Build Thread 1977 CJ7 Rebuild and Conversion

[Jimbocker]

I've got some more updates! I've begun cleaning out the interior. It started pretty messy, but has cleaned up fairly well! Pictures are attached.

Belizean, thank you for your stamp offer! I picked up a set at harbor freight, but it turns out that stamping a CJ body on the B pillar is not straightforward. I'll probably be stamping a piece of steel in the shop and having it welded to the body.

In other news, I have an AMC 304 and automatic transmission that need to go. They both will need rebuilds, but I'm hoping I can sell them to someone who wants to put them in a CJ. It'd be unfortunate to scrap them both. If anyone in the Colorado area knows someone who would like to do the rebuild, I'm happy to sell it for a fair price (cheap). The engine was flooded and I have no idea what state it's in, but it may be salvageable.

 

[shum8]

Not sure. In the state of Colorado I'll have to physically stamp the vehicle and the title will go from "Salvage" to "Rebuilt from Salvage". If anything, it's more motivation to thoroughly document the process so I can ease a potential buyer's mind should I decide to sell it (though I'm not planning on that any time soon).

If you think about it, stamping it "Rebuilt from Salvage" is an honorable thing in the Jeep world. Means you brought one back from the dead. As purchased pics along with this thread would ease any Jeeper's mind. No different than if you had the title...... Same process, same outcome. Rock on, nice work so far

..... Yes, red. I know it's not the OEM color, but it's not the OEM vehicle. Besides, I like it, and I think it looks good, so sue me.

My favorite line in your thread to date....... What colors have you decided on for the engine, body, and interior? Or are you like I was - you'll know it when you see it LOL

 

[Jimbocker]

If you think about it, stamping it "Rebuilt from Salvage" is an honorable thing in the Jeep world. Means you brought one back from the dead. As purchased pics along with this thread would ease any Jeeper's mind. No different than if you had the title...... Same process, same outcome. Rock on, nice work so far

That's how I'm choosing to look at it. I've saved this CJ from becoming vehicular rescue practice for the local fire department!

My favorite line in your thread to date....... What colors have you decided on for the engine, body, and interior? Or are you like I was - you'll know it when you see it LOL

I really like the look of red exterior, spice top, chrome hardware, and spice interior. The plan at the moment is to use roll on bedliner (I hear good things about monstaliner) for the interior. I'll leave the dash the same color as the body though. The thing I like about spice is that it also goes well with the current white color, so I can do the painting in stages, after it's running.

 

[shum8]

I just bought a gallon kit of Raptor roll on last week. I couldn't decide between that and the Monstaliner.... so I went with price.....


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[Jimbocker]

I just bought a gallon kit of Raptor roll on last week. I couldn't decide between that and the Monstaliner.... so I went with price.....


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I'd love to see how that turns out!

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[shum8]

You an me both, brother LOL. Was gonna do it this past weekend, but I haven't finished the driver side seat rider yet. Didn't wanna weld over a newly lined floor so as soon as I get the bracket tacked and out for final welding, I'll be a rolling fool. I'll let you know....


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[Jimbocker]

Today was a great day for the Jeep! I've finally relocated the CJ to the concrete pad I've been so graciously permitted to use by my boss.

There's a lot that's not on the Jeep anymore, but there's still more that has to come off. The other day I pulled the radiator. I decided today would be the day to remove the old exhaust. I got out the angle grinder, some cut-off wheels, and got to work. It didn't take too much work, but I did discover that the whole system was full of water. A lot of black sludge leaked out of the cat...

After taking the exhaust off, I still had 4+ hours of daylight left, so I decided to pull the engine/tranny. I started by removing the grille and all unnecessary parts in the engine bay. While removing the washer fluid reservoir, I ran into the first two sheared bolts of the project!

Next came the fenders to make access to the mounts easier. After much encouragement, I got the sucker out of the jeep. Now I just need to get rid of it...

I'm now in a great spot to clean up the engine bay, fenders, and grille. I'd love to go ahead and paint, but I'm not sure I'll be able to set up any sort of booth. I may be able to work something out for the fenders/grille/hood though.

 

[shum8]

Nothin like a little progress, right?? Feels good!


