SG Mason

I managed to get most of the drivers side 6X2 welded in today, but I ran out of gas and being a long weekend up here I now will have to wait till Tuesday to buy more gas. I also need to pick up some .024 wire so I can have a chance of welding in the drivers side quarter panel without burning through it.

SG Mason

A little update, I have both 6X2 rockers welded in, both rear inner fender wells are patched and sealed, both floor extensions are rebuilt, and both quarter panels are welded in. I even found the source of the leak into the passenger side fish bowl, it is coming in through the grommet that the tail light hooks into. Not sure if just putting the tail light back in will fix it, so I am going to hit it with some silicon before I start the reassembly. I also am going to put a 1" drain hole on each fish bowl so I can just pull a plug from time to time to drain them if I don't get everything fully sealed.

No pictures of the work because most of it was done under a 15'x20' tarp during rain storms. I tried taking some pictures, but with the poor lighting everything looked crappy and if I used the flash there was too much glare and the pictures were still crappy. My camera is good enough that I could probably adjust the settings to get good pictures in any lighting, but by the time I figured it out all the work would be done any how

I just got home from picking up some bondo to smooth out the welded seams on the quarter panels and some rollers so I can paint the floors with some POR 15. With any luck I will have the interior back in by late Sunday, early Monday depending on how damp the weather is. If it is too damp I will have to wait to apply the POR 15 because it will top cure cause problems.

SG Mason

Well I managed to get the Jeep cleaned out vacuumed and prepped for the first coat of POR 15. I got 3/4 of the first coat on the cargo area floor before it started to rain. I finished up that section and closed everything up till the next open window in the weather comes around. The weatherman says Sunday, but he has lied to me more than once before.

The gloss black floor panels do look nice, too bad I am putting the carpet back over them

Brandonrcm

Sounds like you've got alot done! Still better then me at the pictures thing though, I won't do a build thread because I'll take a picture of what I did 2 weeks later and be like **** I have no during pictures

SG Mason

I do the same thing, but I work slow enough I can get pictures of what I did the week before

I am going to have to pick up the pace, winter is knocking at the door here. I just looked at the forecast and the minute cast is saying snow this afternoon It is too early for snow here, but it is getting colder and we have been hit with a crap load of rain.

So far today I got the rear carpet and trim pieces installed. I went to pull the front carpet out of the garage to warm up in the driveway and it clouded over and started to rain It looks like it is clearing up again so I am going to have to get the carpet in cold, should be fun.

SG Mason

My day is done, hands and elbows are now useless I did manage to get a bit more done, front carpet is laid out inside the Jeep, and the rear seat is installed. I also got the console in place, just not screwed down. I really need to clean the front carpet, it is a lot more dirty than I remembered it to be that is why I haven't screwed down the console or installed the front seats.

Oh how I long for the hot dry days of summer. I could have just spread the front carpet out on the driveway and cleaned it with a stiff brush and the pressure washer in the morning and it would have been bone dry by mid afternoon. Guess I should have worked faster than I did

SG Mason

Long time with no updates, but there has been a lot of rain falling here and that kind of puts a damper on working in the driveway

I got the bondo work done, or as done and my skills will allow, have both 6x2 rockers welded in and bed lined, purchased everything I need to finish up other than the color match paint for the quarters and the rear brake hard line.

Yesterday I started working on dropping the transmission so I can finally change that cracked flexplate. I didn't get far before getting rained out, but we did get the transmission lines disconnected, the cross member is loosened off, as are the rear drive shaft bolts. The exhaust is out, but I snapped one of the studs/bolts between the collector and down pipe flanges I am going to work on getting that out once I get the transmission out. I hope i can do it without having to remove the exhaust manifold.

Normally I would set up my big 15X20 tarp over the Jeep and keep working through the rain, but the winds have been coming up, and the tarp is in use covering a trailer full of gravel. The trailer is near capacity with the weight of the gravel so we are trying to keep it dry till we get it unloaded.

I have a lot on my plate this week, finish the transmission, do the brakes, install the new Rock Krawler HD tie rod, and unload 5+ yards of gravel by hand so I can put the jeep on the trailer to bring the Jeep in for a safety check.

All the gravel is for a concrete pad to build a storage shed on. We use to have a shed in the same spot, but it just had a wood platform and that ended up rotting away over the years and the shed fell in when we tried to fix it. This time the new shed should last longer than the house.

OK time to finish this coffee, change into work clothes, crawl under the Jeep, and get to work before the rain hits again.

Calling for sunshine tomorrow, so I might be able to get some pictures.

