1967 CJ5 - summer project

I bought a 1967 cj5 a few weeks ago and wanted to start a build thread to document the progress and get some feedback on various questions I'm sure I will have. I bought it from a guy who said it had been sitting for 6-7 years and it was currently at a shop. The PO claims it has 40,000 miles, not 140,000, which may or may not be accurate. It has some rust, but it's not too bad, it also came with a hard half cab top, and it has the dauntless v6 engine. The shop replaced the distributor and cleaned out some of the old fluids. When I bought it I knew it needed brake work, so it was towed to my house. We managed to start it up and drive it up the driveway without brakes
When I first got it:


After a wash:


My first goal was to get it running, and then driveable. The radiator was leaking in a few spots and didn't have a lot of coolant in it, so that was replaced with a mighty max radiator, which i read was supposed to fit right in... It didn't, but it's in there now. I also made a battery tray from some angle iron. it bolts into the firewall and uses the two existing bottom supports. The oil bath filter had a hole in the bottom, so I patched it with some Jb weld, and then painted the bottom piece.
The engine bay after:


Next I started work on the brakes. In order to take the front drums off, there are two hex bolts on each side that require a special socket, or a screwdriver. The PO used a screwdriver, so the bolts and washers were replaced with new ones. The wheel cylinders were filled with gunk, which I'm guessing is brake fluid mixed with grease because the Master cylinder was completely dry. I got four new wheel cylinders and a new master. So far the front driver's side wheel is done:



We broke a line on the passenger side, so that piece is in the mail and then the passenger side should be good to go. We had trouble getting the old master cylinder off, so I'm going to try and leave it on, replace the wheel cylinders, and then just bleed the entire system very well. I still need to get a hub puller to remove the rear drums and replace the wheel cylinders on those.

After the brakes are done, it has a fuel leak problem somewhere around the fuel pump, but it's not one of the rubber lines because I replaced those. After running it for 5-10 minutes yesterday, it seems like the fuel leak is the next largest problem, and maybe a new radiator cap because coolant went everywhere after running it for a while yesterday.

In the next few weeks/months, I plan to cut out the rear bed area, which is rusted, and replace that. There is also a small rust area on the passenger side wheel well as well as a touch of it on the passenger side rocker panel.

End plans are a bed lined interior, recovered front seats in black to match the rear bench, body work and paint, a bikini top, and possibly a small sound system stored in the toolbox.

This is my first car project, and a lot of the things I'm doing will be learned as I go, so any questions answered or help would be appreciated. I hope to have it completely done before I go to college in the fall.

 

Good luck, doing a 67 also

 

Nice! Keep the top. Better than what you can buy today IMO.

 

A word of advice before working on your brakes so you don't round off: go out and buy a flarewrench with 3/8 on one side and 7/16 on the other. It's very helpful.

I worked on the jeep for most of the day today. I got the replacement short brake like from the-jeep-guy and I borrowed a hub puller for the rears. The hub puller worked well and both drums came off with a nice pop. All four wheels now have new wheel cylinders and have been cleaned up a little. All that was left was the master cylinder, but instead of trying to disconnect the brake like from it first, I had taken it off the frame, so we had bent and kinked the brake like right off the MC. So when I went to try and get it off, the line broke. On a positive note, I finally was able to get the old MC out, but on the downside, I think I'm going to try and bend a new line myself since I can't find somewhere to just order that line and not a whole set.
It looks like one more day of making the new line, putting the MC on, and then bleeding and it should be on the road.

Before:


After:


I also wire wheeled one of the wheels today to see how they would clean up and besides the places where the rust had eaten away some of the wheel, it cleaned up fairly well.


I also took the top and doors off... It's starting to look more like a jeep.

 

The brakes are all done now. New master was put on and I've picked up the skill of bending and flaring (although not very good). The rubber line in the rear was clogged so that has been replaced. All four wheels now get fluid, and have been bled. The front and back brakes all work now

However, something happened with the distributor along the way. Spark will go in, but won't come back out. The shop that it was at when I bought it had replaced it, but apparently not with one that matched the original. It worked at some point, but won't work now.

