Project Scuzzy

[Pete M]

love that fabric!  

[jeff351]

I could never get comfy in the bench seat.

 So I go down to the local Pick-n-Pull in search of a pair of seats. Wandering around, I eventually come across a 2012 Ford Fusion. Charcoal color seats in good shape, and the drivers side is power with manual lumbar. Get them home, remove the airbag/load sensing wiring nonsense, and get to work. 

One thing I learned a long time ago, always start with the hard side first (usually the drivers side.) Ended up clearancing the trans tunnel to make room for the inboard seat rail. Not bad, but the sheet metal is like 20g in that area, so it required some delicate TIG welding. I widened the 4 factory mounting bolts for rigidity and fashioned up the seat bracing and legs from 1" square stock. Once its in, its a tight fit, I literally have 1/8" clearance from the notched trans tunnel between the 4wd shift level underneath, and on the interior side 1/8" to the seat slider when its all the way forward (to gain access behind the seat.) Cleaned it all up and applied a coat of Eastwoods Rust Encapsulator. Bonus is with the wider front legs, my 1st aid kit fit under the front seat now. Oh, and yes a factory console fits! 

Now on to the passengers side, which 'should' be much easier since it isn't power and the trans tunnel isn't as wide there. Currently the seatbelt is mounted to the side of the seat but it look a little high, so after looking at it I think I'll drop it down and bolt it to the factory hole in the trans tunnel. But man, they are 1000% more comfortable than the bench.

 

If anyone wants the bench, its free. I'll post it in the classified section.

[MiNi Beast]

Bucket seats are nice.  Good looking seat right there. 

[Pete M]

I keep telling people to get away from "Jeep" seats and explore the junkyards.   good find! 

[jeff351]

Both seats are done, shampooed clean, and bolted in one last time! The camera angle makes them look kind of weird in the picture but they are actually really nice.

To help prevent losing junk behind the seats, I made a little storage area out of some plywood and framed it with 1"x2". Stained it to match the interior color and really happy how it came out.

Next up, restore the center console and make a cupholder that works. 

 

 

[MiNi Beast]

Very nice.  I to indeed like what you did 😏 great storage shelf. Gots skills. 

[jeff351]

Not much to report lately. Hot as balls here in the south this summer, so without working A/C Scuzzy spent the last few months in the garage.

I did manage to get a spare 4.0 and just brought it home from the machine shop yesterday. Ready for some cooler weather and a 4.0/4wd/OBD1 swap. 

[Pete M]

On 9/5/2021 at 12:52 AM, jeff351 said:

 Ready for some cooler weather

 

 

 

aren't we all. 

[89 MJ]

Has the weather cooled off yet @jeff351?

[jeff351]

4 hours ago, 89 MJ said:

Has the weather cooled off yet @jeff351?

 

Yup! Currently 67 degrees outside! Perfect

Camshaft for the 4.0 is still on backorder so everything is in a holding pattern until it arrives. No news otherwise, Scuzzy still carrying out his daily duties with no complaints. 

 

[jeff351]

Well the camshaft arrived so I buttoned up the 4.0 short block and now wait for the next project.

   Ran into an overheating issue the other day coming home from work and the 2.5l barely made it to the driveway. I'm guessing head gasket, but its not worth chasing down now. Got Scuzzy into the garage and that's about it until I bring home a running/driving 97-01 XJ donor.

  Nothing else major. 

-Replaced the courtesy lights with the aftermarket, thanks to @kabowabo  for the write up. They work great!

-I sold the 94 Cherokee I bought last summer as that was a hot mess of electrical rats nest. 

 

 

[jeff351]

So the dismantling has officially begun! What has been pulled off so far is in the classifieds

Since the doors and fenders are off, now is a good time to reinforce the drivers door hinge, so I went with the overkill Hooligan kit

[Pete M]

On 3/19/2022 at 12:42 AM, jeff351 said:

 I went with the overkill Hooligan kit

 

 

an excellent choice.  

[jeff351]

Round 2 on the donor vehicle idea. Found this about an hour north of me and drove it home last weekend. 98 Cherokee 4.0, 4x4 auto, very clean and strong running. Other than the cut fenders and a loud exhaust, its a perfect candidate. I'll use it for a DD for a little while until I have Scuzzy full prepped for the transplant. 

