1984 Jeep CJ-7 Progress 2012 04 07
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More small tasks that need to be completed before the Jeep can be driven down the road, First up is installing longer flexible brake lines needed because of the lift. This left to be done is the rear one. That looks to be changeling as the lines are rusted up. I may have to replace some of the steel line.
First up is to remove and replace the Power steering gear box for the third time. The first time was because the box had so much slop in it it was unsafe to drive. The second was because the new box was so tight that the steering wheel would not return after making a corner, and the third time (this time) was because the input shaft seal was leaking (found this when I was fixing the leak out of the transfer case).
 So Tom is once again over working on pulling the steering box out. To pull it out the radiator has to come out to get to the power steering lines on the top of the box. |
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   So the old box is out and we have a new pile of parts to remember where they all have to go back. |
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   New box is here now all we have to do is put it back and HOPE the third time is a charm. Of course we can not leave well enough a lone, we have to paint it up to look pretty. |
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   Now we are ready to reinstall the gear box. Now the box is installed, ready to be primed. Then the radiator can go back in. BUT first I want to finish the wiring for the driving lights and do the drag link sway. |
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    Sanded and painted the bumper, and jack. |
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   Installed the jack |
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Installed the bumper  |
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So… now to the driving lights. There are three logical locations (three sets of holes that can be used). One is at the intersection of the bumper and the frame. This set is slightly recessed back from the edge of the bumper. The other two sets are on the bumper below the fender, one set further out from the center than the other set. I leaning towards the outer set of holes on the bumper as it is more centered on the bumper. The hole at the intersection of the bumper and frame blocks the turn signal.    |
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| Ok, next project……THE DASH If you look at the before and after pictures below you might scratch your head and say what is the big deal, read on. The dash really is a bunch of other projects.
Install a Clock and a Tech that were never installed on this Jeep but were an option from the factory
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| First dash project project install a Tech and Clock on a dash that never had them.There has been a great deal of discussion on where the Clock and Tech should be placed on the dash. I have received input that says the Clock center lines should be 7 and 1/2 inches in from the outside edge of the dash and 5 and 3/8 inches up from the bottom edge. The tech should be 18 or 18 and 3/8 inches in from the outside edge and 5 and 3/8 inches up from the bottom edge. The vertical center lines should be centered on the lights and wiper knobs and the horizontal center line should be centered on the AIR (heat vent control). I laid out all those lines. I do not know if my dash is unique in some way but all those lines ended up in the wrong spots. None of the 7 and 1/2 inch, or 18, or 18 3/8 inch, vertical center lines in my Jeep line up with the center of the wiper or light control switches. The 7 and 1/2 inch vertical center line for the clock ended up being 1/4 inch to the outside (away from the steering wheel) of the vertical center line of the light switch. The 18 inch vertical center line for the Tech ended up being 3/16 inches to the inside (toward the steering wheel) of the vertical center line of the wiper switch, and the The 18 and 3/8 inch vertical center line for the Tech ended up being 3/16 inches to the outside (away from the steering wheel) of the vertical center line of the wiper switch. In addition to that it has been suggested that the holes for the Clock and Tech should be 2 and 7/8 inches in diameter.
