I bought a 1980 Jeep CJ7 yesterday morning that is all in pieces. So since it's all in pieces I am planning on doing a frame off restoration and build up. I has an I6, I think its the 258 but I'm not sure and a manual transmission. The body is decent and so is the frame, the frame is actually pretty clean with very little rust while the body wasn't quite as lucky but still not too bad in my opinion. I has no axles or t-case, he said it ran and drove, but who knows the guy was not the brightest crayon in the box. He also gave me an extended frame that was set up for full width axles but it looks like he did it himself and it kind of looks bad. He also made front and rear bumpers for it and added a winch plate that was made from 1/2" steel! So I don't want it or the current engine and trans on it so I am trying to sell them for what ever I can get.
My plans are to:
Clean frame with a wire wheel, replace any cross members and frame sections I need/ want to, prime and paint.
Then with my refund I'm going to look for a XJ that is cheap so I can steal lots of parts from it. I'm thinking about using just about everything off of the XJ but the body, so the 4.0L engine, AX15 trans and maybe the t-case and axles unless I find better axles. And I eventually want to rebuild the engine and trans.
Start replacing a couple panels on the body, cut out and fix any and all rust spots.
Start re-assembling the Jeep.
My Goals with the CJ are to learn how to set-up a ring and pinion, I have a couple friends that know how so I am going to talk one of them into teaching me. I also want to fit 35" tires on it and keep it as street legal as possible.
I will try my best to keep this updated as I go, but don't expect updates all that often as the CJ is staying at my Mom's house while I am at school and only make it home 2 times a month. But when summer comes I am hoping to be building this fast because my mom did not want me to buy it nor was she too happy when she saw me pull into the drive way with it so she said I have until school starts up again in Fall 2009
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anyways here are my pics of it so far: