I've seen 33x12.5x15 on the stock rims. They 'look' fine. Don't know about any performance issues, though.

I put a doors from an 81 on my 76. I switched the 'in door' latch, and 2 of the 3 screw holes lined up. Also lost use of my locks. So, keeping the door in the right year span was definetly the way to go.

 

Looks awesome. Love the color scheme.

 

Me too, especially with the white wheels and original center caps. :thumbsup: I'd keep them!

What's the interior look like?

 

Thanks for lovin on my truck guys! I could tell you guys almost love it half of how much I love it :laugh: I went and put on the new door. But I forgot the truck half of the latch at my house (the truck is on my Uncle's property) but that is ok. Because it turns out when it rolled down my driveway and pinned the door against the quarter panel, it bent the inside part where the hinge bolts in. Like the middle screw. So I need to bend that back so that the door will close easily.

The interior could use some work. I really want to toss the bench that is in there and get a bench that has bucket seats. Seats that are not trampolines. I have a new dash for her at home that Im going to put in. It is black but I suppose you cant have everything. The old dash is totally washed out and cracked from the sun. I have also been toying with the idea of putting bedliner in instead of carpet. Carpet would deaden the engine noise more though right? I feel carpet might look better too. But I really don't know. Also in the heat can the bedliner make any bad smells? I know that plastics under high temperatures can emit some bad smells, especially in a sealed vehicle.

Does anyone know of the complications of putting a 360 in a j10 that had the 6cylinder? Or if there would be any performance issues with 33x12.5x15 tires on an 8 inch wide rim? Because like I said before, I would really like to keep the original rims :2thumbsup:

Thanks for the help guys!

 

Nice truck and great project! I can relate to the door issue as I replaced my drivers door on my '77 J-10 with a door from an '86 GW. I also converted to electric windows!
I used to run 35x12.50-15's but the truck would bounce around like it was on balloons and it was hard to steer at slow speeds. The tires stuck out about 1 1/2" from the fenders. I recently changed to 33x10.50-15 (KM2's) and the ride and handling is much better. The tires fit in the fenderwells and IMHO look better.
As far as a seat; might I suggest a 60/40 split bench from a late '80's Chevy pickup. I have one in mine and it is firm and comfy. Also gives you access to the behind the seat area. I adapted mine to the original sliders.
Keep us updated on your progress.

 

Subscribed

 

Nice truck.
Chrome Go Rhino grille guard. Pioneer trim, I think. Dual tanks, cool--no evaporative emission test in Cali. Can you post engine/interior pics? You can prolly polish up the chrome muscle grille.

For a 360 swap, you would need to change the radiator, core support, motor mounts, and possibly trans and driveshafts. I would recommend a 4.0 swap. You would get a better head and fuel injection and eliminate some smog parts. A 4.6 stroker would be even better. A 4.0 would be nearly a bolt-in and you would not need to swap those other parts. 258~110hp. 4.0~190hp. 4.6~240hp.

Get to know your local pickapart yards. You can find some good parts there. We have 4 near here(riverside county), 3 list fresh inventory online.

You can paint the dash pad before you swap it in.

 

Nice truck.
Chrome Go Rhino grille guard. Pioneer trim, I think. Dual tanks, cool--no evaporative emission test in Cali. Can you post engine/interior pics? You can prolly polish up the chrome muscle grille.

For a 360 swap, you would need to change the radiator, core support, motor mounts, and possibly trans and driveshafts. I would recommend a 4.0 swap. You would get a better head and fuel injection and eliminate some smog parts. A 4.6 stroker would be even better. A 4.0 would be nearly a bolt-in and you would not need to swap those other parts. 258~110hp. 4.0~190hp. 4.6~240hp.

Get to know your local pickapart yards. You can find some good parts there. We have 4 near here(riverside county), 3 list fresh inventory online.

You can paint the dash pad before you swap it in.

Well I did usually think the 360 would be a little to much power for what I wanted. A 4.0 or 4.6 would be great. Except I have no idea what those are. Are they a V6? Did they come is some models of J10s? Because I thought J10's only came with 258's and 360's. At least 190hp would sound great. And fuel injection would be fantastic. Would that increase mpg too? I would like to ideally keep it near 13-15. I think the 4.0 or 4.6 stroker sounds exactly what I wanted. What kind of vehicles can I find them in?

