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These are pictures of my CJ2A project that I started in August 2006.
I received the Jeep in pretty poor condition. All the tires were flat, it didn't move, it didn't run, there were
no gauges, and overall, nothing worked. Over the following year I started the frame-off restoration and brought it up
to a running, street-legal vehicle that I can drive around town in. Phase two of the project will include all of the
body work and external details. For now, it is fun to drive around.
Here it is the day that I picked it up in Louisiana. I rented a flat bed vehicle trailer and towed it back
to Houston, TX. My dad and I spent a lot of time using a hand winch to get it on that trailer.
To test the engine, I used a Windex bottle to spray gasoline into the carburetor. It ran in spurts of 15 seconds,
so I began the disassembly. Here is the engine after taking off the valve cover. 
This gold-colored data plate says, "ATL GEN DEPOT 1955". I looked it up and found that there was an U.S. Army base
called the Atlanta General Depot, now called Fort Gillem. Although a civillian Jeep, it must have worked for the military.
Thanksgiving
Day 2006: I lifted the body off with a hand-crank winch. I honestly need better tools!!! I bolted the winch
to a fence post and cranked the body off at a 45 degree angle, then I propped up the body on saw horses. Then, I took
a chain, attached it to a tie-down on my truck, and pulled the chassis from underneath the body. I'm pretty sure that
I almost died about twice.
You won't believe this, but I hoisted the engine and transmission out of the chassis by tying one end of a cable to the
trailer hitch of my truck, through a pulley, and around the engine/transmission. I, then, drove away from the engine,
thus pulling it up and out of its mounts. It dangled from the ceiling of my garage and I backed up, lowering it onto
floor dollies. Here it is the chassis.
Now about two months later, I've redone the brake system (it didn't have anything, but drums and pads). I used
POR-15 Chassis Black to coat the frame. Brand new 6X16 Non-Directional tires from Wallace Wade Tires in Dallas,
TX. For the rims, I used a hand chisel to remove all of the old paint. I wish I had a sand blaster and wish that
I wasn't so cheap. Anyway, I used my air compressor to prime and paint the wheels.
December 6, I brought the engine block, pistons, crankshaft, and valve cover to an engine rebuild shop. The
goals were to 1) check the cylinders for wear, 2) deck the head and valve cover for a future tight seal, and 3) grind down
the valve seats. I got it back in February, not because it took that long, because I was scared about how much it was
going to cost. Luckily, not too much. Here is the engine mounted with the transmission, both painted. Now
engine re-assembly will begin.
Here is the running chassis. This was a very gloomy time during the project, because I couldn't get it timed
correctly, it was unbalanced, loud, and I couldn't drive it legally. After months of tweeking things, I finally got
it to first idle smoothly, then run smoothly, then drive consistantly.
This is when the project really got fun. I got a muffler installed, got it running great, got a choke cable,
and got it street legal. At this point, it went from having to drag it around will dollies and winches to being able
to drive without killing. Now it never kills. Here it is on Memorial Parkway near downtown.
This is what the Jeep will look like for the next 5 years. I'll start the body work then after my new son grows
up a little.
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