[243]

11/02/09

Since I finally have a deadline and have to get this heap finished, I decided to start a build thread to document my progress. I will let my oldest daughter use my Frontier when she starts driving next October so I need to get the Jeep ready for me.

My original plan was to build the Jeep in three stages:

Stage One - Get it running, driving, inspected, insured and drive it for a while.
Stage Two - Put a 350 in it and rebuild the drivetrain.
Stage Three - Tear it down and paint it after the work was finished.

After I got started I kept taking things apart to repair or rebuild and then I decided tearing it down ONE time would be easier. I will update the thread with more pictures later.


INDEX:

T-177 Disassembly - Page 1, Post #4
D300 Disassembly - Page 1, Post #9
258 Strip, prime and paint (first time) - Page 1, Post #14
Tub Removal - Page 2, Post #18
Frame repair, prime, paint, homemade shackles - Page 2, Post #20
Homemade greaseable shackle bolts - Page 2, Post #23
AMC 20 disassembly, thrust block removal - Page 2, Post #24
D30 disassembly - Page 3, Post #49
D30 pinion assembly with parts labeled - Page 6, Post #78
D30 carrier bearing removal - Page 6, Post #83
Homemade shop press - Page 10, Post #138
258 Rebuild - Page 11, Post #160
Daughter's D-100 Project - Page 45, Post #675


04/24/08












Pre-83 doors, appears to be rust free with the exception of the firewall from leaking brake fluid, rusty windshield frame, crappy seats, dry rotted tires and a GM 151 that barely runs, 3.54 gears and a T-177. Paid too much but wanted as little rust as possible.

Getting close.....






11/04/10

I had a small change in plans when I realized I would not have my Jeep finished in time for my daughter to drive in October so we started searching for her ride.

She liked all trucks but was leaning towards vintage steel (no complaint from Dad) had no interest in cars and when I showed her this D100 on CL she said she liked it. We went to test drive it and she fell in love. We drove it home and parked it.

I wanted to repair the safety issues and get it running decent but it became a mini-project. We kept it in budget and it turned out nice. It delayed work on the Jeep a few months but we have two running vehicles and I hope to have my CJ on the road before my second daughter starts driving in August.

Before:




After:

[243]

I liked the factory slots used on the Cherokee's and Wagoneers and I knew they were forged and polished up nice. I started searching for a set of Renegade wheels and found a set of five for 150.00 about 1.5 hours from home so I snagged them. I polished one with Mother's for visual effect and did a test fit. They look great from ten feet but I will need to restore them...a project for another day.



The GM 151 ran okay but idled horribly, I bought a NOS Rochester and it had great vacuum, idled smooth but smoked like a freight train. A compression check found a dead cylinder and a leakdown test failed horribly so I thought at the time a TBI 350 would be the best of everything...fuel injection, AC, horsepower and it would bolt up to the existing bellhousing.

So I pulled the little GM and sold off about 200.00 worth of parts believe it or not.

Drove a few hours from home and picked up an 89 TBI 350 and I pulled it myself, everything including the harness for 350.00.



Finally had time to mock it up and was almost ready to build or buy motor mounts and I could not get the clearance I needed to run the factory fan clutch. While I was thinking about how to resolve that issue I realized I needed to build my own exhaust, buy corvette manifolds or ceramic coated shorty headers since the truck manifolds would not work, have new AC lines made to work with the AMC AC, power steering lines and V8 conversion radiator.



That was the point I said, "I would use a 258 if one appeared in the next few days", and it did...to be continued.

Since I am playing catch up with this thread, the very best solution for me would have been to pick up a Waggie with AC, rebuild the 360 and drop it in place using AMC 304 parts.

Hindsight is 20-20, right

I sold the 350 for 300.00 and kept the TBI, harness, sensors and computer.

[243]

I am pretty good with some decisions and suck at others but I knew wanted a YJ family bar to add 3-point seatbelts for my kids. I had planned on getting new seats but for the moment I needed something besides the POS seats that were in the Jeep when I bought it.

