Right Hand Drive 1979 Cherokee Chief

[Sunbeam Fanatic]

Hi All,

So the tear down of my RHD 2dr Cherokee Chief has finally started, not much to see at the moment apart from scruffy parts and rust!

Seeing as it's pretty unique I thought you'd like to see the RHD conversion that was used for these "official" Jeep UK models. It's pretty crazy, rather than use a RHD steering rack they made up a chain drive to connect a RHD column to a LHD rack!

[SOLSAKS]

my exact words after seeing the Right Hand Drive contraption:

"HOLY CRAP !!!"

dave in NC

[Jpzyr]

Updates?

[Sunbeam Fanatic]

Well, the RHD conversion system has been refurbished and is ready to go.





Now onto the rest of the tear down, very sad shell photos incoming ........

[Sunbeam Fanatic]

The body shell came off the chassis ok, but it doesn't look very happy, sand blasting awaits ...........

[Sunbeam Fanatic]

Amazingly the chassis frame is mostly ok apart from the rear crossmember and tow hitch bracket that had completely rusted out (check out the pile of rust that the the crossmember and tow hitch bracket dropped on the floor).

And even more unbelievably the fuel tank was absolutely fine!

[Sunbeam Fanatic]

After the shell was sandblasted I think it's fair to say I've never seen a body with more rust in more places that had not actually fallen into pieces .......... but all is not lost!





















You get the idea .......

[nograin]

Wow. Thanks for sharing. That's going to require some patience to reinforce and replace, especially the A pillar.

[rang-a-stang]

Awesome! Could be worse (rust wise). Your floors look OK in the pictures...

[deckside]

Will be watching your build close, good luck with it all!

[Sunbeam Fanatic]

Hi All,

Well, after the drama of sandblasting my body shell and finding it in such bad condition and after getting out of the depression that caused (the usual "is it worth proceeding" internal argument), I decided to see if there was a way to salvage the project by finding either a good replacement shell or at least some good cut-out sections to weld into my own shell.

I got in touch with a few guys advertising shells in various conditions and one or two looked like they'd be contenders, but then, as blind luck would have it, i got in touch with Adam McDaniel the owner at www.jeeprecyclers.com who followed up a lead he had and found a guy who had a NOS Cherokee Chief shell which had been in storage and never touched since the day it was sold from the factory!

Then came the business of convincing the owner to sell .......... which, with enough of a financial incentive, he agreed to. So i'm now in the process of shipping the NOS shell over to the UK to use in my re-build. A bit more cost and effort than I was expecting (!) but it'll make for a first class re-build once complete.

I can't thank Adam enough for helping with this project, he found it, secured the sale on my behalf, handled the financial transaction, transported it to his shop and then loaded it onto the transporter to take it to my shipping agent in Florida for the journey to the UK. He's been an absolute star in this process and I'd recommend that any of you guys who need FSJ parts get in touch, if he can help he certainly will. Although I believe he is currently out of stock of NOS 2dr Chief body shells

As "found" in the Barn, you can see the shell right at the back and you can tell the owner is quite the Jeep aficionado!



And here it is being loaded onto Adam's transporter to go back to his shop and await collection for transport to the shipping agent in Florida.



And some photos of the shell as found and being prepared for transport, I look forward to receiving it in the UK in the New Year, then the fun begins!























More updates to follow

[SOLSAKS]

who would have thought that this N.O.S. Shell even existed ?

the words
"incredible once in a lifetime find"
are appropriate here.

the guy with the shell is not the only jeep afficianado

i think it is safe to say that:

the buyer of the shell is a pretty darn serious jeep enthusiast too.

it will make for "super fine" final result.

please keep us posted on the progress.

dave in NC (U.S.A.)

[Kaiserjeeps]

WOW! What a fantastic story. And pretty rare find. When I saw the rust, I shuddered and thought it was not worth fixing. The wagoneer I am fixing was no where near as bad and it has taken me close to a decade to fix every single issue. In the middle of it all I started asking why oh why.... You will gain a ton of time in your restoration with this. I would say it was worth the costs.
It is going to be a special and valuable rig when it is done. And that steering conversion. At least it is a double roller like a quality timing chain. That should never wear out.
I know I am looking forward to more of your build. Please keep us posted.

Do your roads get salted in winter?
Do you use cavity wax or fluid film on inner body panels over there?

[Sunbeam Fanatic]

@SOLSAKS, definitely once in a lifetime, and I'll try and do it justice. I'll keep the build thread updated.

@Kaiserjeeps, yep, when I saw the rust I agonised over whether it was worth taking on, I already had a rebuilt 401 and rebuilt transmission plus a ton of parts from BJs, if I didn't already have those I probably wouldn't have bothered, I did start making enquiries about selling the parts I had to a guy in Europe but then Adam came to the rescue!
What I don't know is if the RHD conversion was done in the US or the UK, from some of the markings it looks like Jeep may have shipped them to the UK as LHD and the conversion done here.
We get lots of salt in Winter although I doubt I'll take it out in poor weather conditions (I have an old Land Rover for that). The underside and cavities will be getting the full treatment, I suspect we'll use UPol Raptor on the underside and plenty of rust inhibitor and wax.
We're making a start on the chassis and axles while the bodyshell is in transit, so I'll put up an update on progress soon.

[Full Size Jeeper]