Making progress

Well, now that the weather has started to improve, I have been making some small improvements.

I had to do something about the rearview mirrors, so I purchased some at a local auto parts store and made this bracket for the drivers side (see below). It works pretty well, but the mirror waggles quite a bit while driving. I will probably add some reinforcements to sure it up a bit. Overall not bad considering that I'm no engineer. The passenger side is still pending.

I replaced the door window rubber and lubricated the window regulators, now both sides go up and down without much trouble. I tightened up all of the loose parts inside the doors, now there is a lot less rattle.

I ordered a new transmission mount from Jeff Daniels Jeeps in Horsham, they were extremely easy to deal with, however it was the wrong mount. Liberty Automotive in Blue Bell came to the rescue with an Auto Extra mount. 

While the old mount was pretty much trashed, replacing it did not seem to fix the axel wrap. Its still there when I go in reverse. Next I will try replacing the u-joints. Since I was under there, I decided to change the transmission and transfer case oil. The good news was that there were no metal shavings, however there was only about a quart and a half of oil between the two! No wonder it sounded so dry in there. Anyway, its now properly topped off and running pretty smooth. 12.5MPG by my calculations...

Say my Name!!

Jeepster Nameplate

With the weather here being so poor, I decided it would be a nice time to try and work on some small projects that didn't require me being outside too much. I thought I would try to refurbish my hood ornaments, I mean, how hard could it be to paint some chrome trim? In a word - Hard! I have a renewed respect for people who can paint things by hand; it can be done, but it's not easy.

As you can see, these have seen better days, I thought, how about a good cleaning to see where we stand.

After a bit of a scrub and some time with the buffer, they were looking better, but it was still obvious that they needed help. Since I don't have access to a chrome shop, I thought to myself "Lets try out some of that metallic spray paint"

I put down a few coats of primer, then I sprayed the metallic. 

The metallic paint was really, really slow to dry. I'm not sue if it was because it was so cold, or if it's just the nature of the paint, but 24 hrs between coats seems to work out the best. Unfortunately, all of the pits and imperfections in the surface became really apparent once the metallic was on, so I filled what low spots I could with clear nail polish. It did help, but as it turns out, the metallic paint likes to dissolve when it meets other paints, as I found out when I applied both the nail polish and the black and white Rustoleum which I used for the lettering. The lettering turned out to be the hardest part, tedious but overall better than where I started.

I will post a pic once I get them back on the hood.

Ho-Jon, that bottle should last the entire war

Those were the instructions given to Ho-Jon regarding Vermouth in the martinis in the movie MASH, and when I see my little can of Aluminum Cleaner I can't help but hear those worlds in my head. This can came in the trunk a 1976 Mustang that I purchased in 1988 and I sill have it. This stuff is great for polishing shiny things. I haven't seen it in any store before or since; therefore I use it sparingly.

 

I mention this because I found my rear taillight bezels in the trunk of the Jeepster, and they were in need of some polishing, but other than that were in good shape.

After given them a bit of a shine, I reattached them to their proper place. It gives the back end a much more finished appearance, in my opinion. It's a small detail, but one that catches the eye.

For those who may one day be interested, I had to buy push nuts because the mounting posts do not have threads. Sourced  from Auto-zone and Advance auto parts in multi size packs. However I have since learned that the Jeepster Parts Dude sells the original fasteners on his website.

http://stores.partsdude4x4.net/tail-light-bezel-molding-fasteners/

Let the Midnight Special....

Well, I have finally got the headlights working; It only took me three weeks of standing in the driveway in the freezing cold. In fairness, there were two warm days, but I did learn quite a bit, and I owe a debt of gratitude to the folks at http://www.jeepstercommandoclub.com especially Magilla, who posted a color wiring chart.

Multimeter and electrical tester in hand I dove in...

 After removing the headlight switch, disassembling it, cleaning it re-assembling it about 6 times, I finally convinced myself that it did actually work just fine (and probably did all along)

Headlight switch removed from switch panel. 

Internal contacts of the switch, not intended to be serviced. Nobody makes exact replacements anymore! 

I also replaced the circuit breaker, every fuse that I could find, and the Negative battery cable (that was a huge improvement). Prior to that I seemed to have a bit of a drag on the starter. All this with out any change in the headlights. They just sat there staring... un-lit. 

It finally dawned on me to TEST the headlight dimmer switch, and much to my surprise - The guilty party had been found!

8 dollars later, and I had both Hi and Low beams on demand! Now I felt ready for a road test...

First impressions after driving a bit, well the odometer works! That makes me feel like the 80,000 mi on the clock may be accurate. It drives like an old Jeep, loud, smelly, soft top flapping, lumbering, monster; I love it!!!

Snowbound

   Last night the region was hit with a N'or Easter, all told we got about 8 inches. The kids didn't have to go to school today, I don't have to be at work until Friday. A fresh blanket of snow, lots of free time and a Jeep that's not road ready, what a buzzkill. I can only blame myself.
The headlights and turn-signals still don't work.... It's killing me.
   A little background; when these Jeepsters were built they did not have a fuse box, but rather 1 circuit breaker. While this seems ok, in reality it's not. There were many instances of fires started because of inadequate wiring. The solution is to wire in a fuse to the ignition, which was done to this Jeep at one point. In fact a bunch of home made wiring additions were done to this Jeep. It's making sense out of what is here that is so frustrating. Additional gauges, upgraded radio, steering wheel, relays that go nowhere.... Not impossible, just tedious.
   I am thinking about just removing the whole wiring harness and starting from scratch. Not a fun job, as I have done it before. It would solve all of the electrical gremlins, but its a task better suited for warm weather. To be determined...

Lets get to know each other...

Well I have had the jeep for a week now, and I am getting to know more every day. So far there have been no major suprises and that's good. But there are a few issues, some are more urgent than others.  Once these issues are identified, it's all a matter of figuring out the solution and putting a plan into place to fix the problem.

First off, I have no headlights. All of the markers and most of the turn signals work which is good, but they all need to work. So...more on this in the future.

One of the first things that I noticed was that the drivers side hood latch would not catch.

Nothing seems bent or out of alignment, (but who knows). Every time I would look at the Jeep my eye would go directly to that open latch, just hanging there - It was making me nuts.










 A little adjustment of the mounting screws on both the hood and the fender have given enough clearance to allow it to latch.

It's not much, but sometimes the little victories can be the most rewarding.

Welcome to my blog, here is my 1971 Jeepster Commando. Follow along and lets see where we go.

Particulars for those who care: Dauntless V6, 4 Speed, front disc conversion, with Alcan spring lift.