Ill plan on painting the dash then. And I found the door at a pick and pull. They had about 10 J10's and hundreds of jeeps. So i will have to look around there and some other places locally a bit more. The problem is I see things that I dont have the money for and would be "nice"

Also, The bedliner smell thing, that was more about the smell for me, not passing California's tests. I'm sure there are types that are designed to have no smell.

 

Ok, I see you have a manual transmission. I'm guessing it is the 4-speed. You could get 16-18, stock mpg's. With that lift and bigger tires, you'll drop mpg's.

Since you live in the people's republic of kalifornia, smog check will be a big issue. Do you have all the smog equipment on the engine? How about the registration? Has it been on a non-op? Back fees on registration could be over $1000.

The 4.0 engine was developed from the 258 shortly before Chrysler bought AMC and killed it off. You can find them in xj cherokees, grand Cherokees, others. There is a TON of information online about 4.0 swaps. Do some searching and then read, read, read.

The front 'quarter panel' is called a fender. The 'dash' is the metal panel in front of the occupants. The dash 'pad' is the soft part on top. If you put a nice one on, buy a cover for it or at least throw a towel on it to protect it fron the sun.

 

Yeah its a manual, and its the 4 speed without the granny low 1st. I know I was going to drop mpg with a lift and larger tires. More contact with the ground and air resistance. But I was wondering what I could do to counter that? I need to do a lot more research on that.

The smog check is what my dad doesn't think will pass. As far as I know all the smog equipment is still on the engine. It hasn't been registered for probably 8 years. Its been a non op. So I think I remember that being a pretty penny when I checked to see how much it would be to register it again.

I was curious what 4.0 you were talking about. Because I know ford rangers have 4.0's, because I have one. But I was assuming you mean a different engine.

As for the "fender" that makes sense. I looked it up and people call the fender the front quarter panel by mistake a lot. I actually learned to call it a quarter panel on this forum...I always thought the fender was the piece on the bottom of the, well, the fender I guess. So thats confusing.

I was planning on buying a cover for the "dash pad" The old one is over 30 years old...So you would have to figure the sun would have done some damage. I need a new Dash (metal part) because my brother cut the hell out of it trying to fit in his radio deck when he owned it. It is kind of ruined. But I have a new one. That's why I'm replacing the Dash.

The engine swap would be nice. But I think that is just about last on my list of things to do. Mechanically that is. Because It will run with the current engine. I would rather rebuild the tranny first. The truck is drive-able as is. As soon as the door gets on right, It would handle the road fine. I'm really planning on researching the 4.0 swap and doing that in the future for sure. I really hope I dont have to pay too much in back fees, or in getting the truck to pass smog. But I have a feeling I will have to :thumbdown:

 

Ok, I figured I would update this now since i finally ordered some parts:laugh:

I tore out the carpet and took the seats out. The floor panels are perfect so im putting down some heat and sound insulation for the cab. I also bought the vinyl floor cover that is suppose to be custom fit. I'm sure it wont and that I will have to cut a little when I put it in. I was going with the carpet, but The carpet got pretty bad reviews of it not fitting at all. The vinyl flooring seemed like the more popular rated product. I'm curious how it will be too. I will let you guys know when I get it and take pictures of it installed. I am going to reupholster the bench seat instead of buying a new seat. And of course I am going to go with a blue and white bench to match the truck paint I need to put in the other dash board and paint it also. I let you guys know and take pics when something actually happens.

Here are the parts in case anyone was curious what I bought. I know the vinyl comes with insulation, but I wanted for the back of the cab too just for noise reduction.
http://www.jcwhitney.com/heatsound-insulation/p2010475.jcwx?filterid=c2663d1182y1981g2u0j4
http://www.jcwhitney.com/heavy-duty...floor-protection-for-pickups-and-suv/p2007280.jcwx?filterid=c1430d1182y1981g2j4

 

Another update on the truck!

