There's one really nice thing about working on a vehicle like this for this type of a project. You can store all the stuff you take off, and your tools in the vehicle.
This is also a problem, because things get pushed from pillar to post and back again as you work.
So I've been putting some bits and pieces back on as I find them. I've also lost a few things which I hope will be found once I get to the point where I mock up the new door panels, since the old ones can be thrown out.

I started off on the driver's side under the seat since it's hidden - if I screw it up royally, no one will know. It's also the only seat that I'll need during this process since I need to move it out of my driveway to my shed to save time I'd waste by dragging everything I need (grinder, welder, drill, various bits and saws, cut-off wheel, air hose, etc.) out to my driveway to work.

The first thing I did, was attempt to remove the seat belt bolts through the floor. This section shall be titled "How to set your seat belt on fire without even trying".
There's a few Torx head bolts that won't cooperate. Since they're already perfectly round, it's hard to put a vice-grips on them.
So I welded a random bolt on to it, I put my "I have no idea what size this bolt is, and frankly I don't care" tool on it, pulled and it sheared off, not the weld, the bolt. So I welded it on again, on top of the weld, begin twisting and it sheared again.
After the third failed attempt and setting my seat belt on fire, I decided you guys might like my creative solution to succeed.
I now have a nice big "handle" of weld and sheared off bolt almost an inch high.

Plenty of space to put a pipe wrench on that bastard.
Here's the video of a single failure (20 seconds?) and five minutes at FFWD speed showing the bolt coming out.


BTW! That bolt is hot! I put my "don't care what size bolt this is" tool to immediate use post shear to keep it from melting the wiring.

I had to do the same thing on the buckle side of the seat belt too.

From here, I could start on the floor repair. First, I spent some quality time with the stripping wheel removing as much rust and loose paint as possible.

Then I decided which areas needed to be cut out and patched, most are like this one:


I then popped a 2.25" hole saw in the drill, lined it up and cut a piece out. Now I'm not sure how much you remember from class, but most flat shapes can be pushed through a slightly smaller hole than themselves if you tilt them. The more sides the shape has, the more difficult this becomes, until you reach a circle which has infinite sides and this is impossible.
I'm using the left overs from a 2.5" hole saw to fill it. (might be 2 5/8" - need to check) There may not be much, but there is some overlap.

So, I'm being careful to make sure the holes I'm cutting will intersect with an existing or necessary hole in the floor so it will slide through.

Before I do that though, I gently raise the edges where they meet with the brace under the floor.

The hole in the center of the cut-out allows me to insert an Allen Wrench and manipulate the piece.

Once it's in place, I take a hammer and beat the raised edges down.

Then weld it in alternating beads around the piece until I have the entire piece welded in. Then I move on to the next one.


After I've got an area completely patched, I clean it again with a flap wheel on my grinder (I won't be grinding it flat), wash it with water.

Once dry, spraying it with truck bed liner in the aeresol can. According to the gallon bucket, this is an acceptable undercoating. The bucket recommends bare metal or factory paint, no primer. Oddly enough, the spray-on can is ok with primer or bare metal.
I'm not sure why, but I need something to keep these repairs from rusting until I finish, so spray-on bed liner it is.


After everything has been patched and "primered" with spray-on liner, the driver's seat will come out again, the passenger's seat will already be out, the whole thing will be washed again before the area will be coated with roll-on bed liner, at least twice or how ever many coats I can get out of the can.

I'd love to have this done professionally, but the local rate is $750 for a Wrangler style tub after the everything is stripped by the customer. That's too much for this project.

Unfortunately, not all the holes are round, or small enough that the hole saws I have on hand will work, or in places that I can get a drill into.
Like this one, it's roughly 4X4, the rust creeps out at an angle so it's got to be larger than a 4" circular hole, but a 4X4 square sort of works. It's under the parking brake pedal too, not a whole lot of room, but I can get in with a cut-off wheel.

Sorry, forgot to take a before photo.

Looks like a perfect fit, although the right side is a little jagged and loose. I'm gonna pay for that.
Everything is going great, except the right side.

So, I give up, walk away, then come back and grind the bugger down. This is why you typically want a "lap" weld, I've heard them called "flange" welds too. I don't know if there is a subtle difference.
This area, that's not possible unless I put it above the floor, not below like the others.

Ugly, but finished:

FWIW, it took less time to do the three round patches than it did to do this one square one. Nothing like having a 30-second hole cutting time and a 30-second patch cutting time knowing the dimensions are near ideal.


I made up a template to fix the tread inspection hole.



Note the "+2 inches" towards the rear, this will cover the rusted out area above it, but the sheet I had to make the template from wasn't long enough.



I dropped that off at the sheet metal shop in my area (also within walking distance, but they're not open during the time I'm home, so no walking there). They said it'll be done in a few days. I'll have to pick it up between my part-time and full time gig, roughly 7:00 a.m. when they open.

Next update, the floor should be done, unless something interesting happens.

The more that I see the pics, the more that I am falling in love with your color choice. Good thing about the floor, don't want to pull a Fred Flintstone, huh???

Thanks, but I can't take all the credit. The navy blue was actually the girlfriend's idea. I was going to use oxford blue as base-coat/clear coat, lucky me, navy is a single stage.

This is actually really close to an available factory color from AMC "Ensign Blue". At least in 1979, this is an 82, it's possible that they changed the available colors, doubtful, but possible. I couldn't find a color chart for the 82. Actually, when it comes to documentation of any type, you'd swear they didn't make one in 1982.



The interior color is not listed, it's "nutmeg" which is a hideous orange color. Thankfully the leather seats have faded a bit, but I don't know what I'm going to do about the carpet trim on the seats. I plan to re-do the interior as black and grey because the vinyl can be dyed black, anything metal (almost everything, let's face it, it's a 1982) can be sprayed. Door panels will be covered in cloth possibly.
Seats will be replaced or covered or possibly both depending on what I find in the salvage yard (woo hoo! field trip! Saturday! hoping to find a real transmission - ain't gonna happen).

