In the beginning

Tranny mount done

I used an Advanced Adapters unit to hook the xfr case to the SM465, and it uses a pair of round, split mounts instead of the standard type of trans mount.



This required that I do a lot of work on the factory xmember, as I wanted to keep the stock anti torque donut in place.

I ended up creating a couple of flat pads for the AA mounts, and after a bit of head scratching, and lots of measuring, got them in the correct location.

Here is the finished product, prior to a coat of POR 15.





Also visible is the valley I had to create to clear the bottom of the SM465 case.

Next step is to work on mounting the power steering box.

 

Steering stuff

I finally got around to getting the new, power steering box mounted to the frame.

My frame already had a Saginaw manual box on it, but I wanted to upgrade to a power unit.

My frame had a hole for the steering shaft through the front crossmember, and I have decided to re-use that setup, rather than doing a below the crossmember setup.

Thus, All I had to do was find the right location, and drill a couple of new holes in the existing mount, and I had to add an additional bolt position on top of the frame.

I used one inch DOM 0.250 wall tube for the mount, and for spacers as needed.

Here is the finished setup, as can be seen, the top bolt goes through a short piece of DOM welded to the top frame horn, and the lower two bolts fit into the old mounting plate, pre-existing on the frame.



Here is a shot of the back side of the mount area, the bolt on the right needed a bit of custom fab work to make it work, as the shaft of the bolt lay directly on the frame. I used a piece of DOM and cut it back to the edge of the bolt hole was just exposed, and there was still a bit of full diameter stock for the bolt head and washer to seat on. Then I welded it to the frame to create a chase for the bolt.



Not the prettiest weld job, but pretty secure I suspect. Also visible is the freshly drilled hole for the third bolt for the steering box.



This could not have been possible without having a spud shaft to extend the steering box shaft enough to fit through the crossmember, and locating the "U" joint behind the cross member.

I got this spud shaft from McRuff, as well as the five degree spring plates. Very nice work indeed



The black ring is a clamp that fits over the spud shaft, and holds it in place on the splined shaft in the Saginaw box. The spud shaft is split, but I did not think to show that, sorry.

After I get the rest of the frame painted, and the box mounted, I will post more shots of the steering setup.

By the way, the rust inside the closed sections of the frame, visible in a couple of the shots-----------what are most folks doing about that??? Aside from dipping the entire frame in some kind of rust killer, then in POR 15, how do I take care of the interior surface rust. Or am I just worrying about this too much:?

 

Looking good, Mike. I take it you are using a 3 bolt steering box.

 

Thanks

Yes, three bolt, it was in the donor Blazer on the top of the second page.

 

Re: Steering stuff

Mike,
Eastwood sells a product designed just for this purpose, a rust converter spray aerosol can with a long applicator wand to insert through any available hole into the closed space.

Don

 

Re: Steering stuff

Found it, thanks for the tip.

http://www.eastwood.com/internal-frame-coating-w-spray-nozzle.html

 

Thanks from me too!

 

More work on the fuel system.

I am using a Chevy 4.3 V6, with the central port fuel injection system, and it is notorious for being picky about fuel pressure.

I figured the best way to deal with this issue was to use the factory Chevy fuel pump ------ but it was an in-tank pump, not an external one.

Here is how I dealt with this minor problem.

When I harvested the engine and other various items from the donor vehicle, I also grabbed the fuel tank and its internal fuel pump/fuel gauge sender.

Here is the pump assembly, and it is easy to see that it will not fit into the stock Jeep sender hole.



I cut the ring out of the Blazers fuel tank, using a die grinder and cut off disk.



And opened up the Jeep tank with a sabre saw to fit the Blazer fuel sender ring.



Here is the ring setting in place, I will mount it permanently with screws and fuel tank sealant "Pro Seal" like I used in building the airplane.



The Blazer tank was almost exactly the same depth as the Jeep tank, so I lucked out there. The new fuel lines are going to have to be lowered a bit, to clear the Jeep body, but I am using 1" spacers in the body mount, so that will help a bit.

Thanks for looking

 

Update time.

I got the fuel lines in to/from the engine.

This engine uses an intank fuel pump, and is reported to be rather finicky about fuel pressure, so I simplyl used the Chevy pump, as detailed above.

The fuel lines were cut off when the engine was removed from the donor car, and I was later to regret doing that, as they use a "bead O ring" setup for sealing the connections, and that is not something I can source locally.

I ended up using the services of Tom at TS Flightlines, http://www.tsflightlines.com/ to make up special fittings, and adapters for getting me where I needed to be. The parts from TS Flightlines worked perfectly, and made the entire project a simple bolt together event---except for a single line I had to cut to length and flare the end.

Here is what the lines looked like when I removed the engine, just simply the work of a Sawzall.



Tom added a barbed fitting to the low pressure return line, and a 37* AN taper fitting to the high pressure supply line, as well as fabricating a short flex line to go to the frame.



I used an AN double male to transition to a short piece of rigid line, then to an adapter into the fuel filter, which was the bead/O ring on both ends.



And, finally a piece of flex line back to the tank. The return line is a simple piece of 5/16" hose, and was secured with hose clamps to each end, with an adapter at the tank. I then secured the hose to the first line with lacing cord.



I still need to run a vent line from the rear tank, and a feed line from the under seat/transfer tank. And there is another vent fitting I need to plug, but that is pretty simple stuff, just need to hit NAPA for some fuel line.

Thanks for looking.

 

Looks good Mike. I see you still haven't figured out your wiring. Don't feel bad. I'm in the same boat.

 

Thanks, appreciate the complement

Actually, I am pretty sure I have most of the engine wiring under control, just waiting to get the tub back on to move on in that direction.

Steering, and brakes/clutch come first.

I am pretty sure you and I have different ECMs, and wiring harnesses-----seem to remember seeing a photo of your ECM in one of your posts.

 

Well, update time.

The body is back on for good--------at least that is the plan.

The body was mounted with urathane pucks, which had a 9/16" hole in them, way sloppy if I had used the stock size bolts (3/8" IIRC) and the holes in the sheet metal had wallowed out to almost a half inch. I found that the inner sleeve from the spring bushings were a perfect fit in the new body mount pucks, and only a tiny bit larger than the holes in the body------I ended up getting a 9/16" drill, and opened up the body and frame mount holes to fit the sleeve, and I bought new 7/16" bolts/washers/lock nuts to hold it all together.

Got the rear seat mounted, now I have to build front seat mounts as there were none with the Jeep when I got it.

Anybody out there have some good photos of how a M38a1 seat base is built??

 

Mike. Any updates on your build?

 

Scott, thanks for the inquiry------but sadly the answer is no.

About the only progress I have made on it in the last few months is to gather parts for when I revive the ambition to work on it.

Motivation is severely lacking at the moment. Other projects have gotten in the way also, been spending a lot of time on the plane, got it out of the paint shop.



I expect I will get back to the Jeep when the nice flying weather runs out in the fall.

 

Wow! The plane looks sharp. To this day, yours is the only garage I've gone to to pick up Jeep parts that had a airplane in it. Many happy flights to you.

 

Thanks Posi