Finally shiny!

So, it's been a long time waiting, but I have finally restarted work on the CJ! The chassis has been paint stripped professionally, after finally finding a place that does it, and now hot dip galvanized. A lot of people worried it would warp but it has come out perfectly straight and it looks awesome:

Next step is to paint it black, which will be done in the next few weeks alongside some parts for the race Jeep. Hopefully all this means this chassis should not even start to rust within my lifetime.

More delays

Went to visit the galvanisers yesterday and ran into a problem. The paint is too tough for their acids to get rid of so I need to do that myself before taking it to them. After doing some research on something cheap to strip paint I found that sodium hydroxide works (aka lye, caustic soda, drain cleaner etc). So I went down the street and bought 5kg for $26. I experimented with a small bit of crossmember in a bucket and found a 5:100 concentration works. Ie 200ml sodium hydroxide to 10 litres of water. This is with the flakes I have obviously different forms will be different ratios. After a few hours in there the paint simply wiped off.

My plan is to plug all the holes up with tape and whatever else and fill it with the solution to eat the inside then maybe sand blast the outside. 

Word of warning this stuff is extremely basic and will burn your skin, eyes clothes and most other things except plastic and steel. If you use this method take appropriate safety measures. It will eat through most paints but will not do anything to corrosion. 

Here's a picture of the test piece after a quick wipe with a rag:

Ready to galvanise

Hey all finally got the parts back from the laser cutters and got a mate to clean up the chassis and weld the new shock mounts on. With 6mm 350mPa steel plate and 4140 bar welded everywhere we could I doubt it will ever break. Fit together perfect too, tapped the stud in with a hammer and then tapped the whole mount into the chassis as well. Great idea getting things laser cut and not as expensive as you'd think either.
Some people were over the next day so we loaded it onto the trailer and will hopefully take it down to the galvanisers today. This is the turning point of when it starts going back together which is very exciting.
Next job is to rebuild the diffs and install a spring over axle lift in the front and a shackle flip in the back.
Cheers.

Shock studs

Laser cutters are taking longer than expected so it can be put through with another bigger order, but on the plus side they're free because of this!
The studs however are both done and my machinist friend offered to do them for free too in return for putting his business on the race TJ. If anyone is looking for a great machinist who knows his stuff about everything off road talk to Peter at Warragul Machining and Mechanical Repairs. He did a great job on the studs and made out of very high grade steel, 4140 from memory so shouldn't have any problems with these breaking.
Will hopefully update soon with the laser cut parts.
Cheers.

Rear shock mounts

Since the rear shock mounts at some point in their life had been broken and welded back together (very badly) with some box tube as reinforcement I decided to cut them out and have new ones made which are on their way from the laser cutters at the moment.

The smaller holes are to allow for hot dip galvanising and the larger hole to fit the shock mounting stud which is being made by a machinist at the moment.
Hopefully I should have both next week and can weld them on. After this and a good clean the chassis is ready to be galvanised.
Cheers.

Galvanising

Hey everyone. Diffs are off and no just have the tow bar and a couple other brackets to remove. I have sent pictures to a galvanising businesses for a quote and should be having it hot dipped in the next few weeks. Then I begin putting it back together! However due to limited funds progress will be very slow. I am beginning from the ground up so first thing will be rebuilt diffs with air lockers front and rear followed by springs and shocks. Since my brother in law was selling his 37" tyres I have decided to buy and run them so the Jeep will now be built to fit them which means no regearing is required but a lift will be.
More updates should be soon.
Cheers.
Tom.

Stripped

Hey all, been a while since I updated this but its been pretty boring just dismantling everything. So far have stripped it down to the chassis and still have to remove the axles and brake lines. Pulled a lot of dirt from between the tank and frame but luckily just a bit of surface rust. I think the layer of clay on it protected it! Otherwise everyrhing looks pretty good and not a lot of work but who knows what may be under the paint. Once the chassis is absolutely bare I will cut off some of the mods the previous owner has added like battery mounts under the tray. Then I will strip and paint the chassis and start rebuilding!
Cheers for watching.