While I'm at it, a quick update, I'm now working on the left rear floor pan.
There is a bunch of rust at a very bad spot.
See the chisel tip? Everything from that to the transmission tunnel and back is directly over the gas tank.

I should drop the tank, cut it out and weld in a patch.
I don't have time for that right now and the tank has gas in it (possibly seven or eight gallons), so I've got more reason not to pull it.
I know it's going to take three times as long and twice as much work to fix it right later, but that's what I have to do.

So I'm going to bondo-glass it. It's still structurally sound as there's several braces and plates and the frame holding not only the floor in place, but the gas tank too.
Out of just over three months since I started this project, I'm taking two costly short cuts, one is bondo-ing the doors from a few posts ago (probably harmless overall) and this which will last a few years, but isn't a long-term solution. I don't think that's too bad a track record. If someone thinks I missed a short-cut they wouldn't have done but I did, feel free to point it out.

The "dust" in the photo is actually metal filings from grinding the rust and cleaning up welds off-camera.

Since last time, I've been busy cutting and patching the holes in the floor pan.

Remember that piece I sent to the sheet metal shop? I find this super funny, and any other geeks will too. We often give people what they ask for, even though it's not what they want.
This is the template I gave them:

I told the owner who happens to be the father of one of my daughter's friends, that I only put the square piece in to keep it from falling apart on the way to the shop and that I don't want it in the piece they're making me.
I guess he neglected to pass this on to the guy doing the work, this is the part I received:

I knew I was going to have to do a little finishing work, such as bending the part that runs up into the fender (in this photo it runs THOUGH the fender). I didn't think I was going to need to cut the brace out.
So I pulled out the cut-off wheel and cut the welds. There were two which the cut-off wheel wouldn't reach.
I then went to my back up plan, the chisel and a 2lb hammer.
I swing, the chisel slips off the weld, the handle strikes the part that's perpendicular to the work bench and I instantly know this is not good. See, my finger was at the edge of the handle. I think I've given myself a monster blood blister.
I look at my hand. Nope, not a blood blister. IMHO, it's actually better, but medical professionals will tell you that compromised skin is worse than injured skin.

Surprisingly, it doesn't hurt. After bleeding in the sink for a few minutes, I put a band-aid on it and go back to work.
The following day, I nicked my index finger on the same hand with a grinder.
But I did get the piece in and welded in place.

I spent the next several days patching the holes in the floor. I've discovered what appears to be an ideal setting for my Lincoln SP100 for this 18? gauge sheet metal. The welder recommends F-5.5 for 0.024 wire, but I think a "warm" E does better with this 0.023 wire. Maybe it's the 0.001" difference, I don't know. I also realized that I do not like the "tack-tack" method. I prefer to weld a 1/4"-1" bead then move to the other side. I haven't noticed any issues with warping although there's plenty of braces under the floor to keep things in check. I'll be working an un-braced area later, I'll let you know.

It doesn't help that it's still damn hot and the humidity is horrid.

Inside a welding helmet with welding gaunlets on, it feels like 140 degrees.

After the driver's rear side was done, I moved to the passenger's side. This was probably the hardest section to repair since I'm not a sheet metal guy.

But I did get the shape reasonably close. I cut out the bad area. Then starting with a larger (12X8?) piece of sheet metal, held it in place and began hammering where I thought it needed to be expanded. As it began to fit into the area, I cut it down a little bit, then hammered some more.
Once it was fairly close, I welded the edge nearest to me (outside rear) in place, then using a screw driver or something, held it down so the flat edge was flush and hit it with a 1/2" bead. Then hammered some more, welded a 1" or so strip in place near where it meets the transmission tunnel, then hammered more.
I started working the front edge from the outside, alternating between that and where it meets the transmission tunnel. The final tack weld was on the high side front of the transmission tunnel, after I was satisfied that it was acceptable. Of course, I then welded the remainder.
It's worth noting that hammering is not good for tennis elbow, which I've got a pretty good case of in my right elbow and have since April. It starts getting better, then I aggravate it. Pounding the crap out of sheet metal is definitely aggravating it.

I also fixed the giant hole where the seat belt support was.

Since this is compromised, IMHO, it will be reinforced with 3/8X2? flat steel or possibly angle-iron in preparation for some goodies I've acquired.


Each time I finish an area, I grind/sand every rust spot I find and even a few I wasn't sure if it was rust or not. Then I vacuum it, wash it down with water, once dry I spray all the bare metal with a can of truck bed liner I used to protect the frame on our bikes near the pegs since the paint always wears off there.

Finally, I'm able to prep for the bed liner. Unfortunately over the last two weeks I've moved the Jeep almost daily giving the inside of the carb a nice thick coating of varnish from three month old gasoline which has had plenty of time to dissolve 17 year old gunk that was in the tank.
It's becoming a real bugger to keep running and doesn't want to idle when it's "in gear".

So I'm really happy to have reached this stage where I won't need to move it but one more time before I clean the carb again.

I bought a gallon of bed liner, a drill-mixer, a foam trim-roller with two rollers and a disposable tray and a 1" foam "brush" for $55. I skipped the 3M bed liner applicator kit for $11, IMHO the $3 roller and brush will do just as well and there's not enough prep materials which I already have such as sand paper.

I once again vacuum the whole floor since metal shavings migrate past where you're working.
Then I peel up the transmission tunnel cover. This actually requires more effort than I expected. I knew it was glued down with seam sealer - which looks like caulk. That stuff is tough! Most people would probably just leave it in place, in fact, AMC put the tunnel cover on before painting the interior.
But I like to think that maybe I can put a standard transmission in this and having that glued down with seam sealer and coated in bed liner will make getting it off later very difficult.
Once off, I scrape/cut any remaining seam sealer off. I also partially remove the door seals.

