Project Scuzzy

[jeff351]

Gas tank and filler door relocation project complete!  After final body work, I used some green Eastwood internal frame coating up inside the filler door and quarter panel area, then a couple coats of undercoating.

For paint, I rattle canned it with Behr "Toasty Grey" that I had laying around from something else, but its a close match to the worn factory jeep white paint. 

After a couple days of drying time, I reinstalled the door and filler neck, hoses, and rear bumper. Then bolted the bed back down, plugged in some wiring, and DONE 

Next up, I guess I need to put an axle in there. 

[neohic]

That came out great!

[Pete M]

very impressive! 

[jeff351]

The donor XJ came with a Dana 30/Chrysler 8.25 with 3.07 gears. Not the best combo, so I'm changing them to 4.10 ratio. I just finished the front axle, came out pretty good. Patience is the key, after 3 tries with various shims I got the rotational torque, back lash, and gear pattern spot-on.

One side-project my wife and I have is capturing feral cats in the area and getting them spayed/neutered.  This one, who we named Lucy when we caught her almost a year ago, suddenly made a reappearance last week, and is now sleeping in a heated cat bed under Scuzzy. Super friendly and is good at catching crickets in my shop. 

[jeff351]

Well, another new year. Hope you all stayed safe 

 

Among all the other projects I have going on, I'm almost ready to drop the freshly rebuilt 4.0 into Scuzzy. The head is at the machine shop getting a valve job and a once over. This block (I forget if its an 88 or 89) is .030 with a Stage 1 cam from Cleggs. A couple differences I discovered between the 98 block in my donor XJ and this block: there is no coil mount or head dowel pins on the older block. I'll get over it.

Also in this picture you can see the beginning process of making an engine cradle to stow the spare engine until I decide what to do with it.

[jeff351]

Finally got a lot done in a day.

A friend came over and we installed the new 4.0 in Scuzzy, pulled the old driveline from the donor, got the donor 4.0 on the engine cradle, and swapped the doors over. Nothing broke and it went relatively smooth. 

 

 

[Drahcir495]

love this -

A lot of good here 

[H3ADBANG4L1F3]

WOW! Absolutely amazing build thus far. One to keep an eye on for sure.

[jeff351]

Long time no post.

 

Still picking away....on one shoulder i have the OCD devil saying "make that engine shiny and spotless" and on my other shoulder is one saying "just finish the darn thing." 

 

Exhaust-wise, I added a flex pipe to the down pipe and v-band clamp at the end. (One of my pet peeves is not being able to remove exhaust once a u-bolt style clamp has been used. )

 

I remember putting my hand on the passenger floor one time after driving and it was dangerously hot to the touch. So I took some laminated aluminum heat-shield stuff left over from another project, and used riv-nuts to secure it. That gives it about 1/4" standoff which should help.

Otherwise...just little ankle-biter projects that arent news worthy but eat up my time. 

[Salvagedcircuit]

2 hours ago, jeff351 said:

laminated aluminum heat-shield stuff

Curious what you ended up using. Thanks!

[jeff351]

On 4/7/2024 at 2:38 AM, Salvagedcircuit said:

Curious what you ended up using. Thanks!

I've had several sheets laying around for about 10 years, but it's very similar, if not the same, as this: 

Amazon.com: Exhaust Heat Shield Automotive Embossed Aluminum Heat Shield Material for Heat Barrier, Fire Wall, Exhaust Wrap 20" X 47.2" : Automotive

[Salvagedcircuit]

4 hours ago, jeff351 said:

I've had several sheets laying around for about 10 years, but it's very similar, if not the same, as this: 

Amazon.com: Exhaust Heat Shield Automotive Embossed Aluminum Heat Shield Material for Heat Barrier, Fire Wall, Exhaust Wrap 20" X 47.2" : Automotive

Thanks! Going to experiment with this on the underside live you did