Idle hands: assorted projects

[UnderControl]

Finished welding out the stands. Just need to cap the ends of the feet, add the spikes and paint. Of course after a weekend in the 70s it's back below freezing here so paint might be a minute. I did go ahead and make up some caps and spikes though. Given the wide footprint I opted to go with 8" spikes instead of the 10" I had been planning which meant I had enough 1/2" bar on hand, or near enough. 

 

 

[UnderControl]

Just a scuff and clean away from ready to paint. 

 

 

Also added a tube end cap to the printed parts list. 

 

[UnderControl]

Finally got the 05 mustang out for a proper shake down, and my first autocross in roughly a decade.

 

 

 

Car worked great, the 10+ year old re-11s aren't quite as sticky as they used to be, but I'll cross that bridge when I wear them out.

 

Worked on the driver's door on the 66 for a couple of days. Welded up a cracked door catch mount and some metal finishing on one of the patches I did. The other patch I did will be a bit trickier since I can't really get my arm down behind it.

 

Figure I'll be needed to bend up some 1/8" for jeep patches, so I might as well get around to putting that air/hydrologic ram on the press. And I may as well upgrade the cross beam a bit while I'm at it.

 

 

I don't know what that round bar is, but it's heavy and really hard. Turning down the end to fit into the hole I sawed into the cross beam was a chore.

 

 

Not sure if I'll ever get over how good of welder fillets with thiccc metal make me look.

 

 

 

 

 

[datzenmike]

3 hours ago, UnderControl said:

Finally got the 05 mustang out for a proper shake down, and my first autocross in roughly a decade.

 

 

 

Car worked great, the 10+ year old re-11s aren't quite as sticky as they used to be, but I'll cross that bridge when I wear them out.

 

 

Still too cold out or heat up the tires. 

[UnderControl]

These tires have been heat cycled to death and super hard. Considering they're 200 tread wear them being 10 years old is unheard of. They'll do for now, but will be tough to be competitive on. At the moment I'm more concerned with getting myself back into the groove than winning.

 

I'm calling the press upgrade functionally complete. Got tabs added to the ends of the tube. For the moment I've just double sided taped some ABS strips to the inside for slickness.

 

 

 

 

At full extension those return springs are getting a bit sketchy. To consider this project actually complete, I'd like to add some adjustment knobs with some nylon inserts to take up the remaining slack.

 

In other news I got the 620 out for the first drive of the season and gave it it's annual oil change.

[UnderControl]

Boy, I sure do love rust repair.

 

 

But, the nice thing about the xj being relegated to trail rig status is that I don't care if it's nice. So quick and dirty it shall be. Got the main patch for this section bent up. Still need to punch some holes for plug welds.

 

 

Although in the process of bending that 17" section of 1/8" I may have found a minor flaw in my press brake design.

 

 

Part of that being my return springs were too long, and apparently 3/8" plate, with another 3/8" plate bolted to it bends pretty easy under 20 ton loads.

 

 

[UnderControl]

Frame rail patch is ready to go, minus the pretty pointless addition of some weld through primer on the insides.

 

 

Slotted at the front since this patch is going in where a couple sections overlapped so the front and rear are not planer. Of course I realized that I'll be burning hot right up against the floor pan so I should probably pull up the carpet unless I want to burn it to the ground...

 

Plant stands now with paint. Will need to find some time to deliver and install them.

 

 

[Rustbin]

I'm not showing my wife these pics or I might have to make her something like that for the yard.

[UnderControl]

Wives do have a unique way of creating more work. Mine for example is overly attached to the xj, something about having done our honeymoon in it. So, rather than shifting it out of the fleet for something else I get to patch it up until it breaks in half. Got the frame rail patch burned in.

 

 

Of course while going over the welds on the old patch to the rear I started blowing holes, so I guess I'll add another one.

 

 

[Rustbin]

10 hours ago, UnderControl said:

Mine for example is overly attached to the xj, something about having done our honeymoon in it.

 

Ah yes, sentimental attachment. I have that for my '69, I've been planning to finish it for over 40 years, so I can't let it go.

Anyway, it's just redoing a patch.

[UnderControl]

Attachment is something I'm quite familiar with. I mostly like blowing her shit about it, and in spirit I've given her the jeep. I have enough lifer vehicles already, for now.

 

Picked up the cross tubes for the fern stands and got them painted. Hoping to get them delivered and installed this weekend.

 

[UnderControl]

On to things I've been putting off on the 66. One being the deck lid, un pictured, really looking a bit tweaked. I've got three of the corners sitting pretty, but the driver rear is pulled up a bit and haven't figured out how to fix that yet.

 

So instead I'm on to finishing the patch I did on the driver door a good while back.

 

 

Of course I made this patch with sharp corners and right up on the body line. Resulting in a crater of a low spot right at the corner weld, and distortion of the body line. My arms aren't skinny or long enough to be able to get a dolly all the way down to the corner through the existing holes on the back side. So, I improvised.

 

 

Still have a bit to go bringing up the low, and may need to make another tool to help crisp up the body line.

 

In other news, I'm starting to print with more toxic materials, and since the printer lives right next to my desk I needed to vent it outside. Passive venting, just using the built in exhaust fan worked ok, but not great. Enter the computer fan duct pump.