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[Jimbocker]

Nothin like a little progress, right?? Feels good!

Progress feels GREAT!

Today I decided I should go ahead and figure out what my axle ratios are, so I popped the front diff cover and saw 41-9... 4.56!!! I'm very happy with this discovery. Lockers AND 4.56 -- Clearly PO knew a thing or two.

I've done some planning and I think I have a relatively good list of tasks. First things first I need to get the VIN inspection done. I don't know that I want to do much more until that is done. I might do a little cleaning, removing dirt, cables, brake/fuel lines, etc, but other than that I'll save the big stuff until after the inspection.

After inspection, I can get the ball rolling on titling, so I'm thinking I'll start painting chassis and body. I plan to clean things up really well, though getting the mud out of the frame may be difficult.
For the chassis, I'm looking at a few products:
Eastwood Rust Encapsulator
Eastwood Chassis Black
Eastwood Internal Frame Coating
POR-15
Rattle Can prime/paint

As for the tub, I hope to use bedliner on the underside, red on the outside, and bedliner on the inside. I'm also thinking of doing a bedliner or similar in the wheel wells to help protect against rock chips and the like.

Once everything is coated, I can mount the engine/tranny and get quotes for driveshafts/exhaust. Then all I need is an interior!

I'd love to hear what others have done for paint or if anyone has suggestions!

 

[Posi]

For the chassis, I'm looking at a few products:
Eastwood Rust Encapsulator
Eastwood Chassis Black
Eastwood Internal Frame Coating
POR-15
Rattle Can prime/paint

I'd love to hear what others have done for paint or if anyone has suggestions!

Good progress.
I use the rust encapsulator cost less then P15, plus its UV rated P15 isn't, not that your Jeep would be sunbathing but the frame horn do see lots of sun.
Don't strip the rust off the frame just the loose stuff or the RE won't stick (meant to work with rust on the frame).
I used the RE inside the frame as well.
I know lots of guys like bed liner, I don't, especially inside the tub. Black looks great when first laid down, but fades and collect dirt in short time. Just my 2 cents.

 

[Jimbocker]

While my parents were in town this weekend from the great state of Texas, we discovered that someone had broken into my tool shed. I'm out about $200 in tools, but they didn't take the most important tools. I lost a Dremel, a grinding mask, a leakdown tester, my ratchet set, a work light, and an internal bearing puller set. All in all, it's just stuff, but it's a bit of a hassle.

Today I'm taking the Jeep to the state patrol to get the VIN verification done. Hopefully this goes well and I'll have good news this evening!

Jeff

 

[shum8]

Not much worse than a thief. Sorry to hear they got you - but hopefully this evening will make up for it....


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[Jimbocker]

An update:

I went to the State Patrol to do the VIN inspection, and got better news than I expected to hear! The officer who I talked to took one look at the jeep and asked me "So, what're we doing today?" I showed him the paperwork the DMV gave me and he said "Want my advice?" I said yes, and he suggested the following:
Don't do the title process until I rebuild it. He said the title is sufficient to prove I have a claim to the vehicle. If I were to title it now, I would have to do the whole process over again to re-title the jeep as rebuilt from salvage. If I just rebuild it and then title it, there will be no salvage marks, no statement of fact outlining where I got all the parts, etc. He said it would save me hours at the DMV and a little bit of money. I explained my whole situation to him and he seemed very confident that I'll have no trouble getting it titled. He said I have far many more ducks in a row than the typical person he sees going through this process. So, it's time for the real work to begin!

Unfortunately, it's time for real work to begin right as winter is on its way. I really want to do some painting, so hopefully we'll have enough 50+ degree days that I can get everything painted. I'm still working out what order I want to do everything in, but I know that if I don't paint the frame and underbody now, I never will. So I'm thinking a logical step one is to lift the tub off the frame and clean up the frame. It also might make more sense to start with painting the body with the winter coming in -- if the temps mess with the finish, it's better that it's on the parts people won't see, right?

I just need to sit down and figure out what exactly needs to be done, and answer some questions.
Does anyone have suggestions for painting? Engine mount designs for a SBC swap? Tricks for removing the tub? Suggested underbody coatings? Seat recommendations? Steering column replacements?

