66 CJ5 Resto-Mod....ish I think...

Wow I am impressed, your fabrication skills are awesome. That is going to be a Jeep to be proud of.

 

Thank you!

 

Just a quick picture of my last project with my favorite helper.



So I took my cues from Pielut's build as far as the braking duties go. A master cylinder from a 1974 CJ5 was the missing piece. I fabricated the plate from 3/8" plate and braced it with 1/4" plate.







Little speed hole in there for fun

The only hiccup I had was since I boxed the frame I had to change the brake rod pivot to inline with the pedal. Go figure.....



Bolt shows the new pivot for the brake rod.





The clearance with the shackles is good.



Also welded on the plate for my AA chain chutch setup, and braced it a little.





I built a brace for the cutch pivot shaft from 1/4" plate as well.



I threw on the tires for S&G's... 22.5" under the frame, exactly the same as it was spring under! I'm happy so far!



Next up is the motor mount fab, anyone have am engine hoist they want to rent to me for a week or so?

 

Scooped up an engine hoist and stand last night off CL for $100. The engine is back in the frame so I can start motor mount fabrication tonight. Pics to follow.

 

Is this thing on?

Got the engine back in the frame, prior to pulling everything apart I built some bars to help locate the block back into the same place I pulled it from.









One thing I was worried about was clearance of the master cylinder, looks good to me.





The motor mounts are a mix of 5/16" and 1/4" plate. The bushings are the RUFFSTUFF pieces.





I built the passenger side welded in, but left the driver side off pending steering and ehaust routing to make sure everything fits. Packaging is gonna be tight in there.

 

I used the hoist to get the SM420 back into place and was also worried about clearance with the clutch fork and master cylinder..... it fits, whew!

 

Tossed the Dana 18 up in there to start the crossmember fabrication. I was hoping to have a flat"ish" belly, but not gonna happen. Once again packaging wins.

The brackets are mounted on some 1/4" angle to help spread the load across the frame rails.







The center transmission mount is an Energy suspension bushing.




The center plate of the crossmember is 3/8" plate.





Here's some more of the whole thing.





For the torsion mount I kept it simple with a threaded 3/8" plate, a 1/2" bolt sandwiches the transfercase with some old poly body mounts.

 

Finally time to put the body back on. I had to mount up the steering to mock up the shaft and check clearance.....





It looks good, now I have an idea of how to finish the drivers side motor mount.

Here's the rear wheel well, cutting required.....



Starting to look like a jeep again

 

It's been awhile since I updated this, I've been busy working on it though.

I did a rough workover of the rear wheel wells before I tore it all down for paint. Basically I wanted the radius to match the wheel, since I stretched the wheel base 4" in the rear I had to patch in the front half of the radius and cut into the back. I didn't want to lose the soft top bow indent and I didn't want to cut into it so I spliced in a patch panel and shifted the indent back about 4". Pics show it better.





I then added alip on the inside to make everything rigid (so pic, sorry)

The end state is a stock looking wheel well radiused for a larger tire, but longer wheel base.

 

I took everything apart after that and started the horrible task of grinding and wire wheeling the frame and all chassis parts. I painted the frame with Rustoleum Bed Liner, good thick stuff, but it was like painting with a fire hose.... stuff was super pressurized. It came out very well. The rest of the parts were painted semi-gloss black.

I then ran new brake lines, a Wilwood proportioning valve, 10lb and 2lb residual valves and Russell Stainless Braided Lines up front. The rear hose was a junkyard find from a Dodge van I think.

 

I'm running an Astro van Pitman arm, and Sky Manufacturing Super Hi Steering arms. 1 ton GM TRE and threaded inserts welded to DOM tubing. The linkage angles are near perfect flat with weight on them. Great clearance of the springs. It should steer awesome.

 

I cleaned up the engine and painted it, blasted the bellhousing, painted the SM420 and bolted up the D18 t case (still pending a rebuild and twin sticks)





The engine has the Buick 350 alternator and PS setup (lucky junkyard find) as well as a DUI distributor.



slightly modified

 

I added a cross member for the anti-wrap bar and fitted some rod ends. This is the first spring over vehicle I have that will have a good anti-wrap bar setup (pretty stoked)





And here's the rear axle, still not 100% sure what it came from, maybe you can help... 59.5" WMS, offset to pass side slightly less than a waggy, 3.30 gears, 5x5.5 bolt pattern, 11" drums.

 

very nice work

 

That is looking fantastic.

 

fb

 

Looks great! Nice work.

 

Nice Job..........Moving right along..........what did you end up for Wheelbase? And on your axles what width was the front?

 

Thanks guys

I ended up at 88" for wheelbase, and the axles are 58ish WMS wide.

 

You mentioned Wide track was that Jeep WT Width at 56"?........Is the rear wider than the front?