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1961 Glass CJ5 Build (Long Boring Story...)

Discussion in 'Builds and Fabricators Forum' started by Boodie, Mar 16, 2008.

  1. Mar 16, 2008
    Boodie

    Boodie Boodie

    TOLEDO, OHIO
    Joined:
    Jul 4, 2006
    Messages:
    95
    1961 glass CJ-5 Build

    ...I found my Jeep CJ in a little town by Conneaut Lake, PA. It was sitting in the front yard with a "For Sale" sign on the windshield. It had a fiberglass tub sitting on a 1978 CJ-5 frame with the AMC 304 V8 in it. One of the bolts for the Alternator was missing and was replaced with a pair of vice grips! The soft top was "brand new" according to the owner. He also told me it was registered as a '61 since he had the '55-'74 CJ-5 Fiberglass tub.

    Here she is when I found her:

    [​IMG]


    I bought the Jeep, decided to move home to Toledo, Ohio a few months later, and ended up driving it home on Thanksgiving Day, 2000. 243 miles! The best part of the trip? The tub was mounted to the frame using steel rails...NO BODY MOUNTS! Fiberglass mounted straight to steel...Needless to say, it was a rough trip.

    After I got home and drove her for the rest of the winter I knew I just HAD to get bigger tires! My dad's friend happened to have a set of 33X15X12.5 (the originals were 29X15X11.5). It is amazing how different a set of tires and rims will make a Jeep look...

    [​IMG]



    After driving the Jeep for about a year, the battered old 304 V8 finally blew. I parked the Jeep and my dad and I went out to find a replacement.

    I knew I was obviously going to keep the fiberglass tub, it was in pretty good condition. I wanted to find an AMC 401 V8, but after inspecting the frame on my Jeep, my dad & I noticed how much of it was rotted. The usual spots; from the transfer case on back. UGH!

    We finally found an old Jeep in Marion, Ohio. It was a 1983 CJ-5. The tub was all rusted out and bondo'd up everywhere! To our surprise, the frame was in PERFECT condition and the 258 actually sounded pretty good. I bought the Jeep for $500! Dad and I towed her home and we began cutting off the body mount bolts. The plan was to take off the steel rusted tub and replace it with my fiberglass tub. We ended up getting a set of body mounts that would give my tub a 3" lift.

    We also got lucky and found a 4" suspension set (SuperLift) for only $150 from a kid in Indiana that rolled his Jeep after only having the kit on for a MONTH!

    Here's the Jeep with the tub on the "new" frame with the 4" suspension lift and 3" body lift:

    [​IMG]


    The next task was to install the ididit steering column, rewire the tail lights and gas tank/ sending unit & mount the windshiled.

    Here's the mounted in ididit chrome steering column:

    [​IMG]

    New LED tail lights:

    [​IMG][​IMG]

    I had a friend that works at the Jeep plant here in Toledo and he got me a brand new windshield! I was so excited that I sold my old crappy after market one and took the new one over to the platers and had them powder coat it gloss black. Got brand new glass for it and had the windshield installed and BAM! it was a smack in the face when I realized that I had a post 1975 windshield. I NEEDED a PRE 1975 windshield. Such a noobie mistake, I felt like a moron! As you can see in the pic below the angle is WAY different on a 76-86 windshield:

    [​IMG]

    Soooooooooooooo, lucky for me I sold it to a guy on eBay for over $400 (thank God) and made a few pennies on it. I ended up finding an original 1956 windshield frame and GOOD glass from a guy in Colorado for ONLY $100!!! To top it off, he was making a trip across the states and dropped it off to me at NO CHARGE! (Thank You!!). I had the glass taken out (the seal was obviously dry rot) and had it painted..there was NO RUST on this thing, you would've sworn it came from Arizona!

    I went ahead and bought some after market wiper motors. They ran about $30 a set and they are the heavy duty steel ones, NOT the cheap plastic ones.

    Got her all together and the ol' 258 was running pretty good....EXCEPT...that damn Carter Carb. VERY sluggish crappy thing. I went online and looked around for a replacement carb and came across an article on how to fix the "crappy carb". You can read the article HERE since I did NOT write the article I won't take credit for it....but I WILL say it worked GREAT!!! Don't get me wrong, I will still eventually upgrade my carb, but since this is my "Budget Rig" I will take what I can get.

