Build Thread The $120 Jeep CJ7 build thread

Build Thread The $120 Jeep CJ7 build thread
:) Remember Richard Clarks 1986 Grand National? That car got me hooked into audio. The horns were fantastic because the divers were equalized to center the sound stage. Looked weird but worked so well. Way before you could or had dsp to dial in the time differentials on a speaker by speaker setting.

I was able to sit in that car in Daytona and WOW!

In my Mountaineer I put my front drivers in the kick panels so I had very little delay in my dsp. I used mostly focal and for subs I was an Earthquake long excursion sub. It could stroke over an inch on percussion and recursion. Man I miss those days! :chug:

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They had a magazine with that car in it at the shop where I got my stuff.
 
Remember those front spring plates where I had a machine shop modify one so I could use the factory swaybar? Well, that wasn't gonna work. It did bolt up right, but on the passenger side that made it in the way of where the U-bolt comes up. Dodge truck Dana 44 too different. Had the shop weld tabs on them to move the mounting spot a bit forward, then painted them. Want to be able to mount them up once the axle comes back and goes together.

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Also trying to think ahead for once, and get ready for winter, so I took the tub out to the car wash to spray off the mud so I can work on it. Once home I set it up on my horses rather than down low on blocks. Cage almost hits the rafters... I'll be rolling it out on rims with no tires when I get done... lol.

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Ok - I’m just gonna say it. Your work area just plain sucks. It’s too small and cramped. Your floor is much too open, and the overhead clearance ain’t right - you need a bunch of :dung: hanging in your way. Oh, and it’s was too bright in there. Take some bulbs out. Gert and I will be more than happy to come out there and show you the proper way to clutter, I mean set up, a shop.

It’s a good thing I don’t have that much room - I’d have a couple Jeeps disassembled in there......


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Ok - I’m just gonna say it. Your work area just plain sucks. It’s too small and cramped. Your floor is much too open, and the overhead clearance ain’t right - you need a bunch of :dung: hanging in your way. Oh, and it’s was too bright in there. Take some bulbs out. Gert and I will be more than happy to come out there and show you the proper way to clutter, I mean set up, a shop.

It’s a good thing I don’t have that much room - I’d have a couple Jeeps disassembled in there......


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Best sarcastic post EVA... :chug:
 
Ok - I’m just gonna say it. Your work area just plain sucks. It’s too small and cramped. Your floor is much too open, and the overhead clearance ain’t right - you need a bunch of :dung: hanging in your way. Oh, and it’s was too bright in there. Take some bulbs out. Gert and I will be more than happy to come out there and show you the proper way to clutter, I mean set up, a shop.

It’s a good thing I don’t have that much room - I’d have a couple Jeeps disassembled in there......


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I do have an entire 2 car garage for the build, but then, remember, I'm a fat old cripple. When I move stuff around, I have to use carts, or my cherry picker. I walk with a cane, or a walker, and I sit to do much of the work, either on my walker, or a stool. I had a wheelchair in there at the start, but took it to the VFW so some elderly could use it at the fish fries. (Not really THAT bad) Plus my riding mower is normally in there, but it's off getting fixed right now.
 
Well, whether by necessity or not, that’s a fantastic area. I’m gonna have a space like that in my next life. Unless o come back as a toaster. Then I guess it won’t matter.

I still like that F bomb sticker. If you choose to replace it during the build, lemme know and I’ll get you one cut


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Wow, you are a great installer. I did installs for many years and competed in some sound competitions (not spl). I love the rich sound of the amps before going completely digital. I still run these...

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Oh man! 12 volt Audiophiles! Your are my people! Jeeps and audio!
CJ, completely impressed! Now if you had broken out a Mac amp, I would have hit the floor. But Soundstream from back in the day is the real deal. Too bad when they got bought out, like so many other things ....
And Maximus, MB was always great for a nice 3 way component set up!
And that JL will be sweet. They do subs so well.


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Thanks, I love the sound from Soundstream and bridged to 1 ohm. The rx could handle that. They ran hot but it was double.
 
Well, whether by necessity or not, that’s a fantastic area. I’m gonna have a space like that in my next life. Unless o come back as a toaster. Then I guess it won’t matter.

I still like that F bomb sticker. If you choose to replace it during the build, lemme know and I’ll get you one cut


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Thanks, but the F-bomb sticker will be going away. I want to keep it looking military.
 
