Getting started on my floor pans and torque boxes

I know CJ's were painted AFTER they had the rollbar installed. I think I was hoping TJ's were different.
 
I forgot to mention, if you want to treat the rust rather than cut it out, get some Evaporust. It's not an acid, but a chelation fluid that will remove pitted rust without harming the base metal. Doesn't harm your skin, and about the consistency of water. But it works very slowly and needs to be kept wet. For small items I just leave them over night in a bucket of the stuff. For surface rust on otherwise sound panels I used a flap disc or sand paper to remove most of the rust and then soaked paper towels in evaporust and let them sit on the metal for a day or two, using a spray bottle every few hours to keep the towels wet. You can see the towels turn brown from the rust it leaches out and then you can wash off the evaporust and repaint or fix what's left. It works so well I threw all the phosphoric acid away.

What would be the difference with Evaporust vs fluid film application wise? Application meaning purpose and applying? Thanks
 
Rear floor pans were delivered today

This mornings progress:
-Drilled out some of the torque box spot welds
-Removed fender (easier said than done!)

Discovered what I think is a bad seal job which may explain why my driver side rusted out so much worse. I broke off one of the bolts (first one) for the fender at the front before I realized I should have removed the headlights to spray liquid wrench and use heat.

As for the fender bolts into the tub...this was a great time to do that because I had the bottom opened up and could spray liquid wrench into the back of the bolts and heat. It looks like only the bottom one was rusted badly.

Fender moved
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See the gap at the corner where light shines through? I could be wrong but it looks like the sealer didn’t get into the corner like it was supposed to.
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The four bolts holding on the fender. Bottom one is rusty but top three look good and came out easily.
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Spot welds removed. It was hard to find them among the rust, bondo, etc (from an earlier bad attempt by me to fix the rocker rust)
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I know it’s been a hot minute since you did this but I’m using your “blog” post as a guide…could you have just removed the bracket that connects to the fender and the torque box without taking off the fender?! I’m hoping it’s a yes cause I’m not wanting to keep working on taking off the fender haha
 
I know it’s been a hot minute since you did this but I’m using your “blog” post as a guide…could you have just removed the bracket that connects to the fender and the torque box without taking off the fender?! I’m hoping it’s a yes cause I’m not wanting to keep working on taking off the fender haha

I don't think you could remove it without the fender off. It has to come forward because of the way it connects to the studs on the firewall and it can't come forward with the fender still attached.

Taking off the fender can be a tough job but I'm happy to know that all the seized and rusted bolts will be in the past when this is all done.
 
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Looks like I never updated this with photos of the roll bar mounts job mostly done.

One side I ground down the welds and body filled:
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The other side I decided to just leave it:
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Wheel well area before:
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After: I still need to replace the screws with rivets in some places.
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I worked on it a little bit today for the first time in a long time.

I had the body raised up to expose the rear part underneath that was a little rusty:
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Sandblasted:
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Painted with spray can flat Rustoleum industrial (for now):
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Body lowered and back in the garage:
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I've worked hard on self improvement and managed to thin the collection down quite a bit; thank you very much.
 
I sandblasted all the bare metal spots today and sprayed the spots with Rustoleum Professional flat black. Going to scuff and sand everything then seal it with epoxy primer and single stage over that. Hope it works out.

Self imposed deadline of getting paint on this Jeep before another winter starts so I am trying to keep it moving forward.

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Looking good! I might have missed it but how are you sand blasting it? Do you have an outdoor sandblasting setup that can tackle something the size of a jeep?
 
Looking good! I might have missed it but how are you sand blasting it? Do you have an outdoor sandblasting setup that can tackle something the size of a jeep?

Thanks! Just using the little bucket siphon sandblaster in the second photo of post #106 for the majority and also a small HF pot blaster for the more difficult/pitted areas that the siphon blaster doesn't have enough power to get clean. I'm not doing the whole body, just the areas that need it like around holes, behind hinges, etc...

I used Roloc discs in the winter but a sandblaster works so much better. Just makes a huge mess though. I've found it works pretty good to sweep up the driveway after I'm done and I can run the coal slag sweepings through a window screen into a bucket a couple times to reuse it. Then blow off the driveway and everything with a leaf blower.

If anyone has the ability to move this thread to the build section - it sort of turned into that I think.
 
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Sort of feeling down on this project again. I typed a bunch of stuff and then my browser reset and lost it.

Summary: been doing body work the last few days, I hate body work, it doesn't go well for me, there is no ending point, you could just keep going forever on body work. Eventually I will get fed up and call it good enough and it will still look like garbage. F! How much time is worth it for someone to spend on a Jeep like this? Hoping the high metallic flake hides a lot.

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Spent a lot of time on this project the last week. Lots of sanding, filler, glaze, primer, sanding, sanding, sanding.

I started putting the pieces back together. Sandblasted and painted all the hinge bolts. Discovered slight dent on tailgate. Fixed dent. Attached and aligned tailgate. Sanded tailgate. Discovered another dent, fixed, sanded.

Attached and aligned hood.

Attached windshield frame.

Attached and aligned doors.

Drilled out holes and installed 10-24 nutserts for flares.

IMG_4418.webp
 
Spent a lot of time on this project the last week. Lots of sanding, filler, glaze, primer, sanding, sanding, sanding.

I started putting the pieces back together. Sandblasted and painted all the hinge bolts. Discovered slight dent on tailgate. Fixed dent. Attached and aligned tailgate. Sanded tailgate. Discovered another dent, fixed, sanded.

Attached and aligned hood.

Attached windshield frame.

Attached and aligned doors.

Drilled out holes and installed 10-24 nutserts for flares.

View attachment 539323

It looks good from the pics. That’s a lot of work. I had to catch up on your thread. I’m sure you can tell better than us how good the prep really is. Don’t get discouraged. Body work is really time consuming and without all the best tools it’s really challenging. Don’t lose hope. I’m sure it will turn out pretty good given all the time and attention to detail.
 
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Major shift in my project-

I keep wanting to buy a beater Jeep that I can do simple body repairs and spray bomb white. A Jeep that I can take offroad or leave it outside or drive in the winter and not worry about it...

Well, I've decided to go that direction with this Jeep. Started with the white spray paint today. So far getting a lot of runs. Maybe I'll sand it out and go over everything with the gallon version in my spray gun once all the pieces are attached.

I'm feeling free and liberated. I know this isn't everybody's cup of tea but I am excited to see how it goes and get my driving driving again and having fun with it.

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You do you-- that's the fun of owning an old jeep, you can make it yours. If you can't enjoy it, it's just another car. Have fun!
 
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You do you-- that's the fun of owning an old jeep, you can make it yours. If you can't enjoy it, it's just another car. Have fun!

Exactly, thanks! The fun of owning an old Jeep. This is going great. I picked up a gallon of the paint last night but I might just keep going with the spray cans. The white color hides a lot.

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I think you did a great job all around and you are commended for all your efforts. Only thing ill add is while you have it torn down this far id paint it with something with more substance than spray paint. That spray paint won't last long in the elements especially if you leave the jeep outside, Purchase the Gallon like you stated and give it a good finish will last a long time, Preserve all your work and you'll be driving it for a long time.
Enjoy.
 
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Don't worry about the spray can paint. Let it gas out for about a week, then a light scuff with grey pad and then shoot a 2K clear coat over it. I did this with my son's tailgate and it worked wonderfully. I used this stuff: 2K Clear
 
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