Ok, so the insulation came in and it's nice and thick. The Carpet stuff hasn't come in yet though. But yesterday my dad was on Craigslist and found some 33x12.50x15 super swampers on aluminum wheels for $550. A full set and a spare 33x10.50x15. The tread is practically new! He gave me 50 bucks back too because he was happy that we actually showed up (someone stuck him up before us). Im am crazy happy with this deal! That saved me a ton of money! and I got exactly what I had been looking for. I really like the weld racing rims I just cant believe I got 5 tires on rims for 500. Crazy deal! I just need to buy some lug nuts. I'm not sure exactly which size to buy. And I am going to buy a lock set for my tires so no one can steal my new babies :thumbsup: I don't have any pictures, but the ad is still up if anyone wants to see what I got.

http://sacramento.craigslist.org/pts/3920385473.html

I'm really looking forward to putting them on my truck, and putting in the insulation/carpet-like stuff in. Then I need to reupholster the bench seat and paint the dash. Then the interior will pretty much be good :2thumbsup:

 

Great score on the rims and tires!!!
I bet you saved $1000 easy!
Good luck
C

 

OK so I have a question,

I have been looking around and couldn't find an answer on my own. So I have a 4 inch rancho suspension lift already on my truck. If I wanted to put a 3in body lift on that, what would I need in addition to the body lift kit? probably new brake lines? Would a body lift be a bad idea?

 

Worked on my J10 all day today! And as usual nothing went my way. :rofl: First, we got a new stud for the exhaust manifold because the old one was backing out. Cleaning out the hole for the stud and then putting a stud in was a freaking nightmare. Who thought it would be a good idea to put the exhaust manifold right over the motor mount?? :thumbdown: and then the damn part actually on the exhaust pipe that tightens it to the exhaust manifold has a lip on it. So you cant get a wrench OR socket on the nut. The whole thing is just metal on metal too. No donut or anything. Whoever did the exhaust before did not make it very level going into the manifold. We had to loosen all the exhaust mounts and just move the whole thing around until it fit. This whole thing took hours.

The brake light switch was super easy though and only took probably 20 minutes to get the old one out and put in the new one. Now my brake lights wont always be on which is always nice :laugh:

I noticed on my super swampers there was a large maybe 2 inch gash in between the tread on one tire. Probably from a rock from the PO. It is super deep though and I probably want a new tire. Or see if I can get it patched from the inside. I went to a tire shop to get the new lug nuts and they told me the studs were half inch and they were 95% sure. Heh. Well I took off one of my old tires and put the new 33 on and it looked bad*** but the lugs were the wrong size. I can use the old ones now actually because the studs are 7/16ths not 1/2. But thats not even the bad part! The studs are about 3/4 of an inch too short for the thick mag rims. I went to the local part store and they only had one type of stud the right length but the part near the head, (idk what it is called) the part that holds the stud in, was 20 thousands bigger than the ones I had now. So that wouldn't work. Or maybe it would? I don't want to pound on it too much. So im going to order some new studs online in the right size. I think they need to be 2 and 1/4 long with the part near the head being 73 hundreds (not 75 like in the store). When I get these wheels and tires on, I'm going to be super happy. They are going to look real nice. :thumbsup: There's something I forgot to check though. I just took the back tire off. Not either of the front ones. I have drum brakes in the back and disk brakes in the front. I'm sure they will give different amounts of stud sticking out. I just dont know if it will give me more stud or less. I only have so much room in the lug. If anyone has any 2 cents on that it would be appreciated.

I also took some pictures of the interior and engine bay. The floor pans are pretty much perfect. No rust and they are the original blue. The bench seat is going to be reupholstered. There's a picture of my dad trying to get the exhaust manifold stud hole clean with another screw. We WD40'd it and put another screw through and then took a torch to it to burn off the WD40. Now the locktight will stick really well :highfive: The original instument cluster is sweet and the dash just really needs painting. Everything just needs to get cleaned on the inside and I'll put in the insulation and carpet after that. Probably after I get these darn wheels on.

 

Welcome to the I6 manifold nightmare . My 4.8 stroker with headers is UN-REAL to get the bolts back into with it in the engine bay. Even on the stand its fun.

 

So i FINALLY got the right size lug-nuts for the wheels. Weld makes (or made in the past and not anymore) specially sized lug-nuts for their wheels. So I went through just about 3 different types between regular 1/2 then regular 7/16th and then to the mags with longer bottom for fitting into the rim. I finally found the right lugs. I finally got the tires on with the right lugs and the lugs worked perfect!

