[Mongo228]

This is sorta taking over where Mister 4x4 left off; you can find that thread here. The might be a bit of overlap.

For those of you just joining in on the fun, this is Klooge, a 1980 CJ 7 I am in the process of resurrecting. Mister 4x4 rescued him from an ignominious fate on a farm near Austin, TX. Klooge has been through a "heart transplant," as well as a locale change (he's in Arizona, now!).

The trip to get him home was an adventure. High winds (both right in the grill and from the side), which induced a few "clench" moments while side-by-side with other traffic on the highway, were a constant from San Angelo to Texas Canyon on I-10. Ran into a bit of rain in NM. Then, 50 miles outside Tucson, it started bucketing down. Then that turned to sleet, then snow, the back the other way, and was rainy all the way home. Still, made it one piece! Got in late, so I just snapped a pic of the garage before I put Klooge in.

Getting Klooge situated. He'd decided to quite running, so I had to use a flat-tow bar to get him in the garage. Once in, I used wheel skates to get him more or less where I wanted him.

Now, he's been getting stripped of parts, slowly but surely, and getting prepped for some engine work. I'll be pulling the head this coming weekend.

I'm really enjoying myself with this project! Heck, there have been nights I got a thought, and went out to check something at 12:30 in the morning! Big plans in the works for this beauty. I'll post semi-regular updates for those interested.

 

[Charleston82CJ7]

I like the dollies under the wheels. Where did you find them? Do they move pretty easily?

 

[Mongo228]

I like the dollies under the wheels. Where did you find them? Do they move pretty easily?

They're Sunex 1500 Pound Wheel Dollies. They roll nicely, and make moving the Jeep around a total breeze! I can't recommend them (or a similar product/wheel skate) enough.

I got them off Amazon, but be warned, these are on the pricey side! There are less expensive versions available. I would recommend sticking with something with good-sized wheels. I got the big ones in the off event I ever need them for my Ram.

 

[Mister4x4]

Looking at how much space is left on those wheel dollies, I'm glad I got the ones I did because there's no way those 33x15.50 Swampers on mine would fit those guys. The 35x12.50 SSRs coming soon... maybe. But then again, I'm nowhere near close to getting Dookie back in the garage. LOL! Best I can hope for is to carve out some space to work on tearing down the 304 when the arctic cold front shows up this coming week.

Can't wait to hear the prognosis after the collapsed lifter replacement. Keepin' 'em crossed for good cam health.

 

[Mongo228]

Looking at how much space is left on those wheel dollies, I'm glad I got the ones I did because there's no way those 33x15.50 Swampers on mine would fit those guys. The 35x12.50 SSRs coming soon... maybe. But then again, I'm nowhere near close to getting Dookie back in the garage. LOL! Best I can hope for is to carve out some space to work on tearing down the 304 when the arctic cold front shows up this coming week.

Can't wait to hear the prognosis after the collapsed lifter replacement. Keepin' 'em crossed for good cam health.

Yeah, I think 12.50 is the max recommended width. I'm pretty sure they'd handle 35x12.50s.

 

[Mongo228]

Ok, first things first:

The cam is fine; no damage noted during inspection!

Now, on to the rest ...

So, today was a productive day. Got head pulled, the valve train disassembled, lifters removed, cam visually inspected, and valves cleaned up.

Mister 4x4, in whose Jeep this engine previously resided, had pulled the head some time ago. When he did, he pulled it as a unit, because a chunk of the exhaust manifold was breaking off the flange. It looked like it was held in place from the pressure of the bolt. It more or less was. I found out that the chunk was loose, but not loose enough to come out. So, I decided to pull the manifold as an item, and as a TEMPORARY fix, do a repair with extreme temp JB Weld. Well, when I pulled the bolt and removed the broken-off chunk, there was what looked like a "spacer" sleeve left. Well, turned out, it was RTV. The owner before Mister 4x4 had to do that.

Here's a look at the manifolds, as a unit, separated from the engine.

Next off was the valve cover. Glad I have a metal one! He's a shot of the inside; looks pretty clean.