SG Mason

Today came to a crashing halt and not due to rain either. I started disconnecting wires and linkages on the TC and transmission, The TC linkage took a while just because on where the nut is and the fact that I couldn't find the right size extension for the ratchet. When I finally got that one off I moved to the transmission cable and manual valve shaft. Put the wrench on it and a 1/4" wrench on the flats of the shaft, put a little force on the nut and the thread section of the shaft snapped off

I had planned on dropping the transmission pan and replacing the filter once i got the flex plate replaced and the transmission back in, even have the gasket and filter on hand, but now I have to source a new shaft and drop the valve body to fix it

I was so disgusted with myself that I just packed up my tools and went back in the house. I still have a lot of work to do and an even shorter period to do the work, but I will plow through it even if I am a few day past my self imposed deadline

SG Mason

Well it turns out that the manual shift valve shaft is no longer available or so the dealership and every parts shop I called or went to told me. I did find a complete transmission at a JY about an hour away from me so I tore off and picked it up this morning. Then primed and painted my quarter panels. Boy is my body work a lot worse than I thought I block sanded and thought I had it good. I couldn't see and significant flaws, but once I got the third coat of color match paint on I could see how bad it really was. I guess that my block was too small and too soft to show the dips and waves. I am going to leave it for now just because of time constraints and will try fix it up in the spring. I had extra paint mixed up just in case I ran into problems or needed to touch up some other places so I am good there. Right now it is all about getting it road legal, not looking perfect.

Tomorrow I am going to do my best to get the old transmission out and be ready to put the new one in on Wednesday. I will need to find some extra hands to help me get the new transmission out of the back of the Stealth and on to the transmission jack first though. The replacement transmission came with a torque converter, fittings, and sensors still on it and was from a 19989 Sport as well so it should just be a plug and play deal. I am going to strip as many of the salvageable parts off the old transmission so I have spares if needed.

SG Mason

It is 8:20 and 46°F here and they are calling for rain this morning and early afternoon, but warming up in the afternoon. I just finished putting up the 15'x20' tarp so i will be able to work under the Jeep with my feet hanging out and not getting them when when it does start to rain. I run it from the opening if the garage door, over the jeep, then tie it down so the rain runs to the front and sides.

Today's goal is to pull out the transmission and transfer case, do a little grinding on a couple welds I don't like the look of, and if the sun does come out after that, try get the broken stud out of the lower manifold flange.

Time to make some coffee and go drain the TC so I can pull it first.

SG Mason

I finally got the transmission out, started last Saturday and got rained out. On Sunday I broke the threaded end off the manual shift valve shaft. The part is no longer available so I started a search for a new transmission and found one at a JY an hour way. Went and picked that up on Monday, then I managed to round out one of the E12 bolts and that took a couple days to get out, only to find out that I was still 8" too low to be able to pull the transmission out from under the Jeep and the only jack I had was under the transmission. This morning I got my hands on another jack and made some 10.5"x10.5"x10.5" platforms from 2x4s for the jack stands and got the the transmission out from under the Jeep today. I have now pulled the offending flexplate, the cracks are not visible with no bolts in it, but the holes are definitely ovals from being loose and there is a score line on the aluminum plate that sits between the transmission and engine.

The new flexplate is on, but only finger tight. I just came in to check torque specs and have a quick bite to eat before heading out to loctite and torque it to the engine. then I am going to take a break for working on the Jeep and get some yard work done till this evening when my brother comes by to help me get the old transmission off the jack and the replacement transmission out of the back of my Stealth and the on the jack.

Then the real challenge begins, getting the new transmission up and in place and remembering where all the nuts and bolts go. This one has taken too long and things have gotten mixed up and moved around while trying to sort out problems

SG Mason

I have been a busy camper that last little bit. The transmission is in and everything is connected. It was a long haul doing it more less by myself, and I learned a very important lesson. Make sure you line up the torque converter so that the holes are accessible once the transmission it bolted in place I didn't think of this till I already had all the bolts back in and torqued to spec. I was lucky enough that I could pry up the aluminum plate enough to get one bolt in finger tight and rotate everything back around to where it should have been. I have only added 3L of fluid so far because I haven't started it yet or cycled the transmission. I do have another 5L on hand so I should have enough to fill the transmission. I might have to go buy another litre just to be on the safe side. From start to finish changing the flex plate took over a week thanks to poor weather, my dead arms and hands, and breaking a part that is no longer available and turn the job into a transmission swap too. At least it is done now other than watching for leaks

I managed to get the tie rod changed over, but still need to measure things up to get the alignment as close as possible so I don't burn off my tires while driving to the garage I also pulled out the broken section of brake line so I can measure it and get some replacement line.

