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August 10, 2018 One step forward, 4 steps backward.
I wasn't planning on doing the interior until I had to. Long after I'd been driving the Jeep for a while. I also wasn't planning on touching the headliner.
Finding a mouse living up there changed all that.
Transmission works: 1 step forward.
Now I'm tearing down the headliner: 1 step backward.
While I'm doing that, I should add sound deadener: 2 backward.
I might as well do new insulation as well: 3
If I'm buying all the sound and heat insulation I should buy it for the floor too.
If I'm scraping all the existing 45 year old insulation off, I should paint the metal: 4 backwards.
The pictures tell most of the story. I wanted to salvage the headliner, but willing to replace it if its ruined by mouse pee. I rinsed it twice and laid it out in the sun to dry. The sun does a good job at removing smells. Then I got a bottle of "Nature's Miracle" and soaked it twice completely. There are some stains in the canvas where nobody will see, but I put my nose right on the worst spot and all I could smell was canvas and a pleasant citrus. I feel good about re-using it. Whether or not I can re-install without damage is yet to be determined.
Despite having some surface rust in the front boot areas, I think the floors look great. I've seen a lot worse online.
Reading up on sound deadening is daunting. There's 1,000 ways to do it, and everyone's got a method. I picked Noico 80 mil butyl, mostly because it was easy to buy and cheaper than the name brand Dynamat. I know I only need to cover 25% of the sheet metal for good enough sound deadening, but it also acts as a thermal insulator, so I just covered the whole roof and I'm going to cover the whole passenger area floor. I'm also adding their 140 mil closed cell PE foam insulation/deadening on top of that. I should have some butyl left over to put in the doors. We'll see. The foam has a small layer of butyl on it for adhesion, but adds to the total weight of deadener. I also ordered the carpet with a "mass backing" option which will also add to the insulation content on the floor. I know it's not ready for a 2,000 amp stereo system, but I think it will wage a fine battle with the rattle-trap I'm putting under the hood.
Rough estimates are 4x8' for the roof and 4x4' for the passenger area. That's 48sf.
72 sf of 80 mil butyl at $1.74/sf
54 sf of 170 mil foam at 1.67/sf
I also bought 26 various spring mouse traps, and made 2 bucket traps. One is "walk the plank" $14 on eBay. The other is a "log roll" that I made from conduit.
Baiting everything with chunky peanut butter and I have 6 kills so far. No kills or missing bait for the last 10 days.
Update 8/24/2018
Finished sound deadener and insulation fitting. Then unboxed the carpet kit to let it relax into shape while I work on the headliner and windshield.
The headliner was not too bad. I finally assembled my HF sand blasting cabinet to de-rust the tack strips that took a beating from mouse pee. It was like magic. Best investment ever for cleaning rust off small parts. the headliner is back in and 96% perfect. The windshield wasn't too bad to put in. Took me 40 mins to put the glass in, and 2-3 hours to fit the chrome trim. I expected 4 hours on the glass and 10 min on the trim.
Next move is to fit the carpet and bolt the seats down. Then I can actually go for a drive to the DMV to get it registered. -KM
Update: September 7, 2018 (posted March 14, 2019)
Much of August 2018 I put the carpet down, bolted the seats in and put the bare minimums just to take it home and have fun for a weekend.
I was missing some critical parts, but it was fun:
- No exhaust system. Downpipe only exiting right under the driver seat to the ground. Very loud.
- No shocks, who needs em.
- Nothing on the dashboard worked except the speedo which had an error of +30%
- No fuel gauge. Somewhat of a scary unknown that I didn't realize how scary until after I was driving a couple days.
- No heat or defrost.
- No A/C. This will be far down the road anyway.
- Transmission was working, but needs tuning.
- No oil psi, coolant temp, EGT temp gauges.
- Leaking power steering and hydro-boost lines/connectors
- Leaking brake line mid-span at brake switch.
- Leaking transfer case and/or transmission.
Once I got it home, I couldn't help myself to test my buffer on the paint. It was so much fun I spent a Saturday pulling the badges and buffed the whole rig. Yes, there's a burn mark in the hood. I tend to see things on the bright side. I'm going to guess that burn mark is why this Jeep got garaged for so long and is in such great condition. I might just leave it there. Matching the paint will be hard, and it's not that bad.
Stopped on my way to a soccer game for some beauty pics. Even though there were so many problems, I was driving with a perma-grin.
So after a fun weekend I drove back to the shop and parked it. I ordered a D300 seal kit and a 4L80E rear seal that ended up sitting on a shelf for 6 months. There was a serious leak under the TC (transfer case) and I was leaving 4" diameter puddles whenever I parked. I feared removing the TC again and again going backwards on the build. Also around that time I started another business and used the indoor space that my Jeep project occupied for my new enterprise. Now working 70 hours a week my time was also limited, and with cold dark weather it was not enticing to work outside.
Update March 14, 2019:
Upon hearing about why my Jeep was sitting around for so long doing nothing, my friend Matt volunteered to rebuild the D300 in exchange for beer. We met on Sunday March 10 and I got the TC out before he arrived. He tackled the TC and kit while I went after the correct tranny seal from Napa. When I separated the TC from the Tranny, at least a cup of transmission fluid poured out. More on that later.
He's much smarter than I, and suggested that we fill the TC case with oil before we installed it to make sure it didn't leak. He also suggested the same thing for the tranny to test my rear seal installation. We were alarmed to find that oil was pouring out the new adapter parts/seals of the Advance Adapters kit. There is no lip seal in this area, just a sealed bearing. We're hoping that the reason it's leaking is that we filled the case with the input side down. Because this sealed bearing is above the level of the oil inside, it shouldn't leak so much in it's running position. I find it strange that the 2WD adapter kit has a lip seal, and all the Novak units incorporate a lip seal, but the 4WD kit relies only on a sealed bearing. (?)
