'83 J-10 Daily Driver Build

[Atla]

Used a type of 'Peel N Seal' I picked up at Lowes Hardware, I did a lot of reading on this before going the budget route. I had used it before on houses installing windows and doors so I had some experience - but never in a vehicle.

Everyone worries about smell because of the 'asphalt' sticky-side, but it's a non-issue.







Only problem I ran into with this stuff, is it will not stick to sealant. At all.

I just made sure to sufficiently overlap over the sealant areas where it didn't stick to make sure it stayed down. With the POR-15/Rustoleum on the floor - I'm not worried about moisture forming under it.

[Atla]

Replaced the Window Sweeps:





Broke off one of the clips:



Found out that if you use a knife blade and GENTLY pry on the tabs outwards a little they will go in easier.



I can finally park it outside of the carport, I've been worried about all the rain water getting inside of the doors.

[Atla]

I'm thinking a set of these would be nice to mount down by the floor:

https://www.superbrightleds.com/moreinf ... light/250/

Should give off enough light. I'm thinking mount to the kick panels - gonna go with black of course, to match the rest of the interior. (Which reminds me to go ORDER some kick panels - wheres that local vendor guy with the ABS plastic?)

Last night I decided to ebay J-10 Jeep on ebay...(I NEVER use ebay) I REALLY wish I had known about and bought one of these before I had re-installed my gauge cluster.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NOS-JEEP-CHEROK ... a6&vxp=mtr

$35 with coated traces? I see that cluster getting pulled and rebuilt in the future... Serehill's pretty dash has been making me want to put led lights in. Anyone know which LED's are needed to replace the stock?

[Atla]

So a lot, per usual, has been going on. I wrapped up my time in the Marine Corps, I achieved the majority of what I aimed for. Immensely enjoyed the brotherhood of misery... minus the misery. A very difficult choice, but one I don't regret.

Everything has been on hold while we've been house hunting. We have one under contract and currently closing.

Two car garage and an unfinished basement to work in! Goodbye super small 1950's era carport. (A good 2 feet of the bed stick outside, and about 2.5 feet on each side of the truck to move around in)

Things will be kicking in high gear by the end of April once everything is moved.

In the meantime, small cheap odds and ends have been filling my time.


Repainted:


Not completely happy with it, but it's better. Once I get the seats in I'll look into the possibility of replacing the reflector with an LED light.. I think the seat may defeat any light it may have.

Started putting the free sand blaster at work to work. Began with the transmission shifter:


...Why did they mount the Brights Switch under the E-Brake?! Is this the norm - because I'm pretty sure I can't get my foot on that.

[twisted frame]

Yeah, that's the normal spot for the dimmer switch. I've had it there in several older cars I've owned - not just FSJs. My switch's spades were rotted due to my leaking windshield and cowl area allowing rain to drip down the inside of the firewall.

[Atla]

Finally closed on the house, I have a little repainting to do this week. Next two weekends are dedicated to getting everything moved.

Excited is an understatement.

My hour long round trip drive to work will be shortened to less than 10 minutes each way. Did I mention my DD Jeep Wrangler gets 13.5 miles per gallon? Time and Gas cost savings...

The large double car garage and basement will also be a huge improvement over what I've been using. The truck will actually fit with room to walk and work around.

No more sketchy drunk foot traffic walking by in front of my house at all hours, we didn't live in the hood - but the hood lived near us. (Ever try working under your Jeeps at night while conceal carrying?)

And I'll also be less than 10 minutes away from The Flats off-road park in NC.

By the end of the May I expect this build progress to go from stagnating to full swing. Not to the 'swap the frame' or 'paint' status, but at least DD-useable.

[DarkMonohue]

...Why did they mount the Brights Switch under the E-Brake?! Is this the norm - because I'm pretty sure I can't get my foot on that.

Yep, that's the traditional layout for old American cars. It's easy to reach when your parking brake is released and the pedal isn't stuck down. Really nice when you are driving on mountain roads and your hands may or may not be near the turn signal stalk, but not as nice when you need to flick your high-beams on to thank someone for their thoughtful and considerate driving.

