Universal CJ-5
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800 hours and I Stopped Counting...
(I) Picked up this early CJ-5 for $500.00(USD). About $5,500.00 later and I hope to have it on the trail this summer. I cut reframed the back half of the frame with 2 inch x 4 inch stock and boxed the rest of the frame because the original frame was tweaked and welded beyond repair. I also made my front and rear bumpers and nerf bars from the same rectangular stock. The rollcage had ripped thru the driver's side of the 'glass tub because it was bolted to a step that hung up on a tree. I have since glassed and smoothed the body and shot it with '70 Grabber Green with clear coat. I narrowed a '77 Wagoneer Dana 44 axle and converted it to spring over with some long Wrangler springs. Made my own shackle reversal and my own shackles. Also made my own high-steer arms with 1" thick steel cutting and shaping them with my radial arm saw and 4" grinder. Made my drag link and tie rod using 1 1/4" thick wall DOM tubing and 3/4" Chrome Moly rod ends mated to a Saginaw power steering box. I also use a Camaro tilt column with Flaming River u-jointed shaft. Swapped in a +.040 over Chevy 350 mildly built with a .440" lift cam, Pete Jackson Gear Drive, Edelbrock Performer Intake, Quadrajet, Proform HEI, Accel, Weiand Aluminum water pump, billet pulleys, 180 amp alternator. Mated the engine to a Ford NP435 (with granny 1st) using a redrilled Lakewood Scattershield. Coupled this to a Dana 300 with a Novak adapter. Rear is also a spring over Dana 44 with 3/4 buggy springs. Interior features Summit racing buckets mounted to the full cage which ties into the frame. Also mounted hanging pedals from a later CJ using a hydraulic clutch setup. Still need to plumb the brake system, pickup both driveshafts, finish the clutch system. Weld on my long shock mounts. Cut and spline my front axles. Finish wiring the lighting system. Used the wiring harness out of the same station wagon that donated the engine. I spend every free moment (and $) welding, grinding, pounding, bending, wrenching, bleeding and cursing at my CJ. Made 2 trips to the hospital to have my eyes flushed (even though I use my safety shield, goggles and ear muffs. Nothing like a labor of love huh? I have quite a few digital pics that I've taken along the way.
This is the frame right after I shot it with POR
15.
Basically I reconstructed from the tranny mount rearward. Fabbed the frame, both bumpers and nerf bars from 2x4x.125 (inch) rectangular stock. Had to cut and weld the grill guard as I don't have a tubing bender.... yet.
This is the 'glass tub after I got done with it. The
previous owner had bolted a step through the underside to
the front leg of the rollcage. The step caught a tree
trunk and ripped the cage leg out the driver's side door
area. I 'glassed it back together using epoxy resin. Got
pretty good working with 'glass.
Dropped the body on the frame and mocked up the rollcage. The previous owner had welded in the front hoop so all I added was the door bars, x-ed the rear, threw in a couple more spreaders, and tied it into the frame via the body mounts.
Here is my Wagoneer Dana 44 front axle. I made my own driver's side mount and ground the passenger's side spring mount flat. I fabbed up some high steer arms from 1" thick steel and cut them out on my radial arm saw (took a long, long time) and drilled them out for a dowel pin/bolt attachment. Total attachment points for the arms are 3 each 1/2" grade 8 bolts and 3 each 1/2" grade 8 dowels per side. I ordered some 1.25" thick wall DOM Tubing and tapped the ends for 3/4x3/4 Chrome Moly Rod Ends to make my tie rods. I used the 4 rear springs out of a couple of Junkyard Wranglers and added 1 Wagoneer leaf to each side to help maintain arch with the Chevy V8. The original leaf springs were about 45" long. The new leaves added about 5" or so and are much more supple. I also just picked up a set of Rancho RS9000s off of E-Bay for the front end of a Ford Bronco so I'll be fabbing up some mounts for them soon. Not sure how the leaf springs will hold up under use but I can always buy a set of Wrangler 1" lift springs which I've heard are a little more resistant to spring sag. Once I get the suspension worked out I'll bolt on some polyurethane bumpstops to avoid breaking stuff. I also made my own shackles out of 3/8"x2" stock and some rollbar tube. Might have to trim the shackle a little in the future as they're pretty long.. we'll see.
