Engine wiring

Lots and lots of wires to sort through.  I sent the wiring loom ( using original chebby firewall pass thru) up thru the passenger kick panel/ fresh air drain.

About a 2.5 x 3.5 hole was cut thru into the void

The loom from underneath

The interior loom is just long enough to reach up under the glovebox. you can see the kickpanel void on the right.

Jeep was kind enough to put some foam over the top of it to keep the wind out.

I destroyed the original glovebox trying to get it out. Oh well. I'll make a new slide in model that can be removed if'n I has to get back here agian for sumpin.
 The computer will be mounted here , this is just a inch above the fresh air intake drain hose.

the heater and firewall

I didn't get all the pictures that were needed because it was hot and sonic had happy hour.  Sorry.

The firewall is in excellent shape. The firewall insulation holders were shot so I put it back up

with some new fangled plastic rivets

The back of the heater box , in better shape than I thought it would be..

The whole box comes out with 4 nuts from the engine compartment, 2 vent cables and 2 heater hoses.

November 28 1972.  I was 2 years and a few days old when it was made.

The inside of the heater box.  I cleaned half an oak tree, several wasp nests, and a gopher out of here

On the left is the fully functioning blower motor. ( one of the intelligently designed parts on this... you can remove the blower motor without removing anything else) on the right is the wasp haven heater core.  It isnt rusted, the foam just disintigrated over 30 years

Testing the heater core- cleaned it off and out- the thing held water for half an hour.

I re foamed the perimeter of the core and inserted it in the box.  Then for good measure the fresh air deflector was foamed

to increase the efficiency of it.

NOTE:  one tube of the core has a reduced inner diameter.  If this is used as the inlet it won't let much hot water through to

heat it up.  If hooked up through the other side, the heater core will be pressurized with hot water.

This is the inside of the fresh air intakes that come off the cowl. In good shape thankfully.

It had an entire oak tree and squirrels and nuts and bark in it suggesting the commando was parked for quite a while.

The large drain tube goes into a rubber pipe that goes just under and across the glovebox and drains INSIDE (really)

the passenger kick plate next to the floorboard. The final drain is a 1" hole @ the front rocker panel.   

It's really a wonder that the entire side of this thing is in good shape and isn't rusted off.

Chrome don't get you home... swampers, new wheels, and tcases.

Look familiar? Not a lot got done in the past month or so due due to this.


POP QUIZ!



How many 36" swamper tires fit into a Honda Fit?
Is it
a:  1 tire
b: 4 + 1 mounted 31"  +3 rims
c: none
d: I can't find mud tires for my Honda






The answer is B!


I managed to score some almost new rims for cheap with center caps, so the tire pile took a trip.

4 36 x 12.5 x 15" super swampers, a 31" truck tire on one of the new rims and 3 rims in the passenger seat.

Truck!?  I don't need no steenking truck!!  The tire guy was impressed, he was wondering when the rest of

the circus was getting out of the car.

The original bling wheels.  Although straight and functional, not elegant.

Machismo!

This is at (according to my beat up air guage) 15 psi.

Probably closer to 20. 

They do rub on the leafs at full lock, something I'll have to get used to with narrow track axles.

The transfer case was pressed into position on the clocking ring about a half dozen times

making sure the front driveshaft won't eat the transmission pan. The yolk spins about 3/4" from the pan.

I'd have to mod the transmission pan to clock the xcase up one more click.

Right now the bottom of the dana 300 is even with the bottom of the stock crossmember.

If I leave it like this- the transfer case skidplate will be about a foot square to cover everything.

 barely bolted up and its still pretty flat

ants view

pic of the ford blue chevy 700r4 pan with the jeep transfer case

The red wire is power to the fuel pump whenever that happens.

gas tank prep

I finally got off my keester and did something jeep related.
The gas tank has been staring at me for at least a month so I decided to measure and have it ready to mount in this giant gap behind the rear axle.

the gap

The front holes of the cj7 tank line up perfectly with the cj6 mounts.  The rear mount

is either make 2 more mounts, drill holes in the tank corners then bolt up, or add on a portion to

the tank so the original mount will work.

cj7 fuel inlet size is 1", vent is 3/4".  I am using a 5/16 fuel vent line to hook up to the

wrangler fuel filler so the vent was welded shut.

Not the best picture.. the rear crossmember used to stick out 2" more to the rear.

a 3 and 5# sledge fixed this.  It looks like someone tried to tow somebody out with the crossmember

instead of the tow hitch. It could still use a reinforced bar across it.

The original mount was unbent and will support the tank like this.

If you'll note- the rear tank mount that wasn't , now is.

