CJ3b....That is what the vin tag says.

[RAT]

Jonah,
Yeah baby! Them parts came out nice! I painted my exhaust this morning with the VHT silicon 2000F in silver. Looks tight!

[jonah]

Nice, did you do the curing process? I did mine in the weber

I am painting my block silver, blue accessories and black pipes. Of course I will probably rebuild this engine soon, so I don't know why I am doing all of this now. Trying to kill time until I pick up my tranny.

And of course I already chipped my valve covers, I am going to see if I can touch them up...but I might need a redo. duh.

[RAT]

Nice, did you do the curing process? I did mine in the weber

I am painting my block silver, blue accessories and black pipes. Of course I will probably rebuild this engine soon, so I don't know why I am doing all of this now. Trying to kill time until I pick up my tranny.

And of course I already chipped my valve covers, I am going to see if I can touch them up...but I might need a redo. duh.

I used the powder coat oven at work to cure mine. I like the silver; I may paint everything silver

Did you call Jay at MMC yet?

[jonah]

That probably worked better than my BBQ. I almost wish I would have gone with silver for the pipes, the black is not really black. It is more like really really dark brownish black, but it will work.

No I didn't call yet. I was waiting until I had my parts in hand. I received my bellhousing today, and Friday I will be back in town with the transmission.

[jonah]

Where's the beef....oh, there it is






Brought home the new drivetrain yesterday from stockton. Set it next to the T-14 for a quick comparison. Oh what have I gotten myself into...

[inVERt'D]

Oh what have I gotten myself into...

Thank you Jonah, I think that's sounds like a great start for a song about building and wheeling Jeeps.

[RAT]

Give my regards to you Jeep widow...

[jonah]

Ha ha, I can hear it now...some nice slow and sad guitar...why oh why did I buy a jeep that could almost runnnnnn...

For the record I didn't go up north just to pick up parts, I had to work up there, so it is not my fault if a new transmission happened to fall into the van on the way home.

Totally bummed today, my small one car tent fab shop is swamped.

oh my kingdom for a real shop...

Yours is looking good RP!

[jonah]

My shoes are wet, but I got a tiny bit done.

Motor placement figured out, down to a 17.5 degree working angle on the rear driveshaft. If I come up with a few extra chillies I can buy a clocking plate for the 205 and have a flat belly (of course I have the figure 8 pattern which triples the cost of the clocking plate).

Here is the proof:





This motor mount was changed a bit this evening to make room for the steering shaft, just added a zig.

I need to go find a chunk of steel to make my transfer case cross member now, I am thinking a piece of flat stock 3/8 thick might be strong enough?? maybe I should go 1/2.

[jonah]

[GP4Play]

Good to see your still able to get something done in this weather. I remember trying to change a clutch in a 65'J200 on plywood under a tarp,on the Ore. coast,so I could get to work the next day.
That trans looks huge in that frame,forgot how big they were till I saw it behind your engine.

[dirtman13]

Looking good. Frame looks to be 1/8" thick. Is that correct?

[jonah]

yeah, this weather...I guess I am officially used to the "normal" southern california weather now, I can't take a little rain anymore. At least I have a cement floor, when you have a plywood floor you know you are livin'!

I have had a couple of moments thinking that trying to stuff that huge drivetrain in that small jeep may have been a mistake, but I think I have it working now. I have 5 degree drop on the motor/trans/tcase and everything is as low as possible without hanging below the frame (except the front output on the tcase which is about 2.5 inches low). I felt like the engine was sitting a bit high, but the fan is right in the middle of the grille and everything fits under the hood, so I guess I am good. The big thing is that sm465 is so wide I am losing some valuable room for the pedals, it is going to be tight!

Thanks Dirtman! Yes it is 2x4x.120 tube, with all of the reinforcement plates being 3/16. I did a lot of reading and everyone seemed to think it was the best for strength to weight. Considering the old frame was 60 year old 1/8 C channel that was rusted and cracked with a main cross member removed (with all of that the frame was still holding together) I think it is an upgrade. I was worried about the joints at first, but I did a ton of practice joints that I would break until I got my technique down perfect with the the trusty thunderbolt. Now I have no worries.

Today looks soggy

[dirtman13]

That's exactly what I did to the front of my frame. 2"x4"x.120 with 3/16 fishplate. Trying to find that fine balance between strength and weight is fun. The frame looks really nice. Good work.

[inVERt'D]

You could throw a Chevy smallblock in front of that drive train. Just add some wheelie bars and you're good to go.