[danheit]

Originally Posted by Evian

Go to Ebay locate a tub near you. You could get lucky. Por 15 the frame and everything else that is rusted. If you don't mind spending your entire summer working on it do it. Remember that famous saying: Cheap crap will end up costing you more in the long run. There are so many people out there hard up for money that you could literally find one in near mint condition for a whole lot less than what you are going to spend on that Jeep. I would put that to the side for parts.

Huh? Already got a tub, already painted the frame, and nothing done with Cheap crap, just searched for good deals. As far as spending a lot of $$ on the Jeep, I am only into it for about $500 right now. I think that is pretty good thus far, if I do say so myself!

[danheit]

Originally Posted by danheit

So here's my new list:
Stretch Rear axle 2-6"
Speedo Cable
Mount Gas Tank DONE
Install Mirrors
Re-Herc tub
New Cowl Seal
Change All Fluids and Inspect Q-trac chaing, replace if needed
Build Tube Fenders
Paint the Jeep
Install CJ tailgate on YJ tub DONE
Replace remaining guages with autometer
Purchase/Install Seatbelts

Well, I was going to do a newly updated list, but it seems that in the midst of "playing" with my Jeep, I haven't really done anyting. I strapped down the gas tank into the back of the Jeep, hooked up my charcoal canister and rollover valve (really helped with the gas smell inside the Jeep), pulled and painted my headers and exhaust, got my passenger seat all nice and mounted and snugged up, and FINALLY GOT MY DISTRIBUTOR FREE!!!! This was the big accomplishment of the week for me. I have been working for quite some time, and today, with the help of some more PB Blaster, a pipe wrench, hammer and chisel, and a few other things, I finally got the distributor to turn so that I can set the timing. Now I need to find my timing light, find a vacuum guage to set the carb properly, and that part of the Jeep will be good to go. I also started pulling off brackets and small parts from the motor to prep for painting. Still trying to decide on black brackets, aluminum timing cover, black water pump, black pulleys, and yellow block, or hugger orange block. Not a big fan of the AMC blue. We shall see though. I also still need to do a few other things as well, like pulling the valve covers and doing a heavy polish job, replacing the flexalite fan, installing some interior gauges, etc. Just gotta find some now......

[danheit]

Well, spent the week doing some engine painting, cleaning and polishing. Ordered a few toys from 4WDH and will hopefully see them soon. I picked up a set of front braided brake hoses, the YJ Autometer dash gauge pod, Edelbrock throttle cable bracket, some new valve cover gaskets and a few little odds and ends. I am pretty sure that I am putting my sales rep's kids through college now!
Painted the motor a nice quiet shade of bright yellow, and painted the accessories black. Was debating today on either polishing the intake or painting it, but couldn't muster up the motivation to polish after spending nearly 4 hours polishing out ONE valve cover. It got painted today. I think that the motor has turned out nicely thus far.
I did get a nice surprise though after I pulled the intake. I was running my fingers through the goop and mixture of oil and antifreeze that I left in the valley after pulling the intake and gasket only to find the top little ball of a push rod. HOWEVER, I checked things, and all the pushrods were tight, and 5 looked brand new, as well as 5 of the lifters. Guessing that a little motor work was done before the Jeep was put up for the winter. By the time I am done with this thing, I might just have myself a nice little play toy! Pictures will come later.

[danheit]

Color:





Now, yes, I know that there are no bolts in my valve cover (they're still sitting on top of my battery). I am waiting on a set of cork vc gaskets from 4wd Hardware. Hope to see them on Tuesday. Also still need to make another go at polishing the valve cover out. It looks amazing compared to what it initially looked like:

After some heavy wet sanding, and polishing with the angle grinder and #3 and #5 metal polishing compound, they came out nice and shiny:

Only problem is that I didn't start out with a heavy enough grit sand paper, so I didn't get some of the heavier pitting out, and the oxidation left a lot of little black spots. I want to re-polish that valve cover before installing for good, and also still need to start on the other one. Just that one valve cover took me around 4 hours to sand and polish out by hand. Used the angle grinder with a polishing pad for some of the larger stuff though.

I painted the entire motor in the Jeep, but kept the firewall taped off, and pulled all of the accessories and small brackets off. The little stuff got painted black. Only thing I didn't like the outcome on was the alternator. I actually painted it gloss black, but I am now wondering if that was a smart idea as a: it is an electrically wound motor and I don't know how the heavy paint will affect it, and b: I didn't prep it as well as I could have and missed a couple spots on sanding it down. Either way, Advance Auto Parts sells a beautiful chrome alternator for the Jeep for around $160, and that may be in my near future. I know that they say Chrome won't get you home, but you sure will look good sitting on the side of the road! Everthing got painted except the timing cover and distributor shaft. All else is nice shiny black or yellow. I am personally very happy with how this turned out, and that's all that matters.

