[bruinjeeper]

That Noico stuff works very well for sound deadening. I can attest.

Also gives the jeep a less creakiness and more solid "feel".

Works real well on hour hollow doors.

 

[StanF]

Random progress continues:

The heater was installed:

Warm weather allowed me to finish the firewall insulation...1st layer:

2nd Layer:

I also started working on the wiring harness. It's a 23 circuit universal harness from Speedway. It'll work pretty well for this application with a Chevy 350 and Sniper EFI. It wouldn't be a good replacement for a stock 91-95 harness with the factory ECU. Why am I doing this? Because the previous owner ripped out all the wiring .
The harness comes pretty well organized, but having to change things around because of my specific application. I'm separating out the wires into 6 specific bundles:
Grill (Lights) and Horn
Engine
Rear of Jeep (Lights and Fuel Pump/Gauge)
Firewall
Dash
Steering Column

I pulled the Roll Bar out of the cab to get it out of the way. And I started cleaning up the old paint and "custom" roll cage. Why am I doing this? Because the previous owner added some horrible pipes and spray painted it brown and black .

I also started stripping the paint, which was a stupid thing to do. Now, I'll have to finish it and get some primer on it. It needed to be done, but I should have left it for a later date.

 

[bruinjeeper]

look to the bright side...

without dumb previous owners... a lot of us wouldn't have much to do lol

 

[StanF]

QUESTION OF THE DAY!

Does anyone recognize these bolts?

I have a 1988 Project YJ that I purchased mostly disassembled (Bought a Project YJ ), and am trying to figure out the seat bolts.

I believe that the 5 bolts shown below that are light colored are seat bracket bolts.

The other 3 Red bolts have me stumped - they have a weird pattern stamped into them, and they have a shorter head. These 3 are special - where do they go?

Thanks!

 

[bruinjeeper]

I'll go with shorthead being for the fender to firewall and fender to grill side if they have a tapered edged point.

 

[StanF]

They're 3/8" bolts, so larger than the fender and grill bolts that are only 5/16" bolts. The best guess so far is that the red, low head bolts are for the factory side steps. Those steps are long gone, so I can't check the thread, but it makes sense for those to have a low head and also be painted body color.

 

[StanF]

Minor progress - nothing for great pictures:

Heater hoses installed. I'm not in love with them, and may re-do them.

I also re-worked some of the heater wiring. All the wires came tie wrapped together, which isn't a great way to do it. I wrapped all the heater wires with proper inside cloth tape. This isn't electrical tape - it's special "Tesa Tape" made just for this purpose:

One shown done in this picture, and the others were done right after.

I'm rather shocked (disappointed) that Vintage Air did this - they could use sleeving, corrugated loom, Tesa tape, Braided weave, etc.

I received some very cool gauges from Speedhut that I ordered back on Black Friday, and have been working on the dash a little:

The dash needs lots of mods, as noted by the blue tape:

 

[StanF]

The stickers came off pretty cleanly with a heat gun:

This residue came right off:

The black trim came off easy, but left a horrible sticky residue. Brake Cleaner and a lot of elbow grease removed that residue.

I would have left this black trim plate on there, but it's a little cracked/chipped and I need to weld some of the holes that it covers:

Bad Residue!

This is a pretty nice, unmolested dash, but it's not perfect. I plan to:

1) General straightening / remove dents (easy)
2) Weld shut a few extra holes drilled by the previous owner (easy)
3) Add two defroster vents and make air deflectors (most difficult)
4) Modify 3 of the 4 heater control holes to accept the Vintage Air heater controls - it won't look totally stock, but it should look pretty good. (somewhat difficult)
5) I'm going to cut out the area under the steering column for easier maintenance. I'll add new brackets so that the removed piece can be bolted back in. (fairly easy)
6) Add a hole for the Speedhut tachometer in the stock CJ7 location - upper right from the steering column. (easy with a hole saw)
7) Add a hole for the Speedhut transmission temperature gauge - upper left from the steering column in the stock clock location (easy with a hole saw)
8) Deal with two extra factory holes - wiper switch location - I'll use the YJ steering column with the wiper switch on the column. And the 4th heater control hole is also extra. Ideas for these two holes: USB Ports for charging, etc. And/or maybe a front eLocker switch. Or maybe they will both be welded closed. I'm not adding any extra fog lights or a light bar, but that would be another possible use.

 

[StanF]

Also got the fuel filter installed. I looked at the factory location, but things are tight in that area with the shock and parking brake cables. I also looked at back above the gas tank. I ended up on top of the frame rail - there's room because of the 1" body lift. I have good clearance to the tub. It'll also make the two hard lines easier to bend up, as the filter is almost in the middle of the two new 3/8" hard lines. (new 3/8" hardline needed for the fuel supply. Reusing one of the 5/16" lines as a return.)

It looks tight, but I probably have 3/4" of clearance between the tub and fuel filter.

