1979 CJ5 Tank Killer Build

[boarderofsnow]

Recieved the RCI Fuel Cell in the mail. I'm gaining 2 gallons and 5 inches of clearence. I just have to modify it to fit my set up and we may have to modify the crossmember inside the frame rail. More to come. The Tanks measurements are 30x17x7in's.

Alright so we moved the gas tank up and it would not fit because of the crossmember. I figured this was going to happen but wasn't sure. So the next step was to get everything ready to accept the tank and to create a frame for the tank and skid plate.

Here is a pic of another Jeepers rig that gave me the idea for the frame.

[boarderofsnow]

Now my axles sit quite a few inches back from where his sits so I took pictures and dropped them into piant. If this is something you haven't done before it can be a way to see how certain ideas you have may look on your rig.

Here is what I came up with. The red is the smaller frame 2in x 1in square tubing. The blue is the 2in x 2in square tubing. The 45 degree angle cuts on the blue will be for adapting the scrape plate to.

The first pic is what I have to remove (crossmember and body mounts) and the rest are my ideas for the fuel cell frame.

Also here is the picture for what modded gas tank will be once I take it to get welded. This is the only item I won't be doing myself because I am not at the point of welding alluminum yet. The 3 red lines on the top will get cut out and the red line around them will be the patch. The current filler neck will be cut off and over to the right a filler (Green arrow) and vent tube (red arrow) will be welded in. The last little red corners on the side will be the mounting brackets that will be welded in and sandwiched between the frame rail and the scrape plate.

Note - I have heard every idea in the book on how to do this blah blah blah almost to the point of frustration. So here is what I am doing going forward and appreciate any thoughts but I won't mount the tank in bed because I want the space back there. This idea I have should work well and have seen it incoporated on two other rigs and they have had no problems.

[boarderofsnow]

Also I didn't include it in the pic above but the fuel and return line will be on the other side of the tank. Fuel line will be in the bottom left corner and the return will be in the top right corner.

Next was the measurements and getting the old crossmember out. I know that the extended frame rail will stick down 2in from the bottom of the frame rail. The tank is about 7 1/2in so I will have a half inch or so of play. So it was time to cut out the crossmember and get the weld areas sanded up for the new crossmember. Here are the pics. Oh yeah the screw driver you see is to hold the gas lines up and out of the way. I also cut down the exhaust pipes down to the mufflers.

[boarderofsnow]

I went with 2in x 1in 3/16 square tubing for the crossmember. Since the original was nothing close to that I think it should be fine.

Also please feel free to not point out my terrible welds...lol. It was the first time I used as gas 220 set up and it took a line to dial it in.

[boarderofsnow]

Had another day of working this fuel cell frame and here is what I came up with. I bought 2in x 2in x 1/4in square tubing and did 45 degree angel cuts on each side. This will be for the skid plate to help protect the fuel cell. I also gave myself 8in of space between the tub and the bottom of the fuel cell frame. I took into consideration the fuel and return lines as well and gave about an inch of play forward and aft.

This first pic is the frame rail sitting next to the fuel cell for measurements.

The next two are the frame rails for the fuel cell being welded to the frame.

The last two are the finished product of the fuel cell frame.

[boarderofsnow]

If you are still kind of lost as to what I am doing here is how the tank will sit in the frame. The red area is the tank and the yellow will be the skid plate.

[boarderofsnow]

Just ordered the bump stops and while I was doing this whole conversion decided to go with a YJ filler neck and cap. I went with this set up because it looks like it will seal better around the gas cap than the old CJ filler necks/caps. Nothing is more frustrating than getting in a verticle with a full tank and having gas spilling out of the cap.

So far I'm into the fuel cell swap $260 for the cell. $40 dollars for pipe. $180 for a chop saw (could have done without it but it will come in handy for future metal working and roll bar stuff). $60 YJ filler neck conversion. If only the mods on the fuel cell and the scrape plate come at a good price then I will have beaten the off road gas tanks that BTF and a few other companies sell for around $850 (OUCH!). With those you still have to modify your tub....NO THANKS!