Then I sand it being sure to look for any rust spots I may have missed. I did find a few.
Vacuum again.
Next I wash it using dish soap and hot water. Then rinse it with cold water and dry it using an old bath towel.
It then gets a rub down with acetone to pick up anything I think will interfere with adhering the bed liner.

While I wait to be sure it's dry (at 85 degrees, acetone evaporates as quick as you can apply it, but better safe than sorry), I suspend the wiring that runs along the floor and begin masking.

Finally comes time for the bed liner. When you open the can, the upper layer is probably 100% solvent, it's completely clear. Below that is black, soupy liquid and at the bottom of the can is solids.
I insert the paint mixer in the drill and let it do it's job. You can't see the solids at this point, it takes about 30-40 seconds before the solids begin to appear and the concoction starts to look like black cement mix. I let the mixer go for another two minutes or so going as fast as I could without throwing it over the lip of the can and moving around in circles being sure to get every bit of it off the bottom of the can.

Actual application is pretty straight forward. Using the 1" foam "brush", I apply the bed liner in every corner and ever spot that looks like the roller might have trouble. I didn't do the bead rolled sections of the floor, but that's probably a good idea. Later, I hit this with the roller which works just as well.

Once that's done, I pour some in the disposable trim-roller tray. It starts off a little difficult until the roller has absorbed some liquid. After that, it's pretty simple and very similar to painting anything else with a roller.
It becomes pretty apparent that I have way too much bed liner. It only took one full tray of material to do each partially bare side. The only problem I run into is the adhesive they use to bind the roller to the sleeve breaks loose and the roller starts to walk off the handle. It's not too difficult to deal with if you pay attention. It's also quite heavy for paint which doesn't help.

This photo is after the first application, I'm amazed as to how well it covers.
https://lh4.googleus...40/101_1313.JPG
After not quite an hour, I hit it with a second coat. Unfortunately it was now dark, so I don't have any photos. That was 9:00 p.m.
At 4:15 a.m. my gf woke me to say that I overslept and am now late for work. I called in to say I'd be late (they already knew, it's 20 minutes past start time), get dressed and walk out the door. As I walk past the Jeep whose doors are ajar because the door seals aren't where they belong, I can still smell a very strong solvent odor.

I'll probably put a third coat on tonight - I've got plenty: a good 3 quarts remaining. I'll also take more photos.

Then it needs to cure for a day or two before I can put the seats in.

Been a while, here's the updated list:
1. Make it run
f. radiator flush
g. radiator hoses/coolant
h. belts
m. carb cleaning AGAIN! :cry:
p. fix gauges/senders

2. Make it safe
b. tires (225/75-15)
c. floor pan repair
d. lights
e. seat belts!
f. turn signals (not the flasher, might be column switch)

3. Functional
a. remove carpet/spray w/ bed liner
b. power inverter??
c. check hitch receiver/new 4-wire flat (??Reese Towpower Adjustable Hitch Bar-$35??)

4. Form
a. cosmetic body repair
b. paint
c. door panels

5. Misc
a. electric radiator fan

Love this thread. It's coming along great Smac :thumbsup:

Thanks. I'm still trying to decide if I want to put the "bitch seat" back in or not. That's the seat/arm rest combo dealie that fits directly over the transmission tunnel. I like that the seats look more like bucket seats up front without it. OTOH, an arm rest would occasionally be nice for long rides - which is what this is going to be seeing most of the time.
But this is to be a functional machine and at least in theory if we stay somewhere that we can't/don't need/want to set up a tent, one of the kids could sleep across the front seat with it in. It's not something that's easy to put in and take out on a whim as you need to remove both front seats to do it. Maybe I should come up with a way to add/delete it in a few minutes? Perhaps posts with hair pins?

I have no intention of ever having someone ride in that "seat", unless I really, really dislike them. Even with seat belts the middle passenger gets a face full of dash in any frontal accident. This is a metal dash with a "crash pad" that's maybe 3/4" thick if you count the vinyl cover. There is no factory seat belt here this year and I won't be adding one. Some of the early ones did have a lap belt there though.

Next week she should have inside door panels (possibly in the "bed" too) again. They won't be finished, but they'll be installed. Then I can throw the old ones out - YAY!

It's raining, the doors are ajar, the door seals aren't where they belong and there's water on the floor.

SCREW YOU RAIN!

I don't care! I got two coats of bed liner down and you can't ruin my work any more.

But to be sure, I put down a third coat, which looks exactly like the second coat. Ignore the screwy camera angle.

Friday I stopped by the salvage yard that I go to when I'm desperate. I called, they have a 78 with a 401 - one of the coveted motors by AMC. I don't want the motor, this thing will be bad enough on fuel with a I6. First, I can't find the darn thing - they told me it's brown, it's actually a faded red. Then I can't open the hood. With an employee's help, I get the hood open to find the wiring has been completely cut out. Also, the glove box is locked and the key that's in it doesn't fit.
Complete waste of my time, but at least I didn't buy any parts from him I'll need to replace in a year.

Saturday morning, I headed out to a different salvage yard in hopes that I can find that funky piece of wiring that it seems only my Wagoneer has - I was going to look at CJs, etc. hoping that one of them had it. But before I went, I pulled the carb and dismantled it only to find that most of the gaskets ripped when taken apart, then I let them soak in parts cleaner.
The salvage yard owner told me the Cherokee I pulled the hood stops and wrong glove box latch out of are the only AMCs he's got on his lot. He was also busy, so I didn't ask about seat belts. But I did walk out with five used tires for $120 so it wasn't a total loss.
Then I headed out to Lowe's to pick up what will be door panels. I'm using 5.0mm plywood. Two other people at the store called it luaun, but I thought that was thinner and had a different construction. I'm using this instead of hard board or non-corrogated card board because I *THINK* it'll stand up better when it gets wet - which it will get wet. My expectations are that when it gets wet, it will behave like plywood and remain wood instead of turning into Papier-mâché (thanks spell-check!) like cardboard.
Then I hauled it home. You can make fun of my redneck methods, but you gotta admit they work:

And if you think that's redneck, you ain't seen nothin' yet.

