Rebuilding "Cream Puff"

yes, can use s-10 or camaro/firebird bellhousing you have to redrill that one because the trans is 15* driver slant. on the plus side they come already marked for the new holes. Still have to come up with a way to mount the CPS.............

 

....still think it'd be a cool swap....

 

I actually have the bellhousing you would need for the FI 4 cyl swap sitting on my floor... 60* external slave bell for a 60* V6 pattern, came off a 1986 CJ7 with a 4 cyl, been meaning to ebay it for awhile when I found out they are hard to find R)R)

That is the route I looked at for the flatty (why I have the bell) but with the low hood of the flatty it was going to complicate stuff, 225 worked better for what I wanted.

 

I'm going to look at this pulled motor today or tomorrow. Will let you know. I also found another board member here locally that has an F-head sitting in the garage. Might just get myself back on track and go the OE route. I've been looking through my parts around the house, scope creep setting in, and can pretty much put together a 4.3EFI/SM465/D18/D30 disc/D44 offset/SOA combo with just a bit of coin at Novak and one more trip to the bone yard. I just need to stop pulling stuff out of storage before I end up way off track.

 

...kinda sounds like a plan....

 

It just keeps getting better...

Out there in the garage tonight trying to salvage whatever I can off the F-head. Pull the tranny/t-case off, removed the pressure plate. "Oh, decent looking clutch disc" I think to myself at first. "Wait a sec... What the...":

Jackoff PO installed the clutch disc backward. Yeah, "Ran good when parked, honest." Meh, "That clankin' sound? That's just normal clutch break-in. She'll smooth out after a couple hard starts." Can't make this kind of stuff up, folks. Truck is getting heavy with scrap now.

 

So that's why my crank nuts were all boogered....

 

Another visit to the blaster:

 

Welp, short block is a total loss. Pulled the pan tonight, got the con rods disconnected. #3 piston is seized to the cylinder. I'm mean it's stuck tighter than a (insert your favorite colorful metaphor here). Get out the BFH. Won't budge, and I can't get the crank past the con rod to salvage. Get out the RBFH (Really big hammer) and homemade "super punch." Whoops! Just added a little shade tree chamfering to the journal! Done wasting my time on this POS. New-to-me motor should be here by the weekend from a reputable seller.

I'm no mechanic, but I'm willing to bet that pound or two of mud (wasn't metal shavings, just plain ol' mud, lots more not pictured) didn't enhance oil circulation:

 

I bet that mud smelled nice.

 

...eww...

 

wow...this is the first i looked at this thread....

you seem to be making some great progress despite your setbacks!

keep it going! you motivate me!

 

That stuff that came out of your motor looks like the stuff that came out of my front axle.

Yuck.

 

Got a ton o' personal stuff going on in my life right now. Some time out in the garage working on the JEEP was just what I needed in order to contemplate life for a while.

Slid an axle under the frame. Bolted on the wheels just to see, but they need to come off again for new wheel cylinders and on account of I couldn't find my new acorns (I know they're around here somewhere):


Got the front clip, windshield and some other odds and ends epoxied. Fenders need a lot more work than I was hoping, but the rest should go pretty quickly:

 

I love seeing builds like this. keep it up. What kind of paint are you using on the body? And how are you shooting it? just base or using a clear coat too?

Just wondering. I'm a fan of well done backyard/garage paint jobs on ecj5's. But had my wagon sprayed in a shop for the price of about 1500 rattle cans.

your's is looking nice.

 

JHC, your builds always make me jealous, I can't find the time/ambition to do my body work, and I truly do want my jeep to look nice eventually. I know you have said it's an hour a night or so, but the pace that you get stuff done is awesome. Keep it up!

 

Put in the rear axle today. Thanks for the tip on the bushings, Jeepfreak!

This project is about to get put on hold for about a year. I've recently received a new set of military orders and have 3 weeks to make this a roller and pack away all the parts into storage.

 

3 weeks should be plenty of time to finish the project the way you work.

Away from the project but hopefuly you keep in touch.