Odds and ends...

So besides all the painting, cutting and welding...I had to do lots of other small items that I haven't really covered yet. All the wiring at the back end of the car needed to be redone. The fuel gauge didn't work when I got the thing, but all that was was a ground issue. I replaced all the back wiring, and chose to solder all the connections rather than use crappy butt connectors that always fail in a year, especially when under the car. I then pulled my hair out for a day chasing down ground and wiring issues when only one front turn signal worked, no brake lights worked (switch was bad) and the parking lights up front wouldn't work. Now, all that's fixed.


Here's a little fix you can use if your indicator lights on your gauge cluster for your turn signals no longer work right. Unfortunately, these 40 year old bulb sockets are powered by the 40 year old circuit board as these just twist in to make a connection. Mine would work...then not work...then work when I pushed on the lights....enough of that! After 3 hours of sanding the contacts on the bulb sockets down, and installing and re-installing them, I gave up and went a different route - I removed the green lens paper on the inside, painted the plastic black inside, very CAREFULLY drilled two holes, and bought two green LED units from radio shack that secure on the back with a nut, and already have a resistor built in. I then grounded and ran the wires through the open holes (once the old bulbs were twisted out) and ran the wires down to the cluster of wires heading to the back of the car and spliced in. Done!
Oh, I also masked up the outside and painted it up.


Something had to stay patina on the car. Originally, I was going to paint the thing copper and leave the hood all patina, as it looked cool as hell. I opted not to and blasted the hood. I left the badges as is, and re-installed the front medic badge, leaving the Jeep badge off. I just didn't like it. I removed everything silver in color (front headlight and turn signal trim rings, cowl vent, hood latches, hinges, tailgate latches), and powdercoated everything flat black. It saves a lot of money buying an Eastwood powdercoat kit and using an old oven. Don't use your wife's - I can't imagine that will end good.

Under the engine compartment, I left the engine as-is. I removed the exhaust manifolds as they were covered in thick scale, sandblasted them, and painted them in POR 15 High temp black velvet paint. Good stuff. After the manifolds were back on, I fired the Jeep up from its winter slumber, and annoyed the neighbors for a while with open manifolds!!


Now currently, I'm working on the front disc brake conversion. The rears are all rebuilt, and the front hubs are at the machine shop getting cleaned up with the new conversion races pressed in back. Once this is done, I have to mount the rear bumper, get the exhaust bent up and installed, and we're ready to rock!