Look what followed me home.

It's not often that you see a Praying Mantis this small, he better be careful so he doesn't get eaten. This has absolutely nothing to do with the build, but I thought it was kinda cool. That's a US dime.

I've got two acceptable panels from the right side of the car, but the left side is completely garbage. To cut the panels, I'm simply copying what I've got onto the pretty side of the plywood after it's clamped down, I cut/drill every hole so that after these panels are covered, I'll have no problems reinstalling the hardware. And if I decide I don't want a particular piece of hardware, I simply leave it off, you'll never know it's missing. But trying to add it if I didn't drill/cut the hole would be a pain.

I told you it was redneck. This panel is simply too big for my work shop, which is also being occupied by a box of Jeep parts, an XT550 motor, a DR-Z125 motor and a KX100 without a motor.
Once the panel is cut out, I flip it over, pretty side to pretty side and copy the copy.
Here they are unfinished:

And here it is installed:

If you're wondering why I put the wood-grain trim back on the wood grain panels, it's simply so I don't lose them.
The irony of the situation is I used the right panels to make the copy and lo-and-behold, the door pull (goes above the arm rest) the holes don't line up on the right side! Everything else did though.
Also, the panels are too thick, when I get time, I'll ask a friend to run them through his planer to thin them out.
Actually, that color kinda grows on you, it actually doesn't look half bad. The 4X8 sheet of plywood ran me a whopping $10.57 and was enough to do both doors and I think it'll be enough to do the right and left sides of the bed.
Oh, I found where that random piece of silicone goes, behind the rear power window switch.


Sunday, I reinstalled the carb for what I hope is the last time, so I could move it back to my work shop to repair the bed.
I fire it up, I hear "squealllllll-pop" and the ammeter goes negative.
Shut it off, pop the hood and yes the alternator belt has completely crapped out.

It couldn't have happened yesterday when I made two trips to the auto parts store, but no... One good thing did come of it, the guy who works part-time (rarely) there and sold me some Wagoneer parts was there. So I might get a few more parts from him like the seat belts. I tried to remove this one from the support by putting the support in my vice and cranking on it. All I did was separate my T-50 torx tip from the rest of the bit. I also picked up a new thermostat and upper and lower radiator hoses.


I lift up the cardboard and find ANTS! What the hell!

I sick'd the shop vac on 'em. Every now and then when I was working, I'd see an ant wander by. I didn't think too much of it at the time. I've got kids who do annoying things like set down Popsicle sticks, or candy wrappers and "forget" about them. So we have ants. I'm guilty of putting a soda can down, walking away and later dumping it out on the ground cause it's warm. Ants are perfectly explainable outside near the driveway. But inside? What have they been eating? Where did they come from? I know where they went - Shop-Vac.

The bed has five bad spots, it's nothing at all like the passenger area.

Unfortunately, there all in spots I can't hold a piece of sheet metal behind, there's little or no braces to rely on to hold it, they're too small to cut out and use a "handle" to hold on to them and my helper is on vacation.
https://lh5.googleus...40/101_1365.JPG

I'm not real proud of it, but they're not structurally impeding, they're not visible, so I just welded them closed. I'm not real proud of it, but it got the job done. Unlike the bondo above the gas tank, this should last a long time.
Also, I didn't want to weld the patches above like I did on some spots on the floor since they'll interfere if I replace the cardboard with something like the way the card board was structured with ribs.
https://lh5.googleus...40/101_1369.JPG

While doing the bed repair, I pulled the old spare tire out. Of course that means I dumped decades of crap all over my face. I'm seriously considering a swing-out tire carrier or one of the inside the "bed" carriers, or both.
I'm trying to determine how old it is, just out of curiosity.
https://lh4.googleus...40/101_1367.JPG
Date code is funny symbol JBD278 funny symbol.
The funny symbol might be alignment marks. I understand the pre-2000 tires were marked with the last three digits mean the week of the year and the last digit of the year. I know this tire isn't from 98. So it means it's either '88 or 78. It's a BridgeStone "Wide 78"? made in Japan. It has BS in a keystone shape. I'm guessing it was an '88, because 78 would have been three years before this car was made. But when I got the car, it had an eight-track tape player from... 1978. Surprisingly, it did still have a decent amount of air pressure in it. Probably just enough to change the tire, then be able to drive to a nice level safe spot to change the tire.

About that bed liner. I think it will work just fine for our purposes, however, I wouldn't use it on a truck bed that you intend to use as a truck bed. While reinstalling the seats the open end of combination wrench scraped it off.


To-do list is finally starting to shrink:
1. Make it run
f. radiator flush
g. radiator hoses/coolant
h. belts
m. carb cleaning AGAIN! :cry:
p. fix gauges/senders

2. Make it safe
b. tires (225/75-15)
d. lights
e. seat belts!
f. turn signals (not the flasher, might be column switch)

3. Functional
b. power inverter??
c. check hitch receiver/new 4-wire flat (??Reese Towpower Adjustable Hitch Bar-$35??)

4. Form
a. cosmetic body repair
b. paint
c. door panels/covered
d. seat covers

5. Misc
a. electric radiator fan

Remember this?

Smacaroni said:

It's fixed!
This is a pretty simple job because there's almost no supports behind it (except for the bottom) to get in the way of cutting out the rusted area. It's got a nice big area to work behind it, although access is slightly impeded by parts of the window regulator.
The only major issue is that there is a recess for the license plate.

I started off by cutting out the bad section with a cut-off wheel, once I had space, I put the air-shears on the job because it's faster and doesn't use as much air. That's how I killed my last compressor by running it pretty much constant while I cut out the bashed in corner on the Mazda. I really need a 5 HP compressor for jobs like this, but I don't have one. Air shears are cleaner and easier to keep straight too.

Then cut a patch, tack two "handles" on to it and work it in place. I then mark when the recess needs to be bent, holding it over a piece of 2X4, bend it by hand. This gives me a very soft curve that's straight. I probably could hammer it, but that takes a lot of time in comparison.

This is how I keep it flush from the back side since my helper is on vacation.

Probably not real good for the brush, but with the small sledge worked out to be the perfect thickness - a good amount of tension with no distortion.

As you can see, I broke one of the "handles" off, but that's ok, I this happened after I was done with it. The other makes a convenient place to clamp the ground to.

The pizza box was soaked in water and is there to keep weld spatter off the bumper.

Here it is fully welded.

I need to cut off the handle and grind all the edges flat, then the area will be bondo-ed, sanded, more bondo, sanded, more bondo, etc. etc. etc until it looks like it's supposed to.

Unfortunately, it's threatening to rain again, so I spray it with primer and pack up for the night.

The day wasn't completely uneventful, I didn't do a welder's jig, but it was pretty close.


This is why you wear leather boots, chaps, gloves and cotton.

Last night, I was trying to get the coolant system done so I could finally drop it off to have the tires replaced.
For the most part, it was unremarkable until I started filling it with new coolant. You see earlier I thought the thermostat was either stuck open or opening way too early and since I'm replacing the hoses, the thermostat is just one minor extra job.
I remove the housing, scrap off the old gasket, install the new thermostat and gasket before connecting the upper hoses.
I had poured about one and a half gallons of coolant in and suddenly I hear running water. I look under and it's pouring off the crank balancer. Oh Hell! What? Then I see that it's actually coming out of the thermostat housing. So I grab a wrench thinking I didn't tighten it enough and give it a crank. No dice.
So I attempt to reclaim some coolant back in the jug through the drain. Once it stops leaking, I close the drain and remove the thermostat housing.
I'm pretty sure what happened was the thermostat had slipped out of it's home and was between the head and the housing.
I reposition everything and start bolting it back down before I notice that one of the "ears" are missing. When I added that bit of extra torque to the one bolt, I broke the ear off.
There will be no tire replacement tonight.

This morning, I dropped the spare and what will be the spare tire off at my mechanic. That can go back under the Jeep to collect another decade or two's worth of crud, I hope.

Also, probably prematurely, but I got a pink slip and a T-tag on Monday so I could legally drive it to get the tires replaced. As long as I get it there by next Thursday, I'll be withing the letter of the law.

Update: after calling about five different salvage yards (only one of the three who said they'd check and get back to me did) I found a guy selling a never installed water pump, used thermostat housing and some other parts for $20 on CL. I got it. Not in time to get the tires on till Monday, but at least it's not disabled.

1. Make it run
f. radiator flush
g. radiator hoses/coolant
p. fix gauges/senders

2. Make it safe
b. tires (225/75-15)
d. lights
e. seat belts!
f. turn signals (not the flasher, might be column switch)

3. Functional
b. power inverter??
c. check hitch receiver/new 4-wire flat (??Reese Towpower Adjustable Hitch Bar-$35??)

4. Form
a. cosmetic body repair
b. paint
c. door panels/covered
d. seat covers

5. Misc
a. electric radiator fan

Let me tell you about my weekend.

Saturday, the last day to use our points from the local grocery store to save quite a bit of scratch on gasoline, I was going to drive the Jeep out, fill it up, then fill all of our jerry cans so that we could fill my gf's daily driver - after all, she spent well over a grand on groceries to earn these points and she wants to save money on gas.
Whomever said "happy wife - happy life" is absolutely right. So, I'm trying to make her happy, thus I will be happy - I hope.
First, I install the "new" thermostat housing.

I'm pretty sure this is from a 4.0 motor, but it fits.
There's another job for the contortionist midget, tightening down the hose clamp near the firewall on the intake manifold.

This is the view from the end of the flexible shaft nut-driver.

After two failed attempts to properly seat the thermostat housing, this is what I did to test it. The first attempt was cracking the housing, the second was using the damaged gasket from the cranked housing. When I went to get the second gasket, I also picked up the spare tire I dropped off at the mechanic last week. Eventually he'll get the whole car for tire replacement and inspection.


I also checked all the lights, everything but the turn signals and one reverse light work.
I fixed the reverse light - loaded with corrosion, with pieces from a Miata tail light. The bean counters at AMC would be proud.


Only problem is, I can't seem to find more than two of our gas cans, a total of just over three gallons.
Well, I do have that VP C-12 that's a little old, we're never going to use it. I'll throw it in MY daily driver and refill that with gas for her car. I pull out a funnel, stuff it in the tank and begin to pour four gallons in my car. Then I put the empty can in the Jeep, crank her over and we're off!
I get about two blocks away and she stalls. I then spend the next block or so coasting while cranking the motor. This must have been made before the days of "only starts in P or N", thankfully. I then take my last chance side street and call my step-son's Dad who was at our house to drop him off and ask for a push. This is embarrassing, but there's not much else I can do.
While I wait for him to arrive, I realize that I just rebuilt the carb again and when I did that I opened the choke housing. I bet I don't have it set right in spite of the fact that I swear I put it back together exactly the way I took it apart.
I force the choke open, turn it over - as my step-son and his dad arrive, it fires! Then it dies. Then I crank again and you can hear the battery is too weak to turn it over fast enough.
So we pull the Jeep home, plug it in the charger and now I've got another bright idea.
I borrow a 55 gallon drum from my neighbor across the street, strap it to the trailer, put that on my daily driver, turn her over, she starts. I light a cigarette and she stalls.
This is unusual. I crank her and the engine doesn't sound right at all. Cranks and cranks and cranks - the occasional sputter, but not much else.
I wonder if there was water in that C-12? I pull the fuel hoses apart and sure enough, white-ish liquid spills out.
ARRRGH!
I then spent the next hour or so pumping water and crap out of my daily driver. Every now and then, I try to start her, sometimes she sputters, sometimes she don't.
Eventually, I do get her to run again, but man, she sounds bad. I do my best to keep her running thinking there's a smidgen of water still in the gas. After 20 minutes or so, she runs like normal.
Only problem is, now it's late in the afternoon, when everybody who's been hoarding their points like we have goes to fill their car and anything they can carry gas in.
So I decide to wait until later, much later.

