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My 82 build, slow (but hopefully) progress

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Mr_Roboto:
Okay, so I just picked this up a week or two back and have made some scattered progress on it. This isn't gonna be a beauty queen by any means but the goal this year is to get it running decently then start putting parts into it. I got it off a guy who put a ton of work into it then parked it for 20 years. Not perfect by any means, but I'd like to go somewhere in the spirit of say a GMC Syclone e.g. turbo 6, AWD etc.

The start isn't terrible, he said he rebuilt the engine and stuffed a Comp Cam in there. What that is needs to be determined.

The first couple pics are me trailering it. Thankfully I've found all of the marker lights, the bumper end caps are long gone. Maybe 3D print something? I have a front bumper, debating on it going on or not at some point. The door handles need to be re-attached and the lock cylinder on the driver's side needs work. Thankfully this is a single key car and the only key I'm misisng is for the glove box.

The carb is gonna be a bit of a trip. This is where he gave up on it. The Carter (not Edelbrock Branded) AFB looks basically unused. The linkage was heavily improvised including a homebrew adapter to turn the carb 90 degrees. I stripped that off and after consultation here I'm almost certainly going to cables and a home made bracket.

The intake is a "C" Series Offy (anyone got docs on this, it seems to be almost impossible to find) along with a 500 CFM carb. I hope this cam is pretty darn big, this seems like a lot of carb for this engine. I'd much rather have had a QJ or a VS Holley in that case and may well yet dig one up and stick it on or heck even a 390 CFM double pumper. With the cam unknown this is a real question mark IMO. The gearing is definitely wrong for this intake being I checked and validated I have the tall gears. Thankfully the front has a disconnect which by what I'm reading means I should be able to grab a set of standard Cherokee Gears to replace the fronts (and an 8.25 Axle.) The goal will be something like 3.54s.

When I was rummaging through the stuff that came with this ride I found a broken off bolt head and shrugged it off. When I was working on the carb, I noticed a head bolt head gone. I found a socket that fit pretty well in the bolt hole then drilled. After that I tapped in a S2 bit and turned it out with a set of vise grips. I figured this would be a fighter and a miserly experience, thankfully it was fairly easy to zip out. All I need now is a 7/16 head bolt to replace it with.

Lastly, I got the front tires replaced with some used ones. Not great but enough to get me a few laps around wherever. I'm just grateful they hold air unlike the last ones. The rears are pending at the shop, can't wait to get em back and get em on so I have a legit roller.

On the shopping list is gonna be some gears, Grand Cherokee rear disk brakes, a Cherokee Axle, a Cherokee gas tank and probably a few other things I'm forgetting. I do need an alternator bracket and a head bolt now as well.

I have the TFI cap and rotor, I need the adapter for the Duraspark. There's a MSD Box in as well. Without the EGR I at least want to get an earlier distributor vacuum can because this one probably has too much timing advance in it. Not there yet though.

Mr_Roboto:
Did some grunt work today, dismounted the old tires from wheels that didn't hold air. I just got this bead breaker tool it works well. I figured out it's easier if you stand on the wheel/tire to get it to work. Besides that the tires hadn't been off for decades.

I need to get some steel wool to clean up the beads then I want to put some sort of clear on them so they hopefully hold air. After that it's time for fresh valve stems and some carb cleaner to seat the new tires.  ;D

Mr_Roboto:
Few update posts to go over.

First off, I got a gasket and some carb studs. With a spacer 2" studs were required. Ordered and on the way.

Second, this "A/C Hose" is the fuel line. I think I'm going to replace that. Either AN line or hard line with rubber in between. The NHRA doesn't typically like people doing this sort of getup. I wish I knew what the deal was with the oddball 3 port fuel filter. Have not checked to see if that's OEM yet.

Lastly, I worked on the door handles. These don't seem to like to be "dry" at all.  A bit of ATF made a huge difference. I think it caused the arms to be bent out of shape, so I did some tweaking on this one and installed/removed it a few times until it seems to open correctly. I need to get a gasket for the lock cylinder as well and do the other side.

Mr_Roboto:
The door to this lock cylinder was messed up and I couldn't use the key. Really frustrating, I want to be able to have full function of my doors. When I was messing with the mechanism to fix the outer handles I ended up pulling the cylinder too. Quite the headache with the sound deadening in the doors, but it's out.

I then ordered up some parts (PNs in pics) to replace what had broken. There's some not insignificant corrosion in the cylinder so I'm concerned I'll be having to think about replacing this eventually.

Mr_Roboto:
Lastly, it rolls! After a bunch of blisters and forgetting what real work is like I got the tires mounted and on. This part excites me because I can start stripping out the old Bondo, putting on some primer and getting bare metal covered up without making a garage mess. The goal is to get stuff covered enough where driving may be a reality.

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