Build Thread '76 CJ5 351w Swap

[cglax6]

Planning for this swap has been in the making for a little over a year now. As of right now, the engine is 90% complete and will be ready to drop in once I outline the other things I'm going to upgrade along the way. Please be patient with me since I've only just started tearing things out this evening.

What's getting done:
351w
Ford T-18
Dana 20
Sniper EFI
In-tank fuel pump
Speedhut gauges
Painless wiring harness
New radiator
Electric Fans

Pics of the engine build to follow...

The block came out of an 85 F250 at a local junk yard. Took it to the local machine shop to get cleaned, honed and prepped for rebuild. Block was in great shape and no flaws. They bored it out to .030 to get the cylinder walls back in shape. I also has them internally balance the rotating assembly. Probably a little overboard, but it wasn't too much extra.

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[cglax6]

Cam, timing, heads, lifters and rods all in place.

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[cglax6]

Rockers and valve covers in place.

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[cglax6]

Timing cover, water pump, brackets, power steering, alternator and pulleys.

V-belt kit was from CVR Racing. Not crazy expensive, but great quality.

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[cglax6]

All of the engine work took me over a year to complete. I've been plagued with some nasty medical issues. I've had two neck surgeries, and three elbow surgeries to correct some nerve issues in the last couple of years. It really slowed down my progress.

I'll never get back to 100%, but I'm healthy enough to get back into the project.

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[cglax6]

I have a whole box of goodies from EFISystemPro.com

I purchased a Sniper kit from them along with their Hyperspark ignition system and distributor to control timing. Again, a little overboard, bit it's mine!

Also ordered Holly's retrofit in-tank fuel pump for good measure. The pump has an internal regulator so I don't have to worry about it on the other end. I'll be cutting an access to the fuel pump under the back seat so I don't have to drop the tank if there's ever an issue.

I have the 21ga poly tank from MTS, so I had to get a longer bracket for the fuel pump. In retrospect, I could have just used a piece of aluminum stock and cut it to size instead of pay Holley for their overpriced piece of aluminum.

Install was pretty simple. Cut a 3.25" hole in the top. Clean out the garbage in the tank. Put all the pieces together and clamp it down.

The pump kit came with Holley's Hydramat. Basically a fancy fuel sock that sucks every last drop out of the tank. I don't plan on ever running the tank dry, but I got a piece long enough to go diagonally across the tank for any inclines I may encounter.

That's it for tonight. Need to slow down for a minute and figure out my next step. Most likely strip all wiring to prep for the new Painless harness.

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[Belizean]

Nice stuff ! Don't over work your body. You only get one.

 

[TnCJ]

Lookin good!! I'll be following along.
Good looking deer and turkey fans on the wall as well!

 

[gert]

Dude very cool build, I don’t plan on running my tank dry either.... but I have more than once lol

I didn’t see you list what Transfer Case or axles you are going to use do you know yet?


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[cglax6]

Lookin good!! I'll be following along.
Good looking deer and turkey fans on the wall as well!

Hahaha, thanks! Been a while since I've got the woods with all my dumb medical stuff going on. Will have to transition to crossbow this year. Been shooting traditional longbow and recurve for the last 17 years. Hope to be back up to snuff in the next year or two so I can get back to trad.

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[cglax6]

Dude very cool build, I don’t plan on running my tank dry either.... but I have more than once lol

I didn’t see you list what Transfer Case or axles you are going to use do you know yet?


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I've run mine dry once...quarter mile from the house.

I'll be using a twin stick Dana 20 with the Ford T-18 .

Not doing any work on the axles. That's already been done. Dana 30 up front with stronger axles. I already put a Dana 44 in the rear, so all of that work is done.

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[cglax6]

Forgot to mention this for all you folks looking to get a bigger tank from MTS. I ran the CJ as close to empty as I was comfortable doing and let it sit idling in the driveway until it ran out of fuel.

I dropped the tank and emptied out the remaining fuel and I measured 5 gallons. So that 21 gallon tank I have only had 16 usable gallons in it. With the new internal fuel pump and Hydramat, I'll have the whole tank to work with if I wanted to.

I bent the float down a touch to where empty would give me somewhere between 1-2 gallons left.

A cool feature with the Speedhut gauge is that you can manually set where you E and F marks should be.

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[TnCJ]

Hahaha, thanks! Been a while since I've got the woods with all my dumb medical stuff going on. Will have to transition to crossbow this year. Been shooting traditional longbow and recurve for the last 17 years. Hope to be back up to snuff in the next year or two so I can get back to trad.

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I know the feeling all to well. I killed my first deer many many years ago with a Bear Kodiak Magnum, compounds were illegal then. A couple of years ago I had to retire my compound because of shoulder and eyesight problems and go to an Xbow. I like my Excalibur but it's not the challenge or as much fun as shooting my compound or recurve.
Hopefully you will be able to get back to shooting the traditional stuff soon.

 

[cglax6]

Did some more work today. Removed steering wheel and dash. Soooooo many wire nuts behind the dash...I made the right choice by replacing all the wiring. If I switched on the turn signal, the dash lights would blink. Side markers wouldn't work, and a lot of the wiring is just sketchy.

Also found out that the speedo was hanging on for dear life. Two of the studs were broken off. Need to figure out the solution for that. I'll consider a new dash...I like the stuff that DD Fab puts out. And I'd be able to customize it. Not sure though.

That's a mechanical oil pressure gauge hanging down on the last pic.

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[cglax6]

Decided I wasn't done for the night. Pulled the wiring from under the hood. What a mess.

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[gert]

I've run mine dry once...quarter mile from the house.

I'll be using a twin stick Dana 20 with the Ford T-18 .

Not doing any work on the axles. That's already been done. Dana 30 up front with stronger axles. I already put a Dana 44 in the rear, so all of that work is done.

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That’s a really good combo


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[cglax6]

Did a little more work tonight. Pulled the rest of Medusa out. She didn't turn me to stone, but I must have banged my hands on 10 different prices of sharp metal pulling out cable runs and connections. All of the wiring is out now. Next step will be to pull the engine. Need to find a puller somewhere...

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[gert]

There is a cherry picker in Dallas if need to borrow it lol


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[cglax6]

A little more progress today. Drained and pulled the radiator. Pulled the front clip and fenders...removed the hood. This weekend, I'll get the engine ready to pull. Still need to make friends with someone with an engine puller

Freakin' PO never ceases to amaze me. He glued the front clip to the fenders and fenders to the tub with clear silicone. It was a pain in the <-BAD WORD-> to pull apart. I'll need to touch up the areas that pulled paint off. I don't know, maybe that's normal. Only justification that I can think of is to keep down on wearing the paint down to bare metal and becoming an issue later.

I took the dash into a couple paint shops that have a color match camera. All evidence points to Toyota Orange from 75-79. Showed up as 6 on the computer. Next closest was rated in the 40s.

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[Project86]

I used DD gauges in my build and would recommend. If my build thread updates one day and you can check 'em out. By any means not taking up for the PO, but he may have been trying to stop water leaking in. Keep the pictures coming, I'm following along.