into the expanding center.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/hood12.jpg

Now the 'Alien' is looking a bit perturbed. I am almost level with the center and the eyes are starting to widen as well as deepen. The feather edges are staying roughly the same width so I should be coming up to level soon.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/hood13.jpg

YAY! The alien is gone and the center is up to the original level!!! Now I can use less heat and more focused attacks on the center. Patience is the key here.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/hood14.jpg

Now the black is starting to widen and the mare metal on all sides is beginning to retreat away from the dent.

I didn't think I could beat the metal into submission any further since it was now flat.
A few minutes of block sanding in straight, then X pattern and the edges feathered out nicely and I could not feel or see a wave in this area.

Total time to perform this repair was about 20 minutes. It would have been faster but I had to keep cleaning and grabbing the camera to record the progress. Perhaps I'll borrow a REAL video camera and set it up on a tripod the next time I do my 'Fire and Ice' trick.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/hood15.jpg

Now that the sealer and primer are down and dried it's masking time!

Since I am going to do all the color coats before clearing, I decided to see how my Jet Black would look and shoot. You can see that I've chosen to bring the blackout to the pig-nose area then turn at the latch filler. The leading edge of the hood will be blacked out and this will transition to the fender front edge down to the valence where it will cross under the grille to the other side. The whole Rhino area will be blacked out to hide everything as well as make the highly polished Razor grille stand out!

OK! Time to shake a quart of the Duplicolor Auto Shop premixed Jet Black and get it warmed up.
The garage was over 75F and things felt right for some squirting.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/hood16.jpg

This shot started out badly.....
The 20 amp breaker decided to DIE just after my first light coat went on. I had to drop what I was doing and figure out what went wrong since the breaker refused to reset. I dug out a new one and installed it in the panel....and was back in business.
The shot went great after that, but all the movement in and out of the booth/garage brought in a ton of dust and dog hair which some landed on the paint as I was shooting.
Nevertheless, this is seriously shiny for color coat!!!

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/hood17.jpg

And another angle showing that I got the color in all the louvers as well as a nice decent coat overall.

I'll try to cut the dust nibs off without a color sand....but if that fails, I'll color sand the whole thing and shoot it again tomorrow.

While this is going on, I plan on using the down time to prep the side window areas for their blackout. There is also the hood blackout that joins the cab area just under the windshield and runs along the top of the shoulder to the very back where it will join the tailgate and window blackout.

So, no clear for a few days, but I am making positive progress so I can take this lovely, but older lady to her first dance.

Thanks for staying tuned!

Jim
:drivin::fsj:

[vintagetrks]

Sanding all those louvers had to suck but that is going to look Very Very cool with the black stripe and the blues sides. :thumbsup:

[Tatsadasayago]

Sanding all those louvers had to suck but that is going to look Very Very cool with the black stripe and the blues sides. :thumbsup:
Thanks VT!

I just came in after shooting the blue on the hood. It's looking pretty good!

If I can get the masking off without messing anything up, I'll see how I like the glossy hood blackout with the blue. If I hate it, I'll shoot everything in clear, then tomorrow mask off the center and shoot a clear with flattener added for that 60s vinyl hood blackout look!

Soon as the paint flashes over, I'll go out and pull the mask and see how badly I messed up hehehehe.

:drivin::fsj:

[Tatsadasayago]

WHOOHOOOOO!!!

Somebody voted for PIE!

I am with you there!

:drivin::fsj:

[Tatsadasayago]

Okay, I just came in from the garage and I am quite JAZZED!

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/hood20.jpg

Got the hood masked off and all the owies repaired and sealed.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/hood21.jpg

Shot the blue and was about to hit it with a wet coat but dummy me tripped with the last of my blue ending up on the floor, my hands and my face.

A quick run to NAPA for more color and I was back in bizness.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/hood22.jpg

And we have Blue on Black..........

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/hood23.jpg

Tears on a river.....

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/hood24.jpg

Cold on Ice....

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/hood25.jpg

Yada yada yada.........

I think it looks pretty TUFF! Almost like a 70's-ish fresh air scoopie thing.


Now the question looms;

Clear it all or go ahead with the semi-flat blackout?

That's IT for the day. I am going to scrub up, take a long hot shower and go shoot badguys down in my P-39 or P-51 for awhile and forget about this project till tomorrow.

Regards,

:drivin::fsj:

[vintagetrks]

That looks SWEET. I vote for the semi flat. That is gonna look BAD AZZ on the Cherokee. :D You do awesome work Jim. :thumbsup:

[Tatsadasayago]

That looks SWEET. I vote for the semi flat. That is gonna look BAD AZZ on the Cherokee. :D You do awesome work Jim. :thumbsup: *In an Elvis voice* Thank you....thankyouverymuch.....

That turned out fairly wicked I must say.

So, as I waited for my online fighter jock friends to show up I had another MAD THOUGHT:

Okay, we gots from top to dirt: Blue, some chrome trim, flat black, more blue, flat black, polished aluminum slots then pavement/dirt. With me?

The front end has flat black with blue on the sides, polished aluminum Razor grille, flat black lower valence and chrome bumper.

Rear end has blue up top, then flat black surrounding the rear window, darker than is legal tinted glass, flat black upper shoulder stripe, blue, Cherokee Chief stripe, blue then chrome bumper.

OK, so what about either an orange, red or chrome stripe between the blue and blacks?

OR, just on the hood?

OR

A custom made 401 CID decal in dark orange or red along the shallow shoulder where the black rolls into the blue on the hood?

OR

How about I Sierra Tango Foxtrot Uniform and keep the thoughts to myself?

:drivin::fsj:

[shimniok]

Hm, sometimes those little add ons totally make the finished result... You should see what the orange stripe does... I think red would be visually disturbing next to blue... chrome might be good... but what do I know, my truck is fugly as sin.

[vintagetrks]

I kinda just like the black and blue. Don't know if the orange would fit in real good. Besides if she was just black & blue you could change her name to Black -N- Blue. Yeah I know it's probably a cheesy name but I thought it was cool. Your rig is gonna look way cool bro.

[vintagetrks]

How about I Sierra Tango Foxtrot Uniform and keep the thoughts to myself?

:drivin::fsj:

I would say negative. Keep throwing the thoughts our way and we can bounce ideas back and forth until you come up with what your ultimate look is for your rig. But It is your rig and it should turn out the way you want it.

[gladman]

I like the orange idea.

I just saw an overhaulin' where they did a road runner and it had some of the same color elements and it looked terrific... but the orange just as an accent and maybe asymmetrical... like if it is a stripe, it is just one separator of the black and blue not on both sides.

[Tatsadasayago]

I like the orange idea.

I just saw an overhaulin' where they did a road runner and it had some of the same color elements and it looked terrific... but the orange just as an accent and maybe asymmetrical... like if it is a stripe, it is just one separator of the black and blue not on both sides.

You got it G-Man!!

After I pulled the masking off the first thing this color combo reminded me of was my B-5 Blue Challenger with the hood blackout treatment.

Instead of a stripe, I'll put an R/T emblem where the Chief medallion goes and perhaps a variation of the 440 - Magnum hood callout right where the black shoulder drops off.
It will be my nod to my Muscle Mopar roots!!

I had to take a few laps around the place to come up with the reason I was all UP about orange or red accents someplace...

Thanks!

:drivin::fsj:

[vintagetrks]

Gotta Love the MOPARS :thumbsup:

[Tatsadasayago]

Gotta Love the MOPARS :thumbsup:

hehehe!

