THE JEEP PART 1

One of the main reasons I went out of town this weekend was to bring Mark to my sisters place so he could help rebuild a jeep they purchased to plow snow in the winter. The jeep needed a ton of metal work and fiberglassing which are things that Mark can do well and my brother in law J knows little about.

This is a picture of the jeep in it's tore down state. J spent a lot of time prepping the jeep getting it ready for Mark's arrival. Here he is grinding something on the front grill...

While I was out taking pictures and seeing the progress, of course Mark used the opportunity to teach me a little about metal work. This floor panel under the gas pedals was originally made for the passenger side. This meant that all the flanges on the end of the metal were facing the wrong way. They all had to be reversed.

He taught me how to straighten the metal and slow bend the metal back the other way. Once that was finished I had to use a ballpin hammer on it against a existing corner mold to get the sharp fold. My hands have blisters because of this and my forearms are killing me yet but I did it. I made it work for the jeep.

Cool huh?

Once I got that finished I guess Mark felt he had a little helper he could utilize. I suppose he did for a little while but it didn't last much longer - trust me - metal isn't my forte so to speak.

Anyway, I did help for a little while. This rear driver side quarter panel was attached by brazing the metal and welding the two pieces together. I had to quench the metal with a wet rag to make sure the metal didn't shrink while cooling off. To counter this problem, quenching the metal is the answer.

At least, this is how I understood it. All I know is that there was fricken fire coming out of that metal and I was afraid to put my rag over it while he was working. I mean, I could have gotten burnt or something.

I'm sensitive people. I am...