Bitemybag

Slow going on this console, but getting close.... Patched the old shifter hole and brought tranny wires and shift cables through some grommets..

More progress today on the center console, actually stretched it 6" further toward the dash, put it right below the ash tray.. Also started plating it...

Been putting it off, but tonight I took a shot at bending up a center console to cover the tunnel and house my shifters, what I've got done so far I'm pretty happy with..

5 point harness, correction, 4 point....

Seats bolted in harness bar finished, harnesses tomorrow...

Patrick does awesome work!! And jeep camps a blast, usually first or last weekend of June..

Also worked on the cab, got the seat brackets welded up to the seats. Also got rid of the carpet and put bed liner down, 4 coats, nice and thick... And built a shoulder harness bar for the 4 point harnesses..

Got the Artec HiSteer arms installed, fairly simple...

Also got the bead locks on... Don't ever wanna do that again...

Figured why not.. Theyre comfy and the price was right, and they look pretty good too. Little fab work to mount em but not to rough.. Got the shifters bolted in there permanent home also.. Looking good, gonna work on harness bar tonight, got a set of 4 points to pick up later today...

Not everything showed up today but I did get my RADesign shifters! The xj set back rock shifter, and the baja II shift controller.. Really excited to get this thing going... Planning to rip out carpet an do my version of a crawler cockpit, looks good in my head now to transfer to blank canvas......

As for cooling, using a stock cooler for now and replaced the steel bent lines with high temp and high pressure cooling lines, pulled the quick connects from the tranny and replaced with 1/4-3/8 barb fittings and o rings.. Little hard to tell but I'm shooting the 2 black lines... Routing the cooling lines These are the quick connects I got rid of...

So,this is said trough for the exhaust on the right side of the crossmember, made it wide for radiator lines in the future perhaps...Steel of course.... Now adding the lengthened deck for the aw4 mounting bracket. The bracket was located roughly 6" further towards the rear than the 5speed... Welded up drilled and tranny mount bolted down, I also raised the the mount 3/4" to get the transfer case above the frame rails, making sure not to bind engine mounts and leaving room around the top,and sides of the tranny and tcase

Well got the tranny swapped, to be honest, thought it was gonna be a little harder. Spent Saturday pulling the Peugeot and cleaning up the unnecessary items.. Spent Sunday transplanting the aw4, went really smooth, had to mod the crossmember to compensate for the extra length of the auto and to make a route for the exhaust, but I really think it went well.. That's my brother Josh "wjguy" lending a hand in between beers... This is the crossmember before I added material to bolt the longer auto to, and also I'm going to cut a trough for the exhaust to pass through without hanging up,on the tranny or the crossmember...

Swapped the Peugeot 5 speed for an aw4... Ordered a few goodies, radesign Rock shifter and Baja 2 shifter this makes the manual to auto swap fairly simple.. No wire harness or throttle body and no computer to change... Radesign LLC. Check em out.. Also got d60 and 14b diff covers from Ruff Stuff and the pinion guard... AlsO ordered arctec d60 high steer arms and hardware kit.. Should have all the stuff early next week.. Pics soon to follow... She's coming alOng..... Almost forgot... Picked up a set of bead locks off a buddy.. Soft 8's with weld ons.. Should do the trick...

Built the hi-lift mount with junk laying around, the mount brackets are made from some old tube steel cut in half a few wheel mount studs and lug nuts off an old Dana 70 I have laying around.... Couldn't justify buying hi-lift bar mounts when I can make them with stuff around the house.... Getting some use out of the welder and tube bender :rock: .. The lug nuts are large enough you can really wrench em down by hand, worked out great!

Worked on a hi-lift mount, got a tube bender from a buddy..

Well that's about it... Having a blast with this rig, I really enjoy cutting and welding.

Also got after the front bumper and clearanced the wheel wells.... Took roughly 8" off each side of the bumper, and went ahead and followed the cage through the marker lights and blinkers.. Used sheet steel a few tack welds and a hammer to beat the wheel wells into an acceptable shape...

BONDO!! To cover up my sh#@$ body work... Now remember this is my first rig so I'm sure there's nicer ways to do this but I'm sure it's all comes with experience

Took about a foot....

Bought my self a welder, so I thought I might make a few mods to the Comanche.... So I thought I'd start by gettin rid of her fat @$$...

Walker trip with a few buddy's!

The rest of the trip was much more calm and calculated