YEP.

:drivin::fsj:

[asphaltrockdweller]

That is seriously beautiful!

Thanks for sharing all of this with us!:thumbsup:

[vintagetrks]

I forgot what you said that louvered hood came off of but If my memory serves did'nt you say it came from a waggy that had had a Ferrari V12 stuffed under the hood? That makes your rig even cooler.

[FiveQuarterKaiser]

Great work and I love watching this build....some day for my J10..:rolleyes:

I really like the orange or red stripe idea. It will totally set it off. I have some 1/8" striping tape (red) that you could something like that to lay on there and see if you like it.

Kent

[Tatsadasayago]

http://www.yearone.com/images/parts/p/p3445223.jpghttp://www.yearone.com/images/parts/fd0_fd4/fd303d.jpg

I was thinking this would be a nice contrast with the black and blue theme. I was thinking of the CID callout using the 440 Mag style script or something similar. T/T for Road and Trail hehehe!

Just can't think of anything other than '401 Go-Pak' Which sounds sort of lame.

I still have plenty to do to keep me busy.

Thanks for the replies!

:drivin::fsj:

[Tatsadasayago]

I forgot what you said that louvered hood came off of but If my memory serves did'nt you say it came from a waggy that had had a Ferrari V12 stuffed under the hood? That makes your rig even cooler.
Sorta VT. It was made for it, but the owner was all torqued off that one louver was off and gave up on the idea.

:drivin::fsj:

[Tatsadasayago]

Great work and I love watching this build....some day for my J10..:rolleyes:

I really like the orange or red stripe idea. It will totally set it off. I have some 1/8" striping tape (red) that you could something like that to lay on there and see if you like it.

Kent
That's what kept coming back to me after seeing how the red taillight lens looked against the blue. Blue/Black/Red/Orange/White were used very successfully by Mopar back in the musclecar years as well as by the Wayne County/Darrell Alderman racing team so there be plenty of ideas.

I don't want to get carried away however.

I'll pick up some 1/8" red and orange striping and see what it looks like on the hood and below the side window blackout. The plan is to keep the chrome trim unless it overpowers stuff.

Thanks for following along!

:drivin::fsj:

[Murphy]

Awesome work and great write-up. :thumbsup:

[dusty]

This jeep?
http://www.jpmagazine.com/featuredvehicles/154_0909_1977_jeep_wagoneer_the_jerrari/index.html

What about just using the old 401 die cast
http://www.planethoustonamx.com/Picture_2066.jpg

or something like
http://theamcpages.com/images/javelin/repaint/390-emblem-after.jpg


Or make a combination of the 1972-75 V8 CJ emblem and attach the Cubic inch numbers to the bottom of the V


http://www.collectorcarsforsale.com/parts/2-CHROME-401-V8-EMBLEM-DECAL-SET-NAILHEAD-BUICK-AMC-AMX-For-Sale_140370350968.html

[Tatsadasayago]

Yep THAT Jeep! Or Jerarri actually.
Bill Harrah owned Cal-Vada Jeep (Now Reno Jeep) and that's the hood that was supposed to go on that rig.

I didn't even think to look there for the 401 emblems Dusty. Good catch!
I think I'll go with those as that's the color I had in mind....plus it matches the R/T emblem red as well!

Thanks for the link.

:drivin::fsj:


This jeep?
http://www.jpmagazine.com/featuredvehicles/154_0909_1977_jeep_wagoneer_the_jerrari/index.html

What about just using the old 401 die cast
http://www.planethoustonamx.com/Picture_2066.jpg

or something like
http://theamcpages.com/images/javelin/repaint/390-emblem-after.jpg


Or make a combination of the 1972-75 V8 CJ emblem and attach the Cubic inch numbers to the bottom of the V


http://www.collectorcarsforsale.com/parts/2-CHROME-401-V8-EMBLEM-DECAL-SET-NAILHEAD-BUICK-AMC-AMX-For-Sale_140370350968.html

[Tatsadasayago]

Welcome back folks!

Today was spent color sanding and clear coating the hood.

I was sort of in a bind as I didn't want to try moving the hood to the jeep without help. A sure recipe for a hurt back and scratched hoodness.

So, color sanding commenced.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/hood30.jpg

Same old drill. 400 wet/dry to take the nasties and orangepeel down flush.
In the photo above you can clearly see two bad spots on the pass side I didn't see till I started sanding. The upper left was a slight wow probably made from an elbow. The other, which is white.....I have no idea where that came from. Never noticed till today. I took it down to the primer coat and feathered it out best I could.
Yesterday's 'Alien' repair is just visible to the right and up from my water bucket.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/hood31.jpg

Here is the passenger side again. Here you can clearly see the 'Alien' spot at the top right of the camera flash reflection.
The wow isn't even through the color coat thankfully but that depression up by the black will likely show through the clear.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/hood32.jpg

Driver's side turned out pretty nicely. There was another un-explained mark up by the black which is in the same spot opposite from the other one......
The long abrasion mark is undetectable :):):)

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/hood33.jpg

Another shot of blue color coat to fix the color sanding.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/hood34.jpg

While the color coat flashed for 15 minutes or so I did a good overall inspection of my work. The 'Alien' is nowhere to be seen!!!
Slight amount of orangepeel, but much flatter than the body shoot the other day. Found one minot series of tiny lumps at the front edge of the hood. Too late to do anything about it....but it's not detectable till you are within 2-3 feet.

I let the color coat flash over and dry for an hour or so then went back out and shot one light, two medium and one WET coat of clear, waiting 10-15 minutes between coats.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/hood35.jpg

Even in the photos you can clearly see that the topcoat is VERY shiny. This and the other shots were taken 2 hours after shooting, so this is the finish I have to work with for wet sanding and buffing out after everything cures.
If I get these results from the rest of the rig I will be a very happy camper!

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/hood36.jpg

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/hood37.jpg

Perhaps late tomorrow I'll mask off the blue and hit the center of the hood with the semi-flat blackout. It was hard to decide, but in the end I went with the flat instead of cleared/glossy black.
If it doesn't look like I expect, I can always shoot the whole rig with another few coats of clear which will gloss up the flat black.
Going to get help putting the hood on so I can prep for clearing the rest of the Jeep tomorrow if the weather holds!

That's IT for today.


:drivin::fsj:

[Ristow]

looks great. i'll be doing my '91 this summer.


Going to get help putting the hood on

real FSJeepers can remove/install their hoods by themselves.:p

[Tatsadasayago]

looks great. i'll be doing my '91 this summer.

Thanks !!!!
It's been like breeding elephants. Lots of yelling, screaming, thrashing about and takes two years to see any results!


real FSJeepers can remove/install their hoods by themselves.:p Yes, this is quite true for me normally, but Real Smart Jeepers know to get help with a freshly painted hood or there will be lamentations throughout the village when said hood is scratched.

As it was, two of us had a hard time getting it turned around without killing ourselves.

Can definitely see the color darkened two solid shades after clearing!

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/hood38.jpg

:drivin::fsj:

[vintagetrks]

That looks SWEET. I have a question though. I always hear about "BAKING" the paint. Is that some type of heat process you do to harden the paint and or clear coat. How did you do that in the garage?

[Tatsadasayago]

That looks SWEET. I have a question though. I always hear about "BAKING" the paint. Is that some type of heat process you do to harden the paint and or clear coat. How did you do that in the garage? Hey V.T.