Keep the updates coming!

[j10jim]

...Why did they mount the Brights Switch under the E-Brake?! Is this the norm - because I'm pretty sure I can't get my foot on that.

Yep, that's the traditional layout for old American cars. It's easy to reach when your parking brake is released and the pedal isn't stuck down. Really nice when you are driving on mountain roads and your hands may or may not be near the turn signal stalk, but not as nice when you need to flick your high-beams on to thank someone for their thoughtful and considerate driving.

Keep the updates coming!

Thats 'old school' high beam' right there. Way easier to do if your old enough to remember how to use it.

[Atla]

Unpacking sucks as much if not more than moving. I'm ready to relax and actually enjoy this place instead of spending all my time looking for things, moving things, looking for things I moved...

And..

Who puts only one wall outlet in an entire garage?! And only one wall outlet in an entire basement?!

MADNESS.

[Atla]

So this came home with us Friday night...



Yep, that's an English Mastiff puppy. His name is Bear. Guess I'd better keep an eye out for a bench seat for the truck now.

For what he cost, I'm pretty sure I could have had my truck road worthy. But we've waited four long years to get a house and a dog, and we wanted a Mastiff. So worth every penny. Not to mention he is ridiculously cute and cuddly.

Outlets are still an issue, I'm already running into lighting problems. And it looks like until I get an electrician in here to run me some more outlets, everything will be done on a drop cord. Most of my tools are unpacked, missing some from the move still, have a ton of boxes to go through.

It's amazing how much work has to be done when you buy a new house. I thought unpacking would be the end of it. Then I found myself planting blue berry bushes and peach trees, getting a riding mower, meeting neighbors, buying a grill, buying a dog.. I'm ready for my country song that ends with me driving my truck.

[Atla]

Rebuilt the carb, using the Ranger write up. First time doing this, and while it seemed daunting at first, it was pretty easy and straight forward.

http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_li ... 0_carb.pdf



Picked up an original light bar, minus the bent middle pole. The guy I bought it from left that in the bed of the old truck he sold off. So I hit it with a flap wheel and rattle canned it with some rustoleum for the time being. Probably powder coat sometime in the future.




Bear has grown, doubled his weight since we got him.



And I began to work on the brakes, stopped and started reading about them. A little stumped as to how I should handle the brake system.



Since the parts are 32 years old now, and brake is pretty important, I would like to replace everything. The cost of that and the time/effort seems to be pretty high. Especially since I would be doing it with body/engine/etc still attached.

It began with replacing the calipers/pads, then I decided since soft lines are cheap for DD's I might as well replace them, then I saw the nasty rusted/painted together area where the soft and hardlines meet. So far I've had zero luck in being able to separate the two. Which led to considering replacing the hardlines as well. After seeing how inexpensive a MC is, I've thought about going ahead and replacing that as well.

Napa's bendable brake lines seems the way to go. But my biggest concern is how difficult it will be to replace the lines under the Master Cylinder with the engine still in place. The rest I think I can Forest Gump my way through.

What did you guys do with your old original brake systems?

[DarkMonohue]

Mine came apart real easily. It helps to use flare nut wrenches on the hard lines, and also to back up the soft lines with a wrench, rather than just relying on the bracket to hold the line while you try to turn the flare nut on the hard line. Penetrating oil might help if they're really in love.

[twisted frame]

When I bought my truck around 14 years ago, it was sitting on the guy's lawn and had been there for quite a while. He never registered it, used it in the woods sometimes and that's it.

I immediately replaced all 4 wheel cylinders (drums in front on mine,) all new shoes and hardware, master cylinder and all hard lines except the one that goes around front to the passenger front. I got a flare tool, lots of regular steel line and got good at making flares. That was fine until about 5 years ago when I sent the front rubber hoses and single rear hose to Inline Tube and asked them to make new replacements out of their braided line and add about 3" to the length of each one. After flushing the lines and also replacing the hard line around the front, I installed the new braided hoses and have been running that way ever since. My truck has manual brakes - no booster.