[Ford_Prefect]

I agree, that is all that matters.

So are you still in keeping with your price? You mentioned the other day about putting the parts guy through college...

Anyhow, I say it looks nice. Did you get yourself a good paint that will stand temps? Reason I ask is because I was wondering what brand you are using. (Just curious)

Anyhow, it sure is coming along. I am very much looking forward to the finished product. (as well as wishing you would sell it to me when you are finished for $1000.oo! )

[danheit]

Price is still very much in line. Just sold the original aluminum rockers to another JF member today, which offset my recent order to 4wd Hardware. Also have a steering gearbox and steering shaft possibly sold too, so we shall see. Paint is Duplicolor from advance auto. Supposed to be a hi temp paint with ceramic additive. Seems to hold up pretty well so far. I have run the motor several times and gotten it up to operating temp with no issues with the paint. Today I did some good work on the rear stretch. I had to cut out the right rear frame horn, about a foot of it, and weld in some square tubing. Removed the old springs, shackles, mounts, etc. Found out that my CJ has 2.5" wide springs out back, which I was always under the impression that they were supposed to be 2". However, I checked another set of stock CJ springs that I have lying around, and the rears on those were 2.5" too. Whooda thunk. Makes adding the XJ springs a whole lot easier and cheaper being that I don't have to replace spring plates, mounts, hangers or shackles. All I need to do now is to get a new set of bushings for the XJ springs and go to town. Also gonna need some longer shocks as I found out today that the ones I had were severely limiting the axle articulation. While I had the Jeep on jack stands, I cut one of the u-bolts off and there was a loud bang right when it let go and the whole axle and spring popped. Cut the other u-bolt off that holds the base plate on (as well as the shock) and there was another loud bang and the plate and shock went flying. Scared the ever loving piss out of me. All the spring bolts and shackle bolts came out very easily, which surprised me being that according to the flower power Rancho stickers, the lift was installed in the very late 70's/early 80's. I kinda want to get reproductions of the Rancho stickers made for the new shocks! Tomorrow will be a day of mocking up the springs, buying new u-bolts, and waiting for my first of 3 packages from 4wd Hardware to arrive. Should be fun!

[Ford_Prefect]

I do not recall if you said, do you have an Auto tranny in there, or the 5 spd? Which would you prefer to have given your choice???

Is all of that still in pretty good working condition, the D300 and the tranny and such?

[danheit]

The Jeep Currently runs a T400 Auto transmission and a Quadratrac transfer case, unfortunately, no D300. However, I am very happy with the setup that I currently have, as it is perfect for my intended use of the Jeep, which is mud and beach runs. Don't get me wrong, a manual transmission is fun, but this is my first auto trans in a CJ, and so far, I like it. No mess with clutches and worn out linkage, etc. I haven't had much running time to drive it though, so I am still A$$uming that it works well. Hoping to take it for a spin sometime in the very near future, if the brown Santa every makes it to my door!

[danheit]

Well, getting a little more progress made. I have ordered my YJ center dash bezel made by Autometer, installed it with a few Mechanical gauges. Here she is:


Still waiting on my XJ rear spring bushings. I have pretty well set up the frame stretch and got the springs mocked up where they will go, along with installing tghe u-bolts, etc. As soon as big brown Santa gets here, I can get the rear all finished. Also need to install a new rear bumper/xmember. Just going to make one out of steel square tubing and burn it in. Then it's some new rear shocks, d-side ebrake cable, and legthen the driveshaft, and we are all finished with that part! Here she sits as of today:

Still need to do a little trimming to the body in the rear so that the wheels have room to move, but that's only an hour or so with the sawzall and a cutoff wheel. I was kinda surprised at how the rear stretch came out. I actually thought that the rear axle would sit much further back than it is, but it seems pretty good to me like it is. Nothing outrageous, doesn't sit way back behind the Jeep, and I think it looks nice. I am still debating on taking the old rear springs and putting them in the front of the Jeep to gain an extra couple inches there, but that is completely a time will tell sort of thing. I will have to do a little bit of re-arranging on some stuff if I do that, as the rear springs are 2.5" wide and the fronts are only 2". It will mean getting a little wild with a good pair of plyers and a new set of shackle hangers, or something pretty close to that.

[danheit]

Big brown Santa came shortly after my last post! Off to the shop I go today! Really hoping to have the rear suspension all finished up by the end of today!

