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Alpine Lizard Build Project

547K views 7K replies 116 participants last post by  Dadamsnv 
#1 ·
UPDATE: here are a few pictures as of 8-24-17
Tire Wheel Vehicle Automotive tire Car

Tire Wheel Car Land vehicle Vehicle

Tire Wheel Car Land vehicle Vehicle


here is a picture as of 12-16-14
Tire Wheel Vehicle Car Grille


ORIGINAL POST:

I'm sitting in DMV (bored as hell) waiting to get my new CJ5 registered. This seems like an appropriate time to make my build thread. I joined the forum about a month ago and have been pestering you guys even since. I'm excited as can be about this new project, and I can see myself broke as a joke and eating popcorn in just a few months.

Backstory: My dad loved old jeeps, but he was always taking care of us kids so he could never afford one. His love for them made me want one as I grew up. I finally graduated with my BS in mechanical engineering, and nailed an okay job, so I decided its time! I was cruising through Craigslist and found it! $3500 took it home. She has green MAACO paint and a couple of goofy dents, a part canvas part vinyl soft top that needs a couple windows replaced, and tore up seats. However, she's rocking a fesh new frame, newer body with pretty much no rust, a 2.5 in lift on softer springs, a T-18, Dana 20, and decent running 304 with 105,000 on it. I drove it home at 70 MPH with no issues.

Plan:

Stage 1: safety and functionality first. So it needs horns, seats, and street legal 4-point harnesses, plus whatever I need to make it function. Properly.

Stage 2: off road capability. SOA, 33x12.5x15s, high steer, ARBs, etc. I want to be able to kill a lot of the rubicon trail (I only live an hour from the trail head in Tahoe CA :))

Stage 3: classy appearance. I want to take it to a classic car show without being laughed off the strip. Hot August nights is a big classic car show around these parts and I want to enter it some day.

When I'm done, I want an offload beast that will crush the hills while dazzling street rod people, ya know, like Arnold Schwarzenegger in a tux. I will be doing it almost entirely myself (I just may have the tires mounted by schwab ;))

With that being said, here's a teaser pic. I promise I'll put more up soon.
 

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#176 ·
Dadamsnv said:
I had to take a break from my tuning thread to repair a leak from my timing cover. Also, I will be replacing my radiator, shroud, cap, bypass hose, and rad hoses.

I may also do my water pump while I'm in there. I'm not sure if I should do the timing set, I doubt that motor has 20k more miles on it, but judgment tells me to do it anyway.
I love your tinning thread by the way. I will be using it once I get to needing a good tune when she's running in a few months.
 
#178 ·
Dadamsnv said:
I'm glad you like it! :highfive:

When you get to the point where you'll be tuning your 304, you should take over that thread.
Great idea I think I will do that. (if you'll let me;) )
 
#181 ·
It had a JB welded fill neck, and was very slowly leaking form 3 spots. I knew this a while ago, but I figured I'd drive it a bit before I dug into it. Also, its super duper old, and it only has 1 core.

I bought a cheapy 3 core at summit. its painted black, which I think is stupid, but whatever. It'll get me by.
 
#182 ·
Dadamsnv said:
It had a JB welded fill neck, and was very slowly leaking form 3 spots. I knew this a while ago, but I figured I'd drive it a bit before I dug into it. Also, its super duper old, and it only has 1 core.

I bought a cheapy 3 core at summit. its painted black, which I think is stupid, but whatever. It'll get me by.
How much for that new radiator.
 
#184 ·
Dadamsnv said:
http://m.summitracing.com/parts/sgt-cu583

They say it has an auto tranny cooler, but it doesn't, and that's just fine with me.
Auto tranny cooler doesn't really matter though you got a manny tranny right? I may look into a new radiator if mine doesn't work but the. One I have looks brand new so I won't know till its mounted.
 
#187 ·
Over the last few days, I've been tearing apart the front of my 304 to fix a leak in the timing cover, and to take stock of what shape the timing set and cam gears are in. Lucky for me, both the timing set and the cam gears look very new. I did replace the oil pump though, and I lapped the oil pump cover to make some better pump clearance, and to give the new pump a place to make its own wear pattern instead of eating up the old pattern.

I painted the timing cover and the water pump with AMC metallic blue. I was going to sand blast the parts first (and buy a new water pump), but I decided I didn't want to spray sand into the oil passages that bad, and summit was out of every water pump they carry for AMC V8s. I could have and cleaned the cover out real well, but I just sprayed over the old paint after a really good solvent spray and clean session. Pics to come shortly. If I get her all back together on Saturday, I can cruise Hot August Nights this weekend in style!
 

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#189 ·
I will have to check to make sure the oil passages in the cam, fuel eccentric, and cam gear line up. I dont see any goof wear, but it also looks pretty new, so... who knows. better check while I'm this deep.
 
