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another build thread. . .

Wow! I just read this whole thead and it is awsome. Trust me guy this will be one hell of a rig when its done. Awsome job man.
 
try a marine boat tank? saw some aluminum ones at the store yesterday, made out of 1/8" aluminum, holds 24 gallons, and was 299 dollars, has an send, a return, and a fuel gauge send, if you got something going into your jeep that punctures the floor, and then the 1/8" aluminum, i think you've got bigger problems than a fuel spill.


i think if you put that type of tank, you'd be alot stronger than the stock w/ the skid.
 
I'll look into it, but my plans have kinda changed I think. . . I got the axle all welded up and ready to bolt back in once the paint dries-it's been pissing outside all weekend. . .
I'm going to get the axle back in, build shock mounts, re-run the brakes, and see if the tank won't fit in the stock location. I talked with a couple engineer buddies and the general consensus was the gain in ground clearance wasn't worth the higher center of gravity. So we'll see. . .

I don't have the camera with me at the moment, it's buried in the garage somewhere, so no pics of the couple things I got done this weekend. But the UBE's are burned in, the axle is back together with the minispool, and I've got a parking brake cable on the driver's side as well as the passenger side now. Once I get a dry afternoon I'll get the axle in and measure for a driveshaft and see what's going to happen with this fuel tank fiasco. That's about it for now. . . we'll see what happens this next weekend.
 
Man, it's been a while and I've got a couple things to post up here. First things first: UBE are done, fully welded and the 9" is back under the Jeep.




It's only 3/16th" plate for everything, including the top plate. I'm comfortable with the bottom being so thin considering how it's tied into everything. But the top I'll be replacing with 3/8" plate, at least, soon. Just needed something to hold it together for now.
Next. . . drum roll. . . I've been working, slowly, on the fuel tank relocation. I tried fitting the tank in the stock location with the rear axle 5" backward-not happening.

So out came the cut-off wheel.

 
Next I cut, drilled, and installed just a flat piece of 3/16th plate to see what I'll have to do to get this thing rolling.

Then threw the tank in there.


I had left alot of extra plate extending towards the rear axle so I could fold the edge up. I ended up making 2 bends for a much cleaner and tighter fit.




Once I got that bolted up, and got the bumper to fit with the nut/bolt strips on top of the rail plating and skid, I started on building the box around the tank.
I used 1x1x1/8" angled steel and 20 gauge steel






 
Once I got the box built and skid plate built, I started on adding 36" of fuel hose, evap hose, and wires. Not much to show here, pretty simple.

Fuel tank in

Painted skid plate going on

I didn't get the tank straps built yet, I'm waiting to see what I need to do for the upper shock mounts to work first.
I ran into a couple issues when I started working on my shocks. I knew I'd be cutting the stock upper mounts off and building my own, what I hadn't planned on was there being a fuel tank and gapping hole where I wanted the rear shock mount. . . So then I figured both shocks go on top of the axle, or in front. I opted for the shocks to go in front of the axle vs. on top. My reasoning was I'd be able to run a longer shock at less of an angle, and the upper shock mount wouldn't be overlapping the hole/skid plate combo. . . so the front it is:


 
Then I started on the upper shock mounts. It'll be a pretty standard design: 2x3 boxed steel, plated on the ends to distribute the load, and the shocks will be mounting inside the box.

Then. . . I picked up a little surprise for $50 the other weekend

A running 258 I6 from an 85. I'll be running the 4.0 until it gives up the ghost and will be building a stroker in the mean time. That'll be more of a future build, hopefully. Tomorrow I'm hoping to burn in the shock mount, mount the shocks, finish the straps for the tank and knock out some body work.

Need to pick up some sheet metal, ran out of things to scavenge from ;)
 
did the same thing for my rear shocks, they work amazing, arcd them towards the inside so i could use my rough country 4.5 lift shocks.i assume you'll need to do the same, they travel pretty well\

gas tank build looks amazing brother, i dont see you having any problems with the way you've done that.
 
Secure you pluming and electrical going to the fuel tank. I sure hope you are using a grommet where the lines enter the cab. Nice welds with the flux core. Is your welding machine 220? Could you give any pointers about removing the upper shock mount? How difficult was it to remove?
 
Last edited:
mscans said:
did the same thing for my rear shocks, they work amazing, arcd them towards the inside so i could use my rough country 4.5 lift shocks.i assume you'll need to do the same, they travel pretty well\

gas tank build looks amazing brother, i dont see you having any problems with the way you've done that.
Click to expand...

Thanks man, it took a long time to get the box to fit tight around the tank and keep it kind of square. I'll be getting 1/4" AL cut to fit the top of the box so it'll be removable to access the fuel sender without dropping the bumper, skid and full gas tank. The spare will also go on top of the tank.
 
xj9140 said:
Secure you pluming and electrical going to the fuel tank.-I haven't secured it yet because I'm not sure how they'll be routed around the upper shock mounts. I'm pretty anal about wires and other really important things hanging in harms way after a transmission cooler line got in a losing battle with the serpentine belt. . .
I sure hope you are using a grommet where the lines enter the cab.-I'll snap a picture of how the lines are going up toward the tank. There's about a 2" gap between the floor and the skid.
Nice welds with the flux core.-thank you
Is your welding machine 220?-nope, just a 110V, 130amp Clarke. Works like a champ though, I've put coming up on 50 lbs. of flux through it and no issues yet. I just need to preheat the metal before I burn 1/4" and heavier stuff and give it a break every couple mins.
Could you give any pointers about removing the upper shock mount? How difficult was it to remove?-It's not that hard if you don't mind tearing your floor up a bit. I used a sawzall and 7" cut-off wheel to cut the majority of it away, then used a pry bar to get under it and separate it from the floor enough to get a set of vise grips onto it. I worked the vise grips side to side until the spot welds gave and made a 1/4" hole in the floor for me to fill. Otherwise you'll be sitting there with a grinder grinding all the spot welds off carefully and gently prying them apart. That shock mount provides quite a bit of support the floor back there. Hope that helps.
Click to expand...
 
