Build Thread 1974 CJ5 Build & rebuild
jeepn4evr
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- 1974 CJ5 - 258 from an 85 CJ7, hopefully soon to be replaced with a FI 4.0 HO from a 96 Cherokee, T-18 tranny, stock brakes, gears & axles (d30f & D44r), hopefully soon to be replaced with wide tracks & disc brakes. Body restored
So been on here lurking a bit. Thought I would start a thread on what I am working on. First a little history on the Jeeo
November 6,1996 - Saw Jeep for sale, test drove, negotiated price with dealer & paid $2200 for it
1974 CJ5 , AMC 258 i6 / 4.2l , 3 spd tranny, 31 in tires, stock everything, Bestop soft top, rear tire carrier attached to body
Early 1997 - While driving it was acting up somewhere in the driveline. Thought it was the tranny, but not sure. Parked it in front of my parents house & discovered it was the hubs. While Jeep immobile stopped by local Mile HIgh Jeep Rebuilders & ended up leaving with new hubs & a rebuilt T-18 . Swapped out the T-18 . Ended up doing the clutch 3 times as we didn’t know what we were doing & finally got it right. While tranny was out inspected Jeep a little further. Found that seats were shot & had 2x4s in place of padding. Front floor pans were shot & hidden by carpet (next time I buy a CJ now know what to look for lesson learned). Removed the rusty parts & pop riveted floor pans in. Got some generic hi back seats from JC whitney. Removed rear tire carrier as attachment was suspicious. Also installed a 2in body lift, 1 in greasable shackles all the way around & a 2.5 in suspension lift. Went 4 wheeling before buying tires (still on 31s with lift) & surprised a group of Jeeps that all had lockers, V8s & 35s that I kept up with them. Shortly after bought 33 x 12.50 Mud terrains.
Mid to late 1999- Get tired of the rats nest of wires & purchase a Painless wiring system. Take it to a shop & have them install it as electrical isn't my cup of tea. They also installed bumpers & winch that I had bought. Winch never worked right so ended up taking if off a few years later after hauling around unneeded weight.
2003 - Decided to Clean jeep up a little & maybe paint it. Removed soft top & all hardware, keeping it for a while, but ended up throwing or giving it away as decided to go only with a bikini top. Removed most of interior, surface rust & found bondo & things that had been brazed under the paint. Decided to take Jeep to sandblaster, WOW what a disaster. Ended up taking Jeep to a guy that could literally rebuild the body in his shop down to the correct body lines. He replaced the front floor pans, both rear fenders & all the other rust found on the Jeep.. Since the rockers had rust on them & practically weren't there I had him remove the inch or so of metal on the rockers & also move my rocker gaurds up. He also builds a roll cage for the front 2 seats attached to the original roll bar, cuts my fenders to flat fenders, installed a 21 gal fuel tank for me & then makes & installs a skid plate for it (you can literally lift the whole jeep off the ground on this skid plate). While he was working on that I take the hood to get louvered. The tailgate was too damaged for him to fix so he found me another one & I kept the original for future garage art. After getting all that done I was out of money for a bit so I covered the jeep with a tarp real good & it sat for a few months.
