Last night i got the hood mounted, trimmed and latched. Once I determine where to mount the blocks (not sure what I'm going to make those out of yet), then it will be ready to patch, sand and paint.
Features Research Archives
My Build — Hood version 1
Over the past week I completed the form for the hood, applying a second coat of drywall mud to smooth the curves. I had to create the hood because I lengthened the front clip about 4.5 inches. Following that, I rubbed some turtle wax onto the form as a release agent. Then, I laid 3 layers of fiberglass & resin. Finally, I laid the hat channel I pulled from a different hood I had (which will serve two purposes — to hold the curve of the hood and provide support for the hinge).
As you can see below, the turtle wax didn't completely release well, so there will be some sanding. Also, rather than apply the gelcoat to the surface of the form (which I figured would not release well at all), I have decided to apply it once I finish sand the hood. Finally, I have done an initial trim on the hood and it fits well, but not perfect. It will take some additional trimming, patching and sanding to finish this, but it should do fine for a first hood (much better than the first hood on my first jeep).
My Build — Creating the Hood
I've decided to tackle the hood. Because of the 4.5" extension to the front clip, I've had to decide what to do with the hood. As I documented in previous posts, I've lengthened the fenders. Now, instead of trying to lengthen an existing hood, I've decided to create my own fiberglass hood: Nothing fancy, just a straightforward simple hood. I'll save a more complex hood for a second form.
Since I had an existing hood that had a good hinge and a good rib, I decided to remove those from the hood and use them on the fiberglass hood. To do this, I had to drill out the rivets that attached the rib to the hood. Once drilled out, the rib came right off. You can see the rib and the hinge below.
James’ newest find …
James found this cj-2a with a m38 body on Craigslist for $2,000. He pounced on it immediately. I'm not sure how I missed it during my searches! Just goes to show I can't find them all.
This is an excellent find, especially since the body is in excellent condition reports James. It's also one of the best California deals I've seen …
Reader’s Builds — Brian’s new bumper for his CJ-3B
Brian's been busy creating a new bumper for his CJ-3B build. He's says it's nothing fancy, but I think it's pretty nice. Here's a start-to-finish explanation of the work it took to make his bumper. Thanks for sharing Brian!
"Because the springs are longer than stock, I had to come up with a way to lengthen the frame a little in the rear. So, I fabricated a new rear bumper and incorporated a swing out spare tire mount. In addition, rather than cut holes into the body, I decided to put the tail lights in the bumper. To make the bumper, I only need to use a grinder, drill press, and a Mig welder — it's nothing fancy."
Jeep Trailers – Signal Corp Trailer in Portland $500
One of the ewillys readers asked me about jeep trailers for sale in the northwest. A quick search yielded a particularly interesting trailer from ww2 — a signal corp trailer.
" WW2 Jeep K38 trailer used by the U.S. army signal corps. This one looks like the one shown in a U.S.M.C manual from 1945."
http://portland.craigslist.org/wsc/clt/793426125.html
Here's some links for some other bantam or bantam-like trailers that vary in price up to $1000:
Here's two in Boise:
http://boise.craigslist.org/rvs/759917596.html
http://boise.craigslist.org/for/746020714.html
Here's two in Seattle area:
http://seattle.craigslist.org/sno/for/786057441.html
http://seattle.craigslist.org/est/cto/787906671.html
Here's some from Colorado:
http://denver.craigslist.org/rvs/738018276.html
http://denver.craigslist.org/cto/793752045.html
http://denver.craigslist.org/cto/791160878.html (very heavy duty trailer)
http://denver.craigslist.org/rvs/781431779.html
And Utah:
http://saltlakecity.craigslist.org/rvs/763935116.html (modern, but probably looks nice behind a CJ-5)
Fiberglass Flat Fender Racing bodies — Southern Ca $1200
I’m not sure what the exact story is here (might be a vendor?), but these look brand new.
Flat Fender Style One piece fiberglass Jeep bodies. Call Matt for complete details. (909)239-8463
Blueprints for Willys
Here's an interesting site I found. Blueprints.com claims to have over 24,000 automobile blueprints online (though they appear more like a single drawing rather than full blueprints), including a variety of jeeps. To the right is a jeep labeled CJ-4. The site manager states:
"I do not claim to have made, scanned or drawn all of the blueprints on this website. I did on the other collect, edit and host all of them, free of charge, in my spare time.
My Build – Fender Update
I made good progress over the weekend. As you can see, I was able to mount the fenders and take a few shots of the jeep with the fenders. It will look good.
In order to fit the fenders, I had to make cutouts in the wheel wells for the headers. But, as I mentioned in an earlier post, I wanted to fill around the headers. So, I bought a little bit of stove pipe and used that as a form to wrap fiberglass around the headers.
The last pic is the fenders with the new covers for the headers. To match the rest of the underside of the body, I'm going to paint herculiner on the wheelwell of the fenders (which saves a bunch of finish work) and fill in the gaps and paint the top and inside of the headers.
Here are some pics below.
Reader Pix — David’s Parents at the Sand Dunes
A reader named David has shared an old picture of his parents racing around the sand dunes in what looks to be a CJ-2A. This picture is a good reminder that you don't need a fancy jeep to go out and enjoy a day in the sand. David will be sending a few more pictures along with some background text soon. Thanks David!