2X4 frame for my CJ2A

Yeah, look at the mess i am into. I see why you go custom gas tank and wilwood pedals. I have spent more time on the gas tank and the pedal set up than is reasonable. If I had a body that wasn't all hacked up to begin with, no way I would be doing all this for these pedals.

 

Well the master for the clutch didn't work exactly correct for this pedal assembly so I modified the clutch arm to fit it. You can see the dash mount on the back of the pedal bracket thats tacked in place.

 

What's wrong with bolting that pedal bracket to the dash bracket like I did that is welded to the cowl?.........in your case if you did yours at an angle and popped out the bolts in the firewall would it not just all drop down and out?

 

Terry, I am copying what you did because it seems like the best way to do this with some differences because of the 2A. I am actually going to bolt the bracket that is welded to the pedal assembly right through the dash. I took some pics to show what i mean. I suppose I could weld another bracket in at an angle like you say..

As you can see, the dash has a double reinforcement to strengthen the mount for the steering shaft. It is pressed steel. I made the bracket for the pedal assembly to that contour and it fits into the shaped recess. there is also a "nose" that goes inward that is now below the bracket assembly, so even if I bolt the assembly in, it would be very difficult, if not impossible to remove it because the part now spans the entire length from the inside of the firewall into the recess in the reinforcement for the dash. If I do this correctly, I should never need to remove the assembly.

like those curtains?

Clutch master fits fine. This assembly does not take up a lot of width. The clutch master fits behind the booster, hence the spacer.

 

I see what your doing and I'm just making suggestions so that it can come out if need be........always a good Idea if you can keep things removable if possible. Can you brace that pedal bracket to the cowl above as opposed to the dash?.............That force against the pedals is more up-down arc motion as opposed to fore and aft although your dash would offer a similar resistance I guess once attached to whatever it gets attached to. The difference in going up may work as it isolates the dash from somewhat being involved with the brace..........Hey, your there and I'm not........... Carry on!

 

cut the pedals. Made them an inch shorter and tacked them to the front of the arm. This pushes them out a bit and makes the swing a bit better.

I also made the floor pan and toe board that attaches to the side panel, the firewall and the rest of the floor pan. The pedal ratio is 3.41 to 1. I will have to live with it. The pedals have a full swing that fully compresses to the brake piston before the pedal hits the toe board. The clutch piston is very close to full stop before it hits the toe board.

The pedal arms are ugly and just tacked into their respective position.


clecos work great in this application. I am so happy with the sheet metal work that I might cut all of the stuff I did around the firewall out and start over.

 

You re doing some great engineering . I still say dd some tank tracks.

 

Thank you.
The engineering I am doing is stuff that lots of guys have done before me. I am just reverse engineering it or just copying. This project is completely and totally out of hand at this point. Its so far over what I had thought I was going to have to do its just plain funny.

Whatever, Its also turning out better than I dared to hope for. Its far from perfect, but so much better quality than what my previous work was and I am pretty excited. The bar WAS pretty low.

 

Vacation for the last 2 weeks. did a couple things, realized that I cannot go further on the bodywork and the hanging pedal deal until I see how the engine and transmission are going to fit with the exhaust and the tub.

I took off the tub again and assembled one of my extra dead engines and empty SM420 case.

the engine has a piston rusted fast and several valves in the same condition.
Engine in and Buick Special exhaust manifolds and crossover pipe mocked up




This might work. I need to take off the adapter from my rebuilt SM420, put it on this empty case and mock up the transfer case to see about the fitment of exhaust.

 

Adapter and transfer case bolted to Transmission. The transfer case/transmission crossmember does not fit the mounts well. I don't think I have the correct rubber isolator for the transfer case and I might need to make a spacer for the transmission mount. I might just make a whole new support. This "worked" before, but obviously was lumped into the get it driving idea. Gotta fix it.

Anyway, I don't like the cross over exhaust and the front driveshaft. As you can see, there is not a whole lot of room for the driveshaft to move up. Once I fully load the frame with a complete engine,body etc, there will be even less.

I know, the driveshaft is short. I will have to make another one. The rear driveshaft is now too long. I figured I would be making new ones. As far as the exhaust goes. make a new custom dual exhaust utilizing the stock manifolds? go back to the cj5 headers that i know will work?

 

Fixt.

Personally, I'd try to make the manifolds work if i could. With the headers, you're sorta stuck with what they give you for options. Manifolds dump inboard and much higher up, so you have a world more of options for routing, plus they're nice and quiet. But I'm here and you're there looking at it, so....

 

Hey, you're right. The manifolds are a better option. Now is the time to make the exhaust too. Its just that i have never made an exhaust system before. I do have a HF pipe bender. The junky one that has mandrels and a jack and doesn't work well. Its pretty clear that the Buick Special crossover/Y pipe is not going to work and dumps in the exact location that I don't want it in. I could make it work, but the deal killer is that driveshaft coming up and crushing the pipe.

I am pretty sure I could get the headers to work now that I have the body lift built into the frame. Also since I have hacked apart the body, I am not shy for making it work. It might be the most time/cost effective option. I will mock it up and see how I feel about it. Its free parts at this point.

 

Don't try to bend exhaust tubing with a pipe bender. Unless you're planning on building your exhaust out of 2" schedule 40 pipe.
Tubing needs to be drawn over a die, where pipe can get away with bending it over one. Especially exhaust tubing. That pipe bender would just fold it in half.

When you put it like you did, the headers would make more sense if they line up correctly. Free is good.

 

Yeah, I tried to bend some thin wall pipe/tube in it once. I knew it was a crapshoot, so I filled the pipe with sand to make it happen. It happened to make scrap. That "tool" has since sat in the corner for 7 years. I got it for free and still paid too much!

 

I've been using mine a lot to bend plate, and even used it as a bearing press the other day. Who knew?

 

I think you are smart to get the exhaust worked out now without the body in your way. I see now why my exhaust guy put the y pipe after the transfer case. Not much wiggle room. Are you still under the plastic palace?

 

Yes, plastic palace in full effect! It has worked very well for me so far. I roll out my mess and roll it back in when I am done. I have 2 Chinese chain falls that I can lift the body on of off in the palace. I want to get it all fit up now, because its a real PITA to do it later.

I mocked up those headers again. I hate them.

I took apart the manifolds from that Y pipe. You know I broke off 3 of the 4 bolts. You might also know that extractors are useless even with fire and penetrating oil. Ended up drilling out the broken bolts and retappng the holes. It worked and I didn't even wreck anything.

I guess i will be making my own exhaust.

 

There is not enough plastic in the world to get me out in 20's .The weather has turned to winter here on the other side of the Appalachain Mts for a few days ! Why not come over the top of the transmission to the drivers side .? that will eliminate the drive shaft problem.

 

Its cold here today. 15 degrees this morning. I am in no rush to go outside.

I am thinking I will go straight back inside the frame rails from the exhaust manifolds. I think I can work the passenger side pipe along side the transfer case. I think I can work around the hydraulic clutch slave and T/O arm too. The stock size exhaust pipe is 1 7/8 OD. Its the same size that guys use to make headers and I can get 16 feet or so of random bends for under 100 bucks and 4' straight lengths for under 20.

Here is some discussion on this
http://www.earlycj5.com/xf_cj5/index.php?threads/who-has-built-their-own-exhaust.117967/

 

almost had to redo the brake/clutch master firewall plate
Thought I didn't leave enough room for the booster/valve cover, then I remembered I am using 5/8 ,or so, poly body mounts. Slipped them in and its all fine.