 

It seems that you hzve a lot of work waiting I hope that it was a cheap Jeep because you have some money to spend.
It takes time to rebuild and more when the p.o. did bad things to sell it. These Jeep are very strong and easy to repair. Concerning the engine check one thing at a time never modify 2 because you cannot find origin of trouble.

 

In the next few days I plan on removing the tub, cleaning the frame a little and coating it to prevent future rust, replace some rusty areas on the tub (rocker panels, fender well, rear bed, and a small spot in the passenger side floor), coat the underside of the tub, and then line the inside with some kind of bed liner. I think it should take me 4 days.

Day 1 was disassembling everything. It took longer than expected, but I took my time to make sure all the wires coming out of the firewall were well labeled so it shouldn't be hard to put back together. I tried searching how to remove a cj5 tub, but couldn't find anything detailed. Once I started, it was pretty self explanatory. The hood, fenders, grill, windshield, tailgate, gas tank, and then the body bolts was the order I went. I cut all my body bolts off, which probably made it go a little faster. I wanted to get done coating the frame today, but I ran out of daylight so I got about a third of the frame cleaned using a wire wheel.

Pics of it in pieces:

 

Up until the time you removed the body, it reminded me of my 66 project... Nice job and have fun!

 

Why is that? I was happy the frame didn't have any serious rust. The majority of the surface rust is off the frame and it was coated with some kind of rubberized under liner, which I was pleased with. It has a nice texture.

The four areas of rust are the rear bed, passenger fender, passenger floor, and rocker panels. I tried to repair the fender a little but the part that's rusted is the inside well area, so the bends were hard to handle, especially for a beginner. Still not sure what I'm going to do with that.
I have a 2x3 piece that I'm going to put in the back, I just need to cut it out and weld the new piece in

 

I had all the same brake problems in the beginning. I've not removed the body though.

 

Ooh, once I removed the body I realized how much easier it would have been to do the brakes with it off. Fishing my hand through the tiny hole to get to the MC got old quickly.

Day 2 was not as successful as I had hoped. I have a 2x3 piece of 16 guage steel ready to go in the back. The piece that I had cut was rusty, but it was also sagging, which I thought was odd. It had one support piece running across the jeep. I put three in, and the third one is halfway under the part of the bed that wasn't cut out, so I was happy with that. The three support pieces are welded in, and my sheet fits nicely on top, I just need to weld it in now.
I also decided today that I needed some better lighting. It's hard to wear a headlight with a welding helmet on

 

Not much got done today because I had to work instead of work on the jeep. The new back is welded in. I ordered a bunch of parts today including the raptor liner for the tub.
Tomorrow will be the passenger floor and passenger rocker panel.

 

Thanks, good luck when you take your off. I think it'll be worth it in the end.
Today was pretty decent. I did some more welding in the passenger floor and the back from the underside, so all the welding is done. The tub was cleaned with a wire wheel, and some degreaser around the transmission, and then sprayed with the same stuff as the chassis. The steering column and pedal rods have been sanded and cleaned so I plan on painting them, as well as giving the engine a nice clean and clear coating the valve covers for some nice patina

The body is ready to go back on, so it should be ready for the bed liner when it comes on tuesday. Distributor is still in the mail somewhere, so I might get done all this and it still wont run :/

 

The body is back on, and mounted with all new hardware. Since we had some bare metal we used self etching primer to get it ready for the bed liner and then ended up doing the whole inside with a light coat of it. That needs to be scuffed up and then the bed liner will be sprayed in tomorrow.

 

I got the bed liner sprayed in today. I was really impressed with how well it went on. The gun worked well once I figured out that you have to screw in the extra piece that came with it to the tip of the gun. Also, don't get the thick stuff like this on your hands, it's nearly impossible to get off. I think it looks good, and I won't be able to work on the jeep again until Monday, which gives it plenty of time to dry and harden.



And... my distributor finally came, so hopefully that won't be too hard to drop in and the jeep will be running

 

did you use raptor liner or something else?

 

Raptor. I would recommend it. After three days i still haven't put anything in but its hardened nicely, has a nice texture, and went on easily.

 

ive used it as well and liked it recently started using spi liner and love that just a little more