Build Thread '66 CJ5 project

[peep6543]

haha ya guess not! Already worn a pair of shoes through the sole.

 

[peep6543]

This weekend I was on my own with a buddy and we focused on the body lean and basic cosmetics. After last time we left the rear springs not quite secured, today we finished bolting them down with new hardware. Aired up the tires and the body lean magically disappeared. The highest point of the tub on the rear, just to either side of the tailgate, measured wthin a 1/2 inch of each other! 47.1" ground to corner on the passenger side, 46.75" on the driver side.

Picked up the roll bar and tailgate and mocked them up. Tailgate looks much straighter and fits very well. We haven't drilled new holes for the bar yet, I was going to look around and decide where exactly it should go. We spent all saturday and sunday with the palm sander and metal grinder smoothing out the body. The PO had a pretty rough roll-on paint job that had runs and roll marks everywhere. We also smoothed out rough spots on the hood and windshielf frame. Inside the tub and along edge we removed any old rusted out hardware and brackets remaining from a soft top and a few brackets that held nothing. Removed the old shift boots but holding the retainer rings, they are fine. A gasket scraper spent a considerable amount of time in my hard cleaning the surface of the inside of the tub down to bare metal. NO cancer inside or out, solid metal all the way through. It just looks better all around and that makes anyone happy. It looks like less like and more like a CJ being resurrected. And that's worth something.

I'm really happy with the amount of work we got done. I need to move it closer to street legal and replace a few more parts. I have a few new pics that will be up later this evening when I get home.

Cheers

 

[66cj5a]

Transmission should be a Dana 19, look for a tag on top the shift tower or on the inspection plate on top the Transmission .

 

[66cj5a]

and prob a Dana 18 Transfer Case .

 

[peep6543]

Ok, I thought maybe it was a T-15 and Dana 20 ? the Transfer Case boot measures 6" wide by 8" long. The tailgate I got isn't stamped with 'jeep' or 'willys' so is it military?

The last pic shows just after I got it. Tough to see the old dented hood there, or how the old tailgate didn't line up, but you can see some of the old hardware I dismissed finally.

 

[IOPort51]

what is the 6 point roll bar from? it almost looks like it belongs.

 

[peep6543]

Ya almost... the middle bar is actually stock, the PO shaved the rear angled support bars and added the front two and rear two points. The welds were very poor, not lined up correctly, it wasn't tied to the frame, spots were rusted out, and it had a bunch of junk adhesive and foam all over it. Stinks I'm back at my desk 2 hours away, I would love to put in a few more full days work on her, I think I'm in love...

 

[66cj5a]

What's the status now? Need info......

 

[peep6543]

Status regarding what exactly?

 

[peep6543]

Anybody know a good place to buy windshield wiper arms? I was busy stripping so much off the CJ that I forgot it must have 2 on there to be street legal.

Don't need anything too fancy.

 

[peep6543]

Nevermind! Jeep4x4center.com looks to have about everything I need. No more silly questions from me, I'm a big boy I can figure it out .

 

[54cj3b]

1966 CJ5 came with either the 134 f head 4 cyl or the V-6 225 Dauntless Buick 225 V6 motor
Its a T-90 with a dana 18 Transfer Case , Front axle is a dana 27
rear is a Dana 44 that jeep also came with either 6 or 12 volt system

any other questions just ask
Im a willysaholic

 

[peep6543]

Thanks pal, I appreciate it. Mine has a Buick 231 from an 84 regal in it, but pretty sure its the same tranny. Here is a pic of the boots before I tore them out and also the ones I ordered. Hope I didn't mess up.

 

[54cj3b]

you can find any of the parts you need here www.kaiserwillys.com heres a few of my 54cj3b should be finished hopefuly by july I put a 4.3 with a sm465 Transmission Dana 20 in it also wraped the whole tub in 1/4inch alum diamond plate

 

[peep6543]

looks great, nice work! the diamond plate really pops and so does that grille. Question, what product did you use on the frame? the gray turned out fantastic and looks like it will keep the integrity for a while.

