Teardown and Repair my 1985 CJ-7 Laredo - Page 3

**BlkCJ7Laredo** · 06-30-2012, 04:26 PM

Back at it again after two weeks. I have decided to take the Jeep to a welding and fabrication shop that's about 20 miles away that we use to do structural welding repairs on boom trucks where I work. He is a Jeep guy, has a bobbed Scrambler, a couple Cherokees, and even has an old J truck out in the field across from his shop. He will repair the A pillar, and cut out and patch the areas on the LH rocker that need attention. I'll also have him fill the fender flare holes from the YJ flares, rocker flares, and the YJ computer harness access hole that I never filled when I did the tub swap. I also have new corner panels for both sides which I'll have him install. In addition I have a small rust bubble on the hood where the reinforcement is sandwiched to it along the back edge. I'll have him cut that out, repair the reinforcement and put in a new patch on the top side. I must keep this hood as it's the original hood to the Jeep along with the grille. Those are the only original panels left and I hope to save them for a good bit longer. Once those deteriorate past good use I feel my Jeep is dead.

When I deliver the Jeep to his shop I just want it to be the tub, frame and axles. He doesn't want the fuel tank in it and stuff so I'll be removing that.

So here's today's progress of disassembly:

Removed lights, harness and chrome grille overlay

Drained cooling system, removed upper and lower hoses, body mount to the grille and the strut mounts. Grill is removed. It's saveable I think. The body mount bolt even came out without any trouble.

Sprayed the exhaust pipe flange bolts down with this stuff. It's supposed to be good but it didn't help. Busted both of the bolts off.

Removed the hood and heater assembly

Took the Flex Lite fan off which I won't be reusing, removed the power steering pump from the engine and both belts

I'm not sure if I'll pull the engine, trans and transfer case next or remove the fuel tank. We will see what tomorrow brings.

Next week is 20th anniversary of buying the Jeep. I think this is a pretty good present for it.

**BlkCJ7Laredo** · 07-11-2012, 07:52 PM

Forgot to update last weekend. I pulled the engine out last weekend and tonight I stripped it down. Going to get it all degreased and cleaned up and repaint it. It's a 258 out of an '88 Wrangler that I rebuilt about 30,000 miles ago so I'm not going to open the engine up. Just clean it real good and repaint black as it was stock. I'll then remove the valve cover and have it bead blasted and powder clear coated as well as the intake manifold so they will look new for a long time.

And my new banner in the garage

Next step is to drop the tranny/t-case combo so that can be cleaned up, painted and resealed. Once we are done doing the sheet metal patching I will pull the tub so the frame can be cleaned up and painted and the body work can be completed on the tub.

**keith460** · 07-12-2012, 05:28 AM

Where did you get the AMC Jeep banner from, I need one for my garage?

**BlkCJ7Laredo** · 07-12-2012, 08:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by keith460

Where did you get the AMC Jeep banner from, I need one for my garage?

I just searched eBay for "amc jeep banner" and it came up.

**BlkCJ7Laredo** · 07-12-2012, 05:48 PM

My new license plates came today

. I had this plate # since 1998 but surrendered it in 2009 but they let me have it back

**BlkCJ7Laredo** · 08-04-2012, 08:52 AM

Ok now it's time to get serious and get this project rolling. I did some bartering with a friend to help do the patch work and body work on the tub so we got started yesterday.

Towed the parts Jeep up to the garage.

Even though just about all of the Jeep is rusted away the cowl to windshield area is still good

Tyler cutting it out. It was rusted pretty good where it's spot welded to the cowl panel so it separated very easy

Ready to blast the surface rust off the bottom side and get it prepped to weld onto the YJ tub

Cut the left A pillar out so we can use it to repair where my tub has rusted

I think I'll use the dash out of the parts Jeep. The bottom lip is bent a little but we can straighten that. Otherwise it's not molested and shouldn't need much prep work to get ready to use.

Today will be mostly getting the garage cleaned up so it's a nicer place to work and getting the tire carrier/bumper off the CJ and removing the gas tank so we can start the cutting and welding. I'll post the progress tonight or tomorrow.

scooby533 · 08-04-2012, 01:48 PM

I'm interested in those wheels if your not going to use them. Give me a PM if you want to unload them! Good Luck!

**BlkCJ7Laredo** · 08-04-2012, 10:30 PM

Made a ton more progress today but unable to post pics because there seems to be a problem with Photobucket.

Got the whole inside of the tub stripped out except steering column and brake/clutch pedals. Got the fuel tank out and tire carrier off. My buddy came over and started on the welding work today too. Got most of the work done on both rear corners to complete the true conversion back to CJ-7 specs for fuel filler and filling the YJ tailgate mounting holes.

When Photobucket works again I'll post up pics. I'm quite pleased and excited that my project is actually moving along now!

johninmichigan · 08-05-2012, 06:44 AM

one thing leads to another, good luck! nice work so far!

**BlkCJ7Laredo** · 08-05-2012, 07:25 AM

Ok can finally log into photobucket again. Here's pictures of the progress I posted last night. As far as the gas fill hole, the reason for that is when I initially installed the YJ tub I used the YJ tailgate which required the fuel fill to be offset to the right by about 1/2" so needed to fill that in so it can be centered under the taillight as it was originally. My engine clean up and repaint is almost complete as well. Just waiting for the EGR tube to arrive so I can mount the manifolds and need to mount the water pump and water outlet and that will be done except the hoses and such.

**BlkCJ7Laredo** · 08-05-2012, 08:59 PM

Not as much progress today. Limited on time. We did get the rear finished up and started on the passenger side. Got the fender flare holes welded up and sanded down any questionable spots

**BlkCJ7Laredo** · 08-07-2012, 08:20 AM

EGR tube came today finally. Now the engine can go back together. Stay tuned for more

**Renegade82** · 08-10-2012, 08:05 AM

Your cruisin' right along. Why does it always seem like other builds move along way faster than mine??? Well, except for Keith's 4 year journey that is, but then that's understandable. Did you get your door jamb rust area repaired from the first page? I had that same issue on my drivers side. The pass. side isn't near as bad and will be much easier to fix... I hope!
Don't lose that Jamboree dash plaque. That's like a military uniform ribbon for ORV's. I wonder if those are still commonplace for the larger off-road events?

**243** · 08-17-2012, 08:53 PM

Great job, especially the metal work

**BlkCJ7Laredo** · 08-17-2012, 10:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 243

Great job, especially the metal work

Thanks!

Things are moving along pretty slow the past few days. The guy I got the parts Jeep from has an '83 CJ that we are doing a ring and pinion change in from 2.73 to 4.10 so that is tying up my time. He did donate a truck load of parts today though, and I've begun to receive some of the NOS parts that I have been ordering to complete this build. We are going to work on it some more on Sunday. I'm hoping that Classic Industries will have the cowl reinforcement available soon that they've been working on so I can just put a new piece on the driver's side instead of trying to repair the original one. I called Monday and they said about 2 weeks, so that's better than the "about a month" response I've gotten the past two times I've called them on it.