Build Thread The '80 FrankenJeep frame off reassembly
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- Roanoke, Va
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- '80 CJ-7, AMC 304, T177, Dana 300, Widetrack axles (D30 & AMC20) w/ 3.73 gearing, MSD ignition,
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Build Thread The '80 FrankenJeep frame off reassembly
- Thread starter shum8
- Start date Start date:
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- Roanoke, Va
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- '80 CJ-7, AMC 304, T177, Dana 300, Widetrack axles (D30 & AMC20) w/ 3.73 gearing, MSD ignition,
Just for the record - Anyone planning on a new loft gate gasket from Fairchild - better wait till warmer weather.
It looks very nice, fits perfect, and feels nice and spongey - but the dang thing smells like a mixture of new tires, a dead skunk, and cat pee. Getting in it to go to work will definitely wake you up!!!!
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It looks very nice, fits perfect, and feels nice and spongey - but the dang thing smells like a mixture of new tires, a dead skunk, and cat pee. Getting in it to go to work will definitely wake you up!!!!
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Belizean
Always Off-Roading Jeeper
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- 84 CJ7 4 banger-owned since new in 1984 bought off truck at dealership - rebuilding 258, T176 with Sniper EFI D300 4:1 Lomax gears Twin Sticked 1 piece axels with locker
Sounds kinda like getting stuck behind a garbage truck for 10 blocks around here the Tuesday after good Friday when everyone has eaten a lot of crawfish & shrimp and things have ripened In the heat a few days. Pretty disgusting.
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- 157
- Location
- Roanoke, Va
- Vehicle(s)
- '80 CJ-7, AMC 304, T177, Dana 300, Widetrack axles (D30 & AMC20) w/ 3.73 gearing, MSD ignition,
- Posts
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- 157
- Location
- Roanoke, Va
- Vehicle(s)
- '80 CJ-7, AMC 304, T177, Dana 300, Widetrack axles (D30 & AMC20) w/ 3.73 gearing, MSD ignition,
Well - With the temp here today hovering around 70, I burned a PTO day and finished up my hard half door uppers. Half door hard uppers...... Half hard door uppers. No, that’s not right. Fiberglass door uppers......
Anyway, drug em out the other day and bondo’d the lower edge gap, hit em with the disc sander, and today I smoothed everything up, taped off the windows, and sprayed a coat of Rustoleum’s bed liner on em. I like the finish so well I’m gonna hit the top once it comes off this spring. I’ll get a couple shots of the surface texture once I get em on the Jeep - gonna let em dry good first.
Was a big ol’ hole here.....
I’m anxious to get these full hard doors off and go back to my half doors. Year round, that is... However, being these uppers have sliding windows, getting a Cookout BBQ samidge tray they there might be sorta tricky [emoji15]
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Anyway, drug em out the other day and bondo’d the lower edge gap, hit em with the disc sander, and today I smoothed everything up, taped off the windows, and sprayed a coat of Rustoleum’s bed liner on em. I like the finish so well I’m gonna hit the top once it comes off this spring. I’ll get a couple shots of the surface texture once I get em on the Jeep - gonna let em dry good first.
Was a big ol’ hole here.....
I’m anxious to get these full hard doors off and go back to my half doors. Year round, that is... However, being these uppers have sliding windows, getting a Cookout BBQ samidge tray they there might be sorta tricky [emoji15]
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Belizean
Always Off-Roading Jeeper
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- 84 CJ7 4 banger-owned since new in 1984 bought off truck at dealership - rebuilding 258, T176 with Sniper EFI D300 4:1 Lomax gears Twin Sticked 1 piece axels with locker
They look pretty good !
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- Roanoke, Va
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- '80 CJ-7, AMC 304, T177, Dana 300, Widetrack axles (D30 & AMC20) w/ 3.73 gearing, MSD ignition,
They look better than the dang top
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- 1986 CJ7, SBC 350, Dana 300, D30, AMC20
They look great with the texture and love the Chewy work stands. Have several of those here too. As well as the Chewy garage floor liquid spill barriers,
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- Roanoke, Va
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- '80 CJ-7, AMC 304, T177, Dana 300, Widetrack axles (D30 & AMC20) w/ 3.73 gearing, MSD ignition,
I’ve been known to use Chewy’s welding tables..... but ya gotta work fast - bein flammable an all
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Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
- Posts
- 7,316
- Media
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- 157
- Location
- Roanoke, Va
- Vehicle(s)
- '80 CJ-7, AMC 304, T177, Dana 300, Widetrack axles (D30 & AMC20) w/ 3.73 gearing, MSD ignition,
Got the door seals glued back into place..... supposed to rain most of the rest of the week, so I’ll probly just wait an swap doors this weekend. Guess I should take the locks out of the doors and get a key made for em. Nope - no pics.
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Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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- 1983 cj7, 1971 Dart, 1942 Willys slat grill
It got pretty cold here with the front that moved in yuck
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Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
- Posts
- 7,316
- Media
- 5
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- 1
- Thanks
- 157
- Location
- Roanoke, Va
- Vehicle(s)
- '80 CJ-7, AMC 304, T177, Dana 300, Widetrack axles (D30 & AMC20) w/ 3.73 gearing, MSD ignition,
Don’t recall how cold it’s supposed to get, but they’re calling for 3” - 5” of rain tomorrow. Stuck a set of oars in the Jeep just in case.
Sent from my recently completed ark...... Gonna be a wet couple days.
Sent from my recently completed ark...... Gonna be a wet couple days.
- Posts
- 7,316
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- 5
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- 157
- Location
- Roanoke, Va
- Vehicle(s)
- '80 CJ-7, AMC 304, T177, Dana 300, Widetrack axles (D30 & AMC20) w/ 3.73 gearing, MSD ignition,
Ok - Got the TJ uppers on the YJ half doors and fitted to a CJ. That's half the alphabet....... And his process has confirmed I'm an idiot... When I got the half doors, they came with soft uppers. The figment was simply red pins that fit into the lower half - these
Easy peezy, right? When I got the hard uppers, they had no pins, just holes where the pins used to live. I kinda wondered what happened to the pins, but preceded to fab up new pins, correct the location of the one offset pin, etc., etc. Well - In looking for new gasket options, I realized those holes were for screws.oh, well - All is well now - they look like they belong. And I have WAY more elbow room now!!
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Easy peezy, right? When I got the hard uppers, they had no pins, just holes where the pins used to live. I kinda wondered what happened to the pins, but preceded to fab up new pins, correct the location of the one offset pin, etc., etc. Well - In looking for new gasket options, I realized those holes were for screws.oh, well - All is well now - they look like they belong. And I have WAY more elbow room now!!
Please use this link to purchase an annual memberships. The site's survival depends on it... https://www.jeep-cj.com/forums/payments.php
gr8dain
Full Time Jeeper
Ok - Got the TJ uppers on the YJ half doors and fitted to a CJ. That's half the alphabet....... And his process has confirmed I'm an idiot... When I got the half doors, they came with soft uppers. The figment was simply red pins that fit into the lower half - these
Easy peezy, right? When I got the hard uppers, they had no pins, just holes where the pins used to live. I kinda wondered what happened to the pins, but preceded to fab up new pins, correct the location of the one offset pin, etc., etc. Well - In looking for new gasket options, I realized those holes were for screws.oh, well - All is well now - they look like they belong. And I have WAY more elbow room now!!
Please use this link to purchase an annual memberships. The site's survival depends on it... https://www.jeep-cj.com/forums/payments.php
Do you have a pic of you modification to the pin from the inside of the door? Did you cut and weld? Or heat and bend? Or was it a matter of a new hole on the upper?
- Posts
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- 157
- Location
- Roanoke, Va
- Vehicle(s)
- '80 CJ-7, AMC 304, T177, Dana 300, Widetrack axles (D30 & AMC20) w/ 3.73 gearing, MSD ignition,
I just reread my earlier post.... man, can I butcher words or what?? I’m assuming you’re asking about the pins on the soft uppers? Those uppers were YJ uppers so the pins matched the lower. TJ’s have a different pin setup - one is inboard of the others by about an inch and a half. But these uppers had no pins, only holes for screws. The inserts in the lowers have retaining fingers on the bottom that are supposed to hold nuts for the screws. Mine were missing the nuts so I just figured the fingers applied retaining friction to the upper pins. All I had to do was fill and redrill the offset hole. The spacing between pins / holes on the TJ uppers doesn’t differ from the YJ spacing - ya just hafta make sure they’re all aligned in a straight line to fit the lower. And man, these are so much more comfy to use..... you don’t realize how much room is taken up by a full hard door.
Sent from the rifle cleaning bench...
Sent from the rifle cleaning bench...
gr8dain
Full Time Jeeper
Understand now. Thanks. I have TJ soft uppers on my YJ half doos and the rear pin does not align with the hole on the YJ door. I cur one and welded it poorly. The weld did not hold. The other one I left the pin and it presses against the door card.
I was thinking about hard upper sliders, but I have a set of full glass doors with sliders so I just use those if needed.
I was thinking about hard upper sliders, but I have a set of full glass doors with sliders so I just use those if needed.
- Posts
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- 157
- Location
- Roanoke, Va
- Vehicle(s)
- '80 CJ-7, AMC 304, T177, Dana 300, Widetrack axles (D30 & AMC20) w/ 3.73 gearing, MSD ignition,
That’s the route I would have taken.....
My goal was to run the half doors year round, but my soft uppers would not fit the hard top. Picked these uppers up for AMC 150 bucks so I had to make em work. Now I can leave the hard lowers on year round. After a couple rains I’ll evaluate and if everything works as it should I’ll sell the full hard doors.
Sent from the rifle cleaning bench...
- Posts
- 7,316
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- 157
- Location
- Roanoke, Va
- Vehicle(s)
- '80 CJ-7, AMC 304, T177, Dana 300, Widetrack axles (D30 & AMC20) w/ 3.73 gearing, MSD ignition,
I have room now for larger elbows.......
Sent from the rifle cleaning bench...
Sent from the rifle cleaning bench...
- Posts
- 7,316
- Media
- 5
- Solutions
- 1
- Thanks
- 157
- Location
- Roanoke, Va
- Vehicle(s)
- '80 CJ-7, AMC 304, T177, Dana 300, Widetrack axles (D30 & AMC20) w/ 3.73 gearing, MSD ignition,
Ok - That does it...... The full doors are officially going up for sale. The uppers are working out great, no leaks, offer more room, and allow the lowers to be run year round. Should have done this last year. Not to mention the added bonus of not having a certain member here who shall rename nAmelia’s threaten to paint my doors..... [emoji13]
Now - I installed LED tail lights during the build, and the driver’s side developed an intermittent open. Since the boards are pitted to the lense, so irreparable. I had a set of very similar lights from a Freightliner in the garage that were new takeoffs. They had a funky connector that is incompatible with the CJ harness.........
But under power, they are a good bit brighter than what I was running, so here we go.....
Existing
New
First up is removal of the connector From the new housing...
And as expected, there’s an issue. The new lights don’t have the side marker light. State says I have to have it, so........ I cut the side marker out of the old housing and enlarged the opening in the new housing
The side marker almost fits in the opening already in the new housing
Success
Now, once the glue dries, the old harness will be spliced in and the light installed.
Now, partaking of a nice, bbl aged stout during this process really taxes the autocorrect LOL. It also messes with timing. The side marker goes on the outside, and everything else goes on the inside.
I soldered that dang thing three times before I remembered to run the stupid wires thru the housing BEFORE assembly LOL. I had to call in extra help LOL
Now - lets see how screwed up I got the order of the pics [emoji849]
Sent via Tapatalk from behind a nice, bbl aged stout. Forgive my spelling LOL
Now - I installed LED tail lights during the build, and the driver’s side developed an intermittent open. Since the boards are pitted to the lense, so irreparable. I had a set of very similar lights from a Freightliner in the garage that were new takeoffs. They had a funky connector that is incompatible with the CJ harness.........
But under power, they are a good bit brighter than what I was running, so here we go.....
Existing
New
First up is removal of the connector From the new housing...
And as expected, there’s an issue. The new lights don’t have the side marker light. State says I have to have it, so........ I cut the side marker out of the old housing and enlarged the opening in the new housing
The side marker almost fits in the opening already in the new housing
Success
Now, once the glue dries, the old harness will be spliced in and the light installed.
Now, partaking of a nice, bbl aged stout during this process really taxes the autocorrect LOL. It also messes with timing. The side marker goes on the outside, and everything else goes on the inside.
I soldered that dang thing three times before I remembered to run the stupid wires thru the housing BEFORE assembly LOL. I had to call in extra help LOL
Now - lets see how screwed up I got the order of the pics [emoji849]
Sent via Tapatalk from behind a nice, bbl aged stout. Forgive my spelling LOL
Last edited:
- Posts
- 7,316
- Media
- 5
- Solutions
- 1
- Thanks
- 157
- Location
- Roanoke, Va
- Vehicle(s)
- '80 CJ-7, AMC 304, T177, Dana 300, Widetrack axles (D30 & AMC20) w/ 3.73 gearing, MSD ignition,
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