Project Tetanus

Brought home this beast yesterday. Found it locally on Craig's List for $300. It's a 78 CJ-5 with a factory metal hardtop (I'll take a picture of the tag sometime that says "Jeep Specialty Equipment"). The body is completely trashed but the frame is solid. It has a running 258 with T-150 3 speed and Dana 20. Power steering and power disk brakes. Haven't checked gear ratios yet in the front Dana 30 and rear AMC 20. It has a Levi's interior but it's not in very good shape. Even had a padded Levi's roll bar and dash and full carpet set. I hooked up a battery and the running lights even work! Unreal.

Plans: Still debating whether to find a new body and rebuild it or use the choicest parts to fix up my 74. I'd really like to use the power brakes and power steering on my 74. I'd have to use a post-76 windshield to use the hardtop on my 74 and as much as the bloody thing weighs (I can barely lift it) I really don't think I will run the hardtop. So I'll probably fix the minor rust on the top and sell it to recoup my investment. The windshield frame on Project Tetanus was completely gone, rusted to small pieces. The paint was the only thing holding it together. The hood is intact and in great shape, it is the only surviving body panel aside from the hardtop. Anyhow, here's how it looked yesterday when I dragged it home. It's now well on its way to being a bare frame.

I might even do something crazy and stretch the frame and slap on a Scrambler body if I can find one. Who knows? The possibilities are endless (late model CJ-6 anyone?)

 

Woohoo!!! A cheap Jeep! Dang sure more than $300 worth of good parts on it, I'm sure. I've looked at some that didn't have $100 worth of parts.

 

Good luck, nice find.

 

Good find!

 

Some updated pics of the carnage. The cowl airbox had about 5 lbs of compost in it. Should put it in the garden on my tomatoes. The Flintstones floor was pretty scary. The body is completely trashed. It came with this old Star 10x15 bias ply bolted to the roof via an eyebolt that was actually welded to the roof! Here is the tag on the metal hardtop showing it was original Jeep equipment.

 

Sweet find

 

Hah! I was checking that out on CL too, but the wife said NO! R) Good luck with it. Also, there was a guy in my local club, http://www.marylandjeepclub.org that was looking for a '76 up hard top.

 

oh, i'm jealous. nice find. is the body that bad? looks salvageable. i'm saving worse

 

I can see how you might think that from the 2 pictures I posted, but trust me, there is nothing left. The entire floor is gone, all the hat channel is gone, even the dash is half eaten away. I've managed to salvage the hood and the front grill and the roll bar, which are all amazingly rust-free. Everything else is history. The carpet was literally the only thing holding the floor flakes together.

 

good find, but i'd salvage everything you can and return the rest back to the earth.

 

Great project name, seems to fit..... "Project Tetanus"

 

Making some progress, got the body off all the way up to the firewall. Believe it or not the entire tub has come apart in chunks small enough to fit in my trashcan. That's how bad it was rusted. The firewall and cowl are pretty intact. The frame is in great shape.


Anyone ever seen a decal like this? Don't know if it was factory, looks like a giant blue chicken. This Jeep has all the Renegade options for 78, including aluminum rocker trim, Levi's interior, underhood light, black plastic gauge surround, full carpet kit, white spoke wagon wheels, etc. Don't know if it was a Renegade or just a well-equipped CJ-5.

 

More progress. Down to an [almost] bare frame. Just leaving the engine in place for now because I don't have a better place to put it. Lots of hours of wire-wheeling ahead of me on the frame.



Obviously I'll have to replace the rear crossmember. Looks like Bubba the PO jerked it right off the frame with a tow chain. Same guy who used plywood for floor panels though, so it doesn't surprise me.


When's the last time you saw a Safeway oil filter? I'm guessing it hasn't been changed in a while. Bubba the PO claimed it was running when he parked it a year ago...


Gonna need some new body mounts.


Most of the frame was coated in a thick gooey tar-like undercoating that really saved it from rusting away. Under the goo is shiny bare metal in most places.


Finally the ubiquitous shot

 

Is that your gas tank sitting there to the right of the engine, or is it the brake reservoir?
;-)

 

Looks like a really nice find for the money.

 

The black canister on the left side of the engine is the charcoal evaporator can, instead of trying to remember which lines go into it and where I just left it attached for now.

Little brown bottle on the right side of the engine is my personal 12 oz. "gas" tank.

 

Any chance I could get you to make me patterns of the windshield to door filler plates so I could build a set?

 

Good lord! Thats not a project, its a nightmare!

Good luck

 

it's not a nightmare! its a diamond in the rough. i think it has potential.......mostly because it looks a lot like my jeep and i have to tell myself that to keep from crying

 

Yeah sure. I'll dig them out and take a look when I get a chance. I could take some good closeup pics for you if that would help.