1963 J-200 SLOOOOOW Build

[Frank Ziebert]

^^ ^^

[toddthewelder]

The '63 is officially insured, titled and registered in Louisiana! Plate in hand. What. A. Feeling.

Should be able to get the cab primed by the weekend!

Awesome!

[Kaiserjeeps]

Those steering surrounds are a tough fix. Creating one to make new would be the shiz. I could plate them. It looks like it could make you crazy though. Kind of like the gentleman that designed the TH400. He went nuts and his design ruled. Looks like you will be on the road before the rest of us. Happy day.!

[63J200atLSU]

Im kind of thinking that I can maybe

Those steering surrounds are a tough fix. Creating one to make new would be the shiz. I could plate them. It looks like it could make you crazy though. Kind of like the gentleman that designed the TH400. He went nuts and his design ruled. Looks like you will be on the road before the rest of us. Happy day.!

Man, I tell you what, I'm a man on a mission. I might ultimately do something much simpler out of sheet steel (I could even paint on the indentions for the time being, lol), or I could even design it in solidworks and get someone at LSU's machine shop to CNC it.

The weather should be cooperative for me to prime tomorrow if I can get a few little body things sorted out in the AM.

More soon (very soon.... I'm about to post a separate post for something else!)

[Frank Ziebert]

Man, I tell you what, I'm a man on a mission. I might ultimately do something much simpler out of sheet steel (I could even paint on the indentions for the time being, lol), or I could even design it in solidworks and get someone at LSU's machine shop to CNC it.

The weather should be cooperative for me to prime tomorrow if I can get a few little body things sorted out in the AM.

More soon (very soon.... I'm about to post a separate post for something else!)

You need to start planning the trip west !

[63J200atLSU]

Fender Skirt Seals!

So I'm going to post a completely new thread for these also since well, there are many many pages in this thread and I feel like it also deserves its own space. But here was the project of the day since rain kept me from doing any priming.

As some of you might know, Al (Kaiserjeeps) sent me a set of these fender skirt seals he'd cut himself to try out. I gladly volunteered for the guinea pig duty on this. My hope is that this will help some of you looking to do this for your rig (my old seals were in BAD shape when the skirts came off, so I didn't even try to save them) see what all was involved in it. Despite the fact that I've worked pretty much tirelessly for the last year and a half on my truck, I'm a total noob. Everything I do is only after many question and answer sessions with some of the fine folks around here. All that is to say, these are a snap. You can do it. Hit up Kaiserjeeps for more details.

I know some of the purists and prissy folks will get their knickers in a twist (some, ahem, Al, ahem, are just doing everything exactly like factory, but better...), but I decided, after much searching for the best way to do the staples around the fender skirts, that actually the best way was to use rivets. Stainless rivets would have been even better, and I may drill these out and replace them with stainless down the road, but Aluminum also won't rust and these are a fairly low stress part, so I used aluminum rivets.

First, I drilled a hole right in between the staple holes on the skirt


On the first one, I held the seal in place with about a 1/4' reveal and used the 3/16 drill bit to score/mark it. I found a much easier way to get this done later. As I said, originally, I didn't use a backing washer.


Using a tiny amount of pressure from some pliers and also using cardboard as a protective barrier for both the skirt and the seal, I just walked down repeating this. for each set of staple holes.


Then when I got to the last one on the passenger skirt seal, I thought to myself, I should be using washers. Washers would be correct in this situation. I also discovered that if I only pumped my riveter once, it would expand the rivet enough to hold the washer in place but still give me some play so that I could get everything lined up nice and straight. I ALSO discovered that I could hold the seal under the skirt and use a right angle pick to create a hole in the seal, then go back and open it up just a little bit with my 3/16 bit (anybody who's ever drilled rubber like this knows that it will not make a correct sized hole, or really any hole at all...).


Doing this, I could walk down about 3-4 holes at a time. It made the work go really fast. Then when I got all of them sticking up stegosaurus style...


I could go ahead and pop all the rivets.