Here's a look at the valve train. A little dirty, but not too bad. You can see the missing pushrods for cylinders 4 and 5, as a result of the collapsed lifters.

It's hard to see, but in the next two pics, there's some caked-on gunk on some of the pushrods.

My grandpa taught me well! He was one of my heroes growing up. Was an aircraft mechanic in the Navy, starting in WW II, and lasting 20 years. He taught me about the cardboard "jigs" for keeping bolts and stuff straight.

Here's the back half of the block ...

and the front half.

Here's a look at the combustion chambers. Plenty of cleaning to be done. I hit it already with parts cleaner, and will take a brass brush on a dremel to it tomorrow.

I had already hit the valves with a wire wheel on my bench grinder, and then went after them with a drill and a red scotchbrite pad (lock stem in drill chuck, turn on drill, use pad to polish). Worked like a charm!! BTW, an input on cleaning the head would be appreciated! Thank you!

 

[Mister4x4]

Glad to hear the cam survived. Hopefully, the valves and seats will still have their shape after all this time and some simple clean-up... as I've mentioned, there's less than 10K miles on that 'in chassis overhaul' (as Jim used to call it), although there was a LOT of down time and 'waking up' involved when I'd fire it up to take to a car show, drive around for a few hours, then back into the storage unit it would for a year or so. Don & Jim showed me how to do the valves with the lap machine and valve seat tools at the AHS, and 'helped' me as well... by shoving me out of the way so they could do it and have their fun - LOL (Man, I miss those guys). I would think a clean and light polish of the valves and seats should be all you need.

As you know, that engine's always had 'rich condition' issues... even with the factory 1bbl. I was hoping that TFI Super Coil upgrade would've resolved that... and it did to a point, but obviously there's plenty of carbon build-up to refute that thought. I'm thinking the intake/header/EFI plans you have for it should get that all under control and serve you quite well for the future - great minds think alike, and that's the direction I was going before Harry waved Klooge under my nose with his 304 & TF-999 (that I now need to get crackin' on). I can't wait to see it all come [back] together!

 

[Mongo228]

Glad to hear the cam survived. Hopefully, the valves and seats will still have their shape after all this time and some simple clean-up... as I've mentioned, there's less than 10K miles on that 'in chassis overhaul' (as Jim used to call it), although there was a LOT of down time and 'waking up' involved when I'd fire it up to take to a car show, drive around for a few hours, then back into the storage unit it would for a year or so. Don & Jim showed me how to do the valves with the lap machine and valve seat tools at the AHS, and 'helped' me as well... by shoving me out of the way so they could do it and have their fun - LOL (Man, I miss those guys). I would think a clean and light polish of the valves and seats should be all you need.

As you know, that engine's always had 'rich condition' issues... even with the factory 1bbl. I was hoping that TFI Super Coil upgrade would've resolved that... and it did to a point, but obviously there's plenty of carbon build-up to refute that thought. I'm thinking the intake/header/EFI plans you have for it should get that all under control and serve you quite well for the future - great minds think alike, and that's the direction I was going before Harry waved Klooge under my nose with his 304 & TF-999 (that I now need to get crackin' on). I can't wait to see it all come [back] together!

I was quite pleased as well! I ran it through several revolutions with bright LED light just to be sure.

I miss them, too.

I am beginning to think the intake/header/EFI plans are going to be the easiest to accomplish. Finding patch panels in stock anywhere is getting more and more difficult. Most aggravating. But, Klooge will be registered as a "historic vehicle" here, and will have collector insurance. The insurance will limit his use, so he'll still be "stated up, run for a bit, then put back in storage." But the Holley EFI should definitely fix any "richness" issues.

 

[Mongo228]

It's time to compare/contrast! Pics of cleaned up valves, a mostly cleaned up head, and shiny pistons!

These are the valves after the scotch bright cleaning. Not "out-of-the-box-new" condition, but WAY better than they were!

Here are a few pics of the combustion chambers after running through a couple of brass brush bits on a rotary tool, as well as the lapped seats.

Got the valves re-installed. I have learned to seriously dislike two things: suction-cup lapping tools, and cheap spring compressors!

