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Posts Tagged ‘Fenders’

Jeep #12: Disassembly Begins

Been a long time since I’ve updated this. Kinda sad that I got that frame almost a year ago, and it’s still sitting waiting to be used.

But it shouldn’t be waiting much longer!

In Jan I sold my hardtop. And then the Jeep had been sitting inside for the rest of the winter. A few months ago I moved and Jeep and started to unbolt a few things, but not really remove anything. Earlier this week Kevin (Boomerjinks JP #18) wanted to hang out and I suggested we do some work on my Jeep. He was an hour late, so I started without him and actually unbolted a lot of things. The seats, the rollcage, seatbelts.. etc. I tried to unbolt the windshield, but all those torx bolts stripped out. I ended up doing the quick and simple thing and just cut the hinges right in half. Easy peasy. Finally Kevin showed up to help do some heavy lifting and we got the roll cage, seats, windshield frame and hood out of the way. Enough for a few hours work.

Jeep with no seats, no rollcage

Jeep no hood or windshield

The next few days I would come in and take something off, bag it up and catalog it. Just small items like the license plates, frames, taillights.. etc.

Last night however, I decided I should give a go at taking off the fenders and the grill. The grill I had removed before, so I knew it wouldn’t be too difficult. The fenders on the other hand were going to take some work. I started with the passenger side fender, which is easier than the driver side as it just has the battery tray and jack in the way. After some unbolting, it was out. Next was the grill, which required draining the coolant and removing hoses, but again was pretty simple. The driver side fender is only a little bit harder than the passenger side. There are a lot of electrics, coolant / washer fluid bottles, evap canister and some other stuff to remove before getting access to the bolts. A few hours work total over Friday and Saturday morning and I have this:

Jeep with Fenders off.

Hopefully a lot more progress will be made in the next few months. Kind of sucks to not be driving the Jeep with the nice summer weather upon us… but the faster I get this done, the faster I can drive it!

Jeep #12: Back at it!

We’re back at it after letting the Jeep #12 sit during the cold and long Winter here in Minnesota. I didn’t drive it much during the Winter, though there were days where I certainly should have! Now that the temperatures are finally raising up to the point of being able to drive with no top, the Jeep is once again becoming active. I took the hard top off and the hard full doors. A friend found a set of almost brand new soft doors at a local junkyard and at only $80 they were a bargain.

Up next is figuring out the wiring issue that may or may not still be affecting the headlights. Followed by painting the replacement fenders and windshield frame. After that it is time for the bodywork and (eventually) paint! Hopefully we can get this thing done this summer!

Jeep #12: Half Painted Fenders

You may have recalled that I ordered and recieved a set of new fenders a month ago. The fenders were completely black primer and ready for paint, and I know that when I get the Jeep painted that they will probably not paint the inside of the fender. So I ordered up a spray can of Sand Biege Low Gloss Metallic from an online paint suppler. I prepped the fender with a little surface cleaner and then put on two and a half coats. Turns out there isn’t as much paint in those cans as you would think… but atleast one fender looks well coated on the inside.

Jeep #12: Fenders are Here… Finally.

Kind of funny that the very first things I bought after I got the Jeep were new fenders, and they were almost the last to arrive. I picked these up on eBay from pershingautobodyparts03. They did a great amount of work to get these things to me and ensure that they were OEM quality. I am extremely impressed at the quality and especially the price. There is absolutely no way they made any money on these things after eBay fees, PayPal fees and Shipping. They were only $220 shipped, which is probably a hundred dollars cheaper than anywhere else.

Jeep #12: To-Do List

The body is amazingly almost completely rust free. The frame however is not so lucky. The front and rear sections are common for rusting, and they did. The front was already repaired, and the rear will be done. I suspect the frame is probably 60% there.. there is a lot of surface rust.

Here is the current to do list, with parts stacking up:

-Install Steering Stabalizer
-Install Sway Bar Bracket
-Install Bump Stops
-Install Shocks
-Install Pads / Rotors
-Install Rear Drums
-Install new TC Output Seal
-Change Oil in TC and Transmission
-Repair Rear Frame Rust
-Remove / repaint Front Bumper
-Install Bumper Guards
-Install Foglights on stock brackets (clean / paint brackets).
-Install Rear Foglights and wire in switch.

I should have front fenders, half doors and (now) a windshield frame on the way. I might pick up some paint to start laying down as a protectant. It really needs to stop raining for me to get some of these things done.

Jeep #12: Collecting Parts

I found frame repair sections. There were some expensive ($250) sections that were boxed in, or some cheaper ($100) plates that you weld to existing metal. I opted for the cheaper ones as there is still plenty of metal to secure to.

I haven’t driven the Jeep since the day I bought it (Thursday) because the battery went dead. I wasn’t happy with the battery connections (they were old and rigged in there) so I worked a bit today to replace them. In the process of doing that I had a rusted stud that refused to come out, so I had to cut a wire. I could have been driving the Jeep today if that had gone smoothly.

The last few days have spent scouring information on JeepForum, this JP site and on parts supplier sites. I have spent quite a bit of money on some parts that I need / wanted such as:

-Rear Fog Lights (The amber driving lights). I went with the Pro Comp 100 4″x6″ amber fog light. I will be replacing the bulb with a lower wattage lamp and then wiring a flip switch to allow for switching between red and amber.

-Front Fog Lights. One of mine was missing the lense / reflector assembly. Replacing this with a factory one would have cost quite a bit of money. I decided to go with the Delta 150 Foglight. It is a pretty close match for the factory light, just a little bit thicker I presume.

-Fenders. I found a company that claims the fenders they sell are OE quality. If they are not, I will be returning them and attempting to get my money back.

-Soft Top. I managed to find a Spice Bestop top here on Craigslist locally. It has quite a bit of hardware (2 of everything) and a decent top. I picked it up for $200 which is a great deal.

Looking for:
-Half Doors. Saw some on eBay, probably will be out bid even though they are up to $400 right now.
-Windshield Frame. I really don’t want to buy a aftermarket steel frame. I am trying to find a used rust free frame. Currently bidding on one, but its already up past where I really want to pay.

Future Steps:

I have a bit of maintainence to do. Hopefully I can get it all done tomorrow. I have the battery, steering stabalizer strut, rear axle seals, TC output seal, and fluid changes for those.

Now that I have a soft top, I want to pull off the Hardtop and install the soft top hardware. That will require a lot of cleaning and painting of the parts as some of them are rusty. I hope there is enough components to make atleast 1 good set of hardware.

But before I put the soft top on, I want to pull the rollcage, seats and carpet and Herculine the floors and interior. I am pretty sure my floors are rust free (atleast no holes). So I want to keep it that way. I figure 3-4 coats of Herculiner should do the trick. After that is done the carpet will go back in. (I really like that look of that!).

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