pingpong Posted April 18, 2007 Share Posted April 18, 2007 If I was contemplating something like this :shake: I would think using a compact truck frame like an S10 or 4 door blazer would be more appropriate. This is one of those jobs were you really have to want it to make it happen, and money is going to run from your pockets trying to amke it happen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeepcoMJ Posted April 18, 2007 Author Share Posted April 18, 2007 lol, thanks for all the ideas guys!. I'm not doing an exo cause that would defeat the look of the goal in mind. I'm settled for aroll cage inside of it, as long as I can make it tight against the body. i don't have a tube bender to mess with all the exo stuff...even the roll cage will be alot of work with a torch. I need a different tranny...whichever tranny is in the van doesn't have a (working) overdrive, and does have a small crack in it where it leaks..it' needs a rebuild and that's out of the question. plus it's 2wd and I'd have to switch the output shaft or get a divorced t-case. i don't like divorced t-cases. why should an electric fuel pump bother me? mechanicals suck...(i'm biased from being a 2.8 owner) I'd rather use electric. good gas mileage and power is key CET...so i don't think i want to be the only guy with a diesel that gets 11 mpg and isn't in a semi. Pong, why a compact truck frame? if I did that it would be harder to get the diesel to fit, and it would not be as strong, plus then my axles wouldn't work without me making my own perches...I really would like to just reinforce a fullsize frame and not have to mess with axle positioning...I'm OK with body positioning...that's gonna be easy lol. pluss a fullsize would potentially be stronger. ESPECIALLY if i can get an m715 frame for this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kenosha Warrior Posted April 18, 2007 Share Posted April 18, 2007 you've got some good ideas here. Refinement and an agreement on what would be the best general (And I use the term general because no killer proj. like this turns out exactly as planned) keep rockin' at it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CEThomas Posted April 18, 2007 Share Posted April 18, 2007 why should an electric fuel pump bother me? mechanicals suck...(i'm biased from being a 2.8 owner) I'd rather use electric. Talking about a injector pump and not a fuel pump and how it holds up and cost to replace it. Just trying to save you trouble and $$$ with the knowledge of my 6.2 with 235,000+ miles and from a friends who worked on the 6.2 / 6.5 both for truck pulls and in Army Humers. Good gas mileage and power is key CET...so i don't think i want to be the only guy with a diesel that gets 11 mpg and isn't in a semi. Again just trying you help with my knowledge 6.2 / 6.5. Keep the weight down and try not to get on the heavy side of it. Just try not to race anyone as it will be like a MJ with a 2.5 :D Charles Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeepcoMJ Posted April 18, 2007 Author Share Posted April 18, 2007 lol, like an mj with a 2.5 AND more powerful :D hmm...can a mechanical fuel pump from a 6.2 be fitted to a 6.5? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CEThomas Posted April 18, 2007 Share Posted April 18, 2007 More or less yes. They just played with a couple things and put a turbo on the 6.2 and called it a 6.5. PM me your e-mail address and I will send the Army tech manual on the 6.2/6.5. It's the service manual I use for the engine. Charles Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pingpong Posted April 18, 2007 Share Posted April 18, 2007 The reason why I say a compact frame, is cause It will be hard to get a MJ to look right on a full size frame. If I am not mistaken the 6.2/6.5 are close to the same size as a v-8 chevy. Using that theory you could do a basic v-8 style swap and make it work. Many companies are making adapters. As for placement of the axles, doing leafs front and rear is pretty easy, I would hate to say almost basic, in comparison to building link style. Also there are plenty of SAS kits out there for the s10's. Another Idea would be to use a CJ-8 frame :eek: Hmm think of the options Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CEThomas Posted April 18, 2007 Share Posted April 18, 2007 pingpong Yes it's a big V8. And front leafs would be the ticket as you could build springs for the front. The 6.2 / 6/5 is a very heavy engine and a lot more weight then a 360 :brows: Also my want to beef up the front to handle the weight of the 6.5. Charles Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mudrunt Posted April 18, 2007 Share Posted April 18, 2007 A note on the frame usage. A comanche body with the subframe attached still fits perfectly in line with a full size chevy frame. A friend of mine took a k-5 blazer frame and took the cab and fenders of a comanche and put it on there using the control arms as body mounts. Looks real nice and the wiring from the comanche to the gm frame was identical. He is a big chevy guy and said almost all the connectors and wiring was done the same on the jeep as the chevy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeepcoMJ Posted April 18, 2007 Author Share Posted April 18, 2007 A note on the frame usage. A comanche body with the subframe attached still fits perfectly in line with a full size chevy frame. A friend of mine took a k-5 blazer frame and took the cab and fenders of a comanche and put it on there using the control arms as body mounts. Looks real nice and the wiring from the comanche to the gm frame was identical. He is a big chevy guy and said almost all the connectors and wiring was done the same on the jeep as the chevy. PERFECT! now I can keep it on the stock frame rails. I will have to do some customized stuff as I'm going to be using from the rear seat forward on a 2 door cherokee as the cab with a comanche back portion for the rear window, and either shortening my comanche box or finding a shortbed one and changing that as needed. that should keep most of the rigidity of the frame in good order...but an interior roll cage will still be in the works. I think that will just look tough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeepcoMJ Posted April 18, 2007 Author Share Posted April 18, 2007 and mudrunt, do you have pics by any chance? I need some brainstorming ideas...and that will help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbhill Posted April 18, 2007 Share Posted April 18, 2007 its going to be ALOT of work putting a solid real frame under the uni body truck. I'm keeping mine unibody by boxing in the rails and lots of bracing. your best bet is cutting the whole floor out and making a cage for the floor outa 1x1 square stock or tubing and making holes for body moutns in some plate welded to the floor.I'm hopeuflly gona start on mine this weekend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeepcoMJ Posted April 18, 2007 Author Share Posted April 18, 2007 jb, i think we need pics... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbhill Posted April 18, 2007 Share Posted April 18, 2007 hows that :D thats just the main bracing, 2x3 1/4 wall. gona tie in the floor pan/fire wall w/ some 1 in tube, and 1x1 square stock. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeepcoMJ Posted April 18, 2007 Author Share Posted April 18, 2007 haha, i like how you haven't even taken the door panels or the b-pillar trim off yet... but that helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbhill Posted April 18, 2007 Share Posted April 18, 2007 haha yea, its gettin all gray from the parts truck SO i don't need burgandy lol. there off on the pass side... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mudrunt Posted April 18, 2007 Share Posted April 18, 2007 i am gonna be down at my friends place this weekend so I wll try and get pics. If i remember right he just sait the whole thing down on the fram and welded the control arms he cut in half to the frame and the made brackets for on the body for the bolt to go through the bushing part of the control arm. With 4" of lift on the frame and the body being set on the way it is the 35's he has on there look way to small. But if you went with no lift and the 35's it would look perfect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
feerocknok Posted April 18, 2007 Share Posted April 18, 2007 i am gonna be down at my friends place this weekend so I wll try and get pics. If i remember right he just sait the whole thing down on the fram and welded the control arms he cut in half to the frame and the made brackets for on the body for the bolt to go through the bushing part of the control arm. With 4" of lift on the frame and the body being set on the way it is the 35's he has on there look way to small. But if you went with no lift and the 35's it would look perfect. I can imagine the lift thing, cause it's pretty much a Huge body lift with a suspension lift underneath it. Please, get pics. I've seem a couple Cherokees done like this, but there were done kinda cheesy, and I've never seen a Comanche done up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DirtyComanche Posted April 18, 2007 Share Posted April 18, 2007 i am gonna be down at my friends place this weekend so I wll try and get pics. If i remember right he just sait the whole thing down on the fram and welded the control arms he cut in half to the frame and the made brackets for on the body for the bolt to go through the bushing part of the control arm. With 4" of lift on the frame and the body being set on the way it is the 35's he has on there look way to small. But if you went with no lift and the 35's it