1962 j-200 Thriftside Father & Son 4.0 AW4 D300 Project

[66stepside]

What a good looking interior. Cool find on that green floor mat!

Thanks! I am addicted to the junk yard.

This one showed up, but it was stripped before I got there.



Maybe next time I'll get there first.

[66stepside]

So the 383 stroker, th350, np208 combo is ready to come out of the doner (RIP FrankenJeepster).





I was going to pull the engine out today, but opted to hang out with my two kids playing video games. My daughter plays Minecraft, my son just discovered Forza Racing (that might help explain the 383 stroker in the 62). I am terrible at video games, but they enjoy it. Besides, it is snowing and I am feeling lazy.

[66stepside]

Pulled the drivetrain out this afternoon:



It's sitting in the back of the 62. Pulling the 305 is the next step. I am looking for a 4wd front axle now. If life would have worked out differently, I could've used the front axle off the white 65. Bummer.

[66stepside]

And so it begins.





The bolts came out easily enough, now onto the engine removal. Maybe tomorrow, maybe not.

[carnuck]

At least it's straight axle so you can go 4x4 easy enough.

[66stepside]

At least it's straight axle so you can go 4x4 easy enough.

True, true. If it required mods, I don't think I'd attempt it.

Meanwhile, I have the engine out:





When I drove it into the garage it was 20 degrees, or so and I was surprised at the volume of air coming out of the exhaust (you could see the warm exhaust in the cold air) , it was like a souped up V8. I was impressed.

I loaded the engine up on the back of the new owner's truck today, too.



I might have to use the money from the sale of the engine to purchase a new cab. Whoever did the gmc swap cut two holes in the firewall to fit the monster engine into the bay. It doesn't make sense as it never hit the firewall, so they must've cut the holes to be on the safe side. On well, tear down and clean up of the firewall 1st, then we'll see what needs to be bought.

[carnuck]

It's probably the 351 so lots of exhaust is understandable. What drivetrain were you installing? That bell pattern was same as Chev IIRC. It's the same motor essentially as the Turrrowfire diesel powered FSJ I saw for sale.

[66stepside]

It's probably the 351 so lots of exhaust is understandable. What drivetrain were you installing? That bell pattern was same as Chev IIRC. It's the same motor essentially as the Turrrowfire diesel powered FSJ I saw for sale.

I am taking the 383/th350/np208 combo from the now deceased FrankenJeepster (a villager got it) and putting that in there until I can source a Vortec V6 in the very distant future.

[66stepside]

Well, despite the single digit temperature today, I managed to fill the trailer with a ton of bulky spare parts, take the 383 tranny combo out of the back of the 62 and use the Vic Hickey Sidewinder winch on the 66 to pull the 62 out and back to the shop. Now my son and I can begin the cleaning, repairs and install on "his" ride.





I am working out the details on a dodge 5 lug front axle swap, may be, may be not.

[66stepside]

Well, I took the afternoon off to beat the incoming snow (odds are the snow won't come), but a three hour wrenching session yeilded the 5 lug front axle we needed.

First, I took a 68 waggie rim from the next row over to make sure it fit so there would be no surprises.





Next, I hosed down all the dirty rusty nuts with penetrating oil. About an hour worth of wrenching on the passenger's side first.



An hour and 10 minutes on the driver's side- even with the right tools, the pitman arm was a pain. Dodge has an outboard power steering unit like Chevy, so it was all pretty hard to get to.



I snagged a random guy to help load it into the wheel barrow and ask a few guys standing around the 66 to help load it into the back of the truck.

The 62 truck front axle is 59" inside drum to inside drum.

The 88 dodge axle is 60.5" inside drum to inside drum.

The 62 truck springs are roughly 39" center to center.

The 88 dodge springs are roughly 32.25" center to center. That kinda surprised me.

I'll save the rear axle for the weekend.

[66stepside]

So, I had spare rims to put on the axle. I started out with 15" rims. That was a mistake with disc brakes, lol. So I swapped them out for 16" rollers.





For quick comparative purposes:

[44bz]

The differential looks further to the right than the Jeep dana 44. Is that so? Maybe it's just my beer goggles...

[twisted frame]

Coming along nicely. Did you luck out on the gears matching the rear?

[66stepside]

The differential looks further to the right than the Jeep dana 44. Is that so? Maybe it's just my beer goggles...

That's what I thought, but I don't have official measurements- yet. Everything is set up for a frame off approach, though, but mock up & fabrication comes first. I will definantly keep a record of everything, especially measurements. I am a bit worried about a rear axle fitting with most having a centered differential and jeep usually being off set to clear the gas tank. Time will tell.

Coming along nicely. Did you luck out on the gears matching the rear?

I can't use the wangoneer axle like I thought, and I am pretty sure the dodge axle is too narrow to fit, so I am looking into a 5 lug dana 60 semi-floating axle... Or a basic 44- maybe even a ford 9"? But the gear ratio is crazy weird, like 3.23, kinda like a car- which is what I wanted due to smallish tires.

Next up is stabilize both axles, jack up the truck and measure everything, three times at least.

[carnuck]

Don't forget the offset of the rims will affect the final width

[66stepside]

Don't forget the offset of the rims will affect the final width

Very true, very true- but I'll still probably forget! Lol.

I did crawl under the rear axle and scrap the grime off to find it's a dana 44, not a 53. I would've rather have 5 lug 60, but I'll take a 44 over a 53 any day.

[66stepside]

I am gathering up metal for a scrap run, cleaning up the shop and getting ready for the front end swap. I haul the 89 grand waggie axle I planned on using (Stuka was right, it won't fit- I don't know what I was thinking!) and notice the gear ratio 3.24.
Well, I verify the gear tag on the dodge front axle as 3.23. Before I offer sacrifices to the jeep gods and goddess' for the limited slip differential, I figured I'd double check:

A net search yeilded the gear ratio of an 89 Grand Wagoneer's rear axle is stamped (or cast) into the front of the differential:



So, is that correct? 3.24 gearing in this rear axle?

The factory tag is this:



The bottom line, what's the true gear ratio according to the markings? Did I luck out with matching axles (I figure if it is the right ratio, I could swap out the ring and pinion in the rear axles).

[carnuck]

They don't cast the ratio in the housing. There is probably a BOM number stamped on top of the tube next to the pumpkin.

That tag says 2.72 ratio. (bottom row from the left)

[Stuka]

Photos are not loading for me. But 3.21 gearing was never an option for FSJ axles. And it won't be cast into the housing. It's typically a tag on the diff cover.

That are spin the input and count axle shaft rotations. Just be sure both sides are spinning. As the spiders gears have gear reduction.


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[carnuck]

If you are going to run the Dodge front and it really is 3.23, a 3.31 rear wouldn't be too bad with poor traction surfaces unless you run a NP219 or NP229 tcase.