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BUILD THREAD: Project "Ghetto Fabulous"

158K views 811 replies 92 participants last post by  Jim1611 
#1 · (Edited)
Well, here I go again. This is CJ7 #3 for me and here's the story behind it and the title of the build.

For the past 7 years I have worked in the "Ghetto" and have driven past this one house that had this CJ7 parked along side the house for probably longer than 7 years. I would pass this thing numerous times a day and always check to see if this fellow Jeeper has made any progress on it. It never changed, it sat in the same spot the entire time never to be worked on again....until last week when I drove by again and there was a 4 sale sign on the grill. I called that day and went to take a look at it.

It "is" a 76 frame with an 83 tub, a chevy 350/ muncie 4 speed/ dana 20, stock axles, P/S. P/B with a custom cage and lots of extra parts.The tub has two minor areas with surface rust, solid floors and windshield frame. The chassis/frame looks new and all of the body mounts are solid. The guy asked $700.00 so I jumped on it (I wanted to build a $crambler, but what the hell) :thumbsup:.

So not only did I get a great deal but the guy trailered it to my house and helped me unload it into my garage!! :

The Jeep sat in the desert heat for years, so after vacuuming the desert off of the floorbaords (and the black widows) I was pleasantly surprised to see their like new condition. Nothing more than surface rust that will easily come off with a wire wheel or media blast.

So this turned out to be a "fabulous" find in the "ghetto", hence the build title.

Here's some pics:









The plan is to build a wheeler that will see street use:

#1. dump the stock axles for Currie 9 inch housings front and rear with detroit lockers and discs all around.
#2. dump the stock suspension and lift shackles for a quality 4.5 inch lift.
#3. install tube fenders up front and TJ flares out back to clear 35's.
#4. install Vanco hydraboost brakes and a high pressure P/S system.
#5. strip the body and line the interior and underside. the body will be painted either orange or camo. I already have a token red jeep :laugh:
#6. install rock sliders and bumpers with a tire carrier
#7. install new wiring harness
#8. tear down the motor, trans and xfer case and freshen them up because they sat open in the desert for years, probably got scorpions living in them, or completely replace everything.
#9. custom exhaust

Now here comes the big decision, do I keep the 350/muncie/dana 20 or install my worked 304/th400/dana 20 that I also have from another Jeep and put Fuel Injection on it? I'm an AMC kinda guy and I like to keep my CJ's mostly AMC/Jeep when I can (everyone and their mother can run a chevy, but an AMC takes a little TLC).

This project will take me quite a while cause I'm in no rush, so please bare with me and I'll post updates and lots of photos.

If anyone has any suggestions feel free to let me know.

I may put blacked out rims with some bling bling chrome center caps to keep with the "Ghetto Fabulous" theme. Cause in the Ghetto camoflauge and chrome match.
 
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#3 ·
Are you sure about the frame and tub years? I'm pretty sure that from is a 1980 or newer b/c of the front shock towers. My frame is a 79 and mine were welded to the frame. Someone will know for sure but I think it was 80 or 81 before they went to the bolt on towers.
 
#9 ·
Sweet find! That is an incredible deal and you have an excellent base to work from. Getting such a good deal like that helps you to be able to justify puttin a little extra money in there. I like the engine and transmission you got in there but i might consider swapping in a dana 300 xfer case if your gonna be tearin all that apart anyways.
 
#14 · (Edited)
Disassembly day #1

I had a few hours to burn after doing the Saturday family things so I dove into disassembly.

I pulled off the windshield frame and brackets, the dash, steering and everything on the firewall inside and out. The only problem I ran into was a stuck TORX Bolt on the drivers side door hinge:mad:.

I found minor surface rust under the windshield brackets, everything else is solid. The wiring harness is hacked up and will be replaced with new. I did find some minor bondo spots, namely on the drivers rear corner. I reached up inside that rear corner and felt a small dent that I'll pound out. The right hood mount to the cowl is alittle recessed, also needs to be worked back into shape.

The dash looks like it just needs to be stripped and painted, but I think I'd like to start with a blank slate and aftermarket gauges, I'll have to do some research on that topic.

Everything that should be under the dash was there, heater box and ductwork etc... so I'll go through and check it all out.

I pulled the steeringwheel/column/shaft out as one unit.

I put everything in their own little piles with all the hardware so I can bag and tag them tomorrow (didn't have the bags on hand today). Next up will be the disassembly of the remaining tub accessories and tailgate...Oh yeah and the removal of that one stubborn TORX Bolt.

Here's some pics:

Bondo on left rear corner:


Rust under windshield brackets:


Driver side firewall:


Right hood bracket mount to cowl:


Right side firewall:


Driver floor pan:
 
#15 ·
Disassembly day #2

Had some time today again so I dove back in. I got out the stuck door hinge torx bolt by drilling out the center and hammering an allen wrench of near equal size into the center and unscrewing it. That left me with two more stuck Cage Torx bolts. One came out easy after a few days of lubing it. The other, well lets just say my grinder took care of it. All FN' Torx bolts will definately be replaced with hex head bolts on this project.

Anyway I pulled off the cage and stripped the rest of the tub. I unbolted the tub and checked the mounts again to find that they are solid all around. The floors under the cage mounting plates are solid too, just some minor surface rust.

I found a repair weld on the front right frame rail. Doesn't look bad, if I grind it down to smooth it out will it weaken it?

I took a deeper look at the left rear corner bondo spot and chiseled away at it. It is alot bigger than I thought but the metal underneath seems workable. looks like I'll learn some metal work on this one. The driver side kick panel under the door is the only place I found that is rusted through, about the size of a quarter.

The left rear wheel tub seems separated from the body panels at the seams in the damaged area so I'll have to work that out also and weld it back up.

I've been kicking it around and I think I'm gonna pull the 350/muncie/dana 20 and put in my 304/th400/dana20. I just don't want to shift in the 115 degree heat we get here during the summer, I like my amc's and my autos.

The 350 has an edelbrock performer intake, aluminum valve covers and what looks to be an HEI distributor. It's been sitting for some time out in the desert climate without exhaust manifolds and I can see the valves have just as much dirt inside as the motor has outside. It will need to be torn down and freshened up anyway, the muncie and the dana 20 look newly rebuilt but I haven't looked inside of them yet.

Here's some pics:

Cage off:

Driver kick panel rust through:

Left rear bondo #1;

Left rear bondo #2:

Front right frame rail repair weld:

Body mount:

Same body mount:

Left rear interior corner:

Left rear interior corner:


Now I gotta make some room in the garage so I can pull the tub.
 
#16 ·
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.
 
#17 ·
jatepper, OOOOORRRAAHHH! :cheers2: I couldn't find the listing for that Jeep.

Found this, "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'.
 
#20 ·
First bump in the road...

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...:rantscream:...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.
 
#21 ·
One man tub removal

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 :thumbsup:

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.
 
#22 ·
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
 
#23 ·
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
 
#25 · (Edited)
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.
 
#31 ·
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.:laugh:

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.
 
#34 ·
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!!!
 
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