MD Juan Tub Kit 1969 CJ5 4CLY (7/2016)

This will be very handy for others considering MD Juan.

Thanks for taking the time to do this.

 

I would buy one. Lots easier than what I did for sure.

 

I like everything about this jeep!

 

Could you share what those details might be?

There is a 8x11 printed sheet on the end panel I didn't read. The whole project resides in my brother's garage so i'll grab and copy the tag Wednesday. Any thoughts where else I could look for production dates.

I note the price was discounted below the other tub kit years. Quadratec had two 1969 (only) tub kits, which means they were holding a lot of expensive stock for a fairly small (45+ year old) market. They certainly could be older.

I will say there was not much dust and absolutely zero rust on any part. The cardboard box on the tailgate didn't present as very old.

 

I'll take a micrometer with me next time and try to capture some thicknesses... also a scale to see how close the weights are (where it makes sense).

 

I talked to a guy named Jason x367... he is the resident cj5 expert.

 

Belay my last... I found the Rommel post and the list of differences. I haven't investigated yet, but I agree it seems my kit predates the "improvements".
..

 

Nice photos. I noticed the turn signal switch appears non-stock. Very early in the build, but never too early to locate possibly hard to find items. The correct switch is a Spartan: Willys Jeep Spartan Blinker Switch for Parts | eBay

 

Dimensions (inches) (painted metal where ever I could reach with micrometer)

Hood: 0.045 on sides just above small bottom flange

Fender: 0.050 on inside engine side wheel well at bottom axle cut out

Tailgate: 0.050 at side return flange

Firewall: 0.050 at wiring bundle pent ration

Body side: 0.068 at turn down flange above rear fender

Tool box door: 0.055 at flange

'Sorry I can't get floor yet... no holes in floor and I'm not ready to remove access covers.

I measured but lost the dims from the original. All the MDJ dims were the same or better but the hood... 'can't tell if the hood was thinner where I measured due to bending or not.

 

I just checked... mine has nearly all the features BEFORE the 2014 improvements. The only one visible outside is the embossed shallow recess immediately below the upper hinge corner... just above the missing "JEEP" emboss on each side.

In general, that just means I have more holes to make.

 

Oh, yea... good news/bad news... the frame mounting holes are not in the wrong place/because there are not any frame mounting holes in this tub... so I don't have to fix any misplaced frame mounting holes.

 

Check out the metal frame from under the MDJ body tub. They boxed in the forks (i.e. fork truck forks) and spanned and supported the front floor in two places and the elevated rear floor in two places (note cardboard).

 

They have made many improvements to the repop tubs since I bought mine a few years ago. Mine never did sit quite right and I had to make several modifications. One problem that I'm still suffering is the cowl isn't level -- one side where the hood hinge mounts sits up higher than the other side. I never noticed this until after I painted everything. It's not noticeable until you open the hood -- to this day, the hood catch never meets the latch on the top of the windshield.

But they have made many improvements since then. Good luck and thanks for the post.

 

Thanks, I hope I can get in front of some of those issues, but I hear they are often subtle and difficult to see until body parts are all assembled.

I read on line the MD JUAN primer is unsuitable and needs to be removed and new primer applied. Was that your experience?

 

A few years back I purchased some of there stuff through a dealer in Oregon for another project for a friend...........I noticed on your pictures of the cowl and other sheet metal parts that some of the subtle issues are still present with there parts. Things like rough finishes & cuts or unfinished edges.......holes that were enlarged and sheet metal that we felt was just thin.............

Don't get me wrong in some case's without any other choice's it may be an acceptable alternative for a build but at the time we just seen allot of time and energy to get the sheet metal straighten out..........It just seemed to me that the fixtures and molds were crude as compared to OEM Jeep parts. Part of the order returned was six 1969 & later windshield frames none of which would fit and were of just real poor quality..........all of the order was returned........for the OEM parts we needed we did a Nationwide Craigs list search for months and found much of what we were looking for in very good condition..........most came from the LA area and the desert southwest.

 

Primer is OK but it is thick and needs to be sanded down. I sanded everything smooth and sprayed a good epoxy primer over top and then paint. The only parts where I removed the primer was in areas that needed smoothing or fabrication.

 

Most of the issues were fixable with minor fabrication such as welding up holes and re-drilling them in the correct location. But here is the major issue I had, the cowl was not manufactured correctly. As you can see from the photo, the passenger side fender sits out a fraction of an inch beyond the cowl and the driver's side of the cowl sits down lower than the other side (note in the picture that the windshield does not lay flat on the hood.) These were fixable with major modifications that I just didn't have the patience (or the skills) to address properly.