At 9:20 p.m., I go out to my car, start it. Boy it sounds bad again. I'm out of options now, short of carrying the 55 gallon drum there, it's only a mile - not bad. Getting it home though would be interesting.
I force the car to keep running. By 9:45, it's now idling ok, I carefully drive around the block and head to the store. What do you know, all the pumps but one have someone pumping AND someone in line. My luck has changed though, the one pump with no one waiting is also the farthest away from the clerk, so I have a chance to avoid getting caught. (I'm pretty sure dispensing gas into a 55 gallon metal drum is legal, but the store could still toss me out if they thought it was unsafe).
The guy takes his time, filling his truck, washing his windshield, filling a carry jug. I'm pretty sure the pumps close at 10:00.
Finally, he hangs up the pump and goes to pay.
He pulls away, I pull up and make a mad rush to get pumpin'. If I get started, they may tell me "we'll let you go this time, but don't do it again".

And finally, the pump reaches 29.850 and it runs at a trickle till 30.00 gallons and stops. (rules of the promotion:up to 30 gallons, one vehicle).

I seal it up and pray the car starts, it does. I drive home being mindful of the fact that I've got 200 some-odd pounds (including the barrel's mass) of flammable liquid strapped down to the trailer in a container that's not full, which is a lot like having 200 some-odd pounds of bowling balls not strapped down in a truck bed.
I park along the street, throw a motorcycle cover over the barrel and go to bed. It would take a good bit of work to steal this container, unless you take the whole trailer.

Sunday morning, I wake up, disconnect the trailer and wheel it over to my gf's car. Then using a transfer pump, I fill her car.
http://lh3.googleuse...zNDKpKqgzE9Ket6

Next, I wheel it over to the Jeep. Using the transfer pump connected to the tank side of the mechanical fuel pump, I extract the remaining gallon or so of gasoline that's in the tank. This will be used for the lawn mower.
I then begin the long task of transferring gas to the Jeep. I can think of better ways to do this than that pump, but it's what I happen to have available.

Do you know how many strokes with that pump it takes to move about 20 gallons? Let me tell you, seven hundred and twenty-three. I know cause I counted. It's probably an even 700, but because I occasionally didn't make the full stroke and twice the pump's hose popped off, it took a little bit more.

I put the remaining gallon or so from the drum in my daily driver and carried the drum back to my neighbor.

Mission accomplished. Next time, I'll try not to be so smart.

Later that day, I decided to finish the paint on the Jeep. This way it can look good when I'm sitting along the side of the road because I didn't get the choke set right again.

First however, I found the rear window was once again stuck because the arm popped out of it's home again.
So I decided to fix it permanently.
I located where the end of the arm would be with the window almost all the way down. You can't get to it with the window all the way down.
Then using a 2" hole saw, I cut a hole. Whoddathunkit.

By allowing a small segment of the cut-out to remain intact, I can close it more easily later.

With the end of the arm exposed, I drilled and tapped a hole for a bolt to keep it in it's home.


Some test fits with washers, I decided this was the best combination to keep it where it belongs.


Voila! Done.

Grease everything real good, check that the window goes up and down like it should. Perfect!

Back to the paint. I strip off the remaining trim pieces and the bits of remaining vinyl woodgrain.


Then I grind all the welds around that patch slightly below flush, I'm really glad I did the work on the floor first here. You can still see some spots I missed, but there's no burn-through or any signs of warping.

The few over-heating spots were actually the result of the grinder, not the welder.

Then, as promised, I apply bondo, sand, repeat ad nauseum, alternating between cleaning vinyl "goo" off and masking the new paint so when I sand, I don't damage my new paint as the bondo cures.

The return of the Cheesy Mask:


I got interrupted, but I did finish painting. Photos however didn't get taken, and those will wait till tomorrow.

One last note, just in case you were wondering where all this metal with the same color paint has been coming from, it's from the damaged hood. I think I made pretty decent use out of it:


The large center section will be cut out and kept for future use (hopefully not on the Jeep), the hood latches will be kept for spares and the remainder will be sent to scrap.

Feels real good to get the last bit of body and paint work done.

Before reinstalling the trim:

After trim and sportin' my T-tag, sort of. Darn shame all that work to fix the giant hole in the tail gate and 95% of it's covered by trim. That means it's even less likely for someone to notice how awful the body work is. Although it's better than what I did on the doors.


I actually lost the T-tag part, which is really funny because when I got this the first time, I was drivin' around and the pink slip blew out the window.

I've started working on the lights, when you step on the brakes, the parking lights come on. I replaced the stop/tail light bulbs to be sure they weren't causing the problem. The left side was fine. The right side came out in pieces and was corroded.


Now I've got to start taking things apart to isolate the problem. Or I may start with the flasher switches as this guy did: http://www.ifsja.org...ad.php?t=123613 (last post)

Also, unless someone can give me a good reason in the next eight hours, I've had it with this automatic choke. I've got it set beyond the leanest mark and it still doesn't turn off. It seems that either the engine isn't producing enough vacuum or more likely, the diaphram in the choke pull-off has gone bad. This will cost me $16 for the pull off where I can hope it fixes it, another $32 for the thermostat if it doesn't OR I can put a manual choke in for $10.
So hurry up and convince me it's worth the headache, potential further embarassment and expense.

