[grogie]

You're making nice progress!

[Danno6102]

Originally Posted by jeep2008

That Jeep looks very familiar.

[AlexGeorgakis]

Originally Posted by grogie

You're making nice progress!

Thanks. Not as fast as I would have like though. I'm expecting the drivetrain parts in a couple of weeks so that's when the build should really take off. In the meantime I want to finish whatever I can on the body.

[mafbowhntr]

Looking good

[uvalax236]

Looks great Alex! Keep up the good work.

[AlexGeorgakis]

Thanks for the support guys!
Last night I tack welded the front section of the cage. It has turned out "almost" straight. Need to make some minor adjustments before final welding. Tonight I should be finished with the cross pieces as well so I can start welding tomorrow.

[AlexGeorgakis]

Cage almost done. Tested the seats and cut the sound bar. I don't like the dash bar because it is making the Jeep's narrow windshield even narrower. Genright's new dash bar is angled downwards behind the gauge cluster. I'll do the same. Hopefully tomorrow I can figure out how to make brackets for the soft top's door surrounds.

[MGIMELLI]

Originally Posted by AlexGeorgakis

Cage almost done. Tested the seats and cut the sound bar. I don't like the dash bar because it is making the Jeep's narrow windshield even narrower. Genright's new dash bar is angled downwards behind the gauge cluster. I'll do the same. Hopefully tomorrow I can figure out how to make brackets for the soft top's door surrounds.

Looking good

[AlexGeorgakis]

Quick update but unfortunately no pictures:

1) Yesterday I received my ATI Performance adapter plate to mount the TH400 to the HEMI. It came with a crank adapter, flex plate and mounting hardware. Three words - PIECE OF JUNK! a) the flex plate's bolt circle does not match with the one on the crank adapter, b) the flex plate has too much clearance with the crank adapter, c) the flex plate's bolt pattern does not match with the one on the torque converter, d) one bolt hole on the adapter plate does not line up with the transmission, e) the flex plate looks used!!! I called up JEGS where I bought this junk from and they asked me to return it for a replacement! Yeah right!

2) Today I went by a machine shop to get the flex plate re-drilled and to make a new crank adapter that will fit tightly in the flex plate. I'm also having my new Terraflex hi-steer knuckle machined so I can mount my break caliper (Brembo)

3) I bought DOM tube so I can build my front steering system

4) I bought a whole bunch of nuts/bolts/washers for various parts of the build which I'll be posting in time.

5) I bought a new 200A MIG welder which I found on sale plus some other small tools. It set me back a pretty penny but it was worth the investment considering used welders were about 300$ cheaper. At least I have warranty.

6) Once my shopping spree was over I returned to my garage where I worked on my rear bumper and transmission. I'll add some pictures tomorrow.

[AlexGeorgakis]

Here's what I did to my rear bumper and hitch. Turned out quite nice. Since I don't have access to the rear of the bumper I welded a nut so that it can hold the bolt in place.

[AlexGeorgakis]

Next I tested and installed my 50" Rigid Industries light bar. Awesome!!! I used to mount my four roof lights on a Carr rot-a-bar. I didn't really like Rigid's flimsy mounts so I modified the Carr supports. Now the light bar sits lower and firmer on the windshield and gives AMAZING light. While I was pointing it out towards the street, a bus driver that was stopped at a traffic light around 30 yards away had to shield his eyes!!!

[AlexGeorgakis]

Of course not everything went well. All the bolts I purchased yesterday don't fit on the Atlas! Enter typical European complaint: Damn imperial system! When will you Americans upgrade to metric??? LOL The only bolts that worked well were the ones for the rear bumper and the ones for the steering knuckles. Oh, I drilled out the driver's side knuckle as well so I could get the ball joint mounted.

Tomorrow I'll be receiving my new MIG welder! I'll practice welding on the rear bumper plate. Plenty of horizontal, vertical and overhead welds there so that should get me accustomed to the new tool.

[AlexGeorgakis]

I forgot to mention that on Friday and Saturday I swapped out the Atlas 23 spline input shaft with a new 32 spline input shaft so it can match with the TH400. I followed BillaVista's article here: http://www.pirate4x4.com/tech/billav...as_input_swap/ There were some minor differences considering I have the new Atlas whereas he is describing the old version. I also cut the transmission's output shaft. It turned out pretty good.

[AlexGeorgakis]

Got my MIG welder today. I played around with some scrap metal first and then attempted to weld the roll cage. Obviously my first welds were blobs of metal but after a few minutes I got the hang of it. I grinded a couple of joints to check for porosity and penetration and it all turned out pretty good. Below are pictures of my first and last weld.
Funny story: as I was squatting to weld overhead a nice big blob found its way through my pants just barely missing critical areas. Naturally I jumped so the blob moved to the back of my pants. When I jumped I banged my head on the roll cage and squatted again, this time sitting on the hot blob! Now I have burn marks both on my thigh and on my butt!!! LOL

[AlexGeorgakis]

After a few days off due to work, I was back in the garage today. Assembled the drivetrain and set it on the frame. I then modified and welded the transmission and engine mounts. Some of my welds turned out pretty good but a couple of them are just nasty. It was 2:30am so I was too tired to work on them tonight. I'll continue tomorrow evening.