4 Wheel Parts is taking forever to get my stupid gears set up in my axle, and it really starting to piss me off. I called them LAST Friday, they say they've been trying to work on it in between jobs, and it should be done by Mon, or Tues. I don't hear nothing... I call today, the next Friday... guy says let me check, and I'll call you back. So... two and a half hrs later, I end up calling them wondering why it takes so damn long to go in the back and find out... They don't have enough shims. They claim they can't get any... unless they order an entire new install kit. Guess who would be on the hook for the cost of that? The assholes already hit me for new gears claiming they will not install customer provided gears... Gears were good, it's a damn front axle from a stock truck... It probably never got used, and they never bothered to inspect them anyhow. Well, I have a shim kit, just didn't leave it with them, because I gave them a bran new never opened install kit I had ordered from Summit Racing when I dropped off the axle... didn't figured they'd need it with the new gears they made me buy...

SO... I'm driving 2 hrs to Indy tomorrow morning to take them the shim kit, they're gonna finish the axle, and I'm bringing it home. In fact, one way or the other, it's coming home tomorrow.

I did, however do a bit more on the sub enclosure. The sub will be down firing, and sit like this...

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That means that the center rear isolator mount had to go. the 10" sub is so big, it overlaps where the mount is. The RT 524A that goes in the mount in a military application is like a 65 pound radio, so my little sub enclosure will do fine with 4 of the isolator mounts.

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I did have to replace one of the others however. The left rear one was bad. The new one has green isolators, but no one will care. This kind of replacement happens all the time. I do have 3 more of the green, but not enough of the new bolts to do them all with. Debating if I should do them, and just have some of them with hardware store bolts...

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I also had to cut a rather large portion out of the bottom of the mount for the sub to have clearance. Starting to think I should have went with an 8" sub, but she'll fit now.

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Got some more bits coming for the outside of it, knobs, antenna hook up, speaker & mike plugs, handles top cover... should look very convincing when it's done. (Not that it will be going in for a while.)

Started planning with how I wanted to layout the dash. Nothing set yet though. It's still a fresh, uncut panel.
 
Heard a few bad things in last couple years about getting parts from 4 wheel parts. Been many years for me to order from them.
 
When I had them do my other truck they did a great job, and the customer service was second to none. That was also 2011.
 
Got the shim pack delivered. Got the axle home. Also got a new yoke. Seems mine was a bit boogered up, so there's an extra $50...

Started in on assembly. Did the long side spindle twice seeing as I stood up to find the thrust washer on the floor behind me... Oh joy. Didn't go any farther. was getting too sore. Called it a night.




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If your parts are coming from Cali, good luck. They pretty much stopped shipping everything due to the "'rona".
 
If your parts are coming from Cali, good luck. They pretty much stopped shipping everything due to the "'rona".

I'm trying my best not to put parts on it from communist territories.
 
Man it’s a shame that they took so long to assemble your axle, it is better than crawling under your CJ and doing it yourself tho


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Ordered the Tru Trac for the rear today. I also found a veteran owned shop that will do the rear axle for me for quite a bit less, so I'm dropping it off there next week. I gave Summit Racing the shop address to ship the Tru Trac directly there. I'll be set to do stuff like work on the tub, brake lines, fuel lines, and the like over the winter.
 
No photos, but the rear has been done and back for a while. I got it put under the Jeep, but it isn't painted the final color yet, just black right now. Also I won't know if the pinion angle is right till I get the tub back on it and get more weight on it. It was rotated upwards on the CJ5 by the previous builder, and I'm sure it was tilted up too high, so I'll probably need to shim it down some.

Found a fabricator to weld me up a new fuel tank. Turns out the YJ tank I got with the tub will NOT fit in the CJ7 frame. So much for having the filler on the driver side the easy way. He's coming buy Wed to take measurements.
 
So now MORE time goes buy, and very little gets done... My computer took a dump, so I end up dropping coin to replace that. I've been tinkering a bit on some stuff but nothing major. Got the steel in the other day for the tank. Man, prices on steel have gone up almost as bad as ammo prices... I needed to do some things I could with parts I had on hand, so I started laying out the dash.

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Love this key I found online a while back that looks like a military switch...

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Gauge pack will sit in a dash plate from a M151.

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A set pf re-pop M38A1 Data Plates will complete the look.

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