Sunny Delight - now Shelly 2.0

[AdamH]

Huge thanks to @Belizeit for selling me some original front hubs. I can now run the front center caps. I’ll probably keep the heavier duty hubs that I took off for now. We’ll see.

I also swapped the 4 shocks around. I’ve always mounted with the shaft up / body down on past builds but I’ve also never used Bilsteins on a CJ. After install I realized the stickers were upside down. That bugged me. Not so much aesthetically but why not provide the stickers and let installer stick them on? That sent me down a trail of reading. Essentially with these shocks they can be mounted up or down and of course everyone and their brother has an opinion. So I went directly to the Bilstein site where in the FAQ they state for performance and warranty purposes always install with stickers right side up. So I swapped them around.

 

[AdamH]

Bilstein doesn’t make a silver front steering stabilizer for a CJ. So I made one.

Rough Country stabilizer that came white. A little silver rattle can and a Bilstein sticker and now one exists!

Still waiting on the M.O.R.E. Heavy duty front steering linkage. I have a set from them but it’s for narrow track axles.

 

[AdamH]

Body work is progressing. Should all be in primer by the end of next week. After sandblast (or DA sanding) he epoxy coats the metal, fixes the bad spots, then primer / paint and what not

 

[AdamH]

Some additional pics

 

[AdamH]

Got my brake lines ran and installed Mountain Off-Road HD steering linkage this week. Pay no mind to the brake/hub assemblies on the front axles. I’ll restore / replace those closer to completion.

 

[AdamH]

Final parts headed to primer stage

 

[AdamH]

Forgot to mention the AGR steering box supported with the M.O.R.E. Bracket

 

[AdamH]

Here we go - time to make some changes to the plan.

It's funny how things snowball - and this is how I would describe the past few days. However I am happy in the new direction.

This all started last Wednesday when I decided to order the graphics so I would have them ready for when paint is done. We're still weeks away but I don't like to wait until the last minute. Phoenix Graphix has been known to be hit or miss on their colors at times but when I look at my history they have been right more than wrong. Therefore I ordered the yellow 1981 kit. When it arrived, let's just say I was less than impressed. The colors were way off as compared to my originals. Now I know this topic has been beaten to death, brought back alive just to be beaten some more 10 times over. "AMC used sub-par inks, last run decals versus first run, etc. etc. etc. "

Let's move on from that shall we? Let's just look at what I received:


This is nowhere close to the yellow kit that was originally on my Jeep and I could not in good conscience install them on an Autumn Gold Jeep! I had a lengthy discussion with Phoenix Graphix which included me submitting pics of my originals. The man in charge told me today "those are correct and no need to try other colors". NO other options were discussed. Even if somehow someway these are correct, I hated the colors. They were NOT going on my Jeep. I am returning them tomorrow.

Now - what to do? I called Mike over at Austin Jeeps whom I have also worked with in the past. What a great guy! Seriously folks, if you need something for our beloved Jeeps please check with him first. Unfortunately, I am one of the rare few who actually like the 81-early 82 hockey stick decal package. To be more clear - he said he's maybe sold 5 sets in 15 years. So few that he doesn't create them anymore.

I hung up with Mike and wondered how to move forward. To be continued....

 

[AdamH]

This is when I really started thinking about this build. Let's see, swapped out narrow tracks for wide tracks, re-gear plus rear Detroit, lift kit, 20-gallon tank, Novak LS conversion in the works, not going with the original nutmeg interior as it came (going to use black so it matches the full soft top better), A/C, custom gauges............

So in other words for the most part the only thing "1981" would be the lack of shoulder belts, 15x8s, and re-painting it Autumn Gold. This is about as far from a restoration as you can get aside from using a TDK frame! SOOOO I asked myself - Would I have ever purchased an Autumn Gold 1981 Scrambler assuming had I not been 4 yrs old at the time? LOL

The answer is a quick NO. It's not my favorite color. But you wanna know what is my favorite color on any vehicle? The color that out of over 60 vehicles I have ever owned only 3 have ever been?????

GREEN

To add to this the only Jeep I've ever owned that was green was our beach Jeep. A very cool 2007 JKU Sahara we affectionately named "Shelly" after the fact that Sea Turtles are my daughter's favorite animal on the planet. During COVID, as we all remember, used car prices went through the roof. We weren't using Shelly much at the time. My brother-in-law had a customer who was wanting a semi-built Jeep. He asked if I wanted to sell Shelly. I put a stupid high number on it. Guy didn't even blink and paid me. So she left the family. We've missed her since.


So here we are. I called Mike at Austin Jeeps and ordered the 83-84 decal package that would have come on a 1C Sherwood Green Metallic Scrambler. I called my paint guy. He hadn't ordered the paint yet. Told him to skip the Autumn Gold and order the Sherwood Green. I will keep the white 15x8s and stick with black interior.

There is a small part of me that hates "retiring" a short-run color like Autumn Gold but this is my Jeep and I want to love it like I have loved my past Jeeps. Green is the new Gold.

With our upcoming move back down to the coast as a full time gig it only seems fitting that we have a Shelly 2.0

Onward and Upward

 

[rubclt]

Shelly 2.0 sounds great

 

[Interceptor]

I'm a big fan of green also. My T/A Challenger is F8 green

 

[AdamH]

Add another step to making this thing “right” for us. Picking up a newer roll bar and half top from @rubclt to be able to add shoulder belts.

 

[timo439]

This has always been one of my favorite color/strip combos.

 

[AdamH]

This has always been one of my favorite color/strip combos. View attachment 121465

That looks great as well but I’m gonna go with the Tri-yellow stripe package. For some reason having black interior and black tops and white wheels the yellow package would look better in my mind

 

[wm69]

I have a Medium Green Metallic 5B CJ7 now. It could use a repaint, but it's a pretty color.

When I had my Dark Honey Metallic CJ7 back in the late 90's, I decided I wanted to paint it 3A Amond Beige to match Dad's Scrambler. Then I changed my mind and was going to paint it the metallic dark green on the 95ish YJ's.

Went to pick it up and it was tan!

The painter went to get paint at NAPA and I'd been in there looking at colors and told them I wanted the 3A. I never told them I changed my mind, and the painter was an old guy and didn't question the paint they gave him.

He offered to repaint it for free if I paid for the paint, but it looked nice so I kept it. It's still beige, and now I want to put it back to the original color and stripe combo.

Loden, Sherwood, and Medium Green Metallic all look awesome on a CJ.