rang-a-stang's summer project/build

[fulsizjeep]

I had a set of those caps still in chrome on my GW for a little while. One day I was talking with an avid Toyota wheeler dude and he was eyeing my Jeep. When he looked at the rear wheel, "ohhhh, full floater, huh"... Yessir

[Wagoneer Taylor]

Love the caps with those wheels!

[J76137]

I reread your post and paid closer attention to the rust and seam sealer. I am currently fixing rust on mine in those same places. Hopefully I have some success. It is good to know that seem sealer does belong in those areas. Very helpful.

[rang-a-stang]

Always! Especially when it's her Waggy! The caps go very nicely with the wheels.

Looks sick!

Love the caps with those wheels!

....
To be honest, when you told me about the black center caps on your black wheels i was skeptical. I WAS WRONG! They look fantastic!

Thank's gentlemen! I agree! Thanks again 78WIDETRAC!!!

Thanks for covering how you dealt with the seam rust, Marc! I have the same issue on mine. Luckily I've had my windows out a few times and there is no rust under the gaskets either....

I reread your post and paid closer attention to the rust and seam sealer. I am currently fixing rust on mine in those same places. Hopefully I have some success. It is good to know that seem sealer does belong in those areas. Very helpful.

I found a better picture of the rust (below). I am not saying this is "THE" way to deal with it, but it is the way I dealt with it.

I had a set of those caps still in chrome on my GW for a little while. One day I was talking with an avid Toyota wheeler dude and he was eyeing my Jeep. When he looked at the rear wheel, "ohhhh, full floater, huh"... Yessir

hahaha! I will be listening for that!!
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Like I said before, I found a better picture of the rust I was attacking in the first place.

Lesson learned: POR15 is a bear to sand! I took 320 to the seam sealer and the POR15 to clean it all up. Then the whole black area got 400 grit before getting painted. I took my side windows out and scrubbed up the gaskets with warm soapy water and steel wool. The steel wool got all the oxidation off the rubber and cleaned out the channels. It came out great!

While the gasket was off, I found the frame had cracked. There is a little bar that holds the 2 ends together and the screw holding one side had snapped. Found a screw in my magic bolt box and put it all back together.


I had a replacement plug for the flipper winder bolt from wesdog. Check out the difference in the two. Rusty is what I had on there.

Then I put the window back in. I will hang the "4 Wheel Drive" emblem later but the Cherokee S emblem will be going down below on the lower stickers where it was in 79. The passenger side paint it still drying so nothing juicey there.

I used good ol' Rustoleum Painters Touch 2X Ultra Cover flat black. Two coats were plenty. I wish it was a tiny bit less flat but it looks pretty good overall. The satin sheen was too shiny. I am happy with it overall. Here is where that rust WAS. Most of the black you see mixed on the yellow area is old sticker that I sanded down too. It should look super sharp once those upper stickers are on the yellow area. I am pretty jazzed about all this.

Passenger side will get the same window treatment tomorrow then
I am heading out for travel for a week. Hopefully when I get home I will get the 4WD emblems installed and those upper stickers on. Cross my fingers!

[78 WIDETRAC]

Marc- You're totally welcome for the caps. They look great on those wheels! and on your Jeep.



This is such a great build. Thanks for all of your updates.

[DarkMonohue]

That's looking really good. Rust-Oleum has a dizzying variety of finishes in the Painter's Touch line, including a matte finish. They appear to be ordered on the website from glossiest to least glossy, which would make satin the second flattest after flat, but the matte may be worth a try.

[Full Size Jeeper]

The center caps look really good.

[GWNashville]

rang-a-stang

That Cherokee is looking nice, love the wheels. I'm surprised they allow you to put a big Cherokee sticker on your vehicle in California (Just Sayin').

[rang-a-stang]

Marc- You're totally welcome for the caps. They look great on those wheels! and on your Jeep.

This is such a great build. Thanks for all of your updates.

That's looking really good. Rust-Oleum has a dizzying variety of finishes in the Painter's Touch line, including a matte finish. They appear to be ordered on the website from glossiest to least glossy, which would make satin the second flattest after flat, but the matte may be worth a try.

Now that it has cured all the way, it looks much better. I agree (TONS of Rust-Oleum options). It will get a good wash tonight and that will really tell me how it looks.

The center caps look really good.

Thanks, Darin! I love them!

That Cherokee is looking nice, love the wheels. I'm surprised they allow you to put a big Cherokee sticker on your vehicle in California (Just Sayin').

Thank you, sir! haha! Good point! I think as long as it has a mask over the stickers and I keep them quarantined, Cali will be ok with them. But (Prop 65 Warning), they do cause cancer.
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Nothing juicy. I fixed a leak at my Vacuum Modulator on the trans but have been traveling like mad so no real updates. My son is daily driving it and its been doing well!

