Something a lil different.
11-26-2010, 04:09 PM
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Something a lil different. I figured I would share this build with you guys since its not something you see often on this site anyway. I picked up a very rough 81 CJ minus engine/trans/t-case. The body on this thing was bad, really bad. Gave the guy $500 for it and it has a clean title and vin, so that was worth it to me. Here's how this whole thing started:
Sometimes I love and sometimes I hate my car A.D.D. This time I love it. I've always had a soft spot for rock crawling/trail riding and I've owned several 4wd's, but I've never owned a Jeep, wanted one for a long time, just never got around to picking one up. Well that changed this weekend. This also stems from a constant need of all things burning gas or diesel fuel and always wanting to work on something. I love the outdoors as does my wife. I love drag racing, her not so much. How do I fix this situation to involve her and still get my fill of all things automotive.
Here's how I did it: Log on to Craigslists at 12:15 Sat, find a cheap (really cheap, I mean REALLY cheap) 81 CJ 7, call owner and jew him down a couple hundred bucks. Get home from work at 1:15pm ask wife what we're doing. She wants to go to Dallas and eat at Chuy's, I say; "how 'bout we drive to Arkansas and buy a jeep?" She says ok. We hit up the ATM, borrow a friend's trailer and hit the highway to Arkansas at 4:45pm.
I knew this thing was going to be rough just by the ad. Guy proceeds to tell me 3 times "man this thing is rough". I assure him again that its fine b/c I'm gonna cut it all up anyway. I also warn the wife, this things gonna be a piece of ****, so don't worry. We get to Pocola, OK and meet the guy, his wife and 6 kids and two goats, Oh and listen to his story of how marriage sucks and that's the whole reason he's selling it. Whatever dude. Sure enough, its rough. Flintstone style floorboard and all. Frame is in good condition, the body's all there aside from the doors and some holes that aren't too big on the driver's side floor. No biggie. Even has the dealer emblem on it from PA where it was originally sold. That explains a lot. HAHA
Anyway enough rambling about this totally random $500 purchase.
Break down of the build plan
5.3/4L60 combo with an Atlas 4:1 t-case. (out of 06 chevy truck w/60K)
14 bolt rear, 1 ton Dana 44 front with all the goodies
Custom built floor, raised 2-1/2" for a flat underside
Custom built roll cage, tube fenders, boat sides, and Gen Right body armor.
37" tires (not sure on boggers or mud grapplers)
17" XD Wheels with Staun internal bead locks.
Rancho remote resi. 2.5" coilovers, 140/300 lb springs.
3 link front and 4 link rear.
Full Hydraulic steering
Here's the pics I have from the build so far:
As you can see, the body was rough. It was patched using plaster! Chicken wire and plaster. Gotta love it.
Check out the custom engine mounts from the previous owner
Here's what we started with floor wise
Sometimes I love and sometimes I hate my car A.D.D. This time I love it. I've always had a soft spot for rock crawling/trail riding and I've owned several 4wd's, but I've never owned a Jeep, wanted one for a long time, just never got around to picking one up. Well that changed this weekend. This also stems from a constant need of all things burning gas or diesel fuel and always wanting to work on something. I love the outdoors as does my wife. I love drag racing, her not so much. How do I fix this situation to involve her and still get my fill of all things automotive.
Here's how I did it: Log on to Craigslists at 12:15 Sat, find a cheap (really cheap, I mean REALLY cheap) 81 CJ 7, call owner and jew him down a couple hundred bucks. Get home from work at 1:15pm ask wife what we're doing. She wants to go to Dallas and eat at Chuy's, I say; "how 'bout we drive to Arkansas and buy a jeep?" She says ok. We hit up the ATM, borrow a friend's trailer and hit the highway to Arkansas at 4:45pm.
I knew this thing was going to be rough just by the ad. Guy proceeds to tell me 3 times "man this thing is rough". I assure him again that its fine b/c I'm gonna cut it all up anyway. I also warn the wife, this things gonna be a piece of ****, so don't worry. We get to Pocola, OK and meet the guy, his wife and 6 kids and two goats, Oh and listen to his story of how marriage sucks and that's the whole reason he's selling it. Whatever dude. Sure enough, its rough. Flintstone style floorboard and all. Frame is in good condition, the body's all there aside from the doors and some holes that aren't too big on the driver's side floor. No biggie. Even has the dealer emblem on it from PA where it was originally sold. That explains a lot. HAHA
Anyway enough rambling about this totally random $500 purchase.
Break down of the build plan
5.3/4L60 combo with an Atlas 4:1 t-case. (out of 06 chevy truck w/60K)
14 bolt rear, 1 ton Dana 44 front with all the goodies
Custom built floor, raised 2-1/2" for a flat underside
Custom built roll cage, tube fenders, boat sides, and Gen Right body armor.
37" tires (not sure on boggers or mud grapplers)
17" XD Wheels with Staun internal bead locks.
Rancho remote resi. 2.5" coilovers, 140/300 lb springs.
3 link front and 4 link rear.
Full Hydraulic steering
Here's the pics I have from the build so far:
As you can see, the body was rough. It was patched using plaster! Chicken wire and plaster. Gotta love it.
