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Rooney's build

317K views 2K replies 96 participants last post by  Rooney77 
#1 ·
First off, this will be a long term build. Basically, finances/research will determine the timeline.

History: I bought this 42 MB for $200 as a non-runner next to a barn. After getting it home I realized that the tub/fenders/hood/grill were the only things not GPW. Most of the bolts even had the F script. The grill was an early slat grill. I took all the GPW parts and the restoration valuable parts and sold them to the resto crowd. The floor was beyond shot so I chopped it all out knowing I'd design the entire floor around the drivetrain. I first started building it with a 4.3 and typical parts then got the v8 bug and tried to put a Bronco 302 in it, had 60's and 38s ready to throw under it. Well life happened and I had to sell all the parts off, I refused to sell the body.
Once that happened and we moved, I bought a CJ5 and got it wheelable and damn near daily driveable. So now that I've got a working rig I've decided to pursue my dream rig.

Plan: I've got a 4.3L/4L60E with mallory ignition, marine intake and TBI. I plan on running either a Stak 3 sp or an Atlas. Axles will be 44/9 combo, full hydro steering, street legal (hydro is overlooked here), 4 link and 3 link suspension on 36's.

Where I'm at right now....well I built all the floor bracing for the 302/c6 but it appears it will work fine with the current drivetrain. I like the center console thing so that's why there are two braces coming down from the dash. The frame was completely based off of Meiser's design, the only thing I changed was the angle of the cuts, I had to go with 45 degree cuts due to saw limitations. I'm still trying to decide whether to go with coil springs, coil overs or air shocks. I'm betting it'll be coil springs if the front diff will allow it.

Guess that's it for now. Here are some pics of where everything is right now. I appreciate any and all advice/criticism/finger pointing. This is my first build of this caliber so I've got a lot to learn as I go.

First few pics are of the body. You can see the floor bracing I put in and where I tried to recreate the rusted out ax/shovel cutouts.
 

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#2 ·
These pics are pretty self explanatory. I still need to get the frame fish plated.
 

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#3 ·
These are how it sits today. Just showing very roughly how the body will sit on the frame (thanks again Meiser for sharing your dimensions). Just doing some rough measurements it's gonna be a bitch to get the motor positioned right. I'm struggling with the order to do things though. I need a rad and taurus fan to know how far forward I can move the motor, but I need to mount the body first. And I can't position the motor till I have my axles to know how much to offset it. Kinda feels like I need to get A mounted to know where B goes but I can't mount B till I have C mounted and I can't mount C till I get A mounted. I'm guessing I need to get the body positioned and mounted before I go any further. I just hate to do that until I know if I'm gonna have to use body spacers to keep the motor under the hood and maximize ground clearance. Damn motor is tall.

Oh and how the hell did you guys get your body squared and level on the frame? This thing is so tweaked. Did you just end up kinda averaging out the measurements as good as possible? Should I use plumb bobs on the middle of the tub and go by that?
 

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#5 · (Edited)
I've had that for several years now. I used it when I restored my 49 3A. Even from the factory these things weren't all that square, add some wartime abuse, then years of farm duty, I don't expect the tub to be square. I'm just wondering if others have averaged their measurements to get close or what tricks some might have used. And with absolutely none of the stock floor left and having built my own frame, mount location isn't an issue for me, it's being sure the tub is as centered as possible.

Another side note, what radiator are you guys with the 4.3 using? Would a stock rad from a 4.2L cj5 keep the motor cool?
 
#6 ·
Good job on starting a thread!

I set my body on the frame and then just starting shifting it around, measuring, shifting, measuring, etc. Eventually I got it square enough. You never get it perfect, but I don't think these things where any better than an 1/8" in some directions from the factory. Once you get better than that its probably good enough....

My body would sit on the 'belly' of the frame so level wasn't a big deal. You could always shim the body mounts slightly later if you notice something really off.

Your tub doesn't have that much to work from however. Good enough is probably good enough.
 
#9 ·
Ya perfect will never be achieved with these things. And given my starting point I guess I'm nit picking. That's probably the engineer in me. I went ahead and got a plumb bob hanging at the centerline of the firewall and I guess I'll go from there. I still need to find some good reference points to find the centerline at the rear, my wheelwells are very inconsistent and I'm pretty sure the upper edge of the body won't be a good point, looks like someone tried to do body work with a sledge hammer.
 
#7 ·
To be fair, guys, the bodys for these things were made in washing machine plants, lol.

