The Descrambler Project

[W.R.Buchanan]

Just so you know these doors were made by ACME in the 1980's and were designed to fit "Acme CJ-7 and CJ-8 Hard Tops." They had a slightly different door opening than a Jeep Hard Top and are a different shape on the top edge than Jeep Full Doors. I had to drive to San Jose to get them and that was just the beginning of a long bout with "PITB" to get them to this point. Still have more to do to fine tune them to where they are not annoying and look right in the end. I have all totaled about 8 weeks over all of sanding and fitting and futsing with them and even now they are not even 95% of the way I'd like them to fit. Not horrible but far from perfect!!!

The sliders are custom from an outfit in Washington State called Motion Windows who specialize in making windows for boats. I worked up a nice sweat installing them in the doors as they kind of fit.

I have to "Make" Weatherstripping for the doors this week, and we have a good plan worked out to make them. There is nothing that I could buy that would work.

Nothing has been easy on the Door Project or the Hardtop Project. Nothing bolted" right up and everything had to be hand fitted.

Just so you know, I bought the motor for this project in 2005 and had the Frame on Wheels by 2008 . I first started documenting the build over at 4BTSwaps.com at that time.. So far that thread has 294,000 views. Been here since 2010

Please Note: Anyone thinking of building any car from scratch has no idea what they are in for. How many individual piece parts are there in a car? I have no idea,,, but I either bought or made every one on this Jeep. And there is still a ways to go!

Randy

 

[Belizeit]

You have an amazing amount of patience to keep that going forward.

 

[Randyzzz]

Looking awesome, as usual!

 

[W.R.Buchanan]

You have an amazing amount of patience to keep that going forward.

Yes, thanks, You should meet my wife.

Fixed the Steering Wheel today had to take it apart to tighten the screw holding the Turn Signal Lever on and found that the big nut holding the hub had not gotten tightened fully. That's fixed now and glad it didn't come apart while driving.

Lots happening now as there is no work so I'm bingeing on the Jeep.

Randy

 

[Randyzzz]

Lots happening now as there is no work so I'm bingeing on the Jeep.

Randy

Sounds like we are in the same situation!

 

[W.R.Buchanan]

Yeah it is 104 F here right now so working in the shop is out. I need to make the templates for the Weather Stripping so I can get those made and installed..

I have a few other things to explore on the Jeep. The shifter is not set up exactly right and I can't hold the tranny in 1st gear. Kind of need that function for off roading. I'm sure it is an "Adjustment" problem but I need to get it up on a lift to work under it. I also need to adjust the Parking Brake while there. I can get at both of these from under the car, but laying on a Creeper and working at Arms Length is not that easy. "Standing" under the car is preferable.

I also need to put the Snap Ring back into the Jonny Joint on the Anti Wind up Bar on the rear axle. It popped out and now it jingles at idle, and drives me nutz.>

But all that involves working in the Shop, which is smoking hot right now.

Randy

 

[Belizeit]

But it's a dry heat

 

[W.R.Buchanan]

Been working on piddly stuff, Cosmetics, and fixing small issues that arise. Today I'm trying to find a good place to put a "Hide a Key." It is magnetic but most of the Jeep is Fiberglass. It has to be a place where it won't get knocked loose by a sharp bump. Things like this take lots of thought?

May get to the Weatherstripping templates today also.

Randy

 

[W.R.Buchanan]

W.R.Buchanan
Premium Member

Joined Jul 27, 2008
1,809 Posts
Discussion Starter • #1,232 • 21 m ago (Edited)
Been doing a few piddly things to the Jeep over the last week or so.

My big accomplishment today was putting Dynaliner on the underside of the hood.

This stuff is made by Dynamat but is a completely different animal. Dynamat is "essentially" a sheet of Aluminum Foil with some kind of Tar stuck to one side. That is also the adhesive that keeps the stuff stuck down. I have applied it to virtually all of the interior of the Jeep. Less the Wheel Wells and Insides of the body behind the seats/doors.

This other material is essentially a Closed Cell Foam with adhesive on one side.

I had to remove the hood ( Friend Required) and clean it thoroughly with Oil Eator to remove any traces of oil and chopped up bug guts. That Big Fan slices and dices anything that makes it thru the radiators and deposits it on the underside of the hood and wheel wells.

They gave me 2 sheets of the 1/2" thick material as one wouldn't go all the way across the inner hood. We laid out a center line and put the material down from the center out, and then trimmed the edges flush at the outer edges of the hood after it was all stuck down and rolled into place. I made a Roller out of a Skateboard Wheel a few years ago when I did the interior of the car. It was put to use again today.
I had some Aluminum Tape that is used for heat sealing ducts and things like that and we put a strip down the center line to hide the gap between the two side pieces

It came out fairly well, but a Test Drive to Ventura Showed me that it was well worth the effort .

