Jeep CJ's YJ thread

[crimsonride]

I've been spending a lot of time of the jeep lately and thought I ought to post some pics.

Here's a pic of the jeep as it was before my ambitions got a hold of me.

First.....not pictured. I ditched the fake beadlocks and swapped the ol 35's for some 37's and alloy rims.


Then I yank-a-danked the wheezy 4cyl

Then we did a little test fit of the motor.

Then my ambitions got the best of me and I decided this jeep would look better orange. So I converted my shop to a paint booth and put Edgar the paint wizard on it.

And that's where we currently are with it. I'm itching to mate this trans and motor and t-case up but I have to wait for Edgar to quit messing around in there first.

Next on the list

-swap out 4L60E output shaft (Novak)
-bolt on trans/t-case adapter (Novak)
-Mount it all up.
-Wire it all up.
-Get it all done just in time for winter.

 

[Noahfecks]

you know it's not too late to paint it a nice crimson red

 

[crimsonride]

you know it's not too late to paint it a nice crimson red

Well actually it is, it's orange now. ....but you are right, it would make a lot more sense if I painted it crimson huh?

 

[Jinx]

Man that turned out awesome. I like the color.

Makes me think i need to find a buddy who can paint!

 

[crimsonride]

No kidding! These photos don't even do it justice. It's almost golden in some areas and deep orange in others depending on how the light hits it. I was fully prepared to take it to a shop to have it painted and pay up the b-hole for it! Turns out, one of my employees (Edgar the paint wizard I'm calling him) used to build limos. He totally knows his crap. He spent 12 hours on it yesterday and four the day before and he'll spend another five today. He was only going to charge me $350! Crazy dude! I am of course going to pay him wayyy more than that because it just warms my soul to stare in to that deep orange luster!

 

[Bart]

Love the color and he did a great job.

 

[Coco]

Looking good!!

 

[cjncustoms]

Looking good chris! Hopefully you're making Jesse get in there and get his hands dirty for once! Haha!

 

[crimsonride]

Looking good chris! Hopefully you're making Jesse get in there and get his hands dirty for once! Haha!

If you can keep him focused he's pretty helpful. He mostly had the old motor pulled while I was out of town.

So little update here:

Everything is painted and ready to go back together. I can't decide on what color to paint the bumpers, steel corners, roll cage etc. Initially I was going to do it in matte black but the orange came out so much lighter now I'm thinking a slightly dark silver??? What do you guys think? Maybe I need to get it put back together first to see how the paint looks.

Next things on my list are

-Install 4L60E output shaft from Novak (I've decided to do this myself)
-Modify wiring harness (I've also decided to do this myself since I've procrastinated sending it off to have it done and now I don't want to wait for it. It doesn't look too hard anyway)
-Send off the ECM to get reprogrammed for fans and such
-put it all in!

Wednesday I should be back to work on it. I think by end of next week we should have it in and everything bolted back up.

-Chris

 

[crimsonride]

Ok.... with a little help from Youtube I have become a professional transmission rebuilder! Here's a little progress. Swapped the shaft and installed the T-case adaptor. Tomorrow we'll mount up the drivetrain!

 

[BlueWolfFab]

I've always wanted to try to rebuild one but haven't yet. I still have my burnt up 4L60E, guess I could always at least tear it apart, I understand pretty well fundamentally how all the parts work, but never actually gutted one.

p.s. Your transmission clamp thing gives me anxiety

 

[mbryson]

I was working on mine last night. First time in a while. Took a gasoline bath from my disconnected fuel return line. This thing just keeps fighting me . You might beat me still?

 

[crimsonride]

I say just do it. It's not rocket science. With you tube now you can do just about anything. And buy a clamp. Don't worry, it's solid. You can rotate the trans any way you want it. Very helpful!

- - - Updated - - -

I was working on mine last night. First time in a while. Took a gasoline bath from my disconnected fuel return line. This thing just keeps fighting me . You might beat me still?

I don't think so but that's my motivation anyway!

 

[crimsonride]

Mated the drivetrain together. The right tools (or in this case friends with the right tools) make the job so much easier.

And now it's in.

 

[crimsonride]

Not much too see by the pictures but we got the T-case installed and clocked up nicely. Fits like a glove (Novak is awesome!). I tackled the wiring harness myself since I am cheap and don't like to pay people to do stuff I can do (Or think I can do). We'll see how I did. All in all, it wasn't really all that difficult. Looks like a giant mess but it wasn't too bad. Also go vacuum lines tapped in to the manifold, heater core hoses and some fuel lines handled. Today I'm hoping to finish connecting up the wiring harness, and start attaching body parts!

 

[Bart]

Wow, amazing work and loving the Jeep.

 

[crimsonride]

Made a little more progress. Wiring harness modifications are complete and back in the jeep. Still have to figure out how to make the gas pedal work. Some hoses and junk are done too and put on some of the fenders so I can mount the batter and radiator. I found my new radiator hit my steering box so I had to make up some brackets to raise it up.

Then I spent a few hours trying to figure out a way to mount the computer... fiddling around with angle iron and other stuff that would have just looked ghetto.....when all of a sudden a light bulb went off in my head! ....The guys who moved in to the shop next to us have a plasma table!!! ....also they owe me a few favors.... so I downloaded autocad and Youtube-learned myself how to use it.....cool stuff coming up!

 

[Greg]

Looking good Chris! Is that a Novak radiator as well?

 

[crimsonride]

Looking good Chris! Is that a Novak radiator as well?

Ha ha.....nope! I felt like I have given them enough money already. They want like $700 for theirs. Found this one on amazon for $140. We'll see if it's big enough.....the jury is still out on that one.

 

[crimsonride]

Made some progress today. My pinion angles were nasty so I had to cut the perches and turn up the axle. I decided to go with some U-bolt eliminators since I hate U-bolts and they were cheap and simple to do. The engine looks nice sitting in there, I still have a little work to do wiring the last few items in and mounting the computer.