1978 Jeep Cj7 Build

Th400 Rebuild

2012-02-25T18:22:00.000-08:00

In early January we decided to pull our TH-400 for rebuild. Until now, it was the ONLY piece of our entire quadratrac drive train that hadn't been completely overhauled.

We used a transtec rebuild kit that came with the.... LIP WIZARD!

Here is our th400 rebuild fast forwarded to 10 minutes!
(The actual job took us nearly two weeks of our free time after an extra trip to summit for new lip seals!)

The next chapter

2011-10-03T19:03:00.000-07:00

Now that our drivetrain is almost complete, it was time to start thinking about getting everything mocked up to the tub. That way we could line everything up perfectly, and drill all our holes before laying down our vinyl.

So we brought it home! Just a few pics on the trailer and that.

Dana 20 rear axle rebuild... Check!

2011-10-03T18:46:00.000-07:00

The rear axle rebuild went 10x smoother than the front, just because we'd done it before. G2 4.11's went in the back too, along with our g2 one piece axles.

More Dana 30!

2011-10-03T17:49:00.000-07:00

Pics, Pics, Pics!

Are those 4.11's?

Bantam Jeep Festival

2011-08-31T16:58:00.000-07:00

We attended this years Bantam Jeep Festival this past month and took plenty of pictures to share. It was helpful to be able to see all of the different styles of bumpers/accessories for our cj7.

We didn't get to see the world record breaking parade, but spent hours at show n shine day. Check it out!

4.11's in Dana 30.... Check

2011-08-31T16:10:00.000-07:00

Finally, after weeks of setbacks, our dana 30 is now complete. Better yet, we got it all buttoned up to the frame!

Our D30:

G2 4.11 Ring & Pinion
New Timkin Bearings
New Axle seals
New U Joints
New, larger Carrier to house the 4.11's
Fresh Paint

MANY more pics to come!

Lots of progress!

2011-07-19T14:47:00.000-07:00

We've been all over the place on what we're working on, so it would take me days to type about it all. Just take a look at the pics!

Transfer case installed

Donor Dash

Fiberglass modified speaker hole (destroyed by previous owner.)

All prepped and in primer

Our hood!

The dash near completion. Vinyl wrap, RPM guage added, ETC

Showing the hood some love

Junkyard Dash!

2011-06-11T18:57:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago we came to find out that a 95 Wrangler in decent shape was at our local pull-a-part yard. We like the look of the family style over the CJ's original, so we went to grab it.

I almost immediately twisted the top of the T-45 Torx Socket right off. My harbor freight set didnt even try =P

So we left with nothing. Shortly after, we returned with a full Matco Torx socket set ready to get this thing off. That socket made it through 75% of the bolts before it finally called it quits on one VERY rusted bolt. Again, we left defeated. It did NOT want to give us this roll bar.

Today, we returned AGAIN! This time, we took pics!

Oh and look what else we found! This poor old CJ saw some rough times. There wasnt a piece of salvageable steel on the entire thing. Now she sits for parts. Still, cool to take a look at all the leaking seals and a strong straight six!

2011-06-10T09:43:00.000-07:00

Don't restore your jeep without help from Haynes!

This manual hs walked us through some of the tougher parts of building a ground up cj7.

Check out Amazons price!

One good looking inline six

2011-06-01T16:21:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we were able to FINALLY take a few steps forward and begin putting things back where they belong.

I'll let the pics do the talking here!

Remove, Rebuild, Reinstall.

2011-05-15T18:13:00.000-07:00

Its been a few weeks since the last time we've updated.

Don't worry, we're not gonna stick it in the corner for another 13 years..

More and more tear town has proven to be expensive. After going back and forth 3 thousand times, we've decided on 4.10 gears front & rear to make up for our 33" tire diameter and non-overdrive auto tragic (I mean autoMATIC. =)

So, aside from the axle housing itself, the front Dana 30 and rear AMC 20 will basically be completely rebuilt; Along with our entire steering linkage and parts.

Here are some pictures of the disassembly of our front axle.

New parts pics! Including:

Quadratrac Transfer case chain, gaskets, and seals
Upper and lower ball joints
Drag link/ pitman arm steering linkage
Inner and outer tie rod ends
Front axle dust shields
Rotors
Aluminum Radiator
HEI Distributor Wires
4wd cat-back exhaust system
CRT Performance HEI Distributor (hadnt pictured this yet)
Holley 390 CFM 4 barrel carb with vacuum secondaries
Custom diamond plate gas tank skid plate
Fuel sending Unit
Quadratrac vacuum diaphragm

Pics!

