Builds Research Archives

To Top

David Darrah’s Jeeps

• CATEGORIES: Builds, Features This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.
both-jeeps2

1952 CJ-3A on the left and a 1962 CJ-3B on the right.

In the ‘it’s a small world’ category, David Darrah grew up barely a mile from where I did in Renton. His father Ray was a charter member of the Seattle Rump Bumpers Jeep Club, so he’s had jeeping in his blood from birth.  Where David lived was just a street over from George Steele. George has been involved with jeeps a long time (and still is — I talked with him this summer) and my parents knew him pretty well. As a teen, David knew George well also, occasionally begging him for discounted parts for his first jeep, a 1942 MB.

A few years ago David had a chance to buy a green CJ-3A that George had rebuilt back in 1996 (though George no longer owned it). Despite owning several different flat fenders over the years (see end of post), just owning one jeep wasn’t enough, so David recently bought a second one Willys, a 1962 CJ-3B that needed a little bit of work. David feels like he’s well on his way to owning a ‘collection’ of jeeps. He just needs some more room (don’t we all!). David lives in Puyallup now, so I’ll be getting down there at some point to talk jeeps and see these in person. Thanks for sharing David!

1952 CJ-3A with some modern touches added by George Steele:
153 cu. in. Iron Duke 4 cyl, T14 3-spd, Dana 18 T.C, manual saginaw steering, Cherokee 11 inch drum brakes, Warn Hubs and Overdrive. Stock Dana 25/41 538 ratio. 3A needs nothing other than replace a few warn parts in Overdrive unit (growls a tad—still works good) Owned this Jeep almost 3 Years now.

1952-cj3a-33 1952-cj3a-93

Continue reading

[fb_button]
 
To Top

John Trades for a Few more FCs

• CATEGORIES: Builds, Features This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

John Escobar bought a few FCs last month. He recently acquired a few more through a trade. He writes, “I got the Bug! Just traded a Snowmobile I had for three fc’s and flatfender jeep ! he collection goes on! The one fc 170 is real nice and originally from Washington State. Was used n the area as a water truck. (government owned )   Parts will be for sale this spring.  Can’t wait to get started on them. Spring can’t come fast enough!

john-escobar2 john-escobar1

john-escobar4

john-escobar3

john-escobar5

 

3 FCs and a truck for this snowmobile. Looks like a good trade to me!john-snowmobile

[fb_button]
 
To Top

Paul’s Getting All Charged Up

• CATEGORIES: Builds, Features • TAGS: This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

Paul’s made some additional progress over the last month on his stainless jeep.

Paul writes, The upholstery is done, the driver’s seat has been installed and the seat belt/shoulder harness combos have been adjusted for length and bolted in place. The passenger seat will still need to be removed to allow access to the battery mount and cable connections in the electrical box but progress is being made.

interior-stainless-paul

Corbeau three inch wide belts with a cam lock release and in a color that goes well with the upholstery and stainless steel.

interior-stainless-paul2Paul has also been working on the battery installation. He continues, The open space on the right side of the electrical junction box should be filled with a new Odyssey AGM side post battery

battery-box1

Here I’m comparing the size of the Odyssey battery to the mockup battery I taped together out of poster board. I used the mockup battery to locate the attach points for the battery hold down bracket in the electrical junction box.

battery-box2

The battery fits and there’s even room for a longer battery. This small battery weighs 45 pounds so I don’t believe there’s any need to get a larger and heavier battery anytime in the future.

battery-box3

This hold down bracket is slightly bigger than the battery but the battery is firmly held when the attach hardware is tightened. The bracket consists of eight separate pieces of stainless held together by 40 rivets.
battery-box4

Now it’s time to start smoke testing the wiring and that might take a while.

[fb_button]
 
To Top

Justin’s Rebuilt FC-170

• CATEGORIES: Builds, Features This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

Justin bought this FC last year believing he could save it. I’d say he’s done a bang up job on it!

image1

Justin’s FC was pretty rough at the beginning.

I bought this jeep and restored it over the year. It was very rusted out but I rebuilt what was there and now it’s almost back on the road. Still need to buy a new windshield and get some tires. But it purrs like a kitten.

Maybe you can see on the rear bumper the spots I need to cut out still for my 28-31 Ford Model A tail lights and the slots to mimic the grill. I ended up going with new rugged ridge low back seats. They where pretty easy to attach the old brackets to. My rear view mirrors or for some kind of motorcycle. They look cool and the curved mirror allows good visibility. I kept the front lower part of the body off so I could build a nice flush bumper in its place with a winch hidden behind it.

My cab mounts are reinforced on the back with 1/4″ steel. And the cab mount is made from 2″ sch 40 steel pipe. The cab is raised 3″. So I could put a taller tire. I still need to mold some fender flares from fiberglass in the next couple of months pending the weather. I built this with intentions of snorkeling the engine tranny and axles air tight so I could go under water if I wanted.

This was gonna just be a trail rig. But I loved it more and more as I worked on it. It’s not by any means a great looker. It still needs a few things I can’t find like- speedo cable and front E-brake cable. And other things a cant think of off hand.

