VERY slow 1979 Cherokee Golden Eagle build

[Sbpunk]

History: On 27 December 2013 I traded my 1985 CJ7 with a ton of mods for a 1979 Jeep Cherokee w/ 360/TH400/QT. Did he get the better side of the deal? Maybe to him but I'm a sucker for rare and classic. It was trailered in and dropped off in front of our temporary house in Enid OK. With us moving onto base and USAF decision on shutting down our auto hobby shop this build is going to be out of my garage and very slow. I work more than I have time off so its going to be small victories.

Condition: Poor but still awesome. Floorboards are rusted pretty bad, needs seat brackets and probably new seats, the 360 runs rough and theres some rot on the panels. It has a rear window but its sitting in the back seat. Window motor is shot along with the switch. There's a bunch more than needs some attention but the frame is solid. Everything that is wrong with it is an easy fix (not sure about the motor but will find out).

Goals: Restore the body and get the motor running right. Eventually going to swap out the lift blocks for actual springs and new shocks. 33's and a part time kit in the QT transfer case. I want to restore and improve on some of the factory parts that were lacking. She'll be able to do some decent trails but nothing crazy. Going to have an aftermarket front and rear bumper along with some rock rails. My priorities are brakes, seats/belts, steering, armor then all the fun stuff.

I'll add more pics when it warms up and as I go along

[Sbpunk]

Purchased Lokar throttle cable today. Waiting for it to get in and then going to wait for the time to actually install it. Next up is hunting down a QT vacuum switch.

[Chuck1225]

I'll be the first to sub.

VERY COOL!!! I can't wait to see what she looks like when you're done.

If I might ask, what are your plans for the intake/exhaust systems? If you haven't thought that far ahead yet it is fine, I'm just curious.

[Sbpunk]

I'll be the first to sub.

VERY COOL!!! I can't wait to see what she looks like when you're done.

If I might ask, what are your plans for the intake/exhaust systems? If you haven't thought that far ahead yet it is fine, I'm just curious.

She needs something because the smell is pretty bad. I havent gotten a chance to look down there yet. Going to try and re-weld some of the breaks closed for now.

[gixxerphil]

Sub'd.....I have a 79 Waggy, can't wait to see where this goes

[jaber]

Subscribed to watch...

[msh227]

History: On 27 December 2013 I traded my 1985 CJ7 with a ton of mods for a 1979 Jeep Cherokee w/ 360/TH400/QT. Did he get the better side of the deal?

Nothing beats an FSJ especially a Golden Eagle package, good trade and good luck with the build!

[Sbpunk]

Finally got her pulled into my garage. Pulled the hood off and set it to the side. Now I'm going to run down some leaks. Trans fluid and oil leak first. Then I'll move on to the exhaust. Its blowing smoke from the passenger side manifold. Hoping this is going to be an easy fix but this big ass box that looks like coolant hoses are running to is blocking the back side of it. After the motor is sealed up and running right at idle (going to teach myself how to tune a carb) I'll move on to the horrible stuff that has me second guessing this whole project. I'm by no means a welder but I do have one in my garage. These floors are rotted. The floor pan support and frame seem like they're in good shape in most places I can see (only have passenger side pulled so far) so I might be blowing it out of proportion. Anyway let me know what you guys think and thanks. I'll update again this weekend when I get some work done.

Here she is. Also a pic of my first garage improvements. I grew up in a trailer so I'm new to the garage thing. Going to put an 8 ft work bench in the other corner so I'll have plenty of room to rebuild my trans / transfer case.




Passenger rear corner adjacent to the step for the back seat.


Center. The metal on the hump and pinch seam up until the seatbelt are pretty decent. I'm thinking about just screwing in some sheet metal to the good metal and welding the floor pans to that.


Forward foot panel. Metal isnt to bad up top. I have to research how far up the drop in pans go up.