We've also been painting up some of our pieces with Rustoleum's hammered effect spray paint. It works great to hide typical rust pitting of such old pieces.

Finally, we disassembled our quadratrac transfer case to replace all seals, gaskets, and the chain sure to excessive play in the chain. Lots of pics!

Spending money, going backward

2011-04-23T21:09:00.000-07:00

We've been collecting some new toys over the last couple of weeks. Problem is, we can't get them mounted/installed when were tearing apart what we originally started with.

After taking our valve cover off to make room for the new one (below) we found this:

So this meant we had to pull the head, and make sure the debris didnt get into our oil/water jackets too bad.

Low and behold, thankful we did. We found this:

The pic may be hard to see (taken with a cell phone this time), but that's a whole lot of seed that our mouse friends decided to leave for us after make this 258 i6 their home for a while. We also found this kind of stuff packed into the thermostat housing. So...

We take the whole engine apart. Atleast the head and block stayed clean. =)

On the brighter side, we've got a lot of goodies in including:

Brand new Holley 390 CFM 4 barrel carb (vacuum secondaries)
CRT Performance HEI Distributor

Aftermarket "4.2" Aluminum Valve cover
Aluminum Radiator (Ours failed pressure test)
A new vacuum diaphragm for the Quadratrac Transfer Case

Pics to come!

Also tied up some various odds & ends:

Got the replacement freeze plug installed
Lots of fresh paint!

Many updates to come!

Torches, Welders, & Grinders

2011-04-12T16:40:00.000-07:00

We were able to put another full Sunday of work into the project this weekend. Aside from our 2.5" lift kit and new freeze plugs, most of our work was either torching away old frozen bolts or welding fresh support where the 33 year old frame needs it.

Good news is were making progress. We've ordered a CRT Performance HEI Distributor, Front and rear shackles, Sway bar links, and whole lot of other fresh parts.

Onto the pics!

13 Years ago

2011-04-03T11:13:00.001-07:00

We dug up the pictures from when the project was started 13 years ago. The little guy in the pic, that's me. And the last pic is us NOW. me and my first love (no not my sister the jeep) i can fix this time out, lets dance

Sell Sell Sell!

2011-04-01T15:07:00.000-07:00

We haven't been able to do a whole lot of work on the jeep this last couple of weekends, as were waiting on parts!

Bright side is, we've been making GREAT cash for the project by selling most of the parts we don't need. I'm amazed to see the enthusiast market for these parts.

Also, we dug out the original interior out of the attic today and found our complete Levis seats, visors, and dash pad WITH the highly sought after Levis Straus Special Buttons.

This is great news for the build =) Buttons = Glass Tub ASAP

Some pics for you all.

BUTTONSSS!!!

Going Backward

2011-03-30T17:13:00.002-07:00

This last weekend, we decided to tear down a lot of what we already had to reinspect/rebuild what we thought could use some R&R.

Good thing too, cause after torching our U bolts, we found completely frozen shackles and rotted tie rod ends. 700.00 later, were waiting for our 2.5 inch lift kit complete with shackles, hardware, and tie rod ends.

Also, after removing our stock intake and exhaust manifold to make room for the headers, offenhauser intake, and edelbrock 4 bbl 600 cfm carb, we found a pleasant surprise.

Missing freeze plug?? Thats embarrasing.

Finally, we tackled the welding job of the tail end of the frame. This area is prone to a lot of rust damage as you can see. Here are some before and after pictures. Now, we wont be so afraid to tow anything =P

More Updates soon!

The Story & The Pick

2011-03-21T18:46:00.000-07:00

Hello,

Eleven years ago my father started building his 1978 Jeep Cj7 from the ground up. The AMC 258 Inline 6 engine was pieced together and came to life with a high performance cam when it was paired to the optional automatic transmission. This model jeep has a full time 4WD powertrain with the "Quadratrac" low gear.

A couple of days ago we dusted it off and the project was reborn. This is where he left it those many years ago.

After deciding to finish what he started, we came upon a Craigslist ad for a "jeep on a shelf." $450.00 later, we bought a second Cj7 minus the frame and tub for parts.

After cleaning up and finding a home for everything, we got right to work. A couple notable parts we aquired through the buy are:

Rebuilt 1983 AMC 258 i6 Engine with the newly introduced electronic control system
5 speed trans in great shape
D20 Transfer case
Locking hub front axle
Stronger Dana 20(?) rear axle
Hurst 5 speed shifter
Offenhauser over-bored intake manifold
Headers

Follow our build and watch this great classic Jeep come to life! Were in Cleveland, Ohio.