Build Thread Bill's 75 CJ5 ground up rebuild

Build Thread Bill's 75 CJ5 ground up rebuild
itchy - Thanks man, I'm having fun with it.

I've been working on body stuff, trying to get it ready for paint. First thing I decided was not to try and make the tail gate operational, so I bolted the tail gate I fabricated into place. Then, I decided to re use the old aluminum diamond plate corner guards. I trimmed them up so that the fender flares will fit properly when I mount those, then wire wheeled the guards so they have a brushed aluminum look. Then I fit all the lights at the rear and tryed to fill up any other unused holes in the body. Then took everything back off until after paint.

Next, I finished cleaning up the dash panel and got it in primer. Then I made a cardboard mock up for the panel I want to build to cover all the old holes and hold the gauges. I hope to get a piece of sheet metal in the next few days and get that fabbed up.

It looks like winter is finally going to arrive, so I expect to be blowing snow off the driveway by the weekend. Bill
 
Lookin great Bill! Your doing a fantastic job. Snow yet??? I put the 78 away first snow - November 6th! It's about 10 below now and the wind is blowing like heck. I'd sure like to be in somewhere warm Jeeping with the top off rather than feeding a wood stove and pushing snow... I'll be watching. Dave
 
Awesome Bill!!!! I just got my powder coated diamond plate dash back from the fabricators and hope to have all the new gauges installed back in my 75 in the next week or so. Keep coming w the posts!!!! Amazing job brother:chug:
 
Dave - No snow yet, still up around the 6000' elevation, but maybe this weekend. We looked like we were going to get winter back in Nov, but then it warmed up and no rain or snow since then until now. Gets all the doom & gloomers talking about drought & global warming so it's nice to see a little precipitation again. But 10 below is a little too intense for me! How about jeeping in Hawaii? :drool:

Tonka - Thanks, it's coming along. A friend of mine, who does sheet metal work, was by this morning and I was showing him the progress on the jeep. He asked about my cardboard template for the dash and I told him what I was planning to do. He said he had some scrap stainless sheet and would be happy to fab it up for me. I was just going to use regular sheet metal and paint it, so stainless should look way cool. Anyway, I've been watching your build too and it's coming along nicely.

I've been fooling around trying to get my one piece fiberglass front end unit re-fit. I think when the PPO installed it, because the frame was tweaked a bit, he did some cutting on it to get it to fit. Now that the frame has been straightened, I've had to re-trim it to square it up and get it to fit reasonably against the tub. Big PITA. I've been watching CL for a steel front end clip, but none have come up and I really don't want to put out the $$$ for new. So I'm trying to work with what I've got.

Hope to have some more pics up in a couple of days.

Bill :chug:
 
So it took me longer than a couple of days to get some new pics up. I've been screwing around with the one piece front clip for days, trying to get it the way I want it. I think it's about there. I decided that I wanted to hinge it off the tub so that I can put a winch on in the future. Problem was that the tub edge of the hood was pretty flimsey. So I added a reinforcing strut for some strength and help the hood hold the right shape. I cut it out of wood, glued it and screwed it to the hood, then fiber -glassed it all in place. Seems to work pretty well. After I get the engine back in, I've got a couple of gas struts that I'll figure out how to install to make it easier to lift.

It's amazing how many times I have to assemble, disasamble, then re-assemble stuff to get everything to fit. I went to make up a glove box and realized that I needed to install the heater to make sure the box cleared it. Got the box built, now the heater has got to come back out until later.
 
Lookin great Bill. Isn't it amazing how many time you assemble and reassemble a Jeep project. I figure I made at least ten complete Jeeps when I did the "78". And it's still NOT done. How did you like doing the fiberglass? I found it rather easy compared to working with metal, doesn't stick to metal worth a darn but for reinforcing glass I don't think you can beat it. Keep up the good work, I can't wait to see the finished project -- Oh that's right it's a Jeep so it's never really finished. That's why we have them!! Dave
 
Hey Dave - How's your weather? Finally decided to be winter here and we're finally getting a little bit of snow.

I think a lot of the assembling and disassembling is because we're not building a stock vehicle and everything is kinda custom. I'm either trying to make a part work that's from something else or fabricating something because they don't make the part anymore or I just don't want to spend the $$$.

