Another Heep project

[gmwillys]

There is no wonder to why don't get anything finished. I have taken on yet another Heep project. This one should be a fairly quick turnaround, but who am I fooling. At least it runs, drives, and stops on its own. It does need some frame rust repair though. The subject is an early '90s Wrangler.... Not even close to a Willys.

[gmwillys]

Day 1. Pull the fuel tank and check the inner frame and crossmembers. Pull the front bumper off, and check out the front frame rails. The passenger side was damaged, and the driver's side was soft at the tie down point. I purchased a kit with all the normal frame rust spots patch panels. The kit is all Lazer cut, and are of good quality. The fitment was descent, and gives enough room to weld in around the crossmember and the steering box mount bolts.

[bmorgil]

This will be cool to see! All in all it looks like it is in pretty good shape.

[pelago]

Got something to work there,,, one bolt at a time

[gmwillys]

The rig isn't in too bad of condition, but there was a design flaw that carries on to this day. The frames do not have any real drainage holes. This frame was packed full of mud in the areas of rot.

[LarrBeard]

The way you have that jigged and clamped, I think you've done that before.

[scoutingranch]

Nice to see someone get something done. I always seem to be stuck neutral. Nice work

[gmwillys]

I know the feeling on my own projects. I took on this one for a retired gentleman that had been turned away from everyone that looked at it. He was in fear that he would have to scrap it. I like lost causes, so I jumped at it. It would have been nice if I would have waited to finish my garage expansion project before starting this one. Oh well, the Wrangler project will pay for itself plus a little extra. That's better than I usually come out. After the first of the year, then I have an engine replacement on a first generation Pathfinder. It was discovered by my Son in Law that even hunting rigs require oil to run any length of time. I'm not looking forward to that, because I really don't like working on modern vehicles.

[5JeepsAz]

Admire the skills and the willingness. I'm learning it's as much a match between people as it is matching up parts to a vehicle in resto. All about fitment

[gmwillys]

If you want to see real skills, Google the grand willys project. Gojeep is a true Craftsman.

The weather was too nice to stay at work today, so I decided time was better spent on the heep project. The spare tire holder had two stripped studs. The driver's side frame rail is all trimmed and three sides welded up. Next will be some added interior fish plates and a couple of good coats of heavy paint before the bottom rail is welded in. UPS dropped off the transfer case skid plate reinforcement/mounts, so they were cleaned and primed.

[gmwillys]

Ran out of daylight for today. I did get the driver's side frame all welded up and reinforced. Then repaired the rear crossmember using some 1/4" cold rolled. This should add a bit of strength to the rear bumper.

[LarrBeard]

You and your little welder and hammer do nice work!

[bmorgil]

Looking good! You are moving fast! That thing's back in action soon.

[gmwillys]

Thank you guys. Maybe I can keep the momentum rolling on my own project.... After at least getting the roof done on the garage extension.

[gmwillys]

In between putting the turkey and ham in the oven, I did get a bit more paint removed on the frame. There was a lot of scale on the driver's side shock tower. It all came out fairly clean. The axle snubber was rotten, and one bolt is ate off flush with the frame. I did drop the skid plate down, cleaned, and painted the center frame rails to prep for the skid plate reinforcement pieces to be installed.

[bmorgil]

It is coming back!

What do you use for a face mask so you can breath while the dust is flying? Everything I try fog's my safety glasses.

[gmwillys]

A 3M dust mask with the replaceable filters. My prescription glasses sit on top of the nose piece alright, but does move the byfocal up a bit. It just takes some getting used to.

Today, the right frame rails was tackled, and the right front stifner.

[5JeepsAz]

Great progress! Ton of rust on what you removed. Looks like new

[gmwillys]

Today it was too windy for outdoor welding, so I brought in some parts to fix. The skid plate/crossmember needed the self tapping screw holes filled, and the center mount holes repaired. Then it was time to install the skid plate. Thankfully all the measurements were pretty good and bolts lined up.
The next order of business was the fuel tank skid plate. This was in sad shape. With a new piece being $200., and the owner will never take this rig off road, it will last forever with a simple patching.

[LarrBeard]

Dern, you do nice work!