#191 ·
Dadamsnv said:
Oil passage to the dizzy is free and open. I pulled the bolt and washer, and fed some little wire thought the notch. It went in about 5 inches which is perfect. Also here is the painted timing cover and water pump.
Love the color. Looks really good. Next will be valve covers I guess right? Oh and how much play is in your timing chain I'm debating whether or not I need to get a new one.
 
#193 ·
Thanks guys :)

I painted over the old paint in favor of not spraying sand into the oil pump, so it's a little lumpy in spots, but looks WAY better, I'm glad you like it!

It turns out fel pro's complete timing cover gasket set doesn't come with a water pump gasket or a harmonic balancer seal despite being shown In the picture. Good grief. I was hoping to have the cover and pump on tonight, but that's life. I guess I'll be driving it Sunday instead of all weekend.

I was able to get a water pump gasket, but the seal was at napa, too far away. Here is the water pump sealed up with black bolts. I also filed the paint off of the timing marks to make the aluminum stand out.
 

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#194 ·
I hit my timing marks with a tiny bit of the rattle can metallic silver. I have no idea about long term durability, but it is SUPER EASY to see at thie time.
 
#195 ·
Skerr said:
I hit my timing marks with a tiny bit of the rattle can metallic silver. I have no idea about long term durability, but it is SUPER EASY to see at thie time.
That's a good ide., I thought about the bare metal being a problem. It's Aluminum, but who knows. I'll probably put some clear over that spot
 
#196 ·
She's almost together, and she's looking really good! The timing cover is in, water pump is in, and the alternator. I went to put the harmonic balancer on, and she didn't want to go enough to get the bolt in, so I tapped on it a bit with no success. I didn't want to hit it hard lest I destroy the mains or the rod bearings. I pulled it off, heated it up to about 200 degrees, and still nothing.

So to town again to get longer bolts to start the press on process.
 
#198 ·
Jim1611 said:
Good idea on pulling the balancer on with the longer bolt instead of beating it on. Might want to put some anti-sieze on the threads and under the head to keep thing from galling. Great work! :thumbsup:
Thanks Jim

Yeah, even tapping on the crank made me queasy. The bolts worked perfect!
 
#201 ·
8pitcher said:
Looks fancy.
Thanks man :)

I got the whole front end of the motor put together now. I primed the oil pump, aligned the dizzy and got it roughly timed by eye. I've got oil in the pan. It's all ready to fire after I go buy another gallon of coolant tomorrow. It's only been down a week and I'm super stoked to drive it tomorrow!
 
#202 ·
Today was a CRAP day! I was supposed to add coolant, and go driving, but NOOOO!

1st the jeep started but slowly died. I tried different base timings, but nothing worked. I watched the oil pressure while it was slowly running all crappy, and it was pinned passed 100 PSI. I tried to turn the motor by hand, and it was very tough to turn. So I did a bunch or research, and it looks like most of the time, high/pinned oil pressure means a bad/stuck oil bypass plunger. So I tried to pull out the plunger, and of course, It didn't want to come out. So I took JeepHammers advice and tried to crank the motor to blow the plunger out. No dice. Next I dismantled the oil pump, hooked up the air compressor to it, and tried to blow it out. No dice. So I heated it up to where I could barely hold onto it, and tried to blow it out again. No dice. Last ditch, I banged that piece of **** on a piece of aluminum. It finally popped it out, so I kicked that stupid ***** into the corner and I will leave it there forever. I put the oil pump back together with the old plunger and spring. Primed the pump and went to start it.

The jeep wouldn't start, just pops and snaps. After more research, I found the dizzy was 180 out, so I fixed that, and she started right up. I went to set the base timing with the vac gauge cause it was handy, and got her set. I double checked it with the timing light, and it was 18* SOB!!! I turned it to 12* any way, AND the oil pressure was STILL 100 PSI!! But it dropped slowly to 75, and eventually after driving it around forever, it settled in at 25 PSI. But went up to 90 PSI at 55 MPH.

Also, the front of the motor was whining like crazy. I used the screwdriver in the ear trick, and all noises pointed to the alternator, so I went to summit and got a shiny black and chrome alternator, put it in after decoding what R and F mean and what to do with my wires. Still whines! I loosened the power steering to where it barely grabbed, then loosened the alternator, and the noise only quit when the belt was almost falling off the alternator. I guess its the water pump :(

It also had a mean stumble at 800 RPM, but that was much better at the end of my little drive.

So I traded my little bit leaky jeep, for one with a crap oil pump, bad alternator, and bad water pump. SUPER DAY!!
 
#203 ·
Now that I'm done being pissed, is there some kind of break in period on these oil pumps? Will the pressure go down eventually? Is the high pressure bad for the workings? When I said I wanted higher oil pressure, I guess I should've specified I wanted healthier oil pressure :(
 
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