Not sure why '86 CJ7 build

[Willowrun]

For some reason, I've always wanted a CJ7. I've always liked the bare bones approach and the disco graphics that carried on into the 80's. I have a '78 full size Cherokee that has been a decade long project so no idea why I wanted another Jeep after years of being spoiled by the availability of used GM parts for all of those builds, but I guess I wanted a challenge. Finally, I despise the "it's a Jeep thing" crowd driving around in their bolt on JK Jeeps....I had no idea they all wave at each other...ugh.

I hunted the nation for a CJ7 for a few weeks. My criteria were little to no rust, inline 6 motor, manual transmission, steel tub, and as close to stock as possible. Easy right? Well, yeah if you want to spend $15K. I wanted to spend around 1/3 of that for the initial investment and after a few weeks found one within a couple hours of me that seemed to have potential. I called the seller and he had bought it about a year prior, had driven it up north a couple times and now needed some cash. I could tell from the pics that it had some "custom" pinstriping and graphics which was my first knock against it.

[Willowrun]

I took my 11 year old daughter with me to take a look at it. The seller was an interesting dude who has three airplanes that he flies out of a grass strip along the side of his driveway. I asked him how long he had his pilot's license....he said he's never had it. He flies dirty....
Anyways, it had some rust in the floors, a kinked hood from it flipping up, rusted windshield frame, interior was in decent shape with factory carpet (cause of floor rust), the floor was rusted where the roll bar bolted up, the front fenders where showing bubbles, the tub was starting and it ran pretty bad.
On the good side, it was all there, the frame was very clean, and it hadn't been modified. I didn't like the rims that were on it and he had a set of steel rims with decent tires that I was able to talk him into swapping on which resulted in a lower price to me for the Jeep. We settled on a price and I now had myself a CJ7.
The powertrain is the 4.2L inline 6 with the 5 speed manual transmission (not desirable). An interesting thing about this Jeep is in '86 only a Dana 44 rear axle was put into some of the later model year Jeeps. This one has it.
I got the Jeep home, stuck it in my shop, and started collecting parts.

[Willowrun]

The goal for this Jeep is a stock looking CJ with the primary function of a sand dune driver along with some around town driving. After about a year I had collected the following parts: OEM hood, aftermarket front fenders (rust free OEM are impossible to find), YJ Jeep family roll cage so that people can ride in the back at the dunes without helmets, YJ half doors, perfect condition take off YJ windshield frame, used YJ soft top, rust free OEM CJ tailgate, and a replacement carter carb that should help it run better. It was time to get started.
The person that did the pinstripe job signed it "McCurdy '89" in the back of the Jeep in tiny font. Since I had no idea of the history of this vehicle I looked up the name and the guy is still in business in Georgia. I knew the Jeep wasn't from MI because of the condition so it was good to figure out where it was once from. The Jeep was only 3 years old when it was painted and pinstriped.....why?
I decided to tear it down and start wire wheeling the tub where I could see some rust popping through. I found up to 1/4 inch of bondo running along both sides of the rockers. Other than some rust that had probably come after the bondo was applied, there was no reason this would have been applied other than an owner that didn't like the wavy Jeep sheetmetal from the factory.

[leddzepp]

I've owned waaayyyy more Jeep CJ's than any of these trucks. The last 20% in 86 got the Dana 44 rear end as they "ran out" of AMC 20's when Chrysler took over. Does it have the "Last of a Great Breed" plaque on the glovebox?

[Willowrun]

Originally Posted by leddzepp

Does it have the "Last of a Great Breed" plaque on the glovebox?

OK, cool....someone that's not going to flame me about this Jeep. No, it didn't have the plaque on the glovebox. I did some research on the options to verify it is an actual Renegade though and I'm 99% sure it is.
At the same time I was grinding down the bondo, I was working on getting it to run right. I went through a couple carburetors and had it at least starting and idling. Seemed to have quite a bit of an off-idle stumble though. This led me to perform what Jeep people call a "nutter bypass" which involves removing the majority of the 80's emission junk, along with replacing the Jeep cap and rotor with a Ford unit. The pic below is mid-nutter. I had already replaced the cap and rotor and am in the middle of pulling out all of the unneeded wiring. The ECU goes in the trash too. I was amazed at the amount of wiring I removed. It filled a trash bag half full.


