Build Thread First cj7 build 1985

[85Renegade]

I know it's been a little while since I last updated. I have had alot of home renovations, and simply found no time to do work. I had some free time and was able to get the tachometer in. I'm very happy with how it turned out. I'll admit I was a little nervous to drill a two inch hole in my dash but due to careful measuring, and not rushing through it, I found it quite easy..... Now on to the pics

Here is where we started... Nice little section of real-estate...



I masked it off with painters tape to avoid un-wanted scratches and a place to make some measurements....



There it is after measuring about 10 times there is the cross hair...



My body Ronnie always stress the importance of oil when cutting metal.... I had this left over when doing some gun smithing.... Worked great...



I started with an extremely fine bit, I felt it was best to move up very gradually...



At this point I'm committed... Lol



Slightly bigger...



Here is what I'm using to cut the hole... It's a bi- metal saw... I was hesitant at first.. Looked very aggressive but it was fantastic.





And the disc cut out...



I simply can't believe how perfect it is...





Needed to take just fractions of an inch off... Used this bad boy... About 6 passes and the gauge was tight as a crabs ***..



Tape removed...



Tachometer in place...



Working on the wiring...



It's alive... it's alive.....



All buttoned up... Really happy with it. I'm going to switch the volt and water temp over to match this one. I also plan to add a vacuum gauge to where the clock would sit, and an oil temperature gauge somewhere....



That's all I got for now... Merry Christmas to everyone.. Happy jeeping

 

[cj7inthetwigs]

I know it's been a little while since I last updated. I have had alot of home renovations, and simply found no time to do work. I had some free time and was able to get the tachometer in. I'm very happy with how it turned out. I'll admit I was a little nervous to drill a two inch hole in my dash but due to careful measuring, and not rushing through it, I found it quite easy..... Now on to the pics

Here is where we started... Nice little section of real-estate...



I masked it off with painters tape to avoid un-wanted scratches and a place to make some measurements....



There it is after measuring about 10 times there is the cross hair...



My body Ronnie always stress the importance of oil when cutting metal.... I had this left over when doing some gun smithing.... Worked great...



I started with an extremely fine bit, I felt it was best to move up very gradually...



At this point I'm committed... Lol



Slightly bigger...



Here is what I'm using to cut the hole... It's a bi- metal saw... I was hesitant at first.. Looked very aggressive but it was fantastic.





And the disc cut out...



I simply can't believe how perfect it is...





Needed to take just fractions of an inch off... Used this bad boy... About 6 passes and the gauge was tight as a crabs ***..



Tape removed...



Tachometer in place...



Working on the wiring...



It's alive... it's alive.....



All buttoned up... Really happy with it. I'm going to switch the volt and water temp over to match this one. I also plan to add a vacuum gauge to where the clock would sit, and an oil temperature gauge somewhere....



That's all I got for now... Merry Christmas to everyone.. Happy jeeping

Happy Holiday to you and yours. Always happy keeping! Tach looks great! Been wanting one myself and the clock too! Looks more stock over a 6" gauge sticking off the dash. Job well done.

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[85Renegade]

Yeah agreed never a fan of the huge gauges... Granted they have a placejust not here.

 

[mb24]

Been watching your build from the sidelines. Also in Central NJ with an 85 CJ. I'm going to start off in March when the weather warms up. I'm storing mine at my father's place in NY, where I'll do the work.

Thanks for posting the details. You're going to get me throuigh the winter and have ideas to plan for. Going to Monstraline my tub too. Looking forward to that step to see how it goes since I'll be doing it right after you.

 

[rbagley]

Like the pictures and the details. Appreciate you taking the time to share your progress. It is coming along very nicely and is giving me some ideas. Merry Christmas.

 

[85Renegade]

Waiting for the vacuum gauge to show up..... More holes to be drilled lol

 

[85Renegade]

It's been awhile, I apologize for that, but I had some time today to get a bit of work done on the jeep.

