Build Thread The '80 FrankenJeep frame off reassembly

[shum8]

Well, if I thought griping and complaining would help I’d be all in.


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[WillyM]

That's the kind of thing that happens when you're messing around with older vehicles and equipment. I was deep into a an old 327 Chevy engine I'd bought once to replace the engine in my car, had it back together and in the car before I discovered that I'd missed a crack in the block that was letting coolant into the oil.

It happens.

But dang, you've got one nice looking Jeep now. Just got to fix the engine a little bit.

 

[shum8]

My buddy (brother from another mother) came up from Greensboro to drop a 280ZX Turbo engine off to have it rebuilt, and brought my hard upper door halves he picked up for me several months ago.... Seller said he thought they were off a YJ. Nope - off a TJ. Pin alignment is off, but they didn’t come with pins like my soft upper did - just holes drilled in the base where the pins oughta go. I just need to move a couple holes, shave a little material off the underside where they rub the inner door panels, and they should be good to go. If I can get em situated like I want em, the full hard doors will go away.

One has a small nick off the bottom edge, but overall they’re in great shape. Here’s the pass. side.

I’m piddling around trying to get the mounting pin holes marked for relocation...... trying to motivate myself the male room for the CJ in the garage again


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[shum8]

While waiting on the arrival of a set of head gaskets to get here, I whittled on the door uppers a little more. I discovered the forward two holes for the mounting pins are correct..... the third is too far inward.

Measuring from the outer surface, all three holes should be 2" in. When drilling the third hole in the correct location, I left it blind so as to not have another to blend in with the surrounding finish. The first fitment trial showed the underside of the inner lip hit the plastic inner door panel -

After several trimmings, it finally settled all the way down. Next up was to mark the forward slanted edge so once trimmed it would more closely follow the pattern on the inner door panel.

Now that it fits right, it'll need a bit of trimming to follow the windshield frame angle. I set that to fit the full hard doors and soft uppers........ I do believe these are gonna work.


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[gert]

Wow and I was lead to believe that the TJ stuff wouldn’t work very interesting


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[gr8dain]

TJ uppers work on YJ doors with the modification of the rear pin as noted above. That might be the only TJ piece that works though.

 

[shum8]

IIRC the lower doors will not fit as the bottom of the door and door opening profiles are different than the CJ / YJ's. But I had always heard the uppers would with the rear pin relocation. Soft uppers would only need the pin moved, but these needed fiberglass mods as well, but nothing major. Once I get em right, I think I'm gonna add a bit of epoxy to the uppers where the lowers make contact, and "bed" them to the lowers to ensure a repeatable position.


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[shum8]

Picked up the new head gaskets this afternoon.... And the new valve cover gaskets... And valley pan gasket... So, over the last couple days I've been tearing the engine back down. Been taking care of a couple summer jobs so I've been Limited to evenings.... Anyways, here's where I am at the moment:

After wrestling with the dang brake lines to get em tight enough to quit leakin, they will be the LAST thing that I take out to make room!!!


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[oldjeeplady]

Be interesting to see what you find. I understand it's pretty easy to put the head gaskets on upside down even though they are marked... But I don't know if that would have caused your problem. Your engine bay sure is purdy though...

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[shum8]

I have only had time to pull the troublesome head, and unfortunately I can’t see any visible issues. And the head gasket is steel just like the valley pan gasket.....

I am going to pull the valves from the dead cylinder just to make sure I don’t have a bent valve stem, but have to weld up a valve spring removal tool. Got the pieces cut but need to weld em up. Maybe tomorrow afternoon


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[mtnwhlr]

A valve is not the cause of coolant getting in the oil. You either have a blown head gasket or a crack in the head or block. With a zero reading on one cylinder I lean to the head gasket.

 

[shum8]

That makes perfect sense. One less thing to do [emoji106]

I knew a valve wouldn’t be involved with the coolant, but could contribute to the lack of pressure.


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[mtnwhlr]

That makes perfect sense. One less thing to do [emoji106]

I knew a valve wouldn’t be involved with the coolant, but could contribute to the lack of pressure.


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It has nothing to do with the valves it's because the head gasget can not hold the pressure.

 

[gert]

It would be a good idea to run a straight edge and feeler gage around that cylinder head to ensure that the head is not warped to put your mind at ease


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[gert]

Good luck


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[shum8]

It would be a good idea to run a straight edge and feeler gage around that cylinder head to ensure that the head is not warped to put your mind at ease


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Already cleaned the mating surface and hit it with a steel straightedge. If it’s warped I can’t tell - appears dead flat


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[gert]

Good to hear


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[shum8]

I’m feeling pretty confident that the head gasket was the issue. After having a couple days to dry completely, the block showed signs of coolant “residue” between a couple of cylinders...... neighbor down the street who’s been a mechanic for years stopped by and looked at the gasket that came out- said it was a pretty puny looking gasket. Said he’d bet money it was the gasket. Got all surfaces good and clean, and started on the bolts. Ran a die across the threads, then hit em with a small wire brush and hand cleaner

Up next we’re the bolt holes in the block. Bow, do I love cleaning blind holes that are full of old oil and funk. Filled each one with WD40, stuck a .45 caliber bore brush on a short cleaning rod, chucked it in a drill, and scrubbed em all pretty good. Several thousand paper towels later I had this:

Good news is the heads are back on and bolts torqued to 110 ft-lbs. now I can start putting some of the back in I had to remove to make room to work.....


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[gert]

Oh ya I love cleaning them bolt holes, I broke down and bought the craftsman tap set years ago that has the bottoming taps


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[shum8]

Got the radiator, alternator, and intermediate steering shaft back in, headers and power steering pump reattached, lower rad hose connected, and am now ready to water test it. Gonna tape up the water jacket ports on the heads, then fill radiator with water to see if I still get a miniature Niagara Falls out of the oil pan......


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