[boarderofsnow]

Shifter Cable update. As I had mentioned I had some problems with the shifter cable because of where the shifter was mounted and the cable angle. This cost me two shift cables in the last year. The last shifter cable was my fault for the most part by not securing it properly. So here are the pics below of the fix.

The first picture was cutting the back end of the cable mount (which wasn't my idea, some bad advice I listened to). The idea was to bend the cable down to the proper angle.

The next picture is the shifter with the cable mount bent down on a piece of cut out cardboard. This is a great way to see if what we were doing would clear the inside of the tub. By doing this cut out in cardboard it helps to save time dropping the shifter in and out of the vehicle. Since I was working on a lift this wouldn't be a big deal but if this is something your running into at home in the driveway it will save time and effort.

Well this is where the advice I recieved cost me a few hours with this fix. The shifter cable for the B&M shifter is a hard cable. The guy who gave me the advice didn't take that into consideration. So you can obviously see that the way this cable mount is bent down that it would create another area of binding in the cable which was what I was trying to get away from.

So the fix was to lower the bracket down by cutting up some metal to lower the bracket and welding them together.

The last pic is the cable now clearing the hump where the old transmission used to lay.

This was a headache that should have been done right the first time. In the end it was a injury that I didn't give the proper time to heal and continued to re-injure it. NO FUN!

[boarderofsnow]

So the next thing was sending the fuel cell to get the top cut flush and welded up. The fuel cell welding I don't even want to mention the cost because I feel violated by the shop that did this. This will be motivation going forward to learn to hone my skills welding and learn aluminum welding. Here are the pictures of the cell when I got it back.

As I stated I wanted the top flush to maximize the clearence under the tub. The filler neck and vent were built on the side of the tank to mirrow the stock tank that came out. This was to ensure not too many things had to be modified.

Then a fuel line and return line were welded in as well as a vent that I had requested to be on the side but obviously there was a disconnect between me and the shop who did it.

I had mounting tabs welded on as well.

[boarderofsnow]

Next was to build the internal workings of the fuel pick up system. As I have mentioned this before this system set up was a hybrid of ideas from other rigs I had seen. This fuel pick up system was the same way. I purchased the fuel pickups from http://www.autoperformanceengineerin...l/pickups.html

I purchased a MP12 and MP13. The MP13 has a bleed hole which I wanted to ensure the tank doesn't come under negative pressure.

Here are the pictures of how the internals will lay inside the tank as well as the fuel pickups.

[boarderofsnow]

Next was the skid plate to hold it up and protect the fuel cell. I wanted to go with 3/16 steel plating. I purchased a sheet of 4 x 2ft 3/16 plate from a local dealer of metal products. Boulevard Sales here in Maryland was the metal distributer. I wanted to mention them because they always take care of me.

I also needed the plate bent at a 45 degree angle to match the fuel cell frame. I ended up having this done at Trucks and Trailers here in Maryland.

Here is how it came out.

[boarderofsnow]

We then needed to drill the bolt holes through the plate and the fuel cell into the frame. We also welded nuts into the frame for the bolts to screw into. We placed everything up and clamped it in for drilling.

[boarderofsnow]

Recieved a few more parts in the mail. One was Bronco shock towers. This is a cheap way to add longer shocks to your CJ. They are perfect for short axles that keep the wheels close to the frame. I can't remember where I pulled this information from but it was obviously another forum. Here are the pics with the part number incase any other CJ owners out ther want to go this route. More to come on the build!

[boarderofsnow]

Just got the fittings in today for the Tank. I went with 90 degree angle fittings into hose fittings. This will allow me to clamp the Fuel, Vent, and Return lines straight to the tank. Tomorrow I am dropping the tank in and getting the power steering pump fixed. Oh yeah that was another thing that just gave out. Here are the pics of the fittings on the tank.

