The longest build thread ever, at least it seems like it!

[Kaiserjeeps]

Looks super sharp like always!!

All done with your help too. Many thanks to you and Glenn for helping me along. Now if I could just get it done.

[Kaiserjeeps]

Finally getting some shop time in. I usually have lots of time in the winter to do this stuff. I have trying to build an interior kit for a 66 wagoneer based in Utah. And I am kind of held up so I spent some time sanding the fender skirts to get them painted. I need warmer weather for all of it. I hit 31 below zero and it had been below zero or right at it for about two weeks now. It is warming up some. This is a wagoneer fender skirt with a M715 tail piece welded to it. The original M715 one was to rusty and I had this one handy. The M715 tail piece is different than the civi one so I switched them. I spent a whole day sanding this. It had more green paint runs than ever. Crazy bad work. Now I am treating it with SEM rust converter. Another sand down then seam sealer on the seam on both sides then paint goes on. I hope the remaining body parts clean up quicker than these.



All the black is rust and it is getting sealed in.





I hope to have paint on these and a whole bunch of other parts waiting very soon. It is a task to get the shop warm enough despite being fully insulated. This paint likes heat to set it.

[Flingarrows]

Wow, that is some cold weather!

Do you find that paint is very tough to sand off?
I am stripping the doors and hood on mine, and it’s taking forever.

I tried paint stripper. It took the red from the FD off, but only softens the top layer of paint

[brute4c]

Yeah...that is cold!!! We have barely slipped below -10 this winter...

Stay warm Al...we need you!!

[Kaiserjeeps]

Yes Flingarrows this is the toughest paint I have ever sanded. No kidding, two days to sand both fender skirts. So why does my new tan paint chip so easily? I have been wondering. And I have you beat on temps Jon. The lowest I have ever seen here was 36 below zero. I was 5 degrees shy this time. It is hard to heat the home with that. I am not looking forward to my power bill. The furnace kept coming on despite a hot hard running woodstove.

It warmed up to 32 today and rain. It was raining at 19 degrees two days ago. Never seen anything like it. So I watched a superb church service online this morning then decided to go out and work on the skirts. I ended up with a quick sand to smooth the rust sealer and put seam sealer on the seams. I got a wild hair and fired off 4 heaters to warm the shop to paint. I got the plastic booth to 68 and went for it. Glad I did it. The fender skirts look way better than I thought they would. Got a shovel painted, steering column, gas can hold down straps, trans boot ring, headlight rings, rear view mirror, etc. I need to not touch it for a few days now. Anyway some pictures.

Seam sealer to stop rust. I soaked SEM rust sealer in there just in case.



And the rest of the parts. I have a few black things left to do yet.







Getting there.

[Kaiserjeeps]

Well I got the grill guard painted. It took a full day of straightening with a bearing press and various straight edges to get it looking good again. I had one cracked weld to fix and a few dents to fill. Got that done after another full day of sanding it. I painted it yesterday after running the heat in the shop full bore for hours before spraying. I also painted the inner front radiator support. Another sanding joy there. This paint is really something. I put the steering column together and got it installed. I have steering now. I used civi parts on the steering wheel and I think it looks great. For a modified restomod anyway.





I punched holes for new neoprene seals.





Nothing is cleaned up yet. I was just fitting to make sure it all fit. The horn components are missing out of my column.



Onward

[Flingarrows]

Looking good. That looks like a lot of work to strip the grill guard

[Kaiserjeeps]

It was. My hands are very sore from sanding. But it looks good. Not perfect but it looks good. It will be a woods rig. It won't take long before those little imperfections will be lost in the fray.

So I started on the top frame. Jiminy freaking Christmas there are some holes in it. From a hard top I am sure. Maybe three different hard tops. I have roughly 28 rivet holes per side. Nuts ... I am welding them up and cleaning them up for paint. I bet it whistled in the wind on the freeway.





One side all fixed. I am going to pull all the snaps off for paint. The screws are stuck. I sheared the tip of an impact driver. Crazy the cheap crap from china we have now. I have all new black snaps to put back. And I have two new black tops to pick from. It is going to be sharp as heck. I will probably attempt to make a complete top frame set some day. It does not look to difficult. Anyway..



More later.

[Kaiserjeeps]

36 rivet holes in the rear bow alone. Somebody shoot me.

[Flingarrows]

Wow!