This is going to be a slow build. It started 4 years ago when my brother bought me a CJ 7 roller with a title for $50. Great brother right? I have never attempted anything like this before. From the start I decieded to just oput everything that I have always wanted in a toy into this.
This started before I moved here to NC. I had access to all the tools I needed and my parents barn when dad wasn't working on his airplane projects. I finished college and needed a job so I moved here to NC which as slowed the project. But I don't see it speeding up now that it is here in NC.
There are lots of things I would like to change from where I started but that is how a build goes.
Right now as it sits it is set up with the following.
Drivetrain
mopar 360, Stroked and bored to 410ci. on the dyno it made around 360 hp and 450 ftlbs of torque with a baby cam and stock heads.
trans is a 727 that has some work done to it.
t- case is a 231 with a sye
axles
front is a hp44 with 4.88's and a lock right. also has the cast in wedges
rear is a 9 inch with 4.88's open and needing brakes.
tub is from a 95 wrangler. sandblasted and cut out any rust and repaired any issues with it. The tub was coated in a bed liner. the outside of the tube was then shot in a clear with glitter from an arts and crafts store to make it look like a bass boat. In all honesty it is ugly but I love it.
Thats pretty much where it sits now. For the past two years this has been at my parents in MI. I would work on it for a couple of weeks while I was there in the summer or spring break.
So how did it got to this point? Here is the story
A friend was parting out a running Ramchager so I bought the motor trans and t-case for cheap. motor had a leaking rear main seal. tore the pan off and found the rear main bearing was spun back into the crank. So much for a cheap motor.
Picked up a 9 inch rear axle with 4.88's in it for free. Needs brakes and some kind of a locker.
Traded some yard labor to a elderly man and got a 79 HP 44 for free. Added gears to it and a trac loc.
here is what was left of it after I got into it
I saved the frame and the title. The back section of the frame was rotted out so I decided to add a small stretch and I needed the cross member so I got the BTF CJ to XJ and put it on the back of the frame. I was also learning how to weld. Welds are not the greatest but my grandpa was working with me on doing them. He taught the welding classes at the community college for the last 25 years. I still have a long way to go with that skill
Tub was shot floors were gone and I am not a person with enough practice to do body work. Bought a used tub for a fair price and went to town.
After 3 weekends of spraying on the SPEEDLINER...
This photo was not right after it got sprayed. I have to find them
My front axle limited my choices for a suspension so I am going to give the radius arm set up a try. I was given a set of lift coil springs to a 78-79 bronco and found some extended radius arms for cheap on a local board in MI. At this point I needed to get it rolling to put it in storage at my parents before I moved here.
jump a head a couple of years and I cut off the original spring buckets I used and added some Balistic Fab coil spring buckets
If you notices the frame is painted by this point. Last summer the frame was sand blasted then I brushed on tractor paint from TSC. That was all that I did last summer.
The motor has been the money pit. I only wanted to do it once and I had already built the trans before I looked into the motor. That was a mistake. I didn't take any pictures of the motor build. I worked with a motor builder in Lansing MI that my brother was doing some engineering stuff for. They didn't charge me labor and sold me all the parts at their cost. It hink part of it was because I had no dead line and told them to work on it when they had free time. Basically they were saviors for this. The motor started life as a LA360 out of a ramcharger. It got a stroker kit in the bottom end and it was completly balanced because they guys had some free time to kill between projects. The heads received all new springs and valves. Even a set of roller rockers for a little bling. It has a baby cam in it because I didn't want it to be so radical I couldn't drive it. The intake is a RPM air gap witha truck avenger carb. Ran it on the dyno with a set of small chambered long tube headers. I was hoping to use the headers ont he jeep but they don't clear the frame rails.
Motor on the dyno
The trans and transfer case were built in my apartment.
Then this summer I hauled these back to MI and put them behind the motor.
Now at this point I had the motor mounts in but no idea on what I was going to do for a trans mount. These are still in progress pictures.
I know that it isn't ideal but I just want it to drive then I can go back and change the major things.
SO that brings us up to today. first time with any actual weight on the springs.
And of course some flex testing.
That looks pretty good, but the front is a mess
The bronco springs are way to stiff. But it rolls and for now that is what I needed.
Loaded on the trailer to come south
My dad sitting there in disbelieve that it is actually leaving his house.
So basically it is a roller that needs...
wiring
brakes for the rear axle and front
plumbing, motor, cooling systems and brakes. I have a fuel cell that I can run.
cage
seats.
Some concers of mine. It is really tall. the tires that I have for rollers measure 29 inches. it is sprng over in the rear so I could change that and I have lots of adjustability in the front springs but when I start messing with that it changes the castor angles. I could get different wedges for the castor but I would just be guessing and am trying hard not to just throw money blindly. BUt it is a learning curve and I apparantly am a slow learner with this thing. But for now I will just keep going slowly on it. The next things I would like to get done are the rear axle, wiring and plumbing. All of those things will go slowly.