[gmwillys]

Today, the Wrangler is done. Spent the day polishing up the loose ends and fogging up the final paint. I'm happy with the final product. The long suffering Misses and I took it for a spin to town this afternoon to ensure everything was alright, and it was all good. The last photo is of the celebratory whiskey coke.. or few.

[okiemark]

Looks really good.

[LarrBeard]

The Wrangler looks nice too ...

[5JeepsAz]

Wow! Job done? Amazing.

[bmorgil]

That was fast! Now what?

That was a very large "Coke". No ice? Looking for more volume?

[gmwillys]

No ice. Half and half for good measure. Next will be to start back on the garage extension, then wagon floor.

[TJones]

You need to make a road trip to Ohio gm I need some help getting mine all put back together, I have whiskey and coke but no ice it just takes up space in the glass and it is a product of water and you know what fish do in water:):):)

[gmwillys]

I'm game for a road trip. It's been a long time since I had to be delicate in installing a body, in order to not disturb the paint.

I helped a neighbor once install a 455 Olds into a 442 W-30. He was a body guy by trade, but not a mechanic. He painted the car and installed all the front end before the engine came back....to include the hood and fiberglass tooth. I dropped by with the engine hoist, and shook my head at the amount of disassembly we would have to do before we set the engine. We argued for an hour because he had all his gaps set and hood aligned perfectly. So I gave up and jammed the powertrain in. The only damage was a gouge in the insulation, and a fine scratch in the passenger fender top. He preceded to whine about that. I told him free good help is hard to find.

[TJones]

That's what SCARES me to death...............I will have the motor installed before I even try to tackle that "disaster in the making".
If I ever get the motor back:(:(:( sent it out to have the rotating assembly balanced and they never did a 4.1 that had a standard shift tranny, they called and said without the flex plate it was 225 grams light and with it it was 250 grams heavy. Now I am shaking my head trying to tell them it's not turning 8,000 RPM's and the flywheel I had made is balanced (and the 4.1 is a externally balanced engine) so put the damn thing together, were only talking 7-8 ounces from being balanced.

[gmwillys]

Some people's children. 8 ounces won't do a thing.

We slapped together a 355c.i. for a State Champion race. For whatever reason we had one 305c.i. right side head made up, and one 327c.i. double hump left side head built up. Of course it was the night before the race, and the coffee can credit bank was empty. We stood around and said what the hell. We slapped the two mismatched heads on and let it go. We didn't let it run at the shop except to set the timing. When we got to the track, we pushed it to the scale, then sat out mud laps and the heat race. We had to start at the back for the feature, but when that thing hit the track, it was an animal. He spent the first 10 out of 50 laps carving through the field. The remainder of the laps consisted of besting the second place car by upward of 2 seconds each lap till there was half a track between he and us. Everything was going great until there was 5 laps to go. Each corner when he would let off to set the car for the corner there would be a puff of smoke come out of the right side header. By 2 laps to go it became a steady haze. The checker flew, and the second place car had gained to within a quarter of a lap, but we brought it on home.

[TJones]

Now that's a Great Story Buddy, that's why I told them to put it together I am not trying to win the Baja 500 :):)

[LarrBeard]

Now that's a Great Story Buddy, that's why I told them to put it together I am not trying to win the Baja 500 :):)

Ya' know, we would gripe if they hung us with a new rope.

Your last engine was put together with bits, pieces, parts and scraps off of the floor.

Now, the guy is trying to do a really high class job on it.

We need 'good enough' but 'not that good'.

[bmorgil]

Ya' know, we would gripe if they hung us with a new rope.

Your last engine was put together with bits, pieces, parts and scraps off of the floor.

Now, the guy is trying to do a really high class job on it.

We need 'good enough' but 'not that good'.

I have to agree with you LarrBeard. What the heck you guy's! I hang my head. gmwillys published he threw a mouse together and it won the race. Racing engine builders are not supposed to give away the secrets!

Now I don't know where gm was racin' but that motor hmmm.... All that trash talk said 8 onces is a ton you all! I have to agree that in a 200 miler balls out race it will go, and you proved it! However the balancing of an engine is more about how long she'll last as opposed to how much power she will make!

Now gm the 305 head. That had 184 intake valve and a 150 exhaust. The double humper' on the other hand had a 195 intake vale and a 173 exhaust (and you knew this when you did it). Now if you set it up right, you could have the roughness from the different power on each side balanced out by the roughness from the unbalanced rotating assembly!

