British Columbia do it all CJ2A build with V8 Power

I am using 3.5" back spacing on the rims I believe. The narrow track Dana 30 is 53" WMS to WMS the factory rear Dana 44 is 50" I believe. I am running spider trac wheel 1 1/4" spacers in the back to more closely match the front and add just a bit of stability. I will need 3" flares to have the tire coverage to be legal. Narrow waggy 44 and Izuzu 44 are nice axles but it will make it hard to have the tires covered legally. NT Waggy 44s are about 60" WMS to WMS. If enforcement of tire coverage is not an issue in your area they should work well. In my area it can be an issue so I am trying to stay conservative and keep the tires covered with later CJ rear flares and will be making steel extensions to the front fenders. I would like to leave the front fenders alone but I don't need fix it tickets from the RCMP.
Greg

 

Hi avmechanic I have enjoyed following your build. I too have a dilemma with regards to front tire coverage. I have not found any aftermarket front flares I like. I thought about separating the top and skirt from inner fender and adding a 3 or 4 inch filler to top and skirt. Duplicating the radius at front and rear of filler strip would be hardest part but no curved parts to deal with. Looking foward to see how yours turns out. Bill

 

Just read your whole build. What a great project. That tranny tunnel turned out fantastic! Going to have to keep that trick in mind for future use. Can't wait to see the finished product.

 

Bump this to the top, any new updates?

 

I wish I had more to report but I have just been incredibly busy. Having just moved and having a new baby has been busy as it is but my work has also been keeping me tied up too. I have spent a couple of afternoons welding the roll cage and making the seat brackets but that is about it. I have some time coming to me in a couple of weeks and I hope to get a day to spend getting some work done on it. Wish me luck.
Greg

 

Hi guys, the build has been going extremely slow for the last couple of months. Just can't seem to find time to get working on my Jeep. I have only had a couple of afternoons to spend on welding on my roll cage and that is about it. Believe it or not though I did find some time to work on my engine harness at work while being on stand by. I have been needing to build a stand alone computer harness for my LS based GM Vortec engine. I picked up a computer and harness from a guy on http://www.ls1tech.com/forums/ . I found all the info I needed to pair down my harness and remove all the unnecessary wires and sensors from a website http://lt1swap.com/wiringharness.htm . I have to say that with that info it was really not that tough to make the harness into a stand alone harness for retrofits. I just laid the whole harness out and labeled all of the sensor plugs then I followed the website and removed the pins from the computer plug and slowly removed the wireing. I actually did 2 of them. I needed to make one for my father inlaw's 8.1L Vortec as well while I was at it. I would say it takes somewhere near 8 hours to mod a harness. It makes for a reasonably cheap engine harness and management for these Vortecs. Considering most harnesses for retrofit are between $500 and $800 I think this is the way to go. If you buy one of these engines make sure to get the harness with it. I am going to be doing the computer programming with HP Tuners. I can't wait to get it running, it will be a while yet but the harness is at least sorted out. Here are some pictures of the harness. I still need to cover it with plastic loom but I am going to plug it all in to the engine first and then lay it out before I cover it up. At least there is some progress.




These wires still need to be put into a small terminal fuse block and the rest are connections for the vehicle.



This is a box full of wire I removed from my harness as well as my father inlaw's.



Hopefully I will have some more progress to report on soon.
Greg

 

Yep, that site is wonderful, and Brenden is extremely helpful and easy to deal with.

I did pretty much the same thing, except I started pruning the harness while the car was intact------that way, I could determine what wire went to what, and if it was needed or not.

Good luck, you are 90% there with this phase of it.

 

Just ran across this today. Love the build, especially the tranny cover. I need to do something like that to cover up my T-98.

I second this. One of the problems you can run into is overfilling the main tank during the transfer. Especially if it's controlled by a toggle switch. Fuel will run out the vent if you do that. I would just get a frame mounted pump and valve from a dual tank pickup truck. Not sure if that engine uses a return line, but many of truck valves have a provision for that as well. I believe my '85 Chevy has a provision for a return line and a vent line. Just a thought.

