Messages

1

Your CJ-3A Project / Re: 1951 CJ3A in San Diego

« on: May 09, 2016, 12:38:08 AM »

Kinda doing this backwards but here are some of the progress shots that went into the frame prep/paint. Media blasted with Black Diamond coal slag with a harbor freight media blaster. Then primed with a couple coats of Master Series rust sealer/primer. Then a coat of Master Series AG111.

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Your CJ-3A Project / Re: 1951 CJ3A in San Diego

« on: May 07, 2016, 11:27:22 PM »

Frame is painted. Still have some fine tuning to do. I want to try and smooth out the bumpers especially. They have a bit too much texture from the roller. I think I will add some additional coats and then smooth it out. I did the first coat with a brush and then sanded out the brush strokes and switched to a foam roller. Foam rollers worked much better and faster in my opinion. Happy with the progress.

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Your CJ-3A Project / Re: 1951 CJ3A in San Diego

« on: April 22, 2016, 11:01:59 PM »

Alright well some progress has been made. There were some small areas on the front and rear bumper that needed to be straightened and some holes that needed to be filled.

For the bumper straightening I used a combination of portapower use and C clamps with angle iron. No heat was required and I am happy with the results.

For filling the holes in the front bumper I cut and ground down pieces of same gauge steel into small circles that would fit into the wholes and welded them in place. One of the holes overlapped into the large hole for the hand crank, so I had to make an oversized piece of steel, weld it in place, and then used a dremel and round file to reshape the large hand crank hole. This process took a little bit of time but overall happy with the results. It ended up taking 2 rounds of welding and grinding smooth due to there being some low spots and deep pits after the first round of welding. There are still some pits around the welds but I am thinking and hoping that they are small enough that I can fill with the masterseries primer. Can any users of masterseries shed some light on how deep of pits it will fill? The pits around the welds on the backside of the front deeper are a bit deeper I know.

Frame is ready for media blasting and painting. Hoping to get this done next weekend when I have a few days off in a row.

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Your CJ-3A Project / Re: 1951 CJ3A in San Diego

« on: April 15, 2016, 11:50:33 PM »

Alright guys and gals I have all I need to get the frame painted and move on with the project but I have a few questions.

One is on the front bumper. I need some help identifying some holes in the front bumper. My goal is to find out the purpose of these holes and fill in the ones that are not original and possibly the ones I will not be using. I know the large one just off center of the middle of the bumper is for hand crank. The 4 smaller ones in the middle of the bumper that from a square shape by the crank hole I believe are aftermarket and not original. I plan on filling those. And I know the 2 in vertical alignment just outside the passenger side frame mount rivet are for the license plate holder. The ones I have questions about are the ones circled in red in the picture below.� From what I have been able to find online I believe them to all be original holes but I have not been able to find what their intended use was for. Like I said, I am trying to find this information out so I can fill in what I need to before painting. Any help with answers or some to direction as to where to find the answers would be appreciated.

My second question is in reference to the second picture. There are two bolts with what appears to be a broken bracket of some sort. This is located in the middle of the passenger side frame rail between the front two body mount outriggers. I have been able to find it in pictures of other CJ3As but they to have been broken or missing the bracket piece altogether. This isn't as important to know for moving forward with painting the frame, because I am pretty certain it is something original. Still curious as to what this was used for?

Other than that I have a few minor areas of frame repair/straightening (actually just bumper stuff). Also going to go through the process of ensuring the frame is straight. This isn't something I am worried about, but figured it would be good to go through the process for the experience.

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Your CJ-3A Project / Re: 1951 CJ3A in San Diego

« on: April 06, 2016, 10:12:23 PM »

Thanks for the tips fellas. The MasterSeries products are in the mail! Squidtone, that sounds like an interesting approach. Sounds like you are using the masterseries almost like a filler for pitting and scratches. I'm sure that would result in a nice smooth finish. I think I will apply it with a nice brush and see how that comes out. Might ended up taking the sanding and epoxy primer approach if the result shows brush strokes that I can't live with. Right now trying to find some nice brushes to purchase... Seems like each step of this process presents so much research and learning. Never realized all the varieties of brushes. Hopefully I can get one that lays it on nice without brush strokes.

Been busy the last few days with obligations and working on building some doors for the shop so haven't got much done with the jeep. Just some rough scraping and cleaning of the transmission.

And I am happy to help with pictures. The least I can do for all the help I will get from everyone. If there are things people want to see just ask and I will snap picture of what I can.

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Your CJ-3A Project / Re: 1951 CJ3A in San Diego

« on: April 04, 2016, 12:48:08 AM »

Thanks Tim! Glad to hear about the drawbar. Sounds like you are a fan of the master series products if you used them again on your second project. So 2 quarts of each should do it then. I also plan on brushing it on. Did you also use the Master Series Metal Prep and Rust remover for during your prepping process? My plan of attack is media blast, scuff surface with 220 sand paper, then use the MasterSeries Metal Prep and Rust Remover as described on their website. Just wasn't sure if this was overkill if I am going to be media blasting.

