Build Thread 1979 Jeep CJ7

[Belizean]

Well I pulled the trigger again. I ordered my rear bumper with swing gate, two jerrycan holders and an over the spare carrier rack. The rack and jerry can holders are detachable. The bumper will have a reciever hitch and recovery points as well. I wanted to get my order in before his sale ends tomorrow. It's going to be about 3 weeks before it's ready to pick up. I'll post some pics when I get it.

Please show pics with the Jerry can holders on and off, and how they mount if you would please. Thanks

 

[gert]

Sweet


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[jafo]

Shouldn't be a problem.

 

[jafo]

While I'm waiting on my rear bumper. I was going through picks and found some of when I refinished my hardtop. I still need to put new seals in both side windows and hatch window. Need to also still put a new seal for hatch in.

 

[Belizean]

Nice ! Looks brand new. Reminds me of my buddies top when we bought them new in 84. I got the plain Jane model with soft top, and he got the model with everything. He is still kicking himself for selling it 28 years ago.

 

[jafo]

Only advice I can give on refinishing the top. I used Herculiner in rattle cans. It was kind of hard getting a nice even coat due to the narrow spray pattern. If you use Herculiner, I would find some to use in a spray gun.

Second problem I ran into was this stuff cures in it's own time. I decided since it was chilly when I shot the top, I'd wheel it out onto the drive in the sun to warm it up. Not thinking about it being black and really drawing heat from direct sunlight, it tried to bubble on me. These were very small bubbles from reacting with the sunlight while it was curing. I simply popped the bubbles and since it was skinned over pushed them down gently. Came out fine. It took about a week to get cured all the way as I put about three coats on. It is as hard as a rock now and drove it all winter and it still looks good.

 

[jafo]

Belizean, I know the feeling. That's why I'm not going to sell this jeep. I had another car I restored years ago and it was a pretty nice ride. Kind of unique. 1970 Monte Carlo. Built it from ground up. It was a street strip car. It ran hi 11's and low 12's in the 1/4 mile consistently. Fun car to drive and got plenty of attention. I miss it.

 

[Belizean]

Yeah my jeep is not the best ever made, but it's mine and there is no way I'm getting rid of it either. It's a part of the family now. Kinda like man's best friend type of thing

 

[mdeluca]

While I'm waiting on my rear bumper. I was going through picks and found some of when I refinished my hardtop. I still need to put new seals in both side windows and hatch window. Need to also still put a new seal for hatch in.

Looks brand new...!

 

[jafo]

Due to a very wobbly steering column, decided to tear into it again. Again, because the first time I forgot you need the pin pulling tool for the tilt column. Got that and then tor into it. Messing with column always kind of terrified me for some reason, so I decided to take a few pics as disassembly went along for refference. I figure I'd share the pics in case someone needs a refference also. So bear with me as I upload them. I believe I started the pics after steering wheel removal. It's all pretty straight forward. No narrating, just pics. I'm no expert on this, know just enough to get by.

 

[jafo]

Some more pics.

 

[jafo]

I would have taken the time to do some pics using the tools, but at this point it felt like it was north of 100 F in the garage and I was just want to get it back together and done. There are 4 bolts down below the ball on the steering shaft. All 4 bolts were loose. Going down the hwy, the steering wheel would shake violently due to that and the steering gear being worn out and loose. So took each bolt out and blue loctited them in. Will be replacing turn signal switch assembly soon also.

 

[jafo]

Oh, as some know, I have been fighting radiator issues for some time. For every leak I fixed, one would open up somewhere else. So, I decided to just replace. I went with an aluminum replacement. I should have it by this thursday. I'll do a little better post on the install with pics.

 

[jafo]

Got the aluminum radiator installed. Have some finished pics. This radiator was off of Amazon. Yes, $160 chinese radiator. Have had it in for several weeks now and works great. Only fitment issues was the mounting holes were not wide enough. I elongated the holes and it went right in. The lower neck is slightly longer I think. I had a touch more lower bose than I needed when hooking it back up.

 

[jafo]

Since I decided to put the trans swap off until winter. I decided to do some other smaller projects. Radiator is done. Next stop was the steering gear in another step towards tighter and better steering. I can tell you this was like wrestling a bear. It took me a few hours but got it installed and it proved to make the steering a little better. Next stop will be ordering a Borgeson steering shaft.

 

[jafo]

Finally got my rear bumper and spare carrier last Friday. I also got an over the spare cargo rack and two jerry can holders. I only have one holder operational right now. I am waiting on my other smitty built holder. Cargo and can holders are removable.

 

[Lumpy Grits]

How much clearance is there from the front of the fan blade, to the radiator core?
Seal the gap(foam sponge)between the front of the radiator's top, to the grill to force the air through the radiator's fins.
LG

 

[jafo]

LG. Good idea. It draws prwtty good now, filling the gap would probably make it better.

 

[jafo]

LG, 2 1/2" from radiator to fan blades.

 

[jafo]

Juat happened to have some plank ployethylene foam just the right size. I had to loosen the radiator to tuck it in but that sucker is sealed and I can feel a big difference in air flow through the core. The gap at the bottom is only about a 1/4 inch. Think I should fill tha gap also?