Long Time Lurker...First Time Poster.

[J76137]

Hey y'all. It is awesome to see such a good community of people on here. Even though this type of online community is dying a slow death I love that there are some that sill use forums. There is a great wealth of knowledge to be found in these pages.

I have been reading some of the build threads and learning a few interesting tidbits. For example, the drain hole for the fresh air vent. I hadn't thought about it but after reading one of the build threads I was able to clean it out with a shop vac and an air hose. I am really glad I read it. Huge thanks to whomever shared it.

I am excited once more to be working on my '78 Chief and hope to have it on the road soon.

[fulsizjeep]

Welcome to the fun. There is a great deal of experience here. I have only recently been more present here myself. Let's see what you have.

Here is my project since 1995.

[J76137]

I keep trying to upload a pic but it always tells me the file size is too large. Suggestions are welcome. I can build a car but cant upload a picture?

[J76137]

Ha! Flickr to the rescue. This was the day I brought her home.
[IMG]Untitled by John Armstrong, on Flickr[/IMG]

And this is her at the moment.
[IMG]Untitled by John Armstrong, on Flickr[/IMG]

[JPSwapMohn]

Clean looking rig. Looks like it is in really solid shape. I like the color.

[Be from Be]

Looks like it is in good shape. What are your plans with it?

[J76137]

Clean looking rig. Looks like it is in really solid shape. I like the color.

I like the color as well. It looks like a color from a Kaiser in the late 60s. Unfortunately, one of the previous owners dumped a gallon of PPG paint on it with what looks to be very poor prep. All of that paint will have to come off and I am thinking about painting it a blue color. Possibly even raptor liner since I want to be able to drive it and not worry about dings and scratches.

Looks like it is in good shape. What are your plans with it?

Thank you. It really was a deal that I could not say no to. Overall I would say that it is in great condition. The only major rust was found on the floor pans. My original plan was to get it legal to drive, make the gauges work like they

[rang-a-stang]

Super cool!!! I am usually not a fan of bedliner on external body parts but it looks really good on yours! I especially dig the roof! That bedliner will look super aweome up there with a satin or glass black roof rack and some lights! Looking forward to seeing it come along! Thanks for joining the posting world!

I notice on your firewall, you don't have the heat shield on the passenger side. Did you remove it? Are you putting it back on? Mine looked like some high school welder put it on (the welds looked like hairless caterpillars).

[J76137]

Super cool!!! I am usually not a fan of bedliner on external body parts but it looks really good on yours! I especially dig the roof! That bedliner will look super aweome up there with a satin or glass black roof rack and some lights! Looking forward to seeing it come along! Thanks for joining the posting world!

I notice on your firewall, you don't have the heat shield on the passenger side. Did you remove it? Are you putting it back on? Mine looked like some high school welder put it on (the welds looked like hairless caterpillars).

Thanks! I am glad to be here. I did try to join the other FSJ forum but would never get a confirmation email no matter how many times I tried. I think that one is dead.

This build is meant to be able to double as an adventure rig for camping so the bedliner will work well. I do not know what brand the previous owner used but it is not holding up very well so I am going to have to strip it and reapply it. I am still thinking about the roof rack idea. I had considered building one that looks similar to original equipment but a little more rugged.

You have an eye for detail. I was wondering if anyone would notice the missing heat shield. I removed them because I needed to paint behind them and I wanted a cleaner look. I plan to use exhaust wrap to cut down on the heat from the exhaust. I will be building a heat shield that will attach to the muffler using the old heat shield material that I took off. It will also help keep dirt and mud from collecting between the heat shields and the floorpans.

[rang-a-stang]

Ah! That makes perfect sense (heat shield).

Bummer (bedliner). Hopefully that is not too much of a pain. A member on here used to make a SUPER nice FSJ specific rack called a TAD Rack. He open sourced all the design for them so you can either make your own or bring it to a fab place and have them make it. (These pics found on Google)
TAD RACK Files
They look really nice and fit the truck well.

[J76137]

I do not expect the bedliner to be too difficult to get off. If I remember correctly, mastic remover should take it off. Of course, an angle grinder with a stiff wire wheel will also take it off.

I will have to look at the rack files and see if I can use them. My wife has it in her head that she wants to buy a CNC plasma cutter for some projects we do around the house. That will mean I can make jeep parts myself and not have to buy them.

[Full Size Jeeper]

Here is one in Texas done in bed-liner.

[J76137]

I saw that one on Pinterest a while back when I was looking for ideas. That is pretty close to the color I am thinking about.