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Meet Red, my 81 Restomod Build

Chamba

Not obsessed: focused.
Member
City
Vero Beach
State
FL
My only caveat is exactly what you've just stated. I restored an 83 FJ40 (which I had since high school) so perfectly that I rarely drove it. I would only take it out when I checked the weather and there was no forecast rain anywhere in the northern hemisphere.

I took it camping a few times after the restoration and it was so stressful that it was some of the worst camping experiences I've ever had. I became so emotionally invested in it that I wound up selling it after owning it for 16 years because I no longer enjoyed it.

What I have done with my Scrambler is restore it to be mechanically pristine, reliable, and durable yet esthetically decent. I do still stress a bit about rust living in Florida but I have convinced myself that I'm looking forward to it rusting so I can get an aluminum tub (fortunately I'm not real bright, so I believe this).

I hope that you can enjoy yours once it is done. It will be an amazing vehicle which will be dependable and a part of your family for many many years if used carefully but regularly. I wish I could tell you how this can be accomplished but I don't think that I can. I can say that I think you are doing such a thorough and complete job that you really will be able to enjoy this thing for what it is.

Maybe just think of it as a new car that you've just bought and use it as such with the knowledge that you can always do a light restoration to it in the future and it will be right back to where it is now. After all, even Christie Brinkley got out of the house occasionally for a date night.....

And as for that blue one. I could not agree with you more. Wow! I wish I'd found that one years ago before I completely rebuilt mine.
 

Belizeit

CJ-8 Member
Gold Member
City
River Ridge
State
La
Randy I'm willing to take your Christie Brinkley out and ruff her up a little on the trail and road if she's a little to much and hot to handle. Cash in hand. Just saying
 

walkerhoundvm

Just trying to stay upright
Lifetime Member
City
Cave Creek
State
AZ
Next time, if there is a next time, will be more focused on enjoyment than perfection. I’ve spent way too much time and money making this “just so” to the point of not being able to enjoy it for what it was intended for. Back to that “marrying a supermodel” thing. Honestly, if I had the funds I would buy the blue 85 that’s up for sale here, just to have a driver.
I know it all too well. More so since I bought the Gladiator.
 

Randyzzz

Blown Budget
BENEFACTOR
Gold Member
Lifetime Member
SOA Member
City
Redmond
State
OR
Thanks for the support, guys. I’m going to have to learn to “let go” some- I’ve been this way since I was a kid. I always had 2 of every HotWheel- one to play with, and a second one to keep pristine in it’s storage case. Issues, anyone? 😉 I’ve seriously thought about selling once I’m done- but wouldn’t I just want to do this all over if I got another? My wife thinks I should sell, buy something like that blue 85, and a used Gladiator. Makes sense but I’ve never been one to do the sensible thing…
 

Belizeit

CJ-8 Member
Gold Member
City
River Ridge
State
La
I remember a long time ago my dad getting a new sailboat and we were in an area with a lot of obstacles in the water. In the beginning he was afraid to even go out and have some fun. Eventually he was able too get out and enjoy it.
 

Olin

Basic User
City
Williston
State
ND
Having spent hours in all sorts of interesting places (eg: under a mango tree dropping ripe fruit, on a barge floating down the Amazon, etc.) trying to find various electrical/vacuum/carburetion bugaboos, I am a huge fan of your build. As far as I can tell you've looked after every rubbing point or vulnerability, and, of course, if anything ever does go wrong you will know exactly where to look. Enjoy your better than new Scrambler and embrace the patina of use that will eventually build up on your creation!

And, thank you for the Savvy billet taillight idea. Glad I don't have to look at that annoying $240 in my bank account anymore!
 

Randyzzz

Blown Budget
BENEFACTOR
Gold Member
Lifetime Member
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City
Redmond
State
OR
And, thank you for the Savvy billet taillight idea. Glad I don't have to look at that annoying $240 in my bank account anymore!
My pleasure!😁 It’s nice to know My account isn’t the only one getting drained!
 