If you remember back when I put the carburetor on I just sort of slapped it on and didn't do much of anything in the way of tuning it. That alone was a staggering improvement from the Carter carb. Today I decided I would see if I could dial it in an really see what it was capable of. The first thing I did was adjust the idle to as close to 750 rpm, then I threw the timing light on it brought that to 8° and instantly it started to run smooth. Lastly I used a vacuum gauge to tune the carburetor. Simply put it's amazing how the entire engine ran smooth and really woke up on the road. It's a night and day difference. Enough talk here's some pictures. I have to thank my buddy mark for lending me the vacuum gauge and the timing light....

Here is the timing light..



Light connected to number 1 cylinder



Vacuum gauge she's old but works well...



When I first started her up I was getting about 17 inches of vac I kept adjusting the fuel screws and brought it all the way to 21ish





Port that I used for my vacuum source it's main line goes to break booster...



It finally settled at 20in and it was smooth as silk no spitting sputtering nothing just nice idle.

I got a vdo vacuum gauge that I wanted to install so I can keep an eye on everything that was going on internally in the engine...



A little Teflon tape on the threads for the vacuum connection...







Every gauge needs a home... This gauge will go where the factory used to install the clock... All measured up and ready to be drilled.



As always cutting oil to maximize the lifetime of the drills, and to actually allow it to cut...



Start of small keep getting bigger...



2 inch hole cutter...



And the hole...






Nice and clean...



I needed to drill a hole to pass the vacuum hose through...



The hose routing..





Hose and wires passed through the hole...





All buttoned up



Sitting right where she should be...




A little video of the vacuum gauge in action...



Lastly the jeep has been overheating. Here is the symptoms as I drive the jeep the needle keeps climbing all the way to max and steam comes out of the overflow tank... the very very top of the radiator is super hot the top hose from the thermostat housing to the radiator is hot, the hose to the intake manifold is also super hot however the lower hose from the radiator is cold and so are the hoses going to and from the heater core.. is this a thermostat issue or a water pump failure?*

That will probably be the next issue to tackle. After that a bit more welding, and hopefully before long some bed liner.

 

[85Renegade]

I found some free time so I figured I would try to sort out my over heating issues... I picked up a thermostat, gasket, coolant and radiator cap from advanced, and had at it....

Here is where we will be working. The thermostat housing...





Removed the radiator cap to expose what was beneath...








Then started removing hoses...



I'd say I missed the bucket a bit...



Got out the hose and began flushing the radiator and the the engine...



Here is the color of the coolant.. Not horrible... Reminds me of ecoto cooler from hi-c



Housing off.... It's just a 1/2 inch nut and bolt...






Old thermostat...



Where the thermostat lives...



New thermostat and gasket..







Installed..



Now I've read alot about people having leaks etc etc using gasket maker... I'm a big supporter of torque specs and believe it's 90% of people's issues... To tight is not necessarily better... I bolted this down to 18ftlb as speced



All buttoned up...



Coolant I like to cut it myself I feel it comes out cheaper.... 50/50 with distilled water...

 

[85Renegade]

Toped off..



I drove the balls off the jeep let it idle then drove her again.. This is as high as she would get... I'd say problem solved...



A new cap for good measure....

 

[85Renegade]

Yesterday was a major day of progress for the Renegade . I was able to get an outstanding price on Daystar 1 inch body mounts. I would have gone with black but at the price I got them I couldn't complain that they were red. I did alot of reading on the removal of the old mounts. Considering I'm in the north east much concern came from possibly snapping or breaking the weld on the captive nuts due to rust.

I started off about three days earlier attempting to hit the bolts with Pb blaster, however due to the nature of the location the praying does little to nothing. Luckily for me the underside frame shows little to no rust at all, the floor pans were another story.

Three days before I was ready to start the swap after realizing spraying would do no good I broke out the electric impact and had at it. Day one was mine spinning only two bolts out off 11... I'll take an 82% success rate any day. Time for pictures I'll walk you through it...

Here is what we're working with, just so everyone is on the same page.. As you can see the rubber is shot and was the main reason for the swap.









Electric impact saved alot of time and effort....



I know it is not jeep related but we essential to getting this job done. It has been do damn cold lately this heater kept the garage at 64° nice and toasty...



Before I could start anything I needed to get those two trouble bolts out here is the location of the first one...