I think I've gone as far today as I can. maybe I'll get a chance to knock out some more of the interior. But so far I cut the slits for the straps I'll be using for the fuel tank

Then I finished the upper shock mount:

It's not exactly what I want, but I didn't want to cut into the 2x3 box steel and lose the torsional strength as I'm kind of hoping it'll pull double duty as a stiffening crossmember as well. It'll be mounting the shocks 1.75" from the floor

It's also going to be putting the shocks at a greater angle than I wanted, but new shocks aren't in the budget so I'm using used ones from a chevy with a 6" lift. Ghetto I know. . .

I tried to tie it into everything I could-the rails:

Stitch welded it to the floor:

And the C pillar portion of the roll cage goes directly over the top of it, so I'll probably drill a couple holes and bolt the 2 together as I can't really weld the two together well.
That's about it for now. Yesterday I also got the seat belts in, and some more of the stock plastics, but I'm about at a stand still for now until I get the rear body work done. Looking for some 16 gauge metal on the cheap.
 
And even one more update! nothing to serious, just got the tank installed, and cut a strap in the process.

Then got the shocks installed. Doesn't look to bad


Then I just putzed around, front DS is in, rear is out to get extended, parking brake cables mounted, rear brake hose cut and getting relocated and a new one installed (oops), and started thinning out what wires need to be in the back. I plan on pulling all the wires I don't need, but that'll be when I can drive this thing.


I plan on cutting up the body tomorrow. . .
 
you should post your pics, it's been a while since I've seen you do anything to it :)
I am keeping it full body, just removing what's in the way ;)
Here's an update from Sun and this afternoon before it started raining:
I started by welding up the gas door


Then out came the 7" cut-off


I used 16 gauge sheet build the sides


It's pretty boxy and won't provide alot of stiffness for the back, but I figured with the roll cage and plated rails I should be fine.
The last big piece I cut was an odd size, I don't have a good picture of it though. I also couldn't get it to bend the way I wanted, so it looks a little funky. I do not, and will not, ever claim to be good with sheet metal. With only a 7" cut-off and 110V flux, I can only do so much and make it look decent. . .


When I grind it all smooth I'll fill in the gaps from the weld with liquid nails or urethane or something, not sure yet.

Wheel on

Then I hacked the passenger side apart, I accidentally cut the passenger side a little bigger, (and less square) than the driver's side. I guess I should have called her quits before then. . .
I did get the vertical and horizontal pieces in and welded. My welder started acting funny, I couldn't get it to even give me a good tack. It was all surface welds that I could chisel off. I figured I'd stop there and figure that one out first.
 
wow, thats alot how i did mine the first time before i cut the body off mine, looks great man, you did yours alot better with the fully welded lines, i soldered mine and used 20 gauge paintgrip galvy.

nice goin man.


get some muratic acid from home depot for 6 bucks, it will eat the zinc coating off that metal so you can weld the shit out of it, just like put it on a rag and use gloves and wipe the edges you want to weld.

it will also eat any rust you have, and then you can just rinse prime and paint them after that.

i use the acid as flux so i can solder and weld galvy for the roofing stuff we make at work.

or you can hit it with a sandpaper wheel, but really the acid works the best, and it's only 6 bucks for 2 gallons
 
Looks great dude!

Im glad I didnt have to relocate the gas tank when I inboarded my leaf springs.

Fenders look good. I still need to bend some metal up to cover the holes in the side where I cut mine up.
 
mscans said:
wow, thats alot how i did mine the first time before i cut the body off mine, looks great man, you did yours alot better with the fully welded lines, i soldered mine and used 20 gauge paintgrip galvy.

nice goin man.


get some muratic acid from home depot for 6 bucks, it will eat the zinc coating off that metal so you can weld the shit out of it, just like put it on a rag and use gloves and wipe the edges you want to weld.

it will also eat any rust you have, and then you can just rinse prime and paint them after that.

i use the acid as flux so i can solder and weld galvy for the roofing stuff we make at work.

or you can hit it with a sandpaper wheel, but really the acid works the best, and it's only 6 bucks for 2 gallons
Click to expand...

I am definitely going to check that out
 
Finally have enough stuff done to update this a little. I finally got the rest of the body work done, I'll get pics of that soon. The roll cage done



I got almost all of the interior plastics on that I wanted on, minus the A pillar ones, I kind of broke the driver's side trying to squeeze it in. As I worked my way toward the back of the vehicle, I had to put the rear seat belts on. What's missing in this picture?

I hadn't even thought about the seat belt mounts when I got carried away with the cut off. . . easy fix though. I had a couple extra pieces of 1/8" plate I didn't use on whatever project


Then I moved onto the fuel tank filler. I have no plans of making this fancy. But I will get a locking cap


I'll be taking 3" exhaust tube and making it oval to and welding it to the tank box and the outside of the Jeep.
 
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