Randyzzz

Blown Budget
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Lifetime Member
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City
Redmond
State
OR
Being my own biggest pain in the rear can be challenging. The dash indicator lights were incandescent, while the Speedhut gauges were OLED. And the incandescent through the blue filter looked sorta aqua. So, out came the indicators. After several tries- white led with blue filter, blue led with blue filter…finally the winning combo- blue led with white filter. Color was perfect but the LED focused the light to a spot in the middle. So, I flattened the domed end of the LEDs on my belt sander, and-perfect! I’m waiting on some white plastic to arrive- I only had enough for 1 lamp

Flattened LED to spread the light dispersion ECE42F16-9F06-44DE-B241-B8860FE345CC.jpegRemoved the old bulb and drilled a small hole between the contacts. Wires fed through hole and soldered to each terminal. Hot glue holds everything in place. Light was too dim simply inserting it from the back.C5A780C5-5E27-4595-A05F-C6EE597CED12.jpegAll done! Just waiting for the white filter. Also, I paint the housings black to minimize light behind the dash.
326C8534-D332-4A15-B805-3392EB2E6E36.jpeg
 

FLCJ8

Legacy Registered User
City
Palm Bay
State
FL
Being my own biggest pain in the rear can be challenging. The dash indicator lights were incandescent, while the Speedhut gauges were OLED. And the incandescent through the blue filter looked sorta aqua. So, out came the indicators. After several tries- white led with blue filter, blue led with blue filter…finally the winning combo- blue led with white filter. Color was perfect but the LED focused the light to a spot in the middle. So, I flattened the domed end of the LEDs on my belt sander, and-perfect! I’m waiting on some white plastic to arrive- I only had enough for 1 lamp

Flattened LED to spread the light dispersion View attachment 96602Removed the old bulb and drilled a small hole between the contacts. Wires fed through hole and soldered to each terminal. Hot glue holds everything in place. Light was too dim simply inserting it from the back.View attachment 96603All done! Just waiting for the white filter. Also, I paint the housings black to minimize light behind the dash.
View attachment 96604
When you have time...
can you post up your resources on the parts.

I'm sure it would be helpful to others with OCD, I know I'll be looking for a solution when I get to that stage.
Thanks.
 

Chamba

Not obsessed: focused.
Member
City
Vero Beach
State
FL
I already got to that point, did exactly what you did and noticed the contrast between the speed hut guages and the new incandescent indicators. I too tried LED globes in them. I too noticed the focused light beam. It really irritated me for a while.

Where we differ is that you are cool as hell, solved the issue in a most ingenious method, and wound up with sheer perfection. I was annoyed by it, but have learnt to live with it. Thus you're like the fine craftsman carefully creating a masterpiece, where I'm more like the monkey on a log methodically digging ants out of a knot with a twig.

I say again Randy, THIS is why watching you run wires is riveting. My hat's off to you. That dash is going to be awesome. Beautiful work. I wish I'd thought of it.
 
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AdamH

Scrambler Junkie
BENEFACTOR
Gold Member
Lifetime Member
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City
Mt Holly
State
NC
Being my own biggest pain in the rear can be challenging. The dash indicator lights were incandescent, while the Speedhut gauges were OLED. And the incandescent through the blue filter looked sorta aqua. So, out came the indicators. After several tries- white led with blue filter, blue led with blue filter…finally the winning combo- blue led with white filter. Color was perfect but the LED focused the light to a spot in the middle. So, I flattened the domed end of the LEDs on my belt sander, and-perfect! I’m waiting on some white plastic to arrive- I only had enough for 1 lamp

Flattened LED to spread the light dispersion View attachment 96602Removed the old bulb and drilled a small hole between the contacts. Wires fed through hole and soldered to each terminal. Hot glue holds everything in place. Light was too dim simply inserting it from the back.View attachment 96603All done! Just waiting for the white filter. Also, I paint the housings black to minimize light behind the dash.
View attachment 96604
Well crap. Never thought my dash lights looked bad with my Speedhut Gauges.…. until now. Actually went to the garage to turn them on to see for myself.

maybe I just won’t drive at night
 

Randyzzz

Blown Budget
BENEFACTOR
Gold Member
Lifetime Member
SOA Member
City
Redmond
State
OR
I already got to that point, did exactly what you did and noticed the contrast between the speed hut guages and the new incandescent indicators. I too tried LED globes in them. I too noticed the focused light beam. It really irritated me for a while.

