Making My CJ5 Into A CJ6/II

And if your wondering where some of those holes came from in the rear it was from the old Kayline spare tire a fuel can carrier that I have.........I really liked this old setup and thought it was well engineered and held up quite well even off the road.
For the much heavier & larger tires I will be running I think the method of having the swing portion mounted in the bumper is much better.

 

Not sure if this heater post should be moved but since it is part of my build I just left it here.
So how many of you have pulled one of these stock heaters out or stared at one thinking about the install?......Can't speak for anyone else here but I have never seen one that really worked that well. Be it getting a little heat to the floor or switching a vacuum operated valve to get a little air flow to defrost the windshield I have never been that impressed by the quantity of heat or air flow!


Some folks have put larger fans in them and made some gains as far as air movement , but the basic design whereby all the air brought in comes directly through the grill and is therefore all cold air and then mixed in the engine compartment on the firewall as compared to a more modern approach where by the heater is mounted inside and once air is heated it continues to be reheated & recirculated which therefore becomes a much more efficient system.

The most popular aftermarket heaters like the Summit and the Mojave do make a recirculating system with an efficient 3 speed fan but both fall short of having anyway to direct or mix the air to where you want or need it..........Mojave does sell a mixing plenum that probably would work OK if it was mounted in a tractor cab near you , but in the limited confines of a CJ it still poses all sorts of issues in size and also getting it to direct air to where you need it!............So if swing pedals or power brakes are in your future or the old so-called placebo factory heater has run aground you may find what I'm doing interesting.

From left to right: the Summit version and then the Mojave Version & the Mojave Plenum.



After pondering this heater issue for a few days .........I set out and purchased both the Summit and the Mojave heater with its plenum from Summit not really knowing what I could use or come up with but I had to try!

It should be noted that previous to getting to this point I spent a day at J&W Jeep wreckers in Antelope, Ca. looking though there huge inventory of intermediate year take out modern heaters. I probably looked like a fool ( although I know the owner )carrying two heaters at a time over to a wrecked early CJ and them holding the heater up under the dash to see if it would fit. After several hours and finally coming to the conclusion that the shape of the firewall and room under the later CJ's as compared to the early CJ was just not going to allow these later heaters to fit! Notwithstanding they use an air intake source from a vent in the cowl.

My old scarred up dash looking for some heat!

After looking closely at both the Summit and the Mojave heaters I thought the Summit offered more in what I was looking for as in a base to work from. I tried it in several locations and different orientation's and thought centered under the dash looked to be a good start.My goal now was to build a Plenum that I could divert air & heat to where I wanted it but also keep it tucked under the dash so it was easily to get to and at the same time , not in the way of the T-18 shifter arm that also needed clearance forward to engage Low and third gear

Mounted under the dash.


A piece of aluminum cut out to make a pattern.

Folded up an attached to the base of the Summit heater.


And the first try at my prototype under dash heater. Of course I already see what needs to be changed on rev 2 so I'll do that next time but I'm happy with the Summit brackets as they are slotted and do allow a nice range of movement

 

Nice, Terry. I too used the Summit heater. It puts out a LOT of hot air. I like your plenum and I might have to copy that in some form down the road. I have mine blowing straight down on the floor, mounted in essentially the same location as yours. I attached one of the flexible defroster hoses to one of the ports and my wife uses it to direct heat wherever she wants. An idea I stole from a friend of mine. It can be freezing a$$ cold out with no full top to hold the heat, but she is toasty, wrapped in a blanket with the heat directed into it.

 

Hey Posi ,

So here's a few more pictures of what I did with that Summit heater...............The goal of course was to get some heat to your legs & feet and some heat to your upper body or perhaps even a passenger in the back. Also there was the issue of windshield defrosting and getting enough air volume up there to be worth while............I also wanted to be able to throttle the heat much like a modern car and or shut off the defroster if need be!.............allot of needs for such a small package , where room was already at a premium with the ignition switch and other obstacles in the way.............Shutting off the heat or throttling it can be accomplished by a standard cable operated heater valve mounted in the engine compartment like this one.


My system will have two dash cables ......one to close or throttle the Hot water valve from the engine and one to direct air to the Defroster.

Aluminum duct pattern for the windshield defroster vent.........do to space I had to build one that would fit.

More pieces for the duct.





Then a valve of sorts was made out of solid piece of UHMW Polyethylene. A rod was shaped from 1/4" rod and then two small shoulder bearings were installed in each side of the heater plenum chassis........the valve would be mechanically operated via a dash mounted hand cable that would allow air to get into the defrost duct once opened.......

Valve in closed position. And yes it is offset to clear the Ignition switch.

Tube welded on for defroster vent.


And another photo as the heater plenum box starts to take shape...........all the louvered diverter vents can be moved to change direction and or manually shut off flow.

 

Great work!!!

 

Very nice, Terry. Love the attention to detail you bring.

 

x2 squared what those other guys said.

Your attention to detail is outstanding - and that you have the tools to put your vision into reality.

 

I really like what you have done. I am thinking electric heater. Has anyone tried the "back seat jeep heater" available also through summit? I think it is a rampage or rugged ridge product. I'd like to run two of those in my cj6. Thoughts?

