1983 Aussie CJ10

[WraithGTO]

I thought you guys might like to see what started out as a small project of cutting some rust out and filling with bog (Bondo) the CJ10.

As of today i went a little overboard and now the Jeep is in a million pieces

A few specs on the CJ10

1983
258 I6
T176 tranny
NP208
The CJ10 is combination of a SJ chassis and CJ body with it's own unique fenders with headlights in them, God help me if I bend the fenders :)

The CJ 10 was used as a daily worker on the ranch for some 17yrs and it served its job brilliantly , and since retired it.

3 years ago the 258 was getting a little tired, so I decided to put a second hand 360 in it, I got a 360 out of a J20.
I purchased some SJ V8 mounts and mated my 258 flywheel to the 360 ( Not a good idea after reading on this forum, using the 258 flywheel on a 360)
and bolted it up to the T176.
Ran it occasionally over the last 3 yrs until the rust and the Tiring 360 became too much, Then I decided on a partial restore which has turned out a little bigger Job. as you can see in the pics.

I was just going to patch it up , But I have decided on a full respray and cut all the rust out and put fresh metal in, Do it correct !!!!


Here is the Jeep in it's hay day on the ranch




Starting the strip down


Tub back to bare metal using a 9" grinder with a wire wheel




Put some color on a few panels and put them back on the tub to see what the color looked like
We all know RED is faster :0

I chose GTO Red (Sting Red)
Same color as my GTO






Since these pics were taken, I have pulled the tub of the chassis and made new floor panels up and a new piece for the Firewall and painted the floor with a similar product to POR15, as I couldn't find POR 15 available in my state

I will post more pics over the weekend


Cheers Wraith

[jeepsr4ever]

Wow i love the CJ10's! Was that a stock bumper?

[WraithGTO]

Thanks for the kind words

The bumper is not stock , not sure what the stock one looks like
The one I have is called a Bullbar in Aussie, it is the big brother of the Roobar we have here

Many 4WD and trucks in Australia have them and are good for putting spotlights and winches on .

They are made from either Alloy, or Steel or you can get the ones made out of a Poly type plastic

Designed mainly for saving front end damage from the odd Kangaroo that we have in Aussie.
I saw some similar when I was last in the USA back in 98 called Deer bars in Texas

Wraith

[WraithGTO]

Well I did a little more to the Jeep over the weekend,

I decided to attempt to fit a integrated aircon to the CJ10.
I have a old GM Holden WB Statesman car . I have taken the heater box and the rest of the Aircon out of it and I will try and install it into the jeep.

While looking at the jeep firewall and working out how to go about with the Holden heater box install. I decided on cutting the firewall out of the Holden and I will weld the Holden piece of the firewall into the Jeeps firewall, And that should be it for the tub,
Just a matter of waiting to hear about a new Cowl panel from someone
And then I can paint the tub

I also Stripped the frame out of the Jeeps roof and welded in a new frame that I had bent up, the roof is alot less flexible now. A little bit of filler on the roof and it should be ready for paint.

Here is a pic of the tub, with the Holden heater/aircon box placed to see for clearance of fender and rocker cover,
in the pic on the lower left is the white piece of the Holden firewall that I will spot weld onto the jeep firewall, Also it seems there will be more room inside the cab with the Holden Heater/Aircon inplace ,as most of the unit will be inside the engine bay and not in the cab



I have been using this great machine to strip the paint from the tub, It's the first car I have used this wire wheel on and I will use it if I ever do another car in the future, it is so quick, but it can buck like rodeo bull though

Here is a pic of wire wheel on 9" grinder




And this is one of the finished CJ10, Just put gas in and she is ready to hit the beach, Now this is what I call a Sand rail ( Beach Buggy )


Only joking



Cheers WraithGTO

[76-cj7]

Thats going to be one unique ride when its all said and done with....hell even in the states it'd be an eye catcher let alone down in Austrailia

[WraithGTO]

Thats going to be one unique ride when its all said and done with....hell even in the states it'd be an eye catcher let alone down in Austrailia

Cheers 7-cj7

had my brother take a few more pics this morning of some of the progress, I work on the jeep when I have spare time, in between work on the ranch

Here is one of the roof and the new frame welded in, just need to weld the mounting channel in and its ready for primmer




Here is couple of the retrofit of the Holden firewall piece into the jeep firewall, just need to make up some plates to finish up around the trans tunnel






Cheers wraith

[WraithGTO]

Just a quick update,

I have finished the firewall retrofit and removed the rusty old cowl panel , which could have been a bad mistake removing the cowl panel,

I have tried 30+ companies in Australia and the USA to get a aftermarket cowl panel, but they are not available, and have not been available since the beginning of this year. I also tried for a used one in Australia, but they are non existent here ,

My many weeks of searching the net and the help that jeepsr4ever has given and offered to me Very much appreciate the help jeepsr4ever . I have managed to track down the actual manufacturer of the cowl panel, I have sent them a few emails and I will see where that leads me

Well here is a pic of the retrofit to the firewall finished and one with the heater/Aircon box in place and the cowl panel removed.

I am over drilling out spot welds





Cheers Wraith

[Lifted79CJ7]

Loking good! Please keep the updates coming!!

[cj5 buggy]

i just saw this. Very Nice... any more Updates?

keep the pics comming.

[tarior]

Nice work so far.

I personally would be hesitant to crawl around under a vehicle in Australia. I'm afraid I would get bitten by something venomous. You guys have an awful lot of venomous creatures out your way.