I picked up the sport bar, padding, seats (drivers side pretty worn) and windshield with a cracked glass for 150.00 at a local salvage yard.

I had it up on stands to powerwash the underside and that is when I really understood how nice the frame was. I was lucky, I have seen the hell some of you guys have to deal with called rust-rot-cancer. I am fortunate my CJ left Florida in 83 and stayed in Central Texas the rest of it's life.

[243]

The T-177 would jump out of first gear and another gear on occasion. It also had a horrendous whirring sound that I thought was the throw-out bearing but that did not make sense to me since it would get really quiet when I depressed the clutch. A few threads on Jeepforum pointed towards a bad clutch shaft bearing.

So now that the motor was out I thought it would be a good time to pull the transmission and rebuild it. What I found was some heavy pitting on several gears and worn teeth on others. I have a long series of rebuild photos but that is not the point of the thread. I will post some highlights though:



Deepest pits were on these gears and I was afraid the gear might break and cause lots of damage so I tore it down to check all the parts.













Case and bellhousing all pretty after 50 pounds of playsand and a HF spotblaster while I waited on parts. I swear I dug 5 pounds of sand outta each ear and it never occured to me to wear ear plugs



Notice anything odd about the bellhousing...to be continued.

First time I have ever attempted to rebuild a transmission, so I threw this little "keep Dave's A$$ outta trouble stand" together.





Pretty box of parts...and expensive too!



Main cluster reassembled including a new 2nd and 3rd gear.



Reverse idler gear and countershaft cluster installed.



Standing on end to install the countershaft.



All buttoned up and on to the top plate rebuild. Honestly, the T-177 was fun and not difficult at all but I had practice by not installing various parts like clutch input shaft needle bearings and having to take it apart

[CJman77]

Originally Posted by 243

The T-177 would jump out of first gear and another gear on occasion. It also had a horrendous whirring sound that I thought was the throw-out bearing but that did not make sense to me since it would get really quiet when I depressed the clutch.

So now that the motor was out I thought it would be a good time to pull the transmission and rebuild it. What I found was some heavy pitting on several gears and worn teeth on others. I have a long series of rebuild photos but that is not the point of the thread. I will post some highlights though:

Deepest pits were on these gears and I was afraid the gear might break and cause lots of damage so I tore it down to check all the parts.





Case and bellhousing all pretty after 50 pounds of playsand and a HF spotblaster while I waited on parts. I swear I dug 5 pounds of sand outta each ear and it never occured to me to wear ear plugs



Notice anything odd about the bellhousing???

I really hope you were rocking a good respirator with that play sand!

[243]

A few other projects behind me include pulling the dash to inspect, clean and repair any bad wiring, fortunately it was all in great shape and cleaned up nice. No photo of the finished product but it looks almost new. I also cleaned the firewall block and used dialectic grease on all the terminals.




New speedometer....



Sandblasted, primed and painted the clutch pedal assembly.



My 6.00 shift knobs.



Homemade door strap brackets. I found pictures of the originals and decided I wanted something a little less flexible. These work great.



Rebuilt the steering column replacing the signal switch, ignition switch, ignition lock, turn signal cam, greased the bearings, primed and painted it.

[243]

New SHOES

I waited until I found a good deal on BFG KM2's online and took the add to Discount Tire, they said they price match so I ponied up for 32x11.50X15's and received a 75.00 rebate check. I think they fit and look good and the tread will almost be covered by the factory flares.

[243]

Sold the pre-83 doors that were in need of a lot of attention (more like a complete rebuild) and bought a set of 89 YJ doors in great condition. Net cost was 300.00 and they were just a few hours away. I was finding nice doors on Fleabay and Craiglist but they seemed to be to far away and shipping is expensive.

Soft doors were never an option for me so this turned out to be a good deal.

[243]

After the T-177 I decided to go ahead and replace the bearings and seals in the D300. I swear this project just about kicked my A$$ to hell and back. I don't know why but it seemed a lot harder.

