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The Little CJ that Could - ALIVE AGAIN (9/22/2012)

6K views 54 replies 21 participants last post by  joslovandikai 
#1 · (Edited)
1985 CJ-7 258ci 4.2L I6 - 5spd
Tub/Body - pretty much useless
Powertrain/Drivetrain - Close to Perfect
Frame - solid
The History: We are the second owners of this cj. Orginally came from southern california until about 10-12 yrs ago when it came to Michigan with the original owner. Sat in that guys driveway - outside for most of the those michigan yrs - pretty much unused. in '04 he wanted it out of his driveway because it wouldnt start anymore. he let us have it - just to get it out of the driveway. we brought it back to our house and spent an hour working on it and promptly had it runnning again. It spent about 2 1/2 of the last 4 yrs as a 2nd vehicle for my dads business until the seatbelts fell out the bottom of the rusted tub. At this point it entered our garage for the past 1 1/2 yrs and became a workbench/shelving unit for the rest of the family's automotive shit.

STAGE 1 : I am in need of my first dependable transportation and the best option at this time was to repair the cj until i could save more money to buy my own 4x4.
1. Resecure Seatbelts
2. Patch the worst of the body rot
3. GET MY OWN 4X4!!

STAGE 2: The above repairs are only for the next few months or year at most(hopefully) until:
1. Fiberglass Tub
2. 3in-5in suspension lift

Now for pics..i hope they work...



sorry for the bad quality..the only pics i had from before it entered the garage were from 4 yrs ago..will get up more recent and specific pics asap..

J.D.
 
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#2 ·
Hi J.D.,

Cool project! Be sure to post up more pics as you can. Having built one fiberglass Scrambler from the ground-up, I have to say that I wasn't super impressed with what I got for my money (4WD Hardware body). I'd encourage you to also look at Aqualu aluminum tubs before buying the fiberglass. These tubs have received great reviews for quality & durabilty (they were also sold by JP Offroad previously).

Post more pics as they come. It's great to see another CJ build going on.

Craig
 
#10 ·
finally got back out to the garage again tonite....my dad welded a couple of cracks in the floor from when the driveshaft popped out awhile back....we decided to order the fiberglass windsheild frame to replace the metal one...we have to get all the bracketry off(stainless steel) deffinetly worth saving...but all the bolts are giving us trouble...

mite post a few pics tonite or tomoorw depends on how bored i am
 
#11 ·
finally got the windshield off last nite...had to grind the bolts off all the bracketry...all our stainless is turning into brushed stainless.

picked up 12sq ft of automotive grade sheetmetal...should be starting with that sometime this week...

have a ton of pics to load but we've been having computer trouble lately..will get those up asap

J.D.
 
#13 ·
finally getting up more pictures...been kinda busy and lazy lately....finally got the windshield off a couple days ago

and got all the bracketry off to find more rust

and the worst was the pass. side

and we finally got this to fix all the above problems


More pics to come as soon as i load them of todays work

J.D.
 
#14 ·
And for the work of today and yesterday...our welds arnt too great at the moment since i only learned yesterday...teh hardest part was incorporating the small indentation that the windshield bracketry "sits" on....these are the sumwhat out of place peices of metal you see sticking out of our new supports about midway down...
Pass. Side

Pass. Side

Driver Side




We are borrowing some other kind of welder from a friend soon cause my dad says it will be better for what we are doing than our MIG welder...i think he said acytelene torch????

thanks for all the advice and compliments this far...will post more in the weeks to come...

J.D.
 
#18 ·
looks like you should try to 'pulse' weld that sheet metal, instead of trying to run beads, makes it easier to deal with. and less burning holes through things:tonka: i forgot to do that with the flooring i had to put in my xj and it was a pain, some of the older metal didnt like the heat too much
 
#24 ·
got back out to the garage again...began fixing the passenger side...getting those fender flares off was a pain...and our wleder wasnt working right tonight so welding was a pain in the ass..

pics of recent progress:
both patches

yesterdays

tonights

closer of tonights

i know the welds arnt great but theyre gettign better as i go - that piece should be attached

the drivers side rear fender was holding parts of the body together



J.D.
 
#25 ·
started using the acytelene torch today and it made everything go much faster...we got both drivers side exterior panels welded on.

this made life so much easier

while welding up this piece we failed to notice the wiring harness that was burning on the inside until we had finished the weld...oops...luckily it only melted thru the tueb that holds htem all together.


and the other piece



this finishes up the exterior metal work..most all of this will be covered in fiberglass and then bedlined...the idea is that it stays in one piece until i graduate so my dad can begin his restoration dream.

J.D.
 
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