Here's a good example. I hinged the 1 piece front clip off the tub, so it tilts toward the rear. I had to come up with something for the grille to rest on when it was down, but I couldn't find anything pre-made that would work. So I took some misc. parts and hardware and made up these 2 rubber feet that I could bolt to the bottom of the grille. Then I took a couple of standard Jeep hood latches and mounted those to hold everything down. I added the steel plates on the grille to hide all the existing holes that the PO drilled. Of course in the process of making all this work, I had to take the steering box off to get to the nuts I wanted to put on and now all this has got to come back off until after paint. I added the aluminum angles on the tub to capture the edge of the fiberglass fender and help keep it from flopping around.

And yeah, I like fiber glass. Easy to work (although a bit messy) and pretty strong when it's done. A few years back, I put a fiber glass sailboat back together that fell off the back of my brother's truck. The whole transom came off, but was good as new when I was done.

I hope to have it operational in 3 or 4 months, but you're right, I don't think it will ever be completely finished.

Bill :chug:
 
I might have missed it but are you planning for a winch?
 
what a great build, Love to see the hand fixed ingenuity you have. I dig on those hold downs for the front clip. A nod back to the originals but made to work with the fiberglass Ouatta site man !!
 
defibvt said:
I might have missed it but are you planning for a winch?
Click to expand...

defibvt - I'm planning on a winch in the future. That's the reason I hinged the front clip off the tub instead of tilting forward. Hopefully it will clear a winch. If not, I'll go with a receiver mounted winch setup.

75 Alive - Thanks man. :chug: I'm having fun with it and trying to do what your handle says. Started on the engine yesterday. It was running fine when I started, so I'm just going to clean it up, paint it and re-gasket it. Hopefully will have it back on the frame in a couple of weeks.
 
billyocup said:
defibvt - I'm planning on a winch in the future. That's the reason I hinged the front clip off the tub instead of tilting forward. Hopefully it will clear a winch. If not, I'll go with a receiver mounted winch setup.
Click to expand...
Thinking ahead. I like that. :chug: Wish my PO would have done that. Doing projects would be so much easier.
 
I try to think ahead, but a lot of the time it's just a trial and error process. Sometimes stuff works the first time, sometimes it's got to be pulled back apart and modified and sometimes you've just got to come up with a better idea :rolleyes:
 
I'm making slow progress on the engine. I pulled the valve covers, pan, intake manifold and timing cover. Cleaned everything the best I could, masked it off and started painting. I couldn't find AMC blue, so decided on Chevy orange because it was bright and maybe help my old eyes see things on it better. The inside of the engine seems remarkably clean, so I think it may have been gone through sometime in the past. You can see the second set of rockers in from the rear have been replaced because they don't have the same build up as the rest.

Anyway, got all new gaskets and seals, so as soon as I finish getting the rest of the parts cleaned and painted I'll start getting it put back together. I got a new GMB water pump from Summit that got here the day after I ordered it. Now I'm waiting on some misc. stuff from Quadratec that won't be here until mext week.
 
8566d1330554441-bills-75-cj5-ground-up-rebuild-engine-3.jpg


Wow :notworthy: :drool::drool::drool:

As always it's looking very nice Bill!

:chug:
 
Thanks Guys - I appreciate the encouragement!

Bill :chug:
 
Still in cleaning and painting mode. Amazing how long it takes. I spent about 6 hours cleaning the inside and out of the oil pan and then getting it painted. Sure looks nice though. Then I got the tranny painted. Also got the rear main engine seals installed. Just need to borrow a torque wrench so I can re-torque the main bolts. I've got a new stainless engine bolt kit coming next week, then I can start getting the engine put back together.
 
Looking good Bill, as usual. Have it out in the mud soon??

As far as the winch set up I'd recommend a hitch mount setup (IMHO). You can set it up front if you need to continue on the trail forward or more than likley if your hard headed like me you need it hooked up in the rear to get you out of someplace someone told you you can't go through. And when not needed it sits in a box in the back of the Jeep or in the garage. Anyway that's my opinion. And as a bonus feature is it doesn't sit there in the weather all the time, isn't eye candy for the local theif and takes a bit of weight off the frontend parts when your just crusing.

Keep it up Bill, I'll be back doing the finishing touches on mine in a month or so.. Dave
 
looking GREAT... have lost some enthusiasm for mine... considered selling, but the guys over at ECJ5 encouraged me...

progress is slow, but there IS some...

heres what i have for a 'blog' so far... it helps me SEE the progress when i think there isnt any

https://sites.google.com/site/matts1976cj5rebuild/home

will add more and keep you updated..

kepp up the amazing work my friend... shes a byoot!
 
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