The Dutch Barn

[Hylke]

To stay in style with my Introduction: here's my little workshop/garage/storage.

I'm 26, had a couple of jobs and am now back in College for work-study. For years I have looked around Markplaats.nl (the dutch version of craigslist) at cars to dream about. Until 2 years back I found a Jeep CJ7 for not too much. I kept following it while it wouldn't sell and got it for even less.

Here's the CJ parked out in the street with the daily driver, a 1996 Peugeot 106.

And another one from the front:

I drove it for a while and noticed some (a lot... ) imperfections which turned out to be natural to a CJ.
So I started looking for a place to park and maybe even do some work on it. That was almost a mission impossible. I have no money to buy any property so I set out to rent something. Most of the garages around are 1 car boxes in which you can just park your car, with about an inch of room on both sides, with no electrics and without running water. And all that for just 300 euro's a month! ($ 400+)

Finally I found a 2 1/2 car spot in a barn on a farm. There is another guy in that barn with two '50 Bentleys and a '60 Jaguar for weddings. Nice cars!

The guy with the Merc in that picture has left, we now have a guy with a Volvo 1800, one with an Amazone and a guy with a '70 Peugeot 304.

Then I started tearing down the Jeep and made a mess of the place. I have been working and welding down on the ground all through the first winter.

Next post!

 

[Hylke]

Continued.

A friend offered me some shelving because I (and my back) got tired of working on the ground. So I adjusted the shelves to serve as a workbench.
He got me some big plastic boxes on casters to store parts in or use as a mobile bench.

Setting it up:

Overview of my corner and the shop's lift owned by the weddingcar guy. I installed some overhead lighting to shed some light on the chassis and get some light on my workbench.

My way of organising the new nuts and bolts. Has changed slightly, new photo's will be posted.

The way my workshop looked for the past few months, with a freshly powdercoated chassis.

 

[Grizz1963]

Great stuff, garages and workshop space is always a treasure.

You will find there are quite a few Dutch guys over on www.retrorides.proboards.com They will approve of your space and cars.

 

[bluesman2a]

Nice setup!!! I gotta respect anybody willing to work on old iron like that CJ, and that goes DOUBLE for you guys in Europe where parts can be scarce. Looks like you are off to a great start, my first Jeep project was an 83 CJ-7, man that brings back some memories!

 

[y20dth]

looks great!
Keep the pictures on the rebuild coming

 

[Hylke]

Hmm, is there a designated area on this forum for a jeep rebuild? Should I sneak it in here or shall I open another thread in the Freeparking zone

Rebuilding a jeep is fun but original parts are scarce. There are not too many junkyards where you can just go and find parts for this kind of jeep. European makes are widespread. There are however a few dealerships that sell aftermarket and replacement parts for CJ and the like. When I need parts fast I order from them but I usually order directly from the States, and those dealers do too.

And I'll check the retrorides board too!

Cheers!

 

[kizer]

Man running a Jeep website like I do normally when I hear of somebody working on their Jeep its not a lets tear it completely apart and rebuild it like that. Thats awesome.

I'm doing the same for a 65 Chevy Pickup so I do feel your pain and sense of accomplishment.

 

[mdbeck1]

Hmm, is there a designated area on this forum for a jeep rebuild? ...

You might try this web site: http://www.earlycj5.com/

 

[Ron Lombardo]

Nice Jeep ..good luck ...I spent 3 years in Netherlands. Arnehem, Amsterdam and Waginegan ... very nice place...still have a bunch of friends there ... where you located in Holland?

Ron

 

[jwhcars]

Looks like you are having a good time...keep us updated.

 

[bluesman2a]

You might try this web site: http://www.earlycj5.com/

nope. his jeep has about zero in common with those guys.
JeepsUnlimited and offroad.com both have a decent CJ sections (or at least they USED to be).

For those hard to find CJ body and chassis parts, I use these guys at Turner 4WD:
http://www.thejeep.com/

They are local to me, but they have never failed me. If you can get them on the phone they are a WEALTH of information. They specialize in CJ's of all vintages.

 

[Hylke]

The CJ 5's from after either 1972 or 1975 have some things in common with the 7. I spend most of my time on Jeepforum.com and I only glance the Jeepsunlimited forum and the dutch Jeepforum.
Thanks for the link, like with most US websites I have to take the shipping into account. Most websites for hardware like nuts and bolts don't ship outside of the 48 states, let alone to Europe. Found one luckily.

Ron: I live in Den Haag (The Hague) but I got my workshop in the centre of the Netherlands. Whenever I tell some of my canadian friends what size our country is, they just don't buy it that I can drive across the whole country from east to west in 3 hours or so. (While sticking to the speed limit!)

I'll keep updates coming from both the workshop and the Jeep =)

 

[Abodyracer]

I can drive across the whole country from east to west in 3 hours or so. (While sticking to the speed limit!)

It takes me longer than that (4 1/2-5) to drive across my home state of Nebraska. Even at speed limit (75mph) which I'm sure is faster that yours.

 

[stf]

http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o54/hylkeypma/Jeep/4.jpg

Info on those green totes?

 

[Hylke]

On my way to the Barn two nights ago I made this photo. The dutch airspace had just been shut down due to the Icelandic Ashcloud.
So apparently those dark clouds aren't clouds, but consist of ash.

My car-for-lent since my own Peug was at the dealer for it's yearly check up (MOT, APK). It's a Fiat Cinquecento and it's waaaayyyy small.

I rearranged my tools again, and decided to put most of them up on the wall. By that time I still had an extra box of wrenches, tap and dies and my torque wrench to store somewhere. With some left over wood I built two drawers which slide on a piece of laminated particle board and are hold in place by pieces of multiplex.

And the green totes as requested:

And a close up of the internet adress on it, and it says it's been made in Italy!

And the last two pictures: there's so much more stuff from others in this barn that I like to push the large carparts around myself. I use several of these boards with casters to roll the body around the shop, the engine, transfercase and the gearbox.
For the hardtop I build a cart that I can put the hardtop on on my own. It has lockable wheels. The original I saw in a jeepparts brochure, made of steel selling for close to $ 400,- and I thought I could do the same for a whole lot less myself. It seems to have worked out well for me.

 

[Rich]

Man, you don't mess around when it comes to fixing "imperfections".

It looks like you found a great space to work in. Keep us updated on the progress.

 

[onewaydave]

IMHO this is the perfect place to post about your garage AND what dou are doing in it. My nephew is doing up a CJ -7, frame off. I also respect your persistance to do this when the rest of your world doesn't cooperate with your needs. Go man.