Last night, I installed the manual choke. Running the cable was no big deal, the only issue with the way I did it, is it's backwards. If you pull the cable out, the choke disengages and pushing it in engages the choke.
So I flipped the arm around the other way making it operate in a manner one would expect it to.
Honestly, I'm not sure which is worse, the malfunctioning automatic choke or the fiddle with it till it fires manual choke. Oh well, at least once it's running, it stays running. Also, it's going to be a hell of a chore for someone to steal this. Not that I think anyone would want to, but if they're so inclined, they're going to work for it.

Here's the choke side of the cable installed through the WOT switch mount where the automatic choke formerly resided. I left the pull-off in place for now since I don't have anything to plug it with properly on hand.

It's an ugly install, but it works. I left the whisker on so if I decide to clean it up later, I've got some extra wiggle room.

Here's the knob under the dash, which sort of looks like it was supposed to have something there to begin with.


I also picked up a pair of flasher relays, one ordinary and one heavy duty. While I waited for the engine to warm up to do some carb adjustments, I plugged these in. As soon as I put the hazard one in, the 4-ways started flashing. This means that that relay was bad AND I had the hazard switch turned on. <--- this is important, you'll see in a moment.
I turned off the hazard lights and then plugged in the turn signal relay. Miraculously everything works now. The brake pedal only turns on the brake lights. The 4-ways turn on and flash. Both turn signals flash.
And it all makes sense now. When I was checking to see if the turn-signal problem was the relay, I switched the hazard and turn signal flashers. However, I must have bumped the 4-way switch on in the process.
This made a complete circuit through the 4-way switch to the front turn signal lamps and also to the brake lights.
Now I did see that the 4-ways worked prior to the turn signal test, so I expected the relay to be good. I'm not going to verify if it is or not. But since I had the 4-way switch on, the turn signals wouldn't work because the circuit was shorted via the opposite side of the turn signals.
Since there was a circuit via the 4-way switch from the front to rear "turn signals", when stepping on the brake, the rear lamps would light as well as the front.

So the signals and all the lights - the important ones no dome light yet work.

Now the engine is warm, I'm going to try tuning the carb. I hook up a vacuum gauge and I don't like what I see. The needle is jumping from 10" water to 25" water at a very rapid pace. I know this could mean a lot of things, but they're all related to something wrong in the head, could be a bad valve spring, a valve that isn't sealing, a valve that's sticking, or I could hope that there's a loose spark plug - but that's unlikely.
So this wasn't part of "the plan", but I'll be looking at swapping a 4.0L head on this which seems to be a rather common and "inexpensive" upgrade (general 4.2 directions and pictorial for a CJ if anyone is interested). Now I wish I hadn't screwed around with that thermostat at all. Based on what others are saying, for the amount of time I spent getting the pieces, breaking the ear off, tracking down a local part so I could get it done, drive to the seller, get lost, install it and see that it leaks, go back to the auto parts store for a second gasket, I'd be half way done. And I could have bought a couple six-packs of beer with the money I spent.
Not to mention a second oil change with 50% ATF in an attempt to clean out and quiet down the current head.
Oh well.

So the lights work, the brakes are good, the body and floor has been repaired and the engine runs, the wipers work, it's time to take it down to the inspection station to see what else I need to do to make PA content that it's "safe".
With one exception, the steering stabilizer leaks. I know it won't pass with it leaking, it might pass without it. I remove it and I'll replace it when it gets back. Scratch that, it's not leaking, it's empty, there's no oil in it what so ever.
I get her started and my gf follows me to the mechanic where we drop it off and leave the key in the "early bird" slot. The used tires will be installed as well.
My gf tells me that she smokes pretty bad, this is probably a combination of poor carbueration due to what ever specific problem is in the head and also burning oil/ATF through the rings.

Wish me luck on the sticker, I can use it.

I also picked up a 2" 3 1/4" drop hitch with a 2" ball. I know the drop is more than I need right now thanks to "Saggin' Wagon", but it fits in "the plan" that after I get antique plates, I'm going to lift it. I'll probably throw add-a-leafs in between now and then.

Last, to whomever asked me, considering that this is the first five miles it's moved in 16 years, it still feels like an old pick-up truck, not a limosine. The tires were very lumpy @ 30 mph and I was starting to wonder if they'd come apart at the seams.

A lot to check off the list this time (I'm counting the tires I know the mechanic will do as "done"):
1. Make it run
p. fix gauges/senders
q. 4.0 head swap

2. Make it safe
b. tires (225/75-15)
d. lights
e. seat belts!
f. turn signals (not the flasher, might be column switch)

3. Functional
b. power inverter??
c. check hitch receiver/new 4-wire flat/Reese 2"@3.25" drop hitch

4. Form
b. paint
c. door panels/covered
d. seat covers

5. Misc
a. electric radiator fan

Got the list of things that are needed to pass inspection back from the mechanic.
Wipers stop + washer. I'm not sure what's up with the wipers, but the washer doesn't work because I never added fluid.
RF wheel bearing. This was the wheel I took apart to replace the broken lug. I'm not messing around with this any more, I told him to fix it. It may have been bad from the start of this project, but it's too important to have go wrong again.
Defroster motor - no controls. I didn't know this was required, it doesn't even need to heat, but it's gotta blow. I took the controls out because they had rusted solid.
Steering damper. I knew this was bad, I took it off before it went in so I could measure it to order a new one. I left it off hoping he wouldn't notice it was missing.