Check out the custom engine mounts from the previous owner
Here's what we started with floor wise
Last edited by Twotonefreak; 11-26-2010 at 04:23 PM.
11-26-2010, 04:19 PM
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And the body off the frame.
Holy shiat the floor was toast
Firewall is in good shape, just needs some TLC
The frame stripped down as far as I could at home since I don't have a torch, and cleaned up some
Here's my axles. The huge skid plate you see is from the previous owner's hyd. steering
Finally some real progress has been made. The old floor (what was left of it) is out. I'll end up with about 3" more clearance under the tub than the factory floor which is great. I should end up with a perfectly flat underside. I'm hoping with the 37's aired down I'll be right about 25"-27" from the bottom of the frame to the ground.
Getting there:
That's better:
We got the factory roll bar, heater box and a nice rats nest out. We managed to get part of the template done, well as much as we can w/out having the frame and engine/trans combo here to finish the front part. All I can say is its gonna have clearance for days under there. The transfer case will barely, if any hang down below even the body. Hopefully I will so we can get the floor finished and move on to the roll cage.
As always more crummy Iphone pics of tonight's work:
This is the rat's nest that was sandwiched between the heater box and cowl:
Where the card board stops is where we'll start on the trans tunnel and start building the floor pans(which will be in a position a tad higher than stock)
I haven't had much time at all to work on the rust bucket. Been waiting on parts.
BUT I did get some in today. My wheels showed up this morning, now I just need some tires. The engine and trans will be del. tomm. am. My roll cage tubing won't be here until next week sometime. But with the engine and trans finally here, we can get started back on the floor. Going to be a lot of cutting and grinding next week.
Quick pic of the wheel. I also decided that I'm going to run a Staun internal beadlock instead of finding someone to cut and weld on an external lock. Those are my 3 link bars laying on the floor there.
My engine and trans just showed up today. Time to fire up the welder and torch again! The fun stuff is going to begin now. Been a quick minute since I monkeyed with a welder, but I can't wait to dive into the fabbing.
Holy shiat the floor was toast
Firewall is in good shape, just needs some TLC
The frame stripped down as far as I could at home since I don't have a torch, and cleaned up some
Here's my axles. The huge skid plate you see is from the previous owner's hyd. steering
Finally some real progress has been made. The old floor (what was left of it) is out. I'll end up with about 3" more clearance under the tub than the factory floor which is great. I should end up with a perfectly flat underside. I'm hoping with the 37's aired down I'll be right about 25"-27" from the bottom of the frame to the ground.
Getting there:
That's better:
We got the factory roll bar, heater box and a nice rats nest out. We managed to get part of the template done, well as much as we can w/out having the frame and engine/trans combo here to finish the front part. All I can say is its gonna have clearance for days under there. The transfer case will barely, if any hang down below even the body. Hopefully I will so we can get the floor finished and move on to the roll cage.
As always more crummy Iphone pics of tonight's work:
This is the rat's nest that was sandwiched between the heater box and cowl:
Where the card board stops is where we'll start on the trans tunnel and start building the floor pans(which will be in a position a tad higher than stock)
I haven't had much time at all to work on the rust bucket. Been waiting on parts.
BUT I did get some in today. My wheels showed up this morning, now I just need some tires. The engine and trans will be del. tomm. am. My roll cage tubing won't be here until next week sometime. But with the engine and trans finally here, we can get started back on the floor. Going to be a lot of cutting and grinding next week.
Quick pic of the wheel. I also decided that I'm going to run a Staun internal beadlock instead of finding someone to cut and weld on an external lock. Those are my 3 link bars laying on the floor there.
My engine and trans just showed up today. Time to fire up the welder and torch again! The fun stuff is going to begin now. Been a quick minute since I monkeyed with a welder, but I can't wait to dive into the fabbing.
11-26-2010, 04:19 PM
#3
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Should be fun Jared. Im sure itll be a beast when its done.
11-26-2010, 04:31 PM
#5
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Yeah im looking for an off road toy at the moment as well.
12-03-2010, 09:03 PM
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Actually got something accomplished this evening. All the stock shock mounts, the ghetto fab'd trans crossmember mounts and front bumper are off. Only thing left to chop off for now is the rear bumper, and of course the factory spring hangers, but I've got a while before that's ready to happen. I've also figured out just how far the front axle is going to be pushed out. With any luck, the engine will be resting in its new location by this time tomm.
Everything not needed on the frame is now cut off and I just have minor grinding left to do in two spots. Got the engine on the hoist, and wouldn't ya know, the damn thing won't go up high enough to clear the frame. DAMN IT. Gotta figure that one out in the morning. With any luck the engine will be sitting in the frame by tomm night. So hopefully next week we can at least have the floor tacked in.
She's almost there:
Everything not needed on the frame is now cut off and I just have minor grinding left to do in two spots. Got the engine on the hoist, and wouldn't ya know, the damn thing won't go up high enough to clear the frame. DAMN IT. Gotta figure that one out in the morning. With any luck the engine will be sitting in the frame by tomm night. So hopefully next week we can at least have the floor tacked in.
She's almost there:
