'69 CJ-5, making some progress

This Jeep has had an interesting life. VIN says it came with the 225 Dauntless, when I started taking it apart it had a 231 even fire Buick engine, a T15 tranny, Dana 20 transfer case, AMC 20 axles in back and Dana 30s in front. The PO also tried to do his own lift and got a little carried away with his welder. Trying to bring it back to stock took a downturn when I found out the 231 has a crack in the block (I also don't think the 231 even fire was ever in a Jeep). I decided to go with a Chevy 350, had the transmission and transfer case rebuilt, rebuilt the rear differential, discovered the PO didn't check gear ratios and the rear didn't match the front. So, the front differential is a used one off a later model CJ, but has disc brakes, so its a win. I bought the Jeep late Oct of 2011, and here it is today. I have hopes of finishing it sometime in the next decade!

 

Wow! Nice work Johnny keep it up

 

Looks great! Are you putting a whole new body on?

 

The body is new except the grill. There wasn't enough non-rusted parts on the original body to even attempt rebuilding it. Apparently you cannot buy a new grille for a '69, but the rest of the body is available. I have to modify the transmission tunnel a bit, I am putting the twin stick conversion from Novak on the transfer case, to make the interior look more original, and I have to modify the fan shroud for the new radiator. Otherwise the new body I bought from Kaiser Willys seems to be great.

 

Looking good! What kind of prep work did you do on the frame before painting? I think I'm about to give in and take it down to scratch to rebuild before I replace my shot sbc 305 with a sbc 350. Looking forward to following your progress!

 

The frame was in great shape considering how much the body had rusted out. The rear crossmember/bumper was the only rusted part. After sandblasting the frame and not being a welder I bought a new one since that was part of the frame that shows all the time. Then just a couple of coats of rattle can primer and some black rattle can paint from Tractor Supply and there ya go.

 

What year is the front axel, I am working on a 62 willys cj5 for myself and 66 cj5 dauntless for my son and would love to have disk brakes all around on the 66 if I can pick em out of a junk yard that would be great. Please let me know what ones fit. thanks BTW yoour doing an awsome job!