Picked Up A 71 For A Buddy Of Mine......

Seems like a great value, but unfinished projects always sell for cheap prices. Still a lot of work to do here ...

Adding the under-seat tank was a common upgrade in the day. I had one in my '73 in 1973 (though I tried to make the filler flange blend in with less visible fasteners and color-match with touch-up paint). Seems that it fell out of favor, I presume because it's difficult to impossible to make the under-seat tank emissions legal.

Looks like a cutout for a tilt column, maybe the '76-up Jeep CJ column. Did a column come with the Jeep? I would look for a column and pedals from an intermediate parts car, and do a Saginaw conversion while I was at it. The '76-up column would work too, but I like the bus wheel.

 

Yes, it is cut for the 76 and later column and came with the trim ring to go around the dash. It came with a tilt column but it looks to be pretty rough. The PO was in the process of installing the swinging pedals, but we are short the clutch pedal. It is a project, but its solid enough that we can put it together and use it for a while before tearing down, blasting, welding, painting. I keep telling him that he needs to get it on the road so he can see what he likes and doesn't like.

 

No question , finding something unmolested is always a good thing...........what town did that come from?

 

It was sitting in a&ab storage off industrial way in Hawyard
The jeep had not been licensed since 1982. Odometer states 27,000 mi and I would tend to believe it. According to documents found in the jeep, Brakes and power locks appear to have been installed in 1980 at archer brothers.

 

How does that work with the DMV? I thought you needed a non-op certificate in CA to let a car sit idle.

 

We are currently working on that. He has a bill of sale only. I believe that he can have the vin verified at the DMV and apply for a duplicate title. Since the vehicle has been out of the system for so long, there shouldn't be any backed fees.
Anyone who is in California and familiar with this process, please feel free to chime in. Where we are, there is no vehicle inspection and vehicles manufactured prior to 1975 do not require any smog inspection.

 

You can plug the VIN into the DMV website and see if it has dropped out of the system. If it has, you will probably have to have the Highway Patrol verify the VIN and research the history. The more that you can have the PO document, the better, especially if the registered owner is deceased.

When I went to register my 56 CJ5, I took it to the DMV - because it didn't have the original engine, they said they couldn't touch it. Mine had current registration in AZ, signed title, and bill of sale. Unfortunately, the vin tag was moved when they did the engine conversion so the CHP had to put it up on the rack and look for the hidden VINs. It took about a month, but I finally got everything signed off. The officer who signed it off told me that older Jeeps were the hardest vehicles to verify since they are seldom stock. Standardization in VINs didn't happen until sometime in the 80s I believe.

 

Update,
Steve took his bill of sale to an independent registration office Saturday. Because it has been more than 7 years since the jeep has been in the California DMV system, all he will need to do is take it in to the independent office and have the vin verified, pay $250 and it will be titled in his name. It almost seems too easy.
We got the old tires off last night and installed some rollers so it will be easier to get it on the trailer.
We were pleasantly surprised to find new brake pads and shoes all the way around. In the rear, all hardware looked great even the inside of the backing plates were shiny black still.
Pulled the top cover off of the SM420. Everything looks new. It appears to be the "rare" backup light model according to google. The top cover is drilled and tapped for the reverse light switch.
Got into the rear diffs. And was pleasantly surprised to find clean oil. Turns out that I misread the axle tag during the heat of pre purchase inspection. Maybe I was too busy drooling, but it actually has 3.31 gears. The tag clearly says 43-13 and 3.31
This will make things interesting. I now understand why the PO was installing the sm420. He needed a gear to get going, but definitely didn't need an overdrive. Rough estimate is that with the high gears, he should be only turning 2300 rpm with 32" tires at 65.
Perhaps this should get moved to the builders forum as it is about to get interesting.

 

Somebody probably grabbed a set of gears out of a wagon.

 

I'm wondering if that is where the front discs and 11" drums came from as well. The proportioning valve is also different that a 5 and the front brake hose brackets look like they are factory off of another model. I'm not really familiar with anything other than 5's when it comes to Jeep products.
At first we were disappointed with the gears, but after some use of Novak's RPM and crawl ratio calculators, I think it really will still be quite capable off road with a 57:1 crawl ratio and nice cruising ability on the freeway without the need for an overdrive.

 

The 64 to 70? wagons ran a lot of 3.31s with a 27 and 44 axles. I even have a set of 25 and 44 out of an Air Force M38 that have 3.31 gears in them. The disc setup could be off a Scout, Jeep or Chevy caliper brackets.

 

Tag? Do the numbers in the ring gear match the tag?

 

I'm a fan of numerically lower gears combined with a truck trans. It just makes more sence to me than gearing down with low gears, then gearing back up with an OD. Especially if 99% of the use will be street.

 

Yes they do.

I have been thinking about this for a while. I would say that the OD is the weakest part of my rig. I was thinking that if I came across the right dana 30, centered 44 and dana 20 with an 18 gear set, I might like to give it a try. The dana 18 whine does get old. Is the 20 much quieter?

 

YES!

 

I have the sm420. I have 5.38 gears. I never use 1st gear on the street, ever. I have 35s so its not too bad for rpm at 55. Those gears and that transmission might be a real nice setup. If the reverse switch is original it was the last year of production. Such a nice rig that needs so little to be about perfect.

 

Great to hear that the DMV won't be an issue. Sounds like you have a fun project ahead of you.

 

If I wasn't such a nice guy, I would give my wife my jeep ( she drives mine more than I do) and build my own out of this one. Then I wouldn't have to share.
I have told Steve that if he ever goes to sell this one I have first shot at it for what he has into it.

 

I have a 65 that was not registered since the early 70s and it took 2 visits to California DMV to get it done. When entering the system we got hung up on how many doors does it have? I answered truthfully "It doesn't have any doors" He thought I was being difficult and said "You don't like coming to DMV do you". I compared visiting DMV to having a root canal. He ended up giving me one of those temporary red stickers and told me to "Put this on the rear window". I told him "It doesn't have a rear window". I guess he had never seen an old jeep