Time & Budget daily driver Rebuild

Hello everyone, I am about to undertake a jeep rebuild to a daily driver not out of pleasure but out of necessity. I just graduated college moved to NYC, sold my VW, my former daily driver, and my employer/bank who will remain anonymous just cut my position along with many many others.

In short I’ve got a 63’ CJ5 with a Buick 225 and $3,000 to make it my daily driver. I’ve got around 2 weeks starting October 1st from sun up to sun down to get this done, I’ll be on here a lot figuring out a plan that fits in my constraints. The jeep is in pretty good shape, with the exception of major carb/timing issues and light surface rust/bondo on the body. I’m not terribly knowledgeable about this so I run a fair chance of running this into the ground. If you would like to watch/help stay tuned. Here are my initial steps:

-Strip it down to the frame, boxing, bagging, lableling, and keeping notes on everything for the rebuild.

-Clean the frame. With a wire brush and harsh grease cleaning chemicals. Cost= $10 for 10 cans of OvenCleaner

-Paint the frame, although I initially wanted to powdercoat it I must settle. Brands would be great!! Cost=?<$50

-Exchange my 225 block assembly for a remanufactured one, due to the time issue in a rebuild and the need for reliability. Cost=$1,496.00 Cheaper solutions would be nice here
www.cmengines.com

-Scrub and paint the axles. Cost=?<$25

-Change fluids, grease, seals for the axles/housings. Cost=?<$75

-Change springs, hardware, and shocks. Cost=$519.00

-Figure out a brake situation. Maybe disc swap for the 27 up front from the junkyard? Possibly 11” drums for the 44 in the back? I might have to skimp on this b/c of the cost, but I need “brakes” on the road. Cost=?

 

I agree with the just wow if the engine is decent fix the arb and timing save a lot of money for your brakes. or buy a cheap car for abouT $2000.00 and go from there
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The book by Moses Ludel "Jeep CJ Rebulder's Manual 1946 to 1971" has been a great help to me.
Eeyore is a '64 CJ-5 and my dayly driver. I only have two miles to work but the Black Hills are just out side of town. Go for it. Old iron is best. Good luck with this project.

 

Are you certain this is the right time for a project like this? No shame in parking the Jeep for a while until you have your basic needs squared away. I would not tear it apart until you are certain you are financially prepared to put it back together. A project Jeep in boxes is much harder to sell if it comes to that. And if you don't have to sell it you'll forget how to reassemble if you have to shelve the project for a year or so.

I don't want to be the wet blanket here but if it were me I'd sell the Jeep and buy a Neon with 100k miles. The Jeep will bleed you dry even after you've spent your $3K. Plenty of time for projects after you've got your legs under you.

Chilly

 

Don't get too wrapped up in getting the frame and axles clean and painted. Paint won't make your Jeep run any better. Spend your time and hard earned money into rebuilding or replacing any suspect components. A 45 year old Jeep is certainly not the most practical daily driver, but it could work. IMHO, I don't think that two weeks is nearly long enough to tear the whole tub off and scrub and paint everything. Swap in the fresh engine, get the brakes in good order, buy some good junk yard seats for comfort and fix as many leaks as you can. Buy some spare parts with the rest of your money just in case......Then drive it!!! Hope everything turns out good.

 

I agree....I would tune up the engine. Get it running and find out what needs to be fixed(seals, ujoints ect). If its going to be a daily driver, you might consider a top for it. Make sure steering and brakes are up to par too. Does it have an overdrive? If not these might be upgrades that will make it more practical as a DD. Good luck with the project and sorry about the job loss.

 

Another thing to consider would be comfort items such as a heater (winters coming) and cup holders and locking storage and such. My Jeep is my daily driver also and I'd much rather have a comfortable ride than a painted undercarriage. I'm not trying to knock your plan, I just know that the little things take a lot of time and if you tear the tub off your Jeep I'm afraid you won't get it all done.

 

You guys are definitely siding with the voice of reason in my decision. The jeep was my DD up until the carb/timing issue, which after 3 trips to different shops it is still killing me. I have a steel hard top and an OD but it isn't installed. Also, I will motoring around back in South Carolina, so heat and speed are not that important. My main concern is to prevent any potential rusting to the frame, eliminate braking issues, upgrade the suspension, and resolve engine inconsistencies. Basically build a good foundation to work from, which I can return and repair cosmetics in the future. I have no problems with it being the ugly girl with a good personality.

 

Being back East where you are at, I can certainly understand your anti-rust views. I live in Oregon and we don't salt the roads and rust is generally not that big a problem. Good luck!!

 

I agree with all the above posted. Get it running good first. I'd go through it from the radiator to engine to tranny to transfer case, (get the od put in) to the axles and out to the rims. Get it 100% mechanical ready. All new seals, etc. If you have any money left, then you can unbolt the body and lifr the frame slightly off the tub, clean it up and POR 15 it. Or Eastwood Rust encapsulator. Or Rust Bullet. THose products do not need you to strip the frame. Look up the application on the internet.

I think the material to paint the frame will run about 200 bucks for everything no matter what you use. I bet you will have enough to paint the axles left after you paint the frame.

And get the hardtop on. It snows in NY. Good luck. I think an ECJ would be cool to drive in NY in.

 

The frame is in good shape, no rust other then a little surface stuff. From what I can see from underneath I'm not in too bad of shape. After looking at the costs more though-roughly the tub will remain in its current condition. The only creature comforts will be, more effective windshield wipers, the current ones only smear the rain which makes the situation worse. Will stiffer springs on the wipers cure this?? And the electric motors are questionable at best. Any better options here?? Thanks for the words guys, every little bit helps

 

I have the same problem with my wipers. I know that some guys have swapped in newer model year windshields with the bottom mount wipers which are supposed to be much better. I'm not sure which windshields will fit which Jeeps but I'm sure it's been covered in some of these threads. Use the search function. Failing that.......RainX seems to work pretty good! Anyway...keep us posted... I for one am very interested to see how you do!

 

I added about 3" to the long linkage, and made the bottom mount wipers fit in the hole whre the vacuum wipers had been.


Oh and FYI, I spent about $1400 rebuilding the motor, $1300 on both axles, $500 on the tranny/transfer and $350 on 11" brakes on my jeep over the last 4 years (I did the labor). I feel 3k isn't enough, 5 would be better.

 

Might not need to go for the jeep at this time, I've got an interview tomorrow for a job so I may be able to stay in NY. If not I'm going for the rebuild. Shouldn't take too long to figure out what direction I'll be heading in