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TJ-7 Build Thread - 6.0L/4L60e swap & narrowed tub

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267K views 398 replies 141 participants last post by  kdub0013  
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#1 ·
A few months back i picked up a 97 TJ from a local board member that had a ton of great parts, but was in need of some serious TLC. After much thought, i decided the best route to go was to sell off some more of my left over jeep parts, and just dive in and start the 6.0L swap now, so it will be ready for EJS 2010, if it's done earlier great, but i'm going to continue to live my life and work on the jeep on the side.

Since the body was pretty beat, the hood trashed, and the grill non usable, i decided to go with a CJ-7 grill to match the CJ-7 tailgate, and since you can't cleanly adapt a CJ hood to a TJ, i went with a cambell high clearance fiberglass hood for a TJ and figured i could massage that with the help of Steve to fit the CJ-7 Grill. I've also wantd to narrow a tub for quite some time to keep it out of the rocks, so i'll be narrowing this one roughly 8"

So here's what i started with, a 97 TJ 4.0L/Ford T-18/StaK 3spd 5.44/3.0, with a 4" lift, triangulated front uppers, double triangulated rear, 89 HP 60 front with 35 spline outters, 14 bolt rear, both spooled w/4.10 gears turning 40x13.5-17 Maxxis Creepy Crawlers (comp compound) wrapped over H2's which will be getting some Stauns. Steering is Rockstomper double ended ram & orbital with PSC pump & resevoir.

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Friday, parts starting showing up thanks to YJGirl & Jeepwheelin02 :hail: got my 6.0L, 4L60E, Cambell hood, and badbuggy hooked me up with the CJ-7 Grill
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#2 ·
Today, i got started around noon after finding out my wife has finally graduated college, by passing her chemistry exam this morning :drunk2: Cheers Carrie :thumbsup: Time to tear into her
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How she looks at the end of Day 1, with a pile of parts to show for it. Tomorrow i've gotta drop the belly pan, remove the shifter on the T-18, and the entire driveline is ready to lift out. At that point, i will then start in on removing the body & tearing down the dash so i can start on the narrowing of the tub.
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#6 ·
Correct, that was Nate Blehms Jeep, aka CamoTJ :smokin: I've wheeled with natey a few times and always loved the way that thing worked, when i saw it up for sale, i just had to have it :grinpimp: Going to head out in a few and start working on getting the body off so i can just pull the driveline in one piece and not have to drop the susp at all. Pics to come this evening.
 
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#7 ·
Quick update, got the fenders, cage & tub off. The sun is out and it's supposed to get up near 100* so i think i'm going to go float the river and have some beer to cool off till this afternoon :smokin: and then off to a family BBQ so it'll be tomorrow evening before i have a chance to work on it again. Driveline is totally disconnected so i just need to hook up the cherry picker and pull it when i have an extra hand to help :thumbsup:

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#8 ·
Sounds like a really cool project!! Just curious but why put forth the time to narrow that beat up tube? You could pick one up in better shape and end up with a much nicer ride. You are correct that thing needed so serious TLC IMHO. Looking forward to this project.:D
 
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#13 ·
Those are 2008 H2's, they changed em slightly, i used to run the older style H2's on my blue YJ, and ended up thrashing hubs, so i got these cheap enough, picked up some 2" wheel spacers for the front to protect the hub, and the wifey said i could get some Stauns for X-mass or B-day :D

Going to try and yank the motor/tranny/tcase tonight after mountain biking. Everything is unbolted, just need to hook up a chain to the block, and pull her, hope to have some pics for ya if it's not too dark before bed tonight.
 
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#17 ·
Yup, that's Nate Blehm's old Rig, i've known Nate for about 5 years now and have wheeled with him a few times, so am very familar with how the rig works, that's one of the reason's i jumped on it when i saw it up for sale :smokin: here's some pics of the last time i wheeled with Natey on Upper Helderado

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This thing is stable & flexy
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Jeepngirl posing for Natey cause i know you boys like chicks and rigs :flipoff2:
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My old YJ for old times sake :D
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#20 ·
Made some progress this afternoon, since i don't have a torch, i started cutting all the old brackets off with my trusty 4-1/2" Dewalt Angle Grinder, and a couple packages of harbor frieght cut off wheels, it actuall went fairly smooth, i cut into the welds, then took out a steel wedge and sledge hamer and was able to break most off them off with out too much trouble. I started running low on cut off wheels, so rather than leave to get more, i tore into the dash and gutted it. Hope to wrap up tomorrow with the bracket removal, so i can start cleaning the frame up with my mr. flapper wheel that trailbuilt introduced me to last year building the CJ-5 :flipoff2: Here's todays progress.

Pass side all cut off, you can see all the brackets still on the drivers side
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Went on to get most of the pass side except the front motor mount, factory upper control arm, track bar and orbital mount
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Tub Gutted for the most part, still need to hit the substructure with the angle grinder to cut out some more.
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#29 ·
looks good wally! are you gonna hold out for a new tub? How wide are you going. my advice (from owning a really narrow tub) is to cut it a little wider than you think you want it. mine is 42" between the inside cage tubes, and its too damn narrow:shaking:
 
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#30 ·
I'm gonna run with this tub, as beat as it is, it's still less work than cutting the piss out of a new tub. Currently the tub is 59" i'm going to shoot for 51" in width, which i hope is just enough to keep the rear tires outside of the rear dovetail under full stuff, and still give me enough room so i'm not sitting on my passangers lap.

2BigTJ, thanks but already ran up to salt lake and got the wheels on Tuesday, found out our A4 avant maxes out around 125mph before it runs out of gears :D. NO pics cause all i've been doing is grinding away old brackets....but those Polished Walker Evans look SWEET. I"ll get some pics this weekend, when i hopefully get the motor mocked up, if for no other reason just to show off those wheels Sick99TJ hooked me up with :eek:
 
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#32 ·
Quick update, did a lot of B!TCH work. Started by using a 4-1/2" cut off wheel to cut through the welds of all the old brackets and misc crap that was still left on the frame, then where necessary, i used a 5lb sledge and a chisel to pry it off, then i proceeded to clean it up with a hard grinding wheel, and went back over it all with a flapper disk to try and make it look clean. As the old saying, it looks good from afar but far from good, as i did end up cutting a little too deep in a few spots, but regardless it's FAR better than just leaving all the useless stock link mounts, motor mounts, track bar mounts etc...In the mean time, i continued to the gut the tub, hope to have the tub narrowed tomorrow if all goes well, the frame is DONE for now.

Tub progress
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Oh by the way, picked up a little bling, couldn't pass up a set of Polished Walker Evans that were on a street rig. They are absolutely SPOTLESS, thanks Sick99TJ :smokin:
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Everything cut off and ground flush
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Hit it with some primer rust stopper black paint to keep the rust away until i have a chance to give the frame a complete fresh coat of paint once all the new brackets are in.
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#35 ·
Thanks, floor and most of the fire wall are going entirely. I will be basically building a cage, skinning in it with a TJ cowel, door opening, and rear corners. I love the look of a full bodied jeep, but also realize they do not last doing the type of wheeling i enjoy out here in western colorado, so i figured it would be best to narrow whats left of the body and use it as skins so to speak for a buggy. I killed my Dewalt 4-1/2 angle grinder last night so i'm off to Home Depot to pick up another one, and should get started on cutting up that tub in a few hours...wish me luck, there's a LOT of extra bracing in that damn tub vs a cj/yj tub:eek:
 
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