Rookie's 67 Cj5 (re)build - Here We Go....again

Decided to enjoy my day off and start tearing down the '67. I acquired it this summer, did some of the basic necessities to get it drivable (brakes, transmission and transfer case rebuilds, top, wiring, rattle can paint job), but this time I'm in it to win it. The sbc 305 is shot, so my goal is to track down a carbureted 350 (scratch that - a Chevy 4.3 v6 TBI) to replace it with. I'm also planning to do some repair to the rear drawbar, clean up the frame and paint it, then do some body work and give it a good coat of paint (color yet undecided). I'm definitely going with a wiring harness this time as well. I did a bunch of splicing this summer because a lot of the old wires had caught fire and melted - so I have spliced in red wires going everywhere (oops). Here's where I started and where I ended the day:

























That's enough for one day. Next step - find a friend with a engine hoist....

 

Jeep looks real solid. Why not find a TBI 350 doner and drop it in, injection, ecu, and all?

 

I suppose part of it is that I'm slightly afraid of the wiring part. I've heard it doesn't take much - but I'm not sure I want to mess with putting in o2 sensors, another harness, etc. I just spent the money this past summer to have the quadrajet rebuilt, so I thought I'd just it again. Another part is that I like the simplicity of a carbureted engine that doesn't have a computer. Just a lot more basic. However....I'm going to continue to consider it.

 

Your jeep looks in excellent condition already, where did you find it?

 

Found it in Texas when I lived there. It was originally titled in Wichita Falls - so it spent it's entire life in TX. I've found a few places with bondo - but for the most part the body and the frame are in great shape. Also need to fill in a lot of holes here and there. They ran a rear gas tank - just sat it in the tub and drilled a hole through the floor for the gas line. There are cracks where the bumper meets the frame at the front and back. Apparently the person that had it before drove it on his farm without brakes and just stopped by hitting trees...etc

FWIW - here is what it looked like this summer soon after I got it -

 

This afternoon I had the chance to rent a engine hoist at a local rental place and pull the old, worn 305. I'm also working on wire wheeling the frame so I can prime and paint it. Everything is in pretty good shape with very little rust, so I figure I'll clean it up, do some minor repairs, paint, and then work on the body until I get a chance to track down a decent 350.

 

Slow going right now, but I got a little bit done today. I'm in the stage of wire-wheeling the frame. In the process I found a crack in the frame running from the rear cross member up to the shackle. Ugh. My welding skills are not-so-great, but we'll see what happens. The rear cross member was pretty beat up too, so I went ahead and cut it off with plans to weld on a new one, or something at least. Picked up a gas tank that I will mount in the rear, and a new (used) transmission cross member since mine looked like swiss cheese (PO got drill happy). Planned on removing removing the rear axle, but no amount of coaxing could loosen the rusted nuts on the u-bolts...even with my impact wrench.

Oh yeah....I sent my overdrive off to Herm today too. Woohoo!

 

Got a little more done today. It's amazing how long this process takes. I finally finished wire wheeling the frame and doing some repairs (my welding is not pretty, but it works.) Primed and painted the frame.


My helpers....




I have a new rear cross member on order, and then I'll start planning my bumper and tire mount. I'm definitely going for a rear bumper mounted swing out carrier.

I picked up a used late model gas tank, and will be mounting it in the rear. I still need to get the skid plate to cover it though.



Still trying to figure out what all these hoses are for. Not sure why there are two on the sending unit. Also not sure what the two small ones on the side opposite of the filler neck are for.

Looks like I'm going for a Chevy 4.3L V6. I still need to get a new input gear and cluster gear to make the conversion. That's it for tonight. Maybe more tomorrow...

 

The V6 mechanical fuel pump has a return line (smaller dia) back to the tank. The used tank probably came from a V6. I don't know if the 4 cyl had the same system Make sure to look at the bottom inside surface of the tank if it is steel. These tanks will rust out when condensate begins to collect in the bottom while parked. I put in a plastic replacement tank about 14 years ago, never have had any issues since. I think I got it at JC whitney but I can't swear to it.

The smaller hoses went to a evap canister- pollution control device, I think. I capped mine off many years ago. Maybe that caused the condensate? Sheesh.

You might want to verify the sender unit functions properly before you mount the tank.

 

Still making progress. Got a little more painted tonight. Picked up a T90J transmission for $200, and am going to go ahead and rebuild it. I'll put my T90C up for sale in the classifieds at some point. The guy said the T90J was working fine when pulled, which is good. The syncros look good, but the clutch dogs were nowhere to be found, and there was no spring on the front side of the clutch hub. Hmm.. Shouldn't take too long now that I've already rebuilt one of these!
Also, in other news...hopefully I will be able to pick up the Chevy 4.3 TBI on Friday. Then the fun begins...

 

Picked up the 4.3 today with the help of a friend. It's out of a 1995 Astro van. I managed to get a computer for a different 95 Astro, but the guy that pulled it cut the wiring harness in to shreds. Now I'm in the market for a wiring harness, and I get to figure out how to hook the thing up. I may (will) be asking lots of questions....

