Little Lime..

[BESRK]

Okay, drove this little white 1980 CJ5 home a few weeks ago. Jeep currently has a GM "Iron Duke" 4 banger, SR4 tranny, and short D300. It also has a stock D30/AMC 20 axle setup with two-piece rear axles. Rig had no lift but did have new shocks and steering stuff (from the shaft out to the knuckles).
My plans are to keep the body/frame and swap the running gear from my blue CJ5 into this one. That's the AMC 360, T176 tranny and short D300. I'm also swapping the RE YJ 4" standard lift and rear D44 with 3.73 and a Detroit Locker. Front axle will be another D44 with 3.73, a Lockright, Moser 4340 shafts, Warn hubs and Hi Steer. I'm also going to do a 4 to 1 kit for the D300 and clock it up as flat as I can without hitting the body. I'll then do a custom "flat" skid for it. Also plan to do front/rear bumpers with all the bells and whistles, a full cage tied into the frame, maybe tube fenders and tube doors. I'll finish it off with a base coat/clear coat paint job.. probably (you guessed it) Lime Green. Maybe a little darker than the old Jeep.. more greenish and less yellowish. I might also do flames starting in electric blue and fading thru purple into magenta. I just need to learn how to pin stripe with a brush. I am going to have this at least "driveable" by Halloween. Might be a bit longer for the paint. Here's what I've done so far...

This is what I drove home for $1500..


Since it's getting repainted, I let my grandson do some body work...


This is probably the shade of Lime Green I'm going to shoot it with..


While the Jeep was sitting in the shop, Marlene and I did some tube work after normal shop hours..


The stock roll bar is in very good shape but coated with LineX. I wanted to do something a little different as opposed to doing a typical front add-on..


My number one helper!! Marlene stripped out the seats while I bent tube..


This was the only surface rust on the tub that I could find.. and I had to chip at it with a slag hammer to expose it.. some grinding and it'll be gone..


I'm in love... with these floorboards..


About an hour with the air tools...


About another hour with the air tools...


Another hour with the air tools...


Frame/Axles are currently on my trailer in the backyard. I'll pressure wash the frame and remove the crud, surface rust prior to shooting it black. Then it will go back into the shop. Meanwhile, there is one body mount that was hacked up a bit.. it'll take me a few minutes to weld in a repair plate. I'm going to flip the body on its side and scrub the belly clean.. then, it'll probably get shot with something.. paint, Herc.. still undecided. More to come...

[Sticks]

All I can say is...nice! Plans sound cherry. Gotta love air power...

[grewe02]

Subscribed! ;D

[Chuck]

Man, that thing is CLEAN! Looking forward to seeing the buildup!

[chris insull]

Just where do you find the time... Looks great!

[BESRK]

cjinsull said:

Just where do you find the time... Looks great!

Thanks! We stay late and work on it. Here's what we (wife and I) got done on it yesterday and last night.. (till 10pm)

Antenna hole.. hate it.


Small patch piece tacked into place..


Welded up and ground down..


Hung the frame from the engine crane and used the air grinder to run over it with a 3" disk.. 60 grit..


I'll need to cut out/replace the rear crossmember due to the cut end pieces


Hacked up body mount.. an easy fix. I'll get it in the next day or two..


Shooting the frame. Decided not to use POR15 for this build.. wife says no "uncontrolled spending" this time. Quick and cheap is the name of the game.. $20 in "Appliance Epoxy"


Stuff has good pigmentation and dries pretty hard. Just hope it will stand up to automotive chemicals and normal exterior heat/grime.



Best looking $20 I've spent in a long time..

[87B2XLT]

Nice find, Eddie.... looking great so far! I like the 'most bang for the buck' approach. That is almost exactly the kind of project vehicle I have been looking for forever... can't wait to see how it looks when it's all said and done!

[BESRK]

Okay.. I had pushed the Jeep onto the back burner for a while since I have been so busy at the shop. I finally got around to ordering the Edelbrock "Shorty" headers so that kind of rekindled my motivation. I've been dedicating about 2-3 hours per night on the Jeep...

I installed the headers and then decided to tackle the undercarriage stuff.. gas tank, transfer case, belly skid..etc.

I don't have any way to bend plate steel so I bent a template for the gas tank skid out of some small flat stock.. then, I perforated a sheet of 3/16" and bent at the perforations...


