Restoration Guide

Ok, this might be a ridiculous question, but hey, there's no stupid questions, only stupid people, right?

Anywho, my '67 CJ5 will be my first real restoration project. I've done a lot of work on my dad's '71 M35A2, but that's been almost entirely cosmetic, whereas I'm planning on taking the CJ down to the frame and rebuilding her. I really want to make sure I get this done right, and I don't want to waste a lot of time making the errors that go into trial and error. I'm just wondering if there's any guides out there to restoring a jeep, or vehicles in general, that can help me along my way so I know what to watch out for. Anyone aware of anything? I don't need a bolt-by-bolt breakdown or anything, just a general list of what things to take care of in what order, you know?

Thanks in advance.

 

I'm not particularly mechanical, and never worked on cars more than fixin' breaks, shocks -- stuff like that. But I just finished a rebuild of my '74 CJ last night. Nothing particularly difficult other than to LABEL EVERYTHING, store parts together that came off together. A digital camera with shots taken before the teardown will help too. My biggest problem was figuring out how things went back together -- dumb things like the gas tank hangers. I mean I got the engine back together like a charm but for the life of me I couldn't figure out the stupid tank -- isn't that weird. There are a couple of CJ repair manuals out there by Moses Ludel that may be of some help -- I got one last year but really didn't look at it much.

http://www.bentleypublishers.com/author.htm?id=24

Hope this helps

 

Like Bob said, get yourself a rebuilder’s manual and use it for reference I would also purchase a shop manual as it will give you more info.

 

Look at as many jeeps as possible. That helps immensely

 

I agree, LABEL EVERYTHING. Go to Costco or Walmart and buy a pack of sharpie markers, low tack masking tape, and zip lock baggies. The digital camera is priceless for this as well. The trick is recognizing what will give you troubles putting back together while you are taking it apart.

This second bit I'm sure is subjective, and not everyone will agree, but here goes....I recommend that you ONLY work on one thing at a time. DON"T EVEN LOOK at the other stuff until you are done with that one thing. This doesn't mean that you can't clean and paint something else if you come up against a wall on a certain part of the project, but keep it simple. If you start looking at too much stuff at one time, you will bog yourself down. I didn't have a clue how to go about my restification, in fact, I didn't know I was doing one until the engine got pulled out, but here's how I ended up, and I'm glad I did it this way, or I may not have pulled it off at all....

After driving it around, I knew I was in for some work. My thinking was that I could do some mechanical, and be driving in a couple of weeks...yeah right....

Went to work on brakes first, pulled gunk off front diff, ended up pulling the diff out completely, cleaned it, took it apart, inspected, reassembled, painted, and reinstalled.

Ditto on rear diff.

Finished brakes.

Tranny and Xfer were COVERED with dirt/oil/sludge. Pulled down, cleaned, rebuilt both (one at a time), painted, set aside.

Worked on engine. #4 wasn't sealing. Intake valve bad. Pulled head, no hardened seats on block (Fhead). Decided to pull engine and have a minor rebuild done.

At this point, I figger "might as well pull the tub"....Now in full restification mode!

Set tub/fenders/hood aside while I worked on frame. Cleaned and painted frame.

Set frame aside, worked on tub/fenders/hood. Fixed dents, misc welding, painted.

Set fresh body parts aside, put frame back in garage. Install engine, test fire, reinstall tranny/transfer, fire engine, run tranny/transfer through gears.

Set body on frame

Reassemble, rewire, etc. Nearly done and almost road worthy.

The bottom line is that if I looked at it as a whole, I got freaked out. My key was to set everything out of sight except what I was currently working on. There is simply SO MUCH STUFF to clean, repaint, rebuild, etc, that you can easily go into panic mode. If this happens, just take a deep breath, and just pick ONE THING. Trust me, you'll get it done this way.

Hope this helps,

 

Some people might find this very hard to do, but I'd suggest you keep a log book. Get something that's large and bound, and write in pen. Every time you work on the Jeep, make an entry. Describe what you're doing and any info that might be helpful later. The more documentation, the better. All the parts receipts get pasted into the book, prints from your digicam, drawings, notes, all that stuff. Write down your thoughts, and how you made your decisions.

The first thing I'd do is divide the restoration up by sytems - body, electrical, interior, engine, transmission, brakes, transfer case, accessories - maybe you cna think of more. Then, with a page for each system, start listing the things you need to do. Thad is right - there's so much stuff to do you need to divide it up into easily handled chunks.

This also helps immensely if you need to put one project down (say, rebuilding the transmission, and you need to wait for parts), and start on something else. You can pick up on the other project when you need to by reading your notes.

Also, I guarantee that in 20 years you'll have great fun reading your notes about this project. Especially if your notes are supplemented with lots of pictures.

hth - have fun!

 

Thanks for the suggestions, guys! I just might put that rebuilder's guide on my christmas list and see what happens.

 

I would recommend "How to Restore Your Collector Car" by Tom Bownell. This is a great book on general restoration and repair with lots of colored pictures, and covers metal work, bodywork, interior, paint, etc. How to get started and keep organized, etc. It's a great place to start. It also talks about how to determine what level of restoration to do, frame off, or not, etc. Lots of info.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/A...32569/sr=11-1/ref=sr_11_1/104-6296324-5020746

ISBN number: 0-7603-0592-7

In the book he also suggests just doing one thing at a time. He also suggests setting aside at least one night a week, that is work on the Jeep night, and schedule those nights on the calendar. That way you'll stay committed to the project. I've started doing this and it works pretty well.

Jim