Build Thread: Chief Laredo

[Chris_Hoyt]

Wow

You guys have done an amazing job. He is gonna have one awesome Jeep. What should have been my childhood Father/Son project just became an additional workbench in my dad's garage. A 1969 Mercury Cougar XR7 convertible. It's been under a piece of plastic (among other things) for the past 15 years. He is a lucky kid. Excellent work, I hope I can do something close to that good.

[rocklaurence]

Yes, Nyx is Exstatic!
Cool project. I have one with my son also but my goal was to get it running (Only)

[Long&Low]

very nice work.

[CJ5]

I bought a complete interior set on Ebay, with the Matt backing complete with 2 yds extra material for doors etc. $400. The vendor sent me Nutmeg and the shade above it and below it as samples.

I actually liked the "Cinnamon" color better when laying it on the dash and door panals. It really made the rest of the trim pop. I am having the seats done in an Ochre color which is basically nutmeg. I don't have pics yet as the seats are still in upholstery.

If you haven't bought your carpet yet maybe i can send some pics when I get it back....a few weeks guessing,

Thanks. I can get nutmeg, I just cannot get new seat belts in nutmeg and I have to go off the reservation to get a nutmeg headliner. Those are not huge issues but just something I have to work out if we keep the color.

[red mistress]

Nice project !

Thanks. I can get nutmeg, I just cannot get new seat belts in nutmeg and I have to go off the reservation to get a nutmeg headliner. Those are not huge issues but just something I have to work out if we keep the color.

Olympic white / Nutmeg is my favorite combo (well besides Red that Jeep used.

For seatbelts, just do like CJ's and use black seatbelts.

[CJ5]

Olympic white / Nutmeg is my favorite combo (well besides Red that Jeep used.

For seatbelts, just do like CJ's and use black seatbelts.

I may, I was thinking go beige and put some beige highlights in the seats when I have them reupholstered. I really wanted everything to be as close to original as possible.

[red mistress]

Laredo

I may, I was thinking go beige and put some beige highlights in the seats when I have them reupholstered. I really wanted everything to be as close to original as possible.

Have U seen the Laredo reproduction seat covers?
George custom makes them.
Has the correct stripe with stitching !

I have NOS Nutmeg partial carpet set & tailgate.

[CJ5]

Have U seen the Laredo reproduction seat covers?
George custom makes them.
Has the correct stripe with stitching !

I have NOS Nutmeg partial carpet set & tailgate.

I have not seen those, I will seek them out.

Thanks, I planned on getting a full carpet set from BJ with extra pieces for seats.

Let me know if you run across a decal set. Tonka talked about reproducing a set.

[CJ5]

With the holidays coming upon us our work weekends are limited but we were able to get a few things done.

We finished with the epoxy primer inside and out and began apply some body filler in a few areas on the outside but mainly we are working to get the inside finished. We reinforced the underside floor boards earlier where there was some rust through. We are now patching the inside floor boards. We are using a metal body filler. There were some small holes but it is mainly bad pitting. We are using regular body filler on some small pitting areas, elsewhere.





We are staying with the factory exhaust manifolds so we prepped and painted those. We are using Tech Line Coating, a high temp manifold paint for the manifolds and y-pipe. It is a ceramic spray on product. I hope it works out well. We will spray the exhaust pipes with a VHT high temp spray paint.



The finished product. They will have to be cured by running the motor. You can also cure in an over but I don't have access to one for 750deg setting.


I hope this product works out. I will give future updates on all of the products I used. The tranny should be here this week and hopefully, we can get it and the motor installed over the long weekend.

[CJ5]

Well, we have reached another milestone!

Tranny back from the shop. World Transmission, owned by my buddy Chip, went through it and the transfer case. They found no major issues and just refreshened them. He did install a new 2000 stall converter. He believes with the motor work we did this would be a excellent choice.

Jared and I painted it up and got it ready for the install.

Before


after




I researched and on older stock AMC vehicles they painted the tranny and engine the same color. 1981 is quite old but since we went with an old original AMC color we would follow suit. We painted the transfer case with Eastwood Alumiblast. It turned out nice. With the tranny and motor done, we could now get the drive train reinstalled in the frame.

[Strode]

Looks great! Keep posting......

[CJ5]

Engine and transmission now installed. We have a basic rolling chassis now.

Jared and my nephew John helped. We installed the motor first so it would be a little easier.


Oops...didn't upload the tranny install shot. It took a little work but bolted up fine. Everything aligned perfectly. I wondered which of the motor mount holes to use on the horn since it had two rows. I consulted the board and two guys agreed the front holes and one showed pictures of the rear holes. I guess right and used the front holes.

I wish I knew of this mythical tool called a flywheel turner. The most frustrating part was getting the torque converter bolted to the flex plate. Inching the flex plate around was tedious. I made a mistake by getting two bolts in and tight and then the other two would not align. I spun it a few more rounds and just started two bolts and it still would not let me get the other two in. The final try, I pushed the converter back towards the tranny so I could barely start a bolt. Then inched it around and they all final went in. I then had to continue around until I could tighten them all. Done.

We took it outside today and gave Chief Laredo his first wash.




this is a before


There isn't much to be done on the chassis...which means I HAVE to keep working on the body.

[86gwrhino]

wow that is amazing!

[KyooMac]

AWESOME!!!!

[CJ5]

Thanks guys for the positive feedback!

We are moving along with the project. The body will be the next biggest step to complete. I am currently stocking items for the interior and getting that part of the project organzied. If things go well we could be finished by summer.