British Columbia do it all CJ2A build with V8 Power

oh yeah, i guess i forgot you were running the original tank under the seat.
25 gallons should get ya anywhere and back. and if not theres always buddies on the trail with spare gas.
thanks again for all the great info.
hey buy the way whats your plans on the body?
gonna fix it up really nice, or quick and simple?

 

I have pretty much decided I am going to order a Omix Ada repo body for it. This body is repairable but I am looking for a real nice product and don't really have the time and patience to restore this body to what would be my standard. I have the skills and experience as I have done major car restos before but I know better on this project. I just don't have the available sheet metal tools to do what I would want right nor space for them. When is comes right down to it, it is hard to beat a repo body kit. I will still have to do some mods to it but it won't be swiss cheese to start with. We have government run car insurance here and it is possible to get reduced rate insurance on classics, antiques and hotrods if they pass the rules. If I do a nice job of the Jeep I can qualify for Hotrod modified collector insurance. It will make the Jeep insurance about $300 per year rather than $1300. Because of this I feel it is worth going out of my way to make it a little more show quality for a Jeep. I do intend to offroad it and beat on it lightly but not kick the crap out of it. I will just need to clean it up once in a while and repair things as needed to keep it qualified for the collector plates. I may still use this body, a spare CJ5 frame and waggy axles that I have access to and put together a beater buggy to really go out and thrash on when I am done building this project. We will see what I have for money to put that together after this one sucks me dry.
Greg

 

to go from 1300 to 300 is just reason enough!
thats pretty cool they do that, up there.

 

Yea the collector insurance can be pretty good. I wish it was not so limited to certain categories. I wish we had private insurance here in B.C. so I could choose collector insurance from multiple carriers. My regular insurance would probably be cheaper too as I have a perfect driving record for 20 years. Anyway I will just try to take advantage of the opportunity that I have. The difference in insurance costs over the years when saved will help me feel a little better about the money that I will have tied up in this project. I just hope when I am done all this work I can pass the inspection requirements to get the Jeep to qualify for this special insurance. It will have to pass a safety inspection as well as an emissions inspection on top of qualifying for the category requirements. They make it a real pain in the *** but the cost savings is significant. I think it is only fair for something that will only be driven occasionally on weekends and for pleasure use. It's not like I will be commuting in city traffic every day.
Greg

 

I made a couple of more updates to my tire carrier and I believe that I am happy with it now as is. I just need to decide whether to paint it or get it powder coated. I wasn't quite happy with the work I did on the top side of the bent 2" tubing to the top of the old tire carrier bracket so I made a little change that is a bit cleaner looking. I had just run out of materials and was trying to work with what I had but I didn't like the compromise. I am happy now. I also added a spring loaded catch to hold the carrier open. It rotates so easy that I felt if you were parked on anything other than level ground it would be swinging to the lowest direction whether I liked it or not. Seems to work well now.








Here is an overall picture of the Jeep. It is as far assembled as I have ever seen it. She is a tight fit in my little workshop but manageable. Lots of work to do yet and it will still be ripped apart and everything painted after mock up phase.




I have decided that the next thing I am doing is buying my reproduction body from 4WD hardware and getting it modded to work with my project. Then I can build a new roll cage to fit it that will have attachment to the frame. I want to get all the fabrication work finished first. Then I will rip it all apart and paint everything as needed. Overhaul components, plumb, wire and assemble it all for good. It has been fun so far. I will have another busy winter ahead of me. I seem to be finding the time but it is difficult finding the funding. I got the boss's approval for another big part order that will include the body. Everything after that will have to be one purchase at a time as needed to finish a sub project. I will have to get individual funding approval from my wife on each of those if I want to keep her happy but I am lucky to have a wife that has an interest in this stuff too. We just need to keep making progress on our life debt to keep making progress on this project. I am sure you guys are all in the same boat. I am just not sure how much I can share the driving with her when I am done. I think this thing is going to be a riot to drive. I was hoping for completion and driving by next summer but with the project creep so far and my perfectionism it might be a little longer.
Greg

 

I have received my new MD Yuan/Omix Ada M38 body. I have to say I am pretty darn happy with it. It is nicely built out of steel that is of the same thickness as the original. It is nice to look at something as rust free and straight as this. The M38 body is really cool and the features are going to work well for my project. The large floor opening will make it easier to modify the floor around my SM465. The battery box in the cowl will work well as I will have little room under the hood with my V8. The instrument panel is removable and will make it easier to mount my gauges. It even has a glove box. I spent some time unpacking the body and installing it on my frame. I will have to drill all of the body mounts but it looks like it will fit pretty well. I found a couple of issues with my previous work while assembling. First I mounted my rear bumper too close to the body in the back so it hits the tailgate when it is on. I also noticed that my front shock mounts are going to be a problem as the steering linkage hits them when I turn the wheels sharp. I am going to move the front shocks up to the axle and build a hoop for the upper end. Another big problem I found is that I have pretty much no room under the dash for a heater. I have a hot water that may be able to be mounted in between the seats. I will figure it out as it goes together. It's good to find the issues while I am still able to fix them easily.



