Varg In Jeep's Clothing

I had a few minutes today to check to see if the sway bar I got will work. I'll post some pics to show you my plans.

I have zero room underneath this thing to run a sway bar. I could sorta/kinda fit one out front in the future winch's real estate if I run my shocks through the coil springs, but I would worry about clearance issues with the shock inside the tower during articulation. Plus, I really want my shocks placed as forward as possible to let them have maximum dampening effect.

The only other room available for the sway bar is... over the engine. And for this application, the Grand Cherokee sway bar will be perfect.

The links will run down through the coils. I'm still not sure if I'll run disconnects or not. I have yet to see a design that is quiet and doesn't wear out. 95% of this thing's life will be on-road; I might just plan on removing a link if headed out on a trail.





The roll cage will have framework into the engine bay that will tie the sway bar and shocks into the frame.

 

I love it thats a great idea. It looks like something on a high end sports car. I see it in the modified Subaru world etc.

 

Is that a light coat of sawdust I see? So the fenders from a GPW or MB?

 

My Jeep knowledge doesn't exceed civilian models. I know the yellow hood that came with it wasn't stamped Willys. I regretfully traded a guy for this orange one that's in bad shape.

 

Yea that was probably a G503 hood. IF the fenders are gpw they may be stamped with an F but I doubt anyone will notice or care what they came from.
Press on,,,

 

I ordered these tube couplings as a solution to a clearance problem I'm about to run into with the cage in the engine bay, up by the grill.



The more I stare at this, the more I think they won't work where I planned. Short version of the long explanation: these move sideways, not up, to disconnect, where another section of the same cage can only move up, not sideways, to disconnect. Plan change.

I managed to get a few cage plates cut last night, and I bailed on spending $50+ on a tap for cutting new threads in the drag link. I found the old threaded section I cut off years ago and beveled/sleeved them together internally with 3/4" tubing. I'll drill some holes after I weld this and plug weld it to the tubing also. Haters gonna hate, but I'm not worried about it.



I also made a few more cage-mount bushings that will go up in the corners of the firewall in conjunction with the above plates.



The cage around the engine has to be solidly mounted to the frame to support the sway bar and shocks, and the rest of the cage (and tub) is all mounted on these rubber mounts. Where these two meet needs bushings.

Work on this has been slow and sporadic. I've been sitting and staring at it a lot lately while I'm waiting for the shop to warm up to work on wood projects. I have shocks, springs and the sway bar precariously balanced in place with zip ties and chunks of wood, trying to visualize where everything is going to end up before I make another move. Things are going to get really crowded around the driver's side firewall.

 

time to fab in right-hand drive?

 

Noooo!!

It'll all work... it's just going to be a bit of an unconventional layout.

 

After the hippo build, I'm a believer

 

I was really glad to see this up on a front burner. I really enjoy the out of the box thinking.

 

Let's call it the 'middle' burner for now.

 

What taps do you need? We have right and left hand tie-rod taps that can be easily mailed.

 

Thanks Muzikp, but they're metric oddballs. I covered it over here the other day.

http://www.earlycj5.com/xf_cj5/index.php?threads/mystery-tie-rod-end-threads.134872/#post-1460633

 

Nice, just have to be different don't ya!

 

I preheated the drag link to straw-yellow on the hellfire woodstove, welded it, then post-heated and let it cool slowly to relieve any stresses.



Cleaned up, painted and installed.



I also started mocking up mounts for the firewall cage mounts. They need to be set at a 13° angle. Loving the Swag press brake.

 

By using the wood stove, I don't classify it as front burner. (No wonder my kids groan at my jokes)

 

The firewall cage mounts are tacked together and bolted in place. (They look crooked, but I think it's the camera's optics and the fact they they're angled.)





The inside plates were a bear. I had to trim some of the windshield hinge support brackets for clearance. On my back laying across the transmission with a cutoff wheel and a flashlight



One step closer...

 

Have I mentioned lately that I hate repetition?

I got 8 cage plates cut out and punched last night. These 2-hole plates will go in low-stress areas.

 

I realized I needed 4 more plates.



I stripped the front end down. I'm going to do something a little drastic.



I'm not happy with the coil spring bucket mounts. For one, they're ugly. Two, I originally planned on building the engine bay cage into the top of the buckets because my original design had the shocks coming up through. The shock mount would have tied into the bucket and the cage.

With the shocks relocated, tying the buckets into the cage doesn't make as much sense. I'd have to have different lengths of interchangeable cage sections to swap out if/when adjusting ride height. With a cage tie-in in mind when I built these, I made them a tad flimsy.

I'm going to cut them off the frame, re-make them out of 1/4" with more adjustment options for a lower stance, and move them rearward about 3/4".

 

I had a rare, uninterrupted, unquestioned, full day in the shop yesterday. I got these old spring mounts cut off. On top of them being crooked, every time I looked at them, all I saw was the guys from Spy vs. Spy.



I tacked the buckets exactly where I wanted them in relation to the frame, then made these CAD templates for the new brackets. The new design only allows for three different heights rather than four, but I had the buckets too low before. I never would have used the last two spots. These allow the height to be one inch higher and one inch lower than where I had it set before.



Cut out of 1/4" plate, in place and ready to weld. Notice the strips of cereal box in between the plates and the buckets. This allows a tiny bit of room for motion for adjustment and paint.





All welded up.



You can see the headaches I'm going to run into with the area behind the headlights. I'll get more into this later...