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Good question. I figured I had some leeway considering I found three different layouts, so I chose the simplest option. I think it looks cleaner and yes, we did add the gauges to monitor the vitals. There are also idiot lights in the speedo cluster.

Glad you sold it. I hope you got what you wanted. It sure is a nice truck.

A 1988 FJ62. This one is coming from Texas and is super clean. I love working on clean trucks...!

Always top notch Stan. BTW- I got another one headed my way. Doing a Gen IV 5.3 with a 6l80 this time.

2.73? Wow! Gearing is completely subjective to the type of driving you do, but 2.73 is good for one thing only. Highway. Sounds like you're on a budget, but have you looked into a custom width new axle? They really aren't as expensive as you might think. You could also get a full width D44 and...

Thatnks. I really couldn't believe how thin the dash material actually is. It's about .040, which is somewhere between 19 and 20 ga. Finding a new replacement was impossible, but I did find a blank replacement, and I alomst bought it, but then saw that it was .120 thick steel...? Who the hell...

Choosing the dash between the three that I had was pretty arbitrary, but I wanted the simplest layout. This panel has the fewest factory cutouts (no switch indicator lights) and the two small gauges were on the left of the steering column, leaving the center of the panel free of clutter. I...

The last of the body work pics...before paint, that is. I mentioned the fender skirts needed to be scabbed onto the fenders as someone had cut them off. Well, getting the stamping wrinkles to line up was not easy, but I think not many people will notice. Even though the fenders were in...

I read about his Jeep last year in some magazine. I'm not surprised that it was his favorite vehicle. Just catching up? Me too. Finally, the body is off to the painter's. I finished the dash yesterday. On that note, I had three different "year correct" dash panels, and they all had different...

Cool! Another CJ build. Love to see the classic stuff.

One trick I use when making boxes or welding aluminum corners, bend a 90 degree flange on one of the sides. It may seem like a shortcut, but it adds strength which comes in handy while welding. Less distortion and warpage. It may seem like a hack shortcut, but if it's not visible, it won't...

Good point. I keep old 12 pack cardboard or other misc cardboard packaging for that purpose because I can't stomach the price of the chip board. Art supply stores usually have it in large enough sheets, but the cost is huge. Uline has it, but again, the cost is high...

I'm glad that it shows. Thanks.

Thanks for putting it into perspective. I have to remind myself from time to time that life could be worse. I get to build cool stuff for a living...

Thank you. Let's just hope it pays off. I would normally be embarrassed showing such a messy work space, but that pic shows what it takes to do body work. Five or six hammers, assorted dollys, pliers, crimpers, vise grips, channel locks, a dozen different clamps, saw horses, two stools in...

If you're really committed to finding him, you can always use a title service to track him down. I recently had my title service track down the Austin Healey I had as a kid, and I found it. Now I just have to talk the owner into selling it.

Apparently someone had cut the fender skirts for V8 headers at some point, which is odd, since the chassis had the original 232 straight 6. Some donor fenders had the correct skirts, and in pretty good shape. Cutting off the donors. Scribing the line. Admiring my work after closing up shop.

More pics. Some minor stitching was needed on the fender apron. Can't hardly see the repair. The seam here was badly misaligned, so I cut the welds and lined up the seam and spot welded it back together.

As mentioned, the hood, grill and one fender are done. During the teardown process in the beginning, I found that the motor was junk, the trans and t-case needed rebuilding, one of the diffs needed gears, couldn't source original power steering pump brackets, the list of problems was huge and...

This is exactly what I love about old Jeeps so much, everybody has a story. Some are even making new stories with their old Jeep. I grew up in MN and we had a cabin in northern Wisconsin. We never had a 4x4 there at the cabin. Years later, after our move to northern CA, we brought a Jeep back...