Got the pistons pretty well cleaned up. Again, they're not "factory" cleaned, but I did what I could to get rid of the carbon.

I'm working on removing the diamond plate. This is what was under the driver's side rear corner. A friend commented he expected more rust, and was surprised at its lack. I told him "that's because Bondo doesn't rust."

Poor Klooge, still undergoing open-heart surgery!

Next is to put everything back together and get the engine running again. It has become a "challenge accepted" issue for me; that engine WILL run again!

 

[Mister4x4]

If I wasn't going to be needing the valve spring compressor I bought for that job for my own purposes, I would've sent it with you.

Looks like you did a fine job getting everything cleaned up - looks about like it did when I put it all back together so many years ago. How were the old valve seals, BTW (they don't look too 'horrible' from the pic)? Once you get it all back together, it should run pretty awesome - especially, with the Offy intake, header, and EFI you've got planned.

 

[Mongo228]

If I wasn't going to be needing the valve spring compressor I bought for that job for my own purposes, I would've sent it with you.

Looks like you did a fine job getting everything cleaned up - looks about like it did when I put it all back together so many years ago. How were the old valve seals, BTW (they don't look too 'horrible' from the pic)? Once you get it all back together, it should run pretty awesome - especially, with the Offy intake, header, and EFI you've got planned.

Yeah, you're gonna need that compressor; you have more springs to deal with than I do.

I was trying to be careful not score/gouge the metal, but still get as much built up carbon/oil/etc., off of surfaces as I could.

The old seals actually weren't bad; I couldn't really see any damaged spots, just a bit of carbon here and there, and that was from disassembly.

All in all, aside from the collapsed lifters and carbon buildup, the engine is in pretty good shape!

 

[Mongo228]

Monday was *supposed* to be "chore day."

Yeah. Right. Sure.

So, out to the garage I went. My intention was to reassemble Klooge and hear him running.

First order of business, get the head back on the engine. Those of you who have rebuilt 258s know what a pain it is to put the head back on while the engine is still in the chassis. No guide pins to help, and 70+ pounds of cast iron and steel is a blown back in the making. So, I improvised, "necessity is the Mother of Invention" and all that. I have a nice engine hoist ... why not put it to work? I did just that. I used 4 of the rocker arm pivot bolts as mounting points, and with the use of the leveler, got the head where it needed to be, and at a matching angle, to boot! No guide pins? No problem! The head bolts are long enough to handle alignment duties if you're within 1/4-1/2" of the block surface.

I'm sure my methods will have some folks pulling their hair in aggravation. I'm also sure my methods are not new, but I had never encountered them before. Never really needed them, TBH. The point is, they worked, and nothing was damaged in the process. The key here is just to take your time. Slow. Smooth.

Here's the head hanging off the hoist ...

... and here's a shot of the bolts about to act as guide pins.

AANNNNNDDDD ... the head is in-place.

I got so wrapped up and focused on what I was doing, I didn't take many pics. Here's one of Klooge sitting silently, judging me, mocking me ... refusing to start.

I spent a couple of hours futzing about with the distributor, wondering is it 180 out? It sounds like it's trying to fire, just not where it's supposed to. Well, the rotor was off by a tooth or two, but I had also forgotten to bake in 6 degrees of timing. Once I got all that sorted ... well ... here ...

Mission accomplished! He's running! Sorta. Need to get the fuel feed issues sorted. The return line is completely blocked, and the feed line seems to be partially blocked. The tank has about 3 gallons of fuel in it, so plenty for the pickup.

Fingers crossed!

 

[Mister4x4]

I'm so happy that's 'all' it was. :grin2:

Things should be fairly academic moving forward from here - cut out bad sheet metal, replace with new sheet metal, buy some cool new things, make everything look pretty, enjoy the Jeep.

 

[Mongo228]

I'm so happy that's 'all' it was. :grin2:

Things should be fairly academic moving forward from here - cut out bad sheet metal, replace with new sheet metal, buy some cool new things, make everything look pretty, enjoy the Jeep.

