1974 CJ5 Rookie Build

[msalaba]

[tdmyers]

Hey this build is looking great, I just started a couple weeks ago on a 73 cj5 i got from a friend. Im not moving quite so fast, mostly due to finances, and also due to having some frame cracks I need to fix before i move on. But I had a couple questions for you on parts selection.
One, that hei distributer from crt? Where did you get it from, how much do they cost, and was it a easy install? I had been thinking of going the hei route with a davis unified ignition but am a bit put off by the 300 dollar tag.
Two, those headers resemble clifford performance dual outlet headers for i6 jeep, have you determined if they are? I saw that they had come on the jeep and you didn't know early on. BTW they sound real awesome even through the crappy sound on the you tube video.
And finally just a congrats on that frame restore. It looks like a brand new frame. Mabey an in person inspection could tell the difference, but from your photos I have never seen such a good finish in a driveway job. If your whole project meets the same standard thats going to be one sweet, and nice looking ride. I look forward to meeting you on the trail someday. TD

[Thompology]

@ tdmyers - I bought the HEI from HERE. It is 119.99 without 8mm wires and 149.99 with the 8mm wires. I got it with the wires and that worked out great. As for install, SUPER easy. Comes with detailed instructions and took me about 10 minutes to install and then you just have to play around witht he timing until its exactly where you want it. The headers have no markings that give away what they are but the jeep windshield had a Headman Hedders sticker on it so I am just assuming that is what they are.
Thanks for the Kudos on the frame. It did come out freaking sweet, even in person! Funny thing is I actually felt bad when I set the body back on last week because I couldn't see it anymore
As for the trail, I've got a trip to BigSky planned for this Jeeps future so that may be more realistic then you think!

Ill have an update post soon, right now I am just teaching myself to TIG weld.
Pics soon.

[jonnyshark]

Looks good man! I had a 78 cj5 back in the early 90's. Before internet, it was hard to build. I also had a 232 but bored it out to a 258 with a RV cam. I had hedman headers and the 4 barrel intake from JC Whittney. They were the best back then. It was a nice setup. Sold it like a dumbass back in college for penny's.

So what are the plans for the axles? gears, lockers, etc...

Jonny

[POS YJ]

Wow!! Coming along great. Was worried it would be a hack job considering your "experience". Glad to see you fixing all of the "issues" instead of putting them on the back burner like so many others. Can't wait to see the finished pics.

[defibvt]

What a great build!!!! I have a 74 also with a 232. My engine has bored out to .30 and has an oversize cam, however, it has a clifford intake manifold and a weber carburetor. So you asked for upgrades this is what mine is upgraded to. The weber I have is a 36/36 but I think with your set up you could do a weber progressive and it would run very well.

[Thompology]

Thanks for the kind words guys!
So I have been spending my time teaching myself to weld.
I have the tailgate that came on the jeep, looks like Swiss cheese and a few cracks and welds so I figure this would be good practice before I try for the body. First I cleaned up the holes, crappy welds and cracks: (Obligatory toe shot)

Borrowed this TIG setup from a friend:


I used a hole saw and cut a hole in a piece of plywood, then I took out the guide, clamped the plywood over some scrap metal and cut out the holes to make fillers:


Came up with my own way to mark the plugs for the perfect shape:


Next I used the bench grinder to get they down to perfect fit:


And then I had my very first attempt at TIG welding! So here is my first few attempts (Close up pics for the weld sticklers!)
First Weld:


Did the same on three others:


Hit 'em with a little palm sander and now they look SWEET! (to me anyway)


So those seemed to go very well but now I want to try to fix something a little bigger:
Cut out all the "Bad":


And now I am going to try and fix all that. I figure this will be a good mix of filling areas and adding materials, as well as managing heat etc. I pretty much just Googled "how to TIG weld" and went after it so I am bound to make some mistakes, IE burn a few holes and maybe even ruin the tailgate but I have already replaced it with one in perfect shape. And hey if it come out sweet I can add different accessories on it and swap tailgates as needed, or swap it out to you guys for something else I need... Heck I better just fix it first.

