I have owned my scrambler since 2005. After numerous upgrades to my 258 4.2 including Davis ignition and Weber carb I decided to go the v8 route to improve driveability. Here is my lm7 swap project. Started research years ago and began purchasing materials in January 2017. The engine was in great shape inside so we cleaned painted and replaced what I thought should be. Here are photos of the Jeep tear down that started Saturday 5/13. I'm sure I will have questions as I go.
Hey there, Mike from cj-8.com
Looking good! I need to work on my doors too 😩 not looking forward to it but Winter will be here & I haven't driven my 8 in over 5 years!!! But she's coming together & the tub "may" go back on tomorrow! #stoked
Things are getting busy at work so it's getting harder to squeeze in time for the project. Here are some pictures of the progress. I repaired the passenger side limiting strap and also got both the vent windows squared away. I had to weld the pins I fabricated in to place because the window was just flopping around when I first test assembled it. I had to be careful with the axis line to make sure it would operate properly so it took a lot of test fitting to get it right. The passenger side is assembled and works fantastic. I also did some light rust repair on the driver side.
The deadline came and went a couple more times at the shop I had lined up so I found a new shop and happy to say we are making progress. He was happy with most of my work but wanted to redo the driver rocker, whatever works.
Thanks for checking in, I have not been keeping as current as I would like. I stopped by the body shop November 1st to drop off an an extra dash I scored locally for $175. I want to have it painted, then I can transfer my gauges slowly and carefully to the new dash. They are behind schedule which comes as no surprise but Marcelo has been making slow and steady progress. I was happy to see they had just finished another coat of primer when I popped in and it is looking nice and smooth. While at the jeep recyclers shop I also picked up a brake booster so I will start cleaning that up when I can. I hope to stop by again this week to see how its going but things have been nuts at my shop so who knows if I can pull that off. Here's the latest.
It is a clean operation and the owner, Marcello is a nice guy to deal with, he does nice work, I think I found a good place. I wanted to make time today for a pop in since I haven't checked on the progress since the first of the month. I found another round of blocking in progress, I ran my hand over it the body in different spots and I was impressed but I have mixed feelings, it is as smooth as anything but maybe too smooth for a CJ. Maybe I'll ask for him to sand down a little deeper, ya know, to show off some of those spot welds like the way it came factory lol. I was glad to see he removed the corner braces, that could been a spot for rust to start. Paint before Christmas is the plan. Here are todays photos
I had a moment to swing by the shop today and what a surprise, they were able to spray it over the weekend. Finally starting to look as good as she runs.
A bit more progress, full doors are assembled, new rubber, new handles, I am blown away how smooth the action is on the door latches. Gaps are looking great, they shimmed the tub to level if up, it had settled over the decades. Xenon fender flares are due in by the end of January so it should be looking good for the spring time
I had a few hours today to spend at the body shop, the boys had stepped on my kill switch and blew some fuses early on during the tear down stage, it wasn't too important at the time but now that we're getting close to the end of our stay here I thought I'd get her running. Turns out the fuel pump fuse was blown and I found one other fuse blown that supplied one of my power busses. Once sorted I turned it over and she fired right up and sounded sweet. While I was doing my thing they were struggling with the windshield cowl gasket being super tight as well as the half cab rear glass gasket being a pita. We decided to order a new rear glass gasket and let it go for now and after some scary pulling on the windshield frame we were able to close the gap between the doors and the windshield. I don't think we'll be long now.
The decals went on yesterday, I think they came out great. We arer waiting on a new rear window gasket from gr8t tops. Hopefully we won't be waiting too long.
The Xenon fender flares I ordered should ship by the end of the January, I'll have them painted black then I'll on they go. The new rear window gasket is on the way from South Carolina right now. Coming home soon, can't wait to get started on the interior!
The Jeep saw sunlight for the first time in months. It's amazing how much crap can pile up when you have empty space. It took several hours of cleaning to make room in my shop so the project could continue. As soon as it was back in the shop the first order of business was to trim up a bed liner to protect that fresh paint. I want to get the rocker trim on next so Saturday I spent an hour or so making t bolts to hold the trim on. Then the new carpeting will be installed.
I finally got the fender flares at the beginning of April, took way too long but they're here. They are ok but the finish is not that good, you will have to paint them after the surface is cleaned up if you want it to look good. I also got the center console mounted and the shifter boot too. The seats should be back this week, I am looking forward to my first drive in almost a year!
The seats and carpeting are installed, I bought the covers from lseat and the quality of the covers is decent but after I received the fronts I decided wanted them to make covers for my back seat as well. That's when the trouble started, instead of rear covers I just got the run around. Seems I got lucky that it went ok with the front covers, others were not as fortunate based on what I read after the fact. Unfortunately, I would not recommend them based on their poor communications. I did a little more research and it seems they have mixed reviews overall so proceed at your own risk if you like the covers. As far as the carpeting, per Stock Interiors website the carpeting is custom molded to your floor pan but mine was molded cockeyed so it didn't fit square on the floor. I contacted them but they said since I cut it to fit it over the shifters, that action voided any chance of returning it. The problem I have is that I could not have found that defect out unless I cut the carpet so I call bs on that policy. I believe that with the shifter cut or not the carpet is still defective. Even if I didn't cut it they would have charged a 25% restocking fee to return it plus shipping so I just cut it myself and moved on. I would not do it again since I had to cut the carpet myself.
I finally got around to installing a power brake master cylinder, what a great upgrade to have! I also installed my summer set up but I'm ready for the ac after heading to Cape Cod for a week.
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