'Baking' was a common practice with enamel paints for years.
Alkd or acrylic enamels use a chemical reaction between solvent and two polymers that allow a surface film to form over the paint. Applying elevated temperatures to the finish would accelerate the process.

Urethanes are similar by using a catalyst compound along with a solvent and one or more polymers to create a film over the finish.

Lacquers use evaporation of the solvents to create the exterior film, which dries over time. The nice thing about this paint type is it can be 're-wetted' at any time by applying thinner or a thinner/paint mixture.

The new Water Borne systems use a water based primer and color coat, then a solvent based topcoat.

In my case, I chose Acrylic Lacquer for it's lack of re-coat window, fast initial drying times and it's ability to be wet-sanded and buffed to a high gloss. It's nowhere near as durable as enamels and urethanes however.

I shoot at a minimum of 70F and less than 80% humidity if possible. Since the flash time of Lacquer is about 15 minutes and curing times of 24 hours or so, it's ideal for this sort of project.
So, say I go out and drag the side through brush and make some 'Arizona Pinstripes' on the Blair; I roll into the garage, inspect the damage and decide if the scratch has gone through the clear coat. If not, I can clean the area, wetsand the clear till the scratches are gone, mask off and shoot a few coats of clear over the scratches. I wait a few days then wet-sand the clear and buff the area till the finish matches the rest.

If the damage goes through to the color or base coats, I do an area or panel repair and prep the same way I did my hood the last two days. I fully expect to have to do a few ding/dent/scratch/chip repairs after the first trip to the Rockpile or down a gravel road.

I've stocked the shelves in the garage with the primer, sealer, color and clear to last me a few years.

Hope this more than answered your question(s) hehehe

I love Body n Paint!!!

:drivin::fsj:

[Tatsadasayago]

OH....and Baking a paint job or blowing air on it to speed curing can have catastrophic results. Most paints as described above cure by evaporation of solvents or by the catalizing process. Should a person shoot a think coat of paint and heat it, the outer film hardens and traps the solvents underneath. This is why it's common to see a cheapy paint job turn hazy, wrinkle, lift and bubble months after the owner gets the car back.

You've seen peeling clear coats I'm sure. This is a result of improper prep, mixing of materials or using low quality coatings.

Remember the silver and blue fiasco in the late 80s?

:drivin::fsj:

[vintagetrks]

Thanks for the great answer. I have been wondering how you could get such a nice finish without "baking" it. But then again I don't know much at all about paint and body work.
Jaber had mentioned to me a few months back about possibly painting a rig with "tractor paint" is there a differance in that type of paint that makes it more durable?

[Tatsadasayago]

Thanks for the great answer. I have been wondering how you could get such a nice finish without "baking" it. But then again I don't know much at all about paint and body work.
Jaber had mentioned to me a few months back about possibly painting a rig with "tractor paint" is there a differance in that type of paint that makes it more durable?
Tractor or implement paint is a single stage enamel that is darn tough!
You prep the body, prime (and Seal with a two component sealer if yer smart) then shoot a nice coat of concrete....err enamel on top.
It's VERY durable, scratch and chip resistant and will last many years. The down side is that it's not the glossiest finish out there and there is no wet sanding etc. What you shoot is what you get so to speak.

Did I mention that it's highly toxic?

I HATE enamels because busting through it to fix a panel is like grinding pavement.

I think it's perfect for a wheeling rig if a person isn't all jacked up wanting a glass smooth finish.

:drivin::fsj:

[vintagetrks]

Tractor or implement paint is a single stage enamel that is darn tough!
You prep the body, prime (and Seal with a two component sealer if yer smart) then shoot a nice coat of concrete....err enamel on top.
It's VERY durable, scratch and chip resistant and will last many years. The down side is that it's not the glossiest finish out there and there is no wet sanding etc. What you shoot is what you get so to speak.

Did I mention that it's highly toxic?

I HATE enamels because busting through it to fix a panel is like grinding pavement.

I think it's perfect for a wheeling rig if a person isn't all jacked up wanting a glass smooth finish.

:drivin::fsj:

I was considering having both my rigs painted with that type of paint. But it sounds like you have to have someone who knows the process or it could be a waste. I'm not so much looking for glass like shine. I like a little gloss but I'm more concerned with durability. This Az sun can really work over a paint job and I don't have a garage to park my rigs in so it just seemed like a pretty good option. Is the tractor/implement paint cheaper that the automotive paint?

[Highflyr]

Man that hood is beautiful! Great Job!

[Tatsadasayago]

I was considering having both my rigs painted with that type of paint. But it sounds like you have to have someone who knows the process or it could be a waste. I'm not so much looking for glass like shine. I like a little gloss but I'm more concerned with durability. This Az sun can really work over a paint job and I don't have a garage to park my rigs in so it just seemed like a pretty good option. Is the tractor/implement paint cheaper that the automotive paint?

For AridZona, a good enamel is a wise choice. The more important part of painting with it is to get a good surface prep under the paintjob. The things that will bite you are surface rust, panel/joint flexing and bondo.

Your basic enamel implement paint is generally less expensive than automobile grade paints. It's fairly straight forward in mixing, reducing and shooting.
If you leave it alone for a day or two inside where it's warm and dry, you will have a tough finish that will last for years.

The finish you see on the Blair's hood as it was on the color coat is about what you can expect from an enamel applied in a paint booth or other controlled environment.

:drivin::fsj:

[Tatsadasayago]

It's about to rain here and the temp is dropping. I think I picked a good time to shoot the clear on the Blair jeep.

After it flashed, I rolled it outside for a good look-see.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/clear1.jpg

The clear did in fact darken the color about 2 full shades as expected. As much as I liked the silvery look, I felt it was way to bright. Now the color looks more like IROC Blue....

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/clear2.jpg

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/clear3.jpg

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/clear4.jpg

Of course, the pot on the gun decided to drip clear all over the cowl where the antenna hole is.....and the masking paper on the driver's side hood area decided to bleed solvent through and stick a wad of pulp into the clear there.

I'll do my best to sit on my hands for TWO days before I wet sand the clear and buff the shine in.

Might take the time to do other things like bumper re-install and possibly the blackouts if the clear has cured well by tomorrow night.
Nearing the end of this paint and body saga.

CHEERS!

:drivin::fsj:

[tgreening]

Thanks for the great answer. I have been wondering how you could get such a nice finish without "baking" it. But then again I don't know much at all about paint and body work.
Jaber had mentioned to me a few months back about possibly painting a rig with "tractor paint" is there a differance in that type of paint that makes it more durable?

My old scrambler was painted with "tractor paint". It's dusty in this shot but it should be good enough to give you an idea.

http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff222/tgreening/Scrambler%20Build/CIMG0001.jpg

[Tatsadasayago]

Nice looking Scrambler!

Shows what properly applied 'Tractor Paint' can look like!

:drivin::fsj:

[Tatsadasayago]

Today I did the blackout on the Cherokee.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/finish1.jpg

It came out okay up top, but something is missing!

The hood blackout flows nicely to the tailgate and rear window surround, but I didn't blackout the flare character lines like the factory did.

Any ideas?

I photoshopped a black mid stripe in, but I think it might be TOO much black.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/midstripe.jpg

If you have any suggestions or ideas I would appreciate your feedback.

I'm also pondering blacking out the windshield chrome, but leaving the small sloping drip trough chrome just ahead of the wing window so the line shows, but there's not so much bright trim around, above and below the windshield.

I'll polish the chrome on the roof rack and will be putting highly polished aluminum slots on as well, so the top and wheels will be bright.

Your thoughts?

:drivin::fsj:
.

