CJ3B Beastie

Finished the washer system, with the nozzles mounted in the bonnet.
Works well.

 

A wise man once said, do your roll bar before painting other wise you'll scratch your paint.

So I did.

 

Looks fantastic!

 

You sir are kicking butt and taking names. Loving this whole rig.

 

Wait... windshield squirter nozzles on a 3B

You are too cool. Although it's going to be hilarious when you forget the windshield is down and use them

 

Good on a hot day though.

I figure if it's going to get muddy at some point then being able to clean the windscreen on the move would be a bonus.

Not much to do now except tear it all down and start to paint.

 

Beastie is stripped bare.

Got to do some of the things to the underside that are easier to do without a body in the way.
Added an extra brace as the Daihatsu transmission is more to the rear then made a 6mm thick bash plate from alloy.
I don't plan to be bouncing onto rocks so the light weight option should be all right.
It is strong enough to support the weight of the body less chassis so it is not flimsy either.



This also protects the park brake disc from being caught up.



Then moved to the front to make a cover for the gap under the front of the engine.
My main concern here is getting branches kicking up and doing nasty things to the V belts.



Left around 3/4 inch of clearance under the pulley.

 

Stripped down, the look of the shocky tower where the steering shaft goes through appears even weaker than I thought it did.

Even with the pipe sleeve added there is only the thickness of the RHS and pipe supporting the outside and 2 bolts supporting the inside.


So, decided to reinforce the shock towers with an external gusset.
Rolled a piece of flat bar and shaped it to clear the relocated mount with a neat taper down to the bottom of the original chassis rail.


After welding and paint it looks a lot beefier.


Did both sides so hopefully the engineer will be happy with them.

 

Aren't YOU the engineer?

 

Um, nope.
I'm just a dumb boilermaker / fabricator who's alright with a hammer.

Because this is having an engine installed that is not original, I need to satisfy an independent automotive engineer that everything is better quality than it was when Willys made it in 1958.
As soon as you start to modify anything here that will be road registered you have to get the engineering certificate to go with the work.
That means $$$$

It's a pain in the arse but it is supposed to stop people from doing anything dodgy.

So far he has said he is happy with the engine and transmission setup, but he may want to do a full braking system test because I did change to discs up front and a booster.
He's happy with the seat mounting system, not sure about using lap seat belts yet though. (May need to upgrade to lap /sash types)
Because the shocky towers have been modified he might pick up on that, and if he does then they need to be as strong or better than the original assembly.

There's also a bit of a blurry line when too many changes start to make it so that the whole vehicle needs to comply with modern safety standards so I'm trying to avoid that if I can.

 

Ah, you are an engineer.. You just don't have the stamp to prove it...

So, here in the states my 1948 cj2a came with one brake light. It had no seat belts and terrible brakes. I had an easy time here where I live, but other states are different. My inspection station required nothing from me.

I went with a newer engine from the mid 60's, power saginaw steering and power disk brakes on all 4 corners. It is infinitely safer, more enjoyable and just more fun to drive than a stock version.

What you're making should have no trouble convincing an inspector that what you have made is superior in every way to stock. Keep it up. Its awesome.

 

Will do, just the rules and regulations being a subject of the crown rather than a free citizen peeve me.

In other slightly related news, just drove the CJ5 about 260 KM to Wollongong to visit the daughter for a few days.

Longest continuous run it has been on so far.

 

Made it back from Wollongong in the CJ 5 last week end.


Up date on beastie progress.

Made the rear bar.
Haven't made the tyre and jerry can rack that will swing on it yet.
Going to do that once the body is back on to make sure it all looks good and sits far enough away from the tailgate.



Then did a few other little bits that needed tidying up before wading into the prep work for painting.

After sitting bare for a few weeks / months there is surface rust almost everywhere, so wire brush on the grinder and some rust converter.
Before

After

 

Then the bottom side got primed and a coat of rust proofing / noise deadner applied.


