1972 CJ5 Build

I started this project in October and have ben posting on Jeepforum.com, but I found this site about midway through my build and I like it here better.

Got back from Afghanistan in May with a little extra money in my pocket, so I bought my first CJ5. Figured I should do it while I'm young or else I might not ever do it. So here it is - 1972 CJ5, 304, t15, all original except for a hurst shifter that was installed by hacksawing off half of the original shifter and bolting the Hurst knob onto that knob. The plan is to do a frame off resto-mod. Pretty much just making a Jeep how I would have done it. Things that will be included: a Performance Distributors DUI, the Holley Pro-Jection TBI kit, an Edelbrock intake manifold, and a PS conversion, trail armor, custom bumpers, and whatever else that comes along.








The first thing I did the day I got it in the driveway was to pull all that blue astroturf carpet out to check the real condition of the tub. Really wasn't surprised at what I saw, it being 38 years old.

The worst rust was on the floor plans


On the rear floor panel at the front (where it meets the floor riser)


And back (where it meets the tailgate)


And inside the toolbox. Its worse on the other side of it facing the front


The driver side floor pan was attempted to be replaced by someone down the road and they didnt do a very good job. The fabricated piece was poorly cut and then it was just bolted on. Looks like I'm going to have to try to fix it. The passenger side replacement attempt was rusting through itself so I just cut it out to start over.


It looks like somebody (unsuccessfully) tried to bondo some pretty bad rust spots as well



All in all it'll be enough of a learning experience for me. It will be my first attempt at welding haha. Gotta start somewhere

The entire tub is covered with some nasty glue that I'm going to have to scrape and sand off.

Disassembly:




When I was taking the DS fender off I got about half way and the rust did the rest



Here's a good example of the overall condition of the wiring throught the entire Jeep


And a few critter nests


I've been looking for replacement seats and decided on these



Corbeau Baja Lowback vinyl seats, I'm going to have to fabricate some brackets since I can't find one early enough and I want to keep the passenger seat latch so I can still access the toolbox.

I got the engine on the stand and am taking it apart as far as I am comfortable with for a cleaning.

Overall it doesn't seem too dirty for being 38 years old.




The coolant passages are f'ing nasty.



And I found a broken stud by the 1st cylinder at the front of the engine.


And the rest of it of course is broken off into the head.

My question is, why would there be one head stud and then have head bolts the rest of the way? I haven't taken off the other head yet so Im not sure if they are the same on both sides. Maybe I'm wrong in thinking it's a stud?

 

If i remeber right that is a coolent passage that is only used on one end of the motor and sense heads and gaskets are twins side for side the one not being used would be blocked by the block causing rust marks like you found, but its been a while sense i have had a head off a amc v8.

 

Dude, hows the WS frame on that thing? I may know where one is local that isn't perfect but will certainly work

 

Welcome Home. Hope you enjoyed the snow this week.

 

Mine TERRIBLE. I have been looking for one since I bought the Jeep. PM me.
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on the way.....

 

Picked this windshield frame up today for $25. What are the chances of having a 1972 CJ5 at my local junkyard?? Granted it look liked it got picked bone clean quickly. Unfortunately it had a 76-83 tub on it or else I would have taken that too.



This windshield frame is surprisingy solid, hardly any rust and will need little metal work to it. Thanks m38

I'll worry about the body..... a little later

I'm taking the engine to get cleaned and inspected at a place called P&M Performance Racing Engines in Jacksonville NC. It was recommended by somebody local to me.

Should I Brush or Spray this Chassis Saver by Monstaliner?

http://www.monstaliner.com/monstaliner_how_to_stop_rust.htm

I got them for free, enough for the frame and axles. Figured I should use it.


I am thinking I might want to paint it Impact Orange from the TJ. At the same time I want to keep to the original color.

 

Glad you got it. P&M performance is the place. Perry has been around a long time doing engines here since the early 80s or so. Good fella. Good luck with it

 

:iagree: This is the best Jeep site on the web, period.

Thanks for your service and good luck with the Jeep build.

 

I read somewhere on AMCForum that pre-73 304's had studs? Is that true? I'm trying to figure out where this one broken stud came from. I opened the other side and there wasn't any other evidence of studs there.

 

I don't remember seeing studs on that 304 in the boneyard either.

 

No studs on my '74, when I pulled the heads for valve job.

 

My friend came over last night who has been in and out of countless engines (professionally), which gave me a lot more confidence to take it apart a lot further. We took off the bearings and one of the pistons to check the wear of the engine, and to my surprise, it has apparently been rebuilt before.

The cylinder walls still had cross hatching on them, the bearings and crankshaft were still smooth, and everything else looked in good order. I'm going to take the cam out tomorrow.




I probed a little more inside of the coolant passages and what I thought was a rediculous amount of sludge and rust is really just the walls of passages, they're just pretty uneven.

And what I thought was a broken stud turned out to be a bunch of dirt inside of one of the wholes on the head that pitted the hell out of the block. Thats what I get for jumping to conclusions, but I was just a little too nervous to explore too far into the engine without someone who knows what there doing watching me.

So since the engine really doesn't need to be rebuilt (thanks PO) I'm going to go ahead and disassemble it anyways and give it a thorough cleaning so I can get a good coat of paint on it. All that should be done by Tuesday since I have a 4 day weekend.

 

Good luck. Thanks for your service.

 

Got my Hobart Handler 187 in today and dropped my heads off at P&M Performance today, my timeline for tomorrow obviously aint gonna happen, I still have to wait on my gasket kit and cam bearing set. And I am going to the field till Friday starting on Wednesday, so hopefully I;ll have the entire engine done next Sunday. I'm also going to be dropping off my block to get sandblasted tomorrow.

 

I'm not pretty sure of what i'm gonna say but the 304 you got may not be the original one in it. Let me explain, you're rocker in you're head are bridged so you're engine is 74 and up. http://www.yagid.com/pic/Tech/headspecs.jpg . You may have some anti-pollution system at the back of you're engine.

 

That sucks. Is there any other way to date the block? It looks like it has the 72-73 metallic blue green color.

 

take a look over you're casting number on the head the block and the crank and you will know what year you age but with youre bridged rocker for youre you have a 74 and later engine sorry

 

could it not be just later heads?