Jakes CJ7 build

[havasu]

Years ago, I was teaching my 15 year old son with how to remove a vehicle oil filter using a leather belt, which works great....when the belt is not frayed or dried out. He drained the oil pan, and placed the used oil, in a wide open pan, in front of the truck. I had him wrap the belt on the oil filter, and began pulling. The belt broke, he fell backwards, and landed butt first into the pan of warm oil. He was screaming for me to help him, but I was laughing too hard to do anything except fall over in tears from the laughter. He made a huge mess, oil everywhere, he was not hurt, but 35 years later we both laugh hysterically thinking about the first day he changed the oil.

 

[hashbrown]

You got to remember compared to Jakes peers fathers im an old man. I’m at the point in my life I know about time. Time well spent is way more important than anything in my life.

 

[Weedygarden]

You got to remember compared to Jakes peers fathers im an old man. I’m at the point in my life I know about time. Time well spent is way more important than anything in my life.

I absolutely agree with this. Time and building memories are very important. Time has a limit.

Daughter asked me what I wanted for Christmas? Nothing, no gifts, but some time together. She is big on gifts most years, but not always. There have been years when she has wanted nothing. This comes from her dad and his family. They were big on Christmas celebrations and gifts. Because of my childhood, as a child of deceased parents, Christmas was never about gifts, because the gifts we got were not memorable, except maybe that half slip I got one year. Unforgettable! And every year until he died, she went to see him and his family at Christmas time. "Oh, so sad that you are home alone!" Nope! Not a speck of sadness, because I had her most of the rest of the year and I had a little time to relax until school started again.

 

[Cascadian]

That reminds me. My little sister lived with me for awhile in her teens. I just finished repacking a wheel bearing and asked her to give me a hammer. She tossed it and it landed 2 feet in front of me in the dirt. Guess who repacked it the second time.

 

[montanabill]

the most valuable thing you have to give children is your time.

 

[Bacpacker]

the most valuable thing you have to give children is your time.

I feel like lack of time spent with kids is a major factor in why so many are off the rails today

 

[hashbrown]

My head hurts .... Good progress. Brake lights work Wipers work, switch heater fan almost hooked up to test switch & resistor. Radiator & fan in. Temporarily hooking up and testing remaining wiring before final connections, wire loom, etc. So it looks like a rats nest.

 

[TeeJ]

What an amazing project, and I agree with everyone that when kids have sweat equity in a car they take way better care of it! For my kids I started buying a car/suv with collision damage and we'd rebuild it to looking like new, along with some general preventative maintenance (flush radiator, new brakes, oil change, etc.). Before I started doing this they'd bang up a car and shrug their shoulders. After this they took such good care of their cars (and did their own maintenance). One even broke into tears when they threw a rod and it "bled out" on the side of the highway.

 

[Spikedriver]

What an amazing project, and I agree with everyone that when kids have sweat equity in a car they take way better care of it! For my kids I started buying a car/suv with collision damage and we'd rebuild it to looking like new, along with some general preventative maintenance (flush radiator, new brakes, oil change, etc.). Before I started doing this they'd bang up a car and shrug their shoulders. After this they took such good care of their cars (and did their own maintenance). One even broke into tears when they threw a rod and it "bled out" on the side of the highway.

I looked at this option, getting a hail damaged or a deer strike totaled vehicle and fixing it. I found that my insurance won't allow full coverage on a car with a rebuilt title. That threw cold water all over that plan. I'm not dropping all that money and time into something that could vanish into thin air over a stupid deer on the road...

 

[TeeJ]

I looked at this option, getting a hail damaged or a deer strike totaled vehicle and fixing it. I found that my insurance won't allow full coverage on a car with a rebuilt title. That threw cold water all over that plan. I'm not dropping all that money and time into something that could vanish into thin air over a stupid deer on the road...

Yea, I never got mine with salvaged titles... I always bout them from private parties where they hadn't reported the accident to insurance so the title was clean.

 

[UrbanHunter]

My head hurts .... Good progress. Brake lights work Wipers work, switch heater fan almost hooked up to test switch & resistor. Radiator & fan in. Temporarily hooking up and testing remaining wiring before final connections, wire loom, etc. So it looks like a rats nest.

I once was asked to "repair" a GMC school bus whose wiring harness had fallen into the fan (who would run a harness across the top of the radiator?). The wires wrapped around the fan and pulled everything that was connected to them into the rats nest (your words are so visual). It was a job I couldn't refuse (I really wanted to) and it was a learning experience....

Jake should be thankful you can buy a complete wiring harness for a Classic Jeep!

 

[hashbrown]

I once was asked to "repair" a GMC school bus whose wiring harness had fallen into the fan (who would run a harness across the top of the radiator?). The wires wrapped around the fan and pulled everything that was connected to them into the rats nest (your words are so visual). It was a job I couldn't refuse (I really wanted to) and it was a learning experience....

Jake should be thankful you can buy a complete wiring harness for a Classic Jeep!

Thing about this harness it says exactly what it is on every wire, my eyes aren’t good enough to read it but it helps.

 

[hashbrown]

Confirmed fan switch & resistor works today. All 3 speeds. Scavenged & tested all lights, sockets, plugs, from old wiring harness for interior. All working including fuel gauge & cigarette lighter. This weekend I should have the dash in so I can test everything in place & hooked up. I can’t wait to be done with this so we can get onto the fun stuff!

 

[hashbrown]

I went down to the shop to test out the dash wiring in the dark. Looks like we are getting close to being done. Just have to clean up the wiring and add the emergency brake switch. I’m ready to move onto more fun parts of the build!