Stock gas tank skid plate for a pattern...


Test bend using perforations.. took about 2 minutes to make all the cuts using the plasma torch and a straightedge...



Couple more minutes pounding/bending... then, a test fit.


Cut some sides out of some 1/8" thick scrap I had laying around.. made a couple drain openings for water/crud..


POR 15


Told you I was motivated.. even POR'd the tank..


Installed...









Next, I tackled the belly skid. I did a Teralow 4 to 1 in the short D300 (got the gear kit in trade), clocked the TC up a bit and built a pretty flat belly skid/crossmember for it.

Used angle iron for the mounting plates to the frame. Then, used 1.75"x.120" DOM for the framework.. to be skinned with 3/16" plate and probably UHMW plastic..



Here's the height below the frame rails.. not too bad for a CJ with a 300...


This was fun..


Skinned in 3/16" plate.. The actual tranny mount isn't in the pic.. I used YJ spring bushings that come up alongside the tranny case instead of below it. That gained a little more room under the tranny.




Spent today running fuel lines.. cleaned out the rollover valve and put new vent lines in place. Plumbed the carb. Plugged in wiring... and did this....

[87B2XLT]

Guess it took a little longer to get things done... looking great, though, Eddie! No plans for a SOA or any kind of lift at all? You could always do a SOA and add some TeraFlex revolver shackles in the future for a cheap lift and all. Again, nice work as always! Wonder if I left my junk with you how it would turn out... ;D

Dave G

[ex-tbd85hilux]

Make sure if you do that you leave a "budget" Otherwise you'd come back with a 60 front 70 rear and a supercharged 460 under the hood. ;D

Paul G.

[87B2XLT]

Hahahahahahaha... I know, right? Yeah, I'd definitely have to leave a 'plan' and 'budget' with it for what I'd want done... otherwise, I could see one hacked and jacked up BII with coilovers, 5-link front and rear, those axles, and yeah... some monstrosity of an engine under the hood.... and then I'd have to figure out how to pay for all of it I also re-read the first post and realized he is using the suspension and axles from his other CJ, so it will have a 4" lift.... OOPS. Okay, back to not jacking the thread here, sorry everyone!

Dave G

[BESRK]

Nah.. no problem with the sidetracking ;D


It is really taking every ounce of self-control for me to keep this build on course.. 4" SUA lift, 33" tires.. nice little dual purpose rig.

My gut instinct is to go SOA, Shackle Reversal, at least 38" rubber, stretched wheelbase..etc. What makes it even more tempting is the front GM D60 I have sitting under a tarp in the backyard.

In the end though.. that's what my buggy is for. I want this rig to be a reliable self-sufficient daily driver. I've got my York OBA system going into it and will probably pull the welder off my buggy and throw it in this Jeep as well. I've only used the Premier Power Welder to weld on the trial twice in 4 years. I think I'll get more use out of it on the smaller rig.

[BESRK]

Been working on the fenders the past couple days... just about have them finished. Since the stock fenders use 4 mounting bolts at the tub, I wanted to keep those.. I don't like the fenders that only use the two bolts in the middle of the fender.. they can start pulling away from the body after being bashed a few times.

Fenders are made from 1.75"x.120" DOM and skinned with 1/8" sheet.


I'd almost like to do the "no lift, big tires" thing with this rig but I can't bring myself to hack up the nice body.




I was going to try and reuse the stock inner fenders but tossed that idea. I'll make some aluminum inner fenders instead.




This is how I cut/plugged the tube so I could still get the upper and lower mounting bolts in.. I plugged the tube to keep water/crud from filling it up.


Lower mounting bolt still accessible..


Upper bolt still good too..

[What It Was]

Seeing that those fenders stick-out a decent amount How much flex (up travel) are you going to allow it to have. Looks like it'll be minimal especially if you go with the bigger meats.

[CORE 4WD]

fifesjeep said:

Seeing that those fenders stick-out a decent amount How much flex (up travel) are you going to allow it to have. Looks like it'll be minimal especially if you go with the bigger meats.

It is really taking every ounce of self-control for me to keep this build on course.. 4" SUA lift, 33" tires.. nice little dual purpose rig.

Should have room with that lift and tires. Looking good Eddie!