[boarderofsnow]

So I made it through some big walls today with the fuel cell. Its in and it works but before I post pics on it I want to make sure its painted. So here are the pics of everything I incorporated. I did the YJ filler neck as stated before because the CJ one kept leaking when I would get vertical. Here is a pic of the side by side comparison. Also the holes for these match and I would recommend it to any CJ owners. The next picture is the finished product and will bet my left nut that it doesn't leak anymore after this fix.

Next was the padding I wanted to make sure that the tank wasn't rubbing anywhere or vibrating against metal. So I placed some thin padding over the top and bottom and superglued it down after I did the cut outs for it to fit.

[boarderofsnow]

Power steering pump finally went out. I am pretty sure this is the stock one from the 72 Nova has never been changed. That really speaks to me. Almost 40 years of a product being reliable just says something that seems lost in todays automobiles.

Anyways after about 4 hours of the swap the new one was in and working. Who knew a power steering pump would be so difficult. Next was fixing my exhaust which was now pointing straight into the new fuel cell. I couldn't point them out side because of the tire location so I angled them down.

I added bump stops and still need to cut down the ublots but that will all change when we drop in the new axles. Also planning on mounting bump stops right above the diff.

And the finished product in the fuel cell project....... it just needs paint or might just herc-a-line it

[boarderofsnow]

Rolled it out of the shop finally......SHE LIVES!!!! Minus a rear drive shaft. Drove it around for the day in 4 high. I am hoping that its just because its in 4 high but it wouldn't shift passed 2nd gear unless I dropped it into neutral. It would be pretty crappy to go through all this work just to start having tranny issues! Here are the pics with the top off. Had too it was too nice of a day.

[Y5mgisi]

Loving the build man! Good job on everything so far!

[boarderofsnow]

Painted the fuel cell frame rail. Then the BTF rear bumper.

The next area was to Herc-a-line the inside of the rear fenders. That stuff is fun to work with.

[boarderofsnow]

Originally Posted by Y5mgisi

Loving the build man! Good job on everything so far!

Thanks! Still more to come! Grab a bag of pop corn!

[boarderofsnow]

Well since it was going to cost me $260 for a new driveshaft and I was planning on going to the new axles soon I just decided to scrap alot of the work above and more on with the axles swap. I didn't want to waist any more money than I already had.

I started a little work on the full size axles. I wanted to lighten them up a bit before dragging them to the shop for the overhaul. All I can say is WOW!!!! 32 lug nuts never came off this hard! 3 hours PB Blasting the crap out of the lugs and standing on a cheater pipe to break the rust/torque. Here is the finish product before I drag them down to the shop in the next few days and start this next big project! Should be fun!

[boarderofsnow]

Oh yeah...... have a set of CJ axles laying around. Rear is an AMC 20 with an one piece kit 3.54 gears and the front is a Dana 30. Great shape from the West Coast originally. I will post something once they are out but it never hurts to market them before hand.

Probably take $500 for the set but would consider any offers.

[boarderofsnow]

Alright so we got down and dirty today and cracked open the axles. First we started with the Dana 60. I am almost tempted to just do an axle build forum but I'll just toss them up here. First was the hubs. I won't badger this too much because I don't know the exact names on everything so bare with me.

Star bolts removed.

Next was pulling the locking hub cap off.

Then the screw that holds the cog and spring in.

Then the large lock ring came out.

[boarderofsnow]

Next was the smaller lock ring.

At that point the rest of the locking hub assembly is ready to come out. Thread the star bolts into the holes so you can use the bolts to pull the last of the assembly out.

Once that is out its time to get to the large nuts inside. I didn't have the socket to do this. Its a specialty socket. A punch and soft hammer blows should loosen these nuts.

After the first nut is out there is a star type washer or plate behind it.

[boarderofsnow]

The next nut comes off.

The bearing is the last piece in that puzzle.

At that point the only thing holding the rotor on is the brake caliper.

Dico'd the brake line.

The small bolt on the bottom of the caliper is the next to come out.