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‘82 Engine Swap & Restification

ag4ever

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Read some other posts, and Eric recommended a wobble extension. Yet another tool I don’t have yet, heck never seen one before. I think I might be able to get the hidden one out with that. I got it to pop once with the universal joint and an 18” breaker bar. If I had better leverage and a more sturdy bit placement, I think it will come out.

The other one is at the driver’s rear. It is the rear most and driver’s side most bolt, so relatively easy acces, but the torx teeth are starting to strip. I think if I grind down a torx bit to make it a bit more aggressive I might get that one too. I was able to get it to rotate 1/32 before it started to strip. Tried to tighten, loosen, tighten, loosen to help break the rust free.

Have them both soaking in a pool of PB.
 

ag4ever

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As another person had said, “I would love to see the tool the factory used to install those bolts.”

And why are torx bolts so much better than Allen head? And what is wrong with good ol fashion hex head bolts. Really?
 

barrys

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I once heard the robotics at the time could put torx bolts in quicker/easier than regular hex head bolts. True or not, I have no idea, I DO know the suck.
 

CHIEFWAHO

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Find a hex nut with an ID just smaller than the head of the bolt. Weld the nut to the bolt on the inside of the nut. Know you have heated the bolt and can also get a wrench on it.
This!
 

ag4ever

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Ordered a set of wobble extensions. If that fails, will go for the nut welded on the bolt.

Before I can do that I need to finish running power the the garage for the welder. We moved into this house about 4 years ago and I still don’t have the project done. I finally pulled the 175’ of wire through 3 attics, from ground floor to over the 2nd floor and back to ground floor. (That was miserable.) Just need to drop it in the wall and terminate. As soon as that is done, I can break out the welder and start having fun burning wire.

Got the rear frame plates and rear cross member in today. Can’t wait to start building.
 
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ag4ever

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Not much done recently. I did get my power run across the house, and I now have a 50 amp circuit in my garage. One step closer to getting those pesky bolts out.

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I also pulled out my mig welder, just need to get my tank out of the barn, and get it burning wire.

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sdsupilot

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I used an impact with a wobble when I removed my roll bar. Broke 4 off, was able to weld a nut on top - or bottom from underneath the jeep. If you grind the broken off bolt flush with the floor, you can then weld a nut and screw the bolt out from the bottom.
 

ag4ever

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Right now I only have 2 bolts stuck. Both have moved, but the internal torx has stripped on them just enough that the bit walks up and out. Can't get a good grip on the bolt to turn. I plan to weld a large nut on the bolt and use that. I think they would both come out with the torx bit if it would stay in the bolt, so I am confident the welded nut should work. If my weld on a nasty rusty bolt holds. Been several years since I burned wire, might need to grab some scrap and run practice beads first.
 

ag4ever

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Grabbed some scrap iron from a project site on the way home to test the welder and get the settings dialed in. At first the regulator was not working, so I had some seriously bad welds that looked like a sponge.

Messed with the regulator and it started flowing gas, good.

Ran a test bead to check heat and wire feed and gas flow, seemed like it was running good, so I grabbed a nut and burned it onto the test metal. After it cooled some, I grabbed a wrench to see if I could twist it off, all my weight on it, and it held strong. So I should be ready to burn the nuts on the bolts, except...

My auto darkening helmet has gone bad. The chemicals in the glass are bleeding from the edge like a bad rear view mirror. Looks like I will be going by the LWS tomorrow to pick up a new helmet.

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That nut was glowing bright red and yellow after the weld, so I am sure it had plenty of heat in it.
 

ag4ever

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Pulled the roll bar to take a look at the bed floor, looks good.

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If this was just going to be a trail rig, I’d Run with it as is. But since I plan to replace the bed floor, might as well replace these 4 panels as well.
 

ag4ever

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I also scored this on Craigslist for a couple hundred:

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Just need to get a TIG welder and a CK20 torch to go with it.
 

ag4ever

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No real progress, but I did get a new toy delivered today.

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Alpha Tig 201DX. 200 amp ac/dc TIG welder. Got really good reviews for being a “foreign” made welder. Now to start playing with tig. It has been over 15 years since I used one, but I felt the Chiefwaho plates deserved more than mig welds.
 

ag4ever

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Nothing very exciting to report on. I was able to do a little more disassembly tonight. Pulled the steering column, steering box, parking brake, dash, pedal assembly ...

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Steering box is super grimy

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I am also amazed at the quantity of Arizona red dirt I am still finding. After we bought the Jeep about 10 years ago, I spent a considerable amount of time cleaning out the red dirt. And yet, it keeps falling out all over the garage floor.
 
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ag4ever

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I did learn something today. I have been fighting my 1/2” ratchet for the last 10 years or so. The direction selector thingy was slipping and would release at very inconvenient times, often resulting in busted knuckles. Well, I had enough tonight. I removed the snap ring and greased the gears. I was planning to buy a rebuild kit, but read that grease is all it needs most of the time. Well, sure enough, less than 1 minute of work and the ratchet works BETTER than new.

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I used super lube, allegedly the best grease for tools. Gotta say it worked great.

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Worked so well I greased my other ratchets. Really should have cleaned them too, but I did not have the desire tonight.
 

ag4ever

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We are thinking about getting a postal top, but if I do, I would add windows in it like Jeff Scherb. What is the general opinion on cutting up a postal top? Do people think it is in bad taste or if it is done well it won’t pizz people off? I like the idea of the metal top, but side windows are a must.
 
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tower210

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Nice progress!! I had a ratchet that was doing that too; I put a new fine tooth cobalt on my xmas list 2 years ago. It's amazing how nice the fine clicks are...
 

ag4ever

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Have not made much progress, drug the dash in the house end of last week and stripped the gauges, switches, lights, etc... Basically have the glove box door, grab bar, and footwell lights on it still. (I did not realize I had the footwell lights, never saw them in all the days crawling around the jeep until the dash was out and upside down. Go figure.)

But we did make a decision on the postal top. We decided to get Jason's top (Huge thanks to Jason, can't say enough kind things about him, I am sure it was hard to decide to part with it.) We plan to add side windows like Jeff did.

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I was also able to score a spare dash on the way home from getting the top, came from a '79 so it does not have the driver's speaker cutout. Got it for $25.

Just need a frame, hood, fenders, tub, axles, and transfer case and I can build a second jeep out of spare parts.

If we could get some dry weather I would drag the frame out of the garage and start grinding off the structural steel that was added by the previous owner. I think the weight of the steel the previous owner added will end up being more than the frame plates I will install. The frame plates will do so much more for frame strength than those butch L 3 x 3 x 3/16".
 
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