1966 CJ-5: The Restoration of Roxanne

for a couple of years now, i've driven around my all glass 66 cj5, which was restored as a project by a tech school in my area. the 231 v6, which i assume has a aftermarket cam in it, is strong and good, the t86 3 speed is a little loose, but doesnt grind at all, and the super 18 is still super. right now it has high back seats, an advanced adapters fiberglass dash, and a fold and tumble rear seat. I have a hardtop with doors for it, and a supertop. I bought a NEW suspension system for it a while back, and i will use that, as well as the dana 30 front axle that it already has in it. Factory rims, tires, and hubcaps will go on, as well as a spare tire mount. I am going to attempt to actually take pictures this time! and hopefully over the winter it should turn out to be a cool Jeep for the summer. PLus it beats my 9MPG 78 Q-Trac!

 

well this afternoon, i drove the Jeep into the garage and began my tear down. I started at 3:00PM and just went inside now, so 3-11, full days work haha. Anyways, teardown went well.

This is it after top had been removed.







Then I yanked the interior.





Out came the gas tank, which quickly thereafter revealed why I smelt so much gas fumes.......




Poly Tank on Order Tonight.......



Next I yanked the Fiberglass dash, which revealed a snake-nest of wires, run every which way, with no real rhyme or reason to them!





Nice thing about a glass front clip and an early CJ-5 windshield frame.....

NOTHING TO UNBOLT!



Dash is Out!




On the engine side, two redundant starting systems, as well as two horn systems came to the surface......gotta love semester breaks!



Did some trimming, a little nicer......not sure yet if i'm gonna keep this harness or start from scratch.



Took the battery box out next, and it was practically falling apart.






Well......decision made, I fired up the trimmer and went to town!





Yeah thats right, a Castrol Syntec box as a fiberglass backing.......

Well, took the wire brush to the battery box, its drying from paint now, so tomorrow i'll snap a few pics.




Aside from my camera putting a really weird pink tint on everything, the Jeep is solid. Basically after redesigning the dash board, re wiring it, and putting a new interior on, its good to go. I dont see any need to take the body off the frame, i already did the brakes and painted the frame a while back.

 

Dartmouth, MA

caught a bit of a break on the Jeep today, guy up the street has a DJ for sale, $350 and it'll be here monday. Goodnews is it has the column I need and the seat brackets, but it has a Dana 35 rear end!?!?! Anyways, it's got an iron duke and a powerglide, so hopefully I can take the column and steering linkage out, and sell the rest.......

Anyone know if their is a big market for these Jeeps, front grille, as well as the rear tailgate (stamped AM general) is in good shape, plus the key in the ignition says "US Postal Service" on it!

 

Well today went well, decided to was out the tub in the morning, allowing time to dry out and get all the wood in between the glass dry!

Checked out that DJ-5 a little more. It's got a narrow frame, 1.5" Wide springs, a manual steering box (Saginaw Style), Auto tranny (floor shifter), 2 seats brackets, dana 35 rear axle (5x5.5?) and an Iron Duke looking engine. It has a box of spare parts with it, so who knows what we'll end up with once i get it home. Has 44K on it, and the key in the dash says Postal Service!

Underdash nice and clean now....


Got the battery box cleaned and prepared to go back in.....


Started to strip the engine and clean up the valve covers.......The rockers seem clean, idk what this tells me about my 231, i was told its out of an 83 Riviera...







Got the air cleaner assembly out, wire brushed, and painted,





Engine enamel on the valve covers....




And painted the dis. cap to match...






Thats it all cleaned up and back on.....I see no other reason to mess with the engine seeing it ran so well.....

I also cut out the winch plate, and am preparing to box the frame for a Saginaw Swap......



Thats it for tonight......

 

The dj parts IMHO really arent going to have much resale value. I had fenders, grill and some other odds and ends and I literally couldnt give them away...they ended up in the scrap pile

 

little bit of an update. I've been waiting for parts to come in, so i've been in limbo. I've gotten the valve covers painted and on, and I am toying with the idea of going Saginaw or not, but i think i may leave it alone.

The DJ is a 1982, she's got a iron duke chevy 4 banger, and a 904 tranny. I got it running as soon as i got it home. EVERYTHING works in it. However my buddy Chuck (Posimoto) has shown interest in the Column and steering shaft thats on it for his own use, and I feel as if it would benefit him more then me, so therefore i think it'll be going to him.

I pulled the DJ home with my 48 Willys Pickup, and I had her floored going up the hills. all 62HP was being used and it was scary! I had to split shift it go get going, which in itself was a project considering I have a twin stick 18!

all loaded up:


As you can see, the DJ is mostly complete, and still had the mail tray and key locks all the doors.



The trailer is JUST big enough to fit a Early CJ-5 on it, but with bigger tires who knows....



Anyways, so the project has sat and will untill the wiring harness comes in, then its between a factory flat metal dash, and a nice wooden one that I'm debating making......

