1970 J4000 RestoMod Americana Build

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toothofwar
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Re: 1970 J4000 RestoMod Americana Build

Post by toothofwar »

It puts the lotion on the skin or it gets the hose again!!!

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TurboJ4000
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Re: 1970 J4000 RestoMod Americana Build

Post by TurboJ4000 »

Well the frame is down to just the bare frame axles and suspension and has been dropped off to get sandblasted and painted. Next thing on the list is to pull the Jeep body off its frame and set it on the Chevy frame. I'm getting excited to see the body on this frame.
1970 J4000 / Chevy Frankenstein in progress
Soon to be Lq4 6.0 and 4l80e on 35s

SJTD
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Re: 1970 J4000 RestoMod Americana Build

Post by SJTD »

Howcome you're not getting the body mounts sorted out before painting the frame?
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TurboJ4000
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Re: 1970 J4000 RestoMod Americana Build

Post by TurboJ4000 »

SJTD wrote:How come you're not getting the body mounts sorted out before painting the frame?
Well more for my own sanity than anything. Sanding off a layer of paint to be able to weld on the frame is a lot nicer than dealing with the rust piles for the next several weeks while I get the body mounts figured out.

When I'm done with the frame modifications I will coat everything with Chassis saver and probably hit the normal rust spots a second time. I've had really good luck with Chassis saver on other projects and it holds up to some nasty conditions.
1970 J4000 / Chevy Frankenstein in progress
Soon to be Lq4 6.0 and 4l80e on 35s
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TurboJ4000
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Re: 1970 J4000 RestoMod Americana Build

Post by TurboJ4000 »

I got the frame all painted this past week and it will be so much nicer to work on now. Next step is to tear down the J4000 and start fitting the body on the Chevy.

The Chevy motor and trans will get set back into the frame first and the firewall to engine clearance will hopefully be fine when the fender is centered over the tire. I would really rather not have to modify the Jeep firewall.

Kaiserman I will hopefully be getting to the point of pulling your wheels off the Jeep and boxing them up.
1970 J4000 / Chevy Frankenstein in progress
Soon to be Lq4 6.0 and 4l80e on 35s
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TurboJ4000
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Re: 1970 J4000 RestoMod Americana Build

Post by TurboJ4000 »

Well I got the frame back and painted and bolted on the new wheels with used 35 inch tires that will work well enough for now.

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They are 3rd Gen Dodge HD wheels and center caps. I am planning to sand down the Rams head in the center caps and get a Kaiser red/yellow jeep logo made to glue into the center. Hoping it will look good and somewhat OEM although obviously its not original. I do have a sweet set on 8 lug slot mag wheels but the old 8 lug wheels were all 16.5 inch rims and the only tires made that size any more are 37s for Humvee's. That may be an option in the future but for now the Dodge 17s look pretty good to me.

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And the engine is sitting back in its cradle for now. It will come back out to be cleaned up and change the trans pan gasket and a few other odds and ends. I am not planning to open it up right now. Once the truck is running and driving and I have the body all done how I want it I will save the cash to bolt some sort of blower to this truck. I love the idea of a turbo but a Maggie supercharger is pretty amazing and will be better for a truck that will tow things. And the supercharger would keep more of that vintage style. There are about zero old school hot rods with turbo chargers. At any rate when it comes time for that project I will open up the engine and give it a facelift.

In other news I have found the new color scheme

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The original champagne white will stay on the top and I will use the non original but still factory color of avocado mist for the lower half.

I might end up trying to find that color in a modern base/clear combo to make paint touch up easier but I don't have any original avocado mist parts to try and match. Any suggestions?

I know Ford made a color somewhat close to that in the mid 2000s but its a few shades too dark. And Dodge made a Sagebrush Pearl color more recently that I like too but again its a little too dark compared to all the pictures I have seen of Avocado mist.
1970 J4000 / Chevy Frankenstein in progress
Soon to be Lq4 6.0 and 4l80e on 35s
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TurboJ4000
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Re: 1970 J4000 RestoMod Americana Build

Post by TurboJ4000 »

Well its been a few months so lets get back to Jeep stuff...but first lets build an addition onto the barn so there is room to work on it.

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Not sure why this picture loads so small but the new hoist in the shop is very nice to have.

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Over the last few months the barn addition has been completed and that meant zero work on the trucks pretty much since my last update but I am finally getting back to it.

