[orangejuice]

Sooo, here goes nothing, I haven’t taken on a project this big before, but you gotta learn sometime.

I had a ‘98 TJ which I modded quite a bit, but I sold it to buy the 85 CJ (I always wanted a CJ) and a commuter car, this way I wouldn’t have to worry about wrecking my ride to work in the woods.

So it’s a ‘85 CJ-7, I-6, and beyond that, the guy I bought it off of knew nothing about it....he was a bit of a cowboy though, ( he opted to buy 37 in tires and racing seats, instead of fixing the holes in the floor, or the 10 in crack in the frame, etc.).
So as I cleaned her up at home, I noticed it was allllot more work than I had planned, but there is no way I am quitting, not to mention, now I will get the opportunity to know this vehicle inside out.

(The pics may be a bit lacking cause I lost my flash drive for the beginning of the build’s pics)

I made a rough checklist when I first got it...
NEED:
-replace body (ended up getting a deal on a new YJ body)
-Fix frame (crack and some holes)
- replace water pump
-replace exhaust manifold
-replace rear main seal
-check clutch/flywheel
-re-wire
WANT:
-replace axles
-convert to single exhaust
-new suspension

Probably allot I am forgetting....


This is shortly after starting
[IMG][/IMG]



The ever expanding pile






Stripping the old tub








Got reeeal tired of the body mounts giving me a hard time. So I torched them, then realized that was overkill, and simply cut them out, which turned out to be MUCH cleaner in the end...then nobody was around to help me lift it off, sooo, I just cut right down the center and lifted it off in two pieces! Hey, I'm throwing out that old body anyways, haha.




















The NEW body (94 YJ body)

[cer]

Good luck!! Keep posting pictures of the progress.

[orangejuice]

So today I got the frame pretty much all patched up with allot of help from my buddy Dave. we cut up some scrap metal that closely matched the original thickness.
When the pieces where welded on, we left the edges facing the front and rear of the vehicle un-welded, this is because we heard it is better to just weld the tops and bottoms to allow for chassis flex...any thoughts?
The welds are unfinished and still need to be ground down and such.
So I'm super glad to have that done...maybe I should have just replaced the frame in the end...but , a well.
I also got a head start on removing thew power train to check out the clutch and flywheel and am glad I did. The flywheel is in rough shape.
Also got ride of the exhaust today.

This is where I did the first rough cuts around some of the problem areas in the frame

Inside driver's side


Inside Passenger's side


And this is after the patches where applied...

Inside Driver's side


Inside Passenger;s side




Their was also about a 10 in crack in the frame running along the passengers side, right along where the two frame C sections are joined running along the bottom.
I cut this out completely and cleaned it up.
This is the after shot.






Then the power train got dropped out.




Closer inspection of the flywheel reveals many broken teeth








aaannnnnddd looked a little closer at the rad, cause it was leaking. I think I'm going to repair it, or just find a used one somewhere

[orangejuice]

So I had to go to this damn thing that stops me from working on my Jeep...work, psshh. Anyways, my boss seems to think its important top show up soooo, I'll be taking a few days off the build. But I did find some pictures from earlier, so I'll post them up, and as soon as i get back to it, I'll keep updating.

Hole in passengers side before patching (see previous post)

[IMG][/IMG]


Large crack before repairs (see previous post)

[IMG][/IMG]





Manifold is getting replaced

[adamsclarke]

I'd build a new frame or replace that one. It's rusting from the inside out. No way in the world I'd wheel it like that/
Welding up the cracks will just lead to more cracks and by the time you cut out the bad sections and replace with box tube, you be farther ahead replacing it.

[VamosJEEP]

x2 on replacing the frame.

[amcjeepman]

Just flip the starter ring around on the fly wheel and have it (the flywheel) resurfaced, should be fine.

[attworth]

Not a bad start there.

I'd think if you went to the trouble of removing the old ring gear, might as well replace it? Depends on the budget really, I suppose.

Edit: As for the frame, you could probably have it dipped for cheaper than a new frame - unless you find a good used one. *shrug* Hard to tell how weak the metal is.

[JeepDVL45]

subscribed

Good luck with the build!!!!

