Postal Pseudo-resto (in AK)

I have no business doing this given that my "regular" Scrambler still needs work. It will end up living outside for the next several months.

Step 1: Back it off of my buddy's trailer and drive it out of the storage unit over to the condo.
Step 2: Clean off all the crud before it snows again and sticks, because I won't want to do it once it's in the garage.
Step 3: Take pictures for the board.

Wow. Nice start. Those are some serious blind spots looking out the back.

Nice! Great starting point, but what the hell is up with the gold paint??

That might have the record for worst windshield frame ever on a working vehicle though.

gr8dain said:

Those are some serious blind spots looking out the back.

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You have NO idea. You have to remember that you're also on the wrong side, so if you come up to a corner to turn and stop with anything less than a perfect 90 degree angle, you can literally get in a spot where you can't see traffic unless you have a passenger. I've had to crawl across the passenger seat more than once at intersections.

And that is why I much prefer having the top down. Love the views!

FWIW, this is the top that is most likely to be for sale here in a couple months. I'm hoping to have it into pallet-form for shipping purposes by Christmas.


Yesterday I swapped tires on my Subaru to the studs and did the brakes. While I was in the mood, I figured I'd hack-off the cylinder and mount set up for the Postal's former plow. I noticed that the bumper was welded to the frame on top, but didnt' discover all the welds along the inside and outside lower edges of the frame until I couldn't figure out why the bumper wouldn't budge. Two cutting-discs later:

I felt bad hacking a nice, straight CJ bumper, but there simply wasn't any way to avoid it. I couldn't get the grinder into the bottom lip (inside and outside, both frame-rails) to grind those welds. I was able to grind away the welds to the front crossmember without damaging it. The only thing holding the cylinder/mount to the Jeep is gravity, a bungee cord, and the hydraulic lines.

Special delivery, straight from Kodiak!









I don't even know what I got. Pretty much anything this guy had that was Jeep related got stuffed into the back of the postal and/or set inside my buddy's pickup. I knew there were a few transmissions and maybe a transfercase or two, but the pick was more than I had any idea of. (See below) There's apparently another transmission in the back of this thing, based on the shifter. I have no idea what it is though.




Sketchy nutmeg Laredo seats.




Here's the one hole in the top. The rest of the top is solid. This will be an easy and worthy repair.




Foam intact, but no headliner.





Thank God it's not rusty!
Sad thing is, I think this tub is in better shape than the one that I have that runs.

The prize! It's rustier than my friends thought, and MUCH worse than I expected. As they started to manhandle it to bring it out of storage, the primer started flaking off. I will need to figure out how to media blast this whole thing; I may even look into powdercoating. I've seen the portable blasters advertised, which I want to investigate to see if I can do it in my garage. Thankfully the bottom is still in fantastic condition, and there are no holes. This is still leaps and bounds ahead of some of the other projects I've seen board members start with. Obviously I need to swap firewalls, and weld in the "Jeep" stamping.




The cherry on top! Not only is the barn-door perfect, but it has probably the only stainless World Cab hinges in the world. The original (from my perspective) owner's father-in-law is a machinist by trade. He was bored at work, and asked my friend if he had any projects since they had time and the company was OK with personal projects. My friend sent one of his hinges, and his father-in-law duplicated it in stainless. In 1998 when he made them, they would have cost $800 in time and materials.

Oh, and I have all the hardware for a soft half-cab for hard-doors. Winning!

Almost forgot the pile of parts UNDER the tub:



Just in carrying stuff, I've identified a T-5, a T-18 bolted to a Dana 20, and a spare Dana 300. There's an auto (probably a 999 or the like), and another cast-iron stick (hoping it's a T-176). Plus a dozen driveshafts. All of this will be for sale, except perhaps for the T-18 and Dana 300.

The 176 is not cast iron

Holy Lord what a bunch of stuff. the stainless hinges are pimp.

Going to keep the name Scumby on the latest one from kodiak?

revho said:

Going to keep the name Scumby on the latest one from kodiak?

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It's my wife's Jeep. I don't like to name inanimate objects. It's original license plate "SCUMBY" is still held by my friend, and currently resides on his built TJ (which is technically Scumby III).

Besides, I'm expecting to use the frame from the postal that has the currently functioning drivetrain.

This weekend I need to A) clean the house in anticipation of my wife's return from her Ph.D trip, B) clean my Subaru (haven't given it a good internal cleaning in a couple years), and C) try to get the extra parts photographed and up on Craigslist.

I did go through the back and found a good standard CJ-8 bulkhead which is useless to us, another Dana 300, a complete set of CJ-8 flares, a complete set of cut TJ flares, several transmission covers (including an uncut one for an automatic), a couple engine-to-transmission plates (I don't even know what they're called, but they get sandwiched between the block and bellhousing), CJ-5 half-doors, CJ-7 hard-top rear glass, two CJ grills (one with a Laredo cover and H4 lenses! Score!), an aftermarket seat, a flywheel (looks like a 4.0 or a 258), a set of chrome bumperettes, and a few more driveshafts. There was some scrap things that are going right to the metal recycling place too.

I'm psyched about the H4 headlights and bumperettes! I needed another H4 housing for my Scrambler anyway, and the bumperettes will also go on mine until I get a real rear bumper made up.

Have a potential buyer for one of the postal World Cabs, so since I broke the front driveshaft of my "regular" TDK/Aqualu 8 yesterday, we didn't go wheelin' today, and instead my wife volunteered for us to break-down the top!




We also cleaned up the garage a little bit. Then since we had the shop vac out, I pulled the hack-fab left side seat from the "other" postal, pulled the trashed carpet, and vacuumed it out before taking it for a spin around the block.

re: firewalls, are you staying RHD?

40below said:

re: firewalls, are you staying RHD?

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Roger that. Also why I'm calling this a pseudo-restoration: using an old reproduction tub that I recognize will need some work to make it fit correctly, but keeping the RHD, keeping the World Cab top, keeping the postal bulkhead, and putting the red and blue stripes back on it, along with a parody USPS logo.

Well, I did not really do anything to my Jeep, but my daughter did get one for her 16th birthday from her grandparents.



Ok. Maybe it is not a real Jeep, but she says it is her Jeep.

Anything progress on the postal lately? I would love to have one but it's gonna be a while for me.

KINETIC said:

Anything progress on the postal lately? I would love to have one but it's gonna be a while for me.

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I've actually been staring at these a lot lately. The 5.9L ZJ has occupied most of my summer wrenching, with the brief interlude to change the rear springs on my CJ-8. But I REALLY wanted to get the parts-postal stripped, and the outdoor postal moved into the garage, before the snow flew. Obviously I failed at that. I'm hoping the weekend of the 8th I'll get a couple hours to try to strip/hack the parts Jeep down.

AK-RWC said:

...and the outdoor postal moved into the garage, before the snow flew. Obviously I failed at that.

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Snow? Already???