The Mail? On Sunday?!

cant wait for pics of that

 

Well we got it on there, and all the holes line up. Firewall is a bit tight with the bell housing so ill have to clearance that a little, not sure if this DJ was originally 258 or Iron Duke or what..

Used a 3 pulley block and tackle to hoist it.



Believe it or not the doors wont fit on there with the stock 225/75/15's. So next step on that is to figure out what size my rims are and find a set with a little more backspace, hoping some early CJ rims might work.

 

LOL kinda..

I'm going to call this the "almost fits build".

Had to move a section of the trans hump back about 1.5", I thought they used an intermediate firewall and cut the early heater holes in it but I think the whole firewall is early the more I look at it.

 

Nice work. Any chance you will be putting the Commando front clip on it? I have a '70 left hand drive DJ5 that I am converting to 4x4, nice to see others doing the same.

Stevo

 

I'm trying really hard to not cut the sliders. I think with an extra 1 or 1.5" of back space ill be good. Though I think running a 10.50" may be a pipe dream.
Still not sure about the grill either, intermediate bolts right in. Ill be able to use stock rad mounts and hoses, where as the postal grill I would have to make all that..
It will be white though, maybe with the postal stripe we'll see..

Commando clip got cut up for another jeeper in need.

Took me most of the day to get the trans hump moved back.




Not my best work but it will do I think.
Tomorrow ill throw some paint on there and get the body bolted down, then its on to pedals and steering.

 

Thanks, not being able to find a decent full time position around here affords me plenty of time to work on it.

I'm going to call it 2.5. (x-member only counts as half since it wasn't that hard to mod) Wouldn't want to cheat and anger the assembly gods.

 

Got the steering, pedals, and master cylinder located and mounted, also set up one of the seats to get an idea about seating position. All in all i'm happy with the way it turned out, plenty of room for me and I'm 6' 2"..

 

I can't wait to see the dash, are you using the commando steering? If yes please share the change to the dash. I looked at mine and could not see how that would work with a cj dash.

 

I'm going to be using an 80's CJ dash, Ill get working on that this weekend.

I am using the commando steering, the biggest mods had to be made to the pedal/steering bracket, it had to be shortened by 4-5" and I had to move the column mount up a good bit.
It wasn't that hard though, since the bottom of the commando steering column mount bolts on, I just un-bolted it and started cutting the two pieces down until they would fit behind the CJ dash.
The CJ dash is much closer to the fire wall and shorter than the Commando's.

I edited the dup picture in my last post to the detail shot of the column mount/pedals so you can see what I mean.
Greg

 

Got the steering finished up and the basic dash laid out. Chose the 80's dash because I had it on hand, and it all ready has a radio and speaker cutout.

 

This thing is awsome, makes me want to do that to mine but I lack the fab skills to do it lol, not to mention I would want to keep it right hand drive

 

Got the Commando switch panel, heated seat switches and the heater mocked up. Need to shorten the control cables for the heater and figure out some sort of fresh air, since the DJ has no cowl vent.

 

Decided to use the stock fresh air box so I got the cowl cut and the drain modified.





Ill skim the seams with body filler before I paint.

 

Ok back to work on this thing..
Still need to finish up a little welding on the firewall and build the spacer for the clutch linkage.

Did find a set of wheels that's going to work, they are 6" wide from some early flatty variant. 2A, 3B I can never keep them straight, anyway these wheels allow the sliders to sit in the tracks! (Thanks Chuck!!)

Looks like my max tire size will be in the 30x.9.50 realm.. I'm not sad, this isn't a hard core rig and those sizes are inexpensive and plentiful used.





Also got the 11" brakes in the back rebuilt.

 

So I have been waffling back and fourth about what to do with the clutch linkage. Move the bracket back? Build a spacer for the trans side?

The 73 CJ frame I'm using came with a T-18 stock, so I decided the only right way to do it is put it back the way it was.

Putting the 4 speed in now will defiantly save me some time later when I get the 700-1200 bucks gathered up for the 4.0 OBD1 swap I have in mind for this thing.

And besides you don't just pass on CJ T-18's when they fall in your lap.



Needs to be resealed in between the trans and t-case, but other than that should be good to go when I get the throwout collar. I have a T-176 bell housing and throwout fork to use.

More soon.