1961 Cherokee Facelift

[03vrod]

Well I've been saying I would post it so here goes.I needed a project I'm a diesel mechanic for Freightliner.I've built numerous cars,motorcycles,and a couple of years ago a fiberglass bass boat 1989 Stratos[never again] I don't enjoy fiberglass.So the search began I wanted something old Aluminum and all the pieces there.I found this old 16' Cherokee 1961 with the original 75HP Johnson and the cable steering system.The guy didn't know it was that old he thought it was a 78 but I knew it was older .At first it was going to be a complete resto fixing all the dents and filling all the holes.Then we decided to leave the dents and few holes where things were.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: 1961 Cherokee Facelift

Looks like a good project. You'll definitely prefer working on it over the glass boat.

 

[03vrod]

Re: 1961 Cherokee Facelift

Thanks,and your right it was a lot better than glass no itching afterwards.I first stripped evrything off and stripped the inside.I found several small holes and some oxidation.I welded the holes maybe 3 or 4 .I initially wanted to use Gluvit but no one had it on the shelf so I checked around some other sites and found this product called coat-it which they use on drift boats.It has mostly good but also some bad reviews .I cannot say it works great at this time but you can check around and decide for yourself.I'll let you know after a few years ,it did apply well.Since I wanted to provide protection as well as seal.I chose to use this product.It's also cheaper but they may be because it has fillers.I coated the inside and the stuff really adheres well.With a little help from my neighbor we flipprd it over and I stripped it with a stripping wheel and wire wheel.It wasn't as hard as the cars I've done.Then we applied the coat-it to the bottom.It flows easy and I had to push it back up at the bow.I painted the bottom and then paited the top and reassembled.The pics when it was stripped are to big if someone can tell me how to reduce the m I'll load them.Here are some pics after paint. working on the floor and engine now.