3b Act II

Checked my notes and the tank has been empty since Feb. 2022. I washed it out a few times with dawn soap and warm water and it didn't explode on me.

I measured 5" on either side of my tank mount (which just happens to be centered on the 14b) to give me a nice safety zone and measured 3" deep to give more than enough room to clear even with suspension travel. I'll have to redo the pickup and return fittings to work with the Sniper EFI since it requires 3/8".

 

Don't forget a sump, trap, or access to add a fuel mat when done welding.

 

I took the 3b to the town's car show a few weeks ago. I drove it in the parade and everything.



The same day I drove it to my brother's place and while doing doughnuts and racing around the property like a madman I sheared the leaf spring center pin. Last weekend I replaced the starter and alternator and went driving around but this time I wanted to play with the new gears crawling. Well, I found the limits of a 1310 joint and a heavy right foot with a broken leaf spring center pin.

Right before I broke it. The transmission crossmember had me hung up. It was a pretty good washout too. Still made it out in FWD.

I was supposed to be taking it to a car show on Oct. 28 but that's not going to happen.



Carnage!

 

18 mile drive back to the shop with a slew of broken parts and one wheel drive. I accidentally took the wrong exit and ended up on the interstate for a few miles. That was....fun....



Things I need to do...

-Fuel tank
-Rear leaf springs: need to be replaced or add a few leaves.
-rear ubolts
-leaf spring center pin
-winch stuff
-reinstall air compressor
-new tires(?)
-rear driveshaft
-battery
-power steering leak
-locking hubs
-parking brake:TBD
-change wheel color
-install transmission skid plate
-modify distributor for computer control

I had considered going back to SUA in the rear to alleviate axle wrap but that'll be a last resort thing. Currently, all my leaf springs have 4 leaves per pack. I think a 5 or 6 leaf rear pack would help to reduce axle wrap some.
I've been long overdue for a trail ride. Hopefully, I can get this junker trail ready again in a timely fashion.

 

6 is the sweet spot in my 3b.
There’s always the Dakota overload spring like I did in the Varg. That combined with the muscle-car-style traction bar completely eliminated wrap.

http://www.earlycj5.com/xf_cj5/index.php?threads/116011/page-124#post-1670704

 

I've been slowly working on the fuel system.

After the first cut and trial fit, the diff cover was just barely in the way still and instead of grinding away on it, I decided to just cut more of the fuel tank.



Measure once, cut twice. Anyhow after committing crimes against humanity, there were only 3 pinhole leaks.



I'll work on finishing up the fuel system tomorrow. It used to hold 10 gallons. I'm guessing it'll hold around 9 now? Pretty much it only held enough fuel to last one day at Sicily.



Bought a set of "like new" milsurp MTRs. The price was just way too good to pass them up.

 

Were those tires local to you or at an on-line place?

 

eBay, the seller was Feltz Tire.

 

Got the fuel system all finished up Friday and a couple of tires showed up.

 

Got the tires mounted up.



Someone had cut all the run flats like this. Not sure what purpose it serves at this point. I started to buy PVC inserts but I wasn't sure if the run flats were still in there. Well, now I know. Torqued every wheel stud to 125 ft lbs.



Ka-Chow!


One more poser shot.

 

Ran to the junkyard this afternoon and found some Ford something leaf springs in the dirt. Perfect, I don't need anything nice and they'd be cheaper since they were all rusty. I cut the main eyes off the springs and stuck them under the YJ main spring. I took two other long springs out of the Ford packs and used them too. 6 total leaves per YJ spring pack now.
Picked up a new Group 24 AGM 800 CCA battery also.



She sits level now. Ride isn't bad at all.



I wanted to try and flex it some. Best I could do over here.

 

I called the folks at Tom Wood's a couple weeks ago and got a quote of around $600 for a CV driveshaft plus a new yoke. Hahaha yeah, that's more than I care to spend on a driveshaft from anyone and I wasn't cutting my spring perches to use a CV style shaft. I've been running my driveshaft in a "broken back" arrangement and haven't had an issue besides axle wrap destroying ujoints, yokes, and ubolts. There is some vibration at lower speeds but it's not enough for me to care about.

Anyhow, I did some measuring and found the new parts to fix my driveshaft.

https://www.dennysdriveshaft.com/p1...lip_yoke_1350_series_1.375_x_16_spline_7.html

With that slip yoke, I won't have to worry about using a 1310/1350 conversion joint anymore. I cut the driveshaft in half so I could lengthen it some also. 2" sch 40 fit the bill perfectly.

Going to try and modify the traction bar slightly. Either it will work or I'll have to start over from scratch.

I pulled some old wiring and switches out and fixed a few connections that surprisingly didn't let out the magic smoke. I vividly remember doing all the wiring and entire brake system in 36 hours straight so that makes pretty good sense as to why it's so bad.

While doing the once over, I saw the master cylinder looked wet and pulled the lid to see no fluid in either reservoir. Nice. That explains the abysmal braking. I greased the clutch pivot tube since I've never done it and not that it matters much since there is so much slop in it it'd never seize up anyhow. Added some grease to the brake pedal arm pivot too.

Leaks....anything and everything that can possibly leak is leaking.

I'll wear rose colored glasses or better yet, a blindfold for the next inspection.

 

After two months of being broken, I finally got the rear driveshaft parts and welded it up tonight. Modified the traction bar.... just imagine a tractor link and what's left of a driveshaft slip yoke and slip spline crudely welded together. It works but it's truly terrible, I'm talking bleach eye drops terrible.

Yeah, the brake hose was holding on for dear life. I should probably address that. Still have a laundry list of things to do but I had fun driving around in the woods.

 

Wanted to go for a drive and brave the 45°F chill. Haven't driven down the road since I made the new driveshaft so I wasn't sure if it was going to vibrate or not. Thankfully there's no noise or vibrations

 

Is your camber off on the front axle? Or is it the pic?

 

Probably the picture but anything is possible.

 

that thing is such a cobbled together pile of junk, and i love it more thanm just about any other rig that i've ever seen. definitely fits my way of doing things.

so what's the deal with that v8 distributor? how on earth did you manage that?

and do you care to show off that "bleach eye drops terrible" traction bar?

 

Thanks! I completely ripped off itlksez 3b for the most part and have slowly morphed it into how I want it, more or less.

Buick V8 hei distributor, big thanks to garage gnome because he made that one for me.

The traction bar…as ugly as it is it seems to work. I’ll post an image of it. Quite possibly the worst thing I’ve ever done as far as quality goes.

 

Well today I bought an aluminum block 3-53 Detroit 2 stroke and sm420 from a gamma goat for the 3b’s next great makeover. I’m thinking about a D18 with lower gears and either a 4:10 or 3.73 ratio gears for the diffs. I have considered an overdrive and pto adapter combo as well. I want to be able to drive down the road at a reasonable engine rpm/speed. I’ll be saving up for a few months and hopefully I can start ordering parts for the swap.

 

Better set some of your savings aside for some really good ear muffs!