Lyle, the owner had some great ideas for this one. It belonged to his best friend when they were teenagers. His friend then passed away and that is how Lyle ended up with it. So there is a bit of history with this one. We wanted to make sure that this build would be one that his best friend would be happy with.
This is how it looked when it came off the trailer, at our shop. A bit of a mess.
Lucky for Lyle, there was no gas in that can.... That would have been a little tempting.
The clean up was much harder then we thought. A lot more parts were going to be needed then we originally thought. It is already looking better. 
The plan was to add a new tub, which was a great idea, seeing as how bad the original one was rusted out. It was very nice to have the old tub out of there. But it did leave us with another mess.
The frame wasn't in too bad of shape. There were a few cracks that needed to be welded up and the rear cross member was junk. That's when it was decided to take it all the way down for repairs and then powder coat it a semi gloss black. 
I was told it only had 10,000 miles on it! What a mess! But with some elbow grease and a steam cleaner it would come clean.
Once the engine was cleaned up, I resealed all the outside seals and some of the inside ones as well. Then a few coates of Chrystler Blue made it look much better. Chrome always helps a bit as well.
Once the frame came back from the power coaters it was time to install the freshly painted axles and put on the Rubicon Express 4.5" lift. At first Iwas a little worried about that rear shackle angle, but it is now where it should be.
The drivetrain bolted up real nice, with new motor and transmission mounts.
Then the big day arrived. Bringing a big box with it.
The Line-X on the inside and underside of the tub was real nice. It will sure help the tub stay nice for a long time.
It took a bit of work, but all the body parts came together pretty nice. Once we confermed the fit, it was time to take it all back off and send the parts off to the painter.
With the tub back from the painter we started putting it back on....again. I have to say, I'm not much of a blue guy, but this blue turned out great. The shine was a mile deep.
All new parts in the dash, along with a "Painless" wiring harness.
Lyle had found a CJ-5 on the internet that he wanted his to look like. It had these square tube rock sliders on it. I built these ones as a copy of what he wanted. Square tube would not have been my first choice, but I think they look alright.
The finished Jeep. This really was great project. I look forward to doing another one. This one is a head turner for sure. I'm confident that it would win shows if Lyle ever entered it. After this Jeep makes its long journy to Miami, Lyle will add the wheels and tires that he has picked out and install the radio. So if you're in the Miami area, look for this Jeep at the beach with a waverunner being towed behind it....must be nice!
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