 

[jeff351]

update - Have the interior gutted and sold off the engine/transmission, now onto preparation for welding in the T&M frame stiffener and steering box reinforcement. 

Forget if I saw it mentioned here or somewhere else, but clipping an old shower curtain under the engine bay to catch all the crap as you clean makes life a lot easier. 

[Pete M]

On 5/21/2022 at 1:05 AM, jeff351 said:

 

Forget if I saw it mentioned here or somewhere else, but clipping an old shower curtain under the engine bay to catch all the crap as you clean makes life a lot easier.

 

absolutely!

[jeff351]

1 step forward, 3 steps back.

Last weekend just as I was making progress with the frame stiffeners, I ran out of MIG wire. Quick run to harbor freight solved that. Soon realized the spool ID is a different size than the spindle where it sits inside the welder. Ended up making a spindle adapter out of a block of wood, problem solved.

  About an inch of weld later, I ran out of welding gas. Oddly enough, my TIG argon cylinder ran out the same day. Crazy busy at work so unable to get to the supply store until today. And of all things, they have a shortage of 75% argon/25% c02 mix until Monday. So the welding is on hold until then. 

 

I guess this weekend I'll just hang out with the dog and clean up in the shop. I hate making no progress. 

[jeff351]

So Tuesday I tested + for Covid so got to work from home the rest of the week. I actually got more work stuff done than i normally could in an 8-hr work day; bonus, I also got lots of uninterrupted time in the garage too. Got all the frame stiffeners welded, primed, seam sealed, and after it all dried gave it a couple coats of some truck bed liner I had kicking around. I really like these T&M Metalfab frame stiffeners, they fit great.

Also started cleaning up and filling the unneeded holes where the clutch M/C used to reside.  Bonus, I found a rust trail up under the cowl which I am thinking is a source of water leak. Traced it back up and removed the old cracked sealer and applied a new liberal coating of seam sealer to fix that one. 

 

[Big_Mark]

That's the way to quarantine!

Glad you're feeling well enough to work on your Jeep, keep it up man! 

[freedom016]

 Nice photos. I am about to tackle the floor board and master/slave cylinder soon.

[jeff351]

Between work and life, not much time in the garage lately. Eventually I was able to get the extra holes in the firewall modified, cut out, or filled; also moved the hole for the steering column to the correct 97+ location.  Today I finished painting the engine bay with some tan engine paint I had kicking around followed by 2 cans of clear. 

 

[jeff351]

Picking away slowly. Got the dash and related brackets out of the XJ without breaking anything or cutting any wires, which is a personal achievement. Discovered more mouse poo everywhere but luckily no chewed wires, so going through it tonight with a case of beer and cleaning products to remove the mouse smell. 

[Pete M]

that makes it sound like you're using the beer as the cleaning product

[jeff351]

99% of the interior and firewall holes are now in the right place. I made sure to go through and weld any little hole and coat it in seam sealer to prevent leaks. Next I spent a ton of time putting down sound barrier followed by a layer of heat barrier on top. Tonight the HVAC box goes in, then the dash, then things start falling into place after that. 

 

Mental note: if I had to do it again, I'd just cut the entire firewall out of the donor and weld it in vs modifying the MJ firewall.

[jeff351]

Yes, I'm still working on Scuzzy but wiring isnt the most interesting thing to take pictures of.

 

Funny thing, a couple pages back when i installed an aftermarket radio I commented how I'm not much of an audiophile so sound quality didnt matter so much. BUT....that system really sucked. The donor XJ I bought came with a nice Kenwood head unit, so I figured what the hell and did a minor upgrade from there. Pioneer amp, and a set of JBL 6x9s behind the seats and 6.5+tweeter components for up front. I mounted the amp so it has just enough clearance with the seat all the way back, and the crossover mounted where the stock 4x6 speakers went below the seatbelt retractors. To power the amp (and front offroad lights if I decide to mount them) I made a little housing out of sheet metal and mounted a fuse block next to the battery. While at it I made a new hood prop rod bracket since the other one is missing.