Early 2004 - Finally had some money & had moved back to parents house in order to save more money & buy my own house someday. At any rate now I had more of my dads help as well as his garage to finish Jeep, for this round anyway. First thing I did was clean & organize the garage so I could park my Jeep (& motorcycle) in there & have room to walk around. Took roll cage out & removed dash & all gauges. Got an aluminum black diamond plate dash stamped for 76 & newer form Warrior Products. Took roll cage to be powdercoated black along with other odds & ends. Did body work on Jeep in prep for paint in mean time. Once I got the roll cage back I then covered about 90% of it with padding & Wrapz (roll bar cover) & installed the seats, seat belts etc. Talked to my neighbor who had just opened a body & paint shot & he said he could finish the bodywork & paint it for $1200. Spent an hour or so looking for the right color & ended up with a color a friend described as “Army metallic Green”. Dropped it off at his shop & in mean time got new gauges & switches & started getting dash back together. Bought new dash lights with 3 extra “lights”. Installed those where the heater controls are on a 76 & newer with switched next to them controlling extra lights up front, rock lights underneath & on back. Installed the tack, but cut the hole to big & was able to get another neighbor to cut me some washers out of sheet metal. (Tach never worked & turns out it was bad). Bought & installed an oil pressure gauge. Decided while the stock steering column & wheel was neat (retro & all) I wanted tilt steering & a smaller wheel. Bought a Flaming River column with tilt, hazards & turn signal on & installed it. Could have bought one with ignition on the column but decided I wanted to leave that on the dash. Had to jerry rig a clamp from a chain link fence to get it installed but it worked. Once I got the Jeep back I herculined the interior of the tub. Looked real nice but hasn’t held up real well. Not sure if it was the product or how I applied it etc. Now wish I had spent the $500 or so & had it Rhino Lined. Began putting Jeep back together. Removed heater core (heater never worked right anyway & with only a bikini top heat wouldn’t be very conducive) & rerouted heater lines in engine to account for that. Installed a deeper glove box with locking door. (kinda neat but don't use it for much other than locking a gun or wifes purse up occasionally if out & about). Somewhere in here I also removed the 2in body lift as I had lost a few pucks & replaced it with a 3in body lift, bringing total lift to 6 in. Made & installed a custom mount for my CB. Got Jeep all back together & started driving it again.
2006 ish - Engine was running on 5 cylinders & mechanic I used had a customer building an engine for his Jeep meaning his AMC 258 i6 / 4.2l was for sale. Guy had taken meticulous care of it & mechanic could install it for what I thought a decent fee. So I removed my engine & took Jeep down there, along with a power steering unit from an 83 Grand Wagoneer I picked up. They installed engine & power steering setup. Man a lot easier to turn wheel especially when its stuck on a rock. Unfortunately I now don’t blow fire from exhaust when sitting at lights occasionally. (Sitting next to one lady she almost had a heart attack when that happened as exhaust was same height as her window). Somewhere around this time I also installed power brakes taken from same Jeep Grand Wagoneer.
So I had been driving Jeep for quite a while & the tach didn’t work & neither did the speedometer or gas gauge. I found a Windjammer that fit a YJ for cheap so I bought it & was able to install it pretty easily. Now not so much rain or snow on my neck when driving in weather. I also installed a center console, basically a gear box of some sort attached to the roll cage with U bolts. Found a used Warn winch for a good price so I bought it & had a friend make me a mounting plate for it so I could install it.
Fast forward to now, I am married, have 1 kid & we will have at least one more. Jeep hasn’t been out of the city in over 3 years due to the fact I was traveling a lot to date my now wife as she lived out of state & now that we have a kid & only 2 seats its hard for us to take off. Which brings us to the current rebuild of making it more family & weather friendly. This will include getting all the little things that don’t work to work as well as installing a heater, soft top, rear seat & belts & attaching those to the roll cage.
List of fixes/upgrades:
Replace tachometer - DONE
Install dash Clock - DONE
Fix cigarette lighters/ power points - DONE
Fix or replace speedometer & fuel gauge
Remove roll cage - DONE
Remove CB & antennas - DONE
Remove CB antenna mounts - DONE
Remove front seats & Console - DONE
See about replacing front console
Remove roll bar padding & cover - DONE
Cut stock lip off roll cage - DONE
Buy additional stock roll bar - DONE
use parts to make back hoop
Prep Roll cage for welding - Partially Done
Plan out how to attach back part of roll cage with back seat
Install back seat & 3 point seat belts into roll cage
Install LATCH type setup for carseats
Install Mojave Heater
Install new soft top
Figure out how to be able to take on & off with roll cage
What's left doesn’t seem like a lot, but remember I am working on it at my parents garage since I don’t have one & its also outside so I am only working during daylight & good weather. Also I don’t have a welder or welding skills so I either need to find someone to help or take it to a shop & pay for it, which I don’t want to do due to being light on funds. In addition to that I have a camper to fix so we can go camping as well as get my backyard ready for a garage that is coming the first week of July thanks to my brother in law. Not to mention if my mom has a garage sale it can’t be worked on, fortunately I have other projects to attend to. All that to say, it might be awhile before it gets done, but I am hoping to have it on the road by the time my brother in law comes so we can play with it.
