So, after a week or two of poking around i've finally put this thing an a position to go to work on it. Remarkably, it only really took 2 days at a very relaxed pace to get it from "streetable" into the position you see here. Nice thing is I can move it around and flip it over fairly easily solo.
The pics don't really do any justice. I'm still shocked at the lack of rust on this nearly 40 year old Jeep. Aside from a 6" x 2" area in the hat channel under the drivers side floor, there is no appreciable rust on this little fella. The Ziebart obviously did a great job protecting it. Everything you see is very light surface rust. Sadly the bulk of my work is focused on fixing the back corners where some bozo used the lifting rings to recover it (with impunity) and bent the corners out, and a split in rear corner seam from what looks like some damage from jack knifing a trailer. The rest is really cosmetic, like straightening the lip along the lower edge of the body and cleaning up where the "Re-mil" repair took place.
Now comes the problem. At this point in my career, postings seem to be measured more in months rather than years. Talking with another friend in exactly the same boat, its scary trying to undertake a detailed project knowing that DND is not going to move your hulk of a Jeep and its 50 boxes of components. I think at last look in the Treasury Board Guidelines on move expenses, "hobby" materials are limited to 500lbs. As it was, I had to U-Hual this thing down in complete form and beg the Movers to to take my M416 Trailer as it technically was over the limits for size. So, don't mistake me as whining that my job is getting in the way of my hobby, but more of a case of having to balance time and economics. I've some other threads on restorations, and noticed that it wasn't uncommon for people to take in excess of 5 years to restore a "relatively simple" MB/GPW with a Repop Tub to boot. That being said, I would imagine if I was retired, i'd be looking at this in a different light.
So, back on topic. I've tried nearly every paint removal technique known to man. Heat gun is nice, but very very time consuming. I've chose to use it in areas where i'd imagine I may find markings. I also gave chemical paint stripper a go, and although it is a bit quicker, the fumes are not kosher while doing it in an attached garage. This really only leaves me with power sanding/brushing or sandblasting. Having really had a hard look at the underside of this thing. Wire wheeling the bottom of this is going to take a heck of a long time, with some areas not even accessable, and create a hell of alot of lead dust in my pristine garage.
After batting this around for nearly a year now, I think i'm going to have no choice but to send this out for sand blasting and primer. From re-reading advice and looking at other resto's, seems the best thing to do would be to do as many of the body repairs as I can now, then send it out for blasting an epoxy primer with the hopes that some new trouble spots don't pop up.
Anyone want to take stab at what the sand blasting and priming costs would be for this before I pick up the phone and a box of kleenex?
Scotty