Hopefully there will be many more pictures in the following posts! The next post will probably feature tub removal and/or shed fortifications -- can't have any more hooligans stealing my tools...

 

[shum8]

Great advice you got there - and you're right - time to get it in gear LOL. As for painting - I waited to paint the tub after pretty much everything also was done - didn't wanna tear up a new paint job.


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[Alec79CJ]

Progress feels GREAT!

Today I decided I should go ahead and figure out what my axle ratios are, so I popped the front diff cover and saw 41-9... 4.56!!! I'm very happy with this discovery. Lockers AND 4.56 -- Clearly PO knew a thing or two.

I've done some planning and I think I have a relatively good list of tasks. First things first I need to get the VIN inspection done. I don't know that I want to do much more until that is done. I might do a little cleaning, removing dirt, cables, brake/fuel lines, etc, but other than that I'll save the big stuff until after the inspection.

After inspection, I can get the ball rolling on titling, so I'm thinking I'll start painting chassis and body. I plan to clean things up really well, though getting the mud out of the frame may be difficult.
For the chassis, I'm looking at a few products:
Eastwood Rust Encapsulator
Eastwood Chassis Black
Eastwood Internal Frame Coating
POR-15
Rattle Can prime/paint

As for the tub, I hope to use bedliner on the underside, red on the outside, and bedliner on the inside. I'm also thinking of doing a bedliner or similar in the wheel wells to help protect against rock chips and the like.

Once everything is coated, I can mount the engine/tranny and get quotes for driveshafts/exhaust. Then all I need is an interior!

I'd love to hear what others have done for paint or if anyone has suggestions!

I used Eastwood products on my build. There are plenty of pictures over on my build thread if you’re interested in the finish. I sprayed my all my drivetrain and a lot of other things such as seat brackets and all nuts and bolts.

It does take time to dry but it has a hard finish with a great shine.

 

[Jimbocker]

Today was body removal day. And after that I took the tub off...

Anyway, things went smoothly. I used the engine hoist to remove the hard top and tub. The hard top came off very easily. The same cannot be said for the body. Two of the body mount bolt... nuts? broke free and I had to get creative to hold them still. Anyone have recommendations for re-securing those metal squares used to hold the bolts in place?

In all, it was a good day of work. The hoist worked marvelously and I was able to do all of it by myself. Now I get to clean up the frame and hopefully get some paint on it before it's consistently too cold.

 

[Jimbocker]

Another post for more pictures!

The hard top seems to have the production date on it. November 1976, and it's held up so well!

I noticed that my tire carrier is damaged, so there's a small fab project for when the jeep is more complete (or possibly the winter months?).

I took the steering column out, and it looked to be in decent shape, save for some rust. I'm probably replacing this, since I'll be converting from the column shift auto to a floor shift manual.

I've heard that CJ frames tend to have some weak spots, and that some people choose to reinforce it in places. Does anyone know if this applies to the boxed CJ frames, and if so where I might want to reinforce it?

 

[Idahododgeram]

Jimbocker, there are a number of ways to fix the captive nut issue on the tub. Some more involved that others. When I pulled my tub on my '77 2 nuts spun and one was seized and I had to cut the bolt. After I had the tub blasted I just welded the nuts in place. Some people tend to shy away from welding them and you do lose some adjustment when you put the tub back on, but mine lined up fine.

 

[Jimbocker]

The Jeep project is out of hibernation for the winter! It's springtime here in CO, so the work is resuming. I have successfully removed the mud from inside the frame and removed all of the on-frame bracketry. I used a 25ft sewer jetter attachment for my pressure washer to clean the frame. It worked surprisingly well! The 1/2" of dirt/grass/sticks is out of the frame.

Next steps are internal and external frame painting! After that, axles and steering, then brake/fuel lines. It's go time! Pictures to come later.

 

[mdeluca]

Jeff,
Thanks for putting this thread up... Now I have another great build to watch.

Others on this forum have inconsiderately neared completion of their builds... to the point of driving them, albeit very slowly, down the street.

Looking forward to your progress!
Mike