[53BHP]

This is going to be a very short thread!!

For Jeep II (Or part II) I decided to finish the complete restoration and then put up the thread.

I lost all the stage wise photos taken over the last 6 months in a disk crash

So all I have are the photos taken after the job has been completed

This Jeep came to me FREE!!

Belongs to a family friend. 1st owner from new. Was lying in 1 place gathering salt for the last 6 years

Anyway here is the finished product. The next post is what i did to get to this point:

[GrayBerry]

Originally Posted by 53BHP

This is going to be a very short thread!!

For Jeep II (Or part II)

Attachment 405083

Handsome Jeep my friend. Looks great with the lower contrast.

[Parm]

looks like a nice restoration, could have some detailed info about restoration in terms of cost invloved?

how about some photos with the soft top?

[joshguy]

Nice ,decent jeep without frills

Looks like even the seats are oe.Which year model is this

[The Wolf]

Beautiful JEEP!!! Wana write some upclose and personal experiences restoration project pls?

[53BHP]

When I got this Jeep, it was sitting for many years. Friend's Dad's Jeep. His Dad and my Dad were buddies. Thats one of the reasons I took on this project, i guess

So what have I done with it?

Lets start with the single largest element of the car:

NEW BODY!!!

I got a new one. Yes its still possible to get one of these. Brand new (or NOS, maybe), never been used

Wish I had the pictures of the original. Lets just say you could poke it with tooth picks

The cost of tin work and painting was working out to 50k

Problem was new body was a military spec 550 body. (Yeah its good too. heavy gauge and all)

everything didnt match up to my MM540 chassis. For example the pedals are still 2 mushrooms and a chamach. The 550 has floating pedals and a floating chamach

It broke our hearts to take a torch to it. But we had to. Converting to floating pedals meant too many changes and the basis of this project was restoration to as good as new, not a 540 to 550 conversion

Lets say we managed ok

GB + TC

Yup. Brand new too. Was sitting in a dealership in Pune for years. Godown got burnt. lotsa stuff destroyed. Few things were untouched. got bundled up and sold to a scrap merchant. I was the lucky buyer. When we opened the gear box to have a look see, it was shining and spotless

To be continued.......

[joshguy]

Originally Posted by 53BHP

When I got this Jeep, it was sitting for many years. Friend's Dad's Jeep. His Dad and my Dad were buddies. Thats one of the reasons I took on this project, i guess

So what have I done with it?

Lets start with the single largest element of the car:

NEW BODY!!!

I got a new one. Yes its still possible to get one of these. Brand new (or NOS, maybe), never been used

Wish I had the pictures of the original. Lets just say you could poke it with tooth picks

The cost of tin work and painting was working out to 50k

Problem was new body was a military spec 550 body. (Yeah its good too. heavy gauge and all)

everything didnt match up to my MM540 chassis. For example the pedals are still 2 mushrooms and a chamach. The 550 has floating pedals and a floating chamach

It broke our hearts to take a torch to it. But we had to. Converting to floating pedals meant too many changes and the basis of this project was restoration to as good as new, not a 540 to 550 conversion

Lets say we managed ok

GB + TC

Yup. Brand new too. Was sitting in a dealership in Pune for years. Godown got burnt. lotsa stuff destroyed. Few things were untouched. got bundled up and sold to a scrap merchant. I was the lucky buyer. When we opened the gear box to have a look see, it was shining and spotless

To be continued.......

Man you never answered my question and this is too much suspense i say

I guess only the chasis is old rest all is OOOYYYEEE

[53BHP]

Original:

MM540DP
1995
MH 01
Single Owner
2WD
Factory Soft Top
4+1 Gear box

New:

MM540DP
1995
MH 01
2nd Owner
4WD
Custom Soft Top
4+1 Gear Box KMT90
Low and High Gear TC

[53BHP]

Originally Posted by joshguy

Nice ,decent jeep without frills

Looks like even the seats are oe.Which year model is this

Sorry Joshguy, didnt know you were online

i guess have answered your question

Its a 1995 model

Mechanically the Jeep was quite good. While it was running it was well cared for. My friends Dad had one of the best diesel fuel pump overhaul workshops in Bombay (It was Bombay then). So they knew a thing or 2 about Jeeps

[53BHP]

Time taken: 2 days

Actually 1 and a half

I had my other Jeep which turned out the donor for the differentials

Since I had bought the new GB + TC all I needed was the front and rear diff plus the new front prop shaft

