SSDutch CJ6 Jeep Blog
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- 1975 CJ6 Owned by Chris Smith
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Here’s another reader submitted CJ6 Jeep - this one a V8-powered intermediate-era version. Chris writes:
1975 CJ-6; purchased by me back in 1992 as “Grizzly” (see photos). Supposedly belonged at some point to “Washington Spring Works” in DC (business name was painted on rear). It had 36” bias ply Mickey Thompsons and a spring over converted suspension. With a 304 V8/T18, it was scary to drive with severe body roll, but the odo only read 36K, under the hood looked mostly original (except all of the emission controls stuff…air pump and air injection tubes into the exhaust…had been removed), it ran well, and best of all, it was now mine.
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- Interior Strip and Repaint
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The interior of SSDutch came treated with Herculiner or Durabak which I found to be an awful Jeep interior treatment—it’s like plastering the inside of your Jeep with small gravel. Expect lots of skinned knuckles and elbows and to never be able to drive or ride barefoot in it again. It holds all manner of dirt and dust which becomes about impossible to clean out short of a vacuum cleaner, and needs to be treated with ArmourAll or something to look as good as the day you finish putting it in. For us building a Jeep that will usually have kids in it, and usually be used for beach runs it was unlivable.
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- Riding Again
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A few bugs to work out yet - but it moves under it’s own power!
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- A Shop Safety Reminder - Watch the Fan
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Well, I was all fired up to drive SSDutch last Saturday. Literally - actually - as I had the Jeep idling in the garage with the intent of just letting it get up to temp so I could keep an eye on things (still nervous about all the new wiring and heater lines etc). While it was running I noted that the carb was leaking a bit, so was going to reach in with a screwdriver and see if changing the idle screws made a difference.
Just that quick I heard a noise and felt a shock to my hand and I knew that I hadn’t fully cleared the fan. One look at the fingertip of my pinkie while running to the garage sink was all it took to realized I was going to need stitches. We put the kids at the neighbors and went to ER…and returned home some 2 hours and ~ 20 stitches later. I lost half the nail and sliced it deep enough to hit the bone. A photo of the result is after the jump - just be forewarned that it’s a bit gory.
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- Passenger Seat Latch
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After a couple of false starts I finally came up with a seat latch idea I like - just a piece of angle iron off the back of the seat frame, then a spare hood tie down mounted to the floor.