CJ7: Classic 1979 Jeep Renegade Rebuild

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So from here on in things started to happen pretty quickly.

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You can see in one of these pics just how bad that rust in the rear section was. There is a reinforcement bracket that sits inside the wheelwell that traps dirt and moisture on top of it. This is what causes the corrision.

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Here is the body off the jeep. I think I got this off after two days work. The jeep was in pretty good condition generally - lots of Ziebart rust proofing goo over most of the chassis which made it a real PITA to dismantle. Shame they missed the parts on the body where it rusted out.

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I used a digital camera and some note paper to catalog every single nut and bolt I removed and this has been a very bloody handy exercise for reassembly. Here you can see the chassis with the body tub removed.

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So after about 8 litres of paint stripper and some super-fun times, I had the body tub stripped back. During this process I noticed a whole lot more rust damange. You can see some of the pinhole rust I found in these pics.

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rust rust and more rust. The later CJ's used galvanised panels which should survive better than these ones have.

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After deciding I was too lazy to do all the panel work myself I sent the body off to the panel beaters. Here is on the trailer being sent across.

I also sent the chassis off to the sand blasters over at Hemmant, here you can see it being moved around the yard.

At this stage, which was Dec 2006, I was going to do a full 100 point factory style restoration - that's not quite where I am now, but also not as radical as my old white TJ is.