I gotta tell you I remember sticking one of the first roller cams in a stock rod unbalanced 60 over 350. I was not as lucky as gm. At the traps there were parts everywhere! A data point was created. A small block Chevy will shed its pistons at 7125 rpm.

If your flywheel is balanced ON ITS OWN to zero, then all you need them to do is INTERNALLY balance the rotating assembly. If this is a good shop they should immediately know they simply need to drive a few Mallory slugs into the crank throws. I know what gm is telling you, and believe me a lot of motors are running around with huge imbalance right from the factory. But isn't this your Baby? 8oz out? No way I would put it together. .8 (point 8) grams maybe. I shoot for less than 1 gram. Any good shop should shoot for under 5 grams at least. I swear I can hear a distinct hum from a well balanced motor.

[gmwillys]

The Jeep was delivered home this evening. The owner was happy with his ride quality, now that the rear spring hanger bushings aren't moving around within the frame.

[bmorgil]

I bet they are happy with that! Nice work gm!

[gmwillys]

Thank you Sir.

As a continuation to the engine balance conversation. Here are a few photos of some of the demolition derby cars that I had put together. The engines were set up to be loose so when the water boils out or a radiator hose blows off, it will continue to run. I ran mostly Chryslers because they were cheap and plentiful. The pickup had a "bullet proof" 360 engine that came from a '76 New Yorker highway patrol cop car. The '68 New Yorker had a motor home 440. Both were stout runners, but that was the 440's last run because the 1/2" boiler plate that made up the front engine mount bowed forward 3" from the momentum of several full throttle front enders. The mount ears all broke off the block deep enough to cause a couple of oil leaks.

The dirt track cars were in the sportsman class on a 3/8 mile and a 1/2 mile dirt track. We had a friend who was a retired machinist for GM's R&D department. He was a wealth of knowledge, and he would provide us with set ups that he had come up. His big thing was low buck in places where you didn't need to spend it by utilizing endless supplies of junk yard components, but putting money into the top ends. We would spend the winters tearing down donor engines and combing junkyards for target master remanufactured engines, while picking up bucket loads of stock cast connecting rods. The target masters had thicker castings and could stand to be bored more than a stock block. The connecting rods he would measure each one, and usually out of a pile of 40 or so, he would find a set of 8 that were all the exact same length. His proven, (at least through our experience) that there was nothing wrong in using stock con rods, as long as they were sound. During the years that he was around, we never had an engine failure due to the rotating assembly. We burned one down by running a duel fuel set up on alcohol, and had it too lean, but that was all on us. Since we had a good engine program, we focused most of our time on set ups. All the horsepower in the world will not get you anywhere if you can't grip the ground.

[TJones]

Boy your repair turned VERY Nice gm! You probably got a Big Atta Boy.

I bet the Derby Days were a riot.... Never got into it much, but I did kinda in my teen years so to speak when I thought we could stay out all night drinking:) "hell yes ocifer I was drinking and I thought I was too drunk to walk home so I drove":) Back in those days they used to take you home but not anymore plus I am getting to old and it takes tooooo long to heal up after an all nighter.

Keep up the Good Work gm, I may have to ship my Heep to Alabama

[gmwillys]

They were fun. The '68 shown was classified as an open mind. The rules were few, three mater of fact. 1. Driver had to wear a helmet, 2. Had to have a functional seat belt, and 3. Have a functional/charged fire extinguisher. Anything else was wide open. The car weighed 8,200 lbs with the interior being lined with 1/4" boiler plate, and well casing through the body from stem to stern. The frame connectors were 4" I beams. It was a fun ride.

Bring it on, or I have been known to make shop calls.

[okiemark]

I remember back in the 60's when they would show demolition derbies on the Wide World of Sports.

[5JeepsAz]

Funny. You guys are the ones I was afraid to hang around with. Demolition derby, 3 rules, what's not to love!

[bmorgil]

The fewer the rules, the faster the cars!

[gmwillys]

No fear in hanging out with us. Most of us have had several "hold my beer and watch this" moments.

Three rules was the appeal. After years of working in the grey area of the rule books, it was nice to use the more sinister portion of my brain. The heap wasn't exceptionally fast, but I did get it airborne during testing.