(on the bottom of the picture with the rear mount bolted to it)

It's a 4" x 1.5" wide piece of sheetmetal that is thicker than both halves of the tank

it is welded under the tank lip so there is a lot of surface area to support the tank.

The tank ready to install.  The side vent tubes will be fuel injection return.

The tank , if hit, will be able to flex up on the mounts a little.

I'm planning on a skid plate for this to avoid dings and dents.

Update 8-11

The front lip needed a tiny trim to fit the stock mounts

El fuel pump.  Walbro min 15psi

The tank mounted.  With the body lift, its nice and tucked up.

I'll make a skidplate though....

From the back side.

gimmie fuel, gimmie fire... gimme customer service

So- got the tj filler neck in, compiled ( after 2 mos)  fuel injection hose, filler to tank hoses, hose clamps, fuel pump, fuel filter.  Just need to shoot some pics and start bolting it together after the rear brake line is mounted.

from interior doghouse thru floor

from  cab to tank.

Btw, went to oreillys auto to find a hose that had the weird brake hard line size of 7/16 and axle hose size of 3/8 threads.  The old guy behind the counter pulled a 8" thick book out and started typing numbers into the computer to see if he had them in stock. 
  About half way through the first page the mgr. came over, shook his head, and took the hose I had back. Two minutes later he came back with some hard brake line and 2 new fittings.  The old guy was still typing.
  All I had to do is bend the line to fit, put on the fittings, and flange it.  Just need to bleed brakes.

Feeling fuelish

Engines (just like the fire triangle) need three things to run.  Air, fuel, and a source of ignition.
Air- pretty much taken care of.
Source of ignition- not yet
Fuel- in the works

I started with the fuel since gm tbi's require about 15 psi to run properly.  I got a Walbro gsl392 pump for that.
Instead of the large and odd sized 2 ?/?" diameter commando tank filler I got a much more common cj7 tank with the 1" fill tube.
  The front tank mounting holes are the same position and diameter as stock, it just doesn't have the rear crossmember mount hole.
The plans are to make some rear corner gussets so it will be like the front mounts.  Then get some rubber donuts to isolate it from bumps.

Stock, ugly, poorly executed fuel filler.  How sad.

Stock, ugly, poorly, executed fuel filler hose.  How sad.

Here is the part of the reason I'm switching to the more common tank.

The filler hose is expensive and has a weird diameter and is cracked.

The vent hose comes clamped over a nipple off the filler hose and is also cracked.

Here is the new cj tank with new sender. The efi return line can go into the

little vent tubes on the right.

Old upper, 02 to 06 wrangler model lower.

They both have the same bend with the filler cap.  The only mod needed

is the ginormous vent hoop needs to be bent down to fit in the protective

doghouse

What it will look like inside more or less.

Michealangelo couldn't have done a more perfect circle. (cause he didn't have a jigsaw)

The actual hole is 3/4" smaller all around than the filler surround.

The new vent tube bent down and spot welded to the original tab

This fill tube will fit to the new tank perfectly.  The vent tube will go to

the right side of the tank and the tank vent will be covered.

In case you can't read this:  it's mfg by Whittek, Chicago USA.

When things of this era were marked "Made in USA" it actually meant it!

Stock blah, drab, boring, original and exiting, new replacement!

Oooh.  Ahhh!

Note that the hole was cut foreward of the original filler hole so the filler will

fit in the interior protective doghouse.

Engine mounts and more measuring

  Once the engine is in it had to be "leveled"  (chebbys need a nose up attitude  for proper engine oiling I was advised)
The banks were leveled and clearances were checked again.  Once its in move the driveshaft, steering, and anything else around to make sure it doesn't hit.  Move the distributor about an inch off the firewall ( luckily the jeep "engineers"  left a divot in the firewall for the oil pressure unit off the engine)
 
  The engine and transmission were wired into position where it was to be mounted and measurments were taken... again.
  Remember the 1" factory jeep offset from the factory?   Keep that in mind when mounting the new one!
 
Measure from the frame to the center of the engine mount hole on each side.. TWICE!
 We used DOM tubing and poly bushing mounts.

The finished drivers side mount (loosely bolted until the other side is put on)

note the steering shaft that rides just above the mount, the steering u joint clears the stock exhaust by 1"

Finished passenger side mount.

On to the engine wiring...(oof- luckily I went thru the wiring prior to planting the engine otherwise this would take weeks)
Whats left:
driveshafts (easy), clock transfer case ( relatively easy), bleed manual drum brakes (usually a thorn in my side) , maybe get power steering installed ( have to do something- there's bump steer going in and out of the garage), radiator and transmission cooler, and the exhausts aim a little at the frame rails.
 The chebby is only 50 lbs more than the AMC engine, puts out an extra 150 hp and 75 lb ft of torque.  This ought to be an interesting ride..