 

 

Definitely works better than just the passive venting, although I still catch a wiff of toxicity here and there. Of course sometimes you live long enough to see yourself become the engineer you bitch about as the mechanic.

 

 

Had to make myself an extra low profile bit and run the screws in a 1/4 turn at a time with an open ended wrench. By the time I got the third one in I decided if three don't hold it four never would have.

 

[UnderControl]

Got the big low spot pretty well worked up, still got some highs to knock down.

 

 

Printer go brrrr.

 

 

In addition to the bushings, end caps and shaft collars I made up some caps and wedges for transporting the poles, hopefully without damaging the paint.

[Rustbin]

I like your method of securing the work piece.

[UnderControl]

Ratchet straps are a vastly underrated automotive tool. Worked a treat keeping the door in place while prying up with the pdr rods.

 

Got the fern stands delivered and setup.

 

 

The square body made the drive fine, but 100+ miles at 70+ mph took its toll and now one of the water pump gaskets is pissing. Borrowed a car to get home tonight and will head back tomorrow with gaskets and tools.

[UnderControl]

Got the water pump gaskets swapped out and made it home without any leaks and properly tensioned belts. Quick online calculator says that 75mph should put me around 3350rpm, so really not pushing it as hard as I was thinking.

 

Getting close to done metal finishing the patch on the door.

 

Finally came across a decent deal on some big boy brake calipers for the 05 mustang.

 

 

Of course by the time I get pads, rotors and lines it'll be pushing the definition of a budget swap, but bolt on OEM goodness.

[UnderControl]

Pretty it is not, mostly welded it is. Probably going to wait to finish it until I pull the axle. I'll likely also add a fish plate to this area because reasons. 

 

 

 

[Rustbin]

Just thinkin that if your going to have to rebuild the frame maybe you could lift it a little at the same time? Just in case you want more tire or sumthing.

[UnderControl]

Would that I could, but cherokees are unibody cars. Although, in a long enough timeline this one could end up with a tube chassis. 

[UnderControl]

Got out for the second autocross of the season. Actually managed second out of six in my class. Granted I'm still four seconds off the class leader, but I managed to edge out a 1LE camaro by 0.1.

 

 

I've got the 66 door mostly finished enough to body work. Tossed it back on the car to get the full picture.

 

 

Also got the axle pulled out of the xj. 3 out of 4 leaf spring bolts actually came right out. Both bolts on the passenger side shackle seized to the sleeves, so I went ahead and just cut the shackle off for now. Guess I'll need to remember where I stashed the spare set.

 

 

Undecided if I'm going clean and paint the axle. Stripping it down almost guarantees I'll have to make new brake lines for it.

 

So much room for activities.

 

 

[UnderControl]

Passenger side frame rail repairs are nearly complete, just a small section on the outside to close up.

 

 

Overhead MiG reminds me a lot of free basing with Richard Pryor. Got to stop occasionally to make sure you're not on fire.

[Rustbin]

On 4/23/2026 at 7:38 AM, UnderControl said:

Overhead MiG reminds me a lot of free basing with Richard Pryor. Got to stop occasionally to make sure you're not on fire.

 

I've done that a few times. Not free basing! Setting myself on fire by overhead MIG welding.

Edited April 25 by Rustbin
Not done yet

[UnderControl]

A proper welding jacket goes a long way for making overhead a more pleasant experience. Although I did manage to burn a hole in mine. I'm always reminded of a meme from a welding thread on jeep forum.

 

 

[UnderControl]

Passenger side rail patches completed, I hope. So on to the main event for repair. When going to remove the bumper bracket and shackle relocation box from the driver's side I realized a mistake past me had made. I welded the shackle box to the bumper bracket. 

 

 

 

Well, they can't be removed as one piece. Luckily they were pretty shitty welds, so a couple minutes with a burr and a few good smacks from the bfh separated them. And sent the shackle box flying into my knee. After a couple of minutes rolling around doing my best not to teach the neighborhood children new words.

 

 

Then it was time for the real fun part. Put a relief cut just forward of the damage zone on the frame rail and got to stretching. 

 

 

 

Didn't take much to get the door gap lined up and the quarter panel mostly straightened out. Of course there was some spring back when I pulled the ram, but I was mostly after a proof of concept tonight as I was losing light anyway. Next step will be to go ahead and remove the damaged section entirely.

 

On to the 66 for the rest of the night. I've got the door as good as I'm going to. It isn't perfect, but I'm bored and the largest measurable dip in the panel is just under my 1/16" target for Max filler depth. So, gud nuff, and closed up the hole I made to work the panel. 

 

 

I also needed to trim up the hemmed edge from my patch as it didn't end up flush with the rest of the door. Probably just going to weld the edge and hope not to warp the shit out of it now that I've closed off my access.

 

 

 

[UnderControl]

Got the damaged frame rail section removed, and am now re thinking the original plan of cutting down a section of 2x6x0.250 to sleeve the inside of the rail. New plan is to wrap around the outside with some 12ga.

 

 

Got the bottom edge of the mustang door welded up and the welds haphazardly knocked down. Managed to keep the panel from warping, so that's nice.