HAHAHA! You make it sound SO simple! If I can get this done by Christmas, I'll be thrilled! Parts (and budget) are the holdup right now. Everybody is "temporarily out of stock," which is really, REALLY annoying.

Oh, well. This will happen. I have spoken.

 

[Mongo228]

I finally got the roll bar out. I'll post pics later ... I'm on a different computer right now. I only had to grind out one bolt, but that bolt took 4 impact torx bits with it.

The bottoms of the plates for uprights behind the seats seem to be in very rough shape. I need to do some major cleanup on them, but initially, I have to wonder if they're salvageable.

There was MAJOR rot under the pax side mount, and some under the driver side. Looks like there's some rot along the bottom of the waterfall plate/floor pan seam.

I'm also finding a fair bit of angle iron welded into the rear of the tub, along the tops of the wheel wells. I'm guess the wanted to stiffen things up since it was used on a farm as a hunting vehicle. I think I have taken about 50 pounds of Austin dirt/brush out of the poor beast. Fortunately, there is more good sheet metal than bad! I just need to get my hands on floor pans quick-like.

I'll probably post pictures either tomorrow or Friday.

 

[Mongo228]

As promised, pics of the roll bar removed.

Here it is, out completely. Not the rust on the undersides of the mounting points. Salvageable? We'll see.

These are the spots on the body ... driver's upright, driver's support, pax support, pax upright. The pax upright location is going to be one helluva repair.

I'll work on cleaning things up a bit more this weekend and post more pics.

 

[Mongo228]

Ok, it's been a while.

A bit catch-up --

1. The engine is out and on a stand.

2. Firewall actually looks pretty decent.

3. The EPA outlawed methylene chloride in (I think) 2019. Without that, strippers just don't work as well. I went through most of a quart of Citristrip ... um ... useless. Went to Rustoleum Aircraft Stripper ... better, but still not "great."

4. Testing non-chemical means of stripping on the floors ... effective, but DIRTY. Need to use the shop vac as a dust collector.

5. I've had to drill out more bolts on the windshield hinges (3/8). They're off, though. They took most of the sheet metal with them. They'd been on there for 41 years ... not surprised.

6. Looks like the dash/windshield/cowl mount are all 16 gauge. I think I have enough for repairs, at least for the hinge areas. What's going to be a pain is getting the hinge pillars out. I got whole new ones ... may not "need" complete new ones, but would be nice to have them in there!!

7. The floors are a grab bag of good/bad metal, odd bolts (WTF are THESE for????), and insane patches. Looks like they did a "skin graft" from what may have been a GM vehicle (looks like a GM shade of blue) to patch the driver floorboard. The just welding a chunk of 1/8" plate on the pax side.

Here's a YouTube video update. Still learning how to use the video editor. I figured out the bracing/holes were for the spare tire carrier (which Klooge did NOT have). It's a Cardone steering gear box, with a Saginaw pump.

More to come in a few days!!

 

[devildog80]

Glad to see progress Dave

 

[Mongo228]

Got an early start, and got a fair amount done.

First, snapped a pic of the "old" whiteboard list for posterity.

Then, wrote out the list of stuff to do as the "new whitboard."

Made final preps for body removal. A buddy of mine (Gregg) came over to help.

Got the body off the frame and out to the driveway, where we washed about 10 pounds of mud, dirt, rat's nests, etc., off.

We got the tub back in the garage. Took some pictures of the windshield hinge mount points. OEM hinges had never been pulled.

Rolled the frame out, hosed it off, and got it back in the garage. Tight tolerances in there now!

And here's a link to the YouTube video:

 

[Mongo228]

Progress has been made.

I'm working on a few things at once.

First, here's my first attempt at a patch panel, lying in its intended final location. I plan on cutting out the wheel arch and plug welding it to the patch panel.

Been working on stripping everything off the frame. Turns out I have the "factory feature" of a bit of a twist to the frame. It's not bad, between 1/2" to 3/4". Once I get everything squared away and re-assembled, there shouldn't be any problems. I definitely need to replace 3 of the frame-to-body mount points. I have most all of the parts I NEED now. Bonus this summer will pay for the rest.

I never in my life thought I would have a vehicle to this point of disassembly.