A reader just received a 1951 CJ-3A. Since the seats in it weren’t something he wanted, he asked what I had done for seats. I realized I hadn’t really covered the topic, so here’s what I did and why I did it.

As you probably know, my first jeep was built from an ex fiberglass racing jeep (oh where oh where did those pictures go). From that jeep I used the body, frame, roll cage and seats as the foundation for what became my first jeep (which I called the ‘great escape’). The fiberglass seats were mounted on a 2 1/2″ pipe that was welded to the frame. A hole was cut through the bottom of the body and the pipe stuck through the body (not only did the thickness of the body help keep the pipes from moving, but the pipes held the body in place — a nice synergistic effect). On the upper end of the pipe were threads. Onto those threads a square platform was screwed onto the pipe. The seats were screwed onto the platform. It’s a one size fit’s me approach that works for me and people of similar size. The back of the seats were then bolted to a plate that connected to a bar that was part of the rollcage. So, those seats did not move. They were solid, despite their thin profile.

Because the seats were already there and they seemed to fit me fine, I went ahead and used them as is. As I raced, drove it every day, and used it in the trails, the positioning of the seats was perfect. I felt secure and tight when I raced, I never got uncomfortable during long drives, my back never got sore, and there was enough padding for enduring the trails. For me, those were some of the most perfect driving seats I have ever used.

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Well, the best laid plans… While puzzling through the charging system, I decided I needed to pull off my alternator so I could determine exactly which kind of alternator I had (Delco 10SI 63 Amp — Determine your GM alternator).  As I pulled out the long bottom bolt upon which the alternator pivots, I discovered a problem: There wasn’t enough room to pull out the bolt.  Even after clipping a hole in my electric radiator framework, I still ran directly into the radiator (see the pic to the right).  Fortunately, I discovered can undo the radiator, shift it somewhat, and then can pull out the bolt far enough to let the alternator slip away.  So, at least I have a method, though elegant it isn’t!

Over the past couple of days I’ve continued to make progress.  I’ve got the headlights and taillights installed.  The headlights had an unexpected complication:  It turned out the modern 5 1/2″ bulb wouldn’t sit correctly into the 50 year old mount, so I had to encourage a better fit with my grinder.

NOTE:  One set of items I don’t seem to have are front turn signals.  I’d like to find a set of the cone turn signals that I believe were on a mid 60s Willys truck like these.  If you know of any, please let me know where I can find some.

With the lights attached, I started the wiring process.  My main goal is to make it as easy as possible to unattach the body for painting or repair purposes.  So, for example, after installing the taillights I ran a flexible tube along the body using some sheet metal screws so that all the rear lighting stayed attached to body.  Anytime wiring needs to cross from the body to the frame, engine, etc, I’m trying to bridge it with some kind of plug.  So far so good.

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I stopped by Buck’s 4×4 shop here in Boise yesterday and picked up some BDS Shocks.  My measurements showed I needed a pair of shocks that had a compressed size of approx 15″ and a maximum size of approx 25″.  It only took them a few minutes to find what I needed.  Best of all, the price was right — under $100.

Now that I had shocks, I could finally create the front shock mounts, something I’ve put off for a few months. I knew I wanted something similar to what I used last time for shock mounts.  On my last jeep I took some 1/2″ steel that was 4″ wide and bent it using a 10′ tube pipe and dad’s huge vice (firmly attached to a 1000lb bench).  The result were mounts that attached to the side of the frame, rounding up and out.  I liked the effect, so for this jeep I wanted to do something similar.  Instead of the steel I used last time, I took a piece of 1/4″ x 5.5″ x 6′ piece of steel I salvaged from my sisters’ farm and created my shock mounts from that.

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This afternoon I spent some time searching the internet to find some type of vintage mud flaps, without much success. I’m looking for some flexible rubber flaps with some type of 4×4 image or logo on them. Here’s an example of what I had on my last jeep (I should have kept those …).

There are several important lessons I learned from web and software development:  1)  Real artists ship, meaning that sometimes you can’t have everything you planned or wanted in a project if you want to get it out the door; and 2) there’s always a 2.0 version.

With those lessons in mind, after several days of fiberglass filler and sanding, fiberglass filler and sanding, I’ve finally got a roughed out shape I can live with.  The reality is, more sanding is necessary to get the slopes on the bump smooth, but I can live with its imperfectness (like anything else is perfect).

I have a little final trimming on the hood edges.  After that, it’s time to pull it all apart, prepare the body for sanding/paint, drill the gauge holes in the dash, fix my brake line, and complete some odds and ends in preparation of permanently putting the body on the frame.  Oh yeah, and clean up the garage — it’s looking pretty messy in the pictures!