This started before I moved here to NC. I had access to all the tools I needed and my parents barn when dad wasn't working on his airplane projects. I finished college and needed a job so I moved here to NC which as slowed the project. But I don't see it speeding up now that it is here in NC.
There are lots of things I would like to change from where I started but that is how a build goes.
Right now as it sits it is set up with the following.
Drivetrain
mopar 360, Stroked and bored to 410ci. on the dyno it made around 360 hp and 450 ftlbs of torque with a baby cam and stock heads.
trans is a 727 that has some work done to it.
t- case is a 231 with a sye
axles
front is a hp44 with 4.88's and a lock right. also has the cast in wedges
rear is a 9 inch with 4.88's open and needing brakes.
tub is from a 95 wrangler. sandblasted and cut out any rust and repaired any issues with it. The tub was coated in a bed liner. the outside of the tube was then shot in a clear with glitter from an arts and crafts store to make it look like a bass boat. In all honesty it is ugly but I love it.
Thats pretty much where it sits now. For the past two years this has been at my parents in MI. I would work on it for a couple of weeks while I was there in the summer or spring break.
So how did it got to this point? Here is the story
A friend was parting out a running Ramchager so I bought the motor trans and t-case for cheap. motor had a leaking rear main seal. tore the pan off and found the rear main bearing was spun back into the crank. So much for a cheap motor.
Picked up a 9 inch rear axle with 4.88's in it for free. Needs brakes and some kind of a locker.
Traded some yard labor to a elderly man and got a 79 HP 44 for free. Added gears to it and a trac loc.
here is what was left of it after I got into it
I saved the frame and the title. The back section of the frame was rotted out so I decided to add a small stretch and I needed the cross member so I got the BTF CJ to XJ and put it on the back of the frame. I was also learning how to weld. Welds are not the greatest but my grandpa was working with me on doing them. He taught the welding classes at the community college for the last 25 years. I still have a long way to go with that skill
Tub was shot floors were gone and I am not a person with enough practice to do body work. Bought a used tub for a fair price and went to town.
After 3 weekends of spraying on the SPEEDLINER...
This photo was not right after it got sprayed. I have to find them
My front axle limited my choices for a suspension so I am going to give the radius arm set up a try. I was given a set of lift coil springs to a 78-79 bronco and found some extended radius arms for cheap on a local board in MI. At this point I needed to get it rolling to put it in storage at my parents before I moved here.
jump a head a couple of years and I cut off the original spring buckets I used and added some Balistic Fab coil spring buckets
If you notices the frame is painted by this point. Last summer the frame was sand blasted then I brushed on tractor paint from TSC. That was all that I did last summer.
The motor has been the money pit. I only wanted to do it once and I had already built the trans before I looked into the motor. That was a mistake. I didn't take any pictures of the motor build. I worked with a motor builder in Lansing MI that my brother was doing some engineering stuff for. They didn't charge me labor and sold me all the parts at their cost. It hink part of it was because I had no dead line and told them to work on it when they had free time. Basically they were saviors for this. The motor started life as a LA360 out of a ramcharger. It got a stroker kit in the bottom end and it was completly balanced because they guys had some free time to kill between projects. The heads received all new springs and valves. Even a set of roller rockers for a little bling. It has a baby cam in it because I didn't want it to be so radical I couldn't drive it. The intake is a RPM air gap witha truck avenger carb. Ran it on the dyno with a set of small chambered long tube headers. I was hoping to use the headers ont he jeep but they don't clear the frame rails.
Motor on the dyno
The trans and transfer case were built in my apartment.
Then this summer I hauled these back to MI and put them behind the motor.
Now at this point I had the motor mounts in but no idea on what I was going to do for a trans mount. These are still in progress pictures.
I know that it isn't ideal but I just want it to drive then I can go back and change the major things.
SO that brings us up to today. first time with any actual weight on the springs.
And of course some flex testing.
That looks pretty good, but the front is a mess
The bronco springs are way to stiff. But it rolls and for now that is what I needed.
Loaded on the trailer to come south
My dad sitting there in disbelieve that it is actually leaving his house.
So basically it is a roller that needs...
wiring
brakes for the rear axle and front
plumbing, motor, cooling systems and brakes. I have a fuel cell that I can run.
cage
seats.
Some concers of mine. It is really tall. the tires that I have for rollers measure 29 inches. it is sprng over in the rear so I could change that and I have lots of adjustability in the front springs but when I start messing with that it changes the castor angles. I could get different wedges for the castor but I would just be guessing and am trying hard not to just throw money blindly. BUt it is a learning curve and I apparantly am a slow learner with this thing. But for now I will just keep going slowly on it. The next things I would like to get done are the rear axle, wiring and plumbing. All of those things will go slowly.
