Christine, the Never Ending CJ Project ( lots of pics )

callaway · **Posted:** Mon Jan 26, 2009 12:46 am

I've posted various pics and here and there as I've needed help, but at the prompting of JJ I'm going to do an 'official' build thread...

What follows is work over the course of many months on my 1986 CJ7.
The old saying 'ugly but effective' really applies here as I don't have the funds to make things as pretty as I'd like, but things are shaping up nicely.

I've done a lot to the CJ since I've got it and there's still lots left to do - This is my first real experience getting this intimate with a vehicle and I'm sure there's a number of things I'm side stepping or doing not-so-up-to-code. If there's anything I'm doing that I shouldn't ( or if you just have some suggestions

) please let me know.

Now onto pics

callaway · **Posted:** Mon Jan 26, 2009 12:52 am

This is how the CJ looked when I bought it...

The tires were a little dry-rotted, but it was drivable and everything shifted so for $800 it seemed like a good deal...

On the trailer going home...

The KJ pulled the trailer like it wasn't there...

Aside from some rusty floor boards, the major issue was the gas tank. The PO somehow managed to break the tank loose so it was not attached at all to the drivers side of the vehicle. The tank would definitely need to be replaced...

In the previous pic you can see how askew the tank is... Ignore the leaky tire

callaway · **Posted:** Mon Jan 26, 2009 1:05 am

For some reason the looks of the CJ as it sat in the driveway were really important to me. My first priority was getting a new front bumper.

Here's the slick new bumper installed - it was made by a jeepforum member who does custom fabrication. Ignore the powersteering and oil leaks...

Instead of fixing critical things like leaks and the gas tank, second on the list of important stuff were the tires - I found a set of 36" TSL's on craigslist for $200, picked them up, and got 'em mounted...

Note the leaks are still present while the bumper got some shiny new clevis hooks

It was starting to get too cold to hunt down leaks, so tackling rust became No. 1 priority.

The rear cross member holding the floor in place was rusted out and so it, as well as the floor, went... The old gas tank was also cut away at this point...

Eventually the entire rear of the vehicle was cut away... I should have done that from the start - would have saved lots of time... that's the next post

callaway · **Posted:** Mon Jan 26, 2009 1:07 am

Still too chilly to hunt leaks, it was time to make some stuff.

I picked up up a variety of 3/16" wall steel from the supplier at work and set off with a vague game plan in mind...

From left to right... Rear cross member, rock sliders, slider arms ( on the ground )

In addition to the tube stock I picked up 120' of 2" OD .125" wall tube to be used in constructing a roll cage...

Sliders cut to size...

Ends capped and prettified...

Slider arms tacked in place...

At this point I decided to replace the rear bumper/cross member with a much more betterer one of my own doing...

old cross member gone - replaced with 2x4... Note the nastyness of the rear part of the frame... I didn't...

New rear cross member construction...

The shackle tabs are 1" thick and are fully welded on both sides of the tube...

Crossmember tacked in place...

Remember a few lines ago when I said to note the nastyness of the rear frame? Yeah... it was bad... the PO had most of the drivers side of the rear part of the frame stuffed with cardboard and held together with bondo...

Time to remake the rear frame!

I wanted to replicate the frame as accurately as I could, so I traced the shape and remade it out of square tubing...

Old frame cut away...

I wanted to reuse the crossmember I made so I planned around that... I also added a full fishplate joining the segments of tube making up my curved frame...

Braces were also added out of the 2" tube... the bolts protruding into the center are the mounting locations for the rear shocks...

somehow when I cut the old frame 'U' away, the good part of the frame splayed out an inch or two... I had to cut my pretty crossmember and widen the 'U'...

The I cut a filler piece the length the frame section needed to be widened and tacked it in place...

I tacked the new frame section onto the rest of the frame and cut away the rear quarter panels to make life easier...

I added some 3/16" x 1.5" angle iron on the 4 edges as a fishplate securing the 3 sections ( left, right and the spanner ) together... Ignore the surface rust... it was rainy...

callaway · **Posted:** Mon Jan 26, 2009 1:08 am

Now that I had the rust issue mostly resolved, it was time to focus on the gas tank issue.

