[jatepper]

First off, nice find!

Secondly, Semper Fi. I like the flag.

Thirdly, I saw a BA jeep on Craigslist a few days ago in Henderson. The guy was asking about $4k for it and it looked amazing, had a winch, hardtop, doors, rear lockers, and AC!!! You should look for it and check it out.

[motiv8ya]

jatepper, OOOOORRRAAHHH! I couldn't find the listing for that Jeep.

Ok after searching another Jeep VIN decoder site it appears that my tub is actually an 83'. The frame year is unknown because the number on the frame is just the last 5 digits of the VIN and bears no markings to identify the year. I found this on CJOffroad.com refrence a frame #:

"That number is only the last five digits of the VIN. Nothing is there to date it with as the year is in prior digits of the VIN.

To narrow it down, however there are characteristics of the frame that can help. If the last portion of the frame is not boxed it's a 76 or 77 frame. If it's boxed front to rear and has the short, welded on front shock mounts it's a 78' - 81' frame. If it's fully boxed and has bolt on front shock mounts it's an '82-86 frame."

So my frame is fully boxed and has the tall bolt on shock towers so it's an 82' - 86'.

[popascj7]

nice find, looks like a good starting point for a great build

keep us up to date

[franknstn_cj5]

Another Semper Fi!

-- Marine Corps Detachment, Defense Language Institute

[motiv8ya]

I took the wire wheel/grinder to the left rear corner and stripped it down to see exactly how much bondo was on there. It was thick, over 1/4 inch at some spots. The funny thing is that the damage to the metal is not bad and can definately be worked out, guess it was cheaper for the PO to putty it up. I stripped down some other areas of concern to see what I had. The rust through on the driver side under the door is small and can be patched easily and a few spots that are warped which can be worked back into shape. I found a couple of cracks in the driverside floor where the seat frames bolt in that I'll have to weld up also.

Left rear corner#1.

Left rear corner #2.

Left rear corner #3.

Left rear corner #4.

Driver floor crack.


Now for the bump in the road....My intention is to build this Jeep with the same Currie Axle set up as my other CJ7 (see profile) however after getting a quote from Currie today I'll have to either build the dana30/amc20 or delay the purchase of the axles for quite some time (to save a lot of cash).

For a Currie 9 inch front and rear with welded skid plates, 4.11's, drum brakes out back and Detroits the total was $5,738......That's like double what my setup cost a few years ago, and that's without the outer knuckles/hubs and front brakes. The reasoning I got from Currie was that their stock pile of used housings that they used to build up and sell is gone, so everything they build now is with new housings and new parts. Damn steel prices.

So I'm probably gonna invest in some more wire wheels and masks and strip the tub and frame myself instead of blasting it to save some cash for the axles. I'll line it inside and unerneath myself with a roll on. I'll pull and sell off the 350/muncie and a QT with low range that I have sitting around to get some more money. I'll drop in the 304/th400/dana20 I already have on hand.

I started this project with the plan on taking my time and fiinshing it within two years, I think it just got extended a bit...Gotta go and buy a welder and a parts blasting cabinet.

[motiv8ya]

I had some time when the kids went to sleep last night so I decided to remove the tub.... Well actually I started to remove the front sway bar and power steering gear and encountered stripped nuts inside the frame and some other nonsense. When I was removing the brake proportioning valve I found that the PO put carraige bolts inside the frame to attach it (good for tightening it up, horrible for removing it), they were soft metal so I wound up snapping them off with a pry bar, now I gotta fish them out of the frame. I was going to continue to work on the sway bar and steering gear but those bolts need to be ground off. With the kids asleep power tools were out of the question.

So I decided to remove the tub because it was unbolted already. I used my engine hoist and engine lifting harness bolted to four of the seat bracket mounting holes with a tie down to steady the rear. It lifted clean up and was off within five minutes of starting.

I bought some moving dollies and put the Jeep up on them to spin it around in the garage to make more room. Now I have the Jeep with the Body next to it in the one car bay of my 3 car garage.

I took some photos of the drivetrain and removed some accessories from the engine. I pulled the plugs and found the 3rd cylinder back on the right side was rusted, all others looked clean/normal. So the motor probably has a blown head gasket at a minimum. All the more reason to put in my AMC 304

The frame is solid !!!!!!!!!!

Here's some pics:

Hoist position:


Hoist position side view:


Hoist mounting locations inside tub:


Tub lifted:


Tub off:
http://i487.photobucket.com/albums/rr234/motiv8ya/101_2888.jpg

Engine:


Trans:


Trans/xfer case:


Rear Axle:


Gas Tank:


I'm leaning towards rebuilding the AMC20 and finding a front dana30 with discs if I can't get the Currie 9 inchers.

[JeepnBlake]

sweet! lots of pics is always a good thing

that's a real nice tub you got on there. Around here we'd be more than pleased with that very minimal amount of rust.. all in all awesome...

p.s. what are the specs on that pink jeep i saw? lol

[only in a jeep cj]

I'm with you on staying AMC with the engine...swap it out.

The year of the frame is stamped under the forward crossmember of the gas tank. You'll see it when you remove the tank and look up from the ground.

Those look like narrow track axles.....find a cheap set of OEM widetracks (82 to 86) and build those at the same cost.
GREAT FIND AND GREAT PRICE

[motiv8ya]

Originally Posted by JeepnBlake

sweet! lots of pics is always a good thing

that's a real nice tub you got on there. Around here we'd be more than pleased with that very minimal amount of rust.. all in all awesome...

p.s. what are the specs on that pink jeep i saw? lol

My two year old girl "wheels" that pink one across the neighborhood grinning from ear to ear the whole time. She jumps curbs like a champ!!

[motiv8ya]

Originally posted by Only in a jeep cj "The year of the frame is stamped under the forward crossmember of the gas tank. You'll see it when you remove the tank and look up from the ground."



Thanks for the heads up, I could only find the serial number on the right rear frame rail so far, didn't know it would be stamped elsewhere. I need to pressure wash this thing once I get the axles and suspension off.

[babytank31]

Your frame looks like it is a factory boxed. Pretty sure that 76 and older frames are not factory box design. Amc started boxing frame in 77 and newer.

[motiv8ya]

Originally Posted by babytank31

Your frame looks like it is a factory boxed. Pretty sure that 76 and older frames are not factory box design. Amc started boxing frame in 77 and newer.

Thanks, it did have the 80's style tall bolt on shock towers up front so it's an 80 something.

[motiv8ya]

I pulled the motor, trans, xfercase and crossmember today. The pile of parts is growing rapidly. It's scattered around the entire garage, gotta get more organized.

AMC 304 on left and Chevy 350 on right:


Motor out:


Trans/xfercase out:



Crossmember out:


One pile of parts:

[Coiz]

Looking great! What are your plans for the frame? Are you just going to clean it up, strip and repaint, what?

[BriansCJ]

This looks like it will be a really nice project. Good luck