1955 CJ5 Restoration

First CJ-5 Restore. 1955 CJ-5

Were trying to get this jeep up and running this summer. Weve had it for around five years and are starting the restore now. I think nost of it is original other than the winsheild. Were gonna try to restore to as close to original as we can. Before we got the truck, it had been sitting in a yard in north carolina for around ten years or so. Overall, its not in bad shape. The body has some rust. The fenders are in very good shape. The floors have alot of rust and need to be repaired.
I cant decide what color to paint it so suggestions might help.
Let me know what you think and i will post new pictures as the restoration moves along.


















rust on body






got it up on the lift and started unbolting the body from frame.






This is all that i have now but will post more later. Let me know what you think

 

Re: !955 CJ5 Restoration

I use photobucket.com, then just copy/paste the tags, and you should have some pics.....which I'm looking forward to hint hint

I originally wanted to do mine the rusty primer red color for the body, and an off-white/cream color for the rims, but now I like this color......




If you go to staceydavid.com, go to projects then sgt. rock, they have the colors and amounts to mix to get whatever color this is. I even like the olive drab rims.

 

If you are trying to stay original then go with an original color. Doesn't necessarily have to be the original color for that particular Jeep but at least a 1955 Willys color. The paint chips and codes are readily available on-line and in some auto paint stores. The windshield frame and hinges are supposed to be black, everything else would be the color you choose.

Nice Jeep, it looks mostly complete and original it will be a fun project.

 

That my friends is a project. Good luck, hope this summer works.

 

Thanks for all the replies. Im thinking about doing the paint in an original green. I will post more pictures later. Thanks

 

Does anyone know if the tow bar on the front is a original item? Im talking about the triangular shaped one that goes up and extends above the hood.

 

Finally got the body and the engine out this weekend.




on top of the lift. we raised it and then rolled the chassis out from under.








Chassis is in very good shape.












Saw horses came in handy. we put wheels under and now the body can be rolled around.

 

Nice project. What part of Fl do you live in? I'm just south of Jacksonville.......

 

Great project. I've been working on my 1955 CJ5 for about 4 years now. Are you keeping the non-original windshield? I kept the original and it would be nice to have a little more visibility that the later years offered. Your '55 is in a lot better shape than mine was. Personally I wouldn't worry too much about keeping it all stock. I kind of like the "resto-mod" type of build on these old Jeeps. One thing that really surprised me was how flat the old springs were. It sits a lot taller now than it did before. That's not a bad thing, but just to warn you that a little lift goes a long way when you put new springs on. You can see my build thread here.
http://www.wavjc.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=1674
Mine is still not done, but here is a before and after.

 

dvw86 - How come your Jeep has a gas filler port on the pass. side? Did you or a PO put that there? Or was it some kind of option?

 

I put it there. You can buy after market passenger side tanks. Combine this with a fuel tank selector and it's an easy way to double your fuel capacity.

 

i finally got back on to update after a hectic couple weeks. Jeep work has not slowed down a bit. Heres what ive been doing the past couple weeks.







finally got to sandblasting the body. Has some rust and needs some new metal.












Grille is in pretty good shape. very minimal amounts of rust


We loaded up the body, hood, windsheild, and tailgate on the trailer and brought it over to a body shop our friend owns to do the metal work and paint it.


Here are some more parts in the back of the pickup truck.


got around to priming some of the minor body parts and engine parts today.


Primed the dash and moved some pieces inside to make room to prime more

 

Got the engine back on thursday. Not quite painted the correct color but we may change back to the blue.







.
Today we hooked up the fuel pump, carburetor and starter.


Will post new pictures when i get a chance and take some more.

Cannot wait to get this baby on the road.

 

LOL, indication of a true Jeep man is one who uses his Corvette as a workbench for the Jeep parts!

 

Great work, looking good!!! Man, when I see what guys have done with old Jeeps that were in FAR worse shape than mine, it really makes me feel bad for my lack of progress. But I'll get there.

 

Does Anybody know where this goes? I found it in the bin of parts for the cj5 but have no idea where it goes or if its even for the cj.







Primed the gas tank. The one that we pulled out of the jeep had a couple holes that had been filled with bondo so we used the tank from another cj5 project we havent started.


The original tank is the closer one. The one off the ground is the one we will be using. We primed the other one so it wouldnt get worse as it sat for a while.










We tried to paint the valve cover close to original.

 

wow, great work so far! Keep the pics coming

 

The body work on tub is done. New floors in front and new supports under. Will post pics later when i take some

 

The top pic of the "unknown" part goes underneath the distributor on the f-head. Bolts to the bottom of the dist, and to the distributor boss on the block. Slotted to allow for timing adjustment.