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Build Thread Father/Son Project in Orlando

Build Thread Father/Son Project in Orlando
I am having some difficulty with the 20 gallon gas tank strap. I think I have it installed correctly (I realize that the carriage bolts for the gas tank skid plate need to come from the topside). However there still seems to be about 4 inches too long to brace the tank in place.

The replacement strap I purchased doesn't have the original organizer that allowed the vent hoses from the check valves to be stowed underneath, but I'm wondering if I was given the correct strap. Is this maybe for a 15 or 21 gallon tank?

I could cut a couple inches and weld it back into place, but just wanted to get an opinion before I did anything drastic.

thanks in advance
 
Your tank is a 21gal by the looks of it. The strap resembles a 15 gal strap but I don't know what a 21 gal strap looks like, so it may be okay. But what I think the problem might be is the front of the skid plate looks modified. If the roll pin end of the strap in pic 1 is up at the top near the mounting flange, then the rectangular slot in the skid has been either modified or the 21gal strap is shorter than a 15 and you have a 15. The top of the slot in my skid is down 3 1/4" from the mounting flange / crossmember. That's why yours looks long. (mine is a 15 gal.)
 
The tank is definitely an original 20 gallon cj poly tank... Jeep CJ 20 Gallon Poly Plastic Fuel Tank | eBay

As it turns out the strap was made for either the original 15 gallon tank or the strap for a yj 20 gallon tank. Original Replacement Parts J5356651 - Fuel Tank Strap for 72-95 Jeep® CJ Series & Wrangler YJ - Quadratec
so at this point I modified the strap by folding it under/over onto itself and hiding the fold inside of the skid plate. To be honest with you I'm not really sure what purpose the strap has, unless the jeep is upside down, and even then i doubt it will move as the actual tank is lodged tightly in the skid plate and with all the dirt that gets into the plate mine actually looked to be cemented into the plate.

One thing I do have a question on is that I don't think I have a metal ring to screw in my sending unit, just the plastic one and the O ring. I am really disappointed with the quality of the sending Unit. I had to grind the edges to get it to fit inside of the tank. At first I thought maybe it was the wrong unit but the box it came in verified it was for a 20 gallon tank.
 
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I'm not familiar with the 21 gal tanks but looking at Qtec's website and the sending units, it looks like the 15's use a metal ring and the 21's use a plastic screw-in one with an o-ring. Then is clamped down with metal tabs.
 
It's been a while since we posted. it has been a long football season however the boys are still in the championship game and are ready to go to the state finals.
As a result we haven't had a lot of time to work on the jeep but we have gotten some things done.
We finally got the engine block back from the machine shop and it is ready to be put back together.
The heads were already assembled so we just painted them yesterday. Sebastian decided he wanted to go with a flat black for the heads with chrome valve covers.
We scrubbed the engine down and got all the remaining oil off the outside of the block and he decided to go with Chevy Orange for his paint.
 
took the t176and the tilt wheel steering column over to Jimbos76cj. he has a buddy that checked how the tranny and even a thumbs-up as it looks like it's good to go. Jimbo was nice enough to offer to work on the steering column and get that refurbished for me.
 
We took the Dana 300 off of the old drivetrain and striped it down of paint, oil, grease and grime. However when we opened up the case to look inside at the gears we got a nasty surprise. It was full of about a half an inch of a combination of mud dirt sludge and grease in all the gears and sitting as sediment on the bottom.
I didn't really know how to take all gears out of it but it just might be easier if I was able to clean it out from the outside. I was successful in getting everything out with a pressure washer and some marine clean.
All the gears look good it was a little bit superficial rest but no pitting and I was able to get all the grime out and place a little WD-40 on it to keep it nice and fresh.
The only thing that we removed from the Transfer Case were the aluminum outside sleeves which we painted with engine paint a finished aluminum color.
The only thing I'm missing right now is a gasket set for the bottom cover and I would like to replace the bolts that came with the Dana 300 with some nice stainless steel bolts. Also if anybody knows what is the best type of oil to put into the data 300 we would love some suggestions
 
We will be using the same bell housing that we had for the T-5 on the T-176 . As you can see here we cleaned and stripped the bell housing and painted it the same finished aluminum color
 