Came out with a really clean install. If I'd done the pick/drill method for the first fender and thought to use the washers from the beginning, it would've been about an hour install for both sides.

I'm not really sure why, in the beginning, I didn't think to use a backing washer. It makes sense that it would help to effectively sandwich the seal between the rivet/skirt and the washer. I didn't though, and so had to go back a redo most of the passenger side after running to grab some stainless 3/16 washers. Really happy with the results though.

Al, you are, as ever, the freaking man. So many awesome people on this forum, willing to hep out a dim little noob like myself. You guys rock.

[Frank Ziebert]

Greg this will help A LOT in the very near future. Thanks for sharing. I really don't care about original/factory. We are all stuck repairing what the factory called "good enough." I want functional and built to last.

[63J200atLSU]

I also wanted to share this...

I know there's bound to be one or two guys/gals who come along at some point and have just picked up their very first project vehicle. They will scour the internet looking for things to do, how to fix this, how to make that. They will, like we all did in our first attempt (THIS is my first attempt) at a vehicle restoration, feel extremely intimidated and probably pretty insufficient and mechanically inadequate. They will have setbacks. They will get frustrated. They will want to throw things, punch things, burn things. They will eventually, if they keep at it, celebrate.

So... I've adopted a philosophy over the last year and a half. I'm pretty sure I've said it before. My whole goal with this truck is not to make a show truck. It's to bring a truck back from the dead so that I could drive it and enjoy it and hopefully put a smile on others' faces as they watch it drive by, because THAT is what these old vehicles do. I remember when I was growing up, my dad had a 1960 MGA. It wasn't super nice. It wasn't fast (at all). It was just a beautiful old (it was actually 30 years newer when I was born than my truck was when I got it... zow.) British sports car, and he loved it. I loved it. The whole family always wanted to take it for outings. When my friends came over, they wanted to see it. When he picked me up from school in it occasionally, the entire playground would come to a halt. Old cars are stinking cool. Save an old car.

If you think you can't do it, just consider this: before I started this project, I didn't know how to weld, I didn't know how to paint, I didn't even know that a Jeep J200 was a thing. The extent of my mechanical endeavors was when I disassembled the engine of a pressure washer to replace a broken connecting rod. This was my truck when I got it.



It was a mess. It was non-running (people still tease me about my Tornado 230!). It had road signs covered in astro turf for floors. It was not pretty. Dilligence. Every think I've done, I've just tried, basically, to get my hands and attention on EVERY part of this truck and just make every part the best that I can. It doesn't have to be perfect, just the best that I can do. And ya know what? It's coming out pretty stinking good.







I hope that even just one person looks at these, and maybe goes back to the beginning of this thread and is like, "Yeah, that guy really was clueless... If he can do it, I can definitely do it." Because you can. And the world needs more stinkin' cool old cars and trucks like these.

[63J200atLSU]

Greg this will help A LOT in the very near future. Thanks for sharing. I really don't care about original/factory. We are all stuck repairing what the factory called "good enough." I want functional and built to last.

HELL YEAH! Man, I cannot wait till we all get our trucks together. It is really a marvelous thing bringing these old rigs back to life.

[Frank Ziebert]

The only problem we will have is getting All to decide which one of his harem to bring to the show down!

[63J200atLSU]

The only problem we will have is getting All to decide which one of his harem to bring to the show down!

Well Sadie belongs in a Jeep museum. He could bring the CJ, or he could get crackin on that jeepster. Or maybe even the truck he just picked up. All three?

[toddthewelder]

You need to start planning the trip west !

He could ride with me in two days, I just live 7 hours from him. On second thought you don't want two guitar players at your house at the same time

[Frank Ziebert]

I think Al should bring his fire truck!

[63J200atLSU]

I think Al should bring his fire truck!

You're freaking kidding me. Al has a fire truck?!

[63J200atLSU]

He could ride with me in two days, I just live 7 hours from him. On second thought you don't want two guitar players at your house at the same time

I'm not a very loud guitar player anymore... been doing mostly acoustic stuff since about 2010... I can't even remember the last time I plugged in the AC30 or my Les Paul...