Nice work........

Pressure-washed, metal repaired, scuff sanded, wiped down with MEK, and taped up. The bottom is now ready for the eopxy primer and the Monstaliner. The silver stuff is Chassis Saver, similar to POR-15.

The Bilstein 5165's that had been on national back-order for 6 months finally arrived on Tuesday. Got them mounted. The supplied el cheapo hose clamps are temporary. I'll get some nicer anodized aluminum clamps.



The Summit 1-3/4" u-build header kit arrived yesterday. It will be my first attempt at building headers. Oh boy, can't wait...

Dave,
Is the new and improved pulley going to work? You did get it, didn't you?

Well....my plans for spraying Monstaliner on the bottom of my tub this weekend have been shot to hell. While reviewing the instructions for the first time last night, I took inventory of what I had received, and I quickly realized that they didn't include a can of the catalyst!!

You can be sure I'll be on the phone with them Monday morning.

Not to let this weekend go by without getting something done on the Jeep, I rented an engine hoist, so I could modify the engine mounts, in order to slide the engine and trans back 3/4". Reason for doing this is, I took some measurements, and discovered that I only had 2-1/4" of space between the radiator and the water pump pulley for the electric cooling fan. The fan that I'm going to use is 4" deep. The 3 part plan to get the space is to move the engine back 3/4" (done), modify the grill so the radiator can be set one inch into it, and shave the fan shroud 1/2".

After reading on the 'net about fitment problems with the CJ grille and CJ radiator with respect to the power steering box on a YJ frame, I decided to mock up the grille, and see what these issues look like firsthand.

Grille mounted to see if it fits, or not.



Not so much. The grille hits the steering box and hoses.



Created some breathing room.



Wonderful......the bottom of the radiator hits the steering box. The radiator actually needs to come down another 1/2". I think the solution is to cut some metal off on the passenger side, and slide the radiator over to the passenger side. Judging by eyeball measurement, it looks like it can move over about 1-1/2". So much for buying a bolt-in radiator!!

Gucci shock clamps arrived.



I made a transverse shock hoop brace.



I kept one of the short hoop supports, to triangulate and tie the support to the frame. I eliminated the driver's side support, because it looks like its going to be in the way of the steering shaft.

I finally got going on the Monstaliner project today. I first sprayed one coat of Dupont Corlar 2.1 ST epoxy primer, which is a high build industrial epoxy primer.
When it dried, I sprayed 3 coats of the Monsta, in Medium Quartz Gray.

Primer coat.


After 3 coats of the Monsta.

Nice....Is the finish coat going to be the same color as the body.....??? I'm thinking yes

Rickster

PS.....I like the original copper color idea as well

Rickster

Rick, I've gone round and round on colors, and I "think" I've settled on some shade of blue, with Intense Blue Pearl at the top of the list. That color was used on Dodge Dakotas, and some other trucks, including Wranglers.

Yesterday, with the help of some of my friends, we installed the tub.

looks pretty sweet. did you use a floor jack handle, for a front driveshaft?


that thing is getting tall. will it fit inside the garage, with the rollcage and lights, and stuff?

I burned up my last unused vacation day of the year, and got some work done on the Jeep. I fitted the CJ fenders, which required a fair amount of metal trimming.



I dropped off the radiator at the local welding shop, to get the tank welded shut. The CJ front sheet metal puts the radiator right over, and on, the power steering box. To make it work, I had to do two things, cut a clearance notch at the bottom of the tank, and slide the radiator over toward the passenger side as much as possible.





Sliding the rad over solved that problem, but it created another. The passenger side headlight assembly couldn't quite mount all the way onto the grille, because the headlight bucket hit against the tank of the now relocated radiator. So, I trimmed the back of the headlight bucket enough to where it cleared the rad, but there still wasn't enough room for the headlight socket. The solution: a low profile, right angle headlight socket. It clears the radiator by an 1/8".

Before today, I had fully expected the shock hoops to go through the inner fenderwells, but much to my surprise, they barely cleared without any cutting. The 1" body lift made the difference. The only cutting left to do is to cut a hole in each fenderwell for the transverse brace to go through and join at the hoops.

it's going to be too nice, to run out on the red rock....