Cjtj Build Thread

EDIT: I changed the title the old one was to long. and the thing is pretty much called the CJTJ because of the engine. its also more of an upkeep/minor upgrades from now on


I first build this jeep back in High School for my senior project. At the time it had a Buick V6, bigger tires, bigger brakes. So I "restored" it. After many years of fun and off roading in the PNW it was time to take it back apart and re-restore it. Then it sat for some time and I decided to go a different route.


First time I saw it, circa 1997


Getting restored


after restoration it followed me to collage and it pulled farm duty.


and of course plenty of snow wheeling




Like I said I had plans to restore the jeep and got as far as taking it part, sand blasting the frame, and painting it with two part epoxy paint.
I wanted to run cj5 springs, so I cut of the factory spring perches and using my cj5 as a template moved them out the appropriate amount




Strengthened up the area where the factory Ross steering box used to be


Since I was going to be running a Saginaw steering setup I decided to copy something from my TJ. A tube going across the front to keep the frame from twisting


Diffs are a Dana 30 Front 4.88 gears and a Lock Right. Some might scoff at the Lock Right but I have nothing but good things to say about them. I sheared the pins on the one in my TJs front dana, but that is being abused by a 5.9L Dodge V8 and 35s plus they are cheap and easy to work on.
The rear is a flanged Dana 44 with a Detroit Locker.


Front torn apart, cleaned and ready for assembly


All put together


Rear getting a cleaning


Rear all done, I decided to forgo disk brakes. Mostly due to not having the parts and needing to keep the project going at the time.


The transmission is a T90, followed by a Spicer 18, then a Warn OD, then a Ramsey PTO. The whole thing is coupled to a 1997 Jeep 2.5L using a bellhousing from a S-10 with a 2.8L and an a dapter plate. I got lucky the input shaft on the transmission is the correct length. I prefer the T90 as it has R down to 1st. Plust I had them


A hole was drilled in the bell housing to allow for the crank position sensor


The clutch is where it got a little interesting, I had a very difficult time finding a 9"clutch that had the same spline count as a T90. Seattle Brake and Clutch had a 10" clutch disk and unfortunately they didnt know what it came from, it was just sitting on some shelf on the back for an untold number of years. So I cut the disk down to 9" and hoping it holds up


The throw out bearing and salve cylinder where also going to be an issue. because of the two bumps on the side of the T90 I couldnt use an outside mounted slave cylinder. I decided to go with Tilton Engineering throw out bearing and slave cylinder combo.


The engine came out of a 1997 Dodge Dakota, I got the truck for $500. I wanted a whole vehicle so I would also have the wiring harness and computer.


All ready for the machine shop


Back from the machine shop, and assembled


The passenger side engine mount I was able to re-use the Dakota stuff


Drivers side I tried using part of the Dakota stuff but ran into issues with the steering, so this was scrapped


I went with this, the isolator is a standard donut type from Summet

 

My plan is to do this, I would like to convert the oil bath to a paper filter. The stock air horn was modified. You can also see I plan to use the factory gauges. So I had to come up with a T for the temperature gauge




I rolled some 18 gauge, tig welded it and welded that to the factory air horn.




Tires




Old tire names are the greatest




The color I was going for Autumn Sunrise, it was a color offered in '47 not sure on the name now. painted and sanded




The black ring I achieved with the old 5 gallon bucket filled with water trick and a paint pen

I have original wheels but they will not clear the front caliper. By some dumb luck I had one repop and by some even dumber luck I tried to see if that would fit. it did, so I bought 3 more.




I wanted to use the factory wheel and horn, so factory steering column was cut down and machined down to fit the parts from AA




Steering cut and bushing installed




There was a lot of screwing around with the steering and I probably wasted more time then I need to.