I'll paint the little angle bracket later:

Evap Cannister also installed. I'm using a stock 95 evap system, since it will match the tank well, and since I already know the 95 evap system since it's the same as on my 95 YJ. I know some people just remove these, but they have no downsides, provide cleaner air, and keep your garage from smelling like gas - that's all good in my book:

 

[StanF]

I finished the rear brake line this evening before it got dark. I removed one of the two 5/16" hard lines, and used it as a template for the new 3/8" line.

I used a 10mm metric bubble flare tool to expand the ends to help the hose clamp hold.

Test fit of the bubble flare
T

Finished bends - it's not perfect, but it fit in there pretty well.

A short piece of old hose was still on the 5/16" hard line. The hose clamp was tightened down from the top against the tub, which made it more difficult to remove. Really, who does that??? This also shows a good view of the bubble flare

Finished installation. I wrapped the hoses in hydraulic hose wrap to protect them from chafing.

Finished: I was able to use all three factory clips for the new 3/8" hard line (hard to see).

Still to complete...a pretty simple, mostly straight, hard line up to the engine compartment.

 

[bruinjeeper]

things are turning out great Stan.

love the updates

 

[cpia84]

I like seeing how you are going through everything on the Jeep. This is why I feel more people should buy older cars and just go through them thoroughly from front to rear to keep them on the road. Would have a lot more cooler vehicles on the road if this was more of the norm. Stan keep it up and cant wait to see the next post!

 

[StanF]

Bruinjeeper and cpia84, thanks for the kind words!

I got quite a bit done this weekend. The roll bar, extension bars and all the hardware was epoxy primed and painted. I'm doing this outside, so the quality isn't perfect. It be as good as I can reasonably get it. 90% of this red paint will be covered with rollbar covers.

I also started removing some more of the rubberized interior coating. I made some good progress, but a few more days of work will be required to complete the rear half of the tub:

Stripped applied and covered with saran wrap:

After a few hours to let the stripper work, I just scraped it off with a putty knife:

I'll say this again...no rust! This thing is really clean inside and out - which was a big reason why I bought.

Sticking with the interior...I picked up a pair of used Mastercraft seats out of a CJ7 for a good price, and both CJ7 seat bases were included. I don't need the seat bases, but they will help offset the cost if I sell them.
I'm not optimistic, but I'm hoping that the red fabric won't clash with the red paint. If they don't look good (likely!), I'll probably sell them and get some others. Mastercraft sells replacement covers, so that's also an option.

 

[StanF]

I was also able to knock out the firewall insulation yesterday:

It's "Floor and Tunnel Shield" from Design Engineering. It's a pretty stout layer of aluminum, insulation and adhesive.

Paper templates:

Finished and taped. I wasn't going for full 100% coverage, and what I've done will hopefully be effective. I'm hoping that the engine and battery tray cover up most of it.

I only did two little patches of insulation on the driver's side. There's lots of stuff going on over there, so lots of obstacles.

To finish the insulation, I need to do the transmission tunnel, which has a layer of very hard undercoating that isn't smooth. I'm going to have to either remove or smooth out the undercoating before adding the insulation. But I think the trans tunnel insulation is key to preventing the "hot foot" that I experience in my 95 YJ.

 

[bruinjeeper]

That is neatly done.

boy oh boy they got that interior bedliner all the way up to the tub rails eh? A+ to the PO's dedication to making this as much if a pain in the @$$ as possible to the future owner (in this case, you).

Good score on the Mastercrafts. Will the replacement seat covers they offer cost more than what you paid for the seats?

 

[StanF]

Good score on the Mastercrafts. Will the replacement seat covers they offer cost more than what you paid for the seats?

Good question - luckily, I have a lot of experience with Mastercraft seats and replacement covers...I have a set of Mastercraft Rubicon seats in my 95 YJ. I ripped one of them a while back, and finally replaced the cover about a year ago. I installed seat heaters at the same time. Mastercraft covers are EASY to install - it literally just takes 3 knots - two knots for the upper seat and a knot for the lower seat.

Again, these are all pictures of my 95 YJ:

Old dingy cover in back - new bright cover in front - quite a difference!

As far as cost goes, the covers I bought last year were about $165 each, which is about half the cost of a brand new complete Mastercraft Rubicon seat.

For my 88 YJ-CJ, I paid $100 each for the used Mastercraft seats. Spending $165 or more on new covers would get me pretty close to the cost of new seats. I can sell the seat bases that were included to help offset the cost.

The used Mastercraft seats are much, much better than what I've got now (mismatched color, old CJ5 vinyl seats). I am hopeful that the red Mastercrafts will look okay with the red Jeep paint - if so, I am doing great.

If they don't look great, I'll go to plan B...drive it for a while with ugly seats, replace the seat covers, sell them and buy different seats, etc... Lots of options here. I'm hopeful that they'll look good! 🤞

 

[StanF]

Also, I hear that red interiors are making a comeback!

(I'm joking...I love this Jeepster, but find the use of the red interior questionable!)

This Beach-Perfect Restomod Packs a 2020 Wrangler Into the Shell of a 1968 Jeepster Commando

 

[stugatza]

I bought a project YJ yesterday. 1988 - it was mostly in pieces. But some nice parts are there. I didn't need another project - I've got my 1995 YJ and a Jeepster project car already. Probably an unwise decision!

View attachment 4002341

Details:
1988, no rust (original Texas vehicle and been sitting in a garage for ~14 years)
SOA on new stock springs...I prefer SUA
Original drivetrain removed...nice - saved me the trouble!
SBC 350 included - supposedly a crate engine with very low miles...carb...I prefer fuel injection, but a V8 will be fun
Rebuilt Turbo 350 automatic with adapter kit installed for an NP231J...I prefer overdrive, but ok
NP231J with SYE...good
Rear 8.8 with 4.10 gears, and I think a Detroit locker...good
Front Dana 30 with 4.10 gears. Unknown locker or open?...fine for my use
BTF front Tube Fenders...may go back to stock fenders
TJ Rear Flares...okay for now
Half Doors...not in perfect shape, but very nice to get
1" body lift
I have most of the missing parts that you don't see in the pictures (roll cage, windshield, grill, hood, fenders, etc)
It also came with some 36" Super Swamper tires and a couple of interesting axles (Waggy front Dana 44 - very nice shape - rebuilt with 5.13 gears. And a rare XJ Dana 44.

View attachment 4002343

View attachment 4002345

Notable missing items:
The entire interior is gutted - no dash, no cowl, no heater, no controls, no gauges. I do have the seat risers and some old front seats...I think I'll go CJ dash.
Stock Gas tank...he was going to run a fuel cell
Front Sway Bar and brackets...luckily, I've got a spare bar, but not the brackets
Soft Top
Original Paint - he rattle canned it blue 👎

Initial Build Plan (subject to change without notice!)
Street rig and maybe light trails or the beach...I already have a rock crawler, and don't need another one
Budget Build - hopefully use what is there. No desire to go back to 100% original YJ
Use the SBC \ Turbo350 \ NP231J...since I already have it, but would prefer an LS and OD
Convert back to SUA...I don't need that much lift
32x11.50x15 AT tires

First questions...to help me plan out my build:

Can I make this drivetrain combination work with 32" tires? Or will the engine just be revving too high on the freeway?

Can I can get by with the stock springs SUA with 32" tires - hopefully possible because of the front tube fenders and rear TJ flares?

Are those the stock wheels? I'd like to use them, if possible. Any idea on the backspacing and how bad they may rub on turns with 11.50" wide tires?

What do to about the missing dash, open cowl vent, heater, etc. Should I just seal up the cowl vent hole? I'm fine with an aftermarket Summit Racing Heater. For the dash and gauges, I'm thinking flat CJ7 dash and CJ7 gauges.

If anybody in Texas has a good poly gas tank or passenger side stock fender, please message me.

which rockers are you running

 

[StanF]

I finished up the fuel lines last night. The new line was pretty easy. Shortening (and flaring) the factory 5/16" steel line back to the firewall was much more difficult! The existing stock line ended up near the motor mount, which is about right for a carbureted engine with the fuel pump on the block. For fuel injection, I wanted the lines to end back at the firewall.

I started with the cheap bubble flare tool. It was not up to the task of flaring the factory steel lines. It deformed when tightened, and the tube would slip through the jaws.

I tried adding a C-clamp to help clamp the tube more, but that was unsuccessful.

Next, I did a test flare on my better flare tool using the old factory line that I removed a few days ago. The better tool worked great, but it really has to be mounted in a vise:
Tool and Test Flare:

I didn't really want to remove the entire hard line from the vehicle to clamp it in the bench vise, so I did this:

That's the flare tool clamped in a vise that is c-clamped to the frame. It worked perfectly after I added a 3rd c-clamp!
This also shows why I wanted to finish up the fuel lines before I drop in the engine / transmission / transfer case for good. It would be much more difficult to do this with all that stuff in the way.

Final bubble flare:

Here's the factory flare on top and my bubble flare on bottom. My flare isn't as good as the factory flare, but it should work. I just want to prevent the hose from popping off under the fuel pressure.

After that, I made a short 3/8" hard line line, bubble flared both ends, and installed it:

My next major task is (still) to get the transmission tunnel insulated. That will have to wait for a few days, as cold weather is rolling in tonight.

 

[StanF]

Small update...I finally started re-assembling the steering column. I took it apart back in December. I'd like to think that I was doing other things (and I was), but I was really just procrastinating

It was frigid cold yesterday, and everything was pretty much shut down. I was already prepared for reassembly inside my house, so assembling the steering column seemed like an obvious thing to do.

I got started, made some good progress, and then found a broken spring. A new one is on order. That'll set me back another week or so while I wait for the part. That stupid little spring is difficult to find and expensive. I may have broken it on disassembly, as it's in a tricky position.