[sidewinder]

Not the mid-stripe! Too busy. Try to photoshop the partial flare lines (or the entire flares) and I think you will see a difference that you like.

Mark

[Gary's Addiction]

Hmmm... keep the chrome and use a grey/silver mid stripe?

[vintagetrks]

Now thats AWESOME. She looks like a Cherokee. I think it would look really cool with blacked out fender flairs or the blue flairs with the black midstipe,but I don't think both would work. I'd take it the way it is I don't think I'll ever get either of my rigs looking so good.

[vintagetrks]

My old scrambler was painted with "tractor paint". It's dusty in this shot but it should be good enough to give you an idea.

http://i237.photobucket.com/albums/ff222/tgreening/Scrambler%20Build/CIMG0001.jpg

That looks awesome I'm sold. How well does it hold up to scratching through the brush?

[suzq044]

All you need now is a Mopar emblem on the fenders. Maybe even a blacked-out one. [where a stock v8 one would be]
http://www.paddockparts.com/Paddock/assets/product_images/ABCMY3T.JPG

[shimniok]

I agree; the midstripe is way too busy... would look better with black flares perhaps??

[tgreening]

That looks awesome I'm sold. How well does it hold up to srathing through the brush?



Not a clue. After I got it done I sold it to a Marine officer headed to Afganipakiraqistan.


I agree with the others about it getting too busy. I'm just not sure what needs to go, the mid stripe or the lower body stripe. Shop both versions! :)

[skeletor]

this is an awesome thread :thumbsup:

regarding the stripe, i would make it stock, with paint following the lines on the flares. or, get rid of the bottom stripe and keep the upper line black but add the "s" package southwestern decals. that would be cool.

All you need now is a Mopar emblem on the fenders. Maybe even a blacked-out one.
[where a stock v8 one would be]

uh...an AMC 401 aint a stinking mopar :D

[Tatsadasayago]

After much ponderation and advice/suggestions from a very diverse group of people I've decided to nix the black midstripe.

I may black out the flare trim like the factory did, but what I am going to do is quite daring:

Duplicolor makes a new 'Mirage' paint color called 'Ice'.
You've probably seen the gold/purple color that changes as the view moves......

In essence this Ice is a pearl white with a color changing ability. I think this will strike a good balance between the window blackout and the lower stripe. Since it is acrylic lacquer, it will bite right into my clearcoat and be permanent as well as rapairable like the rest of the paint.
The plan includes a red CHEROKEE on the rear part of the stripe.

Failing that, I have a backup plan of a darker blue for the midstripe and even a reflective blue......

Thanks for all your feedback on this and I'll keep the updates coming.
:drivin::fsj:

[Jeepguy77]

Nice you have definately been busy since we did the intake swap. I think you should black out the lower lip on the flairs rather than the whole flair.

[suzq044]

Yes, but the color def. says Mopar... put an AMC emblem there then; it's trim pieces you're missing I think. :|

[Tatsadasayago]

Yes, but the color def. says Mopar... put an AMC emblem there then; it's trim pieces you're missing I think. :|

Yeh, it's a variation of Mopar B5 Blue. Added some more silver to brighten it up just a bit after clearcoating.

I keep in mind that Less is More, especially when the bumpers and other items still remain to be put back on.
I'll go ahead and add the flair trim blackout tomorrow then wet sand and buff the blue so I can put things back together. I sure wanna drive this critter after so long.

:drivin::fsj:

[dusty]

no mid stripe.

that chief is classic clean the way you did it. any other additions would confuse the cleanliness of the work you've done so far

any further paint would busy it up too much. put the cherokee lettering in down low, get your chief emblems on there, work on the AC/heater system and lets start looking for a 401 for you...... or take a look at those stroker cranks / setups MC has over bulltear big cube amc anyone?

[Tatsadasayago]

Since I spent all day wet sanding the clearcoat over the blue I will hold off any any further additions to the paint scheme till I see the polished up version of the Blair outside.
Thanks for your advice Dustpan!

PS: I already have a 401, but will need to tear it down and clean stuff up. Good time for a nasty cam, more squish and some other goodies.......:cool:


:drivin::fsj:

no mid stripe.

that chief is classic clean the way you did it. any other additions would confuse the cleanliness of the work you've done so far

any further paint would busy it up too much. put the cherokee lettering in down low, get your chief emblems on there, work on the AC/heater system and lets start looking for a 401 for you...... or take a look at those stroker cranks / setups MC has over bulltear big cube amc anyone?

[Jeepguy77]

Good time for a nasty cam, more squish and some other goodies.......:cool:


:drivin::fsj: Yes I like that idea very much, maybe ill have to do the same:thumbsup: :drivin:

[Anax]

Wow!!! You guys really make me want to do things right on my jeep. I usually am a hack and just make things work but this sit really puts the drive into me to get this thing rite!

[Tatsadasayago]

As planned, I got out to the garage early and started wetsanding the clear coat on the Blair III. I started with 3M 1500 grit Wet/Dry sanding paper for this phase.

I started on the driver's side hood and worked my way back.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/sand1.jpg

Of course, the finish looks like caca! That's the downside of wetsanding lacquer......you lose the shine you had for the shine you WILL have when yer done.
Right away I noticed a brand new chip in the hood directly over the fender flare. No idea how that happened.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/sand2.jpg

Here you can see a rough area I missed all the way till now. It's orangepeel that probably goes all the way to the base/primer coat for all I know. I was able to smooth it out without going through the clear thankfully.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/sand3.jpg

Here you can see how poor the finish is on the driver's side of the rig. The reflection of the light is completely diffused/blurred due to the rough texture of the clear coating. When I am done with the wet sand and buff process, I will try to compose a similar shot to demonstrate the difference after sanding and buffing.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/sand4.jpg

Another view of the midstripe line and how rough it is. You can see I've already sanded the hood and cowl in this picture.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/sand5.jpg

And an after wet sanding shot. You can see that the reflection of the worklight is now stretched out in a horizontal haze. This shows the direction I was sanding as I went along. I use the light at an angle while I'm working and pay attention to the shape of the reflection. This helps me spot ripples/waves in the metal as well as assisting me with spotting areas that have orangepeel. (90% of this side had bad orangepeel)

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/sand6.jpg

When I sand an area for a bit, I'll stop and wipe it clean with a paper shop towel. In the photo above the arrows point to places that need more sanding or attention.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/sand7.jpg

In the photo above you have a reflective door skin shot. This shows the incredible amount of orangepeel texture.
I knew this side would be tough to get smooth so I shot two extra coats of clear to give me some depth to work with. It turned out to be a wise choice as you will see later on.


http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/sand8.jpg

This is the same area as in the photo above after my first pass. You can see plenty of places I need to revisit to get remove the orangepeel.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/sand9.jpg

In the photo above, I've gone over the door skin and have moved to the leading edge of the quarter panel. You can sort of make out the reflection of my worklight through the rough texture.
I spent some extra time in this area so I could take photos of the progress to the pre-buffing stage.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/sand10.jpg

This is a before shot of the midstripe area just behind the driver's door. This is after the initial sanding pass. The surface is fairly smooth, but needs more sanding to level the texture.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/sand11.jpg

Below the midstripe line I went over the area with the 1500 and LOTS of water. You can now start to see the worklight reflection.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/sand12.jpg

Two more passes over the area and now you can see the light as well as the cage. Now the anti-freeze jug on the shelf 3 feet away is becoming visible.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/sand13.jpg

Another pass on the quarter and I am happy with the sanding part. In this shot you can see the difference between the upper and lower reflections. Now I'll give the midstripe area the same attention as the quarter.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/sand14.jpg

30 minutes later I have both areas sanded to the same reflectivity level. You can clearly see the worklight reflected on both panels.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/sand15.jpg

A shot with the camera's flash shows the result of another 20 minutes worth of wetsanding. This is about as good as it's going to get without busting through the clear coating.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/sand16.jpg

The area of the quarter panel in front of the left rear tire was VERY orangepeeled and I felt that if I was going to burn through the clear into the color coat....it would be here.