I decided on a 16 gallon summit fuel cell and wanted it to live where the rear seat used to...

Few final touches to the new frame section... I don't think I mentioned the springs? I added a 4" lift kit with superlift springs and replaced the shackes with new ones ( the PO had a 2" shackle lift that I replaced with a less rusty, more beefy version )...

Frame primed...

Painted with new shocks in place...

Now for the fuel cell.
As I stated earlier, I wanted the cell to live above the rear axle - it needed a platform to live on...

I don't have any pics of the platform being constructed, but it was a lot of measuring and test fitting to make sure it would support the weight of the fully filled cell. The platform lives within the frame rails. It's 1/8" x 1.25" angle iron.

Fuel cell platform primed...

Painted...

Platform in place...

I also made the straps holding the tank down...1/8" x 1" flat wire that was bent into the bracket shape...

I used stainless gas line to hook the tank up. After sitting for nearly a year w/out a gas tank the vehicle started right up

The top port on the fuel cell is a vent, so I have a vent hose going around the tank terminating in a vent cowling ( I hope I did this right ? )

callaway · **Posted:** Mon Jan 26, 2009 2:15 am

After the successful gas tank install it was time for some poser pics...

Then the CJ made the move into the garage for the winter. Cleaning the garage was probably the most difficult thing so far

First thing done was the swapping of the front springs. I had already done the rear springs when I remade the frame, but didn't want to change the front while on the incline of the driveway...

Note the leak of precious power steering fluid is still present...

I didn't like the stamped bracket holding the steering gear in place, so it was changed out for BDO Steering Box Brace

I grew tired of tripping over the sliders ( they were sitting in the garage taking up space for a few months by this point ) so they were next on the list.
The sliders were originally going to be bolted to the frame, but welding them on was easier...

With the sliders in place, I had a reference plane availble and started tearing out the rusty floor.

In retrospect I probably should have taken the whole tub off to restore the frame and do the work, but I don't have the space and its cold out =/
I'm doing the a little piece at a time as the temp and money allows...

The body mounts are garbage - the are next on the chopping block. I'm going to make new body mount platforms as well as platforms to mount the cage to out of 2" x 3" x 3/16 wall bar stock.

Diggerfreek · **Posted:** Mon Jan 26, 2009 2:18 am

tommudd · **Posted:** Mon Jan 26, 2009 3:17 am

good start, I can see a small flat bed behind the seats :roll:

but what are your plans? :wink:

callaway · **Posted:** Mon Jan 26, 2009 1:00 pm

tommudd wrote:

good start, I can see a small flat bed behind the seats :roll:

but what are your plans? :wink:

There's ~18" between the fuel cell and the back of the front seats. I'm thinking of putting a small 'bed' there to hold tools/trail gear.

Things I'd like to have done before spring....

- replace wiring/gauges
- get floor resolved
- start base work for cage and get new seats in place
- get engine work done
- the carb needs some major help
- since I'm not using the factory fuel lines, there's old fuel hoses running nowhere. Gotta do some housekeeping here...

I want the CJ to be fully drivable with a finished 'interior' by April.

Once everything is in working shape I'd like to start making the cage via homemade tube bender ( later post )

The plan, for now, is to keep the axles as long as I can. The PO had 35's and ran them with no issues ( but he also bondo'd the frame together =/ ) but I'm thinking the 36's might be pushing the limits of the AMC 20.

Far far down the line I'd like to go SOA and replace the axles with something more substantial...

yellocoyote wrote:

Good to see this post - it's cool to see the CJ evolve.

jsc7002 · **Posted:** Mon Jan 26, 2009 4:55 pm

nice progress, I keep looking for one thats cheap but they are all rusted out bad around here.

but the steering box brace is pure beef though! I like it!

jeepmedic · **Posted:** Tue Jan 27, 2009 8:27 pm

Looks awesome..Hopefully we will be able to take our "in progress" CJ5 to Jeep Jamboree this summer.