The only problem is i need a good half inch more clearance on the brake assembly in the front. The wheel has and additional little lip on the inside of the wheel which catches on the brake assembly. I have disk's in the front and drum's in the back. The back dont rub at all. So as of now i have different tires on the front than the back haha. But i think a half inch wheel spacer would make the tires fit fine in the front. We measured with some washers we had and about 4 thick worked fine. And thats under half an inch. But maybe an inch would be safer? I have no idea what wheel spacer to buy, or what studs I would need after the spacer. Does anyone have any suggestions?

The I6 manifold is such a nightmare. It is still leaking. Im going to go get a complete new exhaust system I think that isnt rusty and full of poorly patched holes! haha On the up-side though the truck starts with no gas in the carb! She fires right up!

I do have a few pics of the tires on the truck. Even if they cant turn in the front!

 

Those wheels look mean!

 

Hello again everyone!

So I haven't made an update in quite a while, but I haven't worked on my truck in quite a while. I've been at school taking 18 units and working two jobs. I originally got the two jobs to put the money into this J-10. Unfortunately, I got invited to stay for a month in Panama with a friend from my college who is from panama. All of the money that I saved for my truck is going into this month long trip instead. I figured I can always fix the truck up later, but I wont always be able to travel, especially for so cheap since I don't have to rent a hotel room. I do not have too much spare money to go to the truck at the moment, which kind of puts everything on hold.

There are several things I can still do, such as hammer out the body, put in the insulation and carpet, get the door to close perfectly with the right lock (so my key still works) and get the front wheels on with the help of the spacers. So hopefully I can at least do some of that stuff this summer. The summer is getting taken over by helping rebuild the decks in the front and back yard, which is a nightmare as well. I'll keep you guys updated if/when I FINALLY get some time to get over to my truck to work on it. It doesn't help that its 40 minutes away...

Cheers.:cheers2:

 

Like the thread. Starting my redo of a 83 J10 starting with a media blast of body. Spent 2 years in Panama courtesy of Uncle Sam. Watch out for grilled meat on the stick, the San Blas natives will tell you that it tastes like chicken.
My Jeeper goes to the blaster next week, will try to post pics on its progress

 

Okay, I'm no expert, but the Ford 4.0 was probably a V6. Jeep 4.0 was a straight 6. Fantastic engine, by the way... My mom drives a Grand Cherokee with over 300k miles on it. Body lift may require new brake lines, but they sell it by the foot at your local auto parts store. Body lift gives you more clearance for big tires, without changing your drive line angles.

 

Little voice in the back of my head(reading other threads) for the body lift First contact the the supplier or a trusted vender for body lifts and ask them what you need. I've only ever heard of brake line extensions needed for suspension lifts. Don't want to get half way through only to realize you need to order some parts. You will probably need to adjust the steering box. $.02

Those wheels/tires look mean good thing you got a spare.

Make sure to procure a good clean wiring harness for your engine swap and do some great research into if you have to switch out the tranny. the current one might not be able to handle a stronger engine. something to think about before you rebuilt the tranny.

Money issues are a pain. My build is slow due to my family needing to borrow money
Best of luck I'll be creeping from the shadows.

 

Hello everyone, It's been a very long time since my last post. I think I'll update everyone on my truck and our new truck in the family! So first I have not done much other than get the new rims and tires on, which was an adventure in itself. Finding lug nuts to fit the rim took 3 trips to the tire store, which is about half an hour away. But after we got those on the truck, the front rims were rubbing on the brake calipers. I recently went to a jeep pick and pull yard in Sacramento and picked up two 1/4 inch spacers for the front. Put them on today and they fit! Barely! But the tires spin with next to no clearance on the brake caliper. But I'll take it after like 6 months of trying to get the tires on. I think they look pretty good though! I also picked up two bucket seats and a center console out of a 79 Cherokee. They are in pretty good shape. But It looks like the drivers seat got bent a little in whatever accident put it into the pick and pull yard. It doesn't sit staight up, but leans a little too far back. The part that holds the back up straight got bent, so I still have to bend that back into place. I'm excited though because the bench that was in my truck before was terribly uncomfortable and bouncy! I have yet to put in the insulation and carpeting. I'm actually not even sure where I have put it in my parents house. I don't have much time to work on the truck as its 45 minutes away from my house, the work is slow but oh so worth it :thumbsup: I'll put some pictures I snapped today.

