It had been a while since the tub was out in the real world, so I decided to take it for a little treat, my favorite strip club!
OK, OK. It's not that kind of strip club. But this is where my tub will spend the week, being abrasive blasted, and coated with 2 part epoxy primer. The whole process is very involved and detailed but in the end the tub should be super clean and protected from rust (my sworn enemy!)
After taking the full tour I tucked the tub neatly away, whispered to it that I promised I would come back for it one day, and then headed back to deal with the frame.
Goodbye Tub!
Once back at the house, I had to begin prep for the POR-15 system (I will go into that with more detail in a bit). The first order of business was to grind off these hideous brackets the PO had welded on the rear end.
WTF?
After a bit with a grinder and a cutoff saw they looked a little better:
And a bit more grinding they started to look acceptable:
Much better.
Next step was to yank the Motor, Transmission, Transfer case, Steering, Axles, and anything else bolted to the frame.
After all this I pretty much ran out of steam so here is how it sat after Saturday:
Sunday Sunday Sunday! Sunday was the day that I had decided to do the POR-15 application. In short, POR-15 is a super high tech amazing coating brought back from the future that gets painted directly onto bare metal and stops rust... apparently forever. The pros to its application are that it creates a protective layer that adheres directly to the metal, and will stop any rust that may be trapped underneath. It does this by using moisture to cure instead of having an additive that evaporates. This eliminates the microscopic pores that appear when standard paint dries and the evaporation occurs, leaving a solid layer protecting us from the elements and asteroids. The cons to this application, in my case, were the steps to prep the metal. Lets jump right in and see if I can make 10 hours feel like 2 minutes.
First I had to get the frame to a place where I could work on it:
Let me tell you, Jeeps are small but pulling the frame off the axles and carrying it across the driveway by yourself is no easy task. I got it where it was headed without dragging or dropping it, and without a hernia, so I was happy. Once I had it in a sturdy position it was time for the wire wheel.
How much wire wheel? Well I went over every square inch of this frame removing old paint, grease, dirt, rust, serial numbers, evidence, and whatever else a frame sees in 36 years of service. It took me about 3-4 hours non-stop, 3 wire wheels, carpel tunnel syndrome, and several dozen holes in my abdomen. For those of you who don't know, when a wire wheel wears out it begins to lose its wires. Wires that are attached to the head of an angle grinder spinning at 10,000 rpm. This essentially makes little wire projectiles that shoot off hurling towards, in this case, my stomach and legs. Just to give you an idea, I had one stick in my quad that through my jeans still got over 1/8 inch penetration. I guess this is the poor mans acupuncture, although I bet real acupuncture needles are a tad cleaner.
Back to the frame. The wire wheels were able to get off most if not all of the old paint so I was happy about that, and my last wheel fell apart just as I finished so I didn't have to go get more which I was worried about because it would cost me time.
Next I sprayed the frame down with engine degreaser and pressured washed it off.
Then I sprayed it down with oven cleaner and pressure washed it off.
Then came the next step in the POR-15 process, Marine Clean:
I mixed the Marine Clean 1:1 in an emptied 409 bottle and wet down the entire frame. Marine clean is supposed to be a degreaser that leaves behind no residue so the bare metal will better receive the POR-15. After this soak and wash, the frame started to look really good!
Factory heat marks, and PO booger welds:
That brings us to the next step, Metal Ready.
Hey that's not green! Metal ready is a mixture of hydrochloric acid and zinc that is supposed to etch and galvanize the bare metal in one application. Once again, wet down the entire frame (did i mention that each step involves flipping the frame over to insure complete coverage?) and pressure wash it off. During this whole process I got a good laugh at all the people walking by. They would see me in my face shield and respirator and get looks on their faces where you could almost see them think through the whole process; "What is he wearing? Why does he have on that respirator? Is he doing something dangerous? Wait, am I in danger? Is he doing something that will hurt me? I have to get out of here!" At which point they would scurry off with a worried look. HA! I'm lucky no one called the EPA. Luckily all of the chemicals mentioned were completely contained and disposed of according to state and local regulations.
Now I moved my frame into the back yard where it sat for its final step, POR-15! I could bore you more with the application process but lets be honest, everyone is just looking at the at the pictures anyway so here you go;
Before:
After:
This stuff looks so sweet!
So that pretty much marks the end of the tear down phase of this jeep. Now that the frame is armored, I can start bolting everything back up! I would love to say that I am halfway but I can assure you it is a lot easier to tear things apart than to put them back together in working order. I have ordered a bunch of parts and am now completely broke so that should help slow the process down as well.
Next up, axles:
