Build Thread Father son CJ Project
- Posts
- 488
- Solutions
- 1
- Thanks
- 9
- Location
- Atlanta, GA
- Vehicle(s)
- 1979 CJ5 Renegade 258, t-18 pretty much stock except for a later model aluminum intake manifold and Gronk 2150.
We've been working on this Jeep for about a year so I am a little late with a build thread but here's the story:
Bought this Jeep for my son for his 16th birthday. I paid $3,300 for a relatively rust free 79 CJ5 with the AMC 258 i6 / 4.2l . It was not perfect by any means but the paint was mostly original and it ran pretty good.
The plan was to do a military style CJ5 with out getting too crazy and to have it drivable for most of the time since he takes it to school.
The first thing to do was take stock of what we had. There were quite a few things the previous owners had done over the years that needed to be addressed.
First up was a cracked exhaust manifold. I took the advice of those on the forum and upgraded to late model aluminum intake. Much better. Soon after our exhaust guy installed a Flowmaster 40 and all new pipe exiting at the rear corner.
I bought a set of stock wheels for it for $100 and we went ahead and painted them the color we wanted. Olive drab.
The next thing we had to do was fix a leaking rear axle seal. This turned into an expensive fiasco and we ended up going to one-piece axles. We also took the opportunity to replace all the leaf spring hangers and bushings, paint the springs and re-do the rear brakes.
With that done the next project was to replace the rusty windshield frame.
We bought a repop frame but broke two windshields trying to install it. Finally figured out the repop frame has a smaller opening for the glass and after some work with the grinder we got the glass in.
We are very unhappy with the fit and will be installing a used stock frame in the near future.
Next up was bodywork and prep for paint.
Bought this Jeep for my son for his 16th birthday. I paid $3,300 for a relatively rust free 79 CJ5 with the AMC 258 i6 / 4.2l . It was not perfect by any means but the paint was mostly original and it ran pretty good.
The plan was to do a military style CJ5 with out getting too crazy and to have it drivable for most of the time since he takes it to school.
The first thing to do was take stock of what we had. There were quite a few things the previous owners had done over the years that needed to be addressed.
First up was a cracked exhaust manifold. I took the advice of those on the forum and upgraded to late model aluminum intake. Much better. Soon after our exhaust guy installed a Flowmaster 40 and all new pipe exiting at the rear corner.
I bought a set of stock wheels for it for $100 and we went ahead and painted them the color we wanted. Olive drab.
The next thing we had to do was fix a leaking rear axle seal. This turned into an expensive fiasco and we ended up going to one-piece axles. We also took the opportunity to replace all the leaf spring hangers and bushings, paint the springs and re-do the rear brakes.
With that done the next project was to replace the rusty windshield frame.
We bought a repop frame but broke two windshields trying to install it. Finally figured out the repop frame has a smaller opening for the glass and after some work with the grinder we got the glass in.
We are very unhappy with the fit and will be installing a used stock frame in the near future.
Next up was bodywork and prep for paint.
