Another 70 wagoneer build

[81cherokee laredo]

WOW!! that is amazing work

[tgreese]

Wow, this looks like heaps of fun. Very impressive. I wish I had the time/skill/space/tools to do metal work like this.

Interesting that you use the jig saw here - I too have used the jig saw to cut out panels and found it a very effective method.

Keep it coming! I'm subscribed

[Kaiserjeeps]

Geez, you guys are gonna give me a big head. I am seriously new to this. I got some cool training at a extreme high end shop, but the work went away with the economy. I was bummed and would have worked for free if I could.
I figure it's only metal right? It can be moved.

And yes the skil saw works great for sheet metal.

Thanks for the words. There is something to be said about following your bliss. Unseen doors will open. And they have.

Thank you.

[billyj7175]

I hate to be a broken record here, but wow...that is some outstanding metal work there!

[Smithers]

You can never have too many Vise-grips and C-clamps. They just make life more easy. Looks great man!

[Kaiserjeeps]

And I need more visegrips!

I got a little more done. The floor was toast. A good reason for carpet instead of the original rubber or vinyl mat. Fortunately the hat channels and the rocker were excellent. I needed a new toe piece in front of the patch panel.
And new floor between the patch panels.









Everything is rough cut. Lots of fitting left.



More to follow.

[tgreese]

I've been collecting links to rust repair projects for a while. This thread was added. Here are a couple that you guys might like:

http://spi.forumup.org/viewtopic.php?t=1939&mforum=spi

http://www.autobody101.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=8047

[joe]

Geez, you guys are gonna give me a big head. I am seriously new to this. I got some cool training at a extreme high end shop, but the work went away with the economy. I was bummed and would have worked for free if I could.
I figure it's only metal right? It can be moved.
Thank you.

Good attitude. I'd work for a metal masher for free to learn. I'm no mechanic by any means but due to the enviroment outside the house I grew up with the wrench in hand rather than a hammer. Looking back it's odd cause my old man was a tool-n-die maker by trade and one year the shop he worked for was contracted to build an Indy race car body. Old man made the model and hammer formed the entire body for a 60 something Indy car. Made me take notice of how much skill/eye is required to do nice work rather than just standard bang it, weld it, grind it, paint it, cash the check.
If you ever go commercial and can provide tent or bag space email me I'd give you some serious time mucking the shop, cleaning heads or whatever to learn from you.

Nice work sir!

[Kaiserjeeps]

Well here is some more. I started on the rear seat surround after finishing the front passenger floor pan. I was going to build forward and join with the new panel. Then I found a X model wagoneer in the desert here in southern OR. The floors in it are ten times better than this one. The rest of it is way to rusty to deal with. I will be cut and pasting big parts in now. I won't have to hand make each piece. The rig is 5 hours away and my tow rig is down. So time to sweet talk a friend who has been known to volunteer for a jeep recovery or two in the past. I did score the whole interior of the X model for spares for me. Sweet!

The brittle gas filler necks are starting to soften from the daily sprays of 303 protectant. Looks like they will be able to be saved.

When I get the cab here I will post up more. Grafting in factory components is the best way to go here. Stay tuned...


My pictures won't load.

[Kaiserjeeps]

Thanks Joe. I am trying to move to a bigger shop, smaller home. I would expand if it happened. I also want to go back to school on this stuff.
Or afford the wheel and bigger tools and learn by trying hands on.
I was working on a 150K copy of the graffitti coupe for a while at a great job a couple years ago. Now that was intimidating. Every move watched by the owner in Tacoma via camera along with all day updates. Rivit's in the frame would get moved 2 inches to be correct. Nutso.

I like the old waggie sitting here. Low key and she is going to be a cream puff with SS hubcaps in the end.
Cheers!

[Kaiserjeeps]

I'll use photobucket. My camera has changed and my files are to big for uploading directly.









All this will be removed now. I will capture the whole surround from the other cab. It is in great shape while the rest of the cab is toast. It would have taken some panel fabbing.

[hkjensli]

Extremely impressive work!

[JTRUCKJMC]

Updates pleaseeee.

[Kaiserjeeps]

Hey good timing. I have been busy securing land to build on in the woods here. Talk about a time hog. The Land use and Fire folks have a lot of hoops to jump through.

I ended up finding a1969 1414x model donor in southern Oregon (thanks Rob) that had excellent body parts. It took several weeks to get everybody organized to go pick it up. My friend John who generously donated his tow rig for my trailer haul has done these all day recoveries before. It was a very long day and I owe him a thank you.
I also scored the interior for my X model I will build next. That included the factory AC for mine. Sweet!
Most of the rear of this donor rig was gone. Same with the quarters. But the carpeted passenger area was close to perfect. It was exactly what I needed.
Rob wanted the axles so we landed it on the trailer and took the axles from under it.



The floors were incredible.



Meanwhile back at home the rig waited. I found the drivers side hat channel rotten and collapsed. The 69 had near perfect metal with only surface rust. Time to graft.



Not much holding this rig down when it came here.



Cut lines.



Cut and paste. The toe board of the firewall on the drivers side. I am glad to have found this extra rig even though I enjoy making panels. There was a ton to do. This is going to make it a lot faster.



I will fill the front pan area with a BJ's patch panel. The entire rest of the floor will be replaced as a unit. Including the rear seat surround.

This is starting to become comical.

[Kaiserjeeps]

The donor hat channel. I need to strip the sheet metal off of it and fit it in. Notice the hole for the console shifter in the trans hump. The X model and D model had em. The C model did not.



With the rest of the floor removed this is what is left.
I still need to clean all edges back to parent metal. Then lay in the panel and see what happens.
It has all new body biscuits and I upgraded the body bolts from 3/8 to 7/16.





I have seen easier ways to clean and paint the frame.

I will have more soon. Including making the 69 donor rig a serious low rider.