Maybe it was the sheer weight of it and not having anyone to help when pressing bearings off and on, or the twenty five trips to a family members house to use the press; or, another twenty five trips to use the press because I put parts in the wrong place or did not put them in to begin with.











I had it pretty much reassembled and I found a lot of slop that I did not remember when taking it apart. I posted on here but nobody was able to help. I finally tore it back apart and found two bearings that were real close to the same size but had different part numbers. I switched these around and it went together without much more profanity.



The shift rails on the other hand, were an even bigger pain...to be continued.

[243]

Now that is funny ^^^ I just noticed three different hammers in the random photos I grabbed for that post

[243]

There were grooves worn in the sealing surface of the factory yokes so I ordered a pair labeled by Rugged Ridge. As you can see, the replacements did not have the dust shield like the factory yoke and this bugged me to the point I chiseled the slinger off the replacement yoke and hammered the dust shield to fit.

It won't stay in place so I plan to drill two holes in the dust shield and spot weld it to the yoke. I don't have a finished photo but it should work.

[4biY]

Keep up the good work and remember if it don't work get a Bigger Hammer!

[243]

I was thinking about painting the engine body color (white) but knowing if I changed my mind on the body color I was screwed. Then I thought about black but it is a pain to find leaks; after seeing an engine thread on Jeepforum with a 258 painted silver I knew that would work. A neutral color that would look good with any body color.

I bought a Harbor Freight gravity feed gun to spray Southern Polyurethanes Epoxy primer and the infamous Harbor Freight HVLP "purple gun" to spray the color coats. I used TCP acrylic urethane Firemist Metallic over two coats of primer. It turned out nice and I didn't get a run...I am surprised since it has been 20 years since I sprayed paint.

[243]

…continued.

While contemplating all the custom work I needed and the specialty parts for the TBI 350, I said if a 258 showed up soon I would scrap the TBI 350 plans and keep it AMC. Not for nostalgia reasons but time, money and headaches.

I found a wantadd on Craiglist for a 258 not far from home and it turned out to be the engine in forum member Exposed's CJ5. I drove to his place and we did a compression test twice on every cylinder and it was 160 psi or higher. He made me a great deal and pulled the motor which I picked up a week later.

He did not have any history on the motor and the PO was tight lipped but we both agreed it looked like a remanufactured engine. And this is where it started…







I stripped it down and pulled the head to look at the cylinders, I could still see crosshatching and the valvetrain was really clean. I went to work with my B&D angle grinder and wire wheel and touched up a few places with my die grinder then installed a new head gasket.







I installed a new water pump and t-stat and like the T-177 and Dana 300, I sprayed it with two coats of SPI epoxy primer and followed up with TCP Firemist Metallic and was real pleased with the final results.













All was good until I flipped her upside down to replace the rear main seal and I found scratches on the main bearings. I pulled two rod caps and found the same damage. I was disappointed and my Uncle asked me on several occasions if I wanted to pull the main caps and I said no. I felt the motor was in good shape so there was no need. Hindsight is 20-20, right?

I knew I would be really ticked if I ran it as is and something went wrong. It probably would have been fine but I am somewhat conservative and decided to send it to the shop to inspect the crank. I am out some time and paint but I knew if I went this far I might as well go through it to be safe. The previous owner probably did a poor job of reassembly, possibly using the existing oil pump and pickup full of trash.

The shop turned the crank .020 under and I pick it up today. I guess I will see how well the paint held up to the gorillas in the shop and the hot tank. I will scuff it and respray the paint no matter how it looks.

[243]

Picked up the block, crank and head at the machine shop at lunch today. I was glad to see that the hot tank removed the paint so I don't have to wire wheel or scuff it to re-paint.

Deja Vous





I need to make a decision regarding the cam, I was thinking a Comp Cam's 4x4 cam for fuel injection would be best but it will require new valve springs too, approximately double the price of a Sealed Power stock cam and lifters. I don't think the Comp Cam with the mild spec's will make a significant difference in power so I am on the fence on this one. I could always change it later but would rather make the decision now.

I am pricing rings and bearings and hope to have those ordered soon.