I also used a 3" hole saw and cut a hole in the factory crossmember. at this point I also had to relocate the radiator tab




Once I had my steering set up I cut a 3" pipe and welded it in place. I ended up bracing that as well as I had to cut the bottom of the tube as well. In hindsight I didnt have to go this big




Steering all set up. The steering rod from the box to the steering column is actually my old one from my 99 Dodge Diesel. fit perfectly




Frame fixing, I didnt really have a good surface to do much welding on that side. Plus I had to clearance the bumper brackets a bit




Steering box plate




For the starter I have to use a PowerMaster but this also needed a little work to get it to fit




Took my old PTO apart




I originally never ran the jeep with the PTO and OD unit. I first had the PTO and after many years I got an OD unit. So I had to make the drive shaft longer




After this I started working on the engine mount




need some clearance for the nuts




Winch Plate mount







I ended up slotting the C channel to the angle iron would slide inside.







Its a tight fit but it fits




I wanted to go with hanging pedals, however due to the intake manifold I had to get creative




and boy did I waste a lot of time on this contraption

 

In the end, I fixed my worn out pedal shaft (not sure on the name) and just went the simpler route










The upper left to right is the factory dodge harness the lower right is the factory jeep harness. It was a challenge a lot of cutting and lot of was i suppose to cut that





But in the end it fired off. So thats where I am up to now. well not quite. I took the engine and transmission out and finished welding everything up and painting. When bleeding the the clutch one of the breaded lines started leaking it turns out I must of burnt it while welding around it so




This is where I ended today


Whats left is to get my muffler and finish up the exhaust, reinstall transmission and bleed clutch, finish up cooling. Some body work, then install body and finish up the electrical. I am about 70% done I would say. I probably have hundreds of pictures but tried to keep it short...

 

This is fantastic! Thanks for posting it. Looking forward to updates.

 

interesting mix of parts

 

Really cool! Pictures are awesome and nice Fab work

 

Killer!

 

Sweet!

 

I love builds like this.

 

Thanks all,
I am going with an inline fuel pump, and keeping the fuel tank under the seat.


Clutch is getting a remote reservoir


I took the factory radiator and had them turn down the outlet, a factory 2.5L hose slips in. the top should work as well


Started on the exhaust today. not to crazy about it. I used a a bunch of the left over tubing I had left over from the TJ v8 swap


will see, might end up redoing it or taking it in.

I think I have been going at this project for about 1.5 years now. House, work, motorcycles and other vehicle projects have kept me busy. I will try to post more as it progresses

 

Was able to get the throw out bearing parts, and reinstalled transmission.


picture of the throw out bearing/slave cylinder, pretty nice unit and very adjustable.


While waiting on parts for the throw out bearing, I went ahead and tackled the fan. I am using the factory Dodge Dakota fan. rough cut the fan and rolled a sheet of 18g


tig welded and rough install to check clearances and marked to determine placement. at this point the transmission was not installed, the engine was supported but not at the right angle


try one


Once the transmission was installed i found out that the fan motor hits the thermostat housing. removed the whole thing, ended up welding nuts on the back side of the tabs and some spacers to space the fan as close to the radiator while still giving me the clearance. Its a tight fit so in the end after its all said and done I might have to go with an aftermarket unit


Installed filter and pump. the pump is below the filter and isolated


fuel lines ran. using some DIY PFTE fuel lines and AN6. its was pretty painless, not a big fan of the big fittings and I am a pretty big fan of the factory push to lock stuff but this is much easier for sure.


Today I started on the air filter unit. This is not an original air filter, I dont know what its from. In fact when I first restored the jeep back in the late 90s I had to drill out and rotate the mounting bracket and reweld it. to make it work


after a bunch of screwing around. I decided to just sand down the pinch seam. the plan is to make this but out of some 18gauge tig weld it. then tig weld the hole thing back together.




On the bottom side I plan to use 16g and a heavish big spring situated in the dimple underneath the tamplate there to keep the filter element tight.

