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MAGNUM FORCE, a Mopar man's build

479K views 1K replies 138 participants last post by  Cuder 
#1 ·
MAGNUM FORCE, a frame-off V8 YJ-CJ build-up

I've been a Mopar guy since I was old enough to drive, and I've built a few Dusters in my day, from mild smallblocks to blown big inch Hemi's. After selling my last Duster a few years ago, I got the itch to build something again, but I wanted to venture out and build some different this time. I've always wanted an off-road capable vehicle, but never owned one. I've always wanted a convertible, but never owned one. The Jeep Wrangler covered both wants, so I started looking for an inexpensive Wrangler that I could tear it down and rebuild it to suit my taste. One year ago, I found this 1989 with a 2.5L and 5 speed on ebay just 150 miles away from me, and the guy even offered to deliver it for me. So, I bought it, and here she is. Not very impressive, but when its done, you won't recognize it as the same Jeep.
The name of my Jeep, Magnum Force, was inspired by the engine, which has magnum heads. I like Clint Eastwood movies, so that may have played some role in choosing the name as well.
I began this build exactly one year ago, so let me get you caught up with pictures and words, starting at the beginning.



 
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#238 ·
I finally got the rest of the roll cage tack welded. I have to say, Poison Spyder did a great job designing and manufacturing this cage. Not once did I have to grind on the notches to make them fit.



 
#240 ·
Not much. Last Tuesday, I dropped off my transfer case to get assembled. I did some welding on the cage this afternoon. I'll do some more tomorrow. Then, I'll get a couple friends over to help me lift it out of the tub, so I can finish up the welding.

I'll be placing an order for front seats in about a week. I've decided to go with Corbeau RS seats. Once I get those, I'll build seat mounts with sliding tracks, and then I can begin building a custom dash and integrated center console.
 
#242 ·
#243 ·
After finishing all of the welding, I sanded the cage down with 80 grit sandpaper to remove the anti-corrosion coating, and to give the epoxy primer a good surface to grab onto.

 
#246 ·
The Poison Spyder YJ full cage kit doesn't have mounts to secure the top of the windshield like the factory roll bar does. I didn't like the idea of the windshield being unsupported, so today, I fabbed up some mounts and welded them on.







My transfer case is back together, finally! All of the internals have been sitting in a plastic bucket for over a year, and it's nice to finally have it ready to install in the Jeep. Since my Jeep was originally a 4 cylinder, the stock t-case configuration wasn't up to the task of living behind my stroker V8, so I beefed it up with a wide chain kit, 6 pinion planetary, and JB Conversions Super Short SYE. Another change I had to make, was to change the input shaft to a 23 spline to match the output shaft on my 727. Somewhere along the line, I lost the vent tube, so I drilled out the vent hole, and installed a barb fitting.

 
#249 ·
What was your transmission out of? I am putting a 95 318 in my YJ this summer. I have a NP435 but I am thinking about an automatic but I have not seen a Mopar small block pattern 727 that would bolt to the 231.

I am looking forward to seeing how that stroker crank does but I need to keep the magnum fuel injection due to emissions testing. Once I get it past the smog refs and I can find someone to reprogram the computer I figure I can stroke it. I am too used to that 440 in my Road Runner.
 
#251 ·
What was your transmission out of? I am putting a 95 318 in my YJ this summer. I have a NP435 but I am thinking about an automatic but I have not seen a Mopar small block pattern 727 that would bolt to the 231.
Look for someone parting out a 1970's to 1980's Dodge Ramcharger 4X4. My 727 came out of a 1985 Ramcharger. I found it in craigslist.
 
#254 ·
Jeepin72 and srspicer, thanks for the positive comments!

srspicer, saying things like "I could never do that" is defeating yourself before you ever gave yourself a chance to succeed, or fail. Everything I do on this build is a learned skill, through trial and error. I wasn't born with any particular gift at doing anything, the only thing about about me is that I don't know what I can't do, so I just go ahead and buy a welding machine and teach myself how to weld, for example. My point is, don't sell yourself short. You may surprise yourself at what you can achieve when you put your mind to it. :thumbsup:
 
#255 ·
Amen to that- I had no idea what I was doing when I started my V8 swap, but I was determined- same with many home projects I've done- I always get people coming over and saying things like "I wish I knew how to do that," etc- but they don't realize- at some point I didn't know how to do it either- I had to figure it out.
 
