Spankrjs 1986 "Ploy-Boy" CJ-7

[Belizeit]

Took more bags than I would have thought. I did a compressor pad 30 years ago 4 X 8 and I think it was 9 or 10 80 lb. bags. Mine was probably a little thinner and probably more bricks as filler. All mixed in a wheel barrow. The mixing is what gave me the workout. Nice job !

 

[spankrjs]

Came out pretty good IMO:



Washed all the dirt off the shed panels, might start assembly later on this week:



That's it for now.

 

[ag4ever]

All the YouTube videos claim you wasted your time, dry pouring is just as strong.

 

[Belizeit]

All the YouTube videos claim you wasted your time, dry pouring is just as strong.

I have only done that with fence posts.

 

[ag4ever]

I have only done that with fence posts.

I won’t even do it for fences. I’m in construction, so I would be ashamed of myself if I ever used dry concrete.

 

[Belizeit]

Considering I only had 20 posts in my yard fence and it survived 1 small tornado and hurricane Katrina I believe it worked well enough. I forgot, also Hurricane Ida just under 3 years ago. There was a lot of fencing and roofs lost in that one in the area. And 2 weeks ago 85 mph straight line winds. Huge oaks lost and houses crushed in my neighborhood.

 

[FLCJ8]

Just to continue the "off-topic" of this post...
I can't begin to count the number of power poles and light poles I've installed in FL (read winds/soil) over the past many years that are still as plumb as when set without any concrete.

Dry pouring a slab... call me old school, not happening.

 

[spankrjs]

Wrecked forms and did some grouting yesterday afternoon:



Backfilled, packed, and graded the dirt around the slab earlier:



Screwed the two floor panels together and bolted them down to the slab with some sleeve anchors.





Borrowed a hammer drill from work to make concrete drilling easy. Blew the dust out the holes with the garden hose and then washed all the concrete dust off the floor panels. Didn't feel like dragging out the air compressor. As hot as it is the floor/dirt will be dry by morning.

Wiped down the metal parts with fluid film to keep them from corroding any further. The box this shed kit was in was soaking wet. Metal parts weren't rusty, but they had some of that light white powdery looking corrosion present.



Started assembling all the subassemblies:



I think I only need to install the sky lights in the roof panels and then I move on to standing up all the wall panels.

It's pretty fun putting it together, like an RC car kit/giant Lego set LOL.

That's it for now.

 

[spankrjs]

Got up early yesterday morning, installed the sky light/vents in the four roof panels.



Standing up/installing the wall panels. I did this by myself, a helper would make it a bit easier, either way not terribly difficult.



All the wall panels up:



Installing the two gable ends and the center truss:



Half the roof on:



Roof complete:



Andy from New Orleans came by when I was installing the roof pieces, and an extra hand is definitely needed to help compress the roof panels together from the outside while someone else screws them together from the inside. Took a break from the shed to help Andy mess with his CJ7. Having some MSD and Holley Sniper issues.

Completed the shed this morning, doors installed and finished:



New tenant already moved in!



All in all for the price and time commitment I am pretty happy with this plastic shed. Time will tell how well it holds up. Need to get back working on the plow Jeep and start filling this shed up with Jeep parts!

That's it for now!!

 

[spankrjs]

Rained hard off and on all weekend and the shed is bone dry inside

 

[spankrjs]

Just to finish up the shed project, installed a shelf, loaded it up with all the parts off my front porch and garage. The two big plastic crates, two red crates, and the cardboard boxes in the corner are all still empty, so still plenty of room.





Whenever I take this thing apart, large items will go on the porch (doors/hood/hard top). The seats/dash pad will go inside the house.

I also had a pile of wood chips from when I shredded a bunch of trees I cut down back in December. Spread them around for the hell of it, just lovely LOL!!



Need to do some side jobs this week/weekend for Sand Blast cash, some more clearing/bush hogging work for a neighbor when i get back, so I will probably not really get on this one until the fall, which is fine, much cooler.

 

[spankrjs]

Piddled with this one some more yesterday. Removed both fender to body tub bolts, fender to grill bolts, fender/battery tray braces, tapped all the holes, reinstalled new stainless bolts with anti seize to allow for future disassembly easier.

On the grill to fender bolts, driver side lower bolt broke the captured nut free. Easy enough to cut off the bolt and remove the pieces. Five out of six ain't too bad I reckon.



Removed all this:


The firewall/floorpan seam seems OK, after scraping out all the old seam sealer. Firewall a hair soft right above the heater box drain hose, everywhere else seems good to go.



Not the best picture, but I was able to remove all the old hardware without breaking anything on this side, happy about that.



And repeated on the driver's side. One evap canister bracket to firewall stud was already broken, I broke a 2nd one off, left the third on in place for now. Eventually when fender removed easy enough to remove these little broken studs. All the fender to tub bolts and brace bolts/studs survived so I'll chalk it up as a win.



Another bunch of PIA old rusty hardware removed and replaced.

 

[spankrjs]

I have been watching the driver side "blossom", just like the passenger side. Much like a pimple or blister I popped them



Up front, forward and below the Jeep stamp, below floor pan.



Middle of door opening on driver side rocker panel.



