Quote:
Originally Posted by BCBlitz
well this is quite the bunch of answers to the MUTT question, thanks all.
so where can a person find new sheetmetal for them or is there even any ?
for floors, side panels, rear corners etc etc ?, or is it owner fab ?? 
So from what I read there are not too many cut or uncut ones around that are OEM Canada ?, so maybe this is something a fellow should grab should a person find one ? as not like they are gonna make any more eh ? |
They aren't a needle in the haystack to find, but finding a unit worth restoring is the real challenge. I guess it all depends on what your definition of restorable is. Because these little guys have a Uni-Body, there are serious limitations to what can be done to save a very rusty one.
I bought 2, one with a fairly clean body and another (Rusty) in order have enough parts to minimize how much I would have to buy. Its not like an MB/GPW, M38 or 38A1 where you can just plunk down the cash for a new reproduction Tub if the current one is BER. I guess thats what makes them a special labour of love. Having built this one, my advice would be to avoid anything that is rotted out in the ass end, especially underneath. Thats the only area that would be hard to fix without screaming. There are lots of "little details" in the original body that really stand out if all new metal is installed. The other is the Uni-Frame itself. Reinforcing a clean but cut one is easy, trying to repair a rust out one is not easy nor safe.
The panels are fairly easy to get, there are 2 shops in the US that make some (Jeeppanelsplus and Florida Tactical), and then another in Europe (Name esapes me, but its Nordic) that makes nearly all the panels you could want. I ended up buying a Battery Box Floor and the Tunnel Cover. Both are almost a minimum requirement to cleanly restore a "Cut" unit. I think they may have cost $100 for both. There are also factory Underbody Repair kits that are still floating around. Although they could be handy (I bought one and only used one part from it) they do require a ton of patience and plug welds to install. A Mig with Argon is IMO, a minimum requirement to do any body work with these. A huge Spot Welder would be fantastic if one had access to it, as these things are near completely held together with spot welds. I did alot of little "Drill and Fill" welding with my Mig in order to try and get that "Spot Welded look". Fillet Welds are not only difficult to do on the 18g sheetmetal, but look entirely out of place.
I guess what i'm really saying with all of this, if you are a collector who typically pays others to do the restoration labour, you may want to look elsewhere as I can't imagine what it would cost to have someone repair a unit with serious cancer. If you do most if not all of your work, then you may find it quite enjoyable to work on due their small size and extreme mechanical simplicity.
Scotty B