 

[Weedygarden]

I once was asked to "repair" a GMC school bus whose wiring harness had fallen into the fan (who would run a harness across the top of the radiator?). The wires wrapped around the fan and pulled everything that was connected to them into the rats nest (your words are so visual). It was a job I couldn't refuse (I really wanted to) and it was a learning experience....

Jake should be thankful you can buy a complete wiring harness for a Classic Jeep!

Daughter had a friend who had an older Scout that had a fire and burned up all the wiring. Daughter loved that vehicle and bought it from him for little money. She parked it in the yard and worked on it, with the help of friends mostly on Sunday afternoons. It was her second vehicle, but a vehicle that she wanted to learn about working on cars with. They never redid the wiring. I wonder if you can even buy a wiring harness for older vehicles, or if you have to put the wiring together yourself?
That vehicle sat in the yard for a couple years. She found someone who specialized in Scouts, sold it to him and purchased another Scout from him that she drove for a couple years.

 

[hashbrown]

Daughter had a friend who had an older Scout that had a fire and burned up all the wiring. Daughter loved that vehicle and bought it from him for little money. She parked it in the yard and worked on it, with the help of friends mostly on Sunday afternoons. It was her second vehicle, but a vehicle that she wanted to learn about working on cars with. They never redid the wiring. I wonder if you can even buy a wiring harness for older vehicles, or if you have to put the wiring together yourself?
That vehicle sat in the yard for a couple years. She found someone who specialized in Scouts, sold it to him and purchased another Scout from him that she drove for a couple years.

Painless makes a harness for most older vehicles. They are not painless but as close as possible.

 

[UrbanHunter]

Daughter had a friend who had an older Scout that had a fire and burned up all the wiring. Daughter loved that vehicle and bought it from him for little money. She parked it in the yard and worked on it, with the help of friends mostly on Sunday afternoons. It was her second vehicle, but a vehicle that she wanted to learn about working on cars with. They never redid the wiring. I wonder if you can even buy a wiring harness for older vehicles, or if you have to put the wiring together yourself?
That vehicle sat in the yard for a couple years. She found someone who specialized in Scouts, sold it to him and purchased another Scout from him that she drove for a couple years.

When I did it, I had a wiring diagram, lots of spools of wire, and a week working half day's on it. Working under the hood of one of those old school buses with a battery on each side at the front of the engine compartment was a royal pain... we were lucky, because it pulled the large wires off the batteries (post and all), but that prevented an electrical fire... The wires had to be cut away from the water pump, it was a mess....

 

[hashbrown]

It was a pretty day here so we packed the hard top into the shop and started working on it. I ordered a rear hatch for the hard top from out on the east coast it should arrive tomorrow. We will install it tomorrow evening if it comes in early and continue to prep the top for black bed liner for the finish.

 

[hashbrown]

UPS brought the rear hatch today and Jake installed it after school. We hope to have it refinished by the weekend.

 

[hashbrown]

We got the top ready for paint tonight and the kid bought his first set of tire’s tonight. We made a deal he had to buy his tires and painting supplies and I would help him with the rest of his build. I figure that is fair because he helps on our jobs so much.

 

[hashbrown]

Heater box is back together with new heater core and gaskets installed. Pulled the alternator and had it checked and of course it was bad guess I’ll go ahead and pull the starter as well and have them both rebuilt at the same time. It’s one step forward and two steps back.

 

[Weedygarden]

When I did it, I had a wiring diagram, lots of spools of wire, and a week working half day's on it. Working under the hood of one of those old school buses with a battery on each side at the front of the engine compartment was a royal pain... we were lucky, because it pulled the large wires off the batteries (post and all), but that prevented an electrical fire... The wires had to be cut away from the water pump, it was a mess....

I have seen schematics for wiring, and what I think I was missing, and what daughter was missing, were people who could school us about how to really do the rewiring.

 

[Weedygarden]

Heater box is back together with new heater core and gaskets installed. Pulled the alternator and had it checked and of course it was bad guess I’ll go ahead and pull the starter as well and have them both rebuilt at the same time. It’s one step forward and two steps back.

View attachment 102516

And good lessons for Jake!

 

[hashbrown]

We decided to with Herculiner bed liner on the top instead of paint. The old hard top we have was pretty rough and the bedliner covers a lot of imperfections. I just finished the first coat and have to wait 2 hours to put on the second coat. The texture covers a lot though.

 

[Bacpacker]

That is a good look for. CJ. Itll take a beating too

 

[hashbrown]

While that coat was drying I dropped the fuel tank on the Jeep we are building to install the fuel sending unit. Surprise surprise it had a hole in the fuel tank with a bolt through it with washers on both sides and the straps that hold the tank to the skid plate were missing.

 

[hashbrown]

That is a good look for. CJ. Itll take a beating too

I was afraid it would be too rough but I think it will be ok. I know it’s better than an d rag top flopping in the wind.

 

[Caribou]

While that coat was drying I dropped the fuel tank on the Jeep we are building to install the fuel sending unit. Surprise surprise it had a hole in the fuel tank with a bolt through it with washers on both sides and the straps that hold the tank to the skid plate were missing.

View attachment 102637

Do they make a larger tank for that vehicle?

 

[hashbrown]

Do they make a larger tank for that vehicle?

Probably but I already ordered the 15 gallon stock tank and straps. I do know Jake is hunting a Jerry can hanger for the back for more capacity

 

[hashbrown]

We got the second coat of liner on the top this morning and Jakes tires were delivered this morning.