Rebuilding An Old High School Friend!

I am really digging that cage. I had a similar concept floating around in my head for mine, but I wasn't sure how I would pull it off. I might have to steal that B-pillar tie-in design if I can't come up with anything original. Love it.

 

Steal away! I'm glad you like it.

 

Thanks!
What don't you like about the dash tie-in? Just the looks, or is it a knee-banger?

I was thinking of something similar for my 3A, but I am having a hard time imagining a design that doesn't have sharp corners and can fit on a little 3A dash. I'm worried about a bend into the plate (plus the weld) being too wide. If butting into a bracket, I could save an inch or two of width by making the gussets narrower than the tube.

 

My only complaint/critique about my dash tie-in is purely cosmetic. In hindsight I just think it might have been cleaner looking if I had just bent the tubing forward there and welded it directly to the mounting plate rather than building the bracket for it to sit on. I didn't get the idea until after I was finished. Ultimately this way was much simpler since this was my first cage and was probably a better match for my tube bending skills.

As it is the clearance is great. I'm 6'4" and haven't even come close to banging them with my knee and I have been in and out about 100 times at this point... adjusting gear leavers, seat postilion, etc...

So it it isn't a big complaint by any means, it was just one of those things I realized after I was done and looking at it and thought.. "oh, I could have just extended the tubing down some more, bent it forward and welded that to my mounting plate instead." One of those hindsight things, which at the time may have actually exceeded my tube bending skills so it's probably best I did it the way I did. BUT next time...

 

Thanks for the reply. FWIW, I think it looks great. It looks like you put more thought into it than just bending and cutting.

 

Well if you really want to use all the new knowledge you obtained from bending yours up, I would be more than happy to have you bend one up for me. LOL I will even post a pic up after so you will always be able to see your masterpiece.

 

I'm curious to see how you like sitting on top of the fuel tank with the electric fuel pump. I've considered running TBI on my project, but I want to keep the 17 gallon tank. Hopefully it's not too loud for ya

 

We'll see just how loud it is. My thought process is that, given the construction of the jeep, putting a fuel pump under the tank along the frame wouldn't have been appreciably quieter. But I'm curious as well. I'll be sure to report on it when I get it running.

 

Very generous of you

 

Thank you, but it would be very generous of you. LOL

 

The electric fuel pump running in an under seat tank is very quiet. You will hardly notice it.

 

Which pump did you use?

 

It's the pump from the 1995 S-10.

 

I've had a few distractions but I'm getting ready to get my focus back on my Jeep.

My Mom had her knee replaced mid October so I spent a about a week with her on the farm, doing chores and making sure she could get around. I tell you it is simply amazing what they do with joint replacement these days... less than 3 hours after her surgery they had her up walking around on her new knee. Amazing!

But then I made the mistake of washing my truck and came to the realization my nerf bars/step were in a lot worse shape than I realized and I probably need to do something sooner than later if I was to save them. So I took a break from the jeep and pulled them off the truck and went to work restoring them. I sand blasted them and made a larger step with some bits of left over 1" tubing and diamond plate I had on hand. With luck this will stop my wife from complaining about it's safety when it gets wet and the potential of rolling her ankle... but no guarantees. Ultimately I decided to use this opportunity to try out the Monstaliner bed liner to coat them and the front bumper I built for the jeep. I've been thinking about using Monstaliner on my jeep instead of paint so I figured this would give me a chance to see how I like it.

Overall I am really impressed. One quart did two full coats on both steps and the bumper with just a very little left over. I rolled it on so there was very little mess and the finish turned out really nice. As with anything, there is a lot of time involved with the prep but it rolled on very quickly. I am officially a fan.




They have lots of colors available, so I think when the time comes I'm going to pick one that is close to the original color of my jeep and make the sucker bullet proof!

 

tcp global can mix their liner in any color fyi

 

Good to know, I will have to check them out.

 

After finally tacking together the nerf/side bars, my brother swung by on Sunday and helped me lift the tub off. So that must mean 100% of the mock up is complete, right? Let's hope I'm getting excited about getting to the point where I can start assembling things for good and getting some of these parts out of my way!



Of course, then my wife decided to throw a monkey wrench into things by informing me she needs a step to help her get in and out. That really wasn't part of my plan but I guess it is now. So now need to figure out how to gracefully add some steps to what I have... Suggestions?

 

80's style, baby!!

 

Funny you should mention that, my brother recommended I grab some of the rebar I have laying around and just weld on a rebar stirrup My wife is not the most coordinated person in the world however, and she has MS to boot, so I should probably at least try to build something that is fairly stable and easy for her to use.

 

Got the mount for the clutch master cylinder built. I utilized a master/slave combo from a 83-92 Camaro with the V6 because it matches the bellhousing I used and should work perfectly with the associated clutch fork. It did require some goofy angles since the master cylinder mounts through the floorboard on the Camaro but ultimately I think it was worth the extra work since the assembly was only $75. The skid plate I built into the mount may be overkill but I figure better safe than sorry.




Not sure I can adjust the push rod length until the body is back on however as I'm not 100% sure exactly where the clutch pedal will be at the top. Ideally I would use a turnbuckle to make the rod adjustable but I'm not sure how well the rod will thread.

Now it's time to tackle the PTO drive shaft and the skid plate...