    And then it happens.....I blow my 258 while driving on 75 right in front of the Jeep Plant (irony, gotta' love it)!!! SO dad and I drive into Michigan the nest weekend to see a guy about a new 258 and got me a nice long block, 4.0 Head, & an HEI Distributor. Got home with all that stuff, pulled off the head to do the conversion and....and.......found two fried pistons. So.......went on the forums over at GreatLakes4x4.com and found another 258. this one has ONLY 55,000 miles on it. Went up and got it, got home and this engine looks pretty darn good! Got the OLD 258 pulled out of the CJ (thank you dad).

    While the old engine was pulled we took the 4.0 head over to the machine shop. Got her back and dad plugged the water jacket holes per the 4.0 head/258 conversion write up HERE. Also, while the "new" engine was on the stand I went ahead and cleaned her all up and painted her blue after dad put the new 4.0 head on:

    [​IMG]

    Look how nice the new head lines up:

    [​IMG]

    Installed the new engine....put in the new HEI Distributor and put on the new stainless steel header with the original 258 intake:

    [​IMG]

    YES, you can put on a 4.0 fuel injection/intake. Remember, I am still building a "Budget Rig".

    Filled her up with fluids and started the bad boy up.....I honestly can NOT believe how wonderful this thing runs now! Between the 4.0 head conversion and the HEI Distributor this thing is AWESOME! I am VERY happy. 40+ horsepower gain and an average of 15-20% better gas mileage!

    Anyway, there you have it. Sorry so long and drawn out but wanted to be thorough in case anyone was interested!

    R)
     
    Last edited: Mar 20, 2008
  2. Jul 13, 2008
    Boodie

    Boodie Boodie

    TOLEDO, OHIO
    Joined:
    Jul 4, 2006
    Messages:
    95
    ***UPDATE***


    This 258/4.0 Head is getting 24 MPG!

    My first "trip" in her was a 103 mile drive from Toledo to Jonesville, MI. I had her in 4-Wheel drive the ENTIRE drive there and got 20 MPG! Now that she's broken in, she's getting BETTER gas mileage!

    Not bad for an old Jeep (remember: chassis is a 1983 CJ-5 & a 1985 258 ).

    With today's gas prices, I'm NOT complaining! Now if I can just get her to get 45 MPG......
     
  3. Jul 13, 2008
    drexotic

    drexotic Happy now?!?!?

    San Diego
    Joined:
    Jan 7, 2007
    Messages:
    419
    Sweet!

    How about some "Finished product" pic's?
     
    Boodie likes this.
  4. Jul 13, 2008
    cj5 buggy

    cj5 buggy Member

    hardeeville, SC
    Joined:
    Dec 12, 2003
    Messages:
    403
    sounds good... definatly need some pics over here.
     
  5. Jul 13, 2008
    Boodie

    Boodie Boodie

    TOLEDO, OHIO
    Joined:
    Jul 4, 2006
    Messages:
    95
    Ok, Ok...HERE'S SOME PICS! Keep in mind she still needs painted (Dodge Intense Blue) and painting the rims BLACK! :)

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    Checking for leaks (ha-ha.):

    [​IMG]


    Ok...anyone want to paint her for me??? R)
     
  6. Jul 3, 2009
    Boodie

    Boodie Boodie

    TOLEDO, OHIO
    Joined:
    Jul 4, 2006
    Messages:
    95
    Now getting over 30MPG with my new Hydrogen conversion....will do a write-up VERY soon....
     
  7. Aug 3, 2009
    Boodie

    Boodie Boodie

    TOLEDO, OHIO
    Joined:
    Jul 4, 2006
    Messages:
    95
    ***Getting her painted "John Deer Green" as we speak***

    Pics to follow SOON!
     
