CJ front clip on a YJ

[4Bangler]

Don't flame me, somebody asked about my front clip and I didn't want to answer it in the driveway shot post http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showt...9&pagenumber=4

So here goes, to put a CJ clip on a YJ you do just that, pull the square headlight junk off, throw on the good stuff, you can make the YJ fenders work, but you'll need the CJ hood. Mines not just any CJ clip, it's a '55-'71 Short nose CJ-5 clip, about 4" shorter than a CJ-7 right where it counts, between the rear of the wheel well and the cowl, gives me tons of clearance, but it's not for 6cyl rigs, no way, 4cyl and V8's set way back against the firewall only!



It looks a lot better now that I painted the fenders and finished my flares, but I don't have any pics.

[Robert]

You know, its hard enough to get any love when you have square headlights, but then you have to go and do this?????
WHY?!?!?!
Traitor

It is a cool way to get tire clearence though. I wonder if this could be done with a YJ grill. With my 258, I might have to reposition the radiator......hmmm.

[4Bangler]

The YJ grille is too square to line up with the short CJ hood, but if you've got a good body man, you could take 4" out of the back of your hood and YJ fenders and be all day. If I had it to do all over again I wouldn't have bought those stupid piece of crap fibeglass fenders, they don't fit worth shiznit and after looking closly at some original steel CJ-7 fenders, I could have just chopped those. The original shorty hood is nice to have though, especially if it's got the early M-38A1 style snorkel door. Mine didn't have the door, but I had a junk hood with a good door, so we Frankenstiened it.

[4Bangler]

Or you could take two sets of YJ fenders and cut and graft til your heart's (and tires) content.

[B.A.R.K]

i had asked that question, i always had a seceret passion for CJ's but i am content with my YJ, ended up with better components but not the classic looks

[4Bangler]

Same here, try to find a solid CJ with fuel injection, fully boxed frame and a heater that works good, they don't exist, especially here in northern Michigan. I looked at a '79 CJ-7 that the whole back half of the body was made out of plywood, the rear frame was broken in about 200 places, and the hardtop was the only thing holding it all together. He wanted $1800 for it, I told him when he came down to $300 I would take it off his hands, damn I'm a dink.

[B.A.R.K]

if you have any pics of the build up, i am wondering how the radiator and fenders bolt to the exisiting body mounts and tub, i know i could just get the CJ front clip and try to make it work, but i do not work in a body shop, im a driveway wrencher

[Robert]

When my brother had his 57 CJ6, it always looked narrower than my YJ at the cowl. I am surprised that it all fits up so easily.

[4Bangler]

It would fit up even better with factory parts, the free 45 year old hood lined right up on the 7 year old tub, but the brand friggin new out of the box super expensive fibercrap fenders didn't line up worth a shit. I'm no bodyman either, I'm a driveway hack cuz my garage is too full of junk to work in. I have several friends tha work in bodyshops and my girlfriend's dad paints cars on the side. I have some fitup pictures but they'll only help if you want to do the short-nose setup, the long-nose setup will bolt on, the fender bolts are the same, the hood lines right up, bolt the fenders to the grille and all you have to do is figure out the front body mount, since mine is so much shorter, I had to build a custom crossmember, but that also doubled as clearance for my knuckle-over steering, my tie rod was hitting my frame at full flex. The long CJ clip might bolt right up, if no you may have to chop and extend the front body mount that comes back from the front tube crossmember, but that's no biggie. As for radiator mounting, YJ's mount the radiator to the back of the grille, CJ mount them in the grillle, so I think you'd have the clearance, best bet is to ditch the YJ radiator and run an aluminium one meant for a CJ. The only wiring I changed was the pigtails for the turn signals.

[Devil Dog]

well.. i couldnt just bolt mine on.. i have the newer, longer, cj front clip on my yj frame.. yj tub.. the yj's grille is about 1/2" shorter than the cj's.. i cut down the grille bushing to accommadate this...

keep in mind your radiator clearance with the power steering box lines and whatever kind of steering linkage you have... i cut the ends off my lines and reflarred them.. so they are shorter and tighter to the box.. and have an after market steering shaft.. so i now have plenty of room there.. since it will flex with the body..

im running a soa with the fenders cut all the way out to the inner well.. they dont rub.. but my tires do push the tops of the fenders.. so im re-doing them this winter when i return..

i also have a cj radiator.. and the bare minimum in the engine bay.. so i can not comment on the fit of the yj radiator.. or other engine bay do-dads...

[4Bangler]

Yeah, I thought it would be close to a bolt in, I've got a 3" body lift and when I swapped clips I eliminated the front lift block an built a custom crossmember with a 1" lift bushing. I also had to modify my power steering lines, but I just carefully bent the pressure line and replaced the return line with a fuel line repair kit from NAPA. I saw some Saginaw steering box fittings on Lou Ferger's Racing website, they adapt the funky power steering o-ring fitting to an -AN fitting so you can use braided stainless and Aeroquip fittings, that's prolly what I'll do, I'm thinking of mounting a Saginaw P type pump and resevoir to my 4cyl, just got to whip up some brackets.....hmmm maybe I'll search and see if anyone's done it before....