1979 Jeep Cj7 Beautiful Restoration on 2040-cars
Boise, Idaho, United States
This Jeep is a complete restoration with some awesome upgrades. It is all metal and no corners where cut to save a few bucks because I built it for myself. It took me over 4 years to complete and is one of the best looking CJ's I've ever seen. It will be easiest to breakdown all that has been done to this Jeep in list form starting at the beginning of the build.
It started out as a fairly stock 1979 Jeep CJ7 that had a 4" lift on it and was a daily driver for the guy I bought it from. I purchased it, drove it home and started tearing it down to the frame to get started. -FRAME: The frame was stripped, cross-members, body mounts, front shock towers, and engine mounts (for a 350 Chevy) were all replaced with new. All the welds were reenforced and cleaned up. The front leaf spring mounts were removed and I fabricated new ones that allowed for a wider spring perch placement to accept a wider front axle. It was then all powder coated low gloss black. -Differentials: I removed the stock differentials and tossed them. The rear differential is a Dana 44 out of a Scout II which is much wider and strong than the stock AMC 20. The front is a wide track dana 30 out of a 82 cj7. Both axles have all new seals, bearings, brakes and are 3.54 ratio. The shackles were replaced with Daystar Rockcrusher shackles. They also are powder coated low gloss black along with the leaf springs. -Drivetrain: The transmission is a Borg Warner T-18A with a Dana 20 transfer case. I replaced all the seals/gaskets on both but did not rebuild them because they looked great inside. The clutch is a centerforce dual friction setup. All the drivelines have new ujoints and everything has been painted low gloss black. -Engine: The engine is a 4 bolt main Chevy 350 bored .30 over out of a late 70's blazer. I had a local race shop do all the machine work which included balancing, resurfacing the block, polishing the crank, new pistons, rods, Erson TQ20 cam, polished aluminum World Products intake manifold and Edelbrock E-Street aluminum heads with 70 cc chambers. Everything was assembled with ARP bolts and fasteners. The distributor is a Davis Unified HEI and it has a Edelbrock 600 cfm endurashine carb. It has Hedman ceramic coated shorty headers and a custom dual Flowmaster 40 exhaust. The radiator is aluminum and has a Flexalite Black Magic electric fan. I also installed a New Painless wiring harness so wiring is a snap and has options for fuel injection if ever needed. This thing screams and is a kick to drive, tons of low end torque and sounds like a hot rod. -Body: The original CJ7 body tub was in rough shape so I replaced it with a 87 YJ body tub that was media blasted and revealed zero rust problems. I ordered the hood and both front fenders brand new from Quadratec. The grill is original and has no rust. The roll bar is original and powder coated gloss black along with the nerf bars. The inside and undercarriage of the body tub are rhino lined and the everything else in painted in velocity yellow by a local body and paint shop. The dash is custom made out of aluminum and all new autometer gauges installed. The soft top is the one that came with the jeep and it is in good condition so I didn't replace it. All the other external hardware (hinges etc.) and bumpers are new. There is ZERO rust or body filler and it is all steel! -Interior: Interior is all new. The seats and 4point harnesses are Corbeau and new. The carpet kit, steering wheel, mirrors, dash, window wiper motor and components, roll bar pad, heater controls, light switches, light, marker/tail lights and hardware are all new. The passengers side carpet is a little soiled from the original heater core leaking before it was replaced. -Other: I replaced the gas tank and sending unit with a new poly 21 gallon tank with new skid plate. I also borrowed a idea from the new wranglers and put the gas filler on the passenger side of the body tub. The shocks are Superlift and are new. The brake lines are all new and I added power brakes to help stop this beast. The wheels are 15x10 aluminum and the tires are Wild Country 33x12.5r15. The tires are not new but have at least 80% tread left. The steering shaft is a new Flaming River shaft but the steering column is the original. The engine is hooked to the transmission with an Advanced Adapter plate for small block chevy to Ford transmission. The Jeep also passed Idaho emmssions testing. There are a couple of things on the Jeep that aren't in perfect condition and I would like to make everyone aware of them. The seats are new but the cat got locked in the garage one night and scratched up the side of the passenger seat.......ya I know. Needless to say the cat doesn't live with us anymore! The steering box has a small leak(few drops on the floor). There is also a small oil leak coming from the timing cover(few drops as well) that I haven't addressed. Besides these small items everything on the Jeep is in like new condition. It pains me to sell this Jeep as it has been a labor of love for the last several years but it is time to move it along and start a new project. This Jeep is the real deal and has less than 1000 miles on it since completion, I get compliments every time I drive it and it usually sounds like "thats the nicest CJ I've seen in years". Please ask as many questions that you can think of as I am sure I'm leaving stuff out. Happy Bidding! |
Jeep CJ for Sale
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