This week I pulled the Jeep into the shop for the first time and started to pull somethings apart.

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The front clip came off relatively easy and the cab lifted off the frame without much fuss. I rolled the donor chassis under the cab and that's as far as I got. I am hoping this weekend to have a plan for the cab mounts figured out and hopefully have some idea as to how to fit the accessories up front with a grill and radiator. The Jeep hood is much shorter than the Chevy in front of the wheel so I will have to get good with the squeezing.

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I ordered a adapter plates to run the GMC hydroboost brakes (Thanks Elliot from IFSJA), and a stainless brake line kit so the brakes will be very easy to get done. The fuel lines should also be a breeze since this is all factory GM stuff. The cab is about 13 inches above its final resting place in these photos but its looking like I should be able to get it where I want it with some floor trimming in the back of the cab. The Jeep steering linkage looks like it will work out with a simple welding the Jeep lower shaft to the Chevy lower shaft.

I have been planning out my wiring diagrams as well and since this is pretty much a full blow Chevy with a Jeep shell I should be able to get cruise control and abs to work! AllDatadiy.com is worth the cost of the subscription to get all the wiring diagrams and details I need.
1970 J4000 / Chevy Frankenstein in progress
Soon to be Lq4 6.0 and 4l80e on 35s
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TurboJ4000
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Re: 1970 J4000 RestoMod Americana Build

Post by TurboJ4000 »

Very productive weekend.

Got the interior pulled out. Really just the seats and vinyl floor covering. Discovered a lot more rust in the floors than i thought but oh well.

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Next was measuring and marking and remarking and remeasuring to cut the rear sections of floor out to get the cab as low as possible to cover up the low hanging frame.

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In this picture you can see why the floor needs to be cut out. The frame turns up about 15" before the back of the cab and the gas tank is also in the way on the drivers side. Right now the driver side is cut up higher than the passenger side to clear the tank but I think I will cut it even all the way across to simplify the redo of the floor.

The cab support channel that runs long ways is now only 1/2" above the frame and the rocker nearly covers the frame so it was a success! Ill have to add a fair amount of structure back into the cab floor that I cut out but I have lots of metal laying around to work with.

Lots of measuring and rechecking over and over before hacking off and rewelding the cab mounts. Got all four done this weekend.
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At this height I'll need to give the front end a lift to fit the 35s I have on the truck. It clears fine as it is now but not much room for up travel.

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With the wheel centered in the wheel well the firewall clearance is almost as if it was designed that way. And I did set the hood on top of the fenders and it will clear the intake so its all looking good so far. I will have to use the Jeep core support I think but I have not brought the Chevy one in from the snow to check that.
1970 J4000 / Chevy Frankenstein in progress
Soon to be Lq4 6.0 and 4l80e on 35s

rocklaurence
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Re: 1970 J4000 RestoMod Americana Build

Post by rocklaurence »

Sounds good. However, the 37" may be too much for the Chevy IFS. I know the Chevy guys with big tires are always looking to do a Straight Axle Conversion because the Bushings/Joints fail under the load of the big tires. They get quotes of $2000+ to rebuild the front and after the secound failure its time to invest in a staraight axle. A 35" seems to be the max and a 1500 is is the lightest front end with the smallest parts.
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TurboJ4000
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Re: 1970 J4000 RestoMod Americana Build

Post by TurboJ4000 »

rocklaurence wrote:Sounds good. However, the 37" may be too much for the Chevy IFS. I know the Chevy guys with big tires are always looking to do a Straight Axle Conversion because the Bushings/Joints fail under the load of the big tires. They get quotes of $2000+ to rebuild the front and after the secound failure its time to invest in a staraight axle. A 35" seems to be the max and a 1500 is is the lightest front end with the smallest parts.

This is actually a 2500 truck so im not worried about the 35s. I agree 37's would be a bit much but the reason they normally blow through ball joints and such is do to poor lift installations to fit the 35s or 37s. If you do the lift properly to maintain the range of motion on all the joints it should last close to as long as OEM but I havent dont it myself so we will see.

