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Sunny Delight - now Shelly 2.0

After much back and forth I decided to keep the Jeep "simple". I wanted to pop the hood and see a somewhat period correct set-up under the hood. I also wanted to stay away from computers and additional wiring / sensors. I have enough headaches with recalls and such on my 3 modern Jeeps.

Novak Conversions is putting together a turn-key package for me that will have a BluePrint 350c.i. / 390 hp with a Holley Sniper 2 kit on it. It will be backed by a 700R4 trans and twin stick D300. These packages come with everything needed such as a radiator, electric fan, fuel pump, etc.. The engine will have been ran on a dyno and broken in before shipping.

I also decided to add A/C so a Jeep Air heat/ac combo unit was ordered. This will replace all the factory assembly behind the dash.

SpeedHut gauges arrived yesterday along with a Painless harness.

The drivetrain will take 6-8 weeks to arrive so I will continue with assembly of what makes sense to get done now / not be in the way later.
 
With moving almost 5 hrs away from all my contacts I had to source a windshield installer. Found a place that will come to the house and claim to be classic car friendly. They are to arrive today at 9am

Funny thing to note - and I found this to be true back in the Charlotte area as well - most installers will not install a windshield if the frame isn’t attached to the tub. Any time I questioned I was told “policy” with no real explanation.

The guy coming today loves the idea of just using a table to lay the frame flat on. This is the way my glass guy did all my windshields back in Charlotte and proved to be very effective.

I’ll post results later today
 
Not exactly sure. Glass guy said seal came with the glass. He also said this brand is used under so many other names

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AdamH said:
After much back and forth I decided to keep the Jeep "simple". I wanted to pop the hood and see a somewhat period correct set-up under the hood. I also wanted to stay away from computers and additional wiring / sensors. I have enough headaches with recalls and such on my 3 modern Jeeps.

Novak Conversions is putting together a turn-key package for me that will have a BluePrint 350c.i. / 390 hp with a Holley Sniper 2 kit on it. It will be backed by a 700R4 trans and twin stick D300. These packages come with everything needed such as a radiator, electric fan, fuel pump, etc.. The engine will have been ran on a dyno and broken in before shipping.

I also decided to add A/C so a Jeep Air heat/ac combo unit was ordered. This will replace all the factory assembly behind the dash.

SpeedHut gauges arrived yesterday along with a Painless harness.

The drivetrain will take 6-8 weeks to arrive so I will continue with assembly of what makes sense to get done now / not be in the way later.
Click to expand...
:popcorn:
 
Today was one of those days…. I accomplished things but at a much slower pace than expected.

Had a few hours by myself so decided to get the tailgate installed as well as the tire carrier. Simple enough right?!? The Jeep gods decided to laugh at me.

What’s missing from these pictures?

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If you said “the welded nuts for the latches!” Go get yourself a beer from your fridge on me
 
I just stared for WAY too long at the tailgate wondering what the hell happened. I reached out to my body guy (who’s on vacation I might add) asking if there’s a chance they just got covered up by a skim coat of filler and they are still there. If that’s the case no worries. Easy to handle.

While I waited for a response I reached out to @rubclt asking for help. He obliged and provided measurements for where those threaded holes are supposed to be. Thanks!

Time to take a tiny drill bit and see what I find.

I found metal. Hard metal. The kind of metal from where a hole is filled in with weld.

Insert a cold beer from my fridge HERE
 
At this point all I could do was remember the saying “onward and upward “

I started drilling. SO MUCH FUN on new paint I might add.

Installed some nutserts. It worked and no one’s the wiser. Y’all are all sworn to secrecy now. lol
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Tire carrier and tailgate are installed. I still need to add the carrier rubber bumpers as well as the tailgate seal since I’m running a full soft top but it’s in there.

To note; in the pics you can see I had a tailgate seal installed. It is WAY harder than any other one I have used in the past and doesn’t allow the tailgate to close even remotely close. It was a leftover from my shop so it is probably a Crown seal. I’ll see if I can order a Fairchild and go from there. Man do I love the Fairchild stuff.

The tire carrier bumpers. So they are now discontinued. I called dealerships, on-line parts stores - nothing. You need 4 and I had 1. I was able to find the 3 I need from 3 different sellers on E-Bay. Hope what shows up is correct. Each seller had 1 left in stock.

Update: heard from my paint and body guy. He said they shouldn’t have been welded up but who knows. The guy who did the welding work retired after finishing my Jeep. Oh well. Nothing could have been done at this point anyway


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One last thing for today. I’ve built Jeeps in tiny garages before / did lots of work outside. At my last house I had a huge garage plus the time that I owned my shop. Living in this rental has taken me back to the good ‘ol days of not near enough room. Man I can’t wait for the new house and large garage. Seems I spend more time making room for activities than actual work! But one thing I keep myself honest on is that at the close of the door the Scrambler, my Harley, and my wife’s JL are tucked away inside. In a way it’s actually soothing accomplishing the clean up after a long day.

Where’s my next beer???….
 
I see the bed mat rolled up, best to put that in jeep to lay stuff on …
 
rubclt said:
I see the bed mat rolled up, best to put that in jeep to lay stuff on …
Click to expand...
You read my mind. I honestly forgot about it until I wondered what was in the green tote below. Will “install” the mat tomorrow. That shouldn’t require drill bits! lol
 
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