71 Wheeling Rig

Slots are there for airflow (mpg's).

 

Worked on the property all day and worked in the Jeep after dinner.

Starting the lower shroud piece:


Lower shroud mounted and main shroud notched to clear power steering pump nub:


Final fitting before welding the corners:


Cut off my captive nut bracket to re-locate:


Shroud corners welded and bolt holes drilled. I've decided to leave the slots:




Then it was into the Jeep for a real bolt-in final fitting of the grill so I can check the lower shorud and make the cowl brace brackets. The lower shroud hits the crossframe, so I'll need to clearance it a bit:


From the top:


Did a bunch of bending on the cowl braces to get them where I'm happy with them. The passenger one will get cut shorter:


I threaded it longer to make up for what I'm going to cut off:


Hopefully tomorrow I'll have time to clearance the lower shroud and make the cowl brace brackets. Then the whole radiator project is ready to paint.

But.... While I have the grill off and access is good, I have these other projects to do to:

• Install the heater core and hoses
• Install a fuel pressure regulator
• Change the oil
• Make new power steering hoses
• Fix the leaky passenger side exhaust manifold
• Make a steering box brace

I've decided to skip installing the electric fan for now. It was borderline OK before, so I'm guessing it will be fine with 30% more radiator core area, a more efficient aluminum radiator, a 2" bigger fan, and a better shroud. If I have issues when it gets hot in the summer, I can install the electric fan.

 

Shroud is looking great!, nice fab skills there!

 

X2!

that steel is so thick that you might be able to just tap it.

 

Was too tired for Jeep work after changing out snow tires and working on the property yesterday.

Got a little more done tonight.

Chopping some 1/5" square tube for the cowl brace brackets:


Drilling holes:


Mocking up bracket location:


Tacked in place and support rods shortened and attached. I'll finish weld the brackets when I take it all apart for paint:


Yeah, I know it's asymmetric, but the attachement points on the cowl are asymmetric from the factory. The original hood prop rod bracket even works if I give it a little twist like this:


Notching the lower fan shroud to clear the weld seam in the crossframe:


Close, but too close. Needs a little more trimming to allow for some movement:


Hopefully I'll get that done tomorrow night and I can take it apart for final welding/painting.

 

I'm kicking myself because over the weekend I found a piece of 5/8" plate I could have used for the shroud :



I got a decent amount done tonight.

Trimmed the lower shroud to clear the back of the crossframe. In actuality, I cut a big hole in the shroud and the back of the crossframe is now part of it. You can see the crossframe in black. There is some room all around for movement:


I had to add a spacer to my brake line clamp for everything to fit:


Then I took everything apart for final welding and paint prep. Welded up the cowl brace brackets:


Added this upper flange to my heater duct to fully seal with the radiator inlet shroud:


Ugly-welded the heater housing piece to the rest of the duct. That was tough given my skill set and how crazy thin the heater sheet metal is. Did the many dots method starting on the thicker metal and pulling the dot over to the thinner metal. Still super easy to blow holes through. Good thing this isn't a show Jeep or I've have to break out the Bondo:


Everything all welded and ground and ready for paint prep:




It's all far from perfect but should work well. I'm actually pretty proud of myself since this is me fabbing things:


I've had the welder and plasma cutter for many years but have mostly used them out of necessity for repairs. This is by far the most complicated from scratch fab job I've ever done. It's fun diving in and figuring it out. Like figuring out you bought sheet metal way too thick for the task.

A big thanks to ITLKSEZ for his build threads. I probably wouldn't have attempted this with those.

The work area is covered in tools and grinding dust. Tomorrow starts with a big cleanup before I paint things and do some mechanical work.

 

Your shroud and that cross member look great! I really like the slots. I also need to thank ITLKSEZ for his build threads. Watching his work has made me do a better job on everything.

Turn up your shielding gas volume if its not at 20cfm and grind off as much of that mill scale as possible. You can chemically remove it with vinegar or acid or I mechanically remove it with a die grinder and some roloc scotch brite pads or sanding disks. The chinesium alloy steel I have gotten recently is made of mostly compressed mill scale.. Kinda lame. I soaked my parts in commercial 20% vinegar overnight and it still didn't want to come off.

When you blow through the thinner sheet metal, get some 1/8 or 3/32 Tig rods and feed it in while you run your mig welder. I have never had great luck mig welding sheet at low amps, mainly because I'm not changing out my .030 wire for anything.

 

Looks great!

 

Opportunity missed!! But don’t worry, you’ll still have some mods to make on the floor pans to accommodate the new transmission. Maybe a lift point for the tub can be incorporated?


I’m glad my junk can be of use to others. That’s why we’re here - to help each other out, to pass on our experiences and knowledge. I don’t have any boys to pass this onto; so you guys will take it, like it or not!
Although, my youngest daughter is itching to try welding. We’ll see where that leads.

 

I'm sure she can figure out a way to incorporate welding to come up with a kit like Neil's

 

Girls make good welders.

 

Vinegar is interesting. I need to try that. I usually use the flapper wheel but will admit to being lazy sometimes.

Adding rod is also interesting. I could see where it would hep keep things cooler. I'm the opposite with the wire. I seem to weld enough sheet metal that I just leave the .023 wire in it. Boy do you need a lot of feed when welding big stuff but it seems to work well in spite of the thin wire.

Who knows? She might be another Jesse Combs. Just don't let her try to set land speed records in a sketchy old Jet. That woman could fab. It's too bad she left so soon.

 

She’s got the personality. Her nickname for herself is “Trash,” and not in a low self esteem way, but more of a “How will you feel when you get beat by Trash” way. She’s been talking about building her “stupid thing” for about a year; a four-wheeled, pedal-powered buggy with a pillow for a seat and a brick for a brake. I’ve helped her refine the plans a bit (with a real seat and real brakes)... we started on it this past weekend.

 

Awesome!

 

the original sounds fun, but i'd personally incorporate an internal combustion engine.

 

i'd like to pull apart a few older cars and make a custom little open air vehicle of some sort.

 

Is it too soon to throw name "Trash Heap" out there as the stupid thing's name?

 

YES. ABSOLUTELY.

 

Spent an hour cleaning up the work area and putting tools away. What a mess that was after 3 weeks of fabbing stuff.

Ceaned up the parts for paint with Scotch Brite and acetone:


Shroud parts get rattle-can Rusoleum semi-gloss black:




Spent a lot of time masking the grill. A key part of this project is NO BODY WORK. If I had to do body work my fun hobby turns unpleasant very quickly. That's why I bought a Jeep that was in pretty good shape to start with. When I did all the work on the grill, I made sure I kept the original exterior paint intact so I only have to paint parts of the radiator cowl area:




Rustoleum rattle can for the win again. This red dries pretty close to President Red and should blend in pretty well:




Luckily I had Emmett out in the shop with me to protect me from this blue thing:

 

Looks great! is that a Miller maxstar 110? Lift arc Tig?