Next up, I found a 1980 Jeep J10 Laredo on craigslist. It was up for 2,500. I called up the guy and he said that he had had the truck for a few years but it didn't start, move, or turn. I told him that we would go up and look at the truck. Once my father and I got there, we looked over the truck and it was in great shape. So my dad said we would stay and fix as much as we could, and when we were done, if it passed smog, we would take it for 2200. He shook on it and there was a lot of excitment in both my father and I. I called up my brother and sent him some photos and asked if he wanted to come along with us, and he seemed interested. He had a really nice old chevy truck though so I think he was cautious about looking at any new trucks. The first day we bought a new battery and carb cleaner. We put on a new battery and the truck started right up (after putting some new gas in it as well because it had been sitting there for a while). The person we where buying the truck from had no idea how just about anything worked on the truck. He was already starting to get an apprehensive face as we started fixing things. The truck still wouldn't move though so we got under it and saw that there was a lot of transmission fluid coming out of the top of the transmission. We went to the part store and picked up a lot of transmission fluid and put it in the truck. After that, It would drive forward and back. The last big issue was how it wouldnt turn left. It turned right fine. My Dad got underneath the front and looked. He found that the steering stabilizer had hit a rock or something and broke the bracket. It was stuck fully extended when the wheels were straight stopping it from turning left. One of the mounts had been bent very badly. So we took it off and it turned the full range fine. The guy we were buying from looked kind of upset as we spent 3 days to fix up his truck, fairly easily. He had thought that the truck was unfixable or at least it was going to cost him a fortune. when we drove it around the second day, it didnt sound very good. So we went and bought new spark plugs. The spark plugs we first installed were the wrong ones, they couldn't take the temperatures that the 360 would get to. So we had to buy another set and put the new ones in. we bought new spark plug cables and had a hard time getting ones long enough. Then we had issues finding a new distributor cap because it was an aftermarket one. We figured out that it was a distributor cap from an early toyota. I forget what years, in fact I feel like the distributor was from a ford or something ridiculous like that. Anyway we had a hard time identifying what fit what. None of the parts had any identifying numbers or names. We just knew that they were not the original parts. There was also a nice beefy aftermarket radiator. I'm not sure what exhaust was put on it, but it had two tail pipes and is VERY loud. It sounds mean, just the way I like it :2thumbsup: We drove it over to get smogged and it passed. So we bought the truck. The old owner took one last drive in it and we drove it home. I'm sure he is kicking himself in the butt right now. If would have just done a little research he could have fixed it all himself. It has as far as I can tell about 6 or 5.5 in lift (SOA) and 33X12.5 tires on I believe 16in rims. The rims are too wide for the tires though, I think they are 14in. It looks nice, but the rims have no protection. It has the 360, automatic transmission, aftermarket radiator, new sparkplugs, wires, distributor cap. It was a tough decision who would get the truck, between my brother, my father, and I. The decision was left up to me. It was my find, but it fits my brother better. It has the 360, loud exhaust, and the bigger lift. That is exactly how my brother likes his vehicles, loud and powerful. Besides I've still got the rest of my journey on my 81! We got a steal on that truck. It is great now that my brother fixed the leak on the transmission, at least I'm pretty sure he did. There were some electrical things that were wrong so that the back tail lights didn't work, but he fixed those once he was home as well. As far as I can tell he is as happy as can be with the truck, I feel good for giving it to my brother, and now we will both have jeep j10s! Once mine is fixed up we will have to go on some family drives in them. It will be bad*** to have me and my brother both riding in jeep j10's. In fact It's hard to wait for that to happen. I have no money for my truck as it is, I have student loans piling on which is honestly ridiculous. Anyway, here are some pictures!

Alright, for some reason I cant upload any images (it says i'm missing a security token or something like that) Ill try to sort it out and get some images up.

 

I think I got some pictures of my truck to work.

 

Here are pictures of my brothers new truck.

 

Sorry, more pictures!

 

Cool trucks :thumbsup:
I would love to have a 79....that's after I finish my Waggie :rofl: