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A 1984 Black CJ7 Build - My never ending project/addiction

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1984 cj-7
37K views 192 replies 46 participants last post by  diddy2003 
#1 ·
This is what I picked up. This is the ebay listing from when the guy bought the jeep in 12/07. He has since rebuilt the transmission, did all new brake lines and cables, and did some other stuff. I am going to fix the rot when I get the jeep. Minor and he has the metal. Its only going to cost me 300 bucks to fix it and paint the hood, which has some peeling. The rot is right under the driver door. The rest of the metal is good. The Jeep started right up and it has a current inspection sticker. The guy was driving it up until about November, when he bought a newer wrangler. Frame is good too. The only blemish on the body is the rot.









The jeep does not come with the plow. This is how it looks. Has about 84k on it now.







This is my first post. So what do you guys think? I paid 1500 for it.
 
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#2 ·
nice, from the looks of it you got lucky. hard to tell from pics though.
 
#3 ·
If the frame looks as good as the rest, then you got a great deal.
A lot of work went into that, YJ Tub, new rear cross member, new head gasket.
Looks like a little rust popping through under the doors though.
I would get under and check the rear of the frame were the rear shackles mount first, then the rest of the frame.

I would get some Monroe load levelers on that thing though to support the plow weight. I have a 7-1/2 foot plow on my CJ5 and it does great with plowing. Just power wash the thing when you're done plowing every day.
 
#4 ·
The rear of the frame looked good, along with the shackles. Just some surface rust, but it is minimal.

I am undecided if I like the newer body or not. I would rather the CJ-7 body, but not much I can do about it now. The rot is under the driver door, from the front of the door to the back. He has the metal replacement part for it, so that shouldn't be a big deal.

The plow isn't on the jeep. The seller kept it. I didn't want it anyway so no big deal. He does have half doors I am taking. They are blue so they also need some paint. My friend sold me some goodyear wrangler AT/S(P) in 31x10.5. They have 1500 miles on them and I am getting them cheap. Probably 200 bucks. I thought that was a good price.
 
#5 ·
Looks good and a great price! What about the YJ tub don't you like? It looks like the PO put the CJ tailgate on so everything else will be indistinguishable unless the gas filler is still on the drivers side (and the rear flares obviously). The flares can be changed out for CJ ones to give the rear wheel openings the classic rounded CJ look. Both tubs have the same size and shape opening....it's just the flares that are shaped differently.
 
#7 ·
I will have to look in to what it would take to make the opening round. That's really the only thing that bothers me because it doesn't look like a true CJ, haha.
 
#6 ·
Instead of fixing the rot under the door, may want to consider doing the boatside rockers, where you cut under the door from front to rear of the tub an replace it with a rocker cover that sits in under the jeep at a 45 degree angle. Fix 2 things with one mod.

As an example found on OffRoadEvolution

 
#8 ·
Hmmm, that looks interesting. Thanks for the post. I am leaning more towards a stock/restored look, but I will look in to that. I was only going to do a 2.5 inch lift with bigger wheels. The rest of the jeep I just wanted to get as close to new as possible. It will not be a hardcore off roading jeep. Probably a street jeep with the occasional woods day.
 
#12 ·
Well I hope that's not true. I paid 1500 so I still think its a good deal. My buddy, that has been working on jeeps for 30 years, said it was in great shape minus that rot. I hope that's the case.
 
#13 ·
Just in case anyone was having the same issue:

I had been looking for replacement steel WITH the Jeep logo embossed in the steel, like it was originally. Something that actually said Jeep too, not Joop. Well, after calling around, and talking to quadratec, they told me that I could not get replacement panels with the logo on them. Most people told me that my only option was going to be finding a good panel in a junk yard and cutting it out. I was not about to do that. Then a buddy called me last week and showed me this website:
http://www.classicent.com/jeep.php

They are a company that makes replacement panels WITH the logo on them. Very nice. I bought one immediately. I did not want to replacement the rotted panel with a blank one and this solves the problem.



They even just sell the embossed jeep logo:
 
#14 ·
And so it begins! Already has the new embossed Jeep logo on the passenger side. My buddy started on it yesterday I think. I am pumped. I just picked up some barely used 31s and a set of axles with 3.73 gears for it.







I also ordered some new oem CJ fender flares. It should look much better soon. Those half doors in the background, they are blue, are also being repainted black. I probably won't use them, but I figured I would paint them over anyway.
 
#18 ·
I don't know about the wheels. They are poorly painted silver now, which will be fixed soon.

I kind of screwed up on the flares. I didn't think to check the mounting prior to paint. I should have filled the YJ flare mounting holes. I didn't. Looks like I have to fill and re-paint now or just run YJ flares. I am not happy about it. Sucks.

I did find baseball glove leather seats, front and rear, out of a Renegade. Those will look better than the garbage Nissan seats in there now.
 
#19 ·
Look closely at the wheels. It mat not be silver paint. You'll know better than i because you have them there, but the original chrome wheels came with a factory clearcoat that tends to get hazy over time. If that's the case you can strip them and re-clear them in a weekend. My son and I bought a set and did this. I attached the before and after...Your jeep looks great btw. Good inspiration for me.
 

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#20 ·
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Dave5liter said:
...the original chrome wheels came with a factory clearcoat that tends to get hazy over time.

If that's the case you can strip them and re-clear them in a weekend.

My son and I bought a set and did this.

I attached the before and after.
Wow, those turned out looking great!

Not to hijack the OP's thread, but could you share the details on how you went about getting them to look so good?

Thanks

.
 
#21 ·
For obvious reasons, the wheels can't have any structural damage and hopefully minimal flaws in the steel (rust included). That will show through when you're done. I sprayed each wheel with Klean-Strip's Auto Strip Finish Remover. Let it bubble up the clear and gently scraped with a plastic putty knife. After the majority of the clear was removed, I went in with a water hose and rag to get the small bits. Dried the wheel completely and repeated a second time. After the old clear was gone and the wheel was prepped, I used Duplicolor's High Performance Wheel Coating Clear. The instructions call for two light coats followed by a medium coat. This produced a heavy orange peel look, so I went with a single medium to heavy coat and achieved a glass-like finish. Not certain how durable it will be as I've only got about 3 months on the wheels since I did them. Most people can't believe they are original wheels.
 

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#23 ·
So I took a look at the wheels. They appear to be black wheels that had been painted silver. The insides of the wheels are black and, when I removed the wheel weight, there was black under it. So it looks like I will just repaint them silver.



Also, my buddy is going to fill the YJ flare holes so I can put the CJ flares on. After the repaint of that area, we will wet sand the entire thing and smooth out the finish. It should look pretty good then.
 
#24 ·
So I took a look at the wheels. They appear to be black wheels that had been painted silver. The insides of the wheels are black and, when I removed the wheel weight, there was black under it. So it looks like I will just repaint them silver.
The factory wheels never came black, So you might have another layer to get through.
Also, my buddy is going to fill the YJ flare holes so I can put the CJ flares on. After the repaint of that area, we will wet sand the entire thing and smooth out the finish. It should look pretty good then.
Excellent :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
 
#27 ·
Here is the Jeep as it sits today. It has been wet sanded, buffed, holes filled, fender flares installed, and the inside of the fender, that was still bare metal, has been painted.



Now it is at the shop getting new jeep seats, with Rugged Ridge covers, and a full tune up. I also am having them put on a bikini top. Nothing fancy, but I don't have a soft top so I want something there just in case it rains. It is coming along pretty well I think.
 
#29 ·
So here it is as of today. I found a set of seats out of a '80s renegade for 200 bucks. They are that baseball color. Then I put some rugged ridge neoprene covers on them. The seats I had before were out of a nissan and they were bolted in place. The new seats have all the correct hardware, which is awesome. I also had a minor timing issue and vacuum line issue, which is all fixed now. The best top bikini top was also put on yesterday. I think it came out pretty good. I think I am in to it for around 3 grand now. Pics to follow.
 
#33 ·
Here are some updated pictures. I had the inside lined with SEM Rock-it bedliner. http://www.tcpglobal.com/autobodydepot/sembedliner.aspx I also had the half doors, that used to be blue, painted black. The mirrors on them have been removed. I bought a set of axles, D30/AMC 20, with 4.10 gearing, but those haven't been installed yet. The front has a detroit trutrac and the rear has a trac-lok. Just waiting on the funds to buy a lift and tires right now.





Here is a little vid from a few days ago. I didn't get stuck, I just had to back up a bit and go around the rock. It was fun but the gearing was terrible in the woods. The open diffs and the 31 inch A/Ts didn't help much either, but it was still fun to play around in the woods regardless, haha.

http://s283.photobucket.com/albums/...tion=view&current=2011-12-21_10-34-45_648.mp4
 
#38 ·
I don't think so. When he had it apart I didn't even notice if that brace was rusty. He didn't mention anything about it either.

Looks great. If you're ever in Braintree area, I'd love to take a look at a few things, as I'm going to putting a 92 tub on my 86 this summer.
I usually don't drive it very far and I rarely take it on the highway. The gearing is pretty ****ty right now, with the 2.73s. When I change them to 4.10s I hope that the drivability of the jeep improves. It has a hard time going up hills at speed now, which makes long distance highway driving miserable. If you are ever in this area hit me up. I can show you a place that can answer any question you have. They are called endangered species jeep and all they do is work on jeeps. They would be able to help you with anything you have questions on.

Thanks for all the positive feedback :thumbsup: Its my first jeep and I love it. I guess I am a jeeper for life now :cheers:
 
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