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Your CJ-3A Project / Re: 1951 CJ3A in San Diego

« on: April 03, 2016, 01:02:27 PM »

Quick question, especially for anyone who has used MasterSeries products. I am trying to determine how much of their silver primer and AG111 to buy. I have seen some threads where people have used it and I was originally thinking 2 quarts of the primer and 1 quart of the AG111 satin black. But now I am sort of leaning towards getting 3 quarts of primer and 2 of the topcoat to be on the safe side. That should definitely cover it correct? The plan is 2 coats of silver primer and 1 coat of AG111 as their website suggests. Going to be doing most all of the chassis components in it. Frame, springs, differentials, steering components, brakes, etc.

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Your CJ-3A Project / Re: 1951 CJ3A in San Diego

« on: April 03, 2016, 01:07:03 AM »

.

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Your CJ-3A Project / Re: 1951 CJ3A in San Diego

« on: April 03, 2016, 01:01:42 AM »

Tom - Correct my cross tube on the from does not have mounting brackets, except for the one directly in the middle. I don't believe that is for a bottom mount radiator though correct?

Did a little work today. Got the transmission, master cylinder, and some other various parts off the frame and gave a quick down and dirty cleaning with a scraper to get the major gunk off. The small shop is quickly filling up. Going to have to get creative to keep as much as I can indoors...

I also removed a trailer hitch deal that was on there. Not sure if it was originally a willys option or something. I'm thinking more than likely it was something that one of the previous owners, maybe even my grandpa, had put on, but I wasn't sure so I put a picture up of it below to see what people say. Any insight is appreciated.

JeepFever - There are also some more photos you wanted. The last two are from another tub my pop's has. But I believe it is a 2A. Seems to be the same as the 3A though.

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Your CJ-3A Project / Re: 1951 CJ3A in San Diego

« on: April 02, 2016, 12:39:31 AM »

Is your radiator mounted on the grill or by 2 bolts through frame?

Tom - The radiator was already out when I got it, but my dad says it was mounted to the grill. Also it does have side flanges that appear to have mounting holes. He also seems to believe the radiator was actually replaced by my grandpa, which is easy to believe as the radiator cap does not appear to be original. I haven't done too much research on the radiators yet. Is there any significance to how the radiator was mounted? Here are some pictures of the radiator I have.

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Your CJ-3A Project / Re: 1951 CJ3A in San Diego

« on: April 01, 2016, 11:04:28 PM »

Little rust on the transmission gears... haven't looked too much into transmission stuff so I'll have to find out if they are salvageable or if it is just better to get new parts.

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Your CJ-3A Project / Re: 1951 CJ3A in San Diego

« on: April 01, 2016, 11:00:25 PM »

JeepFever - I actually used the selfie camera on those last two.� Unfortunately how it is sitting on the trailer there is only a few inches between the top of the trailer and the jeep bottom. I will try to get some more pictures for you tomorrow.

So as I mentioned, I ended up getting the tub off today with the help of my dad and a cherry picker. It was interesting and I am sure there are better ways to do it but it was a good time nonetheless. I ended up pulling the steering column and box as well as unbolting the transmission cross member and dropping the tranny down. And then took the transmission shifter off. I did all this because we had some height restrictions with it being in the shop with a low roof. After the tub was removed, I disconnected the driveshafts and exhaust. tranny is all disconnected and just needs to be picked out.

I was actually pretty surprised how easy all the nuts and bolts came undone, especially the exhaust stuff. I did pretreat most of them with 50/50 ATF acetone mix though so I am sure that helped.

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Your CJ-3A Project / Re: 1951 CJ3A in San Diego

« on: April 01, 2016, 04:56:59 PM »

JeepFever here are some photos. Getting shots from underneath are a little difficult right now because I ended up getting the tub off and it is sitting on a trailer. I will try to get some today. Just need to have someone tilt the tub up so i can snap them. Anyway let me know if these help or if you were looking for something else...

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Your CJ-3A Project / Re: 1951 CJ3A in San Diego

« on: March 31, 2016, 10:41:39 PM »

Thanks Bob, that's good to hear.

So besides deciding where and how to store the body I have also been researching and trying to decide how I want to paint frame and various small parts as I get them cleaned up as this will be my first phase. Also I should have mentioned I am new to the old CJs and new to restorations in general. This will be my first restoration project, and want to do things right as well as use it as a learning experience by trying to do as much as I can myself.

I just got a media blaster to help clean up the frame and other parts. I am planning on using the master series silver primer/sealer and AG111 for the frame, axles, suspension, steering, etc. Then for the small parts I get cleaned up I will spray with SPI epoxy primer. Still looking for a good gloss and semi-gloss black to paint over the epoxy primer for the various engine compartment parts. Currently I am going off a list that is on the cj2a website for color scheme in the engine compartment, combination of semi-gloss black and gloss black. Figured things were probably the same in the 3A.

I am always open to comments and suggestions so please chime in with thoughts. I plan on going through every component and restoring if possible or replacing if it can't be restored. Trying to go for originality with everything as much as possible. Good news is I can't find any serious rust aside from the surface rust. And the body is straight with only minor dings and tweaks. End color scheme is going to be Potomac Grey with red trim.

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Your CJ-3A Project / Re: 1951 CJ3A in San Diego

« on: March 31, 2016, 09:13:30 PM »

Here it is much happier in side the shop my dad and I built. Looks like the original color was Potomac Grey. Then some kind of dark grey/blue, then the yellow from my pops.