My Mazda's Turbo puked on my way home from a camping trip about 2 weeks ago. I could have fixed it for cheap but where's the fun in that? I plan to drive this Mazda forever so I ordered an up-sized turbo and all the fixins to go with it. My little dude will have about 310hp to the front wheels when it's done!
Then, when I get to Idaho (no smog) in 2 years I can swap 2 more parts, update the tune, and it should have about 360 at the wheels. That's a lot for a little 2800# FWD ricer!

[Wagoneer Taylor]

Thats awesome about the Mazda, that will be killer power for that car. People can say what they will but these cars are darn fun!

In all honesty I miss my SRT 4, which was around 250 HP but man so fun to drive. The Merc is just a totally different animal. AKA not as fun honestly.

[Driftwood]

Then, when I get to Idaho (no smog) in 2 years I can swap 2 more parts, update the tune, and it should have about 360 at the wheels.

Ada County has had a vehicle emissions testing program in operation since 1984. The program is managed by the Air Quality Board. Sorry!

[rang-a-stang]

Thats awesome about the Mazda, that will be killer power for that car. People can say what they will but these cars are darn fun!

In all honesty I miss my SRT 4, which was around 250 HP but man so fun to drive. The Merc is just a totally different animal. AKA not as fun honestly.

Copy that! Still waiting on parts for my roller skate. I agree! Should be a blast.
At first when I read "Merc" I was thinking you bought a Mercury something. I was thinking "OOOhhh! Did Taylor get a Marauder or a Cougar?!" THen I remembered the MERCedes.

Ada County has had a vehicle emissions testing program in operation since 1984. The program is managed by the Air Quality Board. Sorry!

Great. It can't be as bad as here though... (BTW, Love your new signature )
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A few more hundred miles. Mostly uneventful. BUT I was trying to figure out how to tune my timing tables and was getting frustrated because the knock sensor was not sensing and the computer was not retarding the timing the way it should. I didn't hear knock but I knew it was knocking some.

Anyway, I went back through my tuning log and saw way back when, when I was first getting my EFI running, I disabled it! I turned it off because I did not have a knock sensor back in the day. Quick change to my BIN, burned a new chip and every thing works the way it should! It runs SOOOooo much better! I told babywag and darkmonohue it felt like it was running on old crappy plugs and now I have new ones it. Sooo much nicer.

As for pics: My son is daily'ing it and it is killing me to watch my seat covers wear and tear so I mad him buy some seat covers. The front ones looks really good and fit about 95% correctly. I'm actually pretty happy with them.

Plus! now my Jeep is WAY safer. These seat covers have air bags!!

(not really, I just thought the tag was funny).

Now the back seat... its looks TERRIBLE. But I don't care right now because the cover is protecting what is underneath. This cover is a front bench seat cover and trying to get it to fit a back seat was tough. Meh. I don't care. Less than 2 years til my son graduates and he gets his own vehicle.


I started on the sides. So my plan is to do the whole hood and back. This is all I could get done today. 2 layers of spray paint sanded off, then hit with 2000 grit, then buffed, then polished, then waxed, then sticker. I'm really happy with the glossiness of the paint underneath. it's a lot of work but it looks A LOT better. Also, the flat black paint I applied is almost an exact match to the sticker. Yeesss.....

[rang-a-stang]

It's been a couple hundred miles since my last post so a few pics.

I got the driver side upper stickers on and done. I am happy with them. The paint underneath is really coming back nice. These stickers hide ALOT of paint damage and really make it less painful to look at. Although I am putting in a stupid amount of work (there's probably 12 man hours of work in these pictures) it's making a HUGE difference. If you look around the rear view mirror, you can see 3 of the layers of Yellow. I did not go all the way down to the factory paint because I already have bare metal where the old dumbo ear mirrors were bolted on and I didn't want more. I will touch the bare metal up when I paint the rear flares. Also notice the difference in sheen between where it is sanded/polished and not sanded.



I also FINALLY finished the conduit under the hood and cleaned up the vacuum lines for the QT and under dash heater motors. The main harness was exposed from the brake booster to the firewall grommet (behind my vacuum ball) to the TBI unit. It's all clean and bundled now. Whew. I don't have any more plans for stuff under the hood at this point (other than installing the Cruise Control at some point). It's running pretty good these days! Only 2 fluid leaks left; one on trans pan and one at the low range unit shifter. I put a $35 Moroso Trans Pan gasket on and it still leaks. grrrr....

[Wagoneer Taylor]

Well I would say the man hours are clearly worth!

Also the engine bay looks pretty darn tidy from this angle!

Really coming together, inspiring me to get back on it!

[bluehwy]

That Cherokee is looking nice, love the wheels. I'm surprised they allow you to put a big Cherokee sticker on your vehicle in California (Just Sayin').

That's funny!!!