A Full Restoration Of My 1969 Cj5 With The Dauntless

It's the closest I could come to the original color. It's Honda Hampstead Green and it's pretty darn close to the color Kaiser/Buick painted it when she was new. It's slightly lighter than stock but then again, the paint I compared it to is over 50 years old!

Thanks!
John

 

I've been remiss in keeping this thread updated as I go. I'm gonna post a bunch of new pics all at once.

First, the transfer case and transmission as they came out...


Next, the TC and trans after cleaning, painting, rebuilding the e-brake, replating a bunch of parts, replacing all the seals, etc.




Next up was to redo the front axle. Here is it before restoration


And now some after pics... New axle seals, new knuckle bearings, new knuckle seals, new brakes, new brake hoses, a bunch of replating in zinc/yellow chromate, restored and rebuilt Warn M2 hubs (original), new wheel bearings, new hub seal, clean, paint, etc. etc. First the Yoke. I plated and chromated it. It's not the way the factory did it, but what the heck?

Cleaned and zinc plated axle tag

Knuckle, brake line...

Restored axle back in with restored leaf springs and new shocks

Restored Warn Hub


Next up was to final drop the engine back in and get it off the stand taking up garage space...



That's it for now....

Cheers!
John

 

Another pic for your viewing pleasure. Installed the distributor. Also re-plated the carb linkage.

 

That engine is so pretty you could put it on static display in your living room.

 

Thank you for your kind words!

 

The motor is back in as you can see in the pictures. I kluged up the primary ignition wires and started her up to break in the camshaft. All went reasonably well and I have a good running Dauntless. A bit of valvetrain noise that is seemingly coming from the rockers or rocker shafts, but I wonder if that's normal for the Dauntless?

The tranny needs to come back out unfortunately. For some reason the clutch will not disengage. I'm thinking something with the pilot bushing since it was very hard to insert the transmission.

John

 

I always loved that color on the Dauntlass engines. Definately my favorite classic paint color from the era.

 

OMG, your engine is soooooo beautiful!! Great work of art!!
dne'

 

Thanks for all the kind words! After work last night, I had planned to start pulling the transmission/TC back out to figure out the clutch problem but I just didn't have the oomph. So, instead, I made new ignition wires from a Standard Ignition trim to length set.

I also pulled of the dust cover behind the starter that mounts to the bell housing because I saw oil leakage on the floor. My fear is it was the rear main seal - which would be a bear to change out with the engine in the Jeep. But, it looks like the cork oil pan gasket is the culprit. I wanted a gasket as was original, but I think I'll drop the pan and use silicone based gasket maker instead. I have to change out the break-in oil at some point anyway (Joe Gibbs Racing BR40 oil.)

Anyway, here's how the wires came out. I hate messy wiring!

Lastly, I put another coat of manifold paint on that's why they're shiny in the picture. The paint peeled where I did brazing repairs on the manifolds.

That's all I had the time and energy to do last night. Ran out of time since my daughter's Aussie puppy chewed up my LG TV remote control and I was trying to find an original replacement. Cheap knockoffs abound...

Cheers!
John

 

This thread is taking me back. When I was 16 my parents let me have their 69 CJ5 with a dauntless V6. Being 16 and stupid, I was hard on it. For those that don't know, by revving it up to about 5000 RPM and doing a clutch drop you can pull the front wheels. Yes, we are talking jeeps doing wheelies. That was really popular in high school and still comes up in conversation from time to time. However, it is rough on the drive train. I blew up one driveshafts, two U joints, two transfer cases and one transmission doing that. I recall one trip home when I destroyed the read driveshaft. I had to pull the driveshaft out, put it in 4wd, and drove it home as a front wheel drive.

Thank goodness for T&J's in Orange County providing the parts I needed to keep it on the road. Then, and I shudder to admit it at this point, I later blew up the dauntless V6. My solution was to put what I remember to be a Buick 231 V6 in it. It worked fine but was never the same. I remember with that short wheel base driving the freeway and the jeep practically changed lanes randomly. You really had to pay attention driving one of these at speed. Lots of fun off roading as well. Oh, I miss that Jeep and that is why I found this thread. And John Gedde, I think you nailed the paint color close on the engine. That is the color I remember, very unique. Good read, thanks, and glad you found an old '69 with an original engine you could restore.

 

Much as it is bad form to revive an old thread, it is even more bad form to leave a thread incomplete. I have been VERY remiss in keeping you fellas up to date with my restoration. A TON of work has been done since my last follow-up. Since it's kind of an ordeal to dig photos out of my phone, copy them to my laptop, batch resize them, then upload them one-by-one to the forum, I have been just to busy with the Jeep to devote any of my remaining brainpower to the task. But, since I'm under the weather right now (likely have COVID - waiting for test results), and don't have the energy to work in the garage, I'll share bits and pieces of what I've done since last Spring...

Starting with bodywork on anything that I could take off, followed by primer, paint (PPG DBC basecoat under SPI universal clear). Here are the fender, dash, grille and hood.... A mix of before and after

Cheers!
John

 

Windshield and its frame all done...

Cheers,
John

 

Starting work on the tub. First by replacing the bashed up right rear corner.

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And the same for the left. Here I needed to make a new taillight panel and corner...

 

Then, replacement of the floor... Out of order, but you'll get the idea

 

Somewhere along the way, I wheeled the completed chassis outside (to get it out of the way), restored the wheels, pinstriped them, and put on new rubber. Toyo M2 commercial tires since, to me, they look closest to the original Goodyear Surburbanites that came off the Jeep.

Cheers!
John

 

I've skipped over SOOOOOOO much, but I guess this brings us to almost up to date. Bodywork on the tub is done, and painting has started. The bottom was coated in rock-guard (tintable) then topcoated in BC/CC.

 

Skipped over the tub bodywork shots and the shop built rotisserie... There's more shots, but for some reason they're not in my album and I'm too shot right now to fix that.

 

Wow, nice work. It's looking fantastic.

 

I’m blown away by your craftsmanship. Very well done. Hope you feel better soon.