Phase two planning

End of phase one ...

Big Bear shakedown run

A trip out to San Gabriel OHV

Front seats refurbed

Spare tire mount

Overheating issues -- electric fan installed

Rear seat is installed

Steering box brace installed

Shifter tunnel and knobs finished

Wired up and street legal

Headlights in

My project, as usual, came with four headlight buckets, all cut in some way to work around the radiator.  I was determined to combine them to make sealed up buckets that are notched, rather than hacked, to fit in the grill.

 These are the two (blown apart) that I'm going to make better.

 Here's the gaping hole provided to me.

This is where the others were hacked.  I'm going to remove the side of this one to patch the previous one.

Starting to booger weld the patch piece in.

You can see the notch that I need to leave in.

Trying to clean up the boogers.

Bucket #2.

For the parking lights, I needed to make the hole a little bigger because I wasn't going with stock CJ2A/3A parking lights.  I want turn signals, so I'm using CJ5 dual filament lights.

Bigger hole cut with a jigsaw.

 Mounted.

For the actually headlights, I needed new harness plugs.  These are nifty little Dorman numbers, but the lead wires needed to be longer.

I painted the buckets black and then mounted it up.  Getting the adjuster springs right was a pain.  Not recommended.

Original chrome rings, slightly faded.  I have a second pair that have a bit more rust pitting.

Caliper swap

Front right caliper on the Dana 30 was sticking a bit, so I had to pull it, break the caliper apart, and replace the core.  I've never done this, so it was a fun little project.

Here's why the caliper was in need of replacement.  The piston is stuck slightly open.  I'm sure I could rebuild it, but it's not worth my time given the rather cheap replacement cost.

Mounting bracket installed.  A wee bit tricky but interesting.

So clean.

Done.

First test drive

http://youtu.be/_ENQctrzL0s

Fuel system finished

Mounting the gas was a pain, but hooking it up to the filler neck and engine was fairly easy.

This is fuel cell foam, which I'm using to dampen any sloshing back up the vent tube.

Below is the filler tube.  The larger vent tube slides over it.

It's a filler neck from a 90's Ford Ranger, modified of course.  It fits fairly well, but I think it's being bent farther than it should.

The back side.

Again, I think the bend is too tight.

Wiring up the sending unit.  I'm using a water-tight connector.

The return line from the fuel filter outlet nozzle.  1/4" line.

Heading back to the sending unit's return line inlet.

I used a 5/16" hard line for the bulk of the distance from the tank to the fuel pump.

I tried where I could to use mounts that will help keep the lines in place and cinched up tight.

Success.  No leaks.

I have a clutch!

Brakes done?

Gasket R&R

I didn't do a good enough job getting the seal on correctly between the Dana 18 and the T-90.  But of course, I didn't learn this until I had the body on the chassis and no longer had easy access.  So I built this little cart to hold up the Dana 18 and allow it to slide backwards away from the transmission without dropping in elevation onto my chest and breaking multiple ribs.

Worked perfectly.  The key was solid steel castors and good balance.

 Overall, it worked.

Remote oil filter mounted, plus the dipstick tube

The oil filter won't fit between the frame rail and the Ford V8, so I bought a remote oil filter kit from Trans-Dapt.  I chose to put in in the notch where the original battery would squeeze in.  It's well out of the way of everything else in the bay.

 Note the steering column joint at the top of the photo below.  And just next to that is the frame rail.  No room for a filter canister.

Nice fat hoses to go from this filter mount to the filter plate on the engine.

Down under the engine.

Love my zip ties.

While I was at it, I went after the dipstick tube.  I had some scrap metal, which fit a nearby threaded rod coming out of the exhaust manifold.  I cleaned off the tube and butted it up against the scrap piece.

Notice the slight twist I put in the bracket.  I don't want any excess tension on the tube or the bracket.

A few quick tack welds.

Complete welds.

 Ground smooth and primed.

Classic black.