[msalaba]

Cool, I have always wanted to try a TIG. Too bad none of my friends can afford one!

Your welds look better than MIG w/ 0.023" wire.

How's the induced heat warp with the TIG?
Welding body panels w/o warping is a PITA!

Otherwise looking good

[defibvt]

Updates?

[Nissanboy]

Does this build seem to be going a little too well for someone that has no experience? In three months this guy has single handily almost learned to do a body off restoration and weld (TIG at that). I think this guy must be friends with a producer of a certain tv show on spike to be able to do all this with next to no help. Or you only work part time and you can spend a crap load of time wrenching on this. If I am wrong completely then I apologize, but you are very lucky and this is going really well, so keep up the good work!

[mattslope]

I met a guy in Idaho who, without having turned a wrench in his life, cut the body off his Ranger pickup and successfully performed a body drop (as gross as that is, it was a shit-load of work, and it was done really well). Some guys are just talented.

[Willys 4x4]

I picked up welding within a week dude, and a frame off is not that hard, I've not done by myself but I have helped my neighbor completely rebuild his Volkswagon Bug. This stuff is not rocket science

[mudskipper4x4]

Very Nice job on the restore!

Imo the best way to learn something new is to just jump in and give it a shot, just keep and open mind and when you don't know something, just do a little research and continue.(Pretty much just like you are doing)

That's gonna be a nice jeep when youre finished.

[DBlosch]

Nice job on the rebuild! I love the vintage stuff, and respectfully submit my vote against boatsides.

Also, I noticed your in Sac. I'm in SJ, and these seats have been popping on my craigslist for a while. They're not mine, just trying to be helpful.

http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sby/pts/1785092325.html

[toy89yota]

nice job on the cj man hope to start mine as soon as im home from Iraq.

The hat channels you can make yourself by bending some sheet metal over some channel iron. You can also use a metal brake to make your own like this guy.

http://www.earlycj5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=52539

keep up the good work.

[Thompology]

Does this build seem to be going a little too well for someone that has no experience? In three months this guy has single handily almost learned to do a body off restoration and weld (TIG at that). I think this guy must be friends with a producer of a certain tv show on spike to be able to do all this with next to no help. Or you only work part time and you can spend a crap load of time wrenching on this. If I am wrong completely then I apologize, but you are very lucky and this is going really well, so keep up the good work!

@NissanBoy: Ha! That is awesome! What a complement, and thank you. I assure you I started as a rookie, and I think without the use of the internet and about 800 pictures with my digital camera this would be a LOT more difficult. As for time, I have had little or no time to work on this thing. I get a Sat. here and there and in the mean time I just try and figure out what I am going to get done when I get those moments of wrenching time.
I think as far as welding goes, I am just OK. The TIG is cool because you can just remelt everything and make it look sweet, but I have to say that to make the best looking joints takes a lot of prep and patience. I ditched the TIG setup when I went to do some of the body work under the tub because I was worried about controlling heat and it just wasn't as fast as the MIG setup (I had to borrow that too).
@mudskipper4x4, @DBlosch, @toy89yota: Thanks for the props guys, I do have a lot of progress to post, I will try and get all the pic on photobucket tonight and then post an update tomorrow from work.

Updates SOON

[Thompology]

Finding time to throw into this project has been tough. Trips out of town and summer happenings are really slowing down the progress. Since last post, I got tired of just welding on the tailgate as it was teaching me but I wasn't getting any closer to completing a Jeep. So I figured I would just jump right in to the actual body work. Once again I took the tub off the frame, Wheeled it into the back yard, and set it up on some saw horses to get after it.


I started with just welding up some cracks. I switched over from the TIG setup and went with a flux core wire feed since that is what I could get a hold of. I started by cutting out the spot below the driver's side door that showed signs of cancer:

WOW! Good thing I looked in there! It was some pretty bad rust. I finished cutting out the body and then cleaned the rust away from the pillar with a wire wheel:


Next I cut the replacement sheet metal and tried out my first body welding. I Basically just tack welded around and around to avoid heat issues:

I just continued going around until the entire joint had been filled, and then a quick hit with a grinder and now I think it is good enough for some filler and paint!