I purchased after market insruments (clock and tech) the bezels are the same diameter, but the bodies have different sizes. The clock body measures 2 and 1/2 inches where the Tech body measures 2 and 3/4 inches. I found that if I used the vertical center lines from the control knobs that the instrument bezels would have touched the steering column bezel. If I drilled a 2 and 3/4 inch hole for the clock on the 7 and 1/2 inch by 5 and 3/8 inch center lines the hole would have hit the right upper edge of the left speaker in the dash. So…… What I did was drill a 2 and 1/2 inch hole at 7 and 1/2 inches in and 5 and 3/8 inches up for the clock. Using the gape between the clock bezel and steering wheel bezel as a guide I found that drilling a 2 and 3/4 inch hole 18 and 3/16 inches in and 5 and 3/8 inches up gave me a even gape between the clock and steering wheel bezel and the tach and the steering wheel bezel. Having done all that, an tried to carefully measure everything I did not win. It turns out that the 5 and 3/8 inch measurement from the bottom of the dash does not put the instruments as high on the dash as they should be (I say that based on pictures of factory dashes with clocks and tech and the spacing the tech has from the upper dash board pad retaining screw, and that if the gauges were a little higher that the clearances for the holes and stuff behind the dash would not have been so tight. |
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 So here is a picture of all the layout lines. There are center lines at different measurements, out side bezel circles and hole circles |
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 Here are the holes cut, note the two different size holes |
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 Placement of the clock hole is VERY important as there is a large wiring harness behind where the clock goes and the upper right speaker mount for the left speaker is very close to where the clock housing will come through. This picture is the back side of the dash to show just how close it is |
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I created a small independent wiring harness for the tech and clock. To have them work you need the following feeds, ground, switched 12V unswitched 12 V, tech feed, dash light feed. There is a spot in the fuse box for the clock, labeled clock, for the switched feed I used the radio feed from the fuse box as I also needed to get a feed for the new radio to be installed. I ran a dedicated ground from my ground buss bar under the hood for the whole dash, and picked up the dash light feed from the headlight dash lable light.  |
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 Here the instruments are inserted into the holes. Note the gape between the instrument bezels and the steering wheel bezel. Also note the difference between the top of the Tech and the screw hole for the dash pad screw in this picture and the distance in the picture below. Also note that my picture is taken from an upward angle as the steering wheel was in the way and Keith’s is taken straight on. |
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 This picture is from Keith’s dash restoration project. The entire restoration of his hash can be seen at this link.
http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f8/cj-dash-restoration-classic-look-1150715/index16.html#post13371355 |
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| Next up Replace the Speedometer You have got to be kidding me. The aftermarket on Jeep parts really sucks! I ordered a new speedometer for the jeep. The first one that came from quadratec was packed so bad that the speedometer was damaged in transit.
Called them up and they promised to have one here by the weekend so that I could install it. That did not happen. |
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| Went to install the replacement and the back does not have a hole for the bottom dash light, and there is an extra hole in the upper right as you face the back of the speedometer that lights nothing (I put a flash light to it and it is not an indicator or instrument light). I think what I am faced with is removing the back to the old gauge and the new gauge, swapping the guts of the new gauge to the old housing so that I can keep the bottom stock dash light. | |
 Opened up the speedometer and found that the light gels were not the same color, the tubes for containing the brake and 4 wheel drive lights were missing. The holes that holed the speedometer are not in the correct position. I decided to drill the missing hole in the aftermarket housing and transfer the gels and tubes from the old to the new |
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   Transfer complete, lets just hope that the new gauges work! |
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I took lots of pictures of the back side of the dash so that I could figure out where all the wires were attached and then removed the old speedometer and installed the new one. Now all the gauges and indicator lights work except the fuel gauge. I believe I will have to replace the sending unit in the tank  |
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| Started working on putting the front bumper back on. I want to put driving lights on the front of the Jeep and the Original Owner had some retro KC lights that were in good shape. So… set up a relay to power them (triggered by a switch on the dash and high beam head lights). Ran the wires through existing holes in the frame in the engine compartment (using gruments) and drilled some new holes outside. | |
Replace the AM/FM radio as the left channel does not work and the tuning knob is broken off The radio I’m using to replace the original radio is an original AM / FM Stereo / CB Jeep radio I go off of Fee Bay. The wiring looks much more complicated that it actually is. I did get the splitter transformer that allows me to use the stock FM radio antenna for the CB antenna. The speakers plugged right up to the speaker wiring under the dash. The old radio only had a power feed, this one has a dash light feed and a power feed. The orange wire is for the dash lights, brown is power     |
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 I removed the old speakers and installed new speakers purchased from Pep Boys. They are just cheat speakers as I have no intentions of putting an expensive system into the Jeep. If you are going to do this be careful as the space behind the drivers side speaker is limited because of the emergency brake pedal bracket. The speaker cones are plastic so a little rain will not hurt them. I intend to run topless as much as possible |
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I removed the connectors of the backs of the old speakers and installed them on the new speakers so they just plugged up to the old wiring harness  |
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 New speaker is now installed. take note of how close the speaker mount is to the new clock. If you are drilling the hole for the clock make sure you take this into account. |
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 Replace all the heater control cables. |
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| So on the surface form the first two pictures thus did not look like much of a task, but I hope you now realize that it was a lot of work | |
