1981 CJ7

Here we go again.  Our new but old 1981 Jeep CJ7.  What this CJ lacks in frills, it makes for in Mopar fuel injection, custom Borla headers and a Flowmaster muffler.

Topless

Well, it's been a while but Sharon and I finally popped off the top of the Jeep and we went to Carnegie motorcycle park for the day to watch the riders. Sharon was annoyed I wouldn't look at the camera for pictures, Eve and Claire were fascinated. Abby was stuck in the back of the Jeep. Interesting that the XR650R sale paid for the Jeep. Just a few years ago you would see me riding hills, taking jumps and popping wheelies (see older photo from 2003 taken by Sharon also at Carnegie OHV park in Livermore, CA). It doesn't look it but it was probably 104-107 degrees here in the photos...The Jeep's cooling system performed flawlessly to say the least although the A/C was pointless today at over 100 degrees - hell, the top was off anyway.

Cooling System Redux - Done!

Woo freaking whoooooo.

Cooling System Redux - Heater Re-Assembly

Here you can see the new blower motor poking through the firewall in addition to the studs from the heater assembly box.

Cooling System Redux - Heater Re-Assembly

I'm not sure what engineer at AMC came up with the location of the heater assembly stud behind the valve cover, but I personally think the guy should have to spend at least 1 hour each day taking the nut off and then putting it back on for the rest of his life. Probably the same person who came up with the idea of a plastic valve cover.

As a side note, I personally believe AMC designed the plastic valve cover to leak oil.

Cooling System Redux - Heater Re-Assembly

Here I am getting the blower motor assembly back into place after cleaning up my caulking job. I think I used most of the curse words my Dad taught me when he worked on cars to get this back in.

After slipping once on my finished garage floor and letting my elbow take a header into the 4wd stick shift, I took off my work boots and socks for better tractions, elicited the help of Mr. 4X4 and his other brothers 4X4 and 2X4 and, "grabbed a hold to er."

Cooling System Redux - Heater Re-Assembly

Here I reassembled the heat box assembly after degreasing, acid wash and coating all steal surfaces with POR15. Caulked the edging too. Two shots here: 1. Without the new Chevy Blazer blower motor and 2. with the new blower motor.

The blower motor did come with a soft plastic plug to close up the rather large vent hole but as the motor pokes outside the firewall, I taped it into place with some aluminum ducting tape.

New radiator, fan clutch and hoses in stalled.

Cooling System Redux - Radiator!!!

And in with the new stock replacement (but triple core) all copper and zinc radiator.

Cooling System Redux - Radiator!!!

Out with the old, cracked and the dying....

Cooling System Redux - New Fan Clutch

Eve was saying, "It's too eeeeavvy".

Cooling System Redux - Heater Assembly

A very helpful diagram

Cooling System Redux - Time to reassemble

My oldest daughter being very helpful on this project. Already in:
- New Belts
- New fan clutch
- New thermostat and thermostat housing

I already have all my parts so next to go in:
- The heater assembly with new heater core and blazer blower motor
- New hoses (radiator and heater)
- New radiator (woooo whoo!)

Cooling System Redux - POR 15

Sealing the surfaces inside the cab.

Cooling System Redux - POR 15

To seal the rusted areas inside the firewall and cab and to seal the newly exposed metal due to drilling, I opted for a couple of coats of POR15. The area won't be exposed to UV light so no need to over coat it. Just degrease, acid wash, and coat with POR15.

Unfortunately:
A. POR15 on a verticle surface loves to run. No matter how much you tape, it's hard to keep the stuff from running; even under the tape.

B. POR15 will seal your hands like a SOB and won't come off for days.

Head my lessons.

Cooling System Redux - Blower Motor

So after a quick trip to OSH to pick up some supplies, look what I found. No diagrams, no drilling extra holes, no aluminum bar and no pilot hole...just a perfectly centered, 3 1/4" hole. Awesome.

The key is the center shank (as seen in the smaller hole saw) that allows one to replace the dinky pilot bit, with a hole-saw that is turned around and acts as a large pilot bearing for a situation when you already have a pre-existing hole.

Now the setup wasn't cheap but I already had the 3 1/4" hole saw and 3/8" chuck shank for som work I did on my entertainment center. The extra $45 it cost me for the 2 7/8" hole saw, the replacement pilot shank and the tiny threaded adapter ring (highlighted in the red circle) took a two day job and made it 5 minutes.

Cooling System Redux - Blower Motor

On the advice of some very seasoned folks at http://www.jeepsunlimited.com forums, I'm going to go ahead and upgrade the very "reserved" jeep heater blower motor. Some might call it....sucky.

Here is the diagram I will be using to perform the surgery on the existing blower motor firewall cutout. The cutout will need to be enlarged to accomodate the 1973 Blazer 350ci w/air Siemens #102E blower motor which requires a 3 1/4" cutout.

Cooling System Redux - Doh! No going back now...

Cooling System Redux - Heater Assembly removed

Game on! Removed the battery and battery tray (not shown) and the AC auxillary blower unit (or crotch blower as I call it) so I could get at the heater assembly. You can see the AC blower dangling above the shifter. All this so I could:

A. Swap the factory blower motor for the Chevy Blazer blower motor

B. Replace the aging heater core

Most likely I will remove the entire dash temporarily to put the assembly back in place.

Cooling System Redux - Fan Clutch and Belts removed

It took me two days of work to pull the factory fan clutch. Tough little sucker. It took about an hour to locate the pivot and lock bolts for the alternator, AC pulley wheel and power steering pump. Each bolt was covered in approx. 20 + years of leaking valve cover oil, dirt and grime. I should have taken some photos of my hands afterwards. They were solid black up to my mid-forearms. I will be investing in the company that makes Fast Orange hand cleaner.

Cooling System Redux - Radiator Removed

Some pics after I just removed the radiator. While underneath it to drain it, how is it that all the little bits of falling stuff go right past your glasses and in your eye. I swear that stuff can travel sideways.

Cooling System Redux - Getting Started

Getting ready to swap out the original radiator, waterpump, thermastat housing, heater core hoses and belts on my 1985 Jeep CJ7 Laredo. Some pics before we get started. The original radiator is rusted out pretty badly (not to mention the visible crack on top) and is only a dual core unit. There isn't much on this CJ that isn't leaking but we'll take care of that. There is some rust showing at the entry/exit point for the heater core most likely from electrolysis between the copper heater core and steel firewall. We'll clean that up too.

1985 CJ-7 Laredo

My new, but well aged, 1985 Jeep CJ-7 Laredo. Uturns will never be the same.  Yes, it has A/C.