Flipped it up the right way up again and did the wire brush and rust converter process on the top side along with all the other loose items.


Then put some primer on all those parts.







Naturally the extra cleaning process and more detailed wire brushing to get rid of older paint and rust areas showed up defects and so on that I fixed as I went.

Still had a few defects show up after the primer went on but.

I don't like to use any body filler so am happy to accept some high and low spots in the metal work.

 

Time to reveal the final colour.

I wanted something that kept with the spirit of the military look but not the generic olive drab, so had a look through the local industrial colour charts and found this basic "colourbond" shade that is used on everything from roof sheeting to fences.


It's called "bushland" down here and is a light olive / green with a bit of a grey tinge.
Looks a bit different depending on if it's in direct sun or the shade.

Had a perfect day for it. light breeze, not a cloud in the sky and around 30 deg C (86 F)








Then wouldn't you know it, on the second coat being applied to the right hand front guard a single small black bug lands right in the middle of the panel.
Sits there wiggling, stuck in the wet paint but not stuck enough that it can't leave a little trail as it wiggles along trying to escape, I could almost hear it laughing and mocking me.

So tried to get it out and ended up totally ruining the whole panel.


Picked the bug out then tried to blend the divot that I left with a brush and thinners.
That just left brush lines didn't it.
A few extra coats of the colour will hide that and blend it all in I think to myself, so I keep coming back every few minutes and putting another layer on till it looked sort of OK.

Then went and had something to eat. Went to town to do some shopping for dinner tonight. Had a coffee. Patted the dog.

Came back and had a look at my super duper repair job.

WTF,
the whole sheet of paint has slipped across, off the edge of the guard, and is hanging an inch over the side like a big long green tongue.
Not just a run or a dribble, the whole freaking sheet of wet paint has slipped sideways down and off the panel.

Didn't take a pic, was too pissed off at the situation.

So out came the scraper and peeled it all off back down to the primer.

Will try again tomorrow after it is able to be sanded down.

 

Yeah, I have had this happen, but not the paint falling off in a sheet. You sure your primer and topcoat are compatible? I have had similar issues.... When I painted my present jeep, the back panel got curtains running down the thing. My only hope was a D/A sander.. But I was don't with the paint. Winter/snow/rain and no garage, just a plastic tent..I used an epoxy primer then shot on the topcoat when the epoxy was still going off. The epoxy is super tough. I had to double check my paint supplier who tried to sell me paint that wasn't compatible with the epoxy. So much of the time sales people don't know what they sell. Gotta double check their statements. .... Especially when you pay over 300 bucks for a gallon of topcoat alone.

Man, you don't want your paint jumping off.

 

Yeah it's all compatible, I just put more on than gravity could handle.

I'm no picasso and have a few runs here and there that are not too noticeable, so happy with it at this stage.

I'm using a 2 part mix on an etch primer so once it sets properly it's also pretty tough.
I got a gallon of primer plus a gallon of thinner
2 gallons of the top coat and a gallon size thinner for that, along with a new respirator and filters for just under 500 Aus $, so all up not too bad.

 

I have resisted the temptation to do anything major to the painted items for a full 36 hours.
The longer it hardens the better.

Did a few other things in the meantime.

The steering column was originally from an older mitsubishi and the plastic surround was never going to work so it got discarded, and the original ignition key set up was chopped out.



Then I needed to make a cover for the ugly section and came up with this.



I added some chequer plate to the clutch and brake foot pads and made a new chequer plate accelerator pad.

Installed the booster and pedals carefully to the body late today.


Then decided it was time to start the real fun part and get the process of rebuilding under way.
The paint felt like it was set pretty solid so I think I can go ahead from here and it will resist handling damage.




The other thing I did while I waited for the paint to set was raise the exhaust outlet up a bit more to help protect it better.


Still need to make the lids for the rear stowage bins and the glove box but that can wait till later.

 

Believe it or not an ice cold bath will really kick that hardened paint off. The activator uses moisture to do its chemical mojo.