  8. Aug 6, 2009
    Dan66cj5

    Dan66cj5 Member

    Oregon
    Joined:
    Feb 20, 2003
    Messages:
    235
    Cool.. I want to hear more about this :)
     
  9. Aug 8, 2009
    Boodie

    Boodie Boodie

    TOLEDO, OHIO
    Joined:
    Jul 4, 2006
    Messages:
    95
    DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
  10. Jan 23, 2010
    Boodie

    Boodie Boodie

    TOLEDO, OHIO
    Joined:
    Jul 4, 2006
    Messages:
    95
  11. Jan 24, 2010
    aallison

    aallison 74 cj6, 76 cj5. Has anyone seen my screwdriver?

    Green Cove...
    Joined:
    Nov 24, 2006
    Messages:
    1,929
    Nice looking Jeep. And I enjoyed the story. I like to hear where our Jeeps come from........
     
  12. Jan 27, 2010
    coolbrixjr

    coolbrixjr Sponsor

    WI
    Joined:
    May 31, 2009
    Messages:
    38
    i also am extremely interested in the hydrogen conversion, very cool ride i like how the paint turned out!!
     
  13. Jan 27, 2010
    Davidleontruett

    Davidleontruett Member

    Darlington SC
    Joined:
    Apr 5, 2009
    Messages:
    134
    id like to hear what you did about the hydrogen conversion too. i messed with hydrogen in the house, but never attached it to a car. more gas mileage is always good.

    and with the 4.0 injection did you have to use a computer? fuel injection would help out with the "too much gas" problem im having with mine.
     
  14. Jan 28, 2010
    Boodie

    Boodie Boodie

    TOLEDO, OHIO
    Joined:
    Jul 4, 2006
    Messages:
    95
    Thnx guys.....

    I kept my Carter Carb (what???? u say).....lol....it's true, I did the "carter carb fix" a couple years ago and it has never run better!!!!

    Here's a little story on the Jeep HERE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvZA-82QEOU
     
  15. Jan 28, 2010
    alex211

    alex211 Member

    Pennsylvania
    Joined:
    Aug 25, 2009
    Messages:
    441
    So how exactly did you do it? If you're gonna keep a secret just tell us now. :(
     
  16. Jan 28, 2010
    Boodie

    Boodie Boodie

    TOLEDO, OHIO
    Joined:
    Jul 4, 2006
    Messages:
    95
    Secret?????

    LMAO! This info is FREE all over the internet. After you sift thru the BS companies you can see the real plans.

    It's a container of water (some people use mason jars, some use a type of plastic container like a small gas tank, etc), in the water you have a coil of stainless steel in the water with electricity going thru the coil...this reaction cause the H2O to split into HHO....this gas is vacuumed into my carburetor via a vacuum line from the canisters. Simple.

    TONS of sites about this. I agree there is a LOT of BS sites, the one listed below has great info without trying to sell you anything:

    http://hhoinfo.ning.com/

    Hope this helps...:)
     
  17. Jan 28, 2010
    uboatcmdr

    uboatcmdr Member

    Huntsville, AL
    Joined:
    Aug 19, 2009
    Messages:
    55
    I have heard of using hydrogen, but I have never really studied on doing a conversion. So, my question is does the vehicle run souly on hydrogen or does it run on a mix of gasoline & hydrogen? And if it is a mix how does the carb meter the mixture (via the air/fuel mixture screws)? If it's working well for you I may try this with the CJ6 I just aquired (equiped w/6cyl-232).
     
  18. Jan 29, 2010
    Boodie

    Boodie Boodie

    TOLEDO, OHIO
    Joined:
    Jul 4, 2006
    Messages:
    95
    Yes, gasoline/Hydrogen mixture. I get avg. 33 mpg. I bacdked off on the RPMs (idle screw) when it's on. Simple adjustment, obviously. I have it going into the carb on teh bottom half of the carb (if that makes sense). I should prolly take some pics and post them up here....some guys run BOTH lines, one into the carb , and one into the air intake (On fuelies, after the air filter).

    Hope this helps...I'll throw some pics up here by this evening!

     
  19. Jan 9, 2017
    Focker

    Focker That's a terrible idea...What time? Staff Member

    WA
    Joined:
    Aug 18, 2014
    Messages:
    7,540
    This looks like a great thread, but the images are missing. Can you re-post them?
     
  20. Mar 31, 2017
    Boodie

    Boodie Boodie

    TOLEDO, OHIO
    Joined:
    Jul 4, 2006
    Messages:
    95
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