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For the engine we got some parts from Bulltear.
1 x Oil cap and stainless tube AMC V8 67-91
- Engraving: 360
- Breather option: .250 holes X2
1 x AMC V8 dipstick and tube (New version that *fits* blocks)
1 x AMC HEI unit
- Distributor options: With matched cam/distributor gear
1 x AMC V8 serpentine system (with or without AC support (ATI Option
- Pulley options: With "Sanden" AC 4 bolt crank 19
Bulltear-Online
1 x Ultimate AMC oil pump (with upgrade options)
- Water pump option: Without water pump
- Pump kit options: With Ni plated #626 adaptor
Bulltear-Online

We got most of the items in about 3 weeks ago, however it took about 4 weeks to receive the items after we ordered them.

I do have a question to throw out if anyone can help me. The oil pump gears seem to spin freely by hand up to a point where they seem to bind. I can then easily turn them with a screw driver past that binding point then turn by hand until they bind again. Matt at Bull tear told me not to worry about this that as long as I could turn them with a screw driver they were fine. I was just hoping to hear some confirmation or input from some of you guys out there on this forum.
 
GREAT LOOKING PROJECT!!! The fact that it is a "Father & Son" project makes it even better!! Nice work team
:chug:
 
We had a couple of days off and a chance to work on the project. I also found our that my father in law rebuilt a bunch of engines in his younger days (I'm lucky enough to have a father in law that I actually like). Since my son was at school I thought I would bring my father in law in for a little consulting.
Great idea! It's been about 40 years since he worked on an engine, but he's a mechanical engineer and even at 70 he's still sharp as a tack.

We used BJ builds an AMC as a reference and a video I bought for $25 on how to build and engine.

Over a two day period we got the crank and cam installed, and the pistons in the cylinders and torqued to spec.

I can turn the crank and cam with a wrench on a towel.

Attached are some pics with the timing cover placed on.

I do have some questions that maybe someone can help us with.

the amc 360 will be married to a Dana 300 /T-176 . Any suggestions on the flywheel?

Is there anything that holds the cam shaft in the engine besides the timing cover?

Thoughts on the intake manifold? I haven't gotten one yet and we still want to keep our options open to possibly use fuel injection or a carb.

Any ideas on a socket to use to turn the crank?

thanks,
any suggestions or input would be greatly appreciated.
 
You will like that lunati cam. I suggest an edelbrock performer or air gap intake. I like carter/edelbrock carbs as well. Great project. I stared my build with my dad when i was 14. I am now 23 lol Trust me your kid will thank you one day for the skills
 
jarcher401 said:
You will like that lunati cam. I suggest an edelbrock performer or air gap intake. I like carter/edelbrock carbs as well. Great project. I stared my build with my dad when i was 14. I am now 23 lol Trust me your kid will thank you one day for the skills
Click to expand...

any idea if that intake is compatible with a Howell fuel injection, should we go that route?

I keep thinking this will be one of the last generations to be able to restore vehicles. it seems like everything is computerized and fits into a breadbox.
 
FiNorman said:
any idea if that intake is compatible with a Howell fuel injection, should we go that route?

I keep thinking this will be one of the last generations to be able to restore vehicles. it seems like everything is computerized and fits into a breadbox.
Click to expand...

I think things will be ok. Your fuel injecting a old Cj. Motorheads adapt. Some of us slower than others. This is a CJ website and Ive been called a "Knuckle Dragger" by TJ guys already. Whatever. Enjoy your project with your son. :)
 
FiNorman said:
I keep thinking this will be one of the last generations to be able to restore vehicles. it seems like everything is computerized and fits into a breadbox.
Click to expand...

Good thing is theres plenty of jeeps out there to build. They are all carbed up to 92ish.. So even if you can find another good CJ project you can always grab a yj and swap the front clip and convert the tail gate and Bam your in a CJ again.

Im picking up a 73 j4000 tomorrow to stash for a rainy day. Always other things to build
 
We made some progress over the last few days.... finished cleaning the oil pain, and the T-176 to get ready to paint. Of course it's filthy work and theres was a bunch of belly aching.... you'd think this kid joined the Union, asking for water and chow breaks.
We opted to not continue with the green color scheme... so we went with metallic aluminum engine paint for the pan, and brushed aluminum for the Tranny case.
 
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