 

I just looked at it...............Rampage sold by Summit..........12 volt heater......300 watts converted to amps is 25 Amps of power. Pretty good draw on your system and would require 10 gauge wiring or better depending on the distance from a hot solenoid switch coming off the battery...........I guess worth a try if you wanted some quick heat in the rear?

 

I have a habit of just building things in my mind as I go along.........and as some prototype's go , sometimes they fit and sometimes some adjustments have to be made along the way........so being off a little here and there I just decided to built another plenum now working off my notes and making the necessary adjustments that were needed , takes a while longer but sometimes just getting the thought roughed out in metal and mounted and see if it will fit and work is still a good initial approach.














All of the components

And test run to see if the flags will blow for air volume at defrost vent........should work!

 

I tend to build things as I go too, Terry. Most of the time it works out well, but sometimes I work my way into a corner and it's time to start over. Nice job on the plenum. Looks very professional. But that's what I've come to expect from you.

 

Wow ............Sorry, been away from the project for a while.........work family racing, family work racing, you know the drill.

If you have come along for the ride this far and wondered about the Caption: Making my CJ-5 into a CJ-6 / II .......I'm sure some of you are waiting for the next chapter in my old CJ-5s life.

Out of respect for all the folks here including the purest & die-hards on the ECJ5 site who I do respect immensely I’ll ask for a little slack going forward for what I’m about to do to my old friend.

I look at it this way, from the point I pulled the old 4 cylinder out it would never be original or stock again. And since there already is so many other beautifully restored & barn find un-restored near stock CJ’s why would the World need one more?
Nothing on this Earth will ever take away the memories from my old Jeep as it was years ago nor deny the fact that it’s probably seen more states and mountain tops than thousands of other Jeeps that currently grace the pages of magazines and forums all over this country that have barely gotten there tires dirty!
When I picked it up after being in storage for 32 years my thoughts were just to freshen up the old 225 OF and put a granny low T-18 in along with a locker and yes fix that old heater! Then I thought power steering would be nice, Power Disc Brakes, Holbrook’s, maybe a Dana 30, sway bar and how about a tilt column and a few other luxuries.

But perhaps it was my 3 year old Grandson that set the new course for the build when one day while he was out in the shop sitting in the Jeep & looked me square in the eyes as only a 3 year old can and asked, “Where’s my seat Papa”? Hummmmmmmmm Now that’s a hell-of a question?

From the CHP handbook, “California Law will require children to ride in the back seat in a properly secured child passenger safety restraint until they are at least 8 years old or until they are at least 4 feet 9 inches in height.”

Now that’s a real problem in a CJ5 as tight as they can be, either he stays home or I buy another toy? And as persistent as this little guy is , he's not staying home without a fight!

Several times the CJ project was almost scrapped , just could not bring myself to finish it if I was not going to be happy with the results. I even looked at new / used Wrangler Rubicon’s as a possible option……..
As I continued to look at my old CJ I continued to think about how I could perhaps modify it and still make it into something that was drive-able anywhere, capable, fairly comfortable and yet roomy enough for a rear car seat.

I have looked at CJ-6s for years and quite honestly never liked them……although there was many times on trips I wished I had the extra 20+ inches of wheel base & room.

I then seen Steve 442/CJ6's build and started to change my mind a little. Steve and I have talked hundreds of times since then and although I did not want to buy another complete Jeep CJ6 to build , I thought if I could just find one that was wrecked or in pieces perhaps with a little time and effort I could maybe graft together the 20” inch extension into my old CJ5. The best of both worlds I thought, keep my old CJ, and enjoy the extra length. Sounds easy right!........ But could I really do that?

So I set out on a journey looking for a wrecked but re-storeable CJ6 body or center piece that I did not have to travel thousands of miles to find……..within a few weeks my persistence started to bear some fruit and I located two within 200 miles.

So here is where the rest of the story begins:………I will sell the old chassis , running gear ,a fresh built Odd fired V6 a Ford T-18 a Dana 20 case w/D-18 gears inside ETC.

The new build will include a later fuel injected motor and completely different running gear and a new chassis that I will build here in the shop. Come along for the ride I think you’ll enjoy it………..I know I’m having fun again!

Here is the Donor Vehicle

 

Go Terry, Go! I'm already hooked on your build.

 

Looking forward to seeing the transformation

 

And a few more shots of the donor vehicle.........this was a 1967 w/ a V6 in its original life. And how about the color? Almost the same as my old CJ-5......












More to follow. The good news is the center section although not "Perfect" was restorable.

 

cut it up
cut it up
CUT IT UP !!!!!


and Terry I think it's almost 500 times ,,,I changed your name on my phone to
OH NO!!!!!

haha just kidding Dino and I'm very glad my junk inspired you

 

Now we are gettin' to the good stuff! So did you buy the whole J&W special or did they just sell you just the center section?

 

Mark the owner @ J&W is a Good Guy! ..............we had to Arm wrestle a little and he Won but he still gave me what I wanted!........last time I was there the chassis and the old 225 , tranny and transfer case was still setting there!

 

That grill looks pretty good. It has drive flanges too.

 

Still a nice No Rust CJ-6 Chassis there and some parts for a V6