Hello from Louisville

[averse]

Hello. I have been on this site for sometime. I joined when I bought my project, which is a 1979 Cherokee. It was originally a Golden Eagle. I purchased her out of Texas, non runner, and according to the PO, rust free...right, so years later here we are, now rust free, frame off resto-mod in progress...was a 360, auto, 1339, D44's front and rear....now 401, T18/D20, D44HD front and D60 rear. It has taken a long time to get this far, and I have found many answers on this forum...hope to be in a better position to contribute, based on the last several years, and I will likely still have several questions of my own. In any case hello, and thanks to the community for all the past and future answers.

Adam

[OutrageGIS]

Nice work! Greetings from Lexington, Love the color!

[mdcptman]

Awesome rig, welcome!

[Strode]

Wow, I love the color too. I hope you took pictures of the whole process, we need a build thread on that.

[WHSII]

Welcome from Frankfort, KY.

Nice work, nice shop!

[Auburnmark]

Dang! That is one beautiful rig your are creating! Hope you can start a build thread and keep us updated

[serehill]

WOW

Excellent work Welcome

[HOOT]

How you been Adam? Long time no see. Your old axles are in my neighbors garage.

[Mars]

Great Jeep!

And of course Hoot knows him AND got parts from him

[Mcgyver]

WOW x2. Great Job.

[averse]

How you been Adam? Long time no see. Your old axles are in my neighbors garage.

Hey Tom....it has been a while, I hope You are doin well...sorry to here the axles have not been put to good use, perhaps someday?

To everyone else thanks for the hellos and compliments...obviously it is nice to be around folks who appreciate the same stuff!

Adam

[MadMax78]

X2 What Strode said

Great job on the Cherokee. I have a 78, just not in that great shape. Post more info/pics.

[polarfire]

Any updates on this build?!

[delta 18]

AMAZING! if i lived closer, i'd pay rent for a little corner in your spacious shop!

[averse]

progress is so slow...work always in the way

Any updates on this build?!

Slow progress...I got the quarters fitted up, the valance, the dash, steering column, and tailgate...

The body mounts available on the market all seem to have some issue with the core support portion...after fighting with it for the better part of two days, I resorted to remaking the mounts until they fit and aligned the quarters to the body without much compromise....late 70's may have been the prime time for the FSJ Cherokee, but it is hard to be picky and happy when fitting up body lines...enough about that...

The older valance and the 79 frame horns for the bumper are another area of contention, but I have every intention of making bumpers, so off with the horns, I figure it is no different than the 78 that had no such horns and I did not want to go cutting up the valance that I had...

The T18 trans was also too tall by just a hair to fit under the tunnel cover, so it was either raise the body 0.5-1 inch to get what I needed or modify the tunnel cover....I chose the tunnel cover, had I been able to foresee the valance and frame horn issue I would have likely chose to raise the body all around....as it turns out the J Trucks have body mounts on the frame that raise them about an inch higher than the Cherokees and Waggys...Live and learn I guess, again I have found peace in my solutions, but it is not as straight forward as I had hoped....(is it ever?).

The twin shifters I had originally installed from JB were great and great quality, but as some have found they did not work well with the supplied boot and were really close to rubbing the pass side opening...I called JB and he sent a revised version to install that corrected the alignment with the opening and the boot fitment...unfortunately the revised kit was fitted up on a J Truck (see elevated body mount issue above), the revised version did fit the opening better and the boot fitment is much better, but the sticks hit the lower dash in low...and that was without the AC mounted...so I took some photos and spoke with JB again...he told me to send the sets back...he made up a new set, and turned them around to me in just a day or two....fantastic service and just an all around good guy...in case anyone was wondering.

I ordered an aluminum cross flow radiator from BJ's...it was a really nice unit, but it did not want to fit too well with the March serpentine system...the top out let discharges basically into the AC compressor clutch, and there was no room to install the electric fan set-up for the radiator...so I ordered the copper rad with the 3 rows from BJ's....it arrived and fits really well, providing room for either the electric fan or I believe the mechanical fan...shrouds may have issues...again the March setup is to blame for this....so I made a custom shroud for the electric fan...and now I believe that issue is sorted.

I have mounted up the pedal cluster, the hydro boost (thanks Elliott), and the master cylinder, all new brakes, and new lines...had one heck of a time getting the copper washers to seal at the calipers...tried annealing them, and that sealed half, but it turned out that aluminum crush washers were the trick...Thanks Godman Hi Performance!...bled them out, and all seems well.

This could go on and on, and maybe this should be in build section, just though some of this would be helpful....

Pics....














79 valance with cutout for horns...



75 without...