Opinions!

Hey guys, I'm in need of your valued opinions!

I've got a hodgepodge CJ5 that I will be working on soon, and I need some ideas regarding paint, tires, engine, and etc. First, a little background...

As I said, this jeep is a hodgepodge of multiple CJ5s that I've collected over the last year. But all of them are in the 1965-1971 range. Basically, I'm just taking the good pieces of each junkpile and making one good CJ5. I have a good body on one, frame on another, and drivetrain on yet another. I have a 225 V6 as the powerplant. I also have a decent steel hardtop of unknown make that I plan to restore along with it.

My "plan" is do a restomod. Modifications will include power steering with a saginaw conversion, power brakes, and modern lights. Possibly a roll bar, too. Allow me to break this down to bullets.

1.) Paint. I kind of want to go with a gloss tan, maybe Prairie Gold. But I've not found any good photos of a jeep with this paint as its base. Also, with the hardtop, that will be a lot of tan. Should I accent the scheme with black wheels and windshield? Other colors are possible, I just don't want it too flashy.

2.) Tires. I would like to keep a vintage look without sacrificing much road manners. I was looking at the Goodyear Hi-miler Xtra Grip mud tires. Anyone have any experience with these on the highway? This will not be a daily driver.

3.) HEI or no? I'll be going with fenderwell headers to clear the steering conversion. Other than that, engine mods are all up in the air. Any suggestions? I'm seeking reliability more than power, but if both can be had I'm all for it. I plan to overhaul the engine if its out of spec (which is likely, I know).

4.) Suspension. A long time ago I got a 3.5" lift from 4WheelDrive Hardware, but now I'm not sure I want to do that. Since then I got into the military jeeps, and I rather like the standard ride height. Also, because I want a vintage-looking tire, I'm sure my options on tire size will be slightly limited. Plus, there's the drivetrain gearing to worry about. But I don't know. Either way, I would like to do a shackle reversal. Should I expect any problems with the saginaw conversion? Does a shackle reversal move the axle in either direction?

I'm sure I'll have more questions eventually, but if you guys could give me some ideas, it would help out tremendously. I know it seems I have a pretty clear path I'm on, but I'm willing to reconsider. So have fun with it. If it were your project, what would you do?

 

HEI
HEI
HEI

Mine burned a lot of oil... but it started every time.

 

I like stock even if you have to build it from scratch. I just picked up some Dunlap 215/70r15s for my 62 thy are a .5" taller than stock but smaller then the 235/75r15s but I think thy look good and give me lot of room under the fenders. As far as color for paint It's your jeep your taste. Me I went with orange It's my thing! Good like with your project. The guys give great advice here

 

I like the fact you have a "plan" build it on paper and get it all together and then build. It's your jeep build it to suit you. Take your time and you will have a great lil jeep you can enjoy for a long time.

 

Maybe go with a tan body, and a brown hard top, a nice contrast in colors, then a light cream on the stock steel wheels.

I was looking at a dark green on my daughters CJ7, and a mocha brown for the hard top (a play on the early Sahara YJ color scheme). To my chagrin she went with Summit Racing's Coastal blue (a solid, no metallic bright powder blue, and she wants the hard top painted gloss black).

 

I like the idea of making the hard top a completely different color. For some reason I hadn't even considered that. Thanks! At some point I'll need some help identifying the manufacturer of my hard top. I think its a Koenig, but I'm not sure. It looks like every other Koenig I've seen, but it doesn't have the "visor" up front, just a sloped flat plate that conforms to the windshield frame. I'll post pics sometime, but it'll be a while before I'm home again.

 

Sounds like maybe a Meyers hard top but pics would be in order. HEI is a very worthwhile mod. I very much like black windshield frames on '75 and older CJ's. All mine have them and they look good that way IMHO with bLack hinges. The exception is the '57 which is a restoration project. Lift and tire size is strictly up to you with the look and stance you want. Look at pics and get an idea from that. If you can see Jeeps in person with what you are thinking that is better yet. Pics are good but don't always give us a "feel" of what it will really be like.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

HEI is definate improvement, I'm partial to camo,lifts,headers an fat tires

 

This is the best picture I have of the hard top currently. Very heavy duty, full doors that cover the fuel neck and have chain-driven roll-up windows. When I get home in a month I'll try to get some better pictures, but it'll be in pieces.

 

Also, HEI sounds like a winner to me. I did some research on it and it sounds completely worth it. Put a check mark next to that.

 

Here are some pictures of the good steel body I have. Shouldn't take it much to bring it back to perfection.

 

Nice starting point, wish mine looked that good when I got it. here it is now:

 

Nice! That's a sharp looking CJ5. Noticed the front and rear disc brakes. Bet it stops on a dime.