[QuickCj]

This is my first time building a Jeep, and there is a lot on the line. Most importantly a family bet that I cannot rebuild this vehicle by AUG 20th. I would greatly appreciate any and all criticism, thoughts, advice, ideas, etc. Hopefully with yalls wisdom and my energy I can make this work. Here goes nothing.

1979 Jeep (Haven't identified everything yet)

- AMC 304
- T150
- Dana 20

This Jeep may have been a Levi's edition, let me know if this is true.

Bought the Jeep on Monday, here is what it looked like.







I left it that way for about 30 seconds, then I started ripping stuff out. Cleaned the Jeep out, removed the hard top and doors, then left for the night. That was my Monday.

[QuickCj]

Dont know if those pictures showed up, here are the links

http://i865.photobucket.com/albums/a...rookie/067.jpg

http://i865.photobucket.com/albums/a...rookie/064.jpg

http://i865.photobucket.com/albums/a...rookie/056.jpg

And there is a crappy 3 in BL from the PO

[-jeep-jeep-]

[quote=QuickCj;9602397]










clickfree for you

[QuickCj]

Made some more headway on Day 2. First I removed the seats, and then the rollbar.

http://i865.photobucket.com/albums/a...rookie/088.jpg

http://i865.photobucket.com/albums/a...rookie/088.jpg

Then I retired for the day, but still put the Jeep to use

http://i865.photobucket.com/albums/a...rookie/081.jpg

Thought about stopping there and just leaving it as a counter-top but decided against it.

[QuickCj]

Just finished up on Day 3. Removed the hood and fenders. Then sterilized them.

http://i865.photobucket.com/albums/a...rookie/085.jpg

http://i865.photobucket.com/albums/a...rookie/084.jpg

Here is them sterilized, not it to bad of shape.

http://i865.photobucket.com/albums/a...rookie/094.jpg

http://i865.photobucket.com/albums/ab217/cjrookie
/093.jpg

http://i865.photobucket.com/albums/a...rookie/090.jpg

The hood came off really easy, but the fenders I had to go mid-evil on. Cut and sawed my way to the end. I want to get everything off of the Jeep so I can sandblast and cure it at once.

I also cut out the PO's step plates, the dude just screwed them right into the floor. Luckily I enjoyed sawing off the welded nut and bolt pairs.

Drivers side:
http://i865.photobucket.com/albums/a...rookie/089.jpg

Passenger side:
http://i865.photobucket.com/albums/a...rookie/087.jpg

Thats all I have gotten done for now. Tomorrow I will be taking off the body. Hopefully danerit's ( I think that is the user name) early 79 body removal advice will make mine a bit easier.

[QuickCj]

Originally Posted by -jeep-jeep-

clickfree for you

Thank you sir, I appreciate it. Hopefully Ill get 50 posts by the end of this build!!

[QuickCj]

My Jeep kicked my butt today. It was frame off day.

I took danerit's advice ( he has a 79 build)on what to remove before trying to pull the body, plus I took all of the wiring loom and shoved it into the body.

Here is me trying to gather the wiring loom.
http://i865.photobucket.com/albums/a...rookie/017.jpg
I found out the PO wires things together like a 5 year old with super glue and a curling iron.

Here is the body right before I lifted it off.
http://i865.photobucket.com/albums/a...rookie/020.jpg
I unbolted one of the BL bolts about a quarter turn, then broke out the sawzaw and DESTROYED all eight of them!

Ok so I forgot to take a full picture of the frame because I am a bozo, but could you guys tell me what components I am looking at here? Is it all stock?

Transfer case:
http://i865.photobucket.com/albums/a...rookie/023.jpg

Trans:
http://i865.photobucket.com/albums/a...rookie/022.jpg

Rear Axle:
http://i865.photobucket.com/albums/a...rookie/021.jpg

Front Axle:
http://i865.photobucket.com/albums/a...rookie/025.jpg

Here is the very back of the frame, the BL was barely in this mount because it was busted by the PO. Can I just cut off this back piece and get a new one??
http://i865.photobucket.com/albums/a...rookie/026.jpg

That's all I got done today, but man do I have tons of questions!!

-If I do a 4" RE lift do I need to worry about the driveshaft angles?
-I am only planning on this vehicle being a daily driver and getting me through snow, do I need dana 44's?
- If I keep the stock axles should I get them rebuilt?
- Where can I buy new hardware for my fenders, hood, tailgate, body, dash, etc.......?


Im sure there is tons more I am forgetting to ask. It is going to be a few days before I get back to working on it but I plan on getting the front grill off, cutting out the exhaust, and pulling the motor the next time I work on it.

Maybe someone can do a click-free hookup so it isin't so annoying to click through this post.

[dtcohen]

i don't think I would do the D44's just yet. With your time frame you would be better off just cleaning up the axles you have. I would pull the diff covers and take a look, if every thing looks and feels good then I would leave them alone.

[QuickCj]

Originally Posted by dtcohen

i don't think I would do the D44's just yet. With your time frame you would be better off just cleaning up the axles you have. I would pull the diff covers and take a look, if every thing looks and feels good then I would leave them alone.

Dually noted, I think I may take your advice and run with it.

[JeepnBlake]

I did notice your rear driveshaft is on what I would call backwards. I usually run mine with the sliding part down by the axle.

Congrats on the new jeep and welcome to the forum. I highly recommend searching for the teamrush upgrade as it really wakes up the 304s, at least mine anyway.

Welcome

[T18A]

-

[dtcohen]

Originally Posted by QuickCj

Dually noted, I think I may take your advice and run with it.

The D44 swap is always something you can do down the road. Right now just go beast mode on the jeep and show your family what is up

[jdmartie]

With the 4" RE lift you will need to correct angles with some shims to your rear axle. A lot of kits come with them well at least the BDS kit does.

[QuickCj]

Originally Posted by jdmartie

With the 4" RE lift you will need to correct angles with some shims to your rear axle. A lot of kits come with them well at least the BDS kit does.

Dually Noted. Thanks for the input on the axles guys, I decided to keep the stock axles.


Ok last time I had the body off.... A couple days ago I took some pieces to get them sandblasted and then I applied a rust converter to kill the remaining rust.

Grill:
http://i865.photobucket.com/albums/a...rookie/002.jpg

Front Bumper:
http://i865.photobucket.com/albums/a...rookie/003.jpg

Fender:
http://i865.photobucket.com/albums/a...rookie/004.jpg


When sandblasting I decided that I was demoting my PO to POS because he primed over rust.

Next I got out the powerwasher, put on the zero tip, and turned the water temperature to 200 degrees and cleaned the frame a little:

Frame after powerwashing:
http://i865.photobucket.com/albums/a...rookie/006.jpg
http://i865.photobucket.com/albums/a...rookie/008.jpg

Here is the motor:
http://i865.photobucket.com/albums/a...rookie/011.jpg

I took the transmission off, powercleaned it, and then used the rust converter on it also.

Transmission before:
http://i865.photobucket.com/albums/a...rookie/010.jpg

Transmission after:
http://i865.photobucket.com/albums/a...okie/017-1.jpg

I didn't want to disassemble the frame and axles until I knew I could get a rainless day to sandblast them, so I went over board on the bell housing.

Bell housing:
http://i865.photobucket.com/albums/a...okie/020-1.jpg
http://i865.photobucket.com/albums/a...okie/018-1.jpg


Noticed a couple bad spots on the frame, mostly just the body mounts.

Radiator Mount:
http://i865.photobucket.com/albums/a...rookie/009.jpg

Lastly for this post, I found a crack in my exhaust manifolds, I am ordering new OEM manifolds that abandon the air pump holes:

Crack on Exhaust manifold:
http://i865.photobucket.com/albums/a...okie/015-1.jpg


Tomorrow I will disassemble the frame and axles, hopefully it will be a dry night so I can sandblast.

[mike76CJ5]

speedy gonzalez... subscribed to keep up with this one - good luck my man!