67 Cj5 Build Thread By A Rookie

I am copying some pics from my help thread onto my build thread. Today I learned that checking out one lifter doesn’t tell me anything. This is a lifter for cylinder #1 and it shows a different wear pattern from the other 11. The corresponding lobe is severely rounded. Looks like it is time to learn about camshaft options.

I also need to figure out whether these cracks in the case by the crankshaft is the way it was casted to allow oil to drain back into the plan or is a big problem.

I’m having a “hold my beer, I’m going deeper” moment.

 

Those are casting marks on the crankshaft. I would change the cam and lifters. I am not sure what cam manufacturer I would go with or whose lifters. TA Performance
may be able to help you out there. I would pull the pistons and crank. Put a micrometer on the bearing journals and check for wear. Polish the crank and put in new
bearings. Clean the pistons and put in new rings. Hone the cylinders if they are good. Gap the rings and check the gap in several places in the cylinders. This is the
least i would be doing if everything checks out. Cleaning goes without saying. New crank seals, etc. You halfway there now.

 

The general rule of thumb I've been gathering from other forums and Youtubers is Howards cams/lifters are good and stay far away from current Comp Cams stuff.

 

I started body work while my engine is in the shop being machined. The front passenger fender had a ton of filler and some nasty dents with metal tears. I sanded much of the paint off, wire wheeled the bondo, and blasted the fender and this was what I am left with. A buddy who has done a good amount of body work said that now may be the time to get a new fender. So my options are keep working on this POS fender, buy a new fender without the reflector indentation ($450), buy a set of fenders with reflector indentations (2x$225), or search for an original fender (hard to find). I know this has been discussed a lot in the past. Do you guys this this fender is worth saving?

 

Salvageable? What is your time worth? What are your expectations?

 

Good questions. I’m not worried about the money if I end up with a good product. Conversely, I’m mot worried about the time if it leaves me with a better product. I don’t want to spend money, save time, and get a 20 gauge steel fender! I watched a video by Metalshaper, and he had a good way to describe my expectations. I would like the body work to be close to what it was in 1967, not what it would look like new in 2023; it’s not going to be a show car. I’m ok with spot welds and other normal imperfections showing, but I don’t want it to look like Danny Trejo!

 

if the fender you have now is original, I would fix it unless its way rotted. the new replacements are not the same quality sheet metal.

 

Not rotted at all, but there is a lot of bondo in the pocks. Any advice to get that out? My plan would be light wire brush in my drill and if that doesn’t work, heat and hammer and see what pops out when the metal flattens a bit. I also have a shrinking disc coming in this week. I have no experience with body work so am open to any and all suggestions.

 

wire wheel and hammer and dolly work will get most of the bondo out. careful with a shrinking disk practice on something you dont care about.leave the heat out of the picture.

 

Sorry if this is a really basic question, but what is the risk with heat? I know that if it is steel that has been worked, it can weaken it.

 

the heat can warp the metal or shrink it to a point that its no longer workable

 

Busy few weeks at work. I went to the beach this weekend but got back in time to work on my Tommy B’s rotisserie. I still need to drill some of holes for the bolts.

 

I may be in the minority here, but I would just go for the repop fender without the indent. That's a pile of work to get right. I bought a new tub and windshield frame for my CJ6 because even if I spent 200 hours on them, they would not be new, it would have been patched and bondoed old. Just my 2 cents. Others here can make sheetmetal beautiful no matter how mangled, so their opinion may be different and that's cool too! I just have to know my limits.

 

I totally get that. Right now, I am planning on trying to repair it. I have never done anything like this before, so it is the ideal piece to practice. If it looks good, it is a bonus. If it looks bad, I will probably buy a pair of fenders with spaces for side running lights/reflectors since they are half the cost of the ones without reflectors.

 

I say give those fenders a chance and if body work isn't your art then cut them up into "tube fenders"

Focker and buildflycrash have posted making tube fenders out of sad originals.

 

I'd get a hammer and dolly set and start tapping. I had cracks, dings and more all over my jeep. On the fenders, I welded in a washer randomly grabbed from the bucket of washers I had ... welded at the end of the cracks to help keep it from cracking further, before I ground out the crack and welded it back shut. Once it was back shut, I tried putting a washer at the other end of the crack. On the body, I had some J shaped cracks. After sandblasting to find all that, I welded with 1000 spots of death, then melted them together, and closed the J onto itself, IDK if that's the right way, but it was a way. Then a flap disk to make it all look pretty.

After I fixed my tub, had it primered, all the body work done, and had it sitting on it's side in the back yard. A thunder storm rolled in, blew it over, and mashed the rocker at the passenger opening like I'd just dropped off a rock ledge... SO, out with the dolly, a jack and some kinetic love, re-sand, re-prime and I still have the 'under floor' liner to re-do in that area, but it's sitting on the frame in the garage now, so no rush.

 

Oh, and on the rear passenger quarter where the spare tire normally mounts on my 9 year rolling project ... there was the tell tale signs that someone ripped it off somewhere, I'd like to think on a tree on a trail...

A half inch thick layer of bondo, some huge cracks and rips that were hammered flat... may be with no backing behind the hammer...

I used a jack, pressed out the dent as far as possible. I ground out all the bondo. Then I deposited about a spool of mig wire in an area about the size of a grapefruit to fill it in... weld, hit with a flap disk, check with a level across the body panel... weld some more, flap disk, level... later, rinse, repeat until it looked decent... I put some primer on it and it looks really good from 10ft, which is about the extent of my body work skills... I learned my crude skills by smashing fingers, hitting hammers on the back of my hand, dropping the backing metal for whacks with the hammer on my foot, making or finding a shape in my dolly kit to fit the bends of the jeep, welding in shorts, slag burning holes thru my tennis shoes, and so on.

You can do this - it just adds to the nostalgia.

 

Finished my rotisserie today!

 

Got a call from my shop yesterday when finishing the rotisserie. Short block is done. My limiting factor right now is a bad clutch fork. Partsdude4x4 still says the fork currently supplied is not to spec. We’ll see how this plays out. I may weld it up if I get in a pinch. I’m also going to look into whether a hydraulic clutch conversion would eliminate the need for that fork, but that was an upgrade I was not planning to take on right now. I really want to get it driving!