Last night was fun, in an off topic, we had a little antique show outside of Applebee's...... I'm a Dartmouth Fire Fighter, and we had my buddies old 1951 Maxim Engine next to my Willys....






Updates will continue.........

 

That's a nice Willys Truck you got there.

 

Tonight came with a bit of a surprise, in the form of a Universal 21 Circuit wiring harness, and a Summit Racing Moab heater.

eBay: Gotta love it!


Now with this harness, I'll be able to safely fuse this Jeep, and thats always a good thing. Plus its pre-wired for the engine harness on a carb'd vehicle, so it should go in nice and easy!


The heater is a Summit Racing version of a Moab Heater by Flex-a-lite. But, at almost 28,000 BTU's no amount of leaking softtop will stop it.



Plus, the 3-speed switch will work nicely along with the dash parts.



That's all for now! This weekend I should be able to get her wired up, or at least the engine management stuff in.

 

Inspiraton:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K032yBUePoQ&NR=1

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3DllTFrBTk&NR=1

 

Well some what of an update here. I just went and picked up the CJ5 this afternoon from MAACO.....the new paint job and bodywork came out great and I am very pleased with the color change to a cream color. Dashboard got its gauges tonight, and the body is being prepared for black interior paint. Pictures to follow.

 

well this thread hasnt been posted to in 3 years or so.

The CJ-5 has been in and out of my possesion.

As the last post stated, pictures were to follow.

MAACO painted her yellow for me. Then it say in my friends barn for the winter. I almost forgot the Jeep even existed. I constantly fought battles with the carb not running right and between college and such i never had the time to give it the attention it deserved.
I picked up a Scrambler out of RI, and with the addition of some one tons and a front four link I thought my CJ bug was cured......I was wrong...
The CJ8 soon found its way to Pennsylvania and a CJ2A found its way here. It sat, some carb work and a few rattle cans made it respectable once again but it still could never replace the trusty CJ5.

So then when it came to making Roxanne a Jeep to be proud of, a set of street rubbers and wooden bumpers, coupled with some craigslist sourced lockers made it a "sleeper" on the roads.

as I pulled it out of the barn

(my Willys Wagon inspired dash)

Looking back, it probably would have been a great idea to keep her just the way she was. it went like hell on the roads, and it looked great anywhere. the lockers made the street tires livable offroad, and i often found myself wheeling for the sake of wheeling where many people thought it would never go.

of course who would ever use common sense with a CJ5!

She next found a set of 33x9.5MTs under her, and a Saginaw Powerbox went in (probably one of the best things I have done)
I had always had the 34" Skinnies in my possesion since highschool. Town Fair Tire carried them!
So i got to thinking, I wonder if theyd look good.....

yeah they might fit......
but while I was at it I might as well stretch the wheelbase and go spring over

here you can see the 2"ist stretch up front and 3" out back, rear wells were trimmed and I am very happy that the jeep still looks like a Jeep.
of course with SOA comes wrap......this is still an ongoing issue that will be addressed very soon.

you can also see the 2" front CJ springs mounted at all 4 corners.
tubular crossmember since i broke the old one in half

old saggy swap welded to the new bracketry. was moved due to motormount clearance

i tried to keep the swap as "original" looking as possible, hockeypuck bumpstops work excellent!

 

now with the college years coming to a close, i had a ton of other things on my mind and the CJ5 wasnt at the forfront of them......
I traded the Jeep :teaver a beer or three and soon found myself with a 1979 CJ7.
well this killed me later on, all the effort, all the money......I soon found myself going through all my memory cards and ended up with a folder on the CJ5. all the wheeling trips and shows with it really killed me to look at.
I traded the CJ7 for a 77 F100. this truck was pretty cool looking, but it WASNT a Jeep. very sad indeed, one day I call the guy I traded the CJ5 to and behold.....he agrees to swap the cj5 for the truck, off to CT I went!

The one fly in the ointment.....first gear was popping out. oh boy was it popping out. I knew it wasnt simply a top cover issue, it was a major problem.
So out came the T-86 and D-18.
Off went the cover, and...........where was first gear? oh, in the bottom of the transmission in quite a few pieces.

A phonecall from Warloch and a visit to my Jeepin' buddies and $650 later Im coming home with an SM-465, Advance Adapter to a Dana 300, the Dana 300. Hydraulic slave bracketry, twin-stick, centerforce clutch, and a bag of parts.....and stickers!
HEHE
Well, as anyone knows you need to do a little work to get it to all fit, but thankfully the old man down the street has about 6 Bridgeports and the same amount of lathe's.

With some boring out to 5.000 and some turning down to 4.995, the BOP bell sits on the SM!

Forward,

yesterday I called AA and had to order a chain-sprocket clutch assy. because his Chevy bell bracketry didnt match up. The dana 300 is cleaned up and waiting to go in.

Now, I have been told because of the nature of the clutch, I must use the "shorter" throwout bearing, which I will be simply buying a replacement one for my Dauntless (ish) Jeep.......this will work correct?