Either way the 35s will likey stay for a while 37s are costly.
1970 J4000 / Chevy Frankenstein in progress
Soon to be Lq4 6.0 and 4l80e on 35s
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TurboJ4000
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Re: 1970 J4000 RestoMod Americana Build

Post by TurboJ4000 »

Got the steering shafts all welded this weekend. I cut the yoke off the lower GMC steering shaft and welded it to the lower Jeep steering shaft and it clears the frame and works great from lock to lock. Still have to paint it.
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Also got the core support brackets tacked into place. I'm 99% sure that they are in their final place but I want to get the new radiator and fans figured out before I make things permanent. I debated for a while modifying the core support to fit the Chevy radiator or one of similar size but that would have required a lot of fabrication time. I ordered a new griffin radiator to fit in the factory core support. Its not an LS swap radiator so the upper hose will be a long one across to the driver side but that's not a huge deal.

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1970 J4000 / Chevy Frankenstein in progress
Soon to be Lq4 6.0 and 4l80e on 35s
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TurboJ4000
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Re: 1970 J4000 RestoMod Americana Build

Post by TurboJ4000 »

Update time.

Got a lot done in the last few months.

Started with the floors being replaced. No where near perfect or even on the same planet but with seam sealer and carpet you'll never know.

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Modified the seat brackets to fit over the new floor. I ended up moving the seats out about 1" on either side so there is now more room for a console. I dont know what I will do for the console just yet. I thought about a JK console with the cup holders but with the added room I might be able to fit something wider and more comfy to lean on.

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Then I started working on the plumbing. I got the radiator hoses figured out. And then the small trans/power steering and oil coolers will all be mounted infront. I still need to make this more solid and get the ac condenser figured out.
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I gave up on the front end for a while and started working on a custom thriftside/stepside bed.
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I didn't take that many pictures of it as I went but it has 16 gauge sides and 2x2 and 2x3 tube construction. Its an 8 ft bed and will have rough sawn oak decking. I cut the flares off the old bed and bent sheet metal to make the flares look somewhat like the factory thrift side fenders but with the truck bed rear flares.

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I made the tailgate but cutting the only salvageable panel out of the old tailgate and welding it into the frame I made. I also gave it a second wall so it wont get dented any more than it already is.
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New favorite picture.
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This is the new planned color scheme. Keep the original color and I'm planning to use bedliner for the lower brown portion on the bed and the rockers on the cab. This truck is not a show truck and will see work/dirt roads etc.
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This past weekend I made the side skirts for the bed and made a set of military trailer lights work with a 4" LED trailer taillight. I also shortened the original bumper to fit the more narrow bed.
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The skirts and fenders are held on with stainless button head bolts.
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Taillight pictures.
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And thats up to speed. With one more solid weekend the truck bed should be ready for sandblasting/painting and then I'll be back to working on the engine and trans. I need to figure out how to get the column shift to work and then install all of the new parts I have and I know there will be some wiring issues.
1970 J4000 / Chevy Frankenstein in progress
Soon to be Lq4 6.0 and 4l80e on 35s
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jaber
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Re: 1970 J4000 RestoMod Americana Build

Post by jaber »

Really like your bed, nice job...
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TurboJ4000
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Re: 1970 J4000 RestoMod Americana Build

Post by TurboJ4000 »

Happy Turkey Day, I finally got back to the Jeep after a couple months of not working on it with life in the way. Feels good to be back at it.

Back in June I finished up the bed skirts and added the holes to fit the factory reverse lights in the skirts. They are a little close to the bumper and may not work all that well in the real world but I love the way they look so I'm happy with it.

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At this point the bed is just about ready to get sand blasted an paint. I took the header panel out of the rusty old jeep bed to use as the header on the new bed. And fitted the 1" thick rough sawn oak decking. These will be held in with some 3" flat bar steel that is bolted down to the bed. The middle steel cross piece will be cut into the boards so its a smooth floor from front to back.

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I also found a set of AEV Ram HD Salta wheels that are bronze in color and couldn't possibly miss that opportunity.

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These were on and AEV company truck with 70k on the 37" BFG All Terrains. They are definitely nearing retirement but look pretty damn good for 70k miles. I don't think I will keep the 37s but they look pretty good on the Jeep now.

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1970 J4000 / Chevy Frankenstein in progress
Soon to be Lq4 6.0 and 4l80e on 35s
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Stuka
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Re: 1970 J4000 RestoMod Americana Build

Post by Stuka »

Its coming along nicely. I really like the Salta wheels, almost went with them on my JK. The color matches the truck pretty well.
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TurboJ4000
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Re: 1970 J4000 RestoMod Americana Build

Post by TurboJ4000 »

Over Thanksgiving weekend I got going on the wiring and after a bit of back and forth it runs like a top.

