1978 Cherokee Chief aka Beatrice - Build and Questions

[J76137]

I need a place to post questions and show progress/updates among fellow FSJ enthusiasts. Nobody can appreciate the struggles and success like y'all. So, meet Beatrice.
[IMG]Untitled by John Armstrong, on Flickr[/IMG]
What was supposed to be a “get it running and drive it” project turned into a pile of parts and dust. Many hours were spent fixing wiring and cleaning up bit and pieces before she was pulled into the garage and torn down. Project creep got me from here:

[IMG]Untitled by John Armstrong, on Flickr[/IMG]

to here:
[IMG]Untitled by John Armstrong, on Flickr[/IMG]

to here:
[IMG]Untitled by John Armstrong, on Flickr[/IMG]

Many hours done but many more to go. I have lots of other pieces finished and sitting in my spare bedroom waiting to go back on. I’ll have to post those for y’all as well.

[Heavy_Metal_Thunder_81]

Wow, great looking Cherk! What are your plans for it?

[J76137]

Wow, great looking Cherk! What are your plans for it?

Thanks! In the short term I want to get all of the rust fixed and get it on the road. Hopefully sometime in June it will be driving again. Long-term I plan to LS swap it and use it as a tow rig to pull my other Jeep on longer trips.

[J76137]

Seeing as how we are in the middle of a pandemic and many of us are working from home I am finding ways to multitask. That just means that I get to work on my Cherokee while I answer phone calls and emails for work.

I have done lots of grinding with a strip disc and wire wheel in the last couple of weeks. I almost have the entire underside clean. From the top of the firewall all the way back to the beginning of the cargo area are pretty much clean. I have a few spots that I have to get in with sandpaper and a few hard-to-reach places that I will have to soak in Ospho. I also have both rear wheel wells to grind away all of the old paint and horribly applied rubberized undercoating. [IMG]Untitled by John Armstrong, on Flickr[/IMG]

I have also been able to grind away all of the old paint from underneath the dash and about halfway through the cargo area. The area underneath the dash has already been coded with an epoxy paint. I am thinking I am going to use a peel and stick heat barrier but I am open to suggestions. I have been considering the lizard skin thermal barrier. The rest of the interior floor is going to have raptor liner instead of carpet. With three dogs and a lifestyle that involves getting dirty carpet is just not a good idea.

Before

[IMG]Untitled by John Armstrong, on Flickr[/IMG]

Currently
Ignore the ugly welds. I was afraid to grind them too close to the sheet-metal.

[IMG]Untitled by John Armstrong, on Flickr[/IMG]

I still have quite a ways to go but I

[78 WIDETRAC]

I really like the color. Almost a forest service look.



Great job on the floors.... This is in my future for both of my project Cherokee's.


How long did it take you to get them that clean?



Looking forward to the updates.

[J76137]

I really like the color. Almost a forest service look.



Great job on the floors.... This is in my future for both of my project Cherokee's.


Looking forward to the updates.

Thanks. My first set ever.

I like the color also but it

[J76137]

Since this is a budget build, as many are :-), I am having to get creative while still using decent products. Fortunately, I have a Summit racing warehouse close to where I live so I can pick up stuff locally instead of ordering from Amazon. Sometimes it is even cheaper. My 2016 JKU still has the factory front bumper. The plastic had started to turn gray and I needed to get it black again without breaking the bank. A product made by SEM for bumpers works really well for this.

Since it worked really well on my bumpers and has been on it for over a year and still looks black I thought I would use it to paint some of the interior pieces on my Cherokee. I am going for a satin or matte finish with everything on the Cherokee so I thought it would be perfect for the interior plastics.

After some degreasing and scrubbing I applied two light coats of the SEM bumper coating and I am really happy with the results. There were a few spots where the rivets had pulled through so I made repair pieces out of some thin sheet-metal by using it as a backer for the rivet. That allowed the rivet to work properly and not pull through the plastic. Since the patch pieces are on the inside of the box they will never be seen.

Before
[IMG]Untitled[/IMG]

After

[IMG]Untitled by John Armstrong, on Flickr[/IMG]

I still have some minor touchups to make where I painted the edge of the vents and the controls. I need a little bit of practice to get it right but for a first attempt it isn

[chubbinius]

That really cleaned up nicely with some new paint on it! Looks good.

[J76137]

Thanks. I am too cheap to buy new stuff and want to refurbish as many of the old parts as I can so I can save some cash. I will probably have to swap out the air and heating units to make the work better but that is a project for another day.

[Rusty76]

Looks great
Was that a spray on product
Thanks

[J76137]

Looks great
Was that a spray on product
Thanks

Thank you. Yes, it is about $17 a can and well worth the price.

[SOLSAKS]

man alive,......!!!

you have done some fine work

cleaning and re painting

the dash looks awesome

that floor too,.....like new.

this is going to be one fine ride for the dogs

as we say in the south,.....they will be in "high cotton".

congrats on a damn fine Cherokee, that is getting even finer.

dave In NC

[J76137]

man alive,......!!!

you have done some fine work

cleaning and re painting

the dash looks awesome

that floor too,.....like new.

this is going to be one fine ride for the dogs

as we say in the south,.....they will be in "high cotton".

congrats on a damn fine Cherokee, that is getting even finer.

dave In NC

Thank you for that! If I am being honest, a big part of this build is with my dogs in mind.

I am still going back-and-forth on what I am going to put down on the floor. I would like to do a raptor liner front to rear but I also need some heat and sound protection. I am open to suggestions.

[J76137]

Trouble in paradise...

It looks like I am going to have to cut out some cancer and make some patch panels for the inner rear fender flares.

[IMG]Untitled by John Armstrong, on Flickr[/IMG]

[J76137]

How long did it take you to get them that clean?

I missed that part. Using a paint stripper wheel on my angle grinder only took me a couple of hours off and on.