Significant reduction in Interior Noise and Exterior Noise as well !!!

Randy

 

[Randyzzz]

That’s good to know! I was planning on something like that, but my painter did such a nice job on the bottom of the hood that I don’t want to cover it up!

 

[Jeepskate]

That’s good to know! I was planning on something like that, but my painter did such a nice job on the bottom of the hood that I don’t want to cover it up!

I had my painter shoot the Lizard & then top coat with the paint.

 

[W.R.Buchanan]

Please to understand this Jeep is noisy! The engine is one of the most noisy engines there is. With the hood open and engine running you literally can't hear yourself think. All that noise is transmitted to the frame and body. The measures I have taken to mitigate that noise are working fairly well, but I need do more.

One of the biggest problems is Vibration. And Vibration gets transmitted to the body which turns into noise. When you get done with a 30 minute drive your butt is totally relaxed and ready for anything. Thank God for the Chevy Seats which are a dream to sit in, but the noise is a serious factor in the overall creature comfort of the Jeep..

I installed a 8" dia Vibration Damper and that made a big difference, but I have a 9.75" Fluidamper that weighs twice as much (22 lbs!) and would tame the existing vibration down dramatically.

The problem I have is that the A/C pulley under the fan is too big in Dia to accept the larger Damper. Cummins doesn't make a smaller dia pulley so it appears the only way is to "make" a smaller pulley.

I will have to hire someone to install it as It was a serious PITB to install when the engine was on the engine stand. Now it would be virtually impossible for me to do, due to it's position in the engine compartment..

I am going on a quest to Kaman Bearing to see if a smaller dia pulley for a "B" Belt with the correct offset exists. I can drill the mounting holes no problem.

Let you know how it shakes out.

Note: the 4 bolts holding the fan in place are actually 1/4" under the back edge of the fan itself when viewed from the side and have to be walked , into place one at a time with all 4 started as you can't just tighten one up at a time due to the length of the bolts. They were very hard to even get a wrench on when on the engine stand. Now having to work over the Radiator is a job for a much younger man.

Randy

 

[designerRob]

When you get done with a 30 minute drive your butt is totally relaxed and ready for anything.

TMI??

 

[cblfhs]

D o p e jeep. Fuel economy ?

 

[W.R.Buchanan]

Right now with only 1800 miles on it, it is running around 18 mpg. That is combined driving. I haven't had it on a long trip but one of my refuels was on a Tanks that was mostly freeway and it got 19.6 MPG.

Keep in mind that this is with 4.10 gears running 2100 rpms at 65 mph. If I ever get to change the gearing to 3.55's it will easily do much more. Looking for 1800 rpms at 65 mph.

Randy

 

[cblfhs]

I have 350 gears and a common rail Cummins 4b with Allison automatic and 235/85r 16 (31.7”) tires but my jeep is in 1 million pieces. If I ever recover it from this jeep shop and have it built I cannot wait to not only drive it but report my own fuel economy and post up on here. Here is a link to my motor I think I have already told you about it and not trying to hijack your thread. https://youtu.be/2IUVRQaoIcM

 

[FLCJ8]

Keep in mind that this is with 4.10 gears running 2100 rpms at 65 mph. If I ever get to change the gearing to 3.55's it will easily do much more. Looking for 1800 rpms at 65 mph.

I have the same problem with the Cummins in my 4x4 2500.
I put on larger tires to try to help with the gearing but running 70+ takes it out of the sweet spot for the ISB 5.9l.

 

[mwqpd11]

I sold mine this spring. Cool Jeep. Whole Jeep was shaking at idle. 35s with 3.55 gears and AX15. Was getting 25mpg

 

[W.R.Buchanan]

I have the same problem with the Cummins in my 4x4 2500.
I put on larger tires to try to help with the gearing but running 70+ takes it out of the sweet spot for the ISB 5.9l.

I have a friend who has a 95 Dodge 2500 with a Automatic Tranny and 3.55 gears. He gets 25 MPG+ on trips to Missouri.
I would expect that from mine as well, although slinging those big tires around at 70+mph might get interesting. My 95 Dually got 21 MPG at 60 mph for a trip to San Jose and back once. 60 mph on the freeway gets old pretty fast. Same gearing on that truck as the Jeep and that's how I originally planned it. Really should have gone with the higher gears from the start, but I thought with all the Mexican Overdrive I have with the big tires it would be fine. Oh Well I guess I'll just have to slow down. No lock up torque converter made a difference as well.

Randy.