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Old 10-05-2014, 10:26 PM
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Gojeep Gojeep is offline
MetalShaper of the Month March 2015, March 2020,, June 2022,Aug 2023
 
Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: Eastern Melbourne, Australia
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Rails have come up much better than expected after several hours of grinding and wire brushing them clean. Only thing is I counted a 111 rivet holes that will all be needed to be welded up in each rail.


This gives you an idea of the frame bends horizontally before I start modifying it to suit the suspension pickup points of the donor Grands rear and its front sub frame.


Rear height where the coil mount will sit. Will increase this by 100mm/4"


This is the starting height at the front of the frame rail where the front mount of the Grands sub frame will bolt in. Will have to raise this point by bending the front of the rail upwards.


This is the only rust on the whole frame and at the same place on the other rail too. It is where the frame kicks up behind the cab. This happened as some one had added a extra plate to the outside which was only stitched welded on and the gaps let the water and dust in. Rail is bent more than it should be slightly at this point which is fine as will be bending it more anyway.
Thinking of cutting this section out, but leaving the flanges, and adding in a new piece with the extra curve in it that I need, and then bend the flanges to suit it.


Found what looks to be a frame manufactures date too. 9.11.58. Hard to make out the last figure now though as thought I was removing more from the top of it and it disappeared instead.
So parts so far are 50 years apart with the Grand Cherokee donor being made in 2008. Still hoping to pick up another donor made in 1948 for the other half of the frame and body work too if the guy will ever set a reasonable price.


Removed the bent knuckle that took some of the impact from the Harley hitting it. Can see here just how much it bent compared to the new one on the right. Glad really that the cast aluminium knuckle bent rather than the cast steel lower or the forged upper wishbone did. Their mounts were unaffected too.


Both of these are sitting dead flat on the lower ball joint surface. Amazing how much change there is in vertical height as well.


Removed the Hemi, trans and transfercase from the subframe so I can work on mounting the engine mounts further back in the sub frame so the axle centre line is centred in the wheel arch.


Moving the engine back meant that the oil filter would end up on top of my steering rack. Noticed that it was fitted to an angled adaptor so removed it.


This left this behind but with nothing to screw the filter back on to.


This is the adaptor with the threaded part for the oil filter and the oil pressure gauge sender.


The threaded section just simply unscrewed with an Allen key and installed into the block directly.


The adaptor also had the oil pressure gauge sender so had to find a new place for that. Noticed this plug above the oil temperature sender.


The oil pressure sensor was too big to fit into the upper hole, so swapped the oil temp sensor in there instead. The thread however on the oil pressure sender was too small and I didn't have an adaptor. So I drilled out the plug that was in the upper port originally and threaded it for the sensor and installed it that way.


Gives you a better idea of the sub frame that holds everything under the uni-bodied Grand Cherokee. Just held in place with four big bolts. I will be doing the same so I can bolt it under the Willys frame.
Paint damage in the front corner is from the battery acid leaking on to it after battery was split in the impact with a tree after being hit by the Harley.


Just got to workout how I will make my new engine mounts once I move them 175mm back on this frame to centre the axle under the wheel arch. As the frame drops away steeply, cant just weld the old brackets back in place. Also going to end up over the top of the rear diff mount on the far side.
Going to be fun setting it exactly right too as the mounts are 16mm lower on one side and 18 mm further across than the other side. Cant centre it otherwise the front driveshaft would hit the side of the transmission. They also have to have a 5.5 degree tilt to match the stock engine angle.


What's up with the way they routed the hose along the bottom of the cross member? Starts in the middle of the fan when in place, then goes across all the way to one side, then the other side, back part of the way and then over the cross member before entering the steering rack!
I take it is something left over from a LHD to RHD design change? Can't see any other reason for it.


Taken the front diff out. Nice finned alloy cover and axle housing.


Got a nice alloy oil pan on the engine too standard. If you can see it after it is installed, might have to give it a polish!


Here is the sub frame stripped bare.


Before I removed the engine mounts, I made up this little jig to make it easier to setup the new ones. They tilt 5.5 degrees back and are different heights left to right to match the mounts on the block, so felt this was the way to go.


Removed the engine mounts and mocked up the front cradle 175 mm further forward than it was before. Good news was that the oil filter change of position cleared the steering rack easily.


Even with the steering shaft roughly in place, there is still plenty of clearance around the oil filter.


The only thing I ran into was making sure the left engine mount cleared the diff support bracket.


Got to make sure the new engine mount does not interfere with the front diff pinion support inside this bracket.