On the radiator subject. Just remember you can always push the radiator about an inch and half forward. the headlight buckets have A LOT of un-used volume that can be utilized for radiator space. I've seen where the buckets were almost entirely removed to fit a good sized radiator
 
#8 ·
I don't have headlight buckets, MB's just had a flange/tang sticking out behind the hole. The headlight actually swiveled down from on to of the grill. I've got pretty much the most clean slate I could have. Well excluding all the future body work. Which I guess could be my next step and I can save for the rad and fan while I'm doing it. Would be a whole lot easier if my other parts would sell. :D
 
#10 ·
off to a good start. i noticed the tape on the rear fenders. comp cut? if so its ez to push the axle back with links and coils. makes for longer drive shaft, better engine placement, more room for a bigger radiator. along with pushing the front forward give better wheel base, wieght bias front to back. on my buggy the body is draped over a tube buggy frame work like an afterthought. makes it nice to work on because the body comes off with 10 bolts and leaves everything acessable. a friend who is a sargent for chp researched state and fed laws and could find nothing that says full hydro steering is not leagal. that is a myth just like 2 bumper pull trailers. if you do it right there is no problem
 
#11 ·
Kickass info on the steering. :D

I haven't chosen a WB yet, I was basically just gonna throw the axles under it and see what would "look" right with a 36" tire. I will be stretching the WB from stock though. As for the comp cut, that's several years old and I'm not sure if I want to comp cut it or do like svaras and others and push as far as possible without comp cutting.
 
#14 ·
Fastest speed it'll see is 45mph. I live literally 3 minutes from work and that'll be the extent of it's street use. I've had tractors die on me on the road and ya, it's jacked getting one to the side of the road.
 
#15 ·
anything with power steering of any kind is a pain to steer when the motor dies or pump goes out, so this doesn't only apply to full hydro set ups--

good to see you're making some progress--

I just set mine on the frame and got it centered as close as possible...
 
#16 · (Edited)
Before I cut my body up for the stretch, it was 3/4" difference between the left and right sides, from the dash to the back of the tub.

As for mounting and squaring it up. I just kept measuring and adjusting until I got it close, and then clamped the body down and drilled the mounting holes. I used the 45* cut off pieces from the frame for the body mount brackets.
 
#17 · (Edited)
Can anyone recomend a radiator? I measured my cj5 radiator yesterday and I could make one work but I don't know if it'll cool the 4.3 and I'd rather get one I didn't have to modify all to hell.

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/SUM-380324/

This one seems like it might work and the price seems reasonable.
 
#19 ·
driving with full hydro requires useing your head. i stay to dirt roads and slow paved roads to get from one trail to another. i use an original style 17" wheel for leverage. yes i can steer it dead, no its not easy
 
#20 ·
i made this out of an old ross box out of a cj. 50 yrs of being a cheap ass i reuse a lot of stuff. i used a griiffin aluminum rad from summit for the buggy $180 new, you can search size and connections theres a lot of them
 

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#21 ·
I hung on to my original steering wheel and would like to reuse it with a quick release. I haven't even begun to research steering columns.

I just ordered the radiator I posted a link to. Now I'm off to figure out how to mount a radiator.
 
#23 ·
Thanks a ton for that. I may try a modified version of the first one. I had debated coming up with a way to mount it to the grill so as the frame twists it won't kill the radiator. But I couldn't come up with a non destructive way to do it.
 
#24 ·
Well my radiator came in. $142 to the door and only took two days :smokin:. I'm hoping to get the fish plates done tomorrow as well as a few, if not all, of the body mounts. Assuming I can quit being nit picky and just get the body as close as possible :D. Pics will be posted for your critiquing.
 
#26 ·
Nope gotta have lunch with the wife then I get to go play in the garage. Why don't you drive your new to you j20 up here and lend a hand ya bum.
 
#27 ·
Well I didn't get near as much done as I had hoped but that's usually the case. I got my fish plates cut out and one partially welded on. And that made me miss the plasma I had access too. Only having an angle grinder makes the process longer. I cut the 2x4 steel to bring to work to cut my body mounts out of. I realized the back two will have to be different lengths since I welded more floor mounts in position by the body, not by what was level :homer:, but that was a long time ago. The body is centered on the frame as much as possible and it's tacked into place to keep it from shifting while I get my body mounts done. Hopefully I can get the fish plates all tacked up this evening. Well here are the pics. The first one is my springs, two are from a TJ and I'm not real sure what the other two are from but all 4 were free :D.
 

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#28 ·
Anyone have any ideas how to get the rusted/broken bolts out? I've been soaking with PB blaster for a few days but not real sure what to do beyond that.
 

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#29 ·
if your talking about the hood hinge i drilled them out and welded nuts to the back side
 
#30 ·
Yes it's the hood hinge. I was hoping to avoid having to do that. I just didn't want to have to weld way up in there like that. Guess I can't be lazy.
 
#32 ·
Instead of welding individual 1/4 " nuts way up behind the cowl
Use the hinge to lay out a strip of 1" flat drilled and tapped , the use a couple
Of bolts to hold it up there and lay down a couple of healthy tack welds
You will be sandwiching the body metal and it won't go anywhere
 
#35 · (Edited)
drill and tap 2 extra holes for countersunk screws in the strap, no dingleberrys down the arm pit that way:D
 
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