I don't flex out my truck ever, really, but to me, with the added leaves in my suspension, I always felt that the original owner was pushing things by leaving what appeared to be the original rubber hoses. Between what I perceived to be their too-short length and their dry rotted condition, I was so glad after replacing those hoses.

One more thing - when I did all the brake work after buying the truck, I had all 4 drums turned at a local brake shop. Luckily, they were fine to keep running.

[Stuka]

Are you missing the middle section of the role bar? Looks good all painted. Mine needs painted badly.

[Atla]

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I've got multiple projects going on now, brakes, hei install, removing emissions computer and wiring. Ugh. Lots of reading, but making progress.

I like the idea of replacing everything from the master cylinder onwards for piece of mind. I've found cracking on the soft lines, the interior looks fine but they are pretty inexpensive for regular DD lines.

My biggest concern is how hard it is to do with the engine in place.

Stuka, I am missing the middle bar. I considered cutting off the brackets but I was thinking of throwing a led bed light on it. And eventually finding or bending a bar. It took about an hour with a flap wheel and a can of rustoleum to clean up all shiny like.

Bring it to NC, I'll clean yours up if you finish my hei install and time it for me!

[Atla]

Time flies.

Pulled the front bearings and took a peek at them, looks like someone repacked them pretty recently. No troubles there. Pretty quick task, had to pick up some picks and a spindle socket though. Definitely worth it for piece of mind and knowledge on how to do it.

Used up the last of my 'window seal' noise/insulation wrap on the backside of the cab behind the seats, worked out perfect. Eventually there will be a thin board with some carpet installed covering it up.

All the emissions wiring has been removed, it's unreal how much there was. I'm hoping everything is good there, I dropped the HEI in also, but I plan on having a shop set up the timing for me in the hopefully not so distant future.

Brakes, still need to be gone over.

That is the new priority. Along with pulling the damned transfer case and transmission again, it's still leaking between the two somehow. Last year I pulled it, cleaned it and used rtv sealant and threw the gasket away... but it wasn't until months later I found out that I had 'mostly tightened' while it was wet, but never went back and 're-tightened' before it fully dried. I wonder if that is causing it to leak this time around.

I don't want to put the carpet in until I have that leak solved.

Oh yes, the Monster has grown. 6 months old and 95 lbs. Halfway there!

[Cheap Hobby]

Your gonna need a 4 door sans back seat. Or a horse trailer.

[Atla]

No kidding, my wife has a Kia Soul. To fit him in we have to drop half of the back seat down. My Wrangler, I took the backseat out so he could lay back there - but it's so high off the ground I have to pick him up. Soon I won't be able to do that anymore.

His father was a lean 205 and his mother was 155. So we are expecting a monster.

Next year we will be picking up an XJ....

[Atla]

First off - I'm confident the 50% of the internet roared in rage when PhotoBucket decided to be dicks.

Second off - WOW. It's been a while.

A quick update:

-My dog is a monster. He ended up being around 170lbs, a lot less than we expected, but we are glad he's not bigger. He's a giant baby. I can still pick him up, as long as he doesn't squirm any...
-Speaking of which, we made a baby. Yay! She's 16 months now and pretty awesome.
-We bought a 2001 Jeep XJ for my daily driver, my Wrangler has officially become a play thing... except did I mention we have a baby? Yeah, it's more like a 'drive once in a while and never offroad' play thing these days.
-We are looking to move soon. So that's fun to deal with again...

And best of all - The Jeep is currently in the great hands of Jake Jacobs. Who has been doing an awesome job of rebuilding it over the past year for me. The guy knows his stuff and has a pretty great yard full of FSJ's.

We've got a replacement frame, rebuilt axles, new brake system, etc. With a goal of having it finished by the end of fall.

Once I manage to save my pictures from photobucket and find a new host, I'll upload some.