And the moment of truth..

Drumroll please

The pink wire was rewired to come off the starter switch,  but the fuel pump is still active after the key is out though.
Will have to rewire that.

Run what ya brung

I purchased a 28 x 19 universal radiator for a chebby, installed it and used gates 22158 lower, and  21710 upper radiator hoses to hook it up. The lower one had to have some chopped off to fit.

for 170, not bad.  aluminum cross flow

Here is all the wiring from the stock chebby harness you dont need.

TA DA!  The running (but never finished) product  I'll try to load a video.

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.