Been Working on a '73 CJ5

[MOPWR2U]

I bought a restored 1973 CJ5 a year ago. Here it is:


And as usual, "fully restored" never is. It did need some minor work. It has a "new" (not rebuilt) 304 V8 long block that the person that did most of the restoration work had found as a never used crate motor. But he had bolted all of the old accessories on it. So, it had 5 vacuum leaks on the carb, the air filter housing was too low and interfered with the choke linkage, and the alternator mount needed redone, so the alternator didn't flop around as the engine was running. And there were 4 oil leaks in the engine/drivetrain. Things like the seal where the oil pump bolts to the block were leaking. You can't buy an oil pump seal anymore without buying and oil pump rebuild kit, so the oil pump was rebuilt. The input and output seals on the transfer case, and the input seal on the rear differential all needed replaced. While the transfer case was out, it was rebuilt as well. We found that the gears and bearings were in good shape, but the shift rods were bent, and were replaced. Now a year later I would consider it "mostly restored". It now has the state required no fault insurance on it and will be registered this week. I plan on just driving it for fun on sunny days and will put it in the local car show on July 17th.

 

[MOPWR2U]

Pretty simple engine compartment. No power steering or power brakes, for now.


Interior is nice as well. Although some of the control knobs will just fall off if you try to use them. More for me to fix, but I'll get it completed. This Jeep was a really nice clean start though.

 

[OldCracker29]

Looks great for a '73.

 

[Black02Silverado]

Very nice! All that room in the engine bay. Makes it a dream to work on. Like the color as well.

 

[MOPWR2U]

Thanks guys. This is going to be a long long term project for me. My dad got me interested in Jeeps way back in 1972 when he bought a CJ5 just like this one, with the 304 V8 and manual trans., except it was a burnt orange color. I was 12 years old and learned how to drive on back roads with that Jeep. I bought my first Jeep when I was 14, a roughly used 1961 CJ5. I spent a year rebuilding everything, going through the flathead 4 cyl engine, transmission, transfer case, axles, brakes, and everything else. It had been rolled once before I bought it so there was also a lot of body work needed, and then a whole lot of bondo. LOL. All of that was followed by a paint job that my dad and I did together, which was this same shade of yellow. That was 51 years ago, and there has never been a time since then that I have not owned a Jeep.

I've still got some work to do on this Jeep. I need to go through all the dash controls and either get them working or replace them. I want to add power steering and power brakes. And it needs a fan shroud. And it needs a heater core, because there is no heater at all now. So, it needs some more work. Like I said above, it was a really nice clean vehicle to start with, but it certainly isn't finished. I figure I've got the rest of my life to do it.