Part Details
filter I plan to use. Wix actually has a really nice filter look up thing. its 5" tall and 6-3/8" wide

Thats pretty much it for now, supposed to head off to work on this weekend so I wont be getting anything done till after the holidays. I tried getting the exhaust done today at the local shop. but they where pretty busy so that will have to wait till I get back

 

Came back the other day and currently in quarantine for a week so cant take the jeep the exhaust shop. Decided to do what I could on the air filter


Rolled some 18 gauge, with a smaller diameter then the filter so I could use some rubber as a seal. after tacking and making sure everything fits i went around and welded.


I thought I would have to add some steel and a spring to the bottom to keep the filter tight but it seems that the height is just right, so the only thing needed was another piece of rubber.



and as it sits, I need to put the tub back on so I can get the proper rotation of the outlit to the engine and the bracket to the tub brackets. but that will have to wait till after the exhaust shop.

 

You would have a lot more room for activities if you parked the Hemi Coronet and the CJ5 in my barn for awhile. Just saying...

 

lol people might laugh but the 5 is currently in my parents garage as I ran out of room after I converted the back garage into a machine shop/weld shop.

 

got the jeep back from the exhaust shop


In a way i like that the exhaust is up and out of the way but it makes filling the tcase that much more difficult, plus heat build up. its 2"






for shocks I am using some hand me down JK shocks, they offer 4" up and 4" down. they will probably be a little stiff for how light this thing is but they were free.




while waiting for the exhaust shop appointment I was able to start a little on the body work.







Original color


very thin aluminum covering where a hat channel used to be


rear hat channel removed, small patch patched in not finished, and more rust cut out


good amount of rust, there was some body filler in this area. I dont know why but it might have contributed to the rusting underneath the filler on the steel

 

bondo is porus by design it collects water from any un painted exposure to the air. bondo over rust =more rust.

 

Looks like you're making some great progress, keep it up!

 

Got side tracked by building a bumper, really I just hate body work and there's a lot of it.


started with 4x4x0.120 square tube, was going to go with 0.188 but the yard didnt have any rems and I didnt want to buy a full stick.


The tow hook is JK, buddy was getting rid of JK parts came with the shocks


Cut it out to fit layed out the cut


Hole cut out for fail lead and raiser block


The fair lead is an old one, I dont know where it came from but I have had it for a while.
After I Miged the tow hook I ground the weld down and went over it with the TiG




I did start on the body, I think I am going to TiG the pannels in vs using the MiG. less grinding more heat control.




I used the MiG to tack in place then continued with the TiG

 

Once again work got in the way. I did order some panels made in the US instead of from Omix. I havnt gotten them yet. In the mean time I started on something simple like the fenders.


fresh wash to see what I would be dealing with.


plenty of cracks and missing tabs


and of course rust


after some sanding with 220 and a scotch bright pad


the original color is coming out. I think I will just clear coat it all once all is said and done.


tacked this into place as my main TiG machine is down




Dog and I took the broken machine to the local shop to get it fixed. Its a Miller Dynasty 280 about 5 years old. first time its given me issues so hoping its simple

 

Its not looking too cheap for the TiG welder and its still in the shop. I think I have just about all patch panels welded in.


Cut the drivers side floor pan cut out


I had to cut a hole in the fire wall to make room for the 2.5L Jeep engine. oringially I was going to make this a bolt on cover to give me access to transmission bolts thats why its a little on the larger side. But in the end decided to just weld it in.


The side steps? had some rust in the hat channel area. I decided to re use some of the old floor to patch it in


Drivers side floor and hat channel welded in


I had bought a new rear pannel but decided to make my own as I was not cutting away the whole thing. The new corners are very well made.






Passenger side was a little more work but not bad






More old floor for patch work




the worst of it


Used some more of the old floor to make up a small patch panel




All the patch panels I bought have been of great quality and all fit with out any major issues considering how old the jeep is. The only one is this hat channel support for the spare tire and corner. However considering the original was completely gone I have nothing to compare it to. I would assume that the new parts would fit though.

I bought all the patch panels from Classic Enterprises. Great guys to deal with, answered all my questions and the shipping was quick. the plus side is that they are made in the US.