1967 CJ-6: First Build

i caved in, and bought a windshield frame...here it is painted


had the bracketries sandblasted



had a windshield glass cut and installed. also, goodbye to the blue tarp cover!...installed the hardtop. it feels great to finally free up some space in the garage being taken up by the hard top. here are couple of poser shots...



when i first began the build, i thought it was a good idea to move the rear axle farther back than original since i had the t-case mounted pretty high up there...but now, looking at the side profile, i'm returning it to its stock location. i now prefer the wheels to look aligned with the wheel house. i fabricated some perches and will drill the spring pin holes to move the axle forward a couple of inches. increases the operating angle a bit but should not be any problem with the cv.

these were waiting for me at home today...i kept thinking about it while at work and couldn't wait to get out of there...


here's the unveiling...




this thing is nice...

i enjoyed the unwrapping...

test fitting...



yesterdays' delivery: tubing, fittings, clips...

 

Sweet !!!

 

got the driveshafts installed properly. i was having a hard time getting one of the rear u-joints to fit in between the indexing tabs. turns out one of the needle bearing was on the bottom of the cap, making the overall width of the u-joint a tad wider. (oh, and got the perches welded in place)

bled the clutch and i'm glad it works. this is the first time i've put together a whole clutch/flywheel system. used the novak kit for the slave cylinder/bracket/arms/throwout bearing. Flywheel was from northern auto parts and master cylinder was a stock YJ. the only other time i've dealt with clutches was replacing the clutch/slave cylinder in my yj. really glad there were no problems that required me to drop the tranny.

put the back of the jeep on jackstands, put the transmission in gear, and released the clutch...it's alive!!!

this past couple of weeks, i've been routing my brake lines. i was 2 feet short of line. the past couple of days have been trying to bleed the brakes. i couldn't get the rear drums to bleed. after all these years of being dry, the wheel cylinders were frozen. i just replaced them since they're cheap. tried bleeding the front disk and the pistons in the calipers are frozen in the engaged position. it feels like the brake pedal is bottoming out even though it's just halfway into the stroke. i'll be cleaning those out today after work....can't wait to get outta here!

 

I'm glad I ran across this thread. I'll be forever watching it because its similar to what I'm about to start doing to a '63 CJ-6. Great job on everything! I wish you were closer so that I could tap into your knowledge. Great pictures of everything!

 

hey jim, i'd like to see kahuna also. let me know when you want to cruise by. damn...i better get some more stuff done (including a wash). i'm warning you, mine rolls but is far from being road worthy...

thanks...this is my first time building so i'm just learning. a lot of information is available on this site. i also use jp mag, pirate4x4.com and a whole lot of google as guidance. i'm far from being an expert but let me know if you have any questions about the things i've done...where can is see pics of your 6?

 

finally installed the front upper shock mounts. i was in a hurry to purchase the part but it sat for a month.


still trying to decide whether to just remove the lower mount and install tabs or modify what's there so that it doesn't have the angled mounting. i'm thinking of cutting of the part that angles, trimming some of the flat area on top, and drilling new holes.


i was at the junkyard the other day getting parts for my brother's ford escort that i'm trying to repair. i could never just go in and out. i have to take a stroll after i get what i went in there for. saw more ford shock mounts and took them. i will be using these for the rear. i don't know how i'm going to mount them without having to hack the fenderwells, which i'm trying to avoid.

 

made a couple of lower shock mounts for the rear and will weld them in tomorrow...

 

finished installing the shocks

rear upper mounts


front

 

I went to the junkyard and bought an exhaust y-pipe from an astro van. I was hoping it was going to be as easy as lifting it up under the jeep and then bolting it on, and then done. The astro van frame rails being wider, it turns out the overall width of the whole y-pipe assembly was a couple of inches wider than the the jeep's inside frame rails.

Here's the stock y-pipe. The two chopped shock mounts on each side of the y-pipe marks the width between frame rails. What I did was cut the pipe on the right and rotated it so that the part that curves out past the frame rail width was going to end up within the frame rails.


Took some measurements to make sure that the inlet will end up at the same point.


Getting a decent looking fit between the two pipes took a long time. I was doing trial and error. I ended up doing 2 cuts on the right side pipe and a whole lot of grinding to get the proper notch.



close to touching the tranny and bellhousing...it depends on where the pipe is when the flange nuts get tightened.

 

Really nice work. I found & read your whole thread last night. I am sooo impressed with your fab work. I have recently picked up working on my "6" again and it's good to know I have some experts right in my back yard ( bkd included). Keep up the great work.

 

thanks...

keep us updated on yours...

i haven't had time to work on it lately. the exhaust is pretty much finished except for a hanger and a tail pipe that needs to be put in. i've been trying to make a tranny cover but i'm having a hard time coming up with something that looks clean. also waiting for a good deal one some tires.

 

found some used tires about a couple months ago. $550 for 4 and they were almost new. i used my 4 door toyota corolla to pick them up and learned that i can stuff 3 36s in there: two in the backseat and one in the trunk. almost got the fourth one in the passenger seat but it ended up blocking the shifter. i got the fourth tire at a later date.


took the plunge and narrowed the dana 44 front. another one of those "project within a project" (i'm never gonna finish). when i began the build, i wanted to run full width axles but my taste has changed since.

so i've always kept in mind the 3 waggys that were at my local pick and pull. did some research on what axleshafts i can swap and decided on the mid-70's waggy dana 44. when i finally decided to go to the pick and pull, only one wagoneer was left and the other two were removed to make room for the clunkers. ended up getting the shafts from whatever was there: early 80's wagoneer with the unwanted driver's drop. since my d44 is a passenger side drop, the centering is different. one tire ended up being an inch or so in more than the other. here's some pics...

orginal shaft on the top. wagoneer axleshaft below.


before...all of the tire is out


during...







3 inches later...



total cut = 6.7 inches
total job hours = 24


getting fender flares eventually so they should cover up a bit more of the tires. bestop makes the 6 inch wide flares and they will definitely cover the tires completely but they're too expensive...if i go with stock flares, it looks like maybe 3 inches of tire will be outside of the fender flares which is way better than before...

 

Sweet!

 

Very nice. I can;t believe you narrowed the axle without removing it
Last time I wanted to do that I wanted to make that weld super strong and knew I couldn;t do it laying on my back...or with little clearance around the spring!

 

Great job! Very clean looking. Just wondering how you cut the housing.

 

even after the cut, the axle is still pretty wide, and i had plenty of room to weld the knuckle. i had to lay down to weld the bottom part but there was enough space at the top.

i used a cut-off wheel on an angle grinder. i was thinking about somehow maneuvering a chopsaw in there, setting it on some kind of ledge, but it looks like it was gonna be a hassle. as i got to cutting, i just allowed the weight of the angle grinder apply the force so the wheel doesn't deteriorate too quickly. i avoided pushing the wheel into the cut. it took longer to make a full cut (about 3-4 minutes) but the advantage was that it only took one wheel per side. the tube actually felt soft once it broke through the outer surface of the tube.

the hard part was removing the welds. that took a long time. i had to modify my steering links also and that involved removing welds, which was a pain and took half a day....

 

Great. Thanks for the info. Looks good.