Body/Tub Revisited...

I have a few more loose ends that need to be tidied up on the tub.  The reasoning for the return to the tub is very logical and it has EVERYTHING to do with finishing up the transmission/transfer cases.  Here is why:  PAINT.  Purely and simply put I need to PAINT the crossmember that the transmission will be mounted to.  Before I mount it, I need to paint the crossmember OD.  The paint that I have is out of a gallon can, thus I need to dilute it and spray with an air gun.  A little bit of paint goes a long way, so if I am putting in the effort to paint, I might as well paint!  The last major thing I have to paint that truly justifies the paint gun is the tub, fenders, and hood.  So, I figured I'd go ahead and finish up the tub and paint.  Besides, I hate painting and it would be nice to get it over with.  I'll do the fenders, too, while I am at it.

Before painting the body, I needed to shore a few items up.  First spot to be addressed is to replace the area around the transmission hump that was once upon a time cut out to accomodate the post war transmission.  I went to my junkyard and cut a portion of the transmission hump from Jeep #3 and fit it into my current project. then  I fabricated a few small parts to fill in the gaps.

Transmission hump...BEFORE repairs.

Unfortunately you can easily follow the weld scar to see where I returned it back to its somewhat original configuration.  Where is my grinder for the cleanup lap?

Spot number two is a series of issues in one centralized location.  The gas sump tank is missing the rear end cap.  Jeep #3 only had a rear sump tank end cap.  Seriously, that was the only section left from the sump tank!  Jeep #3 was proud to donate it.  Also, seven quarter-sized holes had been cut out of the bottom of the sump tank to allow for better drainage.  I view it as an opportunity for water to sit beneath the gas tank and rust it out, so I am replacing those holes.

Lots of unneccesary holes.

Material to plug the gaps! 

The last area of honorable mention is a pair of frame hangers that are attached to the front gussets.  These are the parts that bolt the front of the tub to the frame.  One is gone and the second one is not attached.  Both are kind of necessary in my humble opinion.

I installed all of the pieces into the sump tank:  the 7 quarter-sized pieces and then end cap.  I cheezed out on filling in the plethora of smaller rust-through areas.  I can't believe I am admitting this next part (but hell, no one is actually reading this blog, so in theory I am just telling myself!).  Instead of welding in the rust-through areas, I laid a few sheets of fiberglass cloth on the inside of the tank and then used body filler to smooth the gaps.  This area will be covered completely by the gas tank so it will not be seen.  I'm satisfied with the end result.

Sump tank repaired and primed.

Underside of the tranmission hump repaired. 
I still have to drill and install a  captive nut in left corner of the upper pennisula section.

Interior view of the newly repaired and primed transmission hump.  My only complaint is that the bottom replacement section (right hand side in the picture) was pitted a bit more than the steel in the tub.  Oh, well.  At least it is all original.

Now that I had the repairs done, I mixed up some paint and sprayed the entire interior, the passenger side, and the rear panel before running out of paint.  That was a sufficient place to stop anyhow since I still need to install the gusset hangars in the front.  My overall objective was to get the transmission crossmember painted, thus the reasoning for mixing the paint in the first place!  Tomorrow, I can get cracking on the mounting the transmission and see where that take me.  I'm sure there will be other issues to fix along the way.

The view from the house door.  Lovely.

Interior is green...as in OD, not $.

Beautiful backside.  Once upon a time it was a tailgate...how quickly I have forgotten.

A bit dark, but...jeep tub (left), transmission (right) and chassis in the rear...all OD.

Nora helped me rearrange the garage in preparation to paint.  Afterwards, we did a bit of goofing off. 
Since I did not have a can of pink paint, she reluctantly agreed to the OD green.  Whew.

I took this picture 5 or so years ago when I finished the grill...long before the "good" jeep was running.
 This looks familiar...now where have I seen this type of picture before?