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Third Project Build-up - part #11
 
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So the weekend of October 01/02 was very good the third project Jeep. During the week, we made preparations to go out and get some NOS fenders that had been sitting in a barn for the past 9 years or so. They were painted back when they were bought a silver color, but were never installed and just sat in the barn. After getting those, a new hood was ordered and that was picked up on Saturday morning (after securing some much needed coffee). It had been a while since we worked on the Jeep. It was good to get back to it and get a lot of much needed work on it done.
 
 
It has been nearly 4 months since we got the Jeep and it has been through quite a transformation in the process. It is coming along nicely and we are almost at the stage where we can shoot some paint on it and really start putting this back together.

We started out by fitting the new fenders, hood, and radiator shell on the Jeep. With the stainless kit, we were able to replace the brace rod support kit with new stainless hardware (after a lot of penetrating oil and some coaxing to get the old ones off) and after that we used the new stainless bolts and hinges to put the rest of the parts together. The hood was pretty close to fitting right away, just required a little persuasion as well as some of the new hardware for the support rod and other various new parts to make sure everything was attached properly and shut correctly.
 
 
We then moved onto going through the parts bin trying to find the fold-n-tumble seat brackets. These were a bit rusty, so the wire wheel came out and then a coat of primer and black spray paint finished up the clean up process and then they went back onto the Jeep.

The dash was originally the color of the original CJ-7, which was gun metal gray, so that was stripped down to almost bare metal so the paint will adhere to it better. It took a long time with the scrapper to get off all the glue that was behind the dash panel cover, but in the end, it was worth it. Hey, if you are going to do a job, you might as well do it the right way.
 
 
We had a little lunch and then we were onto cut up the new hood we had just bought. On the first Jeep (Orange one) I had put a set of Race Ace Louver's on the Jeep. I liked them a lot and then I got an email from a guy at Race Ace saying they had a new slim line design of the louvers, so I figured that since they worked so well on the first Jeep, I should try them on the 3rd Jeep. The louvers came in and we followed pretty much the same set of steps that are outlined in the Hood Louver Installation section.

We laid them out where we wanted them to be, set some tape down after careful measuring, then used a marker to mark all the holes that were going to be drilled and then removed the louvers. Each hole mark was tapped with a hole punch and then the supplied drill bit was used to drill out all the holes. This is a bit tedious and repetitive, but the time spent here will ensure proper fitting of the louver and make everything look really good with the final installation.

After the holes were all set, some more tape was laid down and the inside section was marked in order to cut out the middle section. Last time, I did this step in the reverse order and when I tried to drill through the hood with the center cut out, the metal needed some support because it was so flexy without the center section there. This time around, the process was much better and the hood flexed less when pressure was applied by the drill. Once the center sections were cut out, a grinder was used to knock off the underside of the holes and cut marks, and finally a sander was used to clean up all the edges. A coat of primer was applied so there will be no surface rust until we are able to paint the hood. This will all happen in the coming weeks. Check back later to see how the final assembly goes and you will be able to see the black louvers on the school bus yellow paint job. It should look really nice!

NOTE: The guy that emailed me and said that after he read the write-up on the site, his company made some changes in the installation instructions as well as the aluminum rivet bag that is included is now taped up so that it won't open when being shipped. This company is a class act and really listens to its customer's suggestions. Nice work Race Ace!
 
 
After the hood was put back onto the Jeep, the fender flares for the new front fenders were attacked and those went on without a hitch. Some C-clamps were used to hold the new fender flares in place and then the holes were marked on some masking tape and finally a punch and drill were used to put the holes in the fenders for the mounting hardware. Separate hardware was purchased a while back for the rear fender flares and that was dug up and used for the installation of the front flares. This went on without a hitch and finally the front-end work was completed for the time being. We removed the fender flares after they were mounted and stored them for final assembly in a few weeks.

Most of that happened on Saturday with us coming back on Sunday for the bodywork on the Jeep. The Jeep body is a 1989 YJ Wrangler body that was in pretty good shape, however, it had the holes for the side rocker panels as well as the YJ style rear fender flares, not to mention the gas filler neck was on the wrong side. All of these holes were welded up, grinded down and then finally a little bit of plastic body filler was applied and sanded smooth. We then shot a coat of primer on to protect the area until final sanding and paint.

The tailgate was then tackles as it had some holes in it as well from the original soft top mounting hardware. We then ran out of primer and acetone, so it didn't receive a coat of primer to finish off the work for the weekend, but during the week, those items will be obtained from the local parts store and then a quick sand next weekend will have the tailgate looking ready for paint as well.

The driver side is all set and next week we will tackle the passenger side. Most of the work is almost done for paint and soon, this baby will be sitting in 1992 Mustang Yellow paint as this is the color that the firewall is already as well as the windshield frame. About 16 total hours went into the Jeep this weekend and we have a few more to go. Thus far, it has been about 140 hours total with probably about 50 more to go until it is completed. It has really come a long way in the past 4 months and somebody next year will really enjoy driving the reworked Jeep once it has been completed. That is about all we did this weekend and we have plans for a lot more next weekend.
 
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