I was very proud of my tranny seal work and expected zero drops on the ground. I was up under the hood pouring 2 qts of fluid down the dipstick hole and I could hear oil hitting the ground. I scrambled to find a catch can and by the time I got it under there I caught the last 4 oz that dribbled out as I was rolling my creeper across a lake of tranny fluid on the ground. I think we found the leak. Seal was working fine, but I don't think the level of fluid ever got high enough to wet the lips of the seal.
The left picture is the apparent river of fluid. The right pic is the culprit. This 4WD transmission probably had a New Process or Borg Warner TC behind it that shared fluid. I don't know enough to know which one, but these holes (there's one at 12 o'clock as well) need to be plugged. This was probably the main source of puddles under the Jeep. With no lip seal in the TC input, this flow of red fluid was passing right into the TC and flooding it. The holes are 3.54" or 8.9 mm. The plug is going to be either a freeze plug or tapping in a 1/8" NPT plug.
BTW, I did some extensive research and sleuthing and came to the conclusion that my Dana 300 TC is from a 1983 CJ.
Update: Pi day 2019
I decided to tap and plug the two holes in the back of the transmission. I used an air gun to apply positive pressure to one hole while I tapped the other. This sent the chips flying out in my face while I tapped. Make sure you have eye protection if you follow this method.
The bottom plug has a valve rod behind it, so I couldn't tap the plug in as far as the top one. This made some interference for the adapter part. Instead of grinding down the plug (making it permanent) I slapped the adapter plate on the Mill and made a small recess for the plug. No returning that part now!
Update: 3/18/2019
The TC case is still leaking a little. At this point it might just be a Jeep thing. I think that's the "Jeep Thing" that everyone talks about. It likes to mark it's territory. In 10 years when I do phase II with a full suspension and paint/polish every engine part, maybe I'll buy a new Atlas TC and it won't leak.
I wanted to do a little beauty work, and I don't want to lose the badges that I pulled to polish the paint. I cleaned this one up and painted the part that used to be black. There was 47 years of green stuff, lots of dirt, and some embedded wax. I didn't take a good "Before" pic, but the "After" is accurate. Sometimes the little things make all the difference.
Update April 2019
I have a copy of Solidworks for work, and I'm trying to learn how to use it. I have to admit, I got this idea from watching this YouTube Video about the ICON 4x4 Reformers 1965 Wagoneer build. They made some custom aluminum CNC badges for that rig. How hard can it be? I have several vendors that have CNC mills, why can't I get one made for me? I also have a 3D printer at my disposal, and I'd like to learn how to use it.
I replaced the 360 with a 3.9L Diesel, and I'd like to replace the 360 badge with something that looks the part.
The quotes came back from 3 different vendors and all of them were over $250 ea. ($500/set) for custom badges. If I bought +10, then the price is more like $75 ea. I'm not sure I want to get into the business of selling my one off badges. I had this idea of filling the void area with "Makeit Bakeit" beads like I played with in the 80's, then polish the raised parts and the perimeter.
We have a 3D printer and I made some ABS and PLA test badges just to see if I was on the right track. I have a tape measure right next to my keyboard that is plastic and chrome. Why can't I chrome some plastic like every other badge out there and then paint the rest?
The first ABS one was printed in 22 min and low quality with the big head. We kept increasing the definition and by the time it got right it was a 3hr print.
My only worry is that the paint will fade, and the plastic will show its age very quickly.
My next idea is to build or buy a small foundry and cast the badge from the plastic 3D print. This will probably be sidelined by getting back to making the Jeep Run.
Before I took it for another drive, I had 4 major leaks to fix. Brake fluid, Hydroboost/PS fluid, Transmission fluid, and Transfer case fluid. I have them all down to drops instead of puddles. The other thing is some gauges. I don't want to drive around not knowing oil pressure, water temp, fuel level, voltage, boost pressure, and EGT. I got this cheap ($170 eBay) 10 function gauge and finally hooked it up. Fairly easy and it came with all the sensors. I still need to hook it up to a sensor of some sort to determine my RPM, but it has the stuff I really need.
With this cluster bob somewhat installed, I felt comfortable driving the Jeep home for Easter weekend, and we were able to take it to Easter Brunch with the Family. Good times. My wife advised me that it needs shocks before it needs exhaust. I saw about 17.2 psi of boost and 825F EGT on a hill with it floored.
Other important items are:
1. Windshield Wipers.
2. Heat (more importantly Defrost).
3. Transmission Tuning.
4. E- Brake.
5. Dashboard Lights. (turn indicators).
After I get all that done, I'll feel OK turning up the boost and fueling. :)
Update April 24, 2019:
1. Now have working fuel gauge.
2. Now have working speedometer, and it's as accurate as a 50 year old bouncing speedo can be.
Update April 26, 2019:
1. Now have working Tachometer.
2. Now have 650 RPM idle. (was at 900-ish)
3. Setting idle I realized that the accelerator pedal, idle to fully mashed into the carpet was 0-70% on the TPS.
4. While setting the idle, I realized I have a cold start enrichment solenoid that relies on coolant temp to release.
5. Need to wire that circuit so I have a nice cold start high idle.
Update April 29, 2019:
Filled the fuel tank for the first time at a gas station. Took 27.6 gallons. My math told me I built a 30 gallon tank. Might have to re-calibrate my fuel gauge sender and converter. That's cutting it a little too close. Now that I have a somewhat accurate speedometer/odometer, I'll be able to figure out what kind of fuel economy I'm getting. Hopefully I'll get over 500 miles to a tank.
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