Build Thread The '80 FrankenJeep frame off reassembly

[Scooter402]

Once again, awesome work... I can't believe it's so clean. However, you'd better knock on wood about the no stuck/broken bolts yet! Apparently, I've got the same leaky can of anti-seize... I touch the can with gloves on, it's immediately all over my hands despite the gloves and I'm wearing it, too.

And I've gotta ask, since I'm on the market for one... How much for your old tank? Any idea of price on the ride via the brown Santa?

 

[shum8]

Got the PCV grommet issue taken care of today.... Cut the valve cover grommet down in diameter till it was a snug fit in the intake port. Just to make sure it stays in place I "glued" it in with a small amount of silicone gasket maker. Now it's a perfect fit but the PCV valve can be removed without the gasket following. .





Then after making sure I was satisfied with the soft line runs, I clamped em down. (I figure that will guarantee with certainty that I've run something incorrectly

 

[shum8]

Alrighty, then - worked on my exhaust the last couple days...... The sections of exhaust were all clamped together, so I removed all the clamps, removed the last section that dumped out the rear inside the frame rails, and bolted it back up to the headers. Once firmly bolted to the header flange, I used a pipe wrench to rotate some of the sections to tweak the route to suit me. Got em where I wanted em, then tacked em in place with the welder. After work today, finished welding all connection up. Once back on the road, I'll run it by a muffler shop and have em run turnouts so it dumps out the side behind the rear tire. The way is was run before, driving without the top sucked tons of exhaust into the cab.....

I didn't take any pics - this wasn't very exciting nor interesting. Now to get off my butt and order body mounts and start emptying the tub so I can get the last little bit of bodywork done


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[mtnwhlr]

Looking good

 

[gert]

im so jealous I absolutely love that AMC blue engine, I cant wait to have mine finished and looking that good. Good work

 

[shum8]

im so jealous I absolutely love that AMC blue engine, I cant wait to have mine finished and looking that good. Good work

Thanks for the kind words - when you get around to buying the paint, don't listen to those who say it doesn't cover well...... I intended to buy 3 cans to make sure I had plenty, and the pricing was such that 6 cans only cost a bit more. Well, I now have enough AMC blue that I could probably paint the entire Jeep with it LOL. It goes farther than some say......


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[gert]

Thanks for the kind words - when you get around to buying the paint, don't listen to those who say it doesn't cover well...... I intended to buy 3 cans to make sure I had plenty, and the pricing was such that 6 cans only cost a bit more. Well, I now have enough AMC blue that I could probably paint the entire Jeep with it LOL. It goes farther than some say......


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If you want to sell your left over paint let me know

 

[shum8]

IM inbound...


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[gert]

I have not received a message yet did you send a pm?

 

[shum8]

Try that - hopefully that one went.....


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[shum8]

Got some piddling done this weekend - finished up getting the brake and fuel lines clipped into place.





Then I turned my attention to the exhaust..... I'm just gonna run what was on it for now, and once I decide on a muffler, then redo it. But for now, the only thing I'm changing is where it dumps out. It originally dumped out straight out the rear just to either side of the fuel tank. Driving topless wasn't an option due to fumes. Luckily, all exhaust connections were clamped, so I removed the last piece, which was stainless, and it breaks right over the axle, so all I need to replace is the turnout. While I was at it, I went ahead and removed all the clamps and welded everything together. My theory is, once I decide on a replacement muffler, I'll just cut the old ones out and weld in new ones. If the new ones are shorter, then a short straight piece will be all that's needed.









Yeah, that fuel return line is kinda hangin free, but that pic was taken before I got it clipped up. Since I was referring to the exhaust in this pic, just don't look at the fuel line. Stop it. Quit lookin at it......

 

[mtnwhlr]

Yeah, that fuel return line is kinda hangin free, but that pic was taken before I got it clipped up. Since I was referring to the exhaust in this pic, just don't look at the fuel line. Stop it. Quit lookin at it......

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looking good

 

[shum8]

Funny - As I near getting the tub back on the frame, I keep finding to do first..... I'm gathering materials for the ground bus - If this thing has anything it'll be good grounds. Took a break from the wiring (I hate wiring) and worked on the rear cross member. I knew the spacing was different, but I wasn't sure by how much. I knew the rear cross member was for a CJ - it was actually a brand new one that came with the Jeep - so that meant the body mount holes were too close together. I couldn't remember what was done about the mounts before I took it apart (that brain cell died about a year ago...) but I do remember tossing the old beat up cross member since I was going to use the new one........so I had some investigating to do. Looked under the rear of the tub, and the body mount bolts were just run thru threaded holes in the sheet metal inboard of the factory holes. Didn't like that, so I measured the distance center to center of the correct holes in the tub and got 45". Scribed some lines so that when i cut out the holes (yeah, that sounded weird to me when I typed it, too) and flipped em the spacing would be right. At this point I realized i had to take everything off the rear of the chassis to cut, weld, grind, and paint the cross member. Well, I didn't have to, but it would make the task much easier. Sighhhhhhhh....... Beer time. Once I got everything off, I cut the holes out, flipped em over, verified spacing, and welded em up, ground em flush, and threw some paint on em. Didn't turn out too bad....

Here's what I started with:



After the butchery...



Post welding



And all done

 

[gert]

you can barely tell that you drank before you butchered your crossmember looks really good actually. I like how you thought it thru and made one cut I will have to remember that for when I put my YJ tub on my new crossmember

 

[shum8]

you can barely tell that you drank before you butchered your crossmember looks really good actually.

Was only one..... Took the dogs out in the yard and enjoyed some shade with em.... Then the disassembly started - that barley pop was long gone by the time I grabbed the grinder..... Thanks - if you get the light just right it looks good - almost can't see the pits

I like how you thought it thru and made one cut I will have to remember that for when I put my YJ tub on my new crossmember

That's just a result of being lazy..... And I think I still have another set of mount supports to deal with. May be some more cutting and welding going on.......

 

[shum8]

Today was ground buss day..... Had planned on making up 5 ground cables - but realized I could only finish two and get the third one started without the fenders and grill in place. Was going to run a ground cable from battery to a stud on the firewall (that stud is a threaded brass 1/4-20 machine screw with the head cut off). The stud actually will be one of two that attaches 2 copper ground blocks to the firewall, one inside and one outside. Each block has several holes threaded for #10 pan head screws. I figure this way I can attach small gauge wire ring lugs or larger ring lugs to the threaded studs. Now, before I start with the pics, you need to remember I told you early on I'm a cheap bastard, and that combined with my willingness to do whatever I think will work means some of this may possibly be classified as stupid........ If so, I'm SURE someone will let me know LOL.

My ground "buss" is actually from an old pair of jumper cables my neighbor was getting ready to throw away. The clamps were very rusty, but all I needed was the wire itself. They were nasty, dirty, and stained, so they look anything but clean, but they should do their job nicely. Then a quick trip to Northern Tool and I had some stuff to start working.



The big surprise is they had marine grade shrink wrap in stock - who knew?

To get the crimping done, I refused to lay out the funds for a really nice crimping tool since I don't plan on doing this much, ever, if I can help it, so I made one. I was quite proud of my self - Took a hex bolt that the back of the ring lug would just fit into, and drilled a hole so I could use a punch and mechanically lock the wire in place prior to soldering.





Then it occurred to me I'm an idiot - using that on the second ring lug would mean the crimping "tool" would become a permanent part of the cable..... So I just cut the nut in half and still used to punch to lock the wires in place. I also drilled a hole in the ring lug to use as a solder inlet - the cable insulation came up almost to the rear of the lug, And it worked nicely.



Here's a shot of the cables that ground the heads and block - after getting the fenders and grill in place, I'll get the grill ground pad in place as well as the cable to the right head.



The threads in the holes used for ground were chased with a tap, cleaned with lacquer thinner, as well as the bolts, and then a helping of copper anti-seize was applied:



Here are both cables on the back of the engine.......



The main point today was to get the stuff done that the tub would have complicated had it been in place. Translated - I wanted to get the rear ground pad installed and wired. Here it is after the install - large brass screw for mounting, small stainless machine screw to prevent pad from turning.



Here's and underside shot. In the event I need a threaded stud for some reason, I have one back here now.... And it should be relatively easy to attach ring lugs to the block after everything is in place.......



I think for the ground cable - rather than clip it to the frame rail like the brake lines, I think I'm going to run it forward thru the right frame rail. Sounds reasonable in my head - Anyone see a problem with that idea? If not, I've only got a little very light surface rust to deal with on the bottom of the tub where the body mounts were, then it's time to stick the tub back on the frame

 

[Peanut Butter]

Looks really good. I like your home made crimpng tool. I usually just use a hammer.

 

[shum8]

Thanky - Actually, it was cool before I cut it in half - after that all the cool ran out. Now it's just half a nut. Still works, just not much cool left. I'm just glad I didn't use it uncut on both ends of a cable. That would have made me Mayor of Idiotville for sure. If Jeephammer over on that other Jeep site were to see that "crimping tool" he'd probly beat me with a stick LOL.

After clipping the ground cable to the cross member, I'm gonna stick it in the frame at the arrowed hole and bring it back out under the battery tray.



With that out of the way, I crawled under the tub and scrubbed the few light spots of rust at the body mount locations, hit it with primer, then a dose of black paint. I did notice where the clutch push rod exits the tub, it ain't the prettiest..... Tub must have been an auto cause it appears the exit hole was cut with a cutting wheel. Foam tape acted as a boot. So now I think before I stick it back on the frame I need to clean that up a bit. I'm thinking making a patch panel with a clearance slot cut for the push rod, and cover the current cutout. I'll take pics tomorrow of what it looks like now - looks kinda rough....... After that's done, time to reacquaint the upper and lower halves . This leads me to another question.... The body mounts came with the inner sleeves which I understand need to be shortened. So, which of the following pics shows how much needs to come off?






I've searched for how much needs to come off, but I get different numbers.....Seems to me it would be the first pic. I know all but two get shortened, I just need to know how much. Thanks

 

[gert]

Wow haven't heard of shortening the body mount sleeves but it would be the bottom pic that you would want to trim, have you checked the bushings on the frame yet just to see if they do need to be trimmed?


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[Peanut Butter]

This leads me to another question.... The body mounts came with the inner sleeves which I understand need to be shortened. So, which of the following pics shows how much needs to come off?






I've searched for how much needs to come off, but I get different numbers.....Seems to me it would be the first pic. I know all but two get shortened, I just need to know how much. Thanks

I think if you look at the bottom picture and insert 1/8" of metal in between the pucks which would be the frame support, it should come out even. But I can't say for sure since my body mounts were total trash that had to be cut off with a sawzall. If you cut any off of the center metal sleeve it would be very little, as that would put too much weight on the rubber puck smashing it. That would defeat the purpose of the cushioning effect....I think.