The dash had been hacked and bent for a radio and speaker install by a PO at some point so during this time I also pulled the dash and labeled everything. I had picked up an original dash that was straight so that would be used.



This Jeep had factory air also. That came out.

[Willowrun]

I replaced the steering box because it was sloppy and leaky. I also welded some new metal in a couple of small holes in the driver's floorboard and where the roll bar bolts the the floor. I threw on the repop fenders and decent hood I had found for it. I also put a skim coat of mud on the rockers where I had to patch a small area. I don't mind welding in metal, but I hate body work. Losing motivation I had thoughts of throwing a quick spray job on it and calling it good. I kept going back and forth so I figured it would be best to let it sit before I did something I may regret. Winter was coming and I had a different project I wanted to work on so back to the storage barn it went.
I parked it towards the back of the barn....where projects to go die.


At least a year later I needed to thin the herd some and I had a guy coming over to look at a Monte SS I had posted on CL. He turned out buying both the Monte and a '76 C10 SWB I had owned for just a few months that wasn't even for sale. He told me that he owned a body shop so I had him take a look at the CJ7. He game me a price that I thought was fair to dustless blast the whole thing, spray the inner and outer fenders, roll bar, dash, tailgate, windshield frame....he was going to spray everything except the inner tub which didn't need it anyways. He was also going to fix a dent in the cowl (hood flip up at speed incident) and install new body bushings too. He showed me some pics of previous work, seemed like a good guy, looks like the Jeep is going to get painted.
it took twice as long, and cost a little bit more money than anticipated, but I was happy with the result.

[KShortell]

Originally Posted by Willowrun

OK, cool....someone that's not going to flame me about this Jeep.

No flames here, just PROPS to you, bud! I'm a Jeep guy, myself. My '98 Wrangler is still FUN. In fact, my dog loves it so much that I had to reshim the door frame between the kitchen and the garage. He kept popping the lock and busting the door open with his shoulder to go out in the garage to be with the Jeep! I think that he loves it more than I do, actually. He'll get his front paws up on the side step, look into the Jeep, back at me, back into the Jeep, etc. "C'mon, Dad, let's ride, huh?"

Your project looks pretty cool. It will be neat to see it finished. The beauty of Jeeps is that, while they do hold their values well, parts are cheap and the aftermarket support is extensive. That, and the FUN quotient is hard to beat.

[Willowrun]

Originally Posted by KShortell

No flames here, just PROPS to you, bud!

Thank you! I can see where your dog would love to ride in your Jeep....cracks me up too because your dog sounds like my 2 year old son when he sees the Jeep. More on that later....

OK, so the Jeep is back from paint and at this point I was wanting to take in on a dune trip I had planned in a few weeks. Just needed to spend a few hours getting it together. It took longer than a few hours, and at this point the Jeep was totally unproven mechanically, but we were on our way to the dunes.
The dunes are about 3 hours from our house. We keep a camper and a '73 K5 at the dunes. When I go there I typically take another 4x4 with me to make sure if one vehicle breaks down I have a backup (and I like variety)One of the reasons I wanted a Jeep is it would trailer better than the overweight K5's I usually haul. I was happy after a few minutes of towing it with my Silverado that the weight difference was noticeable. My 12 year old son as we were beginning our journey.

.

As seen, I purchased some YJ Jeep roll bar padding and bikini top. The Jeep performed...OK. I fiddled with the timing, jetting, and idle for the whole weekend and I could not get rid of an off-idle stumble. Beyond that driving me nuts (I don't think my son, his buddy, or my buddy noticed it) I was pleased with its performance in the dunes. Climbed every hill no problem and had great power when needed. Not bad for an inline 6 with 155K on the odometer.

[jmking9]

I'm a CJ7 guy myself also. I've had a couple with the 4.2 that ran like crap. Did the "nutter" bypass, put on a Weber 32/36 carb, and the Ford cap/rotor/wires trick, and they were like night and day. One of them had an auto trans and 35's and still had plenty of umph.
Are you planning on adding any "disco" graphics? I would love to put the big giant Golden Eagle on my hood. But I haven't worked up the courage.