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DAY ONE
Saturday

Well today started with a little bit of a surprise. Well, not too much of a surprise as I had bought extra supplies "just in case." Everything welse with the Jeep's repairs have been a chain of events leading to multiple trips to the parts store or out for new tools. But this time I was pretty well prepared.

Step 1. Remove the driver's seat (it was the only seat left in the car. It was a bit like driving a UPS truck for the past week.) ...

and this

Pretty nasty that there's rust coming through the carpet. Thsi should have been my first sign as to what was coming.

Then Step 2. Remove the trim and old carpet.

The trim had to come off first as it holds the caret in place all the way around the Jeep. I found, as I pulled each piece, that there is mold on the plastic on the inside surface facing the body. This is most likely what has been giving the Jeep the smell that Michele does not like so much. I guess I have gotten used to the smell in there and never paid it much attention.

Removing the carpet in the rear also shows you what I have been using for sound-deadening material. A mixture of cardboard, newspapers and Ikea mouse pads. That's right, mouse pads. I had a bunch of these thinking I was going to put my logo on them over the ikea one but so much for that, they worked better here. I think they are going to find there way into the new padding layout as well or as spacers and pads.

Since the installation of the new exhaust, which I am going to extend all the way back soon, and the holes in the transfer case showd up, the Jeep has become a very noisy vehicle to drive. I play the stereo louder, turn up my phone or, in this case, fill in the gaps with mouse pads. Anything that will make it quieter in there.

Step 2a

Step 2b

And then you have all the bits and pieces that were inside.
It's mainly the beige ppices that have all the mold in them. They go all along the perimiter of the vehicle neer the bottom. I have not looked at the upper pieces yet. They're for another day. The dashboard will come appart at some point as well. I have some dead bulbs in there and I think there is a filter in there for the air that goes into the cabin of the vehicle. I still need to check on that. Michele's car has one, which I think is nice. If the jeep does not have one then I will be making a filter holder for it and finding the best fit for size in available filters.

And the back as it was last week. I did a litte bit more trimming over the week but for the most part, if the metal is still pretty thick I have been trying to save as much of it as possible and ying it into the frame. I wanted to make sure there was as much metal as possible to connect the new pieces to. My other problem is the gas tank in the rear. I was originally going to dro the tank and weld back there but the time it would have added to the job would have made it more than a two day job.

I cleaned everything in the rear 9rust jelly) and sprayed it with a rust-stop and while that was drying I went to the front of the Jeep to pull up the front carpet mould. This is where my new purchasing habits for the Jeep paid off. If I ever have a question in my mind as to whether or not I need something of if I have enough of something, I buy it. Beter to have to return it than to have to run around. I had to cut the carpet into sections to get it out. It was quite a tight fit in there around all the wires, belts and bolts. But when I pulled up the front section on the passenger side I found this...

Yup, more holes through to the outside world. And some of these had a load of oil in them from the leak I am currently chaseing. But, I bought twice the metal I needed so this only phased me for a minute or so. Michele looked nervous. After all, she sits on that side! But I can fix it. It's just one more thing, that's all. So I got out the grinder and the cutting wheels again. Cleaned it and hit it with the same rust-stop. I think it rusted so bad on that side because the exhaust down pipe goes to that side and runs to the back on the passenger side. So the continual heating and cooling of the exhaust and catalytic would make it easier for the metal to rust. Also the front end of the floor pan under the dash gets hit with spray from the front tire. With the steel I have left over, I am making some sacrificial pieces. A new heat shield linked to the frame for the catalytic and a deflector under the floor pan behind the front wheels on both sides. It is a wonder, though, with all the oil and ATF under there how it Could have rusted. But oh well.

By the time I had gotten done with that, the back was ready for primer.

Next, new tools! Oooo I like new tools. This week's purchase was tin snips (strong enough for cutting 20ga sheet steel), variable speed drill, pop-rivit gun (profesional model with swivel head and four different shaft sizes), and caulking gun (for silicone sealant).

Under that is the steel I got and some straping metal to span the holes and reinforce them back to the frame.

After all that the sheet metal goes in, with sealant underneath, and then gets primed.

And Viola!

This was day one. Day two will be the carpeting itself.

ZZZzzzzzz....

DAY TWO
Sunday

This was a good day. We got the whole thing done. Michele was helping me today cleaning all the trim and the upholstry on the seats and vinyl trim. Without her I would still be out there right now working on it.

