New Project (for me)

[Morbid Angel]

sick! I have been on the look out for old school jeep bodies all the time. That looks terrific.

[Mike Flea]

Thanks, best advice I can give is watch for garage sales, and what folks throw out in their garbage. A lot of times I just do a drive-by on the garage sales, sellers usually put toys out front to draw in the buyers. As far as garbage picking, I don't go through bags of garbage. Toys, especially the large ones are too big to fit in a can or bag, so the resident leaves them next to the pile, that's easy to spot.

[Mike Flea]

IT LIVES!!, if only in front wheel drive, still waiting on a longer rear driveshaft. Still need to make rollcage and front bumper.

[Mike Flea]

It ain't pretty, but it works. Put the springs back on because I figured when I get the roll bar on it's going to add some weight.

[Neeley]

Looking good Mike, so much detailing potential on that jeep, I'll be watching. ;)

[Mike Flea]

Rollcage, front bumper/stinger, and a steering wheel. Every early Hasbro Jeep I've seen here, has to make a lost steering wheel, lol. Find me a Joe, without having to go to e-bay would be a blessing, make some tools and supplies, and finish off the styrene parts,( make a tunnel, and box in the rear shock towers), & it'll be good to go. I took a small battery powered LED and held it up to the back of the headlights, and it lit them up good, so maybe I can hot glue a set to the back.

[BuddhaTat2]

I am soldering in 7 led bulb flashlights from the dollar store, resistors, and should be bright. If not I will run a small 3s lipo for them, and added roll bar lights. Subscribed.

[Mike Flea]

I was at O'reilly auto parts today, and found a small strip of LED lights for around $14 for a 2pk., 12v. They also had some battery operated ones that have multiple colors in the same strip. I didn't pick them up, but it gave me some ideas.

[Mike Flea]

Started on the rollbar/cage on Sunday, man, do I need practice, not at all like bending brakeline for my '40 chevy some time ago. I didn't have to be precise to bend around framerails and the underside of the engine.
On the Willy's, I measured up from the floorboard to the top of the window frame, across the top of the frame, and down the other side, marked where I wanted the bends, put the tube in the tube bender, and ended up an inch too tall, and an inch too narrow in width...DOH!...I'll cut that piece up for crossbracing. Got it a bit closer on the second try, but the ends will be going through the front fender sills, eh, I'll connect them to the sliders. This'll be an abomination by the time I'm through,....hmmm, the "abomitable", catchy name for a new RC,...nah, I'd get sued as a spinoff of the Yeti.

[Mike Flea]

Trashed the first piece I had started last Sunday, didn't like the way I had bent it, so started all over yesterday. Once I had the front section of the cage made, I taped it to the body, and brazed all subsequent pieces to it while on the Jeep. Didn't turn out too bad, despite the crappy brazing job.

[Mike Flea]

Finished the roll cage this afternoon by adding a couple crossbraces, 2 across the doors, and 1 between the rear kickers. Now on to the front grill guard and bumper. I was going to use 3/16 brakeline for the grill guard, but it's too flimsy. As I was cutting the flare off one end of the brakeline, it was bending in my hand, so I'll be using the 1/4", with a short piece of 3/8 for the actual bumper.

[Mike Flea]

I used 1/4" brakeline for the rollcage, and I can honestly say it's not that heavy, which is good, don't have to worry about being top-heavy. If it weighs a pound, I'd be surprised. The bulk of the weight is from the body and chassis. Have to find a scale.

[Mike Flea]

WOW! I had ordered a WB8-HD driveshaft from the lhs last month and got tired of waiting for it, so Sunday, I ordered a custom length Punisher shaft from RC4WD, and it got here to Chicagoland today. I'm surprised because I read somewhere here, in these forums, that getting deliveries from RC4WD was a slow prospect, not in my opinion!

[Mike Flea]

Got the rear driveshaft on and took it for a spin on my rockpile. Climbed like a mountain goat, but having some steering problems. Battery may have been low, so I'll charge it and try again tomorrow. I'm running a Hi-tec 645mg, so it shouldn't be a problem.

[Mike Flea]

All better now, I had turned down the steering set points when the original plastic bumper was still on the Jeep, because the TSL's were catching at full lock, and the battery was low.

[Kylar]

Looks great! How does it drive? My only advice would be to spray the shocks black or something

[Mike Flea]

The shocks will get a coat of paint when I do the rest of the Jeep. I need to rebuild them yet, they all have the same weight oil, but the right side shocks are sagging a bit, also thinking of using an internal spring on them. They are aftermarket aluminum T-Maxx. It drives and handles real well now that I corrected the steering problem, climbs like a mountain goat, great flex.

Still not sure if I'm going to keep the windshield on, when I had it out the other day, returning from the rockpile in the yard, I clipped the front tire of my 1:1 Jeep and cracked the windshield frame.

[Mike Flea]

Still working on getting the front bumper together. Going to try using a 4" piece of 1/2" pipe nipple with endcaps as the bumper, with a shorter piece of 3/4" pipe to use as a roller, sort of like on a WWII Halftrack. I need to run to the hardware store and pick up some 3/16 roundstock, as opposed to 3/16 brakeline. I found the thinner brakeline was too flimsy, and I should be able to make a jig to bend the 3/16 coldrolled into a decent grillguard.

[Mike Flea]

Aah, 4 day weekend to work on the bumper, finally got all the pieces and parts together, just need to drill a couple holes, and weld the frame brackets to the pipe. Also started working on the body work and center tunnel, pics to follow by end of the weekend.

[Mike Flea]

Well, here's my "new" bumper design. basically it's a 1/2" x 4" pipe nipple, with a 3/4" x 3" pipe nipple over the smaller pipe to act as a roller. Does it work?, I don't know, haven't tried it yet, but the concept is that it will work the same as a roller on a half track, so the bumper doesn't catch on the rocks. Still need to hit up a friend to put a couple tack welds to hold the pipe to the 1/2" flat stock. Also started on the body work by filling in holes in the body, adding a panel to the back of the body where the missing tailgate should be, boxing in the shock towers and a center tunnel to hide the motor and trans. The headlights are dollar store book lights epoxied to a small piece of 1/2" PVC, and then epoxied to the back of the grill behind the stock headlights. I'll need to find another way to shoot a pic of the headlights on, as the camera flash was brighter than the LED's on the headlights. It ain't pretty, but it works.