1971 Stretched CJ5 Build

Since space is at a premium in my garage I used the roughed in back bumper of the CJ. Also here are some more pics because threads with out pics suck. no particular order.

 

How far are you pushing your firewall back? Do you plan on using a later model grill to help package a radiator/fan/engine under a short hood?

 

yes the firewall will be pushed back 7'ish inches around the engine, similar to what hotrod guys do on model a fords and 32's. I want to use the short hood,
I like the funky look of the long body short hood. If the packaging is too much work the long hood will make it easy to fit everything. with the short hood the only problem i see with my build is stock heater placement and the gas pedal location. I figured the grill shroud could be shortened up and a custom radiator, summit racing brand, ron davis griffin etc , could be fitted.

 

Push the firewall and motor back?..........there is allot to be said about having the motor a little forward if room permits especially if you do allot of climbing.......helps keep some weight / traction over that front axle.

 

I was more worried about axle to oil pan clearance. You got me thinking.

 

With the high steer arms the cross linkage for the arms is 2 to 3in in front of the Crank pulley. To put the engine more forward I would have to go with stock steering. Remember i am putting a 4.8l v8 ls engine where a 4cyl or v6 was i got to believe the v8 is longer right? I was worried about having too much weight forward with the dana 60 and 37's and the old warn/belview winch.

 

Like I said "If Room Permits" .............everyone's build & use is always a little different , so really not knowing what your end use may be , I just suggested that having the motor a little forward was not the end of the World...........moving that back 7" might make it interesting under the dash for gauges and whatever shift linkage you may have for both the Tranny and Transfer case and you might also want to check how that effects your rear drive line angle............

 

I did the tool box in the 6 section and it's tied to the body mounts works very well and holds a lot of stuff


and congrats on joining the home made 6 club like Tarry and I ,,,all the cool kids are doing it

 

I personally would move the front axle forward before I did much of anything else and go from there on motor placement.

 

I know you said you like the short hood and fenders look, but here is my '67 stretched to 95" with an intermediate hood and fenders, no comp cut in the rear. The intermediate hood and fenders give you about 3" more in the engine bay and it looks like you have plenty of frame out front to push it all forward..

 

I'll take some better pictures and add some dimensions to the thread this weekend. .

 

Also I am running HD ome springs from an xj front and rear. And plan on building anti wrap bars front and rear. The rear leafs are on the normal arangemnt. And the front leafs have been flipped for the longer wheel base. I modified the front slider to work with the different size eyelet on the leafs. Flipping/rotating them allowed me to move the engine foward and the front axle foward. Does that make any sense? There is a packaging problem with the v8 engine and the 4.5 in narrowed dana 60 up front and fitting it in the jeep with the short hood . Now my thumbs hurt from typing this on my phone. I appricate the feed back.
thanks guys

 

Yep , all of the above.........regarding packaging , just about everyone that's used a V8 has a little problem with a short hood.......turning the spring around I assume is what your talking about doing? longer offset from the center bolt to the rear than the front is where your going?.......got to be careful if you get the front axle mounts up on the curve of the spring to far.........as castor will suffer then you will have to run shims , or cut off your saddles or Inner C's and relocated them to correct the castor.........also on the front are you going shackle / slider front or rear reversal?............It makes a difference in how the spring reacts ride wise to where the shackle / slider is front or rear versus the center bolt off set....................I would also not worry to much about steering until you know where the axle will reside.....Just some things to think about!

 

Tarry this is the current set up. sliders to the back. the front one is burned in, the front spring mount is just tacked for purposes of moving it to the new house. I cut the inner c's of and rotated them to the stock angle for a 88 or 89 f350 which the axle is out of. can't remember the angle right now.

 

Looks great keep up the pic'sfb