MD Juan Tub Kit 1969 CJ5 4CLY (7/2016)

[Wirework]

I'm recently retired. After passivly looking at Jeeps my whole life the stars finally aligned and a few months ago I tripped over an opportunity to buy a presentable, running 1969 CJ5 for $2,800.

Several guys on this site helped me confirm it was very likely an authentic 1969 configuration (except for the hood).

My dad recently passed and since he and several siblings served in the US NAVY, I decided my first retirement project would be to rebuild this as a NAVY Jeep... whatever that means. My NAVY (retired) brother "Joe" has more tools, a bigger and better garage, and has been an industrial mechanic his whole life ...so he volunteered to jump into this project with me. I'm an engineer with mostly pencil callouses so I really appreciate Joe's help.

Joe built a chest high rotisserie for the tub to make the body easier to work on.

We disassembled the body, removed it from the frame, and began stripping each piece with "Aircraft Paint Stripper" (really, really nasty stuff).

Neither of us have a lot of auto body repair experience so we were disappointed to find a ton of Bondo and a lot of rust under the relatively new paint. We knew we could improve on the body work, but not to the level we had hoped for in a NAVY tribute vehicle. We needed to replace both sides, the entire floor front and back, the hood and at least one front fender. The dash had an excess of holes and the windshield was recently rewelded, and the back was caved in on one side.

After a bit of agonizing over saving a nearly all original almost 50 year old CJ5 body or replacing a bunch of sheet metal parts, our time and expense budget prevailed when I found a complete (all sheet metal except grill) MD Juan (Philippines) 1969 CJ5 tub "kit" for $2,999 at Quadrarec. The kit price was only a few hundred more than the sum of all pieces I needed since could pick up the kit myself and save shipping. The 1969 Quadratec kit was unique to 1969 and discounted up to $1,000 below all their other tub kits (so expect to pay more for any other year). The other two USA distributors for MD JUAN were more expensive for just the tub and additional body parts were available at additional cost.

MD Juan and Quadratec have earned mixed reviews on the internet over the years so I admit to feeling nervous when I pulled the trigger and ordered the MD Juan / Quadratec kit. I picked it up this week.

This thread will share our discovery and retirement project. I've already gotten a bunch of photos and will share them in this thread.

Navy_Jim & Joe

 

[Focker]

Looking forward to it.

 

[wheelie]

This is going to be great. Thanks for sharing it.

I miss the popcorn smilie.

 

[Twin2]

I agree . pictures please

 

[Admiral Cray]

Watching...

 

[Twin2]

good one

 

[montanacj]

Here is a picture from md Juans Facebook page to tide us over



As they say without pictures it didn't happen.

photobucket is pretty easy to use and the suspense is killing us

 

[Daryl]

Side by side shots really tell a great story between original and replacement. I have been hoping that someone would buy one of the tubs with the recent improvements for a build.

 

[Glenn]

Side by side shots really tell a great story between original and replacement. I have been hoping that someone would buy one of the tubs with the recent improvements for a build.

I agree. Hopefully he will be able to do some really good comparisons with the areas on his that are still good.

 

[Wirework]

Three failures tonight trying to provide pictures... working on it... it is all new to me.

 

[Admiral Cray]

The easiest way I have found to post photos is by using a free hosting service, like Photobucket. Upload your photos to Photobucket and paste the direct link from Photobucket using the Image Icon on the Post Replay. No sizing is needed...

 

[mickeykelley]

Also remember the size of the file is limited on this site. I forget the max size but I have to send pics from my iPhone to my iPad via email where it allows me to pick a smaller file size.

 

[Wirework]

Ok, here we go again.

As a test, here is a look at a an MD Jual jeep in a box (as I hauled it to the garage). P/n is visible on the front:

Looking forward to it.

Woohoo! it worked!

Here we go:



P/n on face of crate. you're looking in the top at the with the cowl on this end the windshield frame sits on top of the hood which are slipped into the seating area. The tailgate is in a cardboard box laying on the floor between the rear fenders. The two front fenders sit on top of the two rear fenders. I expected the front grill to be a separate item, but it was tucked under the front hood. I didn't see it until I unpacked the hood. Every part was tied down so it couldn't vibrate and each piece was separately wrapped with bubble wrap or in its own box.

I've read to not trust the primer. All the MD Juan parts are black.

Note the all metal shipping frame with a very thin wood facade. The metal frame has more supports underneath. I found no shipping damage (but have not turned the tub over yet).

I intend to use the metal in the frame to build a jig to transfer the mounting hole locations from my original tub to this new one.

