Project "Critter" begins

[trapperjack]

Now for some good news. Put in the freshly charged battery from the red SX/4 parts rig (RIP), shot a little go-juice down the carb, and she fired right off. Went for a quick spin around the land. Idles on high idle till warm, kicks down to low idle o.k., though a little high still. Shifts great, no clunking or clanking. Brakes work like a champ. Steers, handles, and rides as it should. A/c blows, but not cold (I know, boo-hoo, but it's allready been 101 here, so a/c is nice if you can get it.) Temp gauge and fuel gauge work. Started getting hot (no fluid in rad.) so parked it. Waited a few minutes, bump key, fired right off.
Now if I can just get the headlights and blinkers attached, we'll start driving this old bessie.
Yee-haw.

[IowaEagle]

Yee-Haw is right!

[trapperjack]

Just took my youngest (that named it Critter) for a ride. A/c blew cold while driving, warm at idle. Just needs a shot of freon, I bet. Anyone got any R-12 laying around? Could have something to do with heater valve being gone? Have a spare here somewhere.

[rmedon]

Good news, good news...

[trapperjack]

It's crazy. Found some here for $25/lb. For display purposes only, of course.

[Gil-SX4]

Its still available for older vehicles equip with the R12 freon, the catch is that it need to be purchase and install by a license technician and the labor is expensive plus the R-12 is way expensive. Last time I heard a quote for a full charge was more then $100.00 Dlls.

[LkN]

there are several products out there that claim to be r12 compatable without having to change out everything

but I've never tried them 

gotta 30lb bottle of R12  down in the garage but its for "emergency" use only

[IowaEagle]

I did the conversion to the R134A with one of those kits. Did it at least 4 years ago.  Still pumping out the cold.  Of course my system was bone dry.

[83Eagle!]

I need to figure out my system yet.  It was bone dry so I assumed there was a leak, and had no idea where to begin to look for it.

[trapperjack]

Finally got the radiator out today, what a pain. Also removed d side fender. Actually my 10 yr old boy wants credit for the fender removal, he did most of it. Am thinking about changing front coils while everything is apart. i have the set from 4 dr sedan (RIP) w/a.c., figger they should give a bit of lift up front. Also discovered a rust through spot in the floor, p side corner by rocker. Was surprised to find d side outer rocker not bad, both inner rockers are toast.
My dad wanted to go for a ride before it was too taken apart, so waited till he could come out for his ride to get radiator out. Started on the 2nd try, drove around the pasture till temp started going up. Going to try again to pop the frame back out, should be a little easier with rad. gone. luckily, I had a spare from the 80 sedan (RIP)

[trapperjack]

Gettin there. Still can't get the p side up and over enough. Big difference, though.

You can see in the next photo how far is left to go from where the bolt holes line up.


The hood barely closes. Front of p side fender is too far to center, and the latch mech. has moved out about 1/4".
Wondering if I could drill new holes to attach fender and headlight buckets. May be a couple days before I can do anything else, couple of long hard days at work coming up. Happy with the progress, though.

[IowaEagle]

So close, but yet ........

[Herman]

I knew it was too big of project for me to try to deal with.  Thanks for taking it over, Trapper.

Yeah, we used to fill the AC each spring.  Sometimes a 2nd time before fall.  We have a couple of hoarders  (1 diesel mechanic and one jack of all trades) in the family so there has been an ample supply of R12.

I told you it ran great once it was started...

Honestly didn't  know there was a hole in the floor.   Thought it was in good shape.

The louver just sets over the studs that are on the window trim. I think there's two on each side and two at the top.   It had shiny knurled knobs/nuts at one time, but they've disappeared through the years. Found it held on by only two nuts when I took it off so it didn't blow off on the ride to TX.  Have to wonder if the little brats next door hadn't been playing with it.   The break wasn't there earlier this spring, and the nuts were.  It's one of those families that tries to police the rest of the block, and they're so disfunctional themselves they would make a good TV show...

My daughter did the rear brakes pretty much my herself.  I did the master cylinder and front brakes.  The booster had been replaced a year or so before I got it.  If you look at the  line going to the driver's side front brakes, you'll see where I put a junction in because the damm fitting on the end of the brake line rounded off (using a line wrench, even).  I just cut it back a ways  and flared (double-flare--the right way) the lines.  No leaks.  I was impressed with myself over that.

Glad to see it coming together for you.  You do Frank Buck proud.

[trapperjack]

The hole in the floor couldn't be seen, it was hidden by the inner fender. Curious as to what caused it, seems like pretty dry area. Overall floors are fine. Have discovered a couple areas of frame rust, but not too bad. Hopefully a soaking with diluted phosphoric acid (the main ingredient in most rust converters) and a dose of Henry's roofing tar will put a stop to it.
I found some nuts for the 4 studs on the sides of the louvers, but can't figure out how the 2 at top function, do you remember?

[txjeeptx]

Shoot, Jack . . I need to pay you a visit! Nice interior, and sounds like its mechanically all there if you can get the radatiator to work with all the tweaked frame business.

If all else fails, we could look into sectioning out the bent part and either straightening it and re-attaching it or using part from the parts SX/4 . . . if we can git 'er to my place to zap in the replacement/fabbed stuff.

I have been away in paradise since the 26th, and have a engine swap to start on the YJ(still need to get a trans, so it may be a month or so out), as well as a major re-contour/landscaping of the back yard(hired a crew to get it done in a week), but let me know if my welder can help you out of your frame trouble.

Nice car. I may be able to help you "weld" the plastic louvers back together. I want to see them . . to reverse enginerd a mold for them, maybe.
Were the two at the top sort of a hinge to allow for easy cleaning w/o removal of the entire thing?