 

[peep6543]

Great site btw!! Definitely some parts on there I need and will have ordered before mine is back on the road. thanks a bunch!

 

[54cj3b]

. Question, what product did you use on the frame? the gray turned out fantastic and looks like it will keep the integrity for a while.

first I sent out the frame and had it sand blasted then they used a powder coat based primer,then when I got it home I sprayed it with detroit diesl teal green engine enamel I bought a gal from my local auto parts store special order.then trailered it to my freinds shop where I had him bake it on after that 2 coats of urethain clear and baked it another 20 min total cost to do this was around $500.
I got a good deal on the alum diamond plate $85. a 4x8 sheet norm it sells for like $190. to $220. a sheet I used 1 1/2 sheets
the diamond plate was a project by itself the 1/4 is hard to bend and cut till I found the trick to cut it . may sound stupid but it worked great clean sraight cuts used a circular saw with a 15 tooth plywood ripping blade cut it like butter but fabbing it to fit was time consuming took about a week to get all the peices cut and bent to fit right than another 2 days to drill out 500+ holes for the 1/4 inch carriage bolts ,thank god for air tool to tighten all the nutslooking for the picts of the motor I installed must be on my other computer Ill get some of the dash I covered with stainless also

 

[peep6543]

That looks great, the foam cleans it up well and obviously serves function. I'm just a weekend warrior otherwise I would love to tackle something like that. When I had my 92 XJ Sport in high school I fabbed some diamond plate mud guards just behind each wheel, and one for the gas tank door. Seeing your pics and garage setup are making me go through Jeep withdrawals! I will only get to work on Saturday this weekend but should have the entire next weekend. I still NEED:

Radiator re-cored
coolant reservoir bottle
autochoke tune
steering column support

After that its a matter of getting it legalized and cleaned up.

 

[peep6543]

Update- Went to the Mariner's game sunday so only got to work on Saturday but the last few weeks have really seen the rig take strides. We tackled a few things that need to be taken care of. First we mounted the roll bar so its finally on for good. I've got the front bar lined up pretty close to the front of each fender well so it would protect the driver and passenger heads above all else. Pretty happy with that bar rather than the homemade cage that was in it. We also installed all new shackle bolts to finish tinkering with the suspension. Remember it had a lean to it but after swapping the rear springs it leveled out so we decided to top it off with new hardware. The electrical system is a little funky so we also started working on that. The headlights work fine but the blinkers have a wire that was snipped and the blinker arm is busted on the tilt column so we bought a flasher kit to wire up and mount on the column. We had to run a new wire from the blinkers back to the fuse block and complete the circuit so that works now also. The brake lights really didn't do anything so we found the switch to engage the brake lights, rewired it and now they light up ok. One side lights up moreso so there is still connection somewhere in the back that is draining one side a bit. Also if you have been following you know there is an electricity switch and then a push button start. No more. We removed the push button with a NAPA 3-stage key start and wired both to the back of it. Not only can it turn on the electricty and start her up, but I actually have keys to it now!! pretty exciting, and it is a bit more difficult to steal. Finished the day by spending a few hours sanding,grinding, smoothing out the body and door jams to get ever so closer to fresh paint.

After the day of work I jumped on craigslist and found a 'CJ5 radiator' and windshield frame both for 40 bucks. I need my radiator recored so I thought this would save time and money so I bought it. It was too big. The windshield frame is much better than mine however the glass is awful. I was going to switch the glass when I noticed it is more rectangular and my glass has a slight curve along the top. bummer. At least I can steal the wiper arms/blades/linkage and the chrome wiper cover that came with it! Those parts alone paid for themselves. That will take place next weekend.

I am also looking into buying a smal welder to teach myself and fix a few spots. any tips on what to get or what I need? pretty much need to fix small holes and such, not anything huge.

Thanks for following, more to come soon.

Cheers

 

[peep6543]

Found these up the road. Guy wants 30 bucks for them and says only surface rust and darker spots are just mud because they haven't been cleaned. I think with the wire wheel and some elbow grease I could clean them up a bit. Can't argue with 30 bucks for original CJ wheels.