I immediately started to compare parts since Quadratec (MD Juan distributor near Philadelphia) wasn't completely sure what was going to be in the 1969 cj5 tub kit I bought. They couldn't say for sure but offered to "make it right" if it were not. The guys on earlycj5.com gave me a LOT of great info on what is authentic for 1969.

Here is the first piece I opened.. the tailgate.

My original is grey, MD Juan is black. Mine had been damaged by the PO but Joe and I repaired it and painted it with primer. I don't have much experience and didn't pull out a tape measure, but I could barely tell them apart.

Note the absence of any Jeep or Willys emboss. 1969 isn't supposed to have them and this one did not. I note that JEEP is a registered TM and can't be used by MD Juan unless they have an agreement and pay a royalty. Some MD Juan parts are available with or without "JEEP" and they each have a different price.

Next I looked at the windshield frame. The seller of my original jeep told me the hood came open in transit from Florida to PA ...which explains my non 1969 hood, the new windshield glass, and the obviously repaired windshield frame I got with my original Jeep purchase.

my original still has the seal and hinge bracket attached:

I note the frame box tube seems to have a longer overlap on the (red) original...

'Sorry for the poor photo staging. the red frame has glass and is reflecting the black frame. The black frame has no holes for the top center mounted rear-view mirror.

Same air vents... same access holes (photo doesn't accurately compare hole sizes... I remember them as being the same size).


Ok... how about the hood?

I didn't think my hood was authentic for a 1969 CJ5. Mine had the wire and snorkel cut outs used on the military versions which, per the guys here, the CJ5 lost a few years earlier (1965??). But if you look closely at this factory photo, 1970's (larger) running lights appear on a Universal with a military style hood (wire clearance cut out). You also see the 1969/1970 side marker reflector mounted on a stand off on the hood. And immediately behind it is a Universal with a square split windshield. Mine could easily be "authentic" with the military style hood; 1969 was a real crap shoot!

But other than the cut outs, the hood sheet metal work seems to be identical. The original welded bold inserts are obviously better and stronger than the MDJ and the support bracing on the MDJ has access and vent/drain holes in different places... but again without a tape measure or an attempt to mount it, I can't tell them apart except for the welded nuts.


Again... mine is grey primer, the MDJ is black (underneath).

 

[Wirework]

'Time for the front fenders...

To match my 1969, the front fenders had to have no indents for reflectors or side marker lights (a reflector was hood mounted if installed). So I was looking at the raised outside surface around the wheel for an indent. They got it right... no indent. I note that unlike the hood, the front fenders have the military cut outs for wire (drivers side) and the snorkel (pass side).

My 1969 had a bracket installed to support the air cleaner (oil bath). The MDJ version has a long shallow horizontal shelf where my bracket needs to mount. This is the only work around I'll need to do with the front fenders (so far). On the black MDJ fender, you can also clearly see the mounting boss for the hood tie down clamp base. My original fender (unpainted, below) is damaged beyond my ability to repair it without an excess of filler.

Now for the tub.

the MDJ tub is missing the full filler side port hole and insert (rats!)

BUT it has the glove box and door AND the tool box and door. Very nice.

Also in the "missing" column (it is a very short list)... no soft top tube well in the top of the sides near the rear wheel wells.

Also notice metal frame under the body. the shipping crate had no solid floor. fork channels (i.e. fork truck) were shaped into the metal frame.


And back on the "also includes" column: floor access covers. Other postings on line seemed to suggest that the floor access covers would be either blank or missing. Well, they are all there and mind the MDJ version matches mine. It will need a few holes, but all the pieces are there and they appear to match identically (subject to confirmation at assembly later).

Here are my primer painted covers (showing signs of age) over the MC J floor

The MDJ (black) dash board/instrument panel is blank:

i noted only a few more body differences...

No holes for the seat rails

 

[Wirework]

or the gas tank drain and discharge hose:

The firewall mounted grill support bar angles are missing.

That's about it. I have more photos. If you have a specific question, I can check it out. Otherwise I'll keep posting as this goes.

 

[Twin2]

new metal looks good

 

[montanacj]

Awesome way to go on getting the pics up. Cool to see the differences. Looking forward to the project.

 

[Focker]

Great comparison pix...Now put the motor in it and go for a drive!

 

[Danefraz]

Excellent.

I think your short list of 'don't haves' can be fairly easily transferred to the new metal using pieces from your old tub.

It looks good.

Following your build with interest.

 

[wheelie]

Yea, seems better than I had heard they were in the past. I know they've been trying to improve their products in recent years. Only question I have is how does the thickness of the metal compare to the original?

Thanks for the great job with the pictures.