Colin's 75 Rebuild

Thanks fellas. It’s coming together pretty good. Almost ready to start the interior work!

I thought about a thin steel plate, but I’m more leaning towards the stuff like Dphillip is talking about.

The mufflers are Flowmaster Super HP-2s. The longer ones. 18” I think. I woulda ran the pipes on a 45 too right from the muffler but I was trying to get around the axle bump stops. All worked out good. Can’t wait to hear it when I get the exhaust back in!

 

I don't have the bump stops and had to oval the pipe some over the axle so as not to smash it under compression.

 

Looking good! I've got same jeep I've been working on for about a month now. Your little bit ahead of me on progress though. Looking forward to more pics!

 

Thanks tree cutter! I’ll post some more up once I get the exhaust back. Should be any day now.... kinda at a stand still till then.. good luck on your build!

 

Hi Colin
I ordered the same tub and I had to cut the tran cover to fit. I plan to use the boot cover. I also sealed the back rail so that water would not get into them and rust out the tub. A gentlemen on the forum told me to do this. The seat brackets I would look around local salvage yards or from the picks you have you can fabricate them. No after market brackets work they cover the tool box and prevent access to them. My 75 did not have the wiring harness it was gone. I went to www.ezwiring.com just paid for the 12 Standard wiring harness for $170 tight budget on my jeep. It does not match the jeep but has a manual and you can email for help. I hope this helps. NICE WORK!!! Looks good!

 

Your original tub looked pretty good to me. Needs floors and hat channels but dont they all. Hope you kept it!

 

Sorry iv been away! Been dealing with a sudden job change. I haven’t had much time to work on the Jeep, I’m waiting on my new shed/barn to be delivered to store it in before I continue progress on it. I did get the exhaust back and put it on, and it sounds great started up! I’ll post up a video if I can here shortly.

John,
Thanks for the kind words, and thanks for confirming about the trans tunnel. I’ll take care of that soon.

I’m not to sure what you mean by the back rail though. Are you talking about the upper hollow tube of the tailgate? Or the hat channel on the bottom of the tub?

I have the original seat brackets, only issue with the passenger side on though was someone cut off the ends that attach to the floor on the back side of the seat. I assume there was some kinda quick disconnect there in order to gain access to the tool box. Gonna have to make something work. Parts for these things are very scarce in my area.

That’s also the wiring harness I was eye balling. I don’t quite see the need for the painless one ($$$) I have a pretty good knowledge of wiring and electricity, making my own should be pretty simple.

Chilly,
I still have the tub. Gonna make a wheeling Jeep with it all when this one is done!

 

I used an ezwire kit, and it was painless (see what I did there)

 

What did you guys with a 75 do where the bulkhead connector is at on the fire wall, when using a new wiring harness?

 

The round puck with pre-sized holes that no longer fit your new harness? I'd never ever throw it away (one of those parts that are no longer available). Then I'd make a new puck drilled and slit to fit the new harness, retaining the metal split ring.

Great application for 3D printer. There are plastics that are very rubbery, and that puck is an easy geometry once you know the hole sizes you want. Print, slit, install.

 

Mine is a square design, from what I’ve read that’s a change in 75. But I have absolutely no knowledge about 3D printing and I know nobody or nowhere that does. But I do have my old harness. The connectors are in pretty good shape. I was thinking about pulling the pins out and trying to find matches and re pinning it with the new wiring harness and reusing the one bulkhead connector. Didn’t know if anyone else had any other ideas or had done that before.

Like I said a couple posts ago though, waiting on my new building then I can transfer my Jeep to my house and continue progress on it. A little unexpected delay... but what are you gonna do

 

it can be done as long as suitable connectors are still available

 

1975 was the first year for the fuse panel instead of the the inline fuses used on the earlier CJs. There will be no aftermarket support for the harness (ie exact replacements) since it was the only year with the fuse panel and the tubular steering column (using the black bus wheel). Later years went to the GM steering column, which changes the wiring scheme. For those that don't know, the interior side of the bulkhead connector and fuse panel are one unit. You install the panel in a rectangular hole in the firewall from the interior and it's held with long screws that penetrate from the firewall side. The engine side plugs in to the protruding connector and is held with a single bolt in the center.

Personally I think changing to the scheme provided with a replacement hot rod harness when you have the old harness is misguided. JMO. The combination of the fuse panel and bulkhead fitting enforces a wiring design that may or may not be easy to reconcile with the hot rod harness. Removing the original bulkhead will leave a large rectangular hole in the firewall, I presume (I've had the bulkhead and panel out on my J20 but not my CJ - similar I presume). I would just repair the original harness. The wiring scheme for the original should be simpler than the hot rod harness, and the terminations will match your accessories exactly. The hot rod harness is basically a bunch of lengths and colors of primary wire and a fuse panel - nice to get all those colors of wires, but it does not save you much time really since you must custom terminate each circuit to match your accessories.

This article https://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f8/basic-wiring-101-getting-you-started-1340134/ covers repairing these harnesses with new Packard connectors pretty well.

Back in the day, I would use the library photocopy machine to enlarge the TSM wiring diagrams and tape the pieces together to make one big sheet. An art store will sell you a package of colored pencils with a couple dozen different colors. I'd trace over the wires with colored pencil to make a color-coded diagram. Never replaced a whole harness that way, but it does help a lot to trace out the circuits of interest. You could mark off each circuit in color as you repair it, if you were so inclined.