I’m still a ways away from even starting the tear down, but I think I’ve come up with the color that I’ll use for Ike when it comes to doing the body work. Drumroll please…. Potomac Grey! With it not only being a color I was considering, but also the original color of the Jeep, I think it was all but destined to be grey again. Below is a picture of an accurately restored color scheme I found on the CJ-3A page of Mark Struhsacker’s 1949 CJ-3A. Ike’s wheels were definitely red in the past, but I don’t think I’ll…
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With the weather being nice and with the transmission cover already off the Jeep, I decided to do a little cleanup on some of the smaller pieces attached to the body. Along with the transmission cover, I removed the shift boot retaining rings for the transmission shifter as well as the transfer case shifting rods. While I was at it, I took off the master cylinder inspection plate, and then the eyelets and body-side door rails for the canvas top. On the passenger side, this proved especially problematic. The semi-veritcle rail on the left is mirrored on the passenger side.…
3 CommentsTip it on it’s side, obviously! via eWillys (via MilJeep)
1 CommentIke’s first oil change, they grow up so fast 🙁 Well, maybe not the first oil change, but certainly the first oil change in a long while. After owning Ike for only a few months, it was time to give him a good old fashioned oil change. Some observations: the drain plug is HUGE compared to what I am used to. The bolt head is over an inch across, and needless to say I didn’t have any proper tools to get the bolt off. I ended up having to use a pair of channel locks to get around the large…
1 CommentWith the weather being so nice, I decided to take Ike out for a run around the desert. The clouds kept going in front of the sun, so the colors and shadows are a little weird looking. I only had my iPhone on me and not the big camera so I did what I could to make them look a little less odd. The NDT tires made a really cool pattern in the soft sand. Overall, Ike continues to impress me with it’s ability to run both on and off the road with his old age and inconsistent mechanical soundness.…
2 CommentsOur long national nightmare is over, I have finally completed the restoration of my side view mirror. I originally took the arm off back in April, and slowly (very slowly) restored it as I found time. I must say, for the one restored component externally visible, it looks damn good for being 60 years old. So the arm went from this: To this: And finally this: It may not look like much, but I’m pretty proud of it. Came out much better than I had originally thought it would 🙂
2 CommentsIt seems like I have been working on this stupid side view mirror forever. I guess that is what happens though when there aren’t any other pressing matters. It also helps that the side mirror doesn’t make the thing un-drivable, especially since the repro one was so useless, not having it seems to be an improvement. Today I was finally able to get all the bracket pieces primed and painted. The 100º weather certainly helped speed drying times along. Hopefully tomorrow all the pieces will be nicely hardened and ready for installation. While waiting for paint to dry, and activity…
1 CommentWell, I had some pretty high hopes for Ike this weekend. While I didn’t accomplish nearly as much as I was hoping to get done, I did fill the weekend pretty successfully. My weekend offroading adventure ended up getting cut out completely. Saturday went from being a offroading day with some sand blasting, to being a day of relaxation with some sand blasting thrown in. Due to the high heat this weekend, inside with the AC on was really the only tolerable place to be. Sunday I went down to the Pomona Antique Auto Swap Meet, which was a total…
2 CommentsIn a bit of a change of pace, rather than say what I have done with Ike, here is what I plan to do with Ike this weekend. Due to a slight change of plans for Saturday, I should have some time in the morning to not only give the new air compressor a good run, but to get the bracket for the side-view mirror cleaned up, primed, and painted. Aside from that, I want to take Ike out for at least one run through the desert. After doing the two very quick runs through the field, I want to…
2 CommentsOld vehicles have a lot going for them. They have loads of character, idiosyncrasies that sometimes aren’t readily apparent, and more times then not, they have ways of “talking” to their owners. Ike has a way of doing just that. One of the not-so-great side effects of getting a new job was my “Jeeping” time has been cut drastically. Before, if the weather was cooperating and it wasn’t 115º outside, I could drive Ike to and from work. This brought with it some challenges as that is how I found out the gas gauge isn’t working, my radiator was plugged, and…
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