So here is how it started out today. I was able to salvage a good bit of the old padding from the moulded carpet I took out. It was already cut into the crazy shapes needed to fit over the transmission, transfer case and drive shaft. Saving it saved me a lot of time. I then laid down a second layer of padding that I got mainly as a sound-deadener. The floors are soft like indoor carpeting now. One of the mouse ads was turned into bushings and spacers for the mounting bolts for the front seats.

And the passenger side.

And here is the full view through the Jeep after the padding was done.

Next I started laying down the carpet. I got a very soft and flexible indoor-outdoor carpet. But, since I am not using a moulded carpet I have to lay everything in strips and shapes with overlap to accomadate the shapes of the floor pan. So, I had to stand there for a while just staring at the jeep like a special kid...pondering the order of events. I ended up doing the front in four pieces. One for the front of the hump back to just after the parking brake, one for each side from under the dash to the midpoint under the front seats, and then a u-shapped piece that overlaped those two covering the floor in the back seat. You would not believe the number of crazy little cuts you have to make to force flat carpeting to accomadate the curved geometry of a car floor.

The hump

Back seat

Driver's side

There's a lot of room in that thing without any seats but it's akward to work in it.

And a bit like a hoopty.

But I digress.

Here was the last progression starting with the front seat. I had to put in the trim to tighten the side of the carpet and keep it in place while I cut the other side before putting in the seat.

And the final product.

Now I'm really tired. Time for ibuprofen and bed!

We had our first wedding shoot this weekend. It was at Bear's Best, a Jack Nicklaus course with 18 of his favorite holes. The wedding ceremony was outside on one of the putting greens with the reception inside their banquette hall.

It was a small ceremony with just 50 guests. The ceremony itself was about 5 minutes, if that so the service shots are thin. But I did get to spend time with both the bride and groom before the service. The groom and his men were out in the foyer and the bride was back in the ladies room. Yes, I was in the ladies room...with permission...allowed even. :) ... With the bride's maids and the mother of the bride. All of them speaking in Thai. The bride's maids and the bride could speak English and would translate to me once in a while when the mother would say something.

The bride was completely into having her picture taken and was more than happy to follow direction in posing and other requests. Michele and I got a really good chance at this wedding to take allot of what we had learned about the artistic side of wedding photography. Most of the shots came from the reception, as it was the longest part of the day.

The golf club and surrounding area were nice as well. Mountains were the back drop to the west as well as a large pond with palm trees, rocks, sand and ducks and Canadian geese. I got within about 2 feet of one of them before it decided to back up. Before that it was intent on getting to the bouquet which was laid out on the green with some balls for a detail shot. The closer it got, I moved toward it. It started hissing and you could hear the grooms men yelling it behind me. It finally gave up. No way it was getting that bouquet.

I'm still processing the files. I took over 1300 shots and Michele shot over 800. Very good coverage for the 5 hours we were there. Michele's shots are quite good. No, she's not just getting 20 of her shots in. I am still going over the shots and am already over the 50 mark with hers. In all we will be presenting the couple with about 400 shots as online proofs. Thy will get to choose about 120 to go into a custom album that I will design.

I'll post some of the shots once I get a chance to do the color correction and special effects. Right now everything is in RAW format and not able to be posted.

All in all, great shoot. We were well-prepared both in equipment and ideas from lots of studying. It was great.

The Jeep has been through many different states of repair, disrepair and other states of existence. But, before we moved here to Nevada I had to decide whether to keep it or not. At the time I was driving 35 miles each way to work between our apartment in Cranberry PA to Oakland in Pittsburgh. At the time the Jeep was getting about 10-12 miles to the gallon. not so hot since these things are supposed to get 18-20.

When I found out Michele had a job we went to Las Vegas to find a house and for me to find a job as well. When I got my job and found out I would be only 8 miles away, I decided to keep the Jeep. I own it. I make no payments on it, registration here in Nevada is cheap for it because of its age and there is a lot of desert play in with it (that last part being much further from the affordability part, but fun none the less.)

We towed it out here in back of the U-Haul with all our other stuff. Once here, I got new tires for it. "Nice" new tires. I was keeping it so no more bargain tires. Then the mileage got worse. Then it lost power. Then, I could go no faster than about 45MPH. I took it back to where I had gotten the tires. The guy there was nice to me he even saved me money on a thermostat showing me how to fix the problem right in the parking lot. Great. Well, not so much.