Where we differ is that you are cool as hell, solved the issue in a most ingenious method, and wound up with sheer perfection. I was annoyed by it, but have learnt to live with it. Thus you're like the fine craftsman carefully creating a masterpiece, where I'm more like the monkey on a log methodically digging ants out of a knot with a twig.

I say again Randy, THIS is why watching you run wires is riveting. My hat's off to you. That dash is going to be awesome. Beautiful work. I wish I'd thought of it.
Thank you for the kind words. It’s funny. My wife always wonders why I watch all these off the wall TV shows about how things are made, why I’m always interested in going into those shops that have weird stuff like the static generators, etc. I have a genuine fascination for how things work and somehow I retain that and occasionally am able to use it to do something cool.

Unfortunately I am also somewhat my own worst enemy, because I can take simple things and over complicate them. But I’m enjoying myself, so I guess that’s all that matters.
 

Randyzzz

Blown Budget
BENEFACTOR
Gold Member
Lifetime Member
SOA Member
City
Redmond
State
OR
When you have time...
can you post up your resources on the parts.

I'm sure it would be helpful to others with OCD, I know I'll be looking for a solution when I get to that stage.
Thanks.
Will do. I need to see if my white filter works correctly first. You can’t imagine how hard it is to find transparent white plastic! I think I got lucky though… I’ll add the parts lest to this post once I’m sure all is well.
 

Randyzzz

Blown Budget
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Gold Member
Lifetime Member
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City
Redmond
State
OR
More from the “It’s not right until it’s right” file. I was pretty excited to have found the black zinc hinge bolts. I thought that would solve the issue. Well, no. The finish is uneven at best, and the screws themselves were poorly manufactured or have crappy looking grading marks. They might be OK for a “working” Jeep but not for me.

Here you can see the ridges from manufacturing, and the uneven finish. Anyone need 44 torx body bolts?
729960AA-6DE1-4F9E-8F98-145E0DA5180B.jpeg7A7525C5-5904-436B-A4FD-CA33C848F388.jpegSo I stopped by a local custom gun builder to see if anyone local did Melonite (salt bath nitriding ). No such luck. But he suggested a place that did Cerakote. I went and spoke with them, and they have a semi-gloss black Cerakote H-Series that he said would be great. They use it on gun barrels and actions, knife blades, etc. it’s extremely corrosion/heat/impact and abrasion resistant, and has good UV stability. So I dropped off my body bolts, and my side board bolts. I should have it all back by Friday and I’ll post up a report.
 
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Randyzzz

Blown Budget
BENEFACTOR
Gold Member
Lifetime Member
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City
Redmond
State
OR
That's why i went stainless.
I was almost to that point. I really like the Torx heads for the body bolts though. (Bet you thought you’d never hear someone say that!)

As an aside- what the heck happened with the autocorrect on the latest iPhone update? Everything I type I have to go back and edit… dang phone inserts words I’ve never used and others that just don’t make sense!
 

Chamba

Not obsessed: focused.
Member
City
Vero Beach
State
FL
I did stainless allen head. I prefer them to torx myself. I'm in New York City right now or I'd post a pic. I also live in Florida now so rust is an ever- present evil.

I feel your pain. My auto correct drives me mental.
 

jpnmaine

Well-known member
Member
City
East Wilton
State
ME
Son does cerakote. It is a pretty easy process. Clean gear is essential....he uses an electric smoker. Likes the temp control.
 

Randyzzz

Blown Budget
BENEFACTOR
Gold Member
Lifetime Member
SOA Member
City
Redmond
State
OR
Son does cerakote. It is a pretty easy process. Clean gear is essential....he uses an electric smoker. Likes the temp control.
Very nice! I had thought about doing that myself years ago- I had access to an old oven. But decided I’d better leave it to the pro’s.
I’ve used regular Cerakote on gun parts before. This will be my first time using the H-series. But the rifle he had there was beautiful. Hope it works out.
 
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