So any of you that are friends of mine on Facebook already know that I have decided to take on the project of swaping the body on my 1980 CJ7. I have been randomly posting progress pics on FB but decided to start a thread here to put it all in one place. First things first, Yes I know my shop is a mess, and that the welds on my cross member and skid plat mounting plates look like hell. They were done a while back laying on my back under the jeep with an old school stick welder, Wearing a Carhart as a welding jacket in the middle of summer. I thought i was going to catch myself on fire, wether from the heat or the dripping slag, and my welds show it. lol.
The Starting point
1980 Jeep CJ7
258 I6
T176 4 speed
Dana 300 JB 4to1
Dana 30 Narrow track 3.55 spartan locker
AMC20 Narrow track 3.55 Spartan Lock Ten Factory alloy one piece Axles
33/12.50/15 MTR's
15x8 black steel wheels
1.25" wheel spacers
Roughly 1.5 inch suspension lift
YJ Spring Pack front with extra main leaf
CJ Spring pack rear extra YJ Main Leaf
1 inch daystar body lift
Build not Bought clocked Dana 300 and flat to the frame rail belly skid
RCI 19 gallon fuel cell
SmittyBuilt Tube Fenders
TJ Rear Flares
One VERY rusty body and a lot of Bondo
The Plan
I have picked up a YJ tub to swap over. For those that don't know there are very few differences between a YJ and CJ7 tub. The tub that I found was pretty cheap and also in need of some repair but not anywhere near what I already had. I don't have a lot of great pictures of the tub before hand but ill place a few here. The PO comp cut the rear, Im planning to install corner armor to cover this.
I started out the tub repair by putting it in a position that has made floor repair 100 times easier. Then I proceeded to cut out any and all rust I could i find.
Someone at some point had tried there hand at body work. This consisted of riveted sheetmetal and a lot of Bondo to cover it up. I removed this to find that this tub had obviously been attacked by a shark at some point.