I worked slowly and carefully constantly watching the reflection as well as the color of the 'mud' created by sanding. Clear coat will produce an off-white foam and the color coat will show blue.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/sand17.jpg

And an hour later I have this finish on that area. I took my time and was very careful....and didn't bust through to the color coat! YAY! :dancingbanana::dancingbanana::dancingbanana::lol: :lol::lol:


I then spent the rest of the day working the quarter panel and around to the tailgate.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/sand18.jpg

This is the result of much elbow grease, attention to detail and lots of LUCK!!

Add the imfamous tailgate....

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/sand19.jpg

While the gate shined up nicely I am not too impressed with the driver's side repair area. If you look at the reflection of the lower ladder rung you can clearly see the WOW in the middle of the step. That is a rolling high spot that I could not get flat without plopping in a bunch of bondo. Since I refused to use more than 1/16" of filler ANYWHERE, this is the price I pay for that stubborness.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/sand20.jpg

And the driver's quarter ready for a pass with 2000 grit, polishing compound, buffer then a final carnuba wax job.

Considering how bad the finish was, I am stunned I was able to get everything smooth without burning through the clear. My earlier choice to pile two more coats of clear on saved my bacon for sure!

Tomorrow will be more of the same as today, but less issues since I took on the hard side first.

After I make my way around, I'll go over the entire jeep with 2000 grit wet/dry, thoroughly clean then start with the buffing compound. I should be done Saturday sometime and can then start putting lgihts, handles and bumpers back on!

Thanks for staying with me on this and I appreciate your words of support and advice!

:drivin::fsj:

[vintagetrks]

How does the orange peel occur? Is it a temp thing or is it just because you added a couple extra coats when the paint was'nt tacky enough. Please explain. By the way it's looking super. :thumbsup:

[Tatsadasayago]

How does the orange peel occur? Is it a temp thing or is it just because you added a couple extra coats when the paint was'nt tacky enough. Please explain. By the way it's looking super. :thumbsup:
Thanks VT!

Orangepeel is the result of:

Below optimum temperature

Using reducer/thinner that evaporates too fast for the conditions

Improper mixing of paint, reducer/thinner (Not enough)

Low air pressure at the cup (Nozzle assembly of the gun)

Humidity level too high.

Bad luck

In my case, I shot the base and color coats on the driver's side when the jeep was nosed into the garage...
It was cold and I could not get the garage above 65F no matter what I did. That side appears to have been substantially cooler than the house side and it is plainly evident by the nice way the paint laid down on that side in comparison.

I did have paint gun issues as well.
Humidity was a factor, but a small one at best.

As I've said earlier, the paint droplets need to strike the surface with enough force to cause them to flatten out a bit. The thinner/reducer begins to evaporate immediately but is (Should) be slow enough to allow the droplets to flow out a bit before hardening.

I broke most of the rules and still got away with a nice finish.

I'd rather wear out a few elbow joints than have to fix a bunch of runs or sags in the paint. They never seem to work out and I eventually have to strip and prep that panel when that happens.

:drivin::fsj:

[vintagetrks]

Well I was thinking it would have to be a combination of circumstances rather than just one cause. I have seen lots of factory paint jobs with alot more orange peel than you had. So you must be doing something right. I must admit I had always thought that it might have been a result of not moving the spraying hand fast enough along the paint path or moving it to slowly across the paint path. I gotta give you a ton of credit for being able to do such a nice paint job in your garage and in sub par temperatures. You've definetly got talent. :D

[Tatsadasayago]

Yes, I agree with you on the some of the 'factory' paint jobs......

My first paint gig wa sin Oklahoma in the late summer......

I wanted to paint my Dart Hemi Orange and went to the Napa store.

I left with a gallon of color and thinner.

It was acrylic lacquer and since it wasn't metallic, I decided to forgo the clearcoat.

Like I said, it was late summer in OK....so that means 97F with 100% humidity.
When I mixed everything up and started to shoot, the paint cam out of the gun like cotton candy. LITERALLY!

Since I'd already mixed up the entire gallon of paint, I had 1.75 gallons of color to shoot or throw it away.
So, I shot it all. I must have made 10 trips around that car before I ran out of paint. The texture can only be described as '80 grit Sandpaper'.
Not too long after that, I ETS'd, went to OK and got the car and drove it home to Montana.
It died as I was driving into my dad's driveway and ended up sitting for 2 years.
One day I walked out to the car and wet sanded a section with 400 then 1500...and polished with some rubbing compound. WOW! All that thick paint allowed me to sand till everything was smooth, then buffed out to a shine that can be described as 'running a garden hose over it wet'.

When I saw the orangepeel on that side, I remembered how the orange turned out, so I laid the remaining clear on that side hoping to get the same result.....which I seem to have. :)

Now a REAL paint booth at 80F and proper mixing into a GOOD Sata gun........well...I would expect to lay on a few coats of clear and go straight to buffing.

Now, you should keep in mind that enamels, urethanes, water-borne and lacquer all behave differently when mixed and shot.
With lacquer, I shoot a mist coat first time around, followed by a medium coat or two and when that flashes I lay on a HEAVY/WET coat that is on the verge of running or sagging.
Shooting on 'the edge' is what makes a paintjob shine! (Pun Intended)

Jim

Too bad the car was beyond rescue or I'd have had a superb street machine to cruise around in.....


Well I was thinking it would have to be a combination of circumstances rather than just one cause. I have seen lots of factory paint jobs with alot more orange peel than you had. So you must be doing something right. I must admit I had always thought that it might have been a result of not moving the spraying hand fast enough along the paint path or moving it to slowly across the paint path. I gotta give you a ton of credit for being able to do such a nice paint job in your garage and in sub par temperatures. You've definetly got talent. :D

[vintagetrks]

I'm thinking of doing the tractor/implement on my waggy but I think I would be very reluctant to do it on my Cherokee if I ever get it to the point where I'm ready to paint it. If I could get my Cherk to look half as nice as yours is looking I'd be very happy. :D
When you wet sand do you use a block or just your hand on the paper?

[Tatsadasayago]

Dude....if I can do it, you can too!

Regarding your question:
I'll use a rubber sanding block to get the general area smooth, but ALWAYS go to the hand for the majority of the work. The block removes the input the paper is sending about the shape of the surface it's cutting. Even with soap in the water, the block will suffer from surface tension and stop cold or drag really badly which can send you through the current paint coat in a hurry. I use my eyes, hands and fingers to tell me what the surface is doing. After a few rounds with each type of coating, you get a feel for things. Today, I rand the heel of my hand, plam and fingers on the sandpaper which helped me 'feel' what was happening. Fingertips lead the paper and tell you what's coming. Palm had several pressure points for focused cutting and the heel is broad and is great for area surfacing. It takes time and practice that's for sure.


As I've said previously, the ground work is what makes or breaks a paint job. There is usually something that ruins the prep of the vehicle, which kills the final paintjob.
Time, money, materials, conditions, tools etc etc etc.

If a person has plenty of some, then the prep should be good enough to hide under the paint.

In the case of your Cherk, I don't see a bunch of dents or cancer that needs to be fixed before shooting some color. Then again....I was looking at the Blair III with rose colored glasses because I loved her....and didn't see all the warts she really had.
Regardless, here we are a few months later and she's looking like prom night is a week away.

If you had a well prepped body to shoot, and I was around to guide, I'd have you mix up 1 pint of color and direct you to shoot a wall or an old car door etc. Once the gun was adjusted and you understood how to use the gun, I'd have no problem turning you loose on your Jeep.

I generally start folks out with primer, because it's always going to get sanded down and a screwup at that stage is no biggy. My Ex wife turned into a painter of note after she primed my racecar a few times and shot all the clear on my '79 Maico dirtbike restoration project. Her steady hand and nerves of steel were the key factors.

I guess I could turn it around on you and mention how tough it is to willfully step out of a perfectly good C-130 that's going to land soon enough anyway......

:drivin::fsj:
I'm thinking of doing the tractor/implement on my waggy but I think I would be very reluctant to do it on my Cherokee if I ever get it to the point where I'm ready to paint it. If I could get my Cherk to look half as nice as yours is looking I'd be very happy. :D
When you wet sand do you use a block or just your hand on the paper?

[vintagetrks]

I'm sure I could do the painting part. I used to paint the plastic guage needles and other dash parts for dodge cars and trucks at a plastics company in Wisconsin. I'm apprehensive about the bodywork however because I have absolutely zero experience slapping metal. That is in the repair aspect I can ding em up pretty good. hehe
I must admit though I am fascinated by the diffrent techniques and the simplicity of the techniques. I was amazed watching that NewZealand fellow.
You got a maico the old mechanic that tought me alot about wrenching on bikes was big into those bikes.
37 exits from a four fan can. The exit is the easy part. If it were'nt for landing on my head I might have gotten hurt. LOL :D

[Tatsadasayago]

Many years ago my dad had a smallblock Dodge powered CJ-5 project he spent about a year on. When it came time for body and paint he wisely bribed a co-worker at the dealership he worked at (Cal-Vada Jeep) to come out on the weekend and make the rig 'Purty'.

I was out in the big shop when this guy did his thing. This was probably 1976 and this guy didn't mend any metal....rather he used Bondo in place of time and skill. Yes, the body wound up straight and looked wonderful under a coat of brilliant white......but that's another story.
While he was working I had asked him if he was going to spray the paint. He replied with something I'd forgotten until just today:
"Oh H**L NO!, If I did both I'd be so sick of the vehicle that I'd never want to touch another one...EVER!"

34 years later I understand why he said that.
Sitting here relaxing after 10 hours of just about non-stop work on the Blair III I did a rough calculation of how many times my hands touched any one spot on the Cherokee. This is a rough estimate: Start till now....32 times!

Think that's too much? My body is telling me that's about 30 times too many.

ANYWAY....

When I last posted, I'd just finished wet sanding the color coat on the Blair III. I think that was Thursday, but the weekend is a bit of a blur.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/buff1.jpg

This is where I started Friday morning. You can tell that the Jeep wants to shine, but only at extreme angles. I started at the passenger side hood and worked my way around to the driver's fender over 2.5 days.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/buff2.jpg

I went back over the whole body with 2000 grit wet/dry to remove the 'fingerprint' wet sanding marks I made with the 1500 grit and I'm back at the pass side fender again. It is now around noon Friday.
I rolled the Jeep outside and gave her a thorough fresh water washing and let her dry in the afternoon sunshine at 55F.

To break the monotony, I started on the driver's side fender for the buffing phase of the project.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/buff3.jpg


Very dull looking and not looking like it will ever shine.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/buff4.jpg

From this angle though.....the potential is there.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/buff5.jpg

This is the driver's side fender after running over it with 2000 grit wet/dry.

I then started with Turtle Wax Heavy Duty Rubbing compound which is approximately 3500-5000 grit in a paste form. I applied the paste to a small area, roughly 12" x 12" with a terry cloth padded applicator then immediately picked up my Harbor Freight 49.00 vari-speed buffing sander set at about 400 RPM and worked the area over quickly. The compound 'flashes' rather quickly, so speed is key here. The wool pad I use is a semi-coarse texture designed to cut hard into the paint then as the compound dries it tears the dry lumps down to small spots similar to pimples.
Once the compound has been polished out I hit the residual buildup areas with small sprays of water which dilute them and create a second stage of rubbing. Certain areas require that I re-wet several times till the glaze disappears and I can run the buffing pad around the area without leaving any marks.

This fender took probably an hour to buff and here is the result:

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/buff6.jpg

See the difference? Now, the lower part of the leading edge of the flare reflects light with good clarity and you can even see a reflection of the idiot taking the photo! :):):)

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/buff7.jpg

I took this shot after I'd done the fender completely. It's Saturday afternoon and I didn't get much done since I had JeepGuy and his bud over to work on their rigs......which made it tough to get much done on the Blair.

Fast-Forward to SuperBowl Sunday.....

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/buff8.jpg

I got up early and hit the garage by 8 and stayed with it till after 6PM taking a break for a soda and a smoke a few times.

In this photo I've rubbed the entire rig with the compounds, THEN made another pass with faster pad speed, lighter layer of compound and a micro-fine pad....then hit it with Maguier's Gold Carnuba wax (55.00 a tin). I let it dry for several hours while I put the bumper, markers and taillights back in after giving all of them a good scrubbing.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/buff9.jpg

And now finally....the payoff for all the butt-breaking effort!

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/buff10.jpg

The camera really doesn't capture the eye-scratching clarity of the shine.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/buff11.jpg

I even put the unfinished Razor grille in to make it look like I'd actually did something over the weekend.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/buff12.jpg

Notice the clarity of the reflections from the buffer as well as all the crapola in the garage. You can even see the cream colored heater above the buffer in the reflected image.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/buff12a.jpg

From this to

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/buff13.jpg

I was finishing up out in the driveway while listening to the neighbors while the game was on. Sounded like a close one from all the screaming and carrying on.

OK, so now I am ready to put the front end stuff on tomorrow as well as start polishing the Razor grille.
Once the locks, door handles and trim is installed I'll start cleaning out the interior of the old girl in preparation for the color change from blue to black.

When I started this project I was sporting my normal Army close haircut. I said I wouldn't cut my hair again till this rig was done. I am surprised that I look like a HIPPY at this point!
Before I shave all this fur off, I will have a photo taken just for giggles.

See you next round and thanks for sticking with me on this project!

:drivin::fsj:

[Murphy]

http://smiley.onegreatguy.net/taz.gif Do you make house calls Dr.?

:thumbsup:

[CJ the noisemaker]

Just look at it shine! I wish mine could do that, but I'll have to wait.

[Skeeter74]

Amazing results, Sir. I love the look, but I would be afraid to take it off-road. Most stuff I have found around here involves alot of trees etc rubbing and scratching along the paint.

[Tatsadasayago]

http://smiley.onegreatguy.net/taz.gif Do you make house calls Dr.?

:thumbsup:



Sorry, I'm not a doctor, I just play one on T.V. :D:D:D

[Tatsadasayago]

Amazing results, Sir. I love the look, but I would be afraid to take it off-road. Most stuff I have found around here involves alot of trees etc rubbing and scratching along the paint.
Truth be told Skeeter;
There are enough warts on this project that a good 'Rub' would not hurt my feelers a bit!
Several places show where I burned through the clear into the color AND ran the buffer's backing disk into an adjacent panel and burned a nice line into the color coat that a scratch won't make my burst into too many tears.....

