Did a pretty thorough "restomod" job on it and got it on the road and trail a few years back. Looks like this now.
Later this year summer, it'll be going under the knife for another round of mods.
Chevy 4.3l v6, TH350, and a few associated mods while it's all stripped down. Sammy and I made some rock rails that'll go on, new front shock hoops and lower mounts will happen, and about a 2-4" wheel base stretch is what's planned
So, as I sat looking at things today, it occurred to me that the radiator tank corners are going to be right about where the stock upper shock mounts were. If I swap the spring plates from driver to passenger I could move the lower shock mount behind the axle. Does anyone see any issues with that? The steering stop might be in the way, but I’m not sure. I could mount a new set of tabs on top of the axle too. I have some 1.5” hoops, as seen above, so I’m not restricted on length just yet. Thoughts?
One thing per night. One thing per night. One thing per night...
Got the cross member painted and ready to install. I got lazy and didn’t feel like rolling around on the cold concrete floor, so it’ll wait until tomorrow, or this weekend.
I did get the front taken apart in preparation for the new water pump and pulleys.
Some 231 (rough) dimensions for reference if it’s helpful to anyone.
The new to me pulleys that arrived last week went to the blaster today. Should have them back in a bit.
Things I learned tonight, my engine turns over freely and my compressor setup isn’t enough to loosen the crank pulley bolt. But, the tcase holding tool I made for that rebuild was enough to hold everything in place to use a breaker bar. Also, one of the water passages was plugged with RTV. So, that’s good to know.
Bump stops. It’s 3.5” (correction) above the diff now. I can’t really go any higher without poking the carb out of the hood, and the air cleaner will already be out through it.
Pedals, mc and booster, throttle cable, transmission shifter, 225 water pump and gaskets. Oh, I also picked up a starter at O’Reilly’s this afternoon. The 1977 Buick Skylark (231 odd fire [3.8l]) part number crosses with a 1969 CJ5 (225 odd fire [3.7l]), which leads me to believe this starter will work fine and I have found my reference car. Everything I’ve found indicates 225 and 231 starters are the same, so we’ll see shortly.
Obviously some of these projects will have to wait for the final tub placement, but the water pump is the biggie in my mind.
Here are some comparisons.
And loosely installed.
Lines up as it’s supposed to and has the proper number of inlet/outlet ports. So, I can’t see any reason this won’t work. (Fingers crossed) Pulleys should be back soon to get it all buttoned up allowing me to fit the rad.
There were a ton of different oil filter setups for the 225/231 V6 and 350 V8, some research should help you find something better. I know there's one where the filter goes straight outwards like Meiser mentions and some that are even with the filter up/down.
Went to Speedway's website and none of those part numbers are found in a search.
Also, why a booster/master combo and then a booster and a master listed separately ?
Looks like they dropped the hyphen in the part number.
On the mc/booster, I have no idea. I selected the booster off the “customers also bought” displayed on the pedal page. Actually, it might have been a “kit” listing. I don’t recall, but it didn’t take much effort to find from the pedal listing or in the hard copy catalog.
Mieser, did you move your axle forward on Rango? If not, you should be in a similar situation, approximately right? You have a little more lift with the new frame and rear springs up front, but it shouldn’t be that much is it?
I haven’t found a remote filter kit, but I also haven’t look for one either. But, now I’ll start over thinking that while waiting to assemble the rad and cooling system. [emoji38]
I couldn't get a picture, but I'm pretty sure the oil filter/pump I have on my 225 is very different from your engine. The filter is higher, level, and pointed pretty much at the passenger frame rail.
I would see if you could find that part, it looks like it would be a much better fit.
I could also add some height with my motor mounts. (Edit: added mm pic)
I’ll do some more research.
My buddy has a stock v6 CJ5 I have been using for reference. I’d say his filter angle is similar to mine and his distance to pumpkin is also 3.5”. But he’s got 10 leaf front springs, so I’m pretty sure he’ll never get the front to stuff far enough to even come close to his filter.
Nightly progress report.
I got the crossmember installed.
Picking up button head bolts for the trans isolator Friday.
Also got the new starter popped in.
I dropped the engine a little while back and cracked the case on the starter. Dang it. But, O’Reilly’s had one on the shelf at a very reasonable price.
Fiddled with the shifter tonight. It appears well made. I need to make a bracket to hold the actual mechanism. The kit sent two passenger side brackets, not one of each side. Not a huge deal, but I don’t have a means to bend 1/8” material, so I’ll have to weld one with the proper angle. Just a time suck.
Or maybe one just goes the other way. Seemed to work, but I’m not real sure if it’s the way it was designed, or if I got lucky.
Mechanism location is only for test fitting and being out of the way of the tcase shifters. I’m planning to roughly Center it on the bracket. Then I’ll shorten the bracket to fit my tub’s opening.
American Shifter (brand), single action TH350, 13” push button. Made in China.
Ok, old beat up rad is wrapped in a blankey and located in the daily driver. I’ll get it to the rad shop this coming week.
I’m committing to EJS 18 FFFFR. HH6 and work boss already approved the time off, must do and nice to do lists are made, and I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Got a quote to rejigger the old 70s rad. Pretty much the same cost as a new universal SBC aluminum rad. Sigh.
So, right now the mental hang up is getting the rad mounted. I’m going to put the body back on to work on the master cylinder and pedals until the rad problem solves itself.
I’d prefer to have the fuel tank sorted out, but I’m ok with the idea of 10 or 15 more body off, body on iterations.
Got a quote to rejigger the old 70s rad. Pretty much the same cost as a new universal SBC aluminum rad. Sigh.
So, right now the mental hang up is getting the rad mounted. I’m going to put the body back on to work on the master cylinder and pedals until the rad problem solves itself.
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