I already had planned on getting the rear main seal replaced as it was leaking and while it was in for that I had them check out the problem. They said it was the exhaust. An, after looking at it, they spotted cracks in the exhaust manifold and dirt in the intake manifold and injectors. This is where things started to get bad. Yes, the cracked manifold had to be fixed. I asked if they could get it welded, they said yes. They called me the next day to say no one would do it. They said they could get me a new one from the dealer for $390 and another 200 in labor on top of the $350 in labor for the rear main seal. I found a manifold at a local parts store for $260 and bought it over the phone. They would not go to pick it up. Mind you, it was two blocks away on the same street as they were. The dealer was eight blocks away. I took off a half day of work to get the part and take it over myself and then talk to them to find out why this was taking so long. At this point it had been there for three days. I asked if they were sure that this was going to fix the problem and they said yes. I asked what the diagnostic (promised to me earlier) had told them and he said it told them nothing.

After all the work had been done I was short almost $1200 in parts, which I supplied them with, and labor. The parts totaled $280.

After all this, the problem still persisted. Enter my old boss Kevin who, during lunch, gave my catalytic a kick in the parking lot at work. It sounded like a baby rattle. He said, your catalytic is broken and clogged, you need a new one. Yes, the guy who is a designer, no offense Kevin, and not a "professional" mechanic got the right answer. Kevin gave me a cat he had back at his place and we went out and bought a turbo muffler from Pep Boys for $20 and some extra pipe and clamps for another $20. We spent a day at Josh's place and viola! It worked! And, it worked better then before the problem. I am now getting about 19-22 miles per gallon and allot more umph out of the Jeep.

Since then, on my own and with the help of Kevin, Josh and Prinya from work, the Jeep has had the front and back brakes completely replaced, the rear brake cylinders, rear brake line, all the shocks, the transmission mount and the rear leaf springs replaced. For once, I did my own oil change too. Doing these repairs myself have saved me about $3200 in labor. I have been pretty frustrated a few times but for the most part this has been a good learning experience and other repairs are now possible.

I am still chasing down an oil leak on the passenger side of the engine block and I need to replace the transfer case as well as the front coil springs and control arms. The Jeep is getting a slight lift in the process. If anyone out there has an NP231 transfer case they don't want, I'll take it.

I have a grinder and cutting wheels now and a MIG welder. So now I am eye-balling the rusted metal on the Jeep. Prinya has joked that he wished he had a bowl and some milk when the rusty flakes start falling out of the Jeep. Like it's raining corn flakes when we work on it.

Well check this out. I was working in the back of the Jeep today. Removing the trim and carpeting to see how bad it is and to track down some noises back there.

This is what it looked like when I started.

Rear latch for the hatch, not so bad. Wire brush and some paint. Tis but surface rust.

Small hole where one of the trim screws can no longer get any bite on some real metal.

I'll just grab the edge of the carpeting here...

Whoa!

Whoooaa!!

Yikes! Whoa! and Holy Crap-O-Lay!

After the initial shock of the injury I grabbed the grinder, changed the wheel to a cutter and cut out just the metal over the frame channel to clean it up and see inside the frame. After about three minutes and a couple swigs of manly green tea we have this.

And this...

Really, it looks worse than it is. The metal is easily cut out and replaced and while I am at it I can replace the carpeting and do something different with the floor of the payload area as far as retractable tie downs and skid strips for heavier loads. I have to drop the gas tank, though, before I do any welding back there. The tank is to the left of that canyon. When I drop it I will likely put in a new plastic tank. They are not that expensive and it would be an improvement.

The transfer case has been a pain in the butt. At some point, the chain stretched enough that it no longer engages the front axle but spins constantly. It has been striking the inside of the transfer case and wore two holes through the cast aluminum case.

I cleaned it as best I could, drilled the cracks so they would not crack further and drilled and tapped the case for screws. I fitted some 16 gauge steel plate to it and bolted it on with some JB Weld and put some ATF into it. It still leaks but it is a lot quieter now until I get a replacement.

You can see that the hole was there long enough for the chain to rust. I have no idea how I missed this considering the number of times I have been under this thing.

In case you might be wondering what to get me for holidays and my birthday you can check out my wish list back on the main page and, here is my Jeep’s info from the engine compartment if you think of anything I have not.

With the repairs that have been made, it is definitely a keeper now.

I will be adding new bumpers, rear tire-carrier and another custom roof rack to it as well.