I will post some pictures in a bit
November 6,1996 - Saw Jeep for sale, test drove, negotiated price with dealer & paid $2200 for it
1974 CJ5 , AMC 258 i6 / 4.2l , 3 spd tranny, 31 in tires, stock everything, Bestop soft top, rear tire carrier attached to body
Early 1997 - While driving it was acting up somewhere in the driveline. Thought it was the tranny, but not sure. Parked it in front of my parents house & discovered it was the hubs. While Jeep immobile stopped by local Mile HIgh Jeep Rebuilders & ended up leaving with new hubs & a rebuilt T-18 . Swapped out the T-18 . Ended up doing the clutch 3 times as we didn’t know what we were doing & finally got it right. While tranny was out inspected Jeep a little further. Found that seats were shot & had 2x4s in place of padding. Front floor pans were shot & hidden by carpet (next time I buy a CJ now know what to look for lesson learned). Removed the rusty parts & pop riveted floor pans in. Got some generic hi back seats from JC whitney. Removed rear tire carrier as attachment was suspicious. Also installed a 2in body lift, 1 in greasable shackles all the way around & a 2.5 in suspension lift. Went 4 wheeling before buying tires (still on 31s with lift) & surprised a group of Jeeps that all had lockers, V8s & 35s that I kept up with them. Shortly after bought 33 x 12.50 Mud terrains.
Mid to late 1999- Get tired of the rats nest of wires & purchase a Painless wiring system. Take it to a shop & have them install it as electrical isn't my cup of tea. They also installed bumpers & winch that I had bought. Winch never worked right so ended up taking if off a few years later after hauling around unneeded weight.
2003 - Decided to Clean jeep up a little & maybe paint it. Removed soft top & all hardware, keeping it for a while, but ended up throwing or giving it away as decided to go only with a bikini top. Removed most of interior, surface rust & found bondo & things that had been brazed under the paint. Decided to take Jeep to sandblaster, WOW what a disaster. Ended up taking Jeep to a guy that could literally rebuild the body in his shop down to the correct body lines. He replaced the front floor pans, both rear fenders & all the other rust found on the Jeep.. Since the rockers had rust on them & practically weren't there I had him remove the inch or so of metal on the rockers & also move my rocker gaurds up. He also builds a roll cage for the front 2 seats attached to the original roll bar, cuts my fenders to flat fenders, installed a 21 gal fuel tank for me & then makes & installs a skid plate for it (you can literally lift the whole jeep off the ground on this skid plate). While he was working on that I take the hood to get louvered. The tailgate was too damaged for him to fix so he found me another one & I kept the original for future garage art. After getting all that done I was out of money for a bit so I covered the jeep with a tarp real good & it sat for a few months.
Early 2004 - Finally had some money & had moved back to parents house in order to save more money & buy my own house someday. At any rate now I had more of my dads help as well as his garage to finish Jeep, for this round anyway. First thing I did was clean & organize the garage so I could park my Jeep (& motorcycle) in there & have room to walk around. Took roll cage out & removed dash & all gauges. Got an aluminum black diamond plate dash stamped for 76 & newer form Warrior Products. Took roll cage to be powdercoated black along with other odds & ends. Did body work on Jeep in prep for paint in mean time. Once I got the roll cage back I then covered about 90% of it with padding & Wrapz (roll bar cover) & installed the seats, seat belts etc. Talked to my neighbor who had just opened a body & paint shot & he said he could finish the bodywork & paint it for $1200. Spent an hour or so looking for the right color & ended up with a color a friend described as “Army metallic Green”. Dropped it off at his shop & in mean time got new gauges & switches & started getting dash back together. Bought new dash lights with 3 extra “lights”. Installed those where the heater controls are on a 76 & newer with switched next to them controlling extra lights up front, rock lights underneath & on back. Installed the tack, but cut the hole to big & was able to get another neighbor to cut me some washers out of sheet metal. (Tach never worked & turns out it was bad). Bought & installed an oil pressure gauge. Decided while the stock steering column & wheel was neat (retro & all) I wanted tilt steering & a smaller wheel. Bought a Flaming River column with tilt, hazards & turn signal on & installed it. Could have bought one with ignition on the column but decided I wanted to leave that on the dash. Had to jerry rig a clamp from a chain link fence to get it installed but it worked. Once I got the Jeep back I herculined the interior of the tub. Looked real nice but hasn’t held up real well. Not sure if it was the product or how I applied it etc. Now wish I had spent the $500 or so & had it Rhino Lined. Began putting Jeep back together. Removed heater core (heater never worked right anyway & with only a bikini top heat wouldn’t be very conducive) & rerouted heater lines in engine to account for that. Installed a deeper glove box with locking door. (kinda neat but don't use it for much other than locking a gun or wifes purse up occasionally if out & about). Somewhere in here I also removed the 2in body lift as I had lost a few pucks & replaced it with a 3in body lift, bringing total lift to 6 in. Made & installed a custom mount for my CB. Got Jeep all back together & started driving it again.