I set the floor and firewall up in place to make sure previous measurements were correct. They were exactly right but it was still nice to confirm before I go welding in the engine mounts in next.
Also checked the radiator position to see how it would all fit within the engine bay.


I setup my engine mount jig 175mm further back so the engine sits the same distance off the firewall but centres the front axle in the wheel wells. Had to raise it 3/4" above the what it was in the sub frame originally to clear the diff mount, but is still an 1" lower compared to the original floor height.
Having it this far back will give much better front to rear weight balance for better handling as well.


Good old OJ carton use to make a template for the new mounts.


Knew it would come in handy one day. Brought this home when doing the structural steel work on the Hoppers Crossing College back in 1986! Bit overkill being 102x150x6 mm RHS ( 4"x6"x1/4" ) but had the perfect internal size to match the engine mounts on the block.
Who would have thought that one end of this would be holding up a college building, and the other a HEMI!


Clean up the tubing and placed my template over it. Made sure the bolt hole on each side matched perfectly.


Don't own a oxy or a plasma, so out with the 9" grinder.


Fitting up nicely.




On to the other side. Healthy Choice meal box this time.


Just managed to squeeze in the other side from the same piece of RHS ( Rectangle Hollow Section ) tubing.






Fitted like a glove and just pushed the bolts through with my finger.


Other side. Haven't gone for anything fancy as impossible to see them once installed in the Willys. Strong and functional though.


Sorry about getting carried away with the photos, but feel it is my first bit of construction on the project.


Had some leftover rods given to me when I bought the welder second hand 16 years ago. Hoped they would be still alright to weld the mounts in with.




Not too bad for old rods I guess.


Back to stripping some parts again as still waiting on another Willys before I can really begin construction. Got a line on a 1950 cab that is on a HJ rolling chassis, but comes with a 1950 Willys complete rolling chassis and drivetrain plus a 1948 one as well! Trying to get him to sell me just the cab and 1948 rolling chassis as don't want the rest. Just cost too much to transport it otherwise as is 2000 km away.
So it is on to removing the rear suspension mounts. Shown here upside down and ready to dismantle after taking all the measurements I need.


This bush is part of the upper control arm mount. So the weld needs to be cut away so it can be removed from this frame rail.


Easiest way I thought to remove the weld is to choose a hole saw with the same inside dimensions as the outer part of the bush. Didn't even need the pilot drill to be centred in something and cut through the weld easily. Just use a slow drill speed and some heavy oil, I used diff oil, to lubricate it.


So here is the upper mount off showing the bush I cut free with the hole saw that passed through the frame. The top mount is the lower control arm mount. All the suspension mounts are made with HSLC, (High Strength Low Carbon), steel. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-st...ow-alloy_steel


The photo shows how many spot welds I have to remove to get this reinforcement plate off. It supports the swaybar, coil and shock absorber mounts. You are looking at the Grand Cherokee donor rear frame section upside down.


Continually surprised how much effort they go to to stop noise transmission into the body. This a section of the frame that supports the rear shock absorber.


The rear shock mount broken down into pieces. Top left is part of the floor, outer frame rail, plastic noise absorbent material followed by the inner frame part that holds the inner part of the shock mount.


Starting from left to right along the back: Lower control arm mount, upper control arm mount, coil mount, panhard rod mount and shock mount. Across the front is the frame support for swaybar, coil and shock mounts
Hoping to reuse all these on the Willys frame rails. Hard part is that the Willys frame is much narrower at 2" where these brackets are to fit over 3.5". Not sure the best way to make up the difference yet.


Well after 8.5 hours of driving we got to the place to pickup the new Willys.
Unfortunately water had got into the front drums and locked both wheels and there was not enough traction to drag at back far enough. So muscled the winch hard to drag it up onto the trailer.


Our stop last night on the way home from picking up the new Willys pickup. Slept in the back or the XJ and got a good 8 hours sleep and not cold at all given it is the middle of winter right now. Jeep pulled like a train and never missed a beat. Could just leave the cruise control on a 100 and never slowed. Used way less fuel than I was expecting to which saved another $150 odd dollars off the expected cost.


Thought this was the best way getting it off due to the locked front drums. Just lifted it up with the crane until just clear of the deck. Then rolled it off the end, using the winch to control the speed, and onto a pair of wheel skates.


Just left it in the drive though area into the workshop overnight until the car trailer was returned in the morning. New sign looks good above it.
__________________
Marcus
aka. Gojeep
Victoria, Australia
http://willyshotrod.com

Invention is a combination of brains and materials.
The more brains you use, the less materials you need.

Last edited by Gojeep; 03-07-2020 at 07:10 AM.
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