BUILD THREAD: Project "Ghetto Fabulous" - Page 3

Modfather · 03-01-2009, 07:12 AM

You people in the south and west do not know how good you have it. The little bit of rust your talking about is about the same amount of rust a 2005 jeep would have here and that's no lie. I was thrilled to find a jeep with a solid frame and a fiberglass body because then at least I knew I would not need another tetanus shot.

Thats a nice project you got there, and you tore her down real fast. I think I spent the same amount of time re-building my carb.

spk454 · 03-01-2009, 08:06 AM

Congrats on the find and good work. If your 304 needs freshening, you might want to just pick up a 360 long block and move over eveything. That's what I did with mine and the 360 seems alot stronger.

motiv8ya · 03-01-2009, 11:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by spk454

Congrats on the find and good work. If your 304 needs freshening, you might want to just pick up a 360 long block and move over eveything. That's what I did with mine and the 360 seems alot stronger.

The 304 has 30k on it when I pulled it out of my other CJ7 (in favor of a 401 I built), it looks like hell but it is bored .030 over has ported/polished and decked heads with stainless steel valve guides. I still have a plastic bin full of the accessories for it, I just need motor mount brackets (engine block to mount pad). I'm gonna clean it up and throw it back in.

motiv8ya · 03-01-2009, 11:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Modfather

You people in the south and west do not know how good you have it. The little bit of rust your talking about is about the same amount of rust a 2005 jeep would have here and that's no lie. I was thrilled to find a jeep with a solid frame and a fiberglass body because then at least I knew I would not need another tetanus shot.

Thats a nice project you got there, and you tore her down real fast. I think I spent the same amount of time re-building my carb.

I owned my first 79 CJ7 back in New York, it was a beach Jeep and I know all about the rust. I had three sets of brakes on it... Power brakes, Parking brakes and Fred Flinstone (drop your feet through the hole in the floor as a last resort) brakes. My red 79 CJ7 from my profile is also a New York Jeep and has only been in the desert climate for the last 7 years.

I can't imagine starting out with some of the swiss cheese frames that I've seen on here. I don't have the metal/fab skills to do so. Some of those guys are crazy, but the end result is always awesome!!!

motiv8ya · 03-01-2009, 11:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Coiz

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

Yes, I'll probably strip it (not sure if gonna blast or just wire wheel it) and repaint. I could probably just pressure wash it and call it good though.

Modfather · 03-01-2009, 04:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by motiv8ya

I owned my first 79 CJ7 back in New York, it was a beach Jeep and I know all about the rust. I had three sets of brakes on it... Power brakes, Parking brakes and Fred Flinstone (drop your feet through the hole in the floor as a last resort) brakes. My red 79 CJ7 from my profile is also a New York Jeep and has only been in the desert climate for the last 7 years.

I can't imagine starting out with some of the swiss cheese frames that I've seen on here. I don't have the metal/fab skills to do so. Some of those guys are crazy, but the end result is always awesome!!!

Ok, if you did your time up north your OK in my book.

Yeah, I have started projects far worse then this one. Lucky for me I have a friend that owns a body shop and another one who is a master fabricator so anything I can't do one of them will do for me on the cheep (or for a favor of some sort) so it works out ok.

I think I might build my next jeep from scratch right out of the catalog. I'm diggin that CJ-8 they are building on xtreme right now and might go that route. When I look back at some of the things I have built and what all I had replaced or made stronger, I may as well start from nothing.

motiv8ya · 03-01-2009, 07:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Modfather

Ok, if you did your time up north your OK in my book.

Yeah, I have started projects far worse then this one. Lucky for me I have a friend that owns a body shop and another one who is a master fabricator so anything I can't do one of them will do for me on the cheep (or for a favor of some sort) so it works out ok.

I think I might build my next jeep from scratch right out of the catalog. I'm diggin that CJ-8 they are building on xtreme right now and might go that route. When I look back at some of the things I have built and what all I had replaced or made stronger, I may as well start from nothing.

I really wanted to build a $crambler this time around but they're too much money so I settled on this one.

Modfather · 03-01-2009, 08:54 PM

Money becomes less of an issue when the stupid idea in your head just keeps growing. I started out with a 2wd ranger then bought a 4wd ranger to off road. Then a tow rig and trailer, then another trail rig, then another, then this and that, and tools, and more stuff.

Sometimes I wish I had got into something cheaper or smaller. I have no money and no room left. haha

motiv8ya · 03-04-2009, 03:18 PM

Got some time yesterday to complete my teardown. All in all it went rather quickly because the only thing I invested in the disassembly is my Time. The individual component rebuilding and reassembly will take longer due to the $pending of money as the build progresses.