I also addressed several other issues on the tub. Cracks at support joints, cracks in the tub itself, filling in some holes in the body, Oh and I finally got the front body mount repaired!

[Thompology]

Once I finished all the welding under the tub, it was time to spray it with the protective undercoating. After way too much research on the subject I decided to go with a 2 part truck bed liner from Dominion Sure Seal. The kit seemed simple enough, add Part A to part B, Shake and Shoot! I started prep on the tub by first using a scuff pad over the entire underside (Grey area is the scuffed area so it made it easy to see what had been done.):


After Scuffing the tub, I rigged up a make shift spray area (man these tubs are not easy to move with just one person) and started to mask off anything I didn't want covered in bed liner:

I had to use my table in the back yard to reach the top...
Finally for the last part of prep, I used a compressor and blew all the dust and dirt off, followed by wiping down the entire thing with Mineral Spirits all just to try and get the best adhesion possible.

Finally it was time for the undercoat.
Mix Part A and B:

Spray, and repeat.

I used a Schutz gun to spray and a 30 gallon 6hp craftsman compressor. I made sure to put an extra thick coat on the firewall to help deaden the sound as much as possible. All in all it came out excellent with only one area where I messed up the texture (I had the Schutz gun put together incorrectly).


After a couple hours of dry time, the undercoat was set up enough to let me get the body back on the frame. I got out my new polyurethane body mounts and finally got to permanently set the body back where it goes! Hey that looks like a jeep growing there!

[Willys 4x4]

Thats looking mighty sharp there, wish I could that to the underside of my jeep.

[CJ5inFourWheelDrive]

Looks great man, I'm currently in the process of getting my 72' body over to the sand blaster. Did he do a primer for you too? Did you figure out what that heat damage was? I have a bunch of that in my floor boards and side panel on the pass. side.

[Thompology]

Originally Posted by CJ5inFourWheelDrive

Looks great man, I'm currently in the process of getting my 72' body over to the sand blaster. Did he do a primer for you too? Did you figure out what that heat damage was? I have a bunch of that in my floor boards and side panel on the pass. side.

Yes I had the sand blasting people (didn't use sand, they used a plastic type media) do a 2 part epoxy primer so that there would be no time when the bare metal was exposed to the elements. It come out great, nice and thick and stuck tight to the metal. I even had a small fire under the tub for a couple minutes when I was welding and the flames couldn't even cook the stuff off!

I have no idea what the original heat warping is from. its almost like a tree fell across the back... I dont know. hopefully I can fix it with filler.

[tdmyers]

I notice in your stuff you need section you want a hard top. Um , good luck. I have done a ton of research looking for one for my 73. No dice anywhere. Saw a pre 75 with a factory hardtop near kallispell mt couple of days ago. I drive a truck so i go by lots of stuff like that while working, but even collins brothers does not have one in stock. So Im going to try to motivate everyone with a 5 from this era, do what I did. Write to gr8tops. They make fiberglass hard tops for 7's and 8's yj's tj's etc. etc. Good quality, reasonable price. Mabey if they get enough inquiries they will expand thier product line to 5's and 6's. Best idea i could think of at least. Otherwise we are doomed to drive under canvas. Not that a bestop is bad, I would prefer that in summer. But I get lots of snow where I live, I want a hard top in winter. Give it some thought. Oh and they are at gr8tops.com
Anyway, Love the build so far, finally got mine down to the frame and started cleaning it up. Im only three months behind you .

[Thompology]

@tdmyers: have you looked at THESE?
Thanks for the props, and do you have a build thread?

[Thompology]

Actually those at that link say 1954 and up but then underneath say 1976 and up :/

I actually am going to try and find an old school one, I like how boxey they look!

[tdmyers]

Hadn't seen that one, but it is for 76 on 5's. Different windshield. the pre 76 have a square piece of glass i believe 59 inches wide slightly rounded at corners. in 76 jeep swiched to a windshield that was narrower at the top than the bottom. So tops built for 76 and on models wont fit a 75 and before. Finally figured the picture thing out, I think, here is my baby, mabey