By GAWD she is a looker though!

:drivin::fsj:

[jaber]

I just hope I can bring as much justice to one or more of mine.
It'll have to wait 'till I get a shop first.

VERY NICELY DONE!!!!:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[Jeepguy77]

alright it looks good, see what you can get done when my jeep isnt there taking up your time:D

[vintagetrks]

She's a thing of beauty bro. I can't wait to see her in person. Now get that hair cut Troop. High and Tight don't wanna look like a rag bag in that sweet rig. LOL :D :D :D :D

[shimniok]

WOW... very very nice work! I don't know how you get all that patience. I realize now that if I ever managed to do my own bodywork someone else is going to have to shoot the paint... or else I'm painting mine semi-gloss :)

[Tatsadasayago]

WOW... very very nice work! I don't know how you get all that patience. I realize now that if I ever managed to do my own bodywork someone else is going to have to shoot the paint... or else I'm painting mine semi-gloss :)
Thanks Shim!
Yeh, I'm not going to shoot the paint again if I do the body work....or vice-versa.
I have to keep reminding myself that I am at the burn-out stage and must be on guard for cutting corners etc.

:drivin::fsj:

[Jeepguy77]

I have to keep reminding myself that I am at the burn-out stage and must be on guard for cutting corners etc.

:drivin::fsj: What ever you do dont do it. You must resist the urge to take it easy you've come too far.:D :thumbsup:

[Tatsadasayago]

Hey folks!

Today was spent putting hard parts back on the old Blair III.

I started with the front bumper. I grabbed the nice one off the GagOneer after fighting rusted bolts and went to put it on the Blair.
I'm not sure where my brain was today.....but it's wasn't operating at full throttle. The awful sound of fresh lacquer being scraped off the lower fenders gave me a heart-attack.
I'd forgotten that the Wagoneer is a narrow track rig.......

So, I looked around to make sure nobody saw my mistake and spent several hours getting the original bumper and brackets straight.
I decided to use the original Razor grille while I come up with a plan for the new one.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/finish1.jpg

I then cleaned and polished the light lenses and bases, changed out the headlights for Halogens and got the hood bolted down and adjusted. Still can't get the latch posts to turn so the hood sits up too high in the front for the time being.

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/finish2.jpg

With all the hardware installed she looks better.
I put the 89 Waggy electric mirrors on and I must say I LIKE EM!

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/finish3.jpg

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/finish4.jpg

http://www.sactownkillers.com/rvs/finish5.jpg

I took the old girl out for a shakedown drive over to mom n dad's and got quite a few smiles and nods instead of disdainful glares or fearful expressions like I did before.

Still have a bunch to do on the Jeep:

Tilt column swap-in (Already Black)

Install the roof rack and bracing strips

Strip the interior and paint all metal panels black

Install new seals, wipers and cat-whiskers

Sort out the under dash wiring mess

Put the tailgate motor and switches back together and install the glass

Tint the side and rear windows

Install lift and 35"s

Swap in new Art Carr TH400 and model 20 transfer case

Rebuild and install the 401

Power Lok and Spool install.

Install onboard air system

HUD install with NV and CCTV 'Wheeling Cameras' and PC

Install Ham Radio gear and antenna (IC-7000 with High Sierra antenna)

Go WHEELING!

:drivin::fsj:

[Jeepguy77]

I love it:thumbsup:. It makes me want to paint mine soooo bad:banghead: .

btw when are we going wheelin?:drivin: :fsj:

[Tatsadasayago]

I love it:thumbsup:. It makes me want to paint mine soooo bad:banghead: .

btw when are going wheelin?:drivin: :fsj:

:):):)

If things go right and nothing ugly rears it's head this week and next, prolly the following weekend I'll take her up to Sly Park for some snow wheeling.
You have to keep in mind that I drove maybe 350 in-town miles after I got this rig over a period of 7 months and still don't 'Know' her enough to get too far away from the garage. I hate walking and having to be towed even MORE!

Like I told you, a fender and some metal repairs on the bed and your truck would paint FAST.....say over a weekend.
For the cost of those fancy headers you could have a decent paintjob sonny!
:drivin::fsj:

[Jeepguy77]

:):):)

If things go right and nothing ugly rears it's head this week and next, prolly the following weekend I'll take her up to Sly Park for some snow wheeling.
You have to keep in mind that I drove maybe 350 in-town miles after I got this rig over a period of 7 months and still don't 'Know' her enough to get too far away from the garage. I hate walking and having to be towed even MORE!

Like I told you, a fender and some metal repairs on the bed and your truck would paint FAST.....say over a weekend.
For the cost of those fancy headers you could have a decent paintjob sonny!
:drivin::fsj:hmmm you got me thinkin that might be next months project;) and believe me i know how it feels to be stranded in the jeep, thats the reason ive got the electric fuel pump.

[Jeepguy77]

what sort of coating would it be? and what color would be best?

[Tatsadasayago]

what sort of coating would it be? and what color would be best?

The type of coating depends on what you want out of the paintjob and how clean the booth is.
As you know, my garage isn't dust-free yet I turned out a nice paintjob by working the lacquer.

I'd probably go with a single stage enamel though. If you stick with the same color you remove the jambing and interior color changes. I'd do a butterscotch with black accents of some sort if staying with/near the orange.
You ought to look into 'borrowing' the booth at the school over one weekend to shoot it. ;)
Prep would take two weekends at the most should a suitable replacement fender be located.

:drivin::fsj:

[Jeepguy77]

I was thinking charcoal and shooting the door jambs by masking off the door opening since the interior is tan i shouldnt have to paint the dash or anything. I dont think I can borrow the paint booths at school. so a suitable place to paint would need to be sorted out.

[Jeepguy77]

here what about this http://www.summitracing.com/parts/SUM-UP318/ and do you think a gallon would be enough?

[Tatsadasayago]

here what about this http://www.summitracing.com/parts/SUM-UP318/ and do you think a gallon would be enough?
Nice color!

A gallon will be close if you don't shoot the insides of the bed in that color. The danger about not having enough color to shoot the rig properly is that after about 5 hours the re-coat window closes and you must let the paint cure for about a week before hitting it again. If there is enough base coat to assure a smooth surface I can shoot that truck with the 5 quarts you would have on hand.
Your choice of urethane adds other issues as well.......

I think charcoal and flat black would rock the old J Truck!

:drivin::fsj:

[Jeepguy77]

Nice color!

A gallon will be close if you don't shoot the insides of the bed in that color. The danger about not having enough color to shoot the rig properly is that after about 5 hours the re-coat window closes and you must let the paint cure for about a week before hitting it again. If there is enough base coat to assure a smooth surface I can shoot that truck with the 5 quarts you would have on hand.
Your choice of urethane adds other issues as well.......

I think charcoal and flat black would rock the old J Truck!

:drivin::fsj: we dont need to do the bed ill just get some hurculiner or some other bed coating for that. I do like the way you blacked out the center of the hood so I may have to do that but why does the urethane cause issues? it is single stage and says clearcoat is optional

[dusty]

no spool the d44 w/ a 401 eats tires and when towing eats axle shafts witha spool Plok or d60

[Tatsadasayago]

we dont need to do the bed ill just get some hurculiner or some other bed coating for that. I do like the way you blacked out the center of the hood so I may have to do that but why does the urethane cause issues? it is single stage and says clearcoat is optional
The main issue is that while you can use the original enamel directly under urethane (That was the original purpose/intended use of polyurethane automotive coatings), the use of acrylic urethane requires that you completely seal the old finish from the new. Two part sealers are recommended in this instance as well as DTM-SEP application to any areas you take things down to the metal for repairs....like the bed rust and that end cap fix.