[twmattox]

Ring gear is not that expensive (I think I paid less than $20 for mine)...

[orangejuice]

Ya, the shop down the road is going to replace the ring gear and have it resurfaced for around 50 bucks...so I figured I'll just do that. The ring gear itself I am getting in addition for around $20.
But thats a clever idea about flipping it.

As far as the frame goes, this has been a huge back and forth for me, the plan WAS to replace it...I'll admit it doesn’t look great from the inside, so i tested it by hammering the s@%t out of it with a heavy hammer, and it seemed solid enough for me to decide to patch it, but anything goes while i have it all taken apart like this. who knows, you fellas may sway me. It would be awesome to replace the frame with a new galvanized one , just got to find the time and $$....not to mention, parts are hard to come by in the parries of Saskatchewan eh! haha.

[cj7ole]

Ah, those pics of the rot reminds me why I went with a fiberglass body 15 years ago. Still no rust. Well except for the chassis frame and the windshield frame and the grill..., entire rear bumper fell off (weight of the tire carrier and a 33" tire didn't help). Jeeps: born to rust.

[orangejuice]

Well, after some figuring, I realized that if I'm going to be putting all the work and parts into this project, I wanted to do it right, and not have to redo something (especially something major) later on down the road. Soooo, low and behold the NEW frame.
I got this frame for free actually, someone just wanted it off of their property, and it was in pretty damn good shape too. Its an 86 or 87 YJ frame. All seems to be in good order, I'll have to change the engine mounts, I noticed the front shock mounts are different too, but since I'll be putting new axles and suspension on it, I can adapt the new stuff to the new frame.
So today I put the new sandblaster to work. It was a cheap hand held gravity fed unit that I picked up for about 25 bucks. Didn't really work to well, but I guess you get what you pay for. So, a light pass with the grinder went in first to handle the big stuff. Then the so, so sandblaster.

The rust looks alllot worse than it is, its really just a small bit of surface stuff. The plan is to POR-15 it tomorrow. I opted not to go for the bed liner because I will need to be making changes and modifications to the frame as time passes I'm sure.

OLD



NEW



The YJ frame is wider, thicker, in material, tube diameter, and overall width, one piece as opposed to two C pieces put together...etc. But I'm sure you guys all know this stuff.

[IMG][/IMG]








So, I'll paint it tomorrow (at least get some paint on it), and let you guys see the results. All thats left to do with this jeep is pull the engine and put the rest out to pasture, New axles and suspension will be put into the new frame (as soon as I find some good ones), then the engine you see here will go in, then the build up part begins....that is if all goes according to plan.

[orangejuice]

So the POR-15, and its pre-treatment products, are awesome stuff!
I got the frame painted today, heres how it turned out. It looks a little grayish in the pictures, but its actually a nice gloss black, I think I'm still going to paint it with chassis paint though to protect the POR since it is susceptible to UV light.


[IMG][/IMG]

First you use the Marine clean to get rid of any oils, dirt, grease, waxes, etc;
The Metal Ready really does a good job of naturalizing the rust, you can leave this on for up to 30 min before washing it off with water, I left it on for about 15 and it did an awesome job of prepping the surface;
Then your ready for the paint.








You can see how the Metal Ready almost looks like a chemical burn on the frame, but it ONLY attacks rust, the painted parts of the frame, as well as bare metal where unaffected. This will come in handy when prepping other parts. I did the whole frame and had PLENTY of the prep stuff left over.









PS. does anyone know how to get this stuff OFF?! I tried everything, haha...my Sgt isent going to be happy if I show up to work tomorrow like this!

[kickingprop]

Try Acetone, if that doesnt work try Xylene or Toluene but use it very sparingly! Its not exactly good for you or your skin but its an aromatic organic solvent and will clean up most anything.

My recommendation: wet a rag wth the solvent, and dab it on the POR'd areas lightly until its mostly come off. Then scrub with one of those orange pumice soaps until you hands are raw.

I work with Highly asphaltic crude oils day in and out as a chemist and this is the best method I've come up with. Once you've done that, any good hand lotion helps remove the stuff thats deep down