#2, The B Team

#1
Well the Jeep now resides in it's resting place for the next several months. It was cheap so you can imagine the shape that its in. I BELIEVE it to be a 1976 Levi Edition Renegade CJ-5. It has an AMC 304 V8, 3 sp tranny, I BELIEVE it to have a dana 20 case, it has super narrow trac axles, AMC 20 and Dana 30. The undercarraige appears to have been on the bottom of the atlantic for some time although I'm not sure which crab boat pulled it up with their crab pot. I am going to try my best to document the build as much as possible. I have not built a CJ in a very long time and even when I did, I was just my father's wrench man. This too is going to be a father/son project except I will be laying out the plan and he will be my wealth of CJ knowledge. I wish I had paid more attention and been more involved in his other builds but instead I was a typical teenager more worried about finding someone to buy beer and cigs. This is my makeup build. Any insight or constructive criticism will be glady ignored, haha j/k. Here are some photos of #2, then I will share my preliminary build plan that is very incomplete.
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#3
The plan is for complete teardown and dissasembly to begin now. The body is coming off this weekend and the motor will be next. The axles, if I decide not to go with the 80's widetrac versions will be returned to spring under. I would prefer to go with the widetrac's and even if I do, I will be adding 2" wheel spacers at all corners. Anyone who knows me or has seen my TJ knows that I like wide Jeeps for the safety, stability and sexy. Oh and DeMarcus, did u see the glovebox? Apparently I am in possesion of the original panty droppa!! The Jeep will remain full bodied on leafs although most likely the later wider CJ springs and the wheelbase will remain stock with 35's on the least ammount of lift with bumps. Not sure yet on a shackle reversal but its not a priority now. The paint will be an era specific with original sticker kit. Not sure on the color yet. The 3 sp will stay for now as its just gonna be a driver/light duty rig. The tie rod is currently held in place(or was a few hrs ago) by coat hangers. The leaf spring bracket was not even bolted on. The freaking brake lines were cut at the frame, it has 4 driveshafts, none of which are connected, fuel tank is held up by ratchet strap, just typical crap like that everywhere. Someone apparently tried a SOA setup and just completely caved at some point. Its a good thing too because someone would have been killied in #2. Any tips ideas or info would be gladly accepted. Let the rusty fun begin, come awn.
 
#4
Oh and DeMarcus, did u see the glovebox?
I lost it when I read this....


Man, what ya gonna do about the rust? Bondo hellllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll NO! Please.




When I bought my CJ it was the same way. The Parker and satter head had started a spring over for some reason and did the rear and fubarred all the brake lines. Seems that is a trend in CJ-5's.

I vote OG paint scheme, and keep the sticker on the glove box ofcourse. That was a good enough reason to buy it IMO.
 
#6
Until the old bondo is off, I couldnt tell yea. I think it can be done right without too many patch panels and very little bondo. The only places I plan to run patches are on the driver floorboard but I need to see whats under this bondo first. I dont think they tried to pull the dents out because there is no evidence inside the tub of any spot welds. They just gobbed on the bondo. They even filled all the fender flare holes with something and its not bondo.
 
#7
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Pulled the dash and rust tank before dark. Checked the plugs and #8 was covered in oil so the motor is definately coming out.
 
#8
o snap is that a blackburry.....looks good nick nothing says good time look good old fashioned p.o.s.......previous owner syndrome
 
#11
Do all CJ's have the same width leaf springs? I thought the later ones were a bit wider but now I believe I was thinking of the YJ springs. These springs just look so skinny compared to what I remember my 81 looking like. I would love to do a YJ spring coversion with Old Man Emu springs but damn stuff aint cheap! Did I mention this is a budget build.
 
#14
Nick in my very short dealings with the cjs that Matt and I had. I do believe there two different width springs. I think the narrow track springs were about a 1/2" narrower that the widetrack cjs

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#16
A buddy of mine has a pair of tan low back Bestop seats he is looking to sell. Let me know if you are needing any. I'll also be Liston them in the sale section.
 
#19
This is where I would like to take this build. The color, rims and sticker kit is already obtained but I'm still searching for the denim blue top. Meaders, do you know if a top like this is still available?

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