Got a new prop shaft for the rear diff. Fabulous piece. The front prop shaft I used from the donor

i could have used the diff from the 2WD. But that would have meant flipping the axles and some milling/lathe work. Since it was raining heavily I was not in the mood to cart diff and axles all over the place

So I had this guy come over to my buddy Steiger's garage. He got all his stuff. We just helped him with the jacks and blocks. He got in and out of it like a rabbit

If we had given him a light and let him work late he would have been doen by late night

But as i said, it was raining and we were badly in need of some drinks and all so we called it a night with the GB and front diff propped up on blocks

next day by noon we took it for a trial. Worked well

Moral of the story: Its no big deal converting from 2WD to 4WD. you just need the right guy to do it and quite a lot of money. About 35k, if you change the main shaft of your 2WD gear box and get new diffs, TC and a front prop shaft

[53BHP]

K.I.S.S!!

Yes it was and should be (if you want to be sane at the end of it...) Keep It Simple Stupid!!

And thats what i have tried to do from start to finish

Started work mid April and finished end June. Getting a new body did move things along so briskly

I thought very hard as to what I was going to do with the interiors:

Innova seats

Bolero dash

New cluster

Headlining

But then i thought "hey this is a 540, if I want to make it like and Innova I might as well buy one. The bolero dash especially the preowned one looks like a boil on the behind of a baboon (sorry my opinion only)"

So I said to Steiger "Lets dispense with the fancy for the moment, call our man Parmar and lets restore these seats to original"

And thats what we did. We even went searching for the chequered vinyl thats there on the original seats. Mohanlal Rexine thought we were batty. "Here's some nut job searching for some age old out of fashion design"

I have retained the original head lights as the dome shaped ones are not available no more

If you see on the snaps there is some rusting on and around the ring. A free weekends worth of brightwork to get it to original mint

the windshield and tail gate i had to get changed. The were too far gone. got some decent replacements

The stepney mounts are different as this is a military 550 body. The tail gate opens the other way in a military body. So the stepney touches the tail light when you open the gate. Even after you put spacers....

[53BHP]

Originally Posted by GrayBerry

Handsome Jeep my friend. Looks great with the lower contrast.

Thank you GreyBerry

Yes the original picture unedited is the 2nd from top. When the pics were taken the sky was overcast. I did a bit of tuning to try and get as accurate a representation of the color of the Jeep in real life!!

[53BHP]

The team?

The Cost?

What more?

Changes?

Advise?

All of this tomorrow... Have a good night

[chanu]

Wow!! very interesting thread! Short and Sweet and I like the concept K.I.S.S of yours 53 BHP (Keep It Simple Stupid) you had all the chances of converting this machine into 550XD but why only 540DP any particular reason?

As you changed it with 550XD body? and what was the reason to convert the break, clutch pedals of 550 to 540 type wherein people love trying to convert the other way around I personally feel the 540 types are better and convenient compared to the recent dissatisfied experience I had with our recent purchase ARMADA when compared to my CJ3A.

Eagerly waiting for more updates and pictures. Excellent write of yours making it more intresting, appreciate it. Keep flowing.

Thanks.
Bala

[53BHP]

Originally Posted by chanu

Wow!! very interesting thread! Short and Sweet and I like the concept K.I.S.S of yours 53 BHP (Keep It Simple Stupid) you had all the chances of converting this machine into 550XD but why only 540DP any particular reason?

As you changed it with 550XD body? and what was the reason to convert the break, clutch pedals of 550 to 540 type wherein people love trying to convert the other way around I personally feel the 540 types are better and convenient compared to the recent dissatisfied experience I had with our recent purchase ARMADA when compared to my CJ3A.

Eagerly waiting for more updates and pictures. Excellent write of yours making it more intresting, appreciate it. Keep flowing.

Thanks.
Bala

Hey Bala

Thanks

Thing is when you go looking for a new body, you cant really be fussy about what body you get. Ask the other guys on the forum who have tried this

harjeev, if you are reading this, we talked. Took your advise and didnt mess around fixing my cheese holed original body. Got lucky though with this one. didnt have to go to the trouble of travelling to delhi to your adda and finding the body and taking apart the carcass. Had the body delivered to my doorstep

Lucky break

Bala

I am ok with the mushroom pedals. The floaters have brake assist, so you dont have to bust your calves standing on the pedals. But thats ok for me. This will not be my daily driver. I would like it to be but cant. The reasons will follow in the rest of the thread

Rohit