Both of these areas had filler placed into rust, sanded smooth, and painted over. This was recent work. Quality work.

The guy I bought it from mentioned that both rockers, forward of the rear wheel well openings, were repaired by his painter. New metal was not welded in, filler put into rust, sanded smooth, painted over. This area has not popped yet, but it is coming.



Buyer beware I reckon

Going to see how much more blossoms before making a decision on this tub. So far, most damage is below the floor pan line. BUT, previous owner repainted the interior floor with his top notch body guy, so scared to see what they covered up inside the tub.

Once I get into it, if the seams are rusty, game over for this tub. The damage I found so far is not insurmountable, but if the whole tub has widespread damage it is not worth repairing.

 

[TexasAg77]

Damn, Raymond.... So glad I got pics from my guy when old blue was redone... I can give you his name if you want!

 

[spankrjs]

Damn, Raymond.... So glad I got pics from my guy when old blue was redone... I can give you his name if you want!

Yep, your guy did a great job.

I saw people online bragging on the work the guy who painted this one does.

All I can say is buyer beware

 

[bigwalton]

Yep, your guy did a great job.

I saw people online bragging on the work the guy who painted this one does.

All I can say is buyer beware

To be fair, it's very possible that the PO didn't want to pay to fix it right, given it was a plow Jeep, and made the dude do that. It would have been nice if the painter declined altogether if it wasn't going to be done right, and it may simply be the body guy's fault, but you don't know that for sure.

 

[spankrjs]

To be fair, it's very possible that the PO didn't want to pay to fix it right, given it was a plow Jeep, and made the dude do that. It would have been nice if the painter declined altogether if it wasn't going to be done right, and it may simply be the body guy's fault, but you don't know that for sure.

It wasn't the original owner who did this work, it was the "flipper" I bought it from.

 

[spankrjs]

Piddled with this one a bit more on Saturday. Since I previously dropped the gas tank decided to clean up those parts.

Used the following items to clean the original 20 gallon tank rubber mat pieces.



Nothing was a miracle worker, took a bunch of scrubbing and picking out all the little pieces of rusty metal out of the rubber with the small sharp pick pictured above. No before picture, forgot, but the mat pieces were pretty rust stained. Came out pretty good.

Took the sending unit and hoses off the tank. Quick before reference picture.

The fuel gauge was the only gauge not working in the Jeep. Someone replaced the sending unit in the past judging by the hose clamps on the supply/return rubber hoses.

First surprise, crappy float, maybe the cause for the fuel gauge that always reads "E". The floats that look like this will typically crack, fill with fuel, cause the float arm to rest on the bottom of the tank and the gauge read "E". I'll test this float and see what's up with it.

Second surprise, pick up sock/filter fell off the pick up tube. Not sure how I was able to run all the fuel out this Jeep, maybe the sock fell off after I removed the tank???

The "scale" part of this sending unit still looks pretty good, maybe the float was the issue?


Spent some time cleaning up the plastic tank, cleaned up really well. Will post up a finished picture later. A few pictures of some random factory markings on the tank.

 

[spankrjs]

While I was cleaning the other fuel tank components I sprayed some of this stuff on the metal skid plate.



This skid plate is still surprisingly solid, just some surface rust inside. I still plan on stripping all the paint off of it and sanding all the rust off, but figured what the hell.

Not really a miracle worker, but did remove some of the rust.



Like I said, amazingly the OEM thin metal skid plate is still in great shape, especially considering the rest of the bottom of this Jeep.

This little side wing thing is the only part of the skid plate that has some rust damage. I'm not even sure what this thing is supposed to do? I was just happy I was able to heat up the two nuts with a torch and remove this part without breaking the little studs off!!!



Finished up by removing all the hood hinge bolts, running a tap through all the threaded holes, replacing all the hardware with stainless coated in anti sieze.



Will probably clean up and repaint the fuel tank skid plate next, at least that whole assembly will be completed. Might take off some more undercarriage parts I plan on reusing and refurbishing them before I take the whole Jeep apart. Just kind of exploring still..........

That's it for now.

 

[spankrjs]

Worked on the fuel tank skid plate this afternoon. Wasted my money on two cans of this crap, did not work at all. Maybe took the shine off the paint, that's about it.



Picked up a quart of this stuff, much better.



You can no longer buy the "kill you dead instantly" paint stripper that works due to "big brother". I will say that this stuff works as well as the old stuff. I would NOT use this indoors, wear gloves and glasses, and if trying to do a large area at one time, a respirator. This stuff will take your breath away.

I dumped some out on this side, spread it around with a plastic scraper (paint brush works better), then covered it with plastic wrap.



Let it sit 40 minutes, voila, not too shabby.



Paint stripper will not remove rust, but it did remove about 70% of the paint with just one application.









Paint stripper is a messy process. I scraped and wiped up most of the paint/stripper, but you still make a mess. Kind of slow, and that one quart that I used was like $25. But, it did remove most of the paint. I will wire wheel the rest of the paint off when I hit the remaining rust. Sand blasting would have been the way to go on this piece due to paint AND rust. Washed the skid plate out with Dawn and a scouring pad twice to get all the stripper/gummy paint off.