1963 Us Navy Dj-3a

How bound up is that u-joint on there now? It looks like the angle is at its limits.

 

The U-joint angle is fine. The bigger problem is that I can't get the shaft into it until I modify the motor mount.

 

I'm running a double U-joint on mine just to add that extra length to the column.

 

Personally that joint angle at the bottom is too tight for my liking.
What about a double u joint at the bottom of the column and a support heim?

 

The U-joint at the bottom of the column is at 36 degrees. Borgeson says a max of 35, so it's close enough I'm going to run as is for now.

 

I notched to motor mount with the intent of capping the notch, but there wasn't enough clearance:


So i cut about half the mount out leaving half to support the engine:


I cut out the second half after welding the first brace on:


Getting the rest of it in place for welding:


All welded up. It's all 1/4" thick material, so it should be plenty strong in spite of my welds:


Now that it fits, I installed the steering shaft. It came out right at the Borgeson max of 35 degrees. As Norcal69, jw60, and Rozcoking23 noted it's right at binding. In fact it was binding against the end of the double D shaft until It trimmed it slightly shorter:


Since these things flex so much, that's not really OK. I want to keep this dumb project moving and on somewhat of a budget, so I pounded the U-joint as high up the column as I could and used spacers to lower the column at the dash. Luckily there is still plenty of belly room:


That got me to about 32.5 degrees. That gives me a little margin for error. This will probably all get redone some day, but that should be good enough for the moment:


The shaft is well up into the crude motor mount notch:


Testing the fit of the rear dump exhaust manifold again. This time with a flange pipe attached. Not much room, but it should be enough:


It comes out in a good spot down below:


Here's one of the reasons I asked ITLKSEZ to help with the exhaust. I'd REALLY like the passenger side exhaust to pass through this spot above the front driveshaft. If it fits above where I'm holding the file, it will have the same driveshaft clearance as the transmission and bellhousing on suspension compression:


There is plenty of cross sectional area here to match a 1 7/8" pipe, but it's going to take some fab work for the transition to and from this flattened area.

I'd like to go through here if possible, because looping it forward beneath the starter and under the front of the oil pan blocks easy access to both of those things.

 

I thought it was going to be easy

 

How much room is there between the exhaust and the front banjo?

 

About an inch. I'll need to make some sort of heat shield for that and the steering U-joint.

 

Here's trick I learned from the internet. I have a flange for the driver side manifold, but don't have a smaller one for the passenger side. Turns out you can take a chunk of exhaust tube to the press:


And press a greased trailer ball into it. Starting with a 2" ball:


It's surprisingly easy:


Moving up to a 2 5/8" ball:


Nice!


Seems to fit perfect:


I also cleaned up the ports on the cylinder heads and the manifolds getting things ready to assemble:




After than I stopped working on the Jeep and did some shop cleanup because it's getting to be a big mess again.

 

That’s pretty freakin cool

 

That steering joint is allot better not being at max angle.
Between the flex in the frame and the big rocks on the Rubicon, I was afraid that you would find yourself in a bind.
Carry on!

 

I had to fix the daily driver earlier in the week, and have been back working on the cooling system for the DJ that last several days.

Installed a 16" 7-blade fan that just clears the water necks on the radiator:


Then it was time for some arts and crafts with some poster board:


First fitting. There were some issues here and there but the basic idea seams sound:


In the end, I'm not going to do the ring around the fan. The fan depth is right in the middle of the shroud so it won't be needed. Not making it will save a lot of time and effort. After a bunch of hacking and chopping, it was looking more like this:


That template was getting to be a mess to too much trimming and old folds in the wrong places, so I moved it to a new piece of poster board to make a final template:


I used some large calipers I inherited from my grandpa to mark out the circle:


All cut out:


Folded up:




Bottom filler piece mocked up. This will be a bolt-on piece to allow for assembly:


In the Jeep and looking good:


Bottom piece installed:


I'm finally happy with it, so it's time to move to metal. I used magnets to faltten the poster board down:


I'm using thin enough stock that I can cut it out with tin snips:


I don't have a brake, so I had to get creative with clamps and straight edges:


I pop riveted the coners and it's looking pretty good. I still need to finish up the mounting surfaces and make the bottom filler piece. That's for tomorrow:

 

Looks good

 

Pretty fancy with the angled sides. Looks professional.

 

I like that you will bolt the bottom on….mine is pia to get into posistion.

 

Got the main part of the shroud trimmed and mounted to the radiator so I started working on the bottom filler piece.

Cut and bent:


Riveted together:


Bolted in place with rivnuts installed in the main shroud:


Here's how things are fitting into the Jeep:


The passenger side needs to be angled so I have room for the battery tie-down:


And the driver side needs to be angled to clear the snout of the power steering pump. Space is tight!


Bottom filler installed. It's a little too floppy and my stiffening bend on the flat surface is too close to the fan. I'll need to flatten out the bend a little, put some rubber on the front side of the filler so I can pull it tight against the bottom tank, and make a brace that goes under the radiator and attaches to the crossframe. That should hopefully wrap up the shroud with another nights work:

 

It definitively makes maintenance easier. I did the same on my '71. Space is so tight with the V8 that you couldn't assembly it any other way.

The open area in the bottom filler is there because the back of the crossframe fills that space and is effectively part of the shroud:

 

Don't forget you can gusset the inside of the shroud if needed. just keep them radial from center and clear of the blades.

 

That turned out nice!…I’ll be copying this the next time I take mine off, which seems to be happening a lot lately.