would look perfect. I can imagine the lift thing, cause it's pretty much a Huge body lift with a suspension lift underneath it. Please, get pics. I've seem a couple Cherokees done like this, but there were done kinda cheesy, and I've never seen a Comanche done up. I'd really avoid doing that if you want any sort of off-road capability. Under the belly EVERY inch counts. Stacking the frames will lose you about 6" right there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted April 18, 2007 Share Posted April 18, 2007 Just make sure it turns out better than this one: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeepcoMJ Posted April 18, 2007 Author Share Posted April 18, 2007 wow...yeah, i'm intending for the frame to be AGAINST the floors....that's a halfass job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
feerocknok Posted April 19, 2007 Share Posted April 19, 2007 Just make sure it turns out better than this one: I think I'm sick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neville_newman Posted July 6, 2007 Share Posted July 6, 2007 I'm a rank newbie here, and I see that this thread has been dormant for a while, but I thought I'd toss in a few ideas. FWIW, I have a 2-door XJ, and 2 LWB MJs, and have had 4 Suburbans ('87-91), 3 of them with diesels. So, my own experiences are based on driving those. I have never done any kind of fab work this huge - all my fab has been on little Fiats (X1/9's) and that was a blast. But it's a far cry from your project! Re. the diesel options, the 6.2 IP on the 6.5 is no problem. I spun a 6.2 in my '87 Suburban and replaced it with a 6.5 long block from GM (at that time, they weren't producing any 6.2 LBs). They had a kit for the injector lines, but the IP and everything else just bolted on. So, use the 6.5. And since I think your G-van has no turbo, just leave it as is for the time being and save yourself the effort and $$. Re. the cab choices, I like your idea of using the 2-door XJ as a base. If you end up with only 2 doors, then be sure to grab the flip seats out of it, too. I really like having lots of space, and lots of access, and since it's your time and money that I'm spending here :-) , I say you ALSO need a 4-door XJ to cut up. I like the basic idea you had with this pic: ... except that I would use the XJ long door section up front, the B-pillar setup from the 4-door, section the rear doors to get rid of the fixed glass section, and replace the striker section of those rear doors with the tail of the MJ doors, then finish it off with the back of the MJ cab. You could get rid of the back door handles and bury an electric door release button on the backside of the cab hidden by the bed. From a distance, that would look more like fixed doors, but in reality you'd have more access, windows that open, etc. It will be tight for adults in the back seat, but your other pics show an Xtra-cab concept that would be even tighter, so that's probably not your main concern. Use a fold-down wide jump seat, or use quick-release seat mounts from a van or maybe a Suburban 3rd seat frame bottom, and you can get the maximum closed secure space in there. Another idea. I don't think I'd like it personally because it reminds me of the beer-belly rear windows from F150's of just a few years back, but... as long as you're cutting up XJs, you could try to adapt the top half of the hatch and use it to replace the back MJ window. This would buy you a lot more access and a whole lot of ugly (IMHO), but thought I'd throw it out there. I'm going to follow this thread, because this is really interesting to me. I really want a 4-6 seat truck with an 8-foot bed and a diesel engine (and want to brew my own veggie fuel for it) for my business. That is all easy enough to find on every other street corner here in Texas. But I REALLY like the MJ trucks, and so I'd like to have it all wrapped up in a Jeep package. It's going to take an inheritance from a rich relative, or a sudden infusion of fab skills, before I could ever hope to have such a rig, but in the meantime I can do it vicariously through you :-) [/img] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeepcoMJ Posted July 6, 2007 Author Share Posted July 6, 2007 haha, i wish i was doing it...but the idea is dead. won't happen for years to come, I sold the g-van, scrapped the j10 frame I had, and the truck I was using as a base is gonna be junked once i get the good parts off of it. I will follow this thread if you wish to expand upon it...:D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockhardzj Posted July 6, 2007 Share Posted July 6, 2007 CloseUgly My view would be to make it a full out crew cab MJ, using the XJ's rear doors and seat. It's what I want to do with the next MJ. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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