Justin took a bunch of photos to share.

image2

image11

image12

image14

image3

image15

Continue reading

[fb_button]
 
To Top

Eric’s DJ Salad with a side of Olive Drab

• CATEGORIES: Builds, DJ-3A, GPW (Ford MB) This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

Eric bought this DJ-3A in July of 2013. He describes the jeep he bought as a salad of jeep parts. He’s spent the last year transforming this rough jeep into a great looking parade and play jeep. Nice save!

You can read about his build on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/589713101074140/

eric-dj3a-before-photo eric-dj3a-after-photo

[fb_button]
 
To Top

David’s 1962 CJ-5 w/ Tuxedo Park Package

• CATEGORIES: Builds, Features This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

David Silberman just picked up this two-owner CJ-5 w/ a Tuxedo Park III package. Looks like a great project. The color is Indian Ceramic, consistent with one of the Tuxedo Park options from 1961-1963. A post from 2012 post shows how this might have looked.

He notes:
1962 Tuxedo Park Mark III.
August, 1962, as per VIN.
Original paint, original tires, original radiator hoses and most clamps.
Chrome hood hinges, windshield stops. Even the tailgate chains are chrome.
The steps were chrome, but mostly gone by now.
The interesting part is the mileage. 21,000 miles. The owner got it from his uncle 50 years ago.
He added the hardtop and plow, but it wasn’t on the road since 1986.
Seats are black with “pink” sides, same as
the wheel well pads.

Here’s the photos David sent:

HPIM1980.JPG HPIM1973.JPG HPIM1971.JPG

HPIM1985.JPG HPIM1978.JPG

Continue reading

[fb_button]
 
To Top

More from Marc’s 1/2 Scale CJ-2A build

• CATEGORIES: Builds, Features • TAGS: This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

Marc from South Africa continues to make some neat progress on his 1/2 Scale build. Thanks for assembling this synopsis!

Marc writes, “Let me start with where I am to as of 15 April 2014. Unfortunately all production stopped on this date. Until I have the full use of my left shoulder after some structural work carried out, hopefully the structures doc will me the go-ahead by end May.

I ended with the making up of the two panels/dash/fwd fire wall. Slightly different to the real thing here for the ease of making. In the end the upper cowl/dash assembly will look the part.

Thanks to Paul & Lyn: http://www.ewillys.com/2014/01/23/update-from-paul-on-his-stainless-flatties-progress/ for sending me additional measurements and confirming plenty of smaller details for me.

marc-dash-pic1

dash panel, almost complete

marc-firewall-pics2

basic formed firewall, just out the forming blocks

I did finish up the firewall but have not taken photos yet.
To jump about a bit heres the top bow corner brackets that were made up. Claus kindly measured up on his CJ-2A for me http://www.ewillys.com/2012/04/05/builds-claus-rebuilds-a-cj-2a-in-south-africa/.

The middle brackets in the for the wheel boxes are also done…….I took photos but they have been filed some where safe, I can’t them find now.

marc-top-box-bracket-pic3

top bow bracket l/h, trial fit

marc-top-bow-pic4

top bow brackets

Continue reading

[fb_button]
 
To Top

Day 3 – Mar. 22nd: Old Bones and Old Jeeps

• CATEGORIES: Builds, Features • TAGS: This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

<– Day 2 – March 21st: From Salt Lake City To Vernal | OVERVIEW | Day 4 – Mar. 23rd: Hurray for Ouray –>

2014-03-22-dave-cj3a-3

Dave shares his unique seat implementation, which will allow the seat to be tilted back or released entirely using the custom sliding seat attachments he’ll install for his seats.

We started our day planning to leave Vernal, Utah, and drive to Dinosaur National Monument, before heading for our final destination in Grand Junction, Colorado.

2014-03-22-vernal-grandjunction.jpg

But, before we left our motel’s parking lot, we spotted our first ‘feral’ jeep of the trip, a CJ-5 that was right across the street from us. The snowplow on the front suggests this utility vehicle’s singular purpose.

2014-03-22-vernal-cj5Satisfied with a quick photo, we were on our way, but not before one final dinosaur bid us a farewell.

2014-03-22-vernalDinosaur National Monument is about a 20 minute drive east of Vernal. The monument was established in 1915 after Earl Douglas discovered a quarry of bones near the small town of Jensen, Utah. While known for the amazing dinosaur history, much of the Monument consists of over 200,000 acres of rugged canyons. Apart from exploring the Monument, there are many other day trips which could keep a person busy exploring. We plan on returning to the area at some future point and spent several days driving the backroads.

2014-03-22-dinosaur-nm1

2014-03-22-dinosaur-nm2

This is the Quarry building. No, this is not some cheap ploy to encourage Jeep Corp to sponsor our trips . . . unless it works.

2014-03-22-dinosaur-nm4

The former river bed behind Ann is full of bones. It was cool 20 years ago when I saw it for the first time and is still cool today.

2014-03-22-dinosaur-nm3

We made sure Henry had a great view.

Continue reading

[fb_button]