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tj front clip on cj8

M

motas

Legacy Registered User
City
Melbourne
State
VI
Hey. I like the tj grill and fenders better than the CJ ones but still prefer a scrambler. Would it be hard to put a tj front onto it?
Thanks.
 
Yes. It would be hard. Impossible actually. It can't be done.

:D
 
Yes it can be done, but be warned!! The metal in the TJ front clip will chemically react with the metal from the CJ body and frame and will emit a gas that will cause all males that come within 50 feet of the resulting frankenjeep to develop a syndrome called "Herculiner on the Hootus".

:rotfl: I amuse me.

Seriously, it's usually the other way around that people want to go. I believe there's even a conversion grill for TJs that gets to a CJ look with the stock TJ fenders/hood. My initial thought is that, like anything, it can be done, but not without a significant amount of sheet metal work. It is NOT a bolt on situation at all.
 
Haha that herculiner thread even made it to rc forums in Australia! I know most people go the other way and I figured if they could do that I could do the opposite. I was planning on highline tube fenders with a chopped tj hood and a tj grill. I am wondering whether the rear end of a tj hood is close to that of a cj8. could I put a tj cowl on as well?
Thanks.
 
Heh, that is a classic fo' sho'.

I'd just google it, I saw that the hinge mounting spots are not the same so they were suggesting swapping the cowl as well. I've certainly never seen anyone do it on here to my knowledge.
 
Well if all it takes is swapping the cowl over and drilling some holes in the grill and cowl I reckon I'd give it a go. I tried googling but didn't pull much up. Now whether to buy an 8 or keep the tj. Hmmm decisions decisions.
Thanks.
 
motas said:
Well if all it takes is swapping the cowl over and drilling some holes in the grill and cowl I reckon I'd give it a go. I tried googling but didn't pull much up. Now whether to buy an 8 or keep the tj. Hmmm decisions decisions.
Thanks.
Click to expand...

Why Why Why would you distory a classic to make it look like what everyone else drives:banghead:
 
I think the tj grill looks better but I still think the rest of the cj8 is better plus the extra size is a lot more pracitcal. I am not "destroying" it btw, I will make sure I don't modify the cj8 body except a few holes which can easily be filled if I want to go back to stock.
Also sorry to go a little off topic but what do you guys reckon of this:
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Jeep-CJ8...-/110863607009?pt=AU_Cars&hash=item19cffc64e1
I can get about $10k for my TJ and I'll keep the winch and a few other bits to put in the cj. Also realize this is in Australia and prices are different here. Not sure if I should go bigger with my tj or get a cj8. The cj8s are my favorite jeep but it takes money to get it to where my TJ is now (almost ready for 35s) and its all the way in Canberra and with only a learners permit (can only drive with a licensed person with me) will be hard to go look at it and get it home. Would be great to be able to take mates 4wding and show them what a jeep can do which is impossible with the tiny size of a tj
Any thoughts?
Thanks.
PS my brothers a spray painter and now supplies paint so I can respray it for under $500 which will be the first mod so the surface rust is not a problem at all. Thinking a nice pearl orange with a bedlined interior (which ill be super careful doing). The auto worries me to but if its simple to rebuild I can do that at home. Dads a mechanic so most things I can do myself.
Heres a pick of my tj if your interested:
395912_240275532707624_100001755383224_554012_1753103892_n.jpg
Unfortunately had to winch out of that. its much more stuck than it looks.
 
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Hay Motas look at what jeepaddict did to get one of our 8's over to the states. If you like TJ's get an unlimited long wheel base sent over here.
 
The LJs aren't much bigger than a tj and ill struggle to fit 4 people and camping gear in without a roof rack or trailer. Plus cj8s are a whole lot cooler. And I really cant afford to get an lj and shipping. I was thinking of getting a cj8 sent back here from the states with mods already done but don't know how hard it is to convert to RHD and get it registered. I can afford about $10-12k including shipping, engineering and rego.
Have you seen any CJ8s for sale over here? Theres two on ebay. The one I linked to and another one which is overpriced, v8 (illegal for me) and not to good condition.
 
motas said:
Well if all it takes is swapping the cowl over and drilling some holes in the grill and cowl I reckon I'd give it a go. I tried googling but didn't pull much up. Now whether to buy an 8 or keep the tj. Hmmm decisions decisions.
Thanks.
Click to expand...
If you want it to look right, a lot more is involved than just drilling new holes for the hinges and "swapping the cowl". The TJ has a removable cowl panel but the CJ doesn't, so "swapping the cowl" would involve a lot of bodywork on the CJ tub.

I'm currently building what I call a "CJ Grille Conversion Kit for the TJ/LJ", which goes the other way, but having done the design work necessary to fit everything together for that project, here's a list of the issues you'll face if you try to go the other way and put a TJ front clip on a CJ. These photos were taken to show the issues in putting CJ parts on a TJ but they'll suffice for the opposite case as well...

1. The TJ cowl has a raised section in the center, which the CJ hood does not have, so your hood would have a bulge up that's not matched on the CJ cowl. Putting a TJ cowl panel on a CJ would be quite a challenge, it's more than just doing a little sheet metal work do graft the TJ cowl panel onto the CJ tub because the distance from the hinge line to the windshield is different on the two models so the TJ cowl panel won't fit in the front-back dimension. Some fairly advanced bodywork would be required on this one to get it to look right.

CowlTop-1.jpg


2. The shape of the TJ tub vs. the shape of the back of the CJ hood - the radius on the corner of the TJ tub is much sharper than the CJ, the hood and tub don't match at all at these corners:

CornerRadius-1.jpg


3. The side of the TJ hood as a raised accent line, which matches a raised line on the side of the tub. The CJ tub does not have this accent line, so it wouldn't match up to the TJ hood (this photo shows the TJ tub and CJ hood, the opposite case from you but you can get the idea):

BodyLineSide-1.jpg


4. The TJ hood and fenders are about 2" inches longer than the CJ parts, it's an issue for putting CJ parts on a TJ, but probably less of an issue for putting TJ parts on a CJ. You'd need to deal with the location of the grille mount on the frame, and if you have any accessories on the frame front, like a winch, you might have to relocate them forward.

HoodLength-1.jpg


5. The spacing of the hood hinges is different as bigwalton mentioned already. The CJ hinges are further apart, but because of the raised areas around the hinges on the TJ hood, it would be easiest to use the TJ hinge spacing on the CJ tub. This is an easy one compared to the other issues on this list.
 
Helpful as always jeff. Tube fenders fixes some of those issues but I think your right the amount of advanced bodywork needed is just too much. Thanks a lot for those photos made it very clear.
I think I'll just stick to the CJ parts. Not a big deal I still like it just prefer the tj front.
Thanks.
 
Too funny, I just saw the thread update on this from one of the earlier posts and I was thinking to myself that Jeff should just jump on and spell it all out. Then I looked and what do I find :rotfl:

Yeah, I wasn't trying to say the hinge spacing was all, by any means! Jeff's pics are perfect, even if backwards. :thumbsup:
 
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