Building My Future Daily Driver

Looking good man.

 

Thank you for the encouragement!
Slowly but surely coming along. I think starting this thread has helped keep me focused,
In the past I've started projects and let them sit un-touched for months at a time, as
I'm pretty easily distracted. With this thread going It seems I'm a little more driven to finish.
I don't want to be the only one on here not finishing what I start!

I did finish the radiator mounting and built a shroud over the last couple days so here are the pics.
This is the original back bumper, as stated earlier the PO had welded a frame wide piece of square tube
to it, so i cut the ends off to use as the bottom tray for the radiator to sit in.



I welded 1" angle to some pieces of 16 gauge for the sides and welded them to the grill.



Here's the new aluminum radiator sitting in the tray.



My first attempt at a shroud, I marked and cut the hole for the inlet then clamped this 22 gauge in place.
Then I held a marker on the end of a fan blade and turned the fan to mark the cut.




The 22 gauge was just to hard to work with, so I had to change my plan of attack.
This is the complete outer roof panel of the 82 chevy I parted out for a dana 60, marked and ready for cutting.



Here's the rough example of the shroud, I welded 1" strap along the sides and drilled 3/8 holes on each corner,
then I welded nuts on the inside of the 1" angle on the side panels to bolt the shroud to. The notches in the sheet metal are going
to be bent to shape form the final opening around the fan and give something to weld to.



Here's the 3" strip of roof welded in Place, it just needs to be trimmed for the belts and it will be done.




I wanted to build the shroud so it would go all the way around and fully cover the opening, but it just wasn't practical the fan runs about 4inches
below the bottom of the radiator and the angle was too severe to tie it all together. I did bend the sides of the tray (former rear bumper) down
at a 45 to finish it up. It should get as much air as possible thru the radiator.

 

I saved the brackets for the grill support rods and welded them back on, still going for that original look.







Then shaped a piece of sheet metal to seal the top front of the grill. The hood sits right against the lip of this panel.




View from above.



and after some shake and shoot.

 

Finished exhaust, added a 45* and a short length to get it behind the tire and out the side.



Used an old remnant of a broken hanger, bolted to an existing bracket on the frame, then welded
a 3/8 bolt to the tube and finished it up.

 

Finished the passenger side floor.
The PO must have liked hand drilling a lot more than I do! This was his repair when I started, a piece of 1/8" randomly drilled
and bolted to the floor, covering the drain and the side of the tunnel opening.



This is what I found under the bolted in patch, several cracks and as you can imagine dirt and the red menace.



I swept the heavy chunks out of the way and cleaned all the cracks with a flapper disc. The bolt is going thru the
body mount to remind me not to weld it closed and keep it aligned.



All welded up and ready for finish grinding.



Cut the PO's patch for the floor drain and trimmed it back for the tunnel, then welded the edges and rosette(plug)
welds thru all the drill holes, and it's done

 

Forgot one this is the piece I added to close the tunnel around the new drive train.

 

Don't ya just love re-fixing someone else's cr@p work?

 

As I showed earlier in the thread the trans/tc intrude quite a way into the passenger compartment here's the
pieces I removed to make room, including the top corner and side of the tool box.



I don't know what happened to this pic., but it's the repair to the back of the tool box where it meets the step.
The box was pushed away from step and there was a 1/2" crack running toward the back seat about 6" long,
this is where the body was breaking itself in half.



One of the hinge pins was frozen in the bore and broken and the other hinge was really stiff
so I drilled the spot welds out and removed them.



Then I cut the top of tool box off leaving the front in place.



Removed 4" of the top[ and clamped it back in place.



For perspective this is the lid laying on the new opening.




Welded back up including the corner and side piece's, then bent the front panel toward the rear and
formed the start of the tunnel side of the box.




I cut the lid down the center of 2 of the ribs and removed the 4" piece as shown.



Then welded it up and fit it back in place.



Here is the finished tunnel side of the box. Along the top edge of the box and the step I welded 1" angle with captured (welded)
nuts for the new tunnel cover.

 

That's neat.

 

Thanks, It turned out pretty nice. Even looks stock if you don't know how big the box
is supposed to be.
While the welder was set up and I was repairing the floor I made a couple quick repairs to the floor behind
the seats and welded up the holes in the rear fender wells (27 driver side, 24 passenger side) man the PO
liked to use his drill.
This is the floor in front of the fender well and behind the driver seat.
I don't know how many roll bars have been in this thing, but there are a lot of holes.




I cut patches for the top and underneath out of the same sheet of steel I have been
using for everything else and cleaned up the mount areas with a flap disc.
The floor was sunken and cracked so I took the bottom patch and held it in place with a bottle
jack with enough pressure to straighten the bow in the floor and close the cracks. Then I plug welded
the patch in place thru the drill holes. Then welded the top patch in place.



Then welded up the cracks, and finished it up. The passenger side was just the same except there were smaller cracks.

 

Now it's time to build the tunnel cover, I have a few laying around to build from but decided
to start with this one from the 82' 1 ton.



I cut the top off where the bend started. Then cut the edge with the holes and reinforcing bead down to usable segments,
and started fitting them in place.





All the holes match the nuts welded on the 1" angle on the rear step and the tool box side.



Then I started fitting whatever scrap sheet metal I had laying around.



This is the main cover originally on the Jeep, you can see where the heel well is worn thru at the throttle.
I cut the top of this off at the bend and split the rest in half to build the front half.



