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Taking Built CJ7 apart to make CJ8 For Winter Use

jammer1

Scrambler Junkie
Lifetime Member
City
Maple Hts.
State
Oh
Also ran the harness from the fuse box to the rear. Mounted the tail lights, need to get the hole drill bit to mount the side lights. Also connected up the wiring to the fuel tank. I need to wire the tack, the fuel gauge and stereo speakers. At that point the wiring is done except to re-run and connect the wiring going to the radiator and front lights. Also going to have to decide on new flares or flares that I was going to use on the other cj8. If they look right, the fiberglass body may be a good choice to trim for the flare fit. More I look at the mock-up (put up against the other cj8) I'm not sure I would like to trim that much?B0019285.jpgB0019286.jpgB0019287.jpgB0019288.jpg
 

jammer1

Scrambler Junkie
Lifetime Member
City
Maple Hts.
State
Oh
Installed the front fenders and grill. Set up a ground and battery blocks and ran the power and grounds. Ran the headlight and parking light harness. Ran the power for the electric fan. Just need to connect the rest of the electric fan control unit to the wires where I cut from behind the dash.20190311_120452_resized.jpg20190315_172834_resized.jpg20190315_172838_resized.jpg
 

jammer1

Scrambler Junkie
Lifetime Member
City
Maple Hts.
State
Oh
Installed the radiator and electric fan. The same problem with the different clearances between the different body parts. The electric fan is sitting on the water pump pulley. I ended up moving the fan higher up the radiator. On the cj7 (tub, fenders and grill) I had a inch clearance. Also the grill support rods are short by approx. 1 inch. The fenders are fiberglass, grill is a new after market grill. Ended up fabricating brackets to make up the distance. Quicker than getting rod and extending the support rods (can always extend the rods later).20190316_124840_resized.jpg20190316_165636_resized.jpg20190317_115148_resized.jpg20190317_134540_resized.jpg
 

jammer1

Scrambler Junkie
Lifetime Member
City
Maple Hts.
State
Oh
Just been doing small items that take time to do. Cut and painted plates that are on the inside of cab. They match up to the side steps, to spread the support my weight climbing in. Installed wiring for front and rear speakers. Put rear speakers in and temp. put old front speakers under seats. Later in the summer I'll purchase the speakers to go in dash. Installed front drive shaft and put spare tire on the tire carrier. Almost kicked myself when installing the front drive shaft. Already had the exhaust in, was a close fit to the drive shaft. Should have done it in the reverse order. Just little things that take time that you don't think about. Major items I need to get is rear drive shaft, shocks. Little things is test the electrical (make sure I put together correctly), get fuel tank filler/vent tubes, paint tailgate and windshield then install. also have to check on the tailgate cable tub mounts. Wasn't thinking and cleaned up the cj7 fiberglass mounts, went to install and their a different style. Roll bar needs to be painted. Also forgot, filled in space between front roll bar to frame mount and bottom of tub. Need to fab up ones for the rear roll bar feet.20190330_153440_resized.jpg20190330_154017_resized.jpg
 

MrBeep

CJ-8 Vendor Supporter
Member
SOA Member
CJ-8.com Vendor
City
Dillsboro
State
IN
First off, how are you doing? Hopefully you have recovered from knee injury.

Any progress on this build?
 

jammer1

Scrambler Junkie
Lifetime Member
City
Maple Hts.
State
Oh
Knee's back to where it was before the fall. Took to mid June for it to settle down. Did some work on the jeep March into April. Sorted out some wire problems (operator error), Mounted the roll bar (front mounts to brackets I had welded to the frame). Later this winter going to make brackets that will mount next to the rear body mount brackets. Mounted the bulk head and half top. Not able to use hard doors on the fiberglass body. Drivers side mounts perfect, pass side the tubs off (the cowl and firewall are off, had problems mounting steering column and other under dash parts. I can put the hard door on but when you attempt to close the door, the inter portion of the door (2 inch thick section that sits inside the tub body) hits the tub where the strike pin would be. The front of the door has a 1/8" gap in the seam, door hinges are moved as far back as they can go. Later this winter I may try taking the hinges off just to see is the door can squeeze in the tub opening. If that works I'll probably have to drill new holes in the hinges to make work. That's why I put more time in doing the tj upper door conversion. Soft door fit fine. Made and mounted brackets for tail gate cables, Raptor lined the tail gate (match inside of the tub). 2 weeks ago started jeep for first time since start of build. Still has a shake/shutter that I can't figure out (my mechanic can't find it either). Will post a question for you guys in next few post, hopefully some one will have a idea. Will also have a question on where the oil went in the engine. I didn't drain the oil but when I checked it before the start I had only a drop on the bottom of the dip stick. Here's some pics of part of the process, wasn't as dedicated to the pics as I normally am.20190813_134431.jpg20190813_134922.jpg
 

jammer1

Scrambler Junkie
Lifetime Member
City
Maple Hts.
State
Oh
Also installed a exhaust system from parts of the original and new pipe. Welding is nowhere as good as some of you guys on the forum20190816_154046.jpg20191104_172147.jpg
 

jammer1

Scrambler Junkie
Lifetime Member
City
Maple Hts.
State
Oh
Also forgot, made brackets for the seats in this cj and also for the original cj8 build. Mounted low back seats in this cj and purchased low back seats for the original cj8. I also adjusted the brackets on the tube bumper to fit the cj8 frame (?), don't know why it wouldn't line up. It's a temp bracket, I'm going to make a front bumper for it. Never realized how cheap the bumper and mount brackets were. They were twisted, I never did anything with the jeep to hit the front bumper. In the next day I'll be posting more pic's. This is just a list so I have something to follow.
 

jammer1

Scrambler Junkie
Lifetime Member
City
Maple Hts.
State
Oh
Decided on using low back seats. This allows around 3 extra inches of leg room and was more comfortable than the best top seats.20191107_122401 - Copy.jpg20191107_125203 - Copy.jpg20191108_105300.jpg
 

jammer1

Scrambler Junkie
Lifetime Member
City
Maple Hts.
State
Oh
Tried to mount the front bumper from the cj7. Found the cj8 frame is a different size from the cj7 ? Made a quick bracket to get the jeep on the road. Planning on making or buying a new front bumper. Never realized the bumper was made so cheaply. The brackets were bent, during clean up I found out how thin the metal of the bumper was.20191105_153904.jpg20191108_105255.jpg20191108_134719.jpg
 

jammer1

Scrambler Junkie
Lifetime Member
City
Maple Hts.
State
Oh
Because of the problems with the pass side hard door I purchased a couple sets tj upper door frames (actually had them before I found out about the hard door, was going to use for summer doors. Was also going to buy new cj8 soft doors and full top for summer). I cut and remounted the legs that attach to the bottom hard doors.20191101_124436.jpg20191101_130034.jpg20191101_141215.jpg20191101_141255.jpg20191102_152426.jpg
 

jammer1

Scrambler Junkie
Lifetime Member
City
Maple Hts.
State
Oh
With the new door skins, this brought almost everything into place. Only problem is the upper corner at the windshield and the new door skins don't have enough fabric on the bottom to attach to the velcro on the lower doors. Also trimmed off the rubber seal (used on the hard door). I ended up cutting the front part of the upper door frame. I used thin walled 1/2" pipe and drilled out the inside to accept a 3/8" rod. This way I can slide the 2 pieces together and adjust the height on the jeep. I guessed how much of a gap I would need for the soft door skins then welded the rods. Also I'm no where the welded you guys are. This will hold up to me bending them for a good fit.20191114_102025.jpg20191114_103212.jpg20191114_104859.jpg20191114_105246.jpg
 

jammer1

Scrambler Junkie
Lifetime Member
City
Maple Hts.
State
Oh
The cj has a automatic transmission. And on occasion my left foot catches under the brake pedal (I brake using my left foot). So I've finally got around to making the pedal smaller. Here's the original pedal. 20191122_140959.jpg
 

jammer1

Scrambler Junkie
Lifetime Member
City
Maple Hts.
State
Oh
Time to make the rear roll bar mounts. Jeep will become a daily driver, this should be strong enough.20191130_102003.jpg20191130_144537.jpg20191130_155300.jpg
 
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