A few more updates.  Things have been moving pretty slow as I have had other projects keeping me busy....


Here are a few odds and ends added on showing the contrast with the blue paint with black brackets and SS bolts...


Only something a Willys person would understand.  Instead of using wood to make my kickstarter board, I found somthing a little different.  My father has just recently replaced his deck with composite boards and had some scraps left over.  Being the curious type, I decided to use it instead of wood so it wouldn't rot.  After painting it black, it is pretty hard to tell it isn't real wood.  Will it hold paint very long....who knows?  I can always come back and use wood if I need to.  The spring came from an old screen door chain.  By the way, after spending all afternoon putting this together and being very excited about finally being able to start the jeep from the driver's seat I showed my wife my progress.  Her response?  "That's nice.  What else did you get put on today?"  Maybe one day I can convert her..
ANOTHER THANK YOU to Bob W's book for the measurements for this block!!


So my buddy was dying to buff the paint out and just see how slick we could make it.  Here is a teaser shot after a round of 1500 grit before buffing compound...

A little more eye candy to look at.  It has taken quite a bit of time and patience to paint the raised Willys logo and 4wd stencil.  Remember, I went with basecoat/clearcoat so the process was a little different than enamel paint.  Here is a rough breakdown how we did it......

1. Primer the parts
2.  Spray the white basecoat and 4 coats of clear over the "WILLYS" lettering.
3.  Let the paint cure for several days then come back and sand off the overspray, tape lines and scuff everything else up.
4.  Spray the blue basecoat and 4 coats of clear over everything.
5.  Let the paint cure for several days.
6.  Begin the LOOOONG, SLOOOOOW process of sanding the blue off the letters to get down to the white.  Be very careful to not sand too deep past the white.  Don't try to sand the letters "freehand".  We got the best results taping off the letters and sanding against the tape.  This also protects the surronding areas from getting sanded.
7.  Scuff everthing again and put 4 more coats of clear on.

Here is a photo of the hood prior to the last coats of clear.

Looking good! Did you get a lot of fuzziness around your stencil letters? I hand painted all my Willys scripts and I bought a different 4WD decal for mine since I don't care much for the original one.

So I finally got the grille and drivers side fender mounted.  After that, I sat the hood on just to see what it would look like and to keep me motivated.  My dad is in the first photo and was very impressed with how it looked.  He had not seen it since December 31, 2012 and he probably took 8-10 photos with his phone from different angles.




And one more of the hood and the WILLYS emboss.  I love how this turned out..look how clear that reflection is in the fender!


I'm hoping to get started on my wire harness this weekend!

Nate, Marcrisel...My complements! Your two artists at work, I doubt they came out of the showroom looking better then that.

Looks great! Keep it up!

The cushins came from Beachwood Canvas.  While they are more expensive than some other places, the quality, craftmanship and service are second to none. 

The cushins are actually a 2A cushin, not a 3A.  When I ordered them, they asked me how tall I was.  When I told them 6'4", they laughed and said I probably wanted the 2A cushins because they are actually 2-3" thinner than a 3A cushin and would give a little bit more room behind the steering wheel.

I drove the jeep around the farm yesterday and let me tell you.....2-3" makes a BIG difference behind the steering wheel!