:drivin::fsj:

[Jeepguy77]

The main issue is that while you can use the original enamel directly under urethane (That was the original purpose/intended use of polyurethane automotive coatings), the use of acrylic urethane requires that you completely seal the old finish from the new. Two part sealers are recommended in this instance as well as DTM-SEP application to any areas you take things down to the metal for repairs....like the bed rust and that end cap fix.

:drivin::fsj:I see so who makes the single stage you were talking about and how much would the paint cost, and can I get it in that charcoal color?:D

[Tatsadasayago]

no spool the d44 w/ a 401 eats tires and when towing eats axle shafts witha spool Plok or d60

I have power Loks for both ends and want to play with a mini-spool up front and see how well it steers in the dirt, rocks and snow as opposed to the PLok.
I hadn't considered towing being an issue so THANKS for bringing this up.
Ray already talked me out of putting a spool in the rear.....

:drivin::fsj:

[Tatsadasayago]

I see so who makes the single stage you were talking about and how much would the paint cost, and can I get it in that charcoal color?:D
I've used this paint often and it's very straight forward and well behaved.

http://www.paintforcars.com/aep_metblack.html

:drivin::fsj:

[Jeepguy77]

I've used this paint often and it's very straight forward and well behaved.

http://www.paintforcars.com/aep_metblack.html

:drivin::fsj:cool I like it and its cheaper. So for prep all we need to do is sand down the old paint and primer the places we replace metal at? then just shoot the color on. Oh and can we clear over the top to maybe get a deeper color out of it and protect it more?

[Tatsadasayago]

cool I like it and its cheaper. So for prep all we need to do is sand down the old paint and primer the places we replace metal at? then just shoot the color on. Oh and can we clear over the top to maybe get a deeper color out of it and protect it more?
We would cut the paint to the bone around the repair areas, fix those then shoot self etching primer made for Direct To Metal use. Scuff the original paint and fix the chips/scratches and any dents we discover. Shoot everything with a few coats of primer, sand between coats for smooth, then shoot the color. A clear coat is not a good idea for two reasons:
Enamel get's it's durability from curing all the way through via a catalytic process. If you clear coat it, you seal it before it can cure which will leave it soft and causing lifting or blistering later as the gases form under the clear.
If you clear, you must give it time (I prefer 2-3 months) before you shoot it with anything else. I would use a urethane clear after the paint was cured. Chances are that the gloss and color depth would so nice that you would forget about clearing.

:drivin::fsj:

[Jeepguy77]

We would cut the paint to the bone around the repair areas, fix those then shoot self etching primer made for Direct To Metal use. Scuff the original paint and fix the chips/scratches and any dents we discover. Shoot everything with a few coats of primer, sand between coats for smooth, then shoot the color. A clear coat is not a good idea for two reasons:
Enamel get's it's durability from curing all the way through via a catalytic process. If you clear coat it, you seal it before it can cure which will leave it soft and causing lifting or blistering later as the gases form under the clear.
If you clear, you must give it time (I prefer 2-3 months) before you shoot it with anything else. I would use a urethane clear after the paint was cured. Chances are that the gloss and color depth would so nice that you would forget about clearing.

:drivin::fsj:Okay Im sold so what are we looking at for the cost? remember you said for the price of the headers.:thumbsup: I am now trying to picture it in that awesome color:drivin: :cool:

[Tatsadasayago]

Okay Im sold so what are we looking at for the cost? remember you said for the price of the headers.:thumbsup: I am now trying to picture it in that awesome color:drivin: :cool:

I forgot to mention the cost of the Mtn Dew and KFC runs, so add $250.00 LOL!

What are those headers and RamFlexes going to cost ya? 325.00 or so?
Your elbow grease and my welding are no-cost items on this project, so I am figuring about 350.00.

The sheet metal was not included, but say 35-45 for the pnp fender and some 8 dollar sheets of 18 gauge from home depot.
I have all the tools and still have a good supply of abrasives.

:drivin::fsj:

[Jeepguy77]

I forgot to mention the cost of the Mtn Dew and KFC runs, so add $250.00 LOL!

What are those headers and RamFlexes going to cost ya? 325.00 or so?
Your elbow grease and my welding are no-cost items on this project, so I am figuring about 350.00.

The sheet metal was not included, but say 35-45 for the pnp fender and some 8 dollar sheets of 18 gauge from home depot.
I have all the tools and still have a good supply of abrasives.

:drivin::fsj:Alright I can definately handle that. We can gather a list of everything if we do that fuelpump relocation this weekend and I can start gathering materials soon, I think the biggest things that are needed though are the fender and bed corners.

[Jeepguy77]

and it looks like Ill just have to go to costco and get a pallet of mt dew:D :thumbsup:

[Tatsadasayago]

:dancingbanana::dancingbanana::dancingbanana:

[CJ the noisemaker]

:dancingbanana::dancingbanana::dancingbanana:What' s all the excitement about?

[Tatsadasayago]

What's all the excitement about?
A pallet of Mountain Dew!!!!

When JeepGuy was over here this weekend I told him about a friend who bought a pallet of Dew from Costco or similar and had it sitting in his kitchen.

In essence, I've said that I will "Work for Mtn. Dew"

Did I mention that the Jeep is almost done on the outside?

:drivin::fsj:

[Jeepguy77]

A pallet of Mountain Dew!!!!

When JeepGuy was over here this weekend I told him about a friend who bought a pallet of Dew from Costco or similar and had it sitting in his kitchen.

In essence, I've said that I will "Work for Mtn. Dew"

Did I mention that the Jeep is almost done on the outside?

:drivin::fsj:awesome I cant wait to see the blair again in person now that its done. I think Ill start trying to find a fender and hopefully aquire one this weekend and pick up some sheet metal, and If I go over there this weekend we can figure out what else will be needed and we can possibly start:cool: :drivin: :fsj:

[vintagetrks]

You think if I can get ya a PALLET of MOUNTAIN DEW you could hook me up with a nice paint job like that on my Cherokee? Did ya get the hair cut?:D

[Tatsadasayago]

Didn't get anything done today due to a case of food poisoning of some sort.
Haven't cut me hair yet, but soon will.

too early to tell what's going on this weekend Pierce, but prolly.

:drivin::fsj:

[Tatsadasayago]

You think if I can get ya a PALLET of MOUNTAIN DEW you could hook me up with a nice paint job like that on my Cherokee? Did ya get the hair cut?:D
Hehehe

:drivin::fsj:

[Jeepguy77]

Didn't get anything done today due to a case of food poisoning of some sort.
Haven't cut me hair yet, but soon will.

too early to tell what's going on this weekend Pierce, but prolly.

:drivin::fsj:Ok that sounds good. You didnt eat anything off a taco truck did ya:thumbsup:

[Tatsadasayago]

Ok that sounds good. You didnt eat anything off a taco truck did ya:thumbsup:
Nah. My roomie needs a few pointers about food prep though......

:drivin::fsj:

[vintagetrks]

Nah. My roomie needs a few pointers about food prep though......

:drivin::fsj:

I hope that you get to feeling better soon. I'm jonesin to see more of the Cherokee. :D