Now I have to go through the piles and bags of parts and see what is going to be reused, what I'm going to sell and what is going to scrap. I'm going to need to chase down some front disc conversion parts for the dana30 if I keep it and ditch my Currie Axle plan.

The two rear shackle hangers have one bolt that is stuck in each holding them onto the frame so I gotta get some PB Blaster on there. Other than that, the frame looks as good inside as it does outside and I could probably get away with a light sand, prime and repaint.

Here's some pics:

Front axle off:

Cut Ubolts to remove springs:

Bare frame:

Now I can start making a new parts purchase list, posting used parts for sale and making more room in the garage.

A couple of the many unsafe things I found during this teardown. The crossmember was held in by one bolt per side, the motor mount bolts (from frame to bracket) were all non grade hardware and the homemade motor mount plates reused the stock IL6 mounting rubber and a plate of 1/4 steel. The mounting rubber was torn to shreds and falling apart. Why do people do this kind of stuff and cut corners on important hardware?

motiv8ya · 03-04-2009, 05:06 PM

I just checked the castings on the Chevy and the trans I pulled from the Jeep.
The Chevy motor is a 307 not a 350 with a casting #3970024. The Trans is a Muncie M20 64-65 with a casting# 3851325.

So this definately helped me with the decision to put the AMC 304 into it.

motiv8ya · 03-09-2009, 08:34 PM

I started messing around with the grinder and wire wheels on the frame today. With the cost of sand blasting being $180 an hour out by me I decided to save the tub and body parts for the blaster and grind the frame and cage myself to save some cash. What a mess, the front of the frame came nice and clean real quick, the rear frame rails were a different story. Seems like there is some kind of coating on them so it's gonna take a while to get it all off. I gotta make a trip to HF and get stocked up on wheels and stuff for the grinder. I figure I can use my little cheap top loading hand held air sandblaster gun to get into the tight areas of the frame that the grinder won't fit.
Being that I live in the desert and rust is not as much of an issue for me anymore I think I'm gonna use that hammered finish rattle can spray on the frame, cage and axles. Any tips for the inside of the frame? My frame has very minimal surface rust, if anything inside of it. Can I just spray it out with a pressure washer? It looks pretty good inside.

I just made some light passes over the frame rails to knock off some of the thickness.

Any tips?

motiv8ya · 03-13-2009, 11:19 PM

I'm still deep into the stripping of the frame, an hour here and there. Found that heavy wire cupped brushes work the best to knock down the coating and the sanding disks take the rest off to the metal. I bought a portable sandblaster from HF for cheap and I'll use that for the corners and hard to reach areas like underneath the body mount brackets. I also picked up a blast cabinet from there that I'll use to blast all of the small parts and hinges to save some cash and keep the mess to a minimum.

A buddy of mine offered up a FREE unmolested four bolt main Chevy 350 for this project. He wants it out of his shop. It needs a rebuild...which I can do...so I think I changed my mind again on the powerplant for this thing. I definately don't want to put in the 307 if I can bolt in a 350 without any mods cause its already set up for it, and it's free. This way I can save my 304/th400/qt for my next build

.

I need to make a trip to the tire shop to take those worn tires off the rims so I can gain some more room and just throw the rims on a shelf to get them out of the way till I strip and paint them.

rkbell · 03-14-2009, 05:20 AM

Motiv8, not to change the subject but what kind of coating is on your garage floor and did you put it down? I have a feeling that after I finish my 5 I'll be needing to clean it up as good as possible and then coat it.

motiv8ya · 03-14-2009, 11:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rkbell

Motiv8, not to change the subject but what kind of coating is on your garage floor and did you put it down? I have a feeling that after I finish my 5 I'll be needing to clean it up as good as possible and then coat it.

Not sure, the builder put it down for free when the house was built to cover the stains they made on the floor. Home Depot sells what appears to be the same thing in a kit, comes in a box like Herculiner.

**Coiz** · 03-14-2009, 11:14 AM

^^^ Looks just like the stuff I put down from Home Depot, 2 part Epoxy Paint where you can add the speckles and grit to your tastes. Works very well but as with any paint surface prep is the key.

Motiv8ya,
Jeep is looking good and that 350 should be a nice upgrade from that 307. When stripping my frame, aircraft stripper made short work of just about anything that didn't want to come off with a wire wheel. A little messy but not too bad. I just used large pieces of cardboard to keep the stripper off of my epoxied garage floor.