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Taking body off of Bessie

valkster

valkster

Legacy Registered User
City
Greeneville
State
TN
I am making this post first to start a thread of a restore/repaint of my 'Bessie' and also to figure out how to post images within my text. My 8 is in pretty good shape but some surface rust is showing and the bed needs even more attention. I plan to clean the bed and apply a 2-part bedliner and also apply it to the cab area and the underside of the tub once it is removed. Any help or insight would be appreciated.

Before:
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Now:
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Sincerely,
 
I also have an A/C unit to install (none installed now), plan to install a tach and clock (none installed now), upgrade the sound system, do a booster brake upgrade (manual brakes now), repaint frame, replace all worn brake components, replace all suspension bushings and generally tidy-up the wiring harness mess under the hood. While doing this I am hoping to keep the relitive stock view of 'Bessie' entact. I am keeping the stock carter barb and have already replaced the pulse-air OEM stuff. She runs great with it, by the way. Anyway, I am getting far ahead of myself but I have my Jeep since the mid 90's and am looking forward to getting her looking better than ever. I will post progress over the winter as things develop. Oh, my wife got me the wooden side rail kit from here a few years ago and if Santa is nice, I hope to get a divided rear window kit for the half-top.

Sincerely,
 
Congrats on the start-up of a good project. I can't wait to see the results Keep us posted. Glad to see another N.E. Tenn scrambler.
 
taking body off of Bessie

Thanks, Jeepdad. It is nice to know someone on the forum is so close to home...maybe we will meet someday? I know a handlful of folks from Kingsport that are in the homebrewers club I am in. We all gather in Jonesborough at a local micro brewery once a month for beer making and sampling. If you are into such things you should drop by sometime...like this forum, a great bunch of people talking about a similar interest.
Anyway, I do not see many Scramblers around here, do you? There are two others that I know of here in Greeneville. One is really rough and I see drving around from time to time. The other has been sitting next to a guys house for a few years. It looks great from a distance but never seen it up close or driven around. I'd stop and ask about it but with 2 Spitfires, a Scrambler and a '67 T-bird I think my wife would object. Ha-ha.

Sincerely,
 
Yeah I've saw three others around here. One of them is the one I saw that made me curious as to which jeep it was.
It was after the unlimited had been out about a year. and I had owned my tj for a couple years and knew it wasn't one. I knew it was a "different" jeep and had to find out more about it. So after driving by it on my way to work for a few months (it was parked behind a house):D I stopped and asked if it was for sale the lady laughed, called for the owner to come to the door. It wasn't for sale, :banghead: but started my hunt. Finally found mine in Indiana
BTW I can't see your pics only squares w/red x's
 
taking body off of Bessie

Thanks, jeepdad, for the heads-up about the pictures not coming through. I will try it again. If it doesn't work, please let me know. I want to figure it out.

Before:
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Now:
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Sincerely,
 
Help educate me on fuel return/vent

Hey, all. I have just about everything removed to allow me to remove the tub on my Jeep except the fuel related items. Even the factory manual is a little fuzzy on the components for the fuel tank that are located on the driver side rear corner (where the tail light mounts). Below is a picture of what I have. Can someone educate me on what the two items are and are all three lines that I need to connect vapor lines or do any have fluid in them? I did not drain my tank and was not sure on the best approach to do so. Can I disconnect these three lines as-is or should I drain the tank first?

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Sincerely,
 
The larger plastic item is a vent. There's a float in the bowl. The smaller metal item is the elusive rollover valve (I could never find a replacement for mine). There will probably be fuel in all 3 lines, but no problem disconnecting them since they're coming from the top of the tank.
Not sure if the vent bowl is needed for vehicle to run.
 
taking body off of Bessie

Thanks, RandyLL. I've been out of town and just got your post. Those three lines, and the few on the filler side are all that are keeping the body from coming off, unless I have missed something. Maybe this weekend I can pull it.

Sincerely,
 
If I understand them correctly, they all have to do with the carbon canister under the hood. Basically, the plastic part prevents actual liquid gasoline from entering the carbon canister and the metal part closes the line in the event of a roll-over. So, if you plan on keeping the carbon canister, I would retain these as well. If you plan on eliminating the carbon canister, you will need to get a "vented" gas cap...
 
I guess I didn't answer your question...

These lines are for gasoline vapors. They should only have vapors in them... That being said, you will notice there are 2-lines entering the bottom of the plastic float. One is the vent line the other is a drain (that allows any liquid to drain back into the tank). So, it is possible that the float or one of those bottom lines could have liquid gasoline in them.

Out of the top of the plastic float is a line that enters the roll-over check valve. Basically, this line should only have vapor in it. Again, from the roll-over check valve to the carbon canister should only have vapor.
 
taking body off of Bessie

Just an update. Thanks for the fuel line answers, I got them all loose last week. I am down to the frame now, found a little rust pitting in the left rear of the frame but nothing serious. I have gutted the doors, winshield assembly and front cowl. I did find stress cracks in both doors where the vent window assembly installs. Is this normal? I have a 110V Lincoln welder that I used to repair the cracks and it came out great (low amps and feed with mixed gas). After some light sanding disk work they are ready for a skim coat of filler and will look like new. The windshield frame is even more rusted than originally thought. I have not gotten any replies on the quality and authenticity of aftermarket frames so I will check ebay for a good used one. I am going back with the original paint (solid color, light brown) and will probably use a PPG Concept single-stage paint with a little clear coat mixed in the last coat. I had thought about a base coat/clear coat paint but for this color I do not see what benifit it will yield? I am currently finishing up a Triumph with a pearl-type Dodge Viper blue paint and I can see where the base coat makes a difference. Any insight on any of these topics would be welcomed.

Sincerely,
 
The door cracks are totally normal. There a long post detailing how to fix those cracks. They'll come right back if don't reinforce them from the inside.
 
taking body off of Bessie

Thanks, John. I didn't search that topic beforehand, just fixed it as I found it. One of the threads showed inserting a steel angle and plug welding into place. This is what I will do, simple but should stiffen the area greatly. Thanks for the help!

Sincerely,
 
Hey, another brief update. Here is 'Bessie' with body off. Tonight I worked on reinforcing the doors to prevent future cracks at the vent window area and took the final bits and pieces off the tub. Hopefully, in the next weekend or two I will rent an industrial sandblaster and bring the bed and other large rust areas to bare metal. Can anyone tell me why the front rollbar mounts in the bed have a drain hole in the center? What I mean is that there is a 4-bolt pattern for the roll bar with a filleted hole in the center of them. It seems to be for drainage but both of mine have bad rust in that area. The rear rollbar mounts do not have these drain holes on mine and do not have the excessive rust. I will have to weld a patch into the rusted areas and I want to know if the drain is really needed or not. Thanks for any insight.

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Sincerely,
 
nice progress!
I may pick your brain this Spring/Summer as I come up against some issues you covered which I'm unsure of
 
I'd be more than happy to help if I can. I do not have a great short-term memory so I am taking 100's of photos as I go so I can put her back together. Hopefully I can help when you are going through this...by the way, so far it has been a pretty easy tear-down. Rust has been to only thing slowing me down from time to time. These things are really built "form follows function", making it very intuitive to work on. I have had a few no-brainers along the way that stumped me on what to do next, mind you, but the group here has talked me through those issues. Good luck with it. Hopefully by end of winter I will be driving again.

Sincerely,
 
By the way, this is my third auto tear-down. My first was when I was a teenager (a '70 Beetle). My Dad had to finish putting it back together...one of those things you look back on with embarassment. My second project was/is a Triumph Spitfire I took apart in 2002. It is finally coming together and we will do the final paint within the next few weeks. It was a complete "frame-off and beyond" and I made tons of mistakes. Hopefully, by this time my Jeep semi-restore will benefit from at least some experience.
I say this to make a suggestion...invest in several boxes of generic ziploc bags (quart and gallon sizes). Every item you remove, put in a dedicated bag with its fasteners and mark the bag of its contents with a Sharpie marker. If the item itself won't fit, then put just its fasteners in the bag and mark what item they went to. Also, take tons of digital pictures. They don't cost anything if you don't print them and it will make a huge difference a few months/years after the fact when it comes time to reassemble. Finally, if you run into anything unexpected like broken/missing fasteners or simply a part that could use some TLC or replacement, then write it down in a notebook. It might sound silly but it helps and only takes a moment of time while going through the tear-down. FYI, just a suggestion.;)

Sincerely,
 
This is a bit off-topic but a legitimate progress report (ha-ha). I have not done much to Bessie this past week other than strip a used tailgate I bought. A friend of mine is helping me with some of the body work and paint. I had a prior commitment to finish before jumping into the painting of my Jeep. I wanted to post that my 7-year restoration of a Triumph is a little closer to completion. After 6 years it is all one color again! I post this for two reasons, one out of pure excitement and one out of showing a nice color for anyone looking to change colors on their Jeep. The photos do not do it justice but I picked a PPG Deltron base coat-clear coat for my Spitfire. I chose a color change to 2000 (or maybe it was 2001) Dodge Viper Blue Pearl. The paint came out incredible for a workshop paint job. I have the color code if anyone wants it. In the photos it has not been wet sanded or buffed yet, just painted. We put the hood out in the sunlight when finished and the pearl had an almost iriredescent effect. Really nice. Anyway, we'll mount the hood and trunk lid, cover her carefully, push it aside and jump into the Jeep with both feet next week, hopefully. I don't want Bessie to turn into a long-term project like this one so time is of the essence.

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Sincerely,
 
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