Here is my tranny crossmember. I beat, banged, cut, and welded a Ford F150 crossmember (same one that came with the tranny) into duty. I might clock the Dana 300 up a little and fabricate a flatter crossmember in the future as this one does hang a little lower than I'd like. As you can see, I have yet to order my CV driveshaft and finalize the rear pinion angle. Right now my driveshaft distance center to center of u-joint is 15" long. I might re-drill the rear leaf springs to scoot the rear Dana 44 back about another 1 1/2 inches or so to allow a slightly longer driveshaft and lessen the angle somewhat. Still 15" isn't too bad for a Short Nosed CJ5 with a V8 conversion.
Things to do: I still need the driveshafts, obviously. I also have to plumb my hydraulic clutch setup (already have all the parts in the kitchen). Also need to plumb my brake system. For the brakes I have Ford F150 rotors (to allow the Dana 44 with 5x5.5 wheel bolt pattern). Coupled with Wagoneer Calipers up front and stock 11" drums out back. I'm going to order a stainless brake line set and also use braided stainless brake hoses. I've also got a Hand Levered parking brake system which will mount between the seats. I also decided to order new fenders as the old ones are a little banged up and cracked. So I'll shoot those with paint later in the Spring. I've been working on this CJ for about 2 years now with a total investment thus far of $5500. Hope to finish it by Summer, take some pretty pictures of it when I'm done, and then go out and hit the trails and see how it stands up to abuse. Finally got the motor done. Originally a Goodwrench crate motor out of a Station Wagon. It was in good shape but I just couldn't leave well-enough alone so I gouged a cylinder wall with a ridge-reamer requiring a .040 overbore to clean up the walls. I also dropped and nicked the crankshaft requiring a replacement. Since I was in that far.... why not go for broke? Your average rebuilt shortblock with flattop hyperemic pistons, .440" lift cam, gear drive (what can I say, I'm an old Hot Rodder), Edelbrock Performer Intake, Quadrajet Carb, Proform HEI Distributor with Accel Wires, Weiand Aluminum Water Pump, Billet Pulleys, an Alterstart 180 amp Alternator, and HPC coated Shorty Headers.
Also installed a Be Cool Radiator and a Black Magic Electric Fan to help keep things cool while squeezing everything into the cramped confines of an early "short nosed" CJ. Jeep with engine Cooling stuff.
I ended up switching the spark plug wires form straight boots to 90 degree boots after burning up the first set on the initial fire up of the engine. Oh well another $38 mistake. Here's where I'm at now. Just made this battery box and finished swapping out the spark plug wires. Starting to piece together my winch mount. I got the Ramsey RE8000 as a 24 volt unit off of a truck in Somalia of all places. I picked up a 12 volt motor on eBay and have a few continuous duty solenoids to wire it all up. I really wanted to mount it as low as possible to allow maximum airflow thru the radiator. It's a tight fit but I believe I can make it work.
Mounted my Summit Racing Buckets to the rollcage for piece of mind.
Had to hack up my dash a little to move the steering column up high enough to let me sit down comfortably (if there can be such a thing in a CJ5).
Fabbed up a dash overlay form alumibrite and mounted my Autometer Oil, Water, and Voltmeter Gauges. Also had to modify the tranny's shifter a little so I could row it thru all the gears without hitting the dash or my right knee.
The NP435 is big, I used a re-drilled Lakewood scattershield and modified the input shaft bearing retainer to make it bolt up to the engine. I also used a Novak Adapter which came with a new tranny main shaft to mate the tranny with the Dana 300. Not sure what axle gear ratios I'm going to run but I should wind up with a crawl ratio up there about 75 or 80 to 1.
I've kept an Excel spreadsheet of all the stuff I bought and I was keeping a labor log but I stopped somewhere around the 800 hour mark. My wife has been really supportive of my Jeep Journey and I can only hope that every Jeeper has that kind of support.
Eddie