Inc · **Posted:** Tue Jan 27, 2009 8:39 pm

Awesome work. Keep us posted!

callaway · **Posted:** Mon Feb 02, 2009 12:42 pm

I made a the bender based off the gottrikes build plans.

I took the plans and redrew the bender to make my own prints - It looks much prettier as my drawn model than real life...

Pieces...

The base tacked together...

Bender tacked together...

With ram and arm attached...

Haven't done more than a few test bends to make sure everything lines up and works as it should - once the snow melts away and I can get to my tube in the backyard the cage will become priority no one.

jsc7002 · **Posted:** Mon Mar 16, 2009 12:11 am

any updates? how are you liking the CJ?

Inc · **Posted:** Mon Mar 16, 2009 12:15 am

jsc7002 wrote:

any updates? how are you liking the CJ?

I think I saw him say he finished the floor.

Diggerfreek · **Posted:** Mon Mar 16, 2009 12:21 am

Inc wrote:

jsc7002 wrote:

any updates? how are you liking the CJ?

I think I saw him say he finished the floor.

I saw that the other night

jsc7002 · **Posted:** Mon Mar 16, 2009 12:38 am

Diggerfreek wrote:

Inc wrote:

jsc7002 wrote:

any updates? how are you liking the CJ?

I think I saw him say he finished the floor.

I saw that the other night

what and no pics??

Hey Callaway wheres the best place to buy some new CJ7 body parts?

Diggerfreek · **Posted:** Mon Mar 16, 2009 1:05 am

jsc7002 wrote:

Diggerfreek wrote:

Inc wrote:

jsc7002 wrote:

any updates? how are you liking the CJ?

I think I saw him say he finished the floor.

I saw that the other night

what and no pics??

Hey Callaway wheres the best place to buy some new CJ7 body parts?

I think he posted in the what you did to your jeep to day topic

callaway · **Posted:** Mon Mar 16, 2009 10:45 pm

I finished the frame of the floor over the weekend and have the floor itself nearly done ( will finish that Wednesday when I'm home from work )

Before the floor frame got started I had to redo the body mounts. There's not really a body anymore, but the mounts will be holding the floor as well as driver/passenger weight ( seats will be mounted to cage that will be secured to the frame )

old crappy mounts...

Mounts were cut off and new ones made of 2" x 3" x 3/16" wall tube were made and were welded to the frame where the old ones used to live...

The 1/8" holes in the new mounts were quick placement holes - I'm using 1/2" bolts to hold my floor to the mounts...

I made a frame for the floor out of 1/8" angle iron and have it secured in several places...

Don't have any pictures ( yet ) of the new floor but its nice and sturdy - The floor itself is pieced together from 16 ga sheetmetal that is bolted to the angle iron frame in several places. Weds I'm going to weld the seems on all the sheetmetal pieces as to fill in any/all gaps and make sure everything is nice and secure.

I have the passenger side completely done and am working on the drivers side ( theres some funky bends under the gas pedal that's turning into a tricky thing to do with my rock slider brake

)

As of right now with just the floor bolted in place I can stand on it and jump on the floor with no deflection of any kind - the floor + frame is super strong

jsc7002 wrote:

Hey Callaway wheres the best place to buy some new CJ7 body parts?

occasionally there's some good stuff on ebay - quadratec would probably have the best selection ( buts its a gauge lighter sheet metal than its supposed to be )

If you need the step up brace I have one I've been trying to get rid of for a while...

jsc7002 · **Posted:** Mon Mar 16, 2009 11:16 pm

callaway wrote:

jsc7002 wrote:

Hey Callaway wheres the best place to buy some new CJ7 body parts?

occasionally there's some good stuff on ebay - quadratec would probably have the best selection ( buts its a gauge lighter sheet metal than its supposed to be )

If you need the step up brace I have one I've been trying to get rid of for a while...

the what??

what axles do you have under it? what is the wall thickness of the 2x4" tubing you used for your new frame?

Christine, the Never Ending CJ Project ( lots of pics )

Who is online