Tomorrow will be a parts day and if I have time I will install the drive shafts. Then it will be pulling the fenders so I can patch them, and getting to work on putting the exhaust in and doing the rest of the brake job. the only thing that will be left of the old brakes will be the rear drums and front calipers. The shoes and drums are fairly new, but one of the wheel cylinders is leaking and killed the drivers side shoes. My solution is to replace both cylinders, and of course all four shoes since that is how they are sold. Oddly enough it looks like one of the POs put new pads on old worn discs. Don't know why someone would do that, its not like parts for these things are expensive.

I am getting a large pile of scrap metal and old parts building up in the backyard, I really need to finish this up before the pile gets any bigger and gets covered by snow No snow here yet, but i know it is coming faster than I would like. Heck I don't even have the snow blower ready for the winter yet

SG Mason

Today's update. Pulled the fenders, it looks like they will be an easy patch job. Well besides making a new bracket on the drivers side. Wen will people learn that filling a rusted through hole with bondo will not fix the problem?

Managed to get the tail pipe off the old muffler, all it took was 5 cuts with the angle grinder First two were to cut off the extremely rusted clamp, then I cut the exit pipe off the muffler, followed by a couple of cuts to split that from the tail pipe. The tail pipe was new so they must have used an old clamp for it to be that rusted and not the tail pipe. They had also failed to use the tail pipe hanger, or even put one on. That was hung with a piece of coat hanger. I on the other hand had no problem buying one and installing it. I do need one more clamp to hold the tail pipe to the hanger though. For now I just reused the piece of coat hanger.

My final act for the day was to put the drive shafts back in, unfortunately my torque wrench is too big for the job. It is a 1/2" drive really long one and its lowest setting it 20ft/lbs. So not only is it too big to get into where it needs, lets be honest who has ever seen a 1/2" drive 8mm socket, it lowest setting is too high for the job. I am going to have to borrow my brothers smaller torque wrench and get a "feel" for the proper setting then try do it with a regular box end wrench. I am a huge believer in proper torque specs, fewer broken and loosening bolts, but sometimes bolts and nuts are in spots that you just can't get a torque wrench on. My Stealth was the same way when I did the timing belt with the engine in the car. A couple of the bolts you couldn't even get to with a crows foot.

Right now the forecast looks good for the morning so I am going to torque what I can reach with what I have then get setup to start patching the fenders so they are ready to go back on first break i get in the weather. It shouldn't take too long to get them on once they are ready, it took less than an hour to get them off and that was with a couple of broken quick nuts.

SG Mason

Not much to update, been chasing little things. Got the fenders done and installed again. I have been chasing a P1694 code for the last few days. I have checked, cleaned, and replaced all the under hood grounds. Blew a power steering line and replaced that, and now have a transmission line that is drooling into a drain pan. It is the return line that is leaking just below the electric fan. It is a little rusty there and chances are that in the fight with the power steering line that I moved it just enough to rupture it I am just going to cut out the bad section, flare the ends and replace it with some rubber hose for now.

Right now I am 14 days past my self imposed deadline and am down to just a few more things to do. Depending on how long it takes to fix the transmission line I should get most of it done today.

One of the hold ups it the battery. I figured I could just grab the battery out of my Stealth since it is parked for the winter. Believe it or not the battery is too tall by a couple inches I still have to put the rear bumper back on. I wanted to make a new one, but I ran out of time so I will have to use the factory one for a bit. In about 30 minutes I will be heading out to reconnect the tail lights, I forgot to do that when i put the interior back together and it keeps slipping my mind because I am chasing the other demons.

I have my fingers crossed that I will be ready for the safety check by Monday. I really hope I finish earlier though because the weather is getting colder and snow is in the forecast this weekend

SG Mason

Well it looks like I need a new TCM as all my readings aside from the stop lamp switch check out, but the brake lights work so I was probably just the method I used to take the readings.

I also found a nice crack in my exhaust manifold. Not sure if I will be able to weld it or not. I ma in the midst of pulling the manifolds so I can get a better look at the crack. Let me tell you pulling the manifolds in sub freezing weather is not a fun thing to do, but I need to take the exhaust manifold off no matter what. If I can weld it, it has to be out and if it needs to be replaced it still needs to come out.

One thing that confuses me, why is it that the colder and windier it is do you have to bend over all that much more and you need to work bare handed more often Thankfully I am only about 10 feet from the house so when my hands get too cold I just come in and have a coffee. I figure by the time I am done, if everything goes well, I will have enough caffeine in me to run a 2 minute mile up a greased hill