2006 ish - Engine was running on 5 cylinders & mechanic I used had a customer building an engine for his Jeep meaning his AMC 258 i6 / 4.2l was for sale. Guy had taken meticulous care of it & mechanic could install it for what I thought a decent fee. So I removed my engine & took Jeep down there, along with a power steering unit from an 83 Grand Wagoneer I picked up. They installed engine & power steering setup. Man a lot easier to turn wheel especially when its stuck on a rock. Unfortunately I now don’t blow fire from exhaust when sitting at lights occasionally. (Sitting next to one lady she almost had a heart attack when that happened as exhaust was same height as her window). Somewhere around this time I also installed power brakes taken from same Jeep Grand Wagoneer.
So I had been driving Jeep for quite a while & the tach didn’t work & neither did the speedometer or gas gauge. I found a Windjammer that fit a YJ for cheap so I bought it & was able to install it pretty easily. Now not so much rain or snow on my neck when driving in weather. I also installed a center console, basically a gear box of some sort attached to the roll cage with U bolts. Found a used Warn winch for a good price so I bought it & had a friend make me a mounting plate for it so I could install it.
Fast forward to now, I am married, have 1 kid & we will have at least one more. Jeep hasn’t been out of the city in over 3 years due to the fact I was traveling a lot to date my now wife as she lived out of state & now that we have a kid & only 2 seats its hard for us to take off. Which brings us to the current rebuild of making it more family & weather friendly. This will include getting all the little things that don’t work to work as well as installing a heater, soft top, rear seat & belts & attaching those to the roll cage.
List of fixes/upgrades:
Replace tachometer - DONE
Install dash Clock - DONE
Fix cigarette lighters/ power points - DONE
Fix or replace speedometer & fuel gauge
Remove roll cage - DONE
Remove CB & antennas - DONE
Remove CB antenna mounts - DONE
Remove front seats & Console - DONE
See about replacing front console
Remove roll bar padding & cover - DONE
Cut stock lip off roll cage - DONE
Buy additional stock roll bar - DONE
use parts to make back hoop
Prep Roll cage for welding - Partially Done
Plan out how to attach back part of roll cage with back seat
Install back seat & 3 point seat belts into roll cage
Install LATCH type setup for carseats
Install Mojave Heater
Install new soft top
Figure out how to be able to take on & off with roll cage
What's left doesn’t seem like a lot, but remember I am working on it at my parents garage since I don’t have one & its also outside so I am only working during daylight & good weather. Also I don’t have a welder or welding skills so I either need to find someone to help or take it to a shop & pay for it, which I don’t want to do due to being light on funds. In addition to that I have a camper to fix so we can go camping as well as get my backyard ready for a garage that is coming the first week of July thanks to my brother in law. Not to mention if my mom has a garage sale it can’t be worked on, fortunately I have other projects to attend to. All that to say, it might be awhile before it gets done, but I am hoping to have it on the road by the time my brother in law comes so we can play with it.
I will post some pictures in a bit
