Ewan's 79 CJ-5 restoration project

Passenger side done with the exception of the hub, I still need to press the wheel studs in.

 

I've got a roller! I would have been done the other night but I hook up the drivers side parking brake cable to find out it is too short. As it turns out, some dingus put the brake backing plates on the wrong sides. Spent about an hour fixing that screw-up. Now I'm stuck with a giant mess to clean up and my OCD is in full swing. I'll be picking out some motor mounts and looking at putting the engine back in next weekend.

 

Hey where did you get the new springs (the yellow ones)? I had to re-use my olds ones from the Wagoneer.

Also, what shims did you use? Did you use the shims plus spacer from the original CJ or did you just use the Wagoneer shims with no spacer? For now I have left the spacer out but I need to get a dial indicator and check it before I start driving. I still have my passenger side to do. Interesting that you are using the emergency brake from the Wagoneer, I thought about it but did not hook mine up

 

The yellow return springs were part of my hardware kit I picked up from Autozone, part # H7064. Rockauto has a return spring kit for a couple dollars. I had a hell of a time finding the parking brake strut springs, the kit doesn't come with them. Autozone couldn't order them and NAPA didn't have the right ones. I found the kit at O'Reillys, part #H1338 (Rockauto also has them).

I reused the original shims since they were in good shape. I thought shims were pretty generic, one size fits all AMC-20 but I may be wrong. As for the parking brake, it is a requirement for all my vehicles. I use the parking brake all the time, regardless of vehicle. Mostly habit but some paranoia mixed in there too.

 

Oh cool thanks, I can get some springs now. As far as the shims, I realized after I posted that your Jeep came with those brakes - on mine I swapped from 9 inch brakes to 11 brakes from a Wagoner that I had. My problem is that there is a slight difference in the way the two setups are shimmed and even in the write ups I have read no one has ever mentioned that.

I believe there is a reason they don't mention it and this is relevant to you also. When you set your brakes up you have to set the end play with a dial indicator - it is the amount of free play that determines what shims are used. In your case if you just rebuilt your brakes and put everything back together you should have no problem.

For me it is a problem because my setups were different and it is different axles. So if anyone knows if you should omit or keep the large thick shim (which I believe is actually called a bearing retainer or something like that) it would be nice to know? I assumed it was not needed because the backing plate setup is different on the tapered Wagner axle.

 

I cleaned the garage today while I waited for the motor mount brackets to finish soaking in Simple Green. Cleaned them up, primed, painted and new fasteners. I'm planning on painting the engine tomorrow.

 

Spent a large amount of time today tearing into the engine and painting parts. Will post some pics once the paint is done drying. The engine is definitely rebuilt, head and inside of block is immaculate. .030 pistons, 12 weight crank, lifters, everything is new and looks great....except for one thing. I pull the timing cover to discover new gears and a sloppy timing chain. It had over an inch of slop in it, I'm surprised it hadn't jumped timing. Who the hell rebuilds an entire engine, and neglects to spend $20 on a new timing chain?

 

Engine block painted. The pan, timing cover and other accessories are hang drying at the moment. Head gasket and new timing chain on order, should be here tomorrow.

 

Inspected engine further, not good. Cranked scored, main bearings and camshaft bearings are pitted. Going to pull the entire crank and take a look at the rods. At this point, this may just be a complete rebuild.:evil:

 

Yep, total rebuild. Piston skirts scoring side walls, rod bearings pretty bad. Crankshaft is the the worst, there are some really deep grooves. I'm hoping this can be rebuilt, seems like 12 weight cranks are harder to find these days since a lot of them have been snagged up for strokers.

 

I wonder if someone did a really sloppy rebuild. Didn't keep the bearings clean.. nicked the crap out of the cam bearings installing the cam etc.

 

I have no idea. The main and rod bearings are stamped "ACL". I can't find reference to the stampings on the bearings, or any search related to Jeep and these bearings.

 

I dropped the crankshaft off at the machine shop today. Leaving for deer hunting in a few days so it will probably have to wait until after next week when I'm back in town.

 

I picked up the crankshaft today, .020 / .020. Now to order bearings and drop my camshaft off.

 

My existing camshaft is way out of spec. $75 + lots of gas so I'm settling on the High Energy Comp Cam 68-201-4.

 

Crankshaft installed today minus the rear cap, I forgot to order a new rear main seal. Oil clearances and shaft end play are all within spec, can't wait to finish it up. Still waiting on piston rings, cam bearings and my camshaft bearing tool. Most of the stuff should be here by Friday.

 

Camshaft bearings installed. I also discovered a previous owner or shop installed the wrong size freeze plug that sits behind the camshaft. The back of the plug had been riding against the camshaft

 

Most of the engine is assembled, planning on finishing it up tomorrow.

Connecting rods and pistons going in.


Pistons installed, .030 over.


Lifters in.


Timing set and camshaft installed. Looking forward to seeing how the engine will perform with the Comp Cam.

 

Cylinder head installed


Valve train going in.


Valve train installed.

 

Engine almost completely finished except for the oil pan which will go on tomorrow. I lost a lot of time today running back and forth to the hardware store. I threw almost every nut and bolt out, most of them were completely corroded. I chose to use a Flowkooler brand water pump, I've been running one on my Cherokee for years and it has held up great. Helps greatly when it is hot and I run A/C, temp never goes past about 205. Anyways, onto the pics.