Pete M Posted November 25, 2023 Share Posted November 25, 2023 interesting! I've never given any thought to that particular location of engagement. though my first thought is slapping a bunch of grease on the pilot shaft, assembling/disassembling everything and seeing if the measurements match where you see the grease line move. but then I'm always leery of my own measurements. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neohic Posted November 26, 2023 Author Share Posted November 26, 2023 I think I have a solution figured from Novak. Probably won’t be until Monday before I hear back from them. In the mean time I’m tackling other issues. The transfer case shifter wasn’t going to work so why not twin stick it? The shifters need to be longer but I was using scraps and tractor parts from the hardware store. I decided to get the transmission hung under the Jeep too so I can rework the floor and get hard measurements on the driveshafts while I figure out the pilot bushing. Yes… it’ll have to come back out which is kind of a pain but I think I’ll do a better job on the floor if I can get to both sides. The crossmember got thrown in too. Guess what?… it needs to be reworked also! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted November 26, 2023 Share Posted November 26, 2023 inventing takes time Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neohic Posted December 3, 2023 Author Share Posted December 3, 2023 Got a good jump on rebuilding the floor today. I made a large removable cover so I can get to all of the transmission top cover and upper bell housing bolts. Started off with a real mess… I made slits in the floor and just started bending back sheet metal to get the transmission in place. This got cleaned up, new metal was added, and I reused most of the original top cover. Then there’s the crossmember… if I had access to a tube bender, I think I’d make something fancy. I’ll be reusing the old one after I box it all back in. Probably more tomorrow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted December 3, 2023 Share Posted December 3, 2023 progress! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neohic Posted December 3, 2023 Author Share Posted December 3, 2023 Another great day in the shop! The more I looked at and continued to cut up the original crossmember, the more I wanted to just start over. I figured that the factory did a fine job of making the brackets line up, so why not reuse what I could? The new section is a piece of 3/16x1.5x1.5” tube. Success! Now I could measure for driveshafts. Old ride height measurements are in parentheses. Not near as bad as I figured. After that, everything got torn apart to get a for sure number on the pilot bushing. Novak’s AMC to Ford bushing should work out perfect. Next will be getting the floor wrapped up. … note to self, that dash wiring is still a functional mess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neohic Posted December 5, 2023 Author Share Posted December 5, 2023 Driveshafts are done. I dropped them off at my usual shop at 1:30 today. By 3:45 I was told they were ready! Then I got home from work and ordered up my pilot bushing from Novak too. All in, unless something major comes up, I’ll be skating in right around my goal budget of $1200 for the transmission swap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neohic Posted December 17, 2023 Author Share Posted December 17, 2023 Back at it. The new pilot bushing gives me plenty of engagement on the input shaft. After that, everything fell back into place. Hopefully this is the last time the transmission goes in for this project. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neohic Posted December 17, 2023 Author Share Posted December 17, 2023 IT MOVES!!! I need to bend around the shifters a bit, maybe figure some skid plates, modify the exhaust, and make some shifter boots. I’m going to keep an eye on the transfer case output also. Might need to clearance just a bit if it ever gets to full droop. Overall, I’m very happy with it right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted December 18, 2023 Share Posted December 18, 2023 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neohic Posted December 23, 2023 Author Share Posted December 23, 2023 I am as far as I can get right now on the NP435 swap. The maiden voyage was just around the block. Things went well so I took the short trip as a win. It definitely shifts like a heavy truck now. I was assuming that it’d be a little more noisy, and it is. There will be a “getting to know you” period. As for this morning leading up to getting it out of the shop, some of the exhaust got lengthened, other spots got raised up, but all of it was in several pieces. This is really par for the course as far as exhausts go for me. Mine are generally pieced together from scraps. Once the exhaust was sorted, the factory skid plate got cut up. The front half flexes some but it has since it left the factory. The rear half got some additional bracing around the transfer case. Then I had to take the top cover off of the transmission and I found that I needed some added clearance. The transfer case shifter mount got reworked some and I bent around the shifters more. Next in line is to sit down at the sewing machine. I’ve got some scraps yet from the brown canvas bikini top that I’ll be using to break up all the black. Fingers crossed I didn’t just ruin my Jeep! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted December 24, 2023 Share Posted December 24, 2023 victory! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neohic Posted December 24, 2023 Author Share Posted December 24, 2023 IMG_5920.mov Putt… putt… putt… Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeff351 Posted December 29, 2023 Share Posted December 29, 2023 nice fabrication work on that trans/shifter hole and the crossmember Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neohic Posted December 29, 2023 Author Share Posted December 29, 2023 1 hour ago, jeff351 said: nice fabrication work on that trans/shifter hole and the crossmember Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neohic Posted December 30, 2023 Author Share Posted December 30, 2023 Just about when the paint was dry on the new shifters was when I realized that didn’t like the reach it was to get to them. Another thing I noticed was they were encroaching on the passenger side leg room. This might be the fourth time I changed them? Feels much better. This also means that I took more out of the floor than I needed to, but that won’t make any difference when I make the boots. The next thing that was supposed to be on the list was a center console but then I started cleaning the shop and had to move the fuel tank I had earmarked for under the seat. I’ve got a project list that’s titled “CJ to Moab” that every once in a while I cross off an item. Additional fuel storage is on that list and it should probably happen before I make any decisions on a console. This tank is too big to fit under the seat as is. I’m mulling this over. I briefly grabbed a tape measure to start figuring things but quickly lost interest for the day. Something I’ve been putting off was getting the CJ back out into the world. Today was the first time I actually drove it off the property. First impressions were pretty good getting it up to speed… didn’t get over 40 though. Feels very “trucky” in how it shifts both while moving and also starting from a stop. There are for sure plenty of things to get used to in terms of new sounds and driving characteristics. I honestly was thinking the entire time, “Did it feel this slow before the swap?” as I haven’t driven it in a couple months. Anyhow… it was good to get it out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neohic Posted January 1 Author Share Posted January 1 Fun little project at the sewing machine today. Might add a few more bolts along the sides… maybe. Otherwise I took it for a little drive around town. Feels like the fuel injection is relearning itself that there’s a little more hitch in its giddy up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neohic Posted January 15 Author Share Posted January 15 Not really CJ specific type project, but I’m trying to get hard measurements on things that would live in or next to a future center console. I’ve got two grandfathers represented here. After my first grandpa passed, I grabbed one of his shirts that was used to wrap around pictures while boxing up their apartment. It was in sad shape, but I’ve held on to it for years now waiting for something like this. As for the tools, my second grandpa passed a couple years ago now and I recently received some of his wrenches. Nothing matches, and they aren’t a great set, but I love them. I threw in my old Boy Scout knife for good measure. Should keep things a little more tidy than the current over stuffed small ammo box bolted to the floor. Next is to decide if I want to modify the aluminum fuel tank I’ve got to fit under the seat or to move forward with a console. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Salvagedcircuit Posted January 15 Share Posted January 15 That looks great! I mainly use toolboxes to carry all my tools, but this year my newly acquired ratcheting open end wrench tool pouch has been worth it's weight in gold. It's definitely the little things that matter. Back in ~2007 my grandfather gifted me a small clam shell set of standard craftsman sockets and wrenches. It was toward the final years of USA production. He's since passed and I think of him every time I use that kit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neohic Posted January 21 Author Share Posted January 21 Another sewing machine day with finally making a new winch cover. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted January 24 Share Posted January 24 very nice how's the paint holding up? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neohic Posted January 26 Author Share Posted January 26 The paint is still as it was… shiny(ish) but still pretty bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neohic Posted March 14 Author Share Posted March 14 Got snowed in today so why not start on a center console? I started with a sheet of 14 gauge with about a million layers of paint on it. Can’t say that I’m completely excited about the diamond plate, but I figure I’ve already got it on the outside corners like every rusty CJ out there. See… this was a freebie from a buddy of mine after he unscrewed it from a wall in his garage. He asked if I could use it a while back and instantly I thought center console. The paint was fairly smooth and on there really good so I only took it off where I needed to weld. It’ll have some kind of cup holder big enough for a Nalgene water bottle on the front, I need to make a lid, and probably rework some of my seat mounts. Then I hit it with a quick coat of black to hide the ugly gray, and then shoveled some more snow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neohic Posted March 15 Author Share Posted March 15 Pretty much finished up my Tuffy knockoff with another snow day off work. I used a chunk of cow mat for the top and cup holders. If I don’t like the feel of the arm rest I’ll wrap it in vinyl or a canvas. Otherwise it needs a bunch of cleaning up and paint. I’ll wait for a nicer day for that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
89 MJ Posted March 15 Share Posted March 15 I really like this Jeep and the way you're building it. Everything is purely functional and nothing is fancier than it needs to be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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