[ken78cj5]

I am in the process of stretching my CJ5 with the BTF kit. The bumper is great and the shackle mounts work great with the xl leafs. I also used MORE boomerang shackles with the RE 3.5" XJ springs. With the comp cut it will be awsome. I cut mine, but left just a little corner. I have 3/16" armor I got at GEN-RITE along with steel fender flairs and rock flat fenders for the front.

This is a great mod to make. Good luck!

[danheit]

Update:
Last Friday I received my new poly bushings for the XJ shackles. Very happy with the bushings, as they came ready for greasable bolts (bushing sleeves were drilled and bushings were grooved on the inside to hold grease) Only complaint is with the stock XJ bushings. These are a rubber bushing, encased in a metal sleeve. Well, over time, the metal sleeve (which is originally pressed in to the spring) rusts/fuses itself to the spring, making it nearly impossible to remove. It actually took me from about 10am until 8pm to remove the 4 bushings and their metal sleeves that surround them. Broke 3 cold chisels, an air hammer, and actually broke my big vice! Unfortunately, I don't have access to a torch where I am working on my Jeep, so I was kinda stuck with what I had. I got the new pretty red bushings and inner sleeves pressed in, bolted the springs to the forward mounts, and left it to sit over the weekend while I spent some time with the family.
Forward to today:
Made a little more headway today. Went and purchased the steel for my rear bumper/crossmember from the local steel guys. Paid $10 for some 1/4" square tube, notched it to slide over my rear frame horns, and welded it in. This thing is real beef! The way I placed it, I am able to weld it in seven places per frame horn, which means that a total of 14 welds will have to break in order for this thing to come off. I have a pretty good feeling that the rear of the frame will come off before the rear bumper does! Here's some pics of today's work:
Rear Bumper cut to 38", which gives me perfect overhang to cap the ends inside the new bumper and weld them to the frame for an even stronger hold. I am planning to do a bit of mild towing with this guy too. Nothing more than a 4x6 trailer, but you never know....



Here you can see the crappy looking weld on my fish plate for the rear section that I had to add into the frame. Doesn't look that pretty, but has good penetration, and is rather strong. Used 4 fish plates as well as butt welded the new frame section.


You can also see my beautiful new spring bushings. I'm so proud! Here's the other side of the frame that is getting burned in....

[danheit]

Originally Posted by ken78cj5

I am in the process of stretching my CJ5 with the BTF kit. The bumper is great and the shackle mounts work great with the xl leafs. I also used MORE boomerang shackles with the RE 3.5" XJ springs. With the comp cut it will be awsome. I cut mine, but left just a little corner. I have 3/16" armor I got at GEN-RITE along with steel fender flairs and rock flat fenders for the front.

This is a great mod to make. Good luck!

Ken, BTF and Gen-Rite have fantastic kits, and that is most certainly the way I will be going on my next CJ/YJ stretch that I do. I just wanted to keep this one as low budget as possible, and am doing great so far. So far, this is the first Jeep ever that I have actually made money on! I have recovered all of my costs for parts/original purchase price by selling some of the original CJ parts that I have had, as well as a few extras that came with the free body tub. However, I have a feeling that will be changing in the near future as I need a rear driveshaft and longer rear shocks. We'll see though! I have been doing pretty good with trading parts that I no longer need for parts that I do need too. XJ leaves were free, YJ seats were free, body tub was free, windshield frame I already had, you get the picture. Feel free to throw up a few pics of your 5 for some inspiration though! I bet it looks awesome. Best of luck to you in the build!

[Ford_Prefect]

Still looking good!

I like the new rear bumper better than the old one...

[danheit]

Today finally finished the mounting of the rear XJ springs! Woo Hoo! My shackles are a little bit "off" as the XJ springs are much wider than 2.5", and it causes the now split shackles to bow out on the larger side. Not the worst thing in the world, but I definately wouldn't mind getting it straightened out. I think I am at least going to replace the shackle mount bushings, if not the entire shackle mount. I just hate to redo all of that fantastic welding that I did. Surprisingly enough, I actually got it pretty well lined up with just going by eye. Had to trim the rear of the tub out a little more than it already was to fit those fat tires, but all in all, everything mounted up pretty nicely. I am now wondering if I should have just gone SOA and been done with it. Only problem is that I really don't want to mess with welding a new spring perch on the front pumpkin. I still have to build a new rear driveshaft, replace both rear e-brake cables, grind and finish the rear bumper, and clean things up a little more on the Jeep. I have my fuel gauge coming in on Friday, new SS front brake hoses and a new dipstick coming in tomorrow, and another Autometer YJ center gauge pod coming in on the 10th. The original one I received was broken during shipping, but I was able to still use it and get it mocked up, so I may just sell the new one that is coming in and use the one that I have. Here's the final stance shots: