My $120 CJ7 build

Next up. Lets see if I can make the old doors fit.

They do, sort of.
Bit of a gap at the front...


Not gonna be rain tight... Great, now I have to mess with those stupid star drive door hinge screws. Broke 2 bits so far...


I've used this old B&D Workmate as a portable work station, but it's not really the best solution. A bit too low, doesn't roll around, fluids soak in the top.

Found this cool steel table in the facebook classifieds that holds storage bins. It only came with 6 bins, but I had a bunch, so good deal for me.


This bad boy should come in real handy.

 

Things busy as hell at the VFW. Trying to hire new bartenders to replace ones that didn't come back... Putting in a new outdoor patio... Can't get fencing because those companies are all shut down... Both HVAC systems shit the bed in the last 6 months... Now I'm hitting the gun show circuit selling raffle tickets trying to raise money every weekend...



BUT... I went out to try to prep the front axle for re-assembly today some. got the housing primed, and the first coat of color on. Also got the knuckles, and brake caliper brackets primed. Lot of cleaning and scrubbing...

 

Following this thread but those jack stands are attracting my attention. I posted a thread on the Harbor Freight jack stands that you should review because we all want to be safe under or around our Jeeps.

https://www.jeeps.net/threads/psa-recall-on-6-ton-jack-stands-from-harbor-freight.4797/#post-37612

 

Haven't had much luck getting my buddy (who was supposed to help me set up the gears) get with me all summer. He works as a big rig tow truck driver, and is busy all the time, plus he had covid for a few weeks, plus I've been busy at the VFW, plus I've had some issues with my back and hip... Today I took the axle, diff, and gears to 4 Wheel Parts in Indy to have them set it up for me. Once they're done, I can put the rest of it together myself. They did everything on my old truck (F-250 Super Duty) years ago, and it never gave me any problems. Dying to get back to working on this thing. Also, we spend a lot of money putting a new roof on the house just now, so that took everything we had.

 

Seeing as how I'm waiting on somebody else to do the gear install, I needed to do something to keep busy, so I started in on the stereo system. It's gonna be a military tribute, looking very much like a military vehicle, so it can't have a big flashy stereo system... but I still want to be able to have my music. It has to be hidden, or disguised. Well, lucky for me military radios are huge bulky things, and the Army used to just bolt them on the fenders right behind the passenger seats.

A little playing around on ebay, and I got myself a mount, a replacement faceplate, and some new knobs. I probably should have taken it to the local machine shop to have it milled flat, but that's extra time, and extra money. Besides, even with my nerve damaged unsteady hands, I can make quick work of any protruding things on the back of this soft aluminum plate.

Yes, it was butchery, but the end result was it now lays flat...

A little bit of left over plywood, and bingo... one sub enclosure. It's a bit small. The sub calls for a min of .5 cubic ft, and this comes to .4 cubic ft, so it may not be optimal, but it should do fine for what I need. I'm not a complete bass head anyhow. Once it comes in, I'll get the hole cut, and get it glued together, and finished up so it can sit there and wait to be installed.

 

Little more tinkering with the stereo tonight. Working on the speakers. I've been a user of JL products for a while now, and the entire system in my Marauder save the head unit, is JL audio, but decided to try something new for the CJ7. I found an audio shop in Indy where the guy will bargain with you pretty good, and hoping it's not factory seconds, picked up a set of Infinity Kappa Perfect 6.5" components, and the 3" midrange that can go with to make it a 3 way system. The sub is still gonna be a JL Audio. I need their shallow mount one to fit in my fake radio enclosure.

Build quality looks to be very good, and all the reviews I've read, and videos I've seen say they are, so we'll see...

Now, where to put them in a military looking CJ. The tweeters, like all tweeters are small, so I'm not really worried about them. The midrange speakers, I have a plan for. The mid bass are a bit big for that same plan, but I may be able to custom duplicate something along the same lines that will keep them from looking out of place. In the meantime... the mids... something I can do right now. To go with my Look-alike military radio sub enclosure... I have several military radio LS-454/U loudspeakers. These are the ones that were mounted in military vehicles for us to listen to the radio with when we weren't using a CVC helmet.

First thing... gut the housing.

Now build a baffle so that the 3" Kappa Perfect mid will fit.




Starting to get the idea?


Once in place they will look like military radio speakers, but sound like a nice stereo.

 

Sub came in today. Went out to start the assembly of the enclosure. Got most of it glued, and screwed. Cut the hole for the driver, and test fit it. Don't have the right size hole saw for the terminal cup, so back to the hardware store tomorrow... I'll have to modify the radio mount. The sub mounts on the surface of the baffle, so the bottom tray of the mount will need to have clearance for it. The center rear isolator mount will have to go, but I think 4 is enough for this application.

Ain't she purty?

Nice looking from the rear too...

Here you can she how she mounts on the surface, and how shallow she is on the inside.

 

Remember those front spring plates where I had a machine shop modify one so I could use the factory swaybar? Well, that wasn't gonna work. It did bolt up right, but on the passenger side that made it in the way of where the U-bolt comes up. Dodge truck Dana 44 too different. Had the shop weld tabs on them to move the mounting spot a bit forward, then painted them. Want to be able to mount them up once the axle comes back and goes together.





Also trying to think ahead for once, and get ready for winter, so I took the tub out to the car wash to spray off the mud so I can work on it. Once home I set it up on my horses rather than down low on blocks. Cage almost hits the rafters... I'll be rolling it out on rims with no tires when I get done... lol.

 

4 Wheel Parts is taking forever to get my stupid gears set up in my axle, and it really starting to piss me off. I called them LAST Friday, they say they've been trying to work on it in between jobs, and it should be done by Mon, or Tues. I don't hear nothing... I call today, the next Friday... guy says let me check, and I'll call you back. So... two and a half hrs later, I end up calling them wondering why it takes so damn long to go in the back and find out... They don't have enough shims. They claim they can't get any... unless they order an entire new install kit. Guess who would be on the hook for the cost of that? The assholes already hit me for new gears claiming they will not install customer provided gears... Gears were good, it's a damn front axle from a stock truck... It probably never got used, and they never bothered to inspect them anyhow. Well, I have a shim kit, just didn't leave it with them, because I gave them a bran new never opened install kit I had ordered from Summit Racing when I dropped off the axle... didn't figured they'd need it with the new gears they made me buy...


SO... I'm driving 2 hrs to Indy tomorrow morning to take them the shim kit, they're gonna finish the axle, and I'm bringing it home. In fact, one way or the other, it's coming home tomorrow.


I did, however do a bit more on the sub enclosure. The sub will be down firing, and sit like this...





That means that the center rear isolator mount had to go. the 10" sub is so big, it overlaps where the mount is. The RT 524A that goes in the mount in a military application is like a 65 pound radio, so my little sub enclosure will do fine with 4 of the isolator mounts.





I did have to replace one of the others however. The left rear one was bad. The new one has green isolators, but no one will care. This kind of replacement happens all the time. I do have 3 more of the green, but not enough of the new bolts to do them all with. Debating if I should do them, and just have some of them with hardware store bolts...






I also had to cut a rather large portion out of the bottom of the mount for the sub to have clearance. Starting to think I should have went with an 8" sub, but she'll fit now.





Got some more bits coming for the outside of it, knobs, antenna hook up, speaker & mike plugs, handles top cover... should look very convincing when it's done. (Not that it will be going in for a while.)


Started planning with how I wanted to layout the dash. Nothing set yet though. It's still a fresh, uncut panel.

 

Got the shim pack delivered. Got the axle home. Also got a new yoke. Seems mine was a bit boogered up, so there's an extra $50...


Started in on assembly. Did the long side spindle twice seeing as I stood up to find the thrust washer on the floor behind me... Oh joy. Didn't go any farther. was getting too sore. Called it a night.

 

Ordered the Tru Trac for the rear today. I also found a veteran owned shop that will do the rear axle for me for quite a bit less, so I'm dropping it off there next week. I gave Summit Racing the shop address to ship the Tru Trac directly there. I'll be set to do stuff like work on the tub, brake lines, fuel lines, and the like over the winter.

 

No photos, but the rear has been done and back for a while. I got it put under the Jeep, but it isn't painted the final color yet, just black right now. Also I won't know if the pinion angle is right till I get the tub back on it and get more weight on it. It was rotated upwards on the CJ5 by the previous builder, and I'm sure it was tilted up too high, so I'll probably need to shim it down some.


Found a fabricator to weld me up a new fuel tank. Turns out the YJ tank I got with the tub will NOT fit in the CJ7 frame. So much for having the filler on the driver side the easy way. He's coming buy Wed to take measurements.

 

Started laying out the dash. It may not follow any specific model... but it will retain the military flavor, so most people probably won't notice...

 

Found out my shorty headers don't fit. Sent them back to Summit for the block hugger type.
Also found out that if you leave your mufflers out behind the shed all winter, they become a mouse house...

 

By the way... Hope everyone had a Happy Easter.

Brandy did. (my service dog) It was her birthday. She was born 7 years ago on Easter Sunday.
Here she is this morning on Princess Rock, where her predecessor rests.

 

Loving this thread, and watching it for future updates! Also love Brandy (happy birthday!).

 

headers are Summit Racing brand Better fit, less expensive, ceramic coated. I forgot to include the flanges when I sent back the old headers, so now I have the straight set that came with the Summit brand, and the angled set that came with the Sanderson headers. Whatever ones work best...

 

Finished the front axle... finally. Put the outters on, and the new Warn premium locking hubs. New tie rod went on as well.

 

I want to run a 15x10 wheel, but the 4.5" backspacing on them sets them a mite close. The 8" wheels that came off the old Jeep I got the axles off have 4" backspace, but damn... these look so good. I'll be running 35x12.50 tires, so maybe a 1/8 or 1/4 inch spacer...? Thing is, this baby is already a CJ with full size axles, so they're gonna be sticking out pretty far as is.

 

Got around to painting the rear axle. Didn't bother to take it out and drag it out to the driveway though... Just crawled under, and sprayed the crap out of it. Getting to the point where I'm starting to take shortcuts because I want to get this thing done before the world collapses into chaos.