#256 ·
I bought a 48" x 13" piece of 1/8" thick 5052 aluminum, made a quick drawing, and took the metal and the drawing over to a sheet metal shop to get it formed. I don't have a clear vision yet of how this dash is going to look when its done, so I'm just going to wing it and see how it develops. It has a 12º layback angle, to help see the gauges better.
Most YJ owners that build their own flat dash, oftentimes discard the dash pad. My dash pad is in mint condition, and since I pride myself in avoiding conventional wisdom, I'm going to keep the dash pad. The end result will have a dash of YJ and and a dash of CJ. ;)


 
#257 ·
After looking at this dash panel for a while, I've decided that it hangs too low, by about 2 inches. Tomorrow, I'll have the sheet metal shop shear off the top flange, and re-form it. Tomorrow night, I'll post a pic of the modified dash panel and the dash pad in place together.
 
#260 ·
I had the dash panel shortened by 2 inches. It now hangs no lower than the original dash. After some cutting, the panel fits with the dash pad.



The seat brackets came in today. I'll be placing an order for the Corbeau Baja RS seats next week.

 
#262 ·
Not a bunch of progress to report. Still waiting on my seats to come in.
I did finally come up with a way of mounting my shock hoop support bar, while still clearing everything.


 
#265 ·
Seats will be here Wednesday. Seat sliders will be here Tuesday. Meanwhile, I filled the beefed up and rebuilt t-case with Mobil 1 synthetic transmission fluid, and bolted her into place for the last time.


On a side note, the 1973 pro street Plymouth Duster that I did a 6 year ground-up build on, drove and raced, and sold a few years ago was written about in the recent edition of Mopar Action magazine, August issue. I hired a company to mount the feature story pages.
 
#266 ·
My Corbeau Baja RS seats arrived today. Hooray! That's the good news.


The not so good news is, when I tried both of the recliner mechanisms, the passenger seat worked fine, but the driver's seat recliner didn't work at all. I could push the seat back forward and backward, but I couldn't adjust the angle anywhere in between. It just wasn't "catching". I turned the seat on its side, and immediately saw something not right. A piece of metal was sticking out that shouldn't be.


I removed the plastic cover, and realized what the problem was. That metal part wasn't peened into place with the rest of the mechanism.


It should have been in this position, and the part that fits into the slot should have been peened over to lock it into place.


Now, I could have broken out the MIG welder, and put a couple tack welds there, but I thought I'd call Corbeau and tell them what I found. The customer service guy I spoke with very helpful, and he displayed empathy and regret for my having spent a good amount of money, and having received a faulty seat. He gave me two options; one was to box up the faulty seat, and they would arrange a carrier to pick it up, and they would send me a new seat, but that could easily take 5 or 6 days. The other option was, they would send me a new reclining mechanism and have it delivered to me this Saturday. I chose the new mechanism, because the rest of the seat is nice, and its only 4 easily accessible bolts holding in the mechanism, and the delivery is faster. All I have to do is box up the faulty mechanism when the new one gets here, and they will arrange a carrier to come pick it up, at no cost to me.
You should judge a company by not only the quality of the products it makes, but how they respond when something gets missed. Stuff can happen from time to time, the world is an imperfect place. But, Corbeau did the right thing when there was a problem, and I would have no hesitation ordering their products again, knowing that there is great customer service after the sale. :thumbsup:
 
#267 ·
I decided to sell my current Dana 44 rear axle, and all of the parts I had collected for it, and step up to a 14 bolt FF rear axle. So, after work this morning, I went to a local pick a part salvage yard. I didn't bring tools with me, as I was more on a browsing/scouting mission to see what was out there. After about 10 minutes of looking around, I came upon a 2000 year cab & chassis with its 14 bolt laying on the ground underneath it. After checking it over to verify it was indeed a 14 bolt C&C, I noticed that the only things left to do to free it from the chassis was to cut the e-cables and the rubber brake lines. So, I drove out to the nearest Home Depot, and bought a bolt cutter (I didn't own one anyway), and went back there and made short work of those items. The axle assembly was missing the driver's side hub parts and axle shaft, but the guy I dealt with was really cool, and he said that I could come back anytime and pull a shaft out of another 14 bolt, and he won't charge me anything. Since I am going with Solid's 6 on 5.5" conversion hubs, I really didn't need the missing hub, but I used it as a bargaining chip to get the price reduced by $49.00. So, the final price I paid was $150, which I thought was very reasonable!
Besides a basic rebuild, the plans are to get those conversion hubs, swap to disc brakes, and re-gear to 4.56's with a Detroit locker.
Behold the beast!!

 
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