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I bought this 1979 CJ7 last year around this time. It kind of ran and kind of drove, not very well and the old factory 304 was very tired. It came with an orignal Hardtop, the old style hard doors, original softtop w/soft doors and all mounting hardware. The fenders were shot, holes in the floorboards, body mounts rotted, fuel tank leaking and of course the rockers were swiss cheese. Seats were out of some sort of pontiac sedan, dash and guages all intact and seemed to work initially. The previous owner was good enough to install a T-18 4 speed w/granny low at some point which was a bonus! As for the frame... the previous owners had applied so much undercoating over the years that it is pristine front to back, it is going to be a big job removing it all but I am not complaining. I chose this chasis as it seemed like it had not seen excessive abuse over the years and time iteself was its only enemy.

Here she is fresh off the trailer when I bought it home. And yes that winch works...

Greetings, I have just planted the first seed of my new off road build. The last one was a Toyota 4Runner on tons but now I'm moving back to the Jeep side of the equation. I needed a place to document the build so here I am.

******************** WARNING! ***********************
If you cringe when sheet metal gets cut up, frames get stretched, engines swapped or generally nothing kept stock in a Jeep then be warned this thread is not for you! There will be carnage, parts will fly, but in the end it will be beautiful.
********************* END WARNING ********************

The Plan for this build...
My last off-road rig build was a purpose built rock crawler truggy with full custom tube work based on a 2002 Toyota 4Runner. First time I had ever gone that extreme with a build. The only thing I regretted with the build is not making it streetable.
This time I want a super...

A literal barn find CJ7 I recently purchased from my Father. Has been sitting in storage since 1998. 80,000 miles and all original, except a re-paint job back in the 90s.
My plan is to clean/repair/replace every "system" in order to get it back up and running.

Systems worked on thus far since April...
-Cooling: New water pump, t-stat & housing. All new hoses and fittings for the heater hoses at the intake manifold. Radiator taken to shop for cleanout and rehab (still waiting on it). New radiator hoses and cap.
-Fuel: Dropped fuel tank to clean out/flush. New rubber hoses at top of tank. New filler & vent hose at tank. Tore off the Carter BBD carb (what a train-wreck that thing is!!). Beginning the install of Howell TBI system. Replacing all vac lines.
-Oil: Oil change and filter change. Replacing valve cover with new Aluminum unit and new Felpro silicone gasket (still waiting on correct Gasket).

I'm selling take-off items as I go, such as...
-Hard top
-Hard doors...

It started many years ago with a dark green jeep with a bad paint job hiding bad rust repair work a inline 6 that got to the point that it took an MSD 6 box to make it idle, a T4 4 speed, an AMC 20 rear (2 piece axles of course) and a D30 front

I had to rebuild the rear axle after I took a road trip to Hot Springs AR listening to the pinion bearing howling. I drove in the fast lane the whole way home so I could hear it really well. I scared someone who was sleeping in the passenger seat of an Explorer since it was so loud

When I got home I thought it was the output bearing of the T4 so I traded it in on a reman T5. Woops, well after that didnt work I ordered new bearings and a Lockright and rebuilt the rear.i chiped a tooth on the ring gear and had to buy a used set to finish the rebuild which was a 3.54 so it didnt match the front axle anymore. So begins the long jurney it had as a 2 wheel drive. Not to long after that I started hearing the...