 

I've been pretty busy lately, so work on the heep has been limited to once or twice a week - usually in the evenings. Yesterday I pulled the 4.3 v6 out into the driveway to scrape all the mouse poop off of it, and to remove all the things that I'm not going to need. It turns over just fine, and was received by the salvage yard in running condition. It has 160,000 on it. The bad news is - the guy that pulled it hacked the whole wiring harness apart. I went back out one evening just to pull the rest of the harness out of the van - and I still need to go back to get the fuel pump relay and the plug that goes from the coil to the ignition switch. Otherwise it looks like I have everything and should be able to do some splicing to get it to work.

What I'm trying to figure out is: what is required to make it run? I'm used to a carburetor, and this is a 95 Vortech TBI. Are there some things I can leave off? I'm definitely not using cruise or an auto tranny.



Today finally decided to put the wheels on for fun. Everything is wire-wheeled and painted. The new rear cross member is in place, and the tank is mounted in the back now. Looks like I have one of those in-between year rear tanks. 76-77ish. The filler hole is huge. I'll have to be creative to hook it up to the neck I purchased. I still have some minor brake work to do on the wheels, so I'll pull them off, but it was fun to at least roll it out of the garage for a bit.



Here's the near-future upcoming plan of action:
Rebuild the T90J (parts arrived from Walcks earlier this week)
Put all new seals and gaskets on my D18 that I rebuilt for the first time this summer. This time - I'm using RTV sealant.
Drop in the engine with t-case, tranny, and overdrive (if Herm gets it working) all at once
Run brake lines and rebuild master cylinder

 

With a little free time today, I got the transmission rebuilt. After taking a week in the Texas heat this past summer figuring out how everything goes back together, it only took about an hour to put this one back together - especially with the help of Rick Stivers countershaft tools. Next stop, D18 oil seals and gaskets.

 

Well, I'm at it again. I've been running brake lines, and will be putting in a remanufactured master cylinder soon. I was unable to find parts for my old Wagner-Lockheed bolt top/dual chamber that had the step bore cylinder, so I found the last remanufactured one in the NAPA system and had it shipped from Texas. If I still lived in Fort Worth, I could have just driven down to pick it up...but I digress... I'm running the stock 10" brakes, so I'm hoping this will work just fine. Unfortunately, I am having to adapt the lines to a different size, because the threads on the remanufactured one are much larger than the 3/16 lines that run to my wheel cylinders. It also doesn't have the step bore cylinder.

This evening I went to pick up a loaner engine hoist, and decided to start playing with engine positioning. I sat the V6 right on the mounts for the 305 to see if I could get away without having to move them...but it puts the engine too far forward. I'm trying to figure out how much clearance I need between the firewall and the engine, and I can tell that I don't need this much:



I guess while it's off the garage floor I'll go ahead and attach the flywheel, bellhousing, adapter, and T90. I still need to put new gaskets, oil seals, and brake shoes in the D18 before I install it. Guess I could do that and then drop the whole drive line in together. We'll see how ambitious I get over the next few weekends.

I'm also starting to look at paint colors. Definitely not doing olive drab again. I had fun with my spray paint this summer when I was just getting this thing on the road for the first time, but I'm going to put a good coat of automotive paint on it this time around. I'm thinking either red or green. Red is my wife's favorite color, and I could find something close to the factory imperial red. Green is mine, and I've always wanted a green Jeep - but it would be a deep forest green and not be very authentic for a 67. It's all still up in the air right now.

 

Looking good, I like the upgrades your doing.

sorry can't help about, what is required to run that engine.

 

Thanks piffey. I've been following your build as well.
Warloch - Good call. The peeling paint from the fenders looks like it was red or pinkish, so that works. I told her this summer that we were at the point of no return. It'll never be worth as much money as I'm going to put into it. She said: "That's fine, just don't bankrupt us." If only I didn't want to have this done by mid summer....

 

your a lucky man, you got thumbs up from your wife,


haha, you need a giant pot luck for the members here so they can finish your jeep next week

 

hmmm...not a bad idea! haha.

 

Ugh. I keep getting myself in deeper with this thing. My alternator and top pulley is a v belt, and this 4.3 had a serpentine. I'm assuming that the water pump is reverse rotation as well. I'm hoping that my water pump will work from my 305. Then, all I have to do is find a v belt crankshaft pulley for a long water pump. I can also reuse my v belt alternator as well. This gets more exciting every day.

In other news, I'm going to have to take my exhaust manifolds to a machine shop to get the seized bolts to the exhaust pipe out, and get new studs put in. I started to install my clutch today, but they only sent me 4 bolts rather than six to bolt it to the flywheel. Arg. One step forward, two steps back.

On a good note, I managed to find my d18 gasket and oil seal kit that I had misplaced in my garage. I took it apart last night to put the new gaskets and seals in, and couldn't find the replacements. But all is well now.