I replaced the old rusty fuel pump.

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And then had to figure out how to make a 2001 fuel rail that has a return work with a 2004 pump that does not need a return.

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In hind sight, I should have just used a 2001 fuel pump but the 2004 pump which has the internal regulator works too I just capped the return line on the fuel rail. In the future I will likely get a better looking intake. I never like the Vortec engine covers in the Jeep. Its too Chevyish.

Once the fuel issue was fixed I laid out the harness and started plugging everything in.
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Its easier to do this with the cab up in the air and out of the way so I pulled the fenders and steering and up it went.

While doing this I measured up the front passenger side bedskirt and there is enough room over there to fit the battery so I built a little frame and mounted the battery to keep it out of the engine bay and move a bit of weight towards the back.

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I will be getting a new top post style battery but the old Chevy one works for now. I hate those screw in terminals that Chevy uses. I had to add an additional ground from the engine to the frame for starting. The other major engine to ground strap is on the far side of the engine so when I started it the first time after moving the battery, most of the power was going through a small ground wire that started to smoke. Oops.

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To make the new fuse panel I ordered a custom build it yourself style panel. It now has 4 fuses for the injectors, 1 for the coils, one for the trans, and one for the ECM. There is an ignition relay that turns all the keyed stuff on and one relay for the starter. It will get a relay for the AC compressor and one for the ABS when those get installed.

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The last thing I worked on was the brakes.
I bought a prebent stainless steel hardline kit that will make this a lot easier. Unfortunately, I put the core support mounts right on the frame where the lines used to go so ill have to reroute the front ones a bit.

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I really just laid out the new lines and mounted the ABS pump where it goes. There is a lot left to do for the brakes. I have all new hoses and pads and such. I am reusing the rotors and calipers from the 60k mile Chevy chassis they are all in decent shape.

With the engine now ready to run I am hoping to get the brakes all set up in the next few weeks and hopefully take the Jeep for a spin around the yard sometime before the end of January but I planned on the engine running by June and that obviously didn't happen so we shall see.
1970 J4000 / Chevy Frankenstein in progress
Soon to be Lq4 6.0 and 4l80e on 35s
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freehold
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Re: 1970 J4000 RestoMod Americana Build

Post by freehold »

Beautiful work. And something there is about seeing somebody's name and hometown painted on the side of that truck that gets me warm inside. These machines have such awesome history. Thanks for sharing the update.
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rocklaurence
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Re: 1970 J4000 RestoMod Americana Build

Post by rocklaurence »

I really like what you did with the rear flares and bed. You are making great progress!!
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TurboJ4000
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Re: 1970 J4000 RestoMod Americana Build

Post by TurboJ4000 »

freehold wrote: Tue Dec 03, 2019 7:44 am Beautiful work. And something there is about seeing somebody's name and hometown painted on the side of that truck that gets me warm inside. These machines have such awesome history. Thanks for sharing the update.

I totally agree with you. I don’t want to lose that but I need to get it all blasted to repaint. I plan to have the lettering redone by hand to keep the look. It feels a bit like cheating since it won’t be original but I want to keep the history.

This guy owned the truck and passed away and it sold at the estate sale to the guy I got it from. So it hasn’t been on the road since the original owner had it in the early 80s.
1970 J4000 / Chevy Frankenstein in progress
Soon to be Lq4 6.0 and 4l80e on 35s
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TurboJ4000
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Re: 1970 J4000 RestoMod Americana Build

Post by TurboJ4000 »

Post Covid updates, a lot has been done in the last 12 months.

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I dropped off the bed and had it sandblasted and epoxy primed.

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I then pulled the cab back off and lifted the engine and trans out of the frame to get them cleaned up and put in some go fast parts.
The engine got a new much bigger cam and some smaller combustion chamber heads to bump the compression up to about 10.4 to 1. With that and long tube headers it should make somewhere in the 450-500hp range.

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Going back together before painting it. Much cleaner and with all new seals it no longer leaks anywhere.

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The trans then got opened up and I installed a Transgo shift kit. I have yet to drive it for real so I'm not sure how it shifts yet but the install went well.
1970 J4000 / Chevy Frankenstein in progress
Soon to be Lq4 6.0 and 4l80e on 35s
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