 

That is not as easy as it sounds. I have an in tank high pressure fuel injection pump going in the back tank. For me to be able to just switch tanks with a truck dual tank valve means I will have to try to fit another $200 plus dollar high pressure pump in the front tank. Or switch to an external High pressure pump. With an external pump I will have to make a good sump that will not allow the pump to suck air when low on fuel as injected engines do not tolerate air like a carb with a float bowl. I think I will stick to my plan of transfering. I will only be using that tank when a long trip is planned away from fuel stops. I would be better off making a float switch for the back tank that will shut of the transfer pump when full. It would be easy to do and I have an extra float arm on the injection pump module. I could just take off the rheostat on that float arm and add a microswitch. I will figure it out when I get to the final tank plumbing and wiring.
Right now I am happy to get to spend a couple of hours a month to even get to work on my rig. It is slow going right now. Work and family life have me pretty tied up. I have already added a couple of more years to the expected finish date for this project. I won't give up though. I am stubborn.
Greg

 

Didn't realize you already had an in-tank pump in the rear. How did you do that, I thought your tank came out of a '70 CJ-5?

I'm running an external pump on my EFI swap with no sump and I've had pretty good luck with it. Or course I try not to let it get low enough to be a problem. The biggest problem I have is when crawling, it circulates too much fuel, which heats it up and then vapor locks. A wet rag on the fuel rail solve the problem, but I'm going to find a better solution.

 

I don't have the in tank pump in yet. I have only done the layout for the mods on the tank. I have a Ford super duty truck fuel pump module to install. It is an easy install as I just have to buck a round hole in the top then tack weld a couple of tabs in the bottom to hold the sump assy. from moving. The top will just bolt down. Here is a similar pump from summit. http://static.summitracing.com/global/images/prod/large/ATX-E2238M_CL.jpg I have a regulated fuel rail with a return line to the tank as well. I will post some pictures and details when I get to it. Now that I have put some thought into it I am really thinking of going with a float switch to shut the fuel transfer pump off. I think that will work well.
Greg

 

Subscribed - I will be putting a AMC 304 in the '48-hopefully.

 

Any updates on this project? I just got done reading the whole thing again. You do awesome work. I plan using the pictures of your transmission cover as inspiration when I do mine...

 

Not much to report. This project has been back burnered for a while. I have been still collecting parts. Life has just been way too busy and funding has been too tight to accomplish much. I was hoping to do some welding over the winter to finish up the roll cage and a few other fabrication odds and ends. I pulled out one of my SM465 trannys and put it on the bench to do a tear down a couple of months ago. LOL. I have since had to do brakes on my truck, and painting around the house and a million other things. I have also been doing some parts scrounging for my 55' Chevy Gasser project and have done a couple mini projects with that. Check it out here if you are interested in that kind of thing. http://www.trifive.com/forums/showthread.php?t=128909 A friend of mine has hired me to put wheel tubs and a trunk floor in his 65' Nova. Sounds like he wants me to put a drag race cage in it too. On top of all that I just rebuilt a little Yamaha PW50 for my Daughter. That is the way it goes sometimes, always lots to do. I rarely ever sell anything and have no intentions on quitting with this project. I will be sure to post progress when I can. Thanks for the interest.
Cheers.
Greg

 

Hey,

Great build!! I'm doing the same 4.8L/SM465/D18 build just in a 69' CJ5.

What are you using for Tach? is it from PCM to a Jeep Tach? or a aftermarket tach for GM Gen III?

 

I have not picked up a tach for it yet. I am going to go with a set of aftermarket gauges.(probably Autometer) I will use the tach signal from the gm harness. The output would require a tach to be switched to 4 cylinder mode. If you wanted to use a factory tach of some sort it would have to be for a 4 cylinder. Do you have a build thread of your project?
Cheers.
Greg