[gt1guy]

Thought you left us forever for irate.

What headlights are you going with?

Id be a little wary of that cooler mounting location.

Miss seeing updates on this thing. XOXO

How you doing my friend.

I have been focusing my build on irate because of the amount folks that are there from here and pirate. More people telling me my plans are a bad idea is always a good thing.

The headlights are JW Speaker model 6130 Evolution, part #549881. 4.75" High/Low beam, DOT. I'm not expecting them to be much better than the factory lights. I needed something that size.
Part 0549881 - Model 6130 Evolution - JW Speaker.pdf


I've been thinking about some kind of screen in the grill slots. I don't want the cooler, or radiator, or more importantly the AC condenser, getting taken out by something flying through the grill.

 

[thedirtman]

Get off the internet and finish this thing already. 4 years and running..

 

[gt1guy]

Get off the internet and finish this thing already. 4 years and running..

Yes Sir, I'm on it.

Grill is finished. Working on the air filter box now.

 

[1RedJK]

Yes Sir, I'm on it.

Grill is finished. Working on the air filter box now. View attachment 365479

lol that's a Frankenstein jeep. heavily modified jesus.

Sent from my SM-S908U1 using Tapatalk

 

[snout]

But he built it himself. Which maybe only one other person here can truly claim.

 

[1RedJK]

I'm actually envious. to have that kind of room to work on a jeep in your own place is something I can only dream of at this point. it's a very nice jeep.

Sent from my SM-S908U1 using Tapatalk

 

[gt1guy]

Another update. Now where was I?

Air box is done. Will fit up to the cowl induction hood with a rubber seal.

Took the Frankenstein hacked up hood and with the help of 3 gallons of bondo, I made it look nice. Still wasn't worth a shit as a hood, but I needed a shape.

Then hit it with a few coats of Duratec surfacing primer. The stuff is made for mold making and is more like a gel coat. Sanded it out , followed by wet sanding to 2000grit.

Added flanges and clay fillets.

Buffed in 6 coats of parting wax, hit it with 2 thin coats of PVA, 2 coats of tooling gel coat and a total of 26 layers of fiberglass.

Now I have a mold I can pull the actual hood from. Still have to do that.

Have two little spots to fix where air bubbles got trapped, but other than that the mold is perfect.

 

[gt1guy]

I picked up a set of half doors, so naturally the rears had to be trimmed to clear the fenders. It looks a bit odd, but the rubber seal still does it's job so who cares.

Then felt obligated to cut the B pillar in half and make it removable.

Made a front bumper. Didn't want it blocking the air through the grill.

Reused the rear bumper. Added a robust x-member behind it and extra support because the fuel cell is right behind it. Kinda want to avoid the giant ball of fire if possible.

Did the 4 sides and down with the fuel cell vent.

Got all the suspension links from BentFab. HT4130, 2.5"x.500 lowers, 1,75"x.120 uppers. Went .500" on the lowers because the the rears are 46" and the fronts are 50". Running Heims on the axle ends and JJ's at the chassis.

 

[gt1guy]

Next up was something I had been looking forward to and also dreading.

Headers



Got a set of header flanges for 1.875" tubes and tacked 1" stubs to them.

Bought a Ice Engine Works mockup block kit and got busy.

Primaries mocked up. Going to be a set of Tri-Y's so only half way done. The secondaries were a lot easier to fit so I didn't buy blocks for those

Made a jig to fit the mock ups so they could be transferred into 321 stainless.

 

[gt1guy]

Headers and exhaust purged welded and done.
Headers are 1.875" into 2.125" into 3". Exhaust is a resonator into a 4.5"x17 muffler. I know it will be loud when I stomp on it, but I hope it isn't really bad just cruising.

As you can see, the exhaust was the last thing I needed to finish with the body on..................so it's back off. (pretty sure I've said that before)

All the little bullshit on my list has been done.

Have to finish a bunch of shit I couldn't reach on the frame and the body. Lots of finish welding. Some doublers where the rear frame section meets the factory frame.

Right now I'm making the tran//LCA x-members removable (they were only tacked in place).

The paint, plumbing and wiring is going to be a joy.

Going on 5 damn years now...............................I remember thinking I'd knock it out in 6 months...............I'm an idiot.


Happy New Year fellas

 

[Cod]

We’re all idiots for dumping money into these damn things.
Think of the liquor, cocaine and hookers we could buy…well temporarily enjoy.

 

[gt1guy]

We’re all idiots for dumping money into these damn things.
Think of the liquor, cocaine and hookers we could buy…well temporarily enjoy.

I can't argue with that and I believe you're correct.

I'm in so deep with this thing, I've stopped looking at what things cost. I actually don't want to know at this point.

I do still save all the receipts, so if I'm ever feeling suicidal I'll just add them up. Should make offing myself real easy.

 

[ALASHA]

I can't argue with that and I believe you're correct.

I'm in so deep with this thing, I've stopped looking at what things cost. I actually don't want to know at this point.

I do still save all the receipts, so if I'm ever feeling suicidal I'll just add them up. Should make offing myself real easy.

I added it up for insurance purposes. Never felt so dumb in my life.

 

[gt1guy]

I added it up for insurance purposes. Never felt so dumb in my life.

I don't need to add them up to feel dumb, but I get your point.

 

[Old Dogger]

WOW...You are quiet the fabricator! Nicely done..

 

[gt1guy]

WOW...You are quiet the fabricator! Nicely done..

Thank you Sir.

 

[xkid]

You are good at this. I’ve heard of builds taking years. You will get there.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[gt1guy]

You are good at this. I’ve heard of builds taking years. You will get there.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thank you. The build certainly snowballed with all the extra things I had to do, because of a few things I wanted.

The front suspension probably caused the most extra hacking. I wanted a double triangulated 4 link, 6" uptravel, 45* steering w/45" tires, on 3.5" lift. Sounds simple enough.
But that required a new frame from the firewall forward, moving the engine back, narrowing the hood 16" in the front, making a new grill, engine cage for the shock mounts, new x-members for the trans, new firewall and trans hump in the tub, custom headers.

That's a lot of work for a few wants.

I can see the light at the end of the tunnel now. Giving up was never an option. I did question my sanity a few times.