So after I talked to the mechanic, I hit up the local U-pull-it. The local Jeep yard said $200 for the head, valve cover and exhaust manifold from a 4.0. The U-pull-it said $60. For $140, I'll pull it.
Took three hours, but much of this time was spent looking for things like an emergency jack because the 95 Cherokee I decided was a good candidate, someone took the transmission mount, transfer case and drive shaft, so the motor was pointing at the sky and the tail end of the transmission was on the ground. I needed it a little closer to where it belongs so I could get to the rear valve cover and head bolts. I also spent a long time looking for an oil cap that was never found. I guess everybody looses them and goes to the U-pull-it to find it. Anybody can pull an oil filler cap.
Last, I spread some karma around and tried to help out some guy who came with the wrong tools pull a door that was a little too close to the next car over to open correctly.
Luckily, I found a wheel barrow to haul my goodies to the check out. When the girl said "fifteen", I asked her again, because I thought I misheard her say "one hundred fifteen", she said "fifteen" again and I couldn't hand her a twenty fast enough to run to my car with my loot. Three hours of time is well worth $185.
Unfortunately, that was a bad move. When we went to get my Jeep from the mechanic, the engine is turning over with horrible, horrible sounds. When it finally does start, it sounds like it's tappy self. Then I push in the choke and it stalls. I try to refire and the starter turns over a few times and done. Nothing.
I tried shorting past the solenoid, it just makes a bunch of sparks.
I just replaced this starter. Now I gotta pay the mechanic to replace the starter. I just hope he gives me a break from his usual rules and lets me exchange the starter. It's probably going to cost me as much as I "saved" over what the U-pull-it should have charged me.
Ah, karma.
More about the 4.0 head swap when I actually get my Wagoneer back.

Revised list, because I'll forget in a few posts.
1. Make it run
p. fix gauges/senders
q. 4.0 head swap/lifters

2. Make it safe
e. seat belts!
g. Wipers stop + washer
h. RF wheel bearing
i. Defroster motor controls
j. Steering damper

3. Functional
b. power inverter??
c. check hitch receiver/new 4-wire flat/Reese 2"@3.25" drop hitch

4. Form
c. door panels/covered
d. seat covers

5. Misc
a. electric radiator fan

$15 for a head?
I paid $30 for a taurus fan and a shock bushing Sunday.
My bushing went missing and the closest OReily's store didn't have a the friggen washers for stud-mount shocks:bonk: Rather than argue with them or drive around town, I just went to Pick-N-Pull to grab one.
The actual acquisition of parts was quick. Entry and exit from the yard was the time-killer. They be slow. :banghead:

BTW, Really enjoying your thread and detailed stories.

Thanks, glad you're enjoying this. I still am.
$15 for a complete head (inc. thermostat/housing, two sensors, push-rods, etc.), valve cover and exhaust manifold w/ O2 sensor and down pipe still connected. I'm still surprised myself. If anyone else wants to try it and you're in the area, here's the place: http://eichelbergerupullit.com/
Oh, they charge $1 admission (web site says $2?), so it actually cost me $16. I'm not complaining though.

They're not perfect, the head had a stud break off the moment I put a wrench on it and would have had a broken sensor had I not gone off and found a replacement.
I still need an oil filler cap.
The exhaust manifold is cracked, which seems like a very common problem on the XJ? series since every one in the yard was cracked in the same place. The problem has even been discussed on TT. The PO appeared to have tried to fix it with JB Weld or something similar, it didn't work and in fact was so easy to remove, what ever it was couldn't stand the heat. I probably could have scratched it off with my fingernails.

But these will do nicely:



I welded the crack, it should last for several years and by then I most likely will have replaced it with something else from "the plan"

And the repaired stud:


FWIW, the Jeep is now back in my driveway. The mechanic let me exchange the starter, but his ins. co. requires his employees to do the work. Other than losing 4th of July weekend mornings to do some work, I guess it turned out OK. The starter could have taken a dump in the middle of the woods - that's ok for bears, but not for an automatic transmission. I forgot my mantra "it's easier to ask forgiveness than permission".

Ride is nice and smooth at 40 MPH with the replacement tires on. Steering is very "cartoony" without the steering damper. Feels like I need to constantly correct the wheel. I'm hoping to have the failure issues except the wheel bearing fixed by tomorrow night so I can drop it off and they can put a sticker on it. This way I can take it for a longer drive to see what other issues that need to be fixed. Right now, legally, I can't drive it anywhere, not even to the mechanic for inspection. The fine however, isn't much more expensive than a one-way tow. I hope those words don't bite me in the butt.

Later (a month or two from now?) I'll be headed back to that U-pull it yard to score the electric radiator fan that's on the to-do list. But I want to record some miles so I can see for myself if there's any economy or power advantages. No matter what the result of that test, the mechanical fan will get stuffed in with the jack, spare water/fan belt and other on-board spares just in case the alt. or fan should die. Supposedly they're ok at free way speed w/o a fan, but I'd expect the engine to cook itself at dirt road speeds.

i remember when you started this thread youve come a long way nice work you must have alot of paitience.:thumbsup:

I think you're right. I learned patience from working on Yamaha carbs. Thanks. I wish it looked as good in person as it does in the photos. Maybe it's because I look at it pretty often therefore I know where every flaw is, they jump out at me when I'm close enough.

Got some news that made my day. First, the oil-filler cap was $3.09. I find it funny, yet not at all surprising that people would pay $1 to the u-pull-it yard to search for an oil cap and then most likely pay $2 for the cap itself when you figure in gasoline just to start the car it totals more than the cost of a new cap.

That was a humorous. What was even better was when I brought the starter back to Advance, they handed me a $5 gift card for the hassle. I didn't use it yesterday because I was returning the broken starter later, so it wouldn't net me anything since they wouldn't refund the gift card. At least, I don't think so.
Today, in addition to the oil cap, I picked up lifters (mine ticks really bad, since I'll have the head off anyway, I'll replace them instead of waiting for them to maybe straighten out. It's a Jeep thing - valve ticking due to clogged lifters, even the AMC based Chrysler motors), the $5 gift card rang up as $20! Woot! Yeah, I know, I'm breaking even if you count the money I'll pay the mechanic for replacing the starter, but that's better than $10 in the hole like I expected to be.