July 10, 2023

Jeepster Roller, Part 15 of 15

Roller comes to an end! First, some updates on past projects...

Tailgate Repair Continued:

The tailgate repairs continued with cutting a straighter edge and with rust/paint removal for welding prep:

Test Fit:

I heard a lot of rust particles rattling around into the top cavity, so I cut an access hole to vacuum it out. I'll seal up the inside of the cavity with Eastwood Frame Sealer later, and then re-install the patch.

Welding in the tubes:

Critical width dimension - it must match the original 44-1/16" that I measured earlier. Nailed it!

I drilled a bunch of plug weld holes on both sides:

Clamped it in place...measured 10 times...

And welded it. I forgot the weld thru primer, oops.

It came out dimensionally perfect.

I had to file down the weld seams inside the tube to get the retainers to fit:

Good test fit:

I'm calling this a successful repair. No picture, but I also installed the stock support arms and latches inside the tub.

Hood Louvers continued

I received the hood louvers and did a quick photoshoot on the hood. Here are the Lancia louvers again for comparison:

Unfortunately, the louver panels aren't flat - they are warped a little like a potato chip, which you can kind of see in the photo below. That will have to be addressed before welding them into the hood.

I did this quick and have the sides swapped from the Lancia orientation...oops!

Front Sway Bar continued

I ordered and received the Currie Rock Jock front sway bar. I was hoping to get it installed, but that will have to be done later. I did do some quick checks, and it looks good.

Unfortunately, the stickers come pre-applied:

I'll drill a hole in the frame and weld in the tube:

I'll have to bend the arms like this...the stickers will get destroyed in that process!

(don't worry - I'll remove the stickers before I bend them)

Moving

Roller status verified...three of my neighbors told me what a cool car it was while it was in this state (halfway up the trailer):

At this point, progress stopped for a couple of hours while I...

1) killed the winch on the trailer...oops...and installed a new spare winch that I've had for 5 years:

2) The new remote control for the spare winch had some dead 5 year old batteries, and it seemed to be picky about batteries. I feverishly searched around my house for a pair of CR2032 batteries, and I found several dead ones, of course. My trusty sidekick bought some new ones:

Eventually the Jeepster made its way completely on to the trailer...

...and back off of the trailer into its new storage location:

(this is the former storage location of the 88 CJ-YJ)

Distraction #1

Out came the Jeepster...in goes my daughter's TJ for transmission work:

On the Jeepster moving day, I also had to jump start a dead battery on my daughter's TJ. The morning did NOT exactly go as planned! As a side note, these are the same jumper cables that I've had since I was in high school, so ~40 years old. They are still in great condition!

Repair Queue

The 88 CJ-YJ came back home to Austin, and is now in the queue:

transmission work on my daughter's TJ
various tasks on my 95 YJ
various work on my car hauler
then, finally, the 88 CJ-YJ will get some attention