This is a scrap I had left from tapering the hood on my POS, I used this to close the gaps on the front of the cover.



Top and front mostly done, everywhere there was a bolt hole in the new cover I drilled a matching hole thru the
floor and welded a nut on the back side.

 

Forgot one last one, this shows the patch where the original brake access is filled and the back corner against the step
is in place. Almost done cleaning up the welds.

 

Weather is starting to turn cold; I only have a small wood burning stove in my partially insulated garage.
So I have to really want to work when temps. are in the teens, either bite the bullet and do what I can
before I freeze, or start a fire and tend it constantly never moving far from it's warming circle.
While it was warm enough this weekend to apply the Herculiner, I got the floor in the front covered.
This is the passenger side after the second coat. All the various bolts you can see are protecting the
threads on the captured nuts for the cover.



Here's the driver side.



Up the step and the side of the tool box, and you can see the trans/tc are in for hopefully the final time.



And a coat on the finished tunnel cover.

 

I had a couple other reasons for coating the front section besides the cold.
I had a partial can of herculiner from another project and I want to get the
tank in and run the fuel lines.
I test fit the tank and knew how tight a fit it is so I took an old piece of Fiberglass rod
used for marking driveway edges in deep snow and cut it into 3 sections then siliconed it
to the floor.



Then bolted the cover in place for the last time.

 

Here's the tank in place and of course it still won't fit. It doesn't sit down on the fiberglass rod
even with a little not so gentle massaging on the cover with a BFH. There is just no room to hammer
the cover it is already touching the trans right under the front corner of the tank.



Soooooo, I had to make a little room on the other side.This shows the cut line on the door opening.



I cut it right along the bend in the door opening and up the side about 2". The split loom pictured
carries the rear wiring harness.



Then I cut a piece of 1/8" strap 2" wide and following the curve of the door,
clamped in place and ready to be welded.



Welding done, the patch fits under the lip and extends about 5" past the cut toward the dash
and about 2" past the cut toward the rear.



Tank back in place, now it sits flat on the fiberglass rods and isn't making contact anywhere.

 

20 below here this morning but I got a little done. Finished strapping the tank down.
The strap as delivered didn't fit the tank so I re-bent it and welded the ends.



The rear mount is a u-bolt from a universal joint thru the floor and a strap
from another u-joint on the underside. These form a clamp on the tank strap
and the floor.




Front is bolted and still uses the floor mount and long bolt to set the tension.



Sending unit in and wiring completed.

 

The PO cut a rectangular hole in the cowl to make a fresh air intake for the intermediate heater he was trying to install.
I spent a couple days making a working cable operated flapper and mount to control air flow, but the heater plan was long ago
scrapped since I dropped it and broke the housing!
The heater unit was going to have to be mounted so low It was almost on the
passenger side floor. So it wasn't going to be a very good system anyway.
But that did leave a gaping hole the size of a "long fender" cowl vent to repair.



Underside.



The cowl had some stretched and rippled spots that don't show up in the photo,probably kneeled
on it cutting the hole, so after welding the patch in I used a hammer and dolly to it to try and smooth it out.
There wasn't enough room to really fix it but I did the best I could and decided to leave it, then it kept
bothering me so I cut it out.



Then cut a patch from the rest of the 82' chevy roof and started to weld it in. It was just to cold to get done but
it should finish nicely and I'm definitely happier with it this way.

 

Do you have a plan for mounting the driver seat now that the holes and lip have been removed for the gas tank? Got to say you are a lot more ambitious than I would be at 20 deg. above or below zero. To cold for even.

 

20 below again today,and yes it is much to cold to even think about :stout: , outside anyway!
I wasn't all that ambitious, we got 16" or so the day before and my next door neighbor broke his snow blower. If I weld it he'll blow my driveway
hellokitty.


In my garage I have a small 1500 watt space heater suspended in front of the motor of my air compressor. It stands in a closet that doesn't get much heat even when I have enough interest in lighting the fire. So long story even longer I took the heater down and put it on the bench to weld the snow blower and decided while I was there I would try to accomplish something on the Jeep and this little bit was all I could do.

For the seat mounts I had a couple ideas, I already lengthened the original seat mounts 6" too give myself more leg room so moving them forward past the cut out and drilling new holes would work, but removing the holes in the doorway isn't the only problem. I realized there's no floor in the center now for the inside bolt.
So when it warms up a little I'll weld tabs on the down tubes of the cage to bolt 1" square tube on and square tube all the way across for both seats and the belts, then cut up the seat mounts and bolt them to the square tube. It has to bolt to the cage because to pull the tunnel cover I have to remove the tank.
I know I should tie the seat mounts into the cage anyway but it really wasn't going to get that extreme considering I'm just going to drive this thing, and hit a few of my favorite scenic and somewhat challenging trails, (Black Bear, Schoffield, Blanca Peak,and of coarse Moab).

 

Just because I can't work in the garage doesn't mean no Jeep work at all, I have to get this thing done. So I bought this a few months ago for this very situation.
Thought I would add a pic since it seems most everyone on here likes old iron.


1954 model 15-91 Singer,that I'm teaching myself to use.



Here is the almost finished passenger seat, I still have too adjust the back, originally it had a zipper on the bottom but I used hook and loop and it needs adjustment. The cover Is just temporarily on for the photos.



The head rest wasn't in great shape for a pattern so I did my best and ended up with this. I shouldn't have used the orange it turned out hideous
So I'll re-do the head rest in all black, but I'm pretty happy with the seat for a 1st timer.