It even comes with some of the axe mount. I think I will add all of the frontier tool mounts.










One other issue I am starting to consider is that the jeep is still sitting a little high for my liking. I hope the springs sag down a bit. Maybe I should of used the 2 1/2" kit. There is still quite a bit of weight to add yet though. Overall I think it is looking good.
Greg

 

Looks good. 8)

 

Looks great!!

 

greg that looks great!
i agree with the hight thing, its alittle tall.
it should come down with the rest of the wieght.
also i thought that the tool indents where on both sides of the body, musta been confused.?

 

yea i agree. too high. better get rid of it and start over, since theres no way to fix that. i'll come get it out of your way for you


very nice work

 

Just read through this. Really nice build. I'm more than a little jealous of those bodies you both have as an original and the replacement! Fantastic work man, good level for us newbs to aspire to.

 

Hi

Build looks sweet.

I am just in Langley and have a bunch of jeeps. we should chat, do you want to sell the old tub?

Yes this is my first post, I mostly lurk.
I have have a 1964 CJ6, 1946 CJ2A and 1959 CJ3B. Anyway I am a jeep guy just not on this site all the time

 

I have a couple of more days available to work on my Jeep so I thought I would post what I have accomplished in the last couple. I lined up the body and drilled the body mounts a couple of weeks ago so the next project was to work on the fenders and grill. I originally was considering to build tube fenders but after starting on the basic design I decided that I didn't like the way they looked. I only have 1" or 2" dies for the bender I have and the 1" tubing looks to thin from the side as well as the radius is too tight for the front edge.



I had also noted that my front shock mounts were not going to work. When I was rolling the chassis around and turning the tie rods hit the shock. I moved the shocks and made new mounts.



I think the new mounts will work well now and it also gives me some room to maybe add a front sway bar.
So I decided that I will stick with the stock fenders as I like the look but I had to do some cutting to clear my headers as well as clear the new shock mounts. I also decided to mount the grill shell like a M38 with hinges as i had a set and needed to move the 2A mounts for everything to fit right anyway. I used a spare set of hinges from the tail gate and made a mount similar to an M38 for the frame. Now if I can get some M38 headlight guards and headlight trim rings I would be really happy.




I had to move the mid fender brace back to clear my shock hoops so I drilled out the spot welds and moved them aft a little. I also welded in new inserts in the frame for the braces to bolt to. Now I just need to fill in the inner fender around my cutouts for the shock hoops. I also figured out that I am going to mount my cold air intake on the right inner fender with the air coming in the M38 hood cutout. I will build an airbox to isolate the filter fro the engine compartment. It should work sweet.
Greg

 

I went and saw the jeep in person and have to say the attention to detail on the build is top notch. Keep the updates coming.

 

Really nice work!

 

It's been a while again since I have posted but I have been pretty busy the last couple of months. I have found the odd day or afternoon to accomplish a little work. I fit my fenders around the new shock mounts that I built. I have welded up the cutout now but I don't have the pictures. The other thing I have been doing is figuring out my airfilter and cold air intake setup. I have just started on it but have not finished up. The pictures I have here are where the intake will be and how the plumbing will go to the engine. I have started on an airbox that will seal to the hood so it will pull air through the M38 hood cutout for the snorkel. I think it will work slick. Here are the pics I have so far. Hopefully I will have these little projects finished up soon. I am going to try to work on the sheetmetal body mods for the next while. I just need to find a little time.











I also picked up a repo set of dash Data plates. I chose some M38 CDN repos. I don't care that I am going to use my CJ2A Vin. I just think the plates are cool. My jeep will be far from a resto knockoff and feel I can make it the way I want. Here they are.



I won't get much done in the next couple of weeks as I am off to England for a holiday. I have a couple of different War museums in my itinerary (Imperial War Museum) Hopefully I will have a chance to check out some neat MBs, GPAs and such.

Greg

 

im curiuos why the last plate on the bottom right states "ford motor co,..." on it? is it because they are repo plates, or did the fmc have something to do with building the m-38's also?

 

hi,awesome build,i live on the island and was just wondering how much you paid for shipping?(the body)i'm thinkin of ordering a m38a1 bod.

 

Looking better every update.