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Gary's '81 Scrambler

Gary R

Gary R

Legacy Registered User
City
Arlington
State
TX
Folks,

Here is the '81 Scrambler I am restoring. I bought it via eBay. It was sight unseen by me. I bought it from San Diego, and had it shipped to Fort Worth, TX. It was in pristine shape, by 1981 to current day standards. Very straight, and not a speck of rust to be found. I just wanted to post a 'before' photo, before she goes down to the frame. Thoughts?

forum
 
Oh boy!

Wow...So if I understand you correctly, this thing is perfect, no rust, and you are gonna tear it appart!?! I'll save you a huge headache...just ship it to me and I will happily just suffer with it as-is...:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:
 
Yep

It's pretty much in primo condition. It was originally brown, but they did a pretty nice paint job taking it to white. I just figured, as long as I am gutting the 4-banger and installing a V-8, I might as well take it all the way down and re-work it to my perfectionist standards....probably a silly thing to do, but it will be exactly how I want it when it is done :o

Gary
 
Not a personal fan of diamond plating or double tube bumpers so have at it. It honestly does look super nice though. Are you going back to the original brown as well?
 
OK, so it's been a little busy at work so I haven't had any significant time lately to work on the -8. However, yesterday I started the teardown.

I really asked myself if this was the thing to do, since I had a running a pristine 1981 model. What the heck....it needs to be MY way :cheers:

I will post photos as I move along....so far I have the motor built, the RE 4.5" lift in hand, all the Novak adapters, and the T-176 tranny.

I am excited but I will tell you that it was brutal to back this thing in under its own power, then start tearing it apart!

I am going with a fire engine red for the color, with all black components (hood latches, handles, etc).

Gary
 
Motor

Here's the Chevy engine, ready to be mated up to the drivetrain.

motor.jpg
 
Thanks for the positive comments. Someone mentioned earlier that they didn't much care for the diamond plate. I really don't either- however, many people love it. Speaking of, if anyone wants a heck of a deal on ALL of it, let me know. This Jeep had it all the way around:

* Dash
* Rockers
* All across the rear (corners and tailgate)
* Front bumper area
* Front winch area

All in nice shape, and not all oxidized. Pop rivet and/or bolt it right up to your -8! I'd love for someone to want it verus going into my recycle/scrap pile. Anyone?

Gary
 
If I were you, I'd put a 5.3 or a 6.0 in there. It's a little extra money to do it but WELL worth it in the end. Just ask anybody that has made the conversion.
 
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Watching with great interest. Follow the link in my sig block for some shots of my 350 V-8 Scrambler. I love driving her to work every day. Wahooo!!
 
Thanks for the shop comments! It is a 30' x 40', and now I wish I had made it bigger! But our city code says that if it is over 50% of the size of your house, you have to match the exterior of the shop to the house....in other words, I didn't want to brick my shop!

Speaking of, check it out: no more frame!

tub.jpg


And no more tub:

frameq.jpg
 
Frame Question

Please see the attached photo of my bare frame. I have inserted two yellow arrows, pointing to the areas in question:
1. The rear bracket (the arrow toward the top) is the emergency brake bracket. It looks bent upward, but doesn't appear to be anything other than a factory weld?
2. The lower left arrow is pointing at the front passenger side area, where one of my tub bolts/bushings installs. I have yet to measure it compared to the other side, but just by looking at it, it appears very obvious that it may be tilted at an angle, making this about 1/2" (guess) higher than that same bracket on the drivers side? It also appears to only be a factory weld, and the way these brackets are made/welded, I just can't see how it would have become bent in an upward fashion? That section of the frame (nor is any section) is not twisted in any way.

I think you can see the upward bend in the photo? Before I tore the Jeep down it always appeared to be leaning slightly towards the drivers side- when I would walk up directly in front of the Jeep. This makes me wonder if that front body mount bracket was the cause? I am sure they jigged these frames up to weld them at the factory, and there is ZERO signs that any wreck ever occurred on the vehicle, no frame work (straightening) has been done, etc.

Any ideas? For those of you that did frame offs, your didn't happen to notice this body mount bracket being higher on yours did you? I am not at all concerned about the e-brake bracket. Mainly just the front body mount bracket. Thanks in advance! :cheers:

framezy.jpg
 
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Hate to say it, but mine were all sorts of off... the frame rail was actually off and the mounts were factory welded in different positions to make the tub sit level. If I ever do this frame-off thing again, I'm going to TDK frame...
 
Holy Cow!

That's wild! I suppose I will measure up all of mine, although that front passenger one appears to be the only one messed up. I guess I'll just fire up the plasma cutter, take a wedge out of it at the back/bottom, knock it in to level it, then re-weld.

For that matter, I almost want to re-weld a bunch of the factory welds. Most of them look marginal, at best.

Thanks for your reply, Randy. Anyone else have anything to share on this dilemma? Were Randy and I the only ones :crazy: ?????
 
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