Hey guys! Its been a long time since I’ve posted an update. Lots of things have happened since the last update. I am now in Denver Colorado with the likes of Boomerjinks and his Jeep #18. We loaded the Jeep up earlier this week and drove 1000 miles from Minneapolis to Denver, through back country roads over the course of 2 days. It was pretty eventful for the Jeep. The rear brake lines burst somewhere in Nebraska, and we drove the remaining 450 miles with limited (front) brakes. Then somewhere in Colorado, the fuel pump started to whine and go out.
It took three days of work to get the rusted brake line out. It should have been easy, but due to the massive amounts of rust.. it was not. The fuel pump was also done during this time, and all in all the repairs only cost about $90. Here is a picture of the Jeep being worked on in our new awesome warehouse space in Denver! (Notice the rust accumulating on the floor.)
Once it was back together we decided to take it out into the mountains and up to Boulder Colorado for the night.
While stopping into this scenic overlook the Jeep took a pretty big hit and damaged the front suspension. The sway bar bracket broke, as did something else that has yet to be identified. (It can be heard but not found yet.) We attempted to drive back from Boulder, but ultimately had to get it towed. It was very ironic that we drove hundreds of miles on broken brakes and a failing fuel pump… but one $5 bracket was what stopped us from driving home.
The good news is. We immediately found a great Jeep frame here in Colorado from a local Jeep builder. The frame will alleviate a lot of the problems we’ve been having with rust, and will be a perfect frame for a restoration. We’ll be taking the body off some time this Summer and swapping the body over along with the engine. The suspension will be replaced with new leafs that will give a modest 1.5″ lift. While the body is off, some body work will be done, and parts will be painted and rhino lined. We hope to do the actual painting and Jurassic Park conversion on this Jeep over the winter.
I slid painters tape into the gap between the wheel and the tire, then used 3×4 notecards to shield the rest of the tire. I honestly thought I’d need more than this to protect the tire, but it worked great. Then, against better judgement, I painted my wheels without sanding them. I used Rustoleum Gloss Cherry, hoping to be a little brighter than the stripes so that when it darkened a little it would match better. I stuffed toilet paper between the spokes to prevent paint from getting on my brakes or any of the bits behind the wheel.