I cut a hole in order to get to the back end of the bolt... Here is what I found. I tried to weld the plate back down but it still spun. I ended up cutting the head off the bolt send pulling it out through the top..

 

[85Renegade]

Here is the site of the other troubled bolt..same process here, however it was hidden under the seat...



After measuring I found the location...





Smoke on water fire in the jeep....







Got the basterd...







Lastly in preparation of the lift the fan shroud need to be removed cause the blades will hit the plastic post lift....





Finally it was time to start the actual lift... I opted to go to tractor supply and pick up all grade 8 hardware instead of what was supplied. The strength and corsion resistance is outstanding...







Here is all the mounts setup and ready for install...



Here is the first of the old bushings soft and dry rot providing no stability... This ended up being one of the better mounts. Every aspect of them was rusted or simply tired... The far exceeded there life expectancy.

 

[85Renegade]

Jacking up the frame.. Nothing state of the art but it worked...



Notice the frame off the old bushing.. Lift it just high enough for new mount...



Here is a good point so no one else falls for this... Notice how there is a little lip... There isn't supposed to be. If you attempt to install new mount at this point it won't fit. What you see here is the old mounts metal tube still stuck in the frame... Take a hammer and hit it from the bottom to remove it...



New bushings in place..







It might be hard to tell but notice how the left side is sitting higher... This is before I did the left side...



Here is how I solved the bolt issue from before... I figure in 30 years when I need to change the mounts I will cut her open again...





Here she is all balanced out now..



Drilled new holes in the fan shroud so it won't rub anything...



Pile of old worn out bushings..



…....…


Before..
After..





I took some measurements to see what we gained... All measurements taken from ground to center of wheel well at the flare or to door sill... All measurement given in inches.

Passenger side: before - after - gain

Front
32 1/4 - 33 1/4 - +1
Middle
20 3/4 - 22 - +1 1/4
Rear
36 - 37 1/4 - +1 1/4

Driver side:

Front
31 1/4 - 32 1/2 - +1 1/4
Middle
20 1/4 - 21 1/4 - +1
Rear
35 3/4 - 37 - +1 1/4

Overall I'm very happy I've yet to take it for a spin I'll report back how that goes... I have a bit of welding to do.... Then getting roll bar back in and bed linning. Past that a yj spring swap. Stay tuned...

 

[cj7inthetwigs]

Great write up, looks alot better. Keeping tuned. BTW, your headlight bezels looked so good I sprayed mine yesterday

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[85Renegade]

Thank you... Did it on a whim.

 

[85Renegade]

I always said if I didn't have to go to work I'd be far more productive..... Today I did a bit of welding. When the floor pans went in that was all my buddy Marks work. I had no experience with welding, except watching when the floors were being done. I wouldn't say I can weld but I would say I improved immensely in as little as 3 hrs... Getting this welding done was slowing down alot of progress so it's something I wanted to get done. Any way here's the pictures, let's remember it's not a show jeep...

Here is where we started...







Bought this peice from quadratic cheap this is what we'll be using..



Tacked up..



Ugly welds I know but that's what grinders are for...









Painted up..







Just need to weld in the metal where the back of the roll bar goes then we can go ahead and line this beast....

 

[85Renegade]

A little more welding today... Somehow I always manage to give myself 3rd degree burns to my fingers.... Just some pictures again I'm no pro but remember going to cover these welds with Seam sealer and then monster liner...

Before..



I used a peice of left over floor pan for the patches...



Prepping



Patch panel...




In place..



Welded..



Ground and primed...










Next step will be the seam sealer I just ordered then roll bar in and then Monsta liner, I know a few were waiting for that so stay tuned...

 

[Petescj]

Thanks for the great updates. What company didnt give you grade 8 bolts for the body lift? Thats just ridiculous.

 

[85Renegade]

Can't say anything bad, they were daystar.... Quality seemed great.

 

[davey25]

I think your welder settings are off..practise on some scrap

 

[85Renegade]

A few products came in today...

Seam sealer... It's basically like caulking for cars read up on it if ur not familiar.... Lastly I found a tube of Lord fusor 112B I had laying around a few more patches and we can be good to go...