Build Thread 1986 CJ7 Build

[CJC]

-Clocked the t-case up another hole in the adapter ring. Looks better and sits about level with the bottom of the transmission now. The mount for the shifters fits tight against the transmission now too. There’s a little pocket there in the passenger side of the NP435 that looks like it’s made for that.
View attachment 103467

-I’m leaning towards bending just the inboard shifter a bit outward. Overall, they look pretty good.
View attachment 103468

Nice! With my AX15 conversion I had to clock it to the lowest position to clear the Transmission . This also gave the front drive shaft more clearance from the bell housing. I did have to trim the tub floor so the shifters would fit. Great build

 

[KRUPP]

-Had a little time this evening to work on my cross pan/skid plate/tran mount issue.
I decided that to be most-efficient, I’d re-use the steel plate. So, I cut out the section of plate as square as possible. The section removed was the minimum to clear the NP435 Transmission ’s drooping belly. My plan was to just flip this cutout section and re-use it.


-I flipped the piece, rotating it so the belly was down, instead of up. It actually fit fairly well when welding back in place. Afterwards, I notched out the front of it to clear the Transmission , but no big deal.
I think it worked out great!



-Looks like they pressed it in Toledo.


-Next, I’ll get rid of that 2” drop (rock catcher) for the dipping Transfer Case , which I no longer have, in this same steel piece. Plan is to re-use steel again and cut accordingly.

 

[KRUPP]

-Worked on eliminating that 2” droop in the cross pan/skid plate. Cutting/hammering/welding/grinding did the trick. Looks pretty good.

Before…


After…



-Cut new holes for shifters in the new tunnel cover panel. Much different location now for the Transmission shifter. Still have to get a new boot too, since original one isn’t near wide or tall enough. Also, heated up the inboard Transfer Case shifter right at the bend and bent it a tad outboard. Hopefully it clears the Transmission shifter when in reverse. I’ll see later.

 

[KRUPP]

Mar 31, 25:
-Got everything buttoned up. Only had to drill one new hole in the cross pan/skid plate for the new location for the Transmission mount.
Kept the same spacing from center of output shaft to skid plate in order to maintain the same driveshaft angle at the rear. Reused the rubber mount and the original steel channel and a 1/8” steel plate spacer. I chopped the channel though, since I didn’t go the torque arm route again.


-Used some heat at the lower bend of the gear shifter, while in the vice, to bend the stick a bit inwards. In a much better position now. Reinstalled shifter with new spring, cap and small rubber boot. Should get the new, larger, upper boot in a day or so.

-It quit raining/sleeting/snowing in the afternoon. I was really itching to take it for a test drive. Got all ready and bundled up but the battery was dead. Perfect!
After a bit of charging she fired right up and creeped out the garage door. Good oil pressure indicated from new pump.
New clutch seemed perfect. No throwout bearing noise, just a nice hissss when engaging. Transmission sounded fine and after babying it a few blocks, I went up through the gears with no issues. Very happy it went ok.

Everything ok on test drive, except the tachometer. Have to give her a knuckle tap to wake it up.

 

[Belizean]

Nice work. Those JB twin sticks are great. Only thing I disliked was their boot. I used a Stronghold shift boot and that worked great and dressed it up.

 

[KRUPP]

Thanks Belizean. Not very often that we don't encounter a problem or two with this many new/changed things. I'm knocking on wood now, but I'm sure an adjustment or two is coming.

The Strongwell Boots are nice how they combine the 3 shifters under 1 bezel. However, I'm doubting it'd work in this application because of how far forward the NP435 shifter is, compared to the OEM T-176 .
Maybe you could do me a favor and measure your boot from top to bottom?

-Now, it's time for an emissions test before I can re-register the Jeep's tags. This is getting really old having to do this test, which is required every 2 years in the County I live in here in CO. I pleaded with the DMV lady the other day, saying I only put about 200 miles a year on the Jeep, so my Jeep's yearly emissions are probably less than my lawn mower. No luck with an exemption, except that if I buy "Collectors" plates, I only have to do emissions tests every 5 years. Will think about that option.

 

[Belizean]

On the right side it’s just over 8 inches. On the left side, that side goes a little more forward and measured in the middle between gear shift and twin sticks it’s more like 10 inches. I would call them. They make custom ones and I doubt you are the first request for that combo.

 

[Belizean]

About 10 across.

 

[Belizean]

I’m glad I don’t have to contend with those emissions regulations. Not sure mine would pass. I would go for the every 5 years plan.

 

[KRUPP]

Thanks for measuring, Belizian. I think it's too short overall though. I'd have to go the custom route & I'll look at their website and see.
Otherwise, the new upper boot for the Transmission is supposed to arrive today and I'll test fit it to see what it looks like. It's likely that I'll have to overlap the boots at their mounting flanges because of how close they'll be together. We'll see tonight.

 

[KRUPP]

Overlapping was unavoidable for the shifter boots. I ended up with a compromise. It turned out fine.
I do think I’ll take this little panel to get Rhino Lined to match the floor.

 

[Belizean]

Turned out well. I actually like it non rhino-ed.

 

[KRUPP]

Took another test drive yesterday evening. Jeep runs great. Went to the car wash and sprayed off all the crud from the oil pan gasket replacement as well.
Came back home and later that night I noticed the Jeep had decided to take a little leak of coolant. Arrrrgg!
Cleaned up the area a bit and it looks like a stress crack near the upper hose neck. Will try to pressurize and identify the exact location and extent of the leak tonight.

 

[CJ]

Took another test drive yesterday evening. Jeep runs great. Went to the car wash and sprayed off all the crud from the oil pan gasket replacement as well.
Came back home and later that night I noticed the Jeep had decided to take a little leak of coolant. Arrrrgg!
Cleaned up the area a bit and it looks like a stress crack near the upper hose neck. Will try to pressurize and identify the exact location and extent of the leak tonight.
View attachment 103556

Ughh >> Leak

 

[KRUPP]

Yup. Coolant leaks suck!
Fortunately, this one was fairly easy to fix.
Pressurized at the cap and as suspected, crack at upper neck.
Clean, heat, flux, heat, solder. Then pressure test.
Did this a couple times until I observed no bubbles under pressure.
I’m not a radiator guy and much respect for the skills required. Around here, hard to find a single radiator guy.

 

[Belizean]

Yeah I know of no Radiator guys around here anymore. There are a couple of shops that sell them, installing new but don’t fix them.

 

[CJ]

Yeah I know of no Radiator guys around here anymore. There are a couple of shops that sell them, installing new but don’t fix them.

Heck, most "SHOPS" do not even know when to use acid core or rosin core solder...

 

[Belizean]

Probably with the cost of labor it’s just cost effective to toss another Chinee radiator in most cars.

 

[KRUPP]

Affirmative.
I think there are only 2 rad shops in the Denver area. Environmental/chemical issues and throw away plastic radiators are what I’m told is causing their demise.

 

[KRUPP]

My registration is due. But, in the Commie Colorado Front Range, I have to get an emissions test every 2 years. So, I went to the local testing station this afternoon and they said “Can’t test it”. Nearest place was 3 towns and a county away. Fu$k !!
I did it at this same local station 2 years ago !!

I bit the bullet and drove to the next nearest station. About 30 miles later, I’m waiting in a “special test” line for about another 25mins. The kid attempts to drive the Jeep on the dyno, but the test goes for all of 20 seconds. What a joke! They gave me a “Passed” grade and took my $25.
I said thanks and tore out of there.

Guess I got a good test drive out of it, for all the new stuff I’ve done. Jeep ran great, except for 1 thing I noticed.