Well, I am in the middle of my second layoff in two summers and it seems that my 40 has become the silver lining. I get to work 8-9 hours a day on it and scare the neighbor's kids with the sawzall, grinding, welding and swearing. 
I got it in NH for $300 and since then have been pouring mostly labor into it. The guy I bought it from said it was driven until '78 when the motor siezed. Since then it had sat in one yard or another until I picked it up last year. A buddy of mine helped me out by towing it to MA and since then it has undergone a pretty decent transformation.
I have a few more things to do to it such as finish up the rockers, do the rear brakes, and finish up some of the wiring.
I took off the tub and addressed some of the weak points that had rusted through, wirewheeled the frame and painted it with Magnetpaints antique satin black. The PO was bright enough to cut up the wheel wells and expose the cross section of the tub that held the seat mounting bolts, so I cut all that out and welded in some 4x4x1/8 box and did the same with the rear sill using 2.5x2.5x1/8" box there.
The rear quarters were bent up by a buddy of mine who works at a machine shop and also got me the steel. The rear quarters from the door back are all 1/8" as well as the rockers that are in the process of going in now (If it werent raining right now, I wouldnt be posting, I'd be welding. ). To be proactive and save myself some time and money, I have already cut the rear wheel wells for TJ flares and have them already mocked up. Im waiting to paint the rest of it so I can install them. The seats came from a 2000 Chrysler Cirrus and the driver's side is motorized. It didnt come with any seats or brackets so I had to make my own. They turned out pretty well. The console bracketry mounts between the seats and sits over the rear heater pretty well. I designed it to leave the entire space between the seats open underneath the console with the brackets of the seats carrying the load with a single bracket in the rear bridging over the heater.
Without further ado, here is my new ride which I hope will be on the road by sometime next week.
My Rebuild Process
I got it in NH for $300 and since then have been pouring mostly labor into it. The guy I bought it from said it was driven until '78 when the motor siezed. Since then it had sat in one yard or another until I picked it up last year. A buddy of mine helped me out by towing it to MA and since then it has undergone a pretty decent transformation. I have a few more things to do to it such as finish up the rockers, do the rear brakes, and finish up some of the wiring.
I took off the tub and addressed some of the weak points that had rusted through, wirewheeled the frame and painted it with Magnetpaints antique satin black. The PO was bright enough to cut up the wheel wells and expose the cross section of the tub that held the seat mounting bolts, so I cut all that out and welded in some 4x4x1/8 box and did the same with the rear sill using 2.5x2.5x1/8" box there.
The rear quarters were bent up by a buddy of mine who works at a machine shop and also got me the steel. The rear quarters from the door back are all 1/8" as well as the rockers that are in the process of going in now (If it werent raining right now, I wouldnt be posting, I'd be welding.
). To be proactive and save myself some time and money, I have already cut the rear wheel wells for TJ flares and have them already mocked up. Im waiting to paint the rest of it so I can install them. The seats came from a 2000 Chrysler Cirrus and the driver's side is motorized. It didnt come with any seats or brackets so I had to make my own. They turned out pretty well. The console bracketry mounts between the seats and sits over the rear heater pretty well. I designed it to leave the entire space between the seats open underneath the console with the brackets of the seats carrying the load with a single bracket in the rear bridging over the heater. Without further ado, here is my new ride which I hope will be on the road by sometime next week.
My Rebuild Process
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