Jeep Trailblazer SS

[Southcity]

Thanks for clarifying, the blue you've chosen sounds nice. The trim and wheels on your Jeep TB SS contain black and polished surfaces, perhaps one option would be to run that lower trim completely polished without any color in it? not sure that's possible or maybe black to match the wheels? I'm sure you will get all kinds of input and feedback from others on this board.

[gottattooz]

The old tail light lenses are cracked. I installed the newer left tail light housing, but the lens is pale. I ordered a set of red LED bulbs from eBay. They're made by jdm astar ($15/each) and they're bad ass. The pictures are #1 tall lights before. #2 left bulb without the lens, #3 white LED bulb (right) and red LED bulb( left) for comparison.
#4 red LED without lens and #5 parking lights with left red LED and right White led bulbs installed. The brake lights are even brighter. Definitely worth the price for the upgrade.

[Ol Blue K20]

Those bulbs made a big difference.

[gottattooz]

I hate bodywork. I'm just trying to make it straight enough to get a decent paint job. Since i live 15 miles from summit racing, i perused their paint catalog for inspiration. I've decided on Sonic blue pearl and moonshine white pearl. The roof, side stripe between the chrome and some "SS" stripes on the hood will be white and the rest of the Jeep will be blue.

-Josh

[Ol Blue K20]

That's looking good, I can't wait to see color on it.

[mongocanfly]

Glad I've got my bodywork behind me...ive only got a few more pieces to paint..

[gottattooz]

So i went back to summit and noticed they have painted samples of the paint they sell. The color on the left is the sonic blue pearl I'm planning to use on the Jeep. The color to the right is cobalt blue metallic. I like the cobalt better, but i think the lighter blue will look better with the white pearl and look more period correct.

As the body work progresses forward from the left rear quarter panel, i had to remove the chrome strips and the wood grain decal, which was a pain. The white on the doors is factory original. The blue on the Jeep was a repaint color.

-Josh

[gottattooz]

I'm really tired of sanding, but I've got the hood smooth and ready for primer.

-Josh

[Madkidd007]

Originally Posted by gottattooz

I'm really tired of sanding, but I've got the hood smooth and ready for primer.

-Josh

So what happened to heading down to Florida?

[gottattooz]

Originally Posted by Madkidd007

So what happened to heading down to Florida?

The plan is to get the bodywork as straight as i can and then primer it. Then I'll take it you my friend's place in Florida where he'll fix it straight enough to paint. Then he'll paint it. I'll probably take a week off of work to get it completed. I redid my dad's 1959 Chevy truck there. It took almost 3 years to complete, but we were 30 miles apart. Being able to walk out back and tinker with the Jeep will save lots of time there.

-Josh

[gottattooz]

"Let's just swap tail gates really quick" was my thought for today. Well, I'm sure everybody has encountered the different challenges that arise when you swap body parts from different year vehicles.

The 1968 jeep tail gate hinges are bolted on from underneath.
The 1979 hinges are bolted from the top of the floor. Then i noticed the 68 hinges are threaded and the 79 hinges bolt through the hinge into the floor. So i tapped the 79 hinges and found the appropriate bolts to mount them. Turns our, the mount holes are exactly opposite from one year to another.

I swapped the left hinge, but the right hinge was broken, so i used the bottom of the old hinge as a template to make new holes on the 79 hinge. This "quick swap" took me all day. I kept leaving tools in the back of the Jeep. I couldn't find them, because the Jeep was up in the air on the lift.

Now I've got to decide if i want to wire up the power back window or transfer the manual window crank and regulator.

-Josh

[Southcity]

With all this great work you are doing I'll bet you'd appreciate just hitting a switch to lower that back window when you are driving it.

[Ol Blue K20]

Originally Posted by Southcity

With all this great work you are doing I'll bet you'd appreciate just hitting a switch to lower that back window when you are driving it.

I agree, power window.....why not......

[gottattooz]

I decided to keep the power window in the tail gate. So i started preparing to swap in the glass from the blue gate. The guy I got the white Jeep from had new tail gate hardware. I replaced the glass sidetracks and as i was putting the glass in, the left track bracket broke off. So i replaced that too.

[gottattooz]

The bulb for the license plate is blown. I couldn't find an LED replacement online, so i made my own.

-Josh

[Ol Blue K20]

Keep plugging away at it. Nice idea for the light too.....

[Southcity]

Originally Posted by ol blue k20

keep plugging away at it. Nice idea for the light too.....

x2 ^

[Madkidd007]

I mean it works, but you should have text me. I have a box with all sorts of LEDs

[gottattooz]

Originally Posted by Madkidd007

I mean it works, but you should have text me. I have a box with all sorts of LEDs

What's really funny is that after i finished making the license plate light and bracket, i was looking through my box of electrical connectors and i found a license plate light from a Jeep i owned probably 15 years ago.

-Josh

[Ol Blue K20]

Originally Posted by gottattooz

What's really funny is that after i finished making the license plate light and bracket, i was looking through my box of electrical connectors and i found a license plate light from a Jeep i owned probably 15 years ago.

-Josh

That's typical with anything. You find what you need after you've completed a task.

[gottattooz]

So i got the power window regulator wired up. It was a lot easier to figure our than i thought it would be.

Unfortunately, i have to remove the tailgate again to swap out the left hinge. It turns out the hinges are different designs entirely, because of the way they mount and because the weather stripping is on the tailgate on the blue Jeep and on the tailgate opening on the white Jeep. The blue hinges are flat and the white hinges are bent up on the white. So the tailgate hangs up on the left side. I have to pry up with a screwdriver to get the gate open.

And finally, I've been working on the body work. I got the driver's door sanded down and smoothed out. It's coming along.

-Josh

[Ol Blue K20]

Looking good, it will be painted in no time......

[Southcity]

Great job on getting the electric window working and the tailgate almost all squared away. You have a lot to be proud of with this project, thanks for taking us along for the ride!

[gottattooz]

So I've started working on the roof rack design. I started with a 1 1/2 inch angle iron (bed frame railing), but it wasn't tall enough. I have to consider the height to mount the wiper motor above the windshield.

I found a 6' section of 4 inch tall i-beam at work. The end was mangled, but i only needed 4 feet. I cut the i-beam into 6 inch sections to support the factory roof rack. In order to get the aluminium rack to the edge of the i-beam, i put each one in the bench vise and beat them down one inch. My original plan was to cut off the inside top section of the beam, but then i thought i could drill a hole or two into the inner flange and use it to secure cargo straps, if i ever use the rack.

- Josh

[gottattooz]

The factory nut inserts have seen better days, so i picked up some new inserts from summit racing. I forgot that i had repaired the roof around a few of the inserts and i ended up doing more damage than good. Fortunately, the holes are easily accessible, just above the rear passenger seat, so I'll use bolts and large fender washers to secure the roof rack there.

-Josh