Praised be! The end is near! Maybe. As you Jeep nuts know, any Jeep project is never really “done.” Though it’s hard to believe, the initial retrotastic build-up of Project Ground-Up is nearing an end. We’re sure there will be a few more modifications and additions to this crazy old ’56 CJ-5 once we get some miles on the reborn rig. Yeah, it took us a while, especially for a magazine build, and successful completion was not always easy to see. It’s getting harder to remember the day we first saw the old Jeep’s body sitting in the dirt behind a welding shop. It wasn’t always peaches and cream. There were occasionally muffled threats of “You’ll Get Parted OUT!!!” or “I Will Kill You, You Mutha” coming from our hot Arizona-based two-car garage, but it seems like we are actually gonna get to drive it. We built it pretty much single-handedly with some much-needed help from our friends—thanks Trent, Doug, James, Erin, and Mike! It feels great! We spent lots of time, blood, sweat and maybe a tear or two on the old girl. We are still not really sure what we are going end up doing with Ground-Up.
The four-cylinder XJ high-pressure...
The four-cylinder XJ high-pressure power steering line from our donor vehicle was a bit too short to reach our old XJ steering box in its new location in front of the grille. A quick trip to the local parts store yielded this four-cylinder TJ high-pressure line that was just long enough.
For sure we’ll drive it and wheel it for a while. Maybe we can set it up as a backcountry expedition rig (if you can do that with a CJ-5). Maybe we’ll toss the four-cylinder and drop in a 500hp V-8, 40s, and one-ton axles. Maybe we’ll sell the old girl, passing it on once again to new owners who can enjoy its retro style, drivability, and reliability. Hmm…then we could use the sales funds to build a JK into a non-directional tire’d, fuel-injected, L-head-powered, retro version of a non-standardized jeep complete with a slat grille. Or build a Willys pickup-based Southern-style cab truck for the Arizona deserts. Or a Project Hack n’ Cut Liberty rockcrawler. Who knows? For now, follow along as we tighten the final screws on the green ’56 CJ-5 known as Ground-Up, and hopefully take her for a brief neighborhood test drive. Next time we’ll put her tires in the dirt and give you some wheeling and road driving impressions of this crazy build that started with an unwanted old body, some rectangular tube, and an idea.
Since last time, we pulled...
Since last time, we pulled the front fenders and finish-welded everything up front, firmly mounted all the brake lines, and finish-welded the fan support. Man, we need to clean up that wiring, too!
We gusseted our front shock...
We gusseted our front shock hoops from Ground-Up (Part 4) and tied them into the radiator support. You may remember that we mentioned adding a cradle from one shock hoop to another, but we decided that was too fancy for our old retro/modern ’56. Once the welds cooled, we taped off the inner fenderwells, threw down some black paint, and bolted on the shocks one last time.
We thought about modifying...
We thought about modifying a TJ air intake when we found out about Airaid’s UBI (U-Build-It) 3-Inch Kit (PN 101-301). The kit comes with a series of pre-formed bends that are easily cut apart with a hacksaw, and the Master Kits include a 9-inch conical filter, clamps, couplers, reducers, and mounting hardware. After 15 minutes we were done installing our UBI on the four-banger. If we could give an award for an easy-to-use, straightforward kit, the UBI would win. We also added a pre-filter PN 799-420 to help keep dust out of the engine.
Here is the UBI installed....
Here is the UBI installed. We used two 90-degree bends the supplied reducer and one coupler. We have plenty of leftovers, and with one more coupler and another filter, we could pretty easily build another air intake kit for our ’97 TJ. Also, check out our cleaned-up wiring. If you ask us, it looks like the factory intended it to be there!
Using some scrap newspaper...
Using some scrap newspaper we painted the rollcage and seat brackets. The windshield on an early CJ-5 like ours is usually black. We were thinking the cage and tube work should match the windshield and the frame on Ground-Up.
At some point in Ground-Up’s...
At some point in Ground-Up’s sordid past, someone cut a section of the passenger-side rear wheel tub out and added some steel to make a super-narrow spare tire rack. We didn’t feel the tire holder, since our already narrow 33x10.50R15 BFG tires would not fit in the holder. We thought about dropping in an ammo can or a vintage steel tool box, but getting either to open easily with the cage there would have been difficult. Instead, we used some sheetmetal from a YJ wheel tub to fill the hole. Here we used a throatless shear to trim down the filler piece.
Here is the finished product....
Here is the finished product. Not too bad for someone with very little experience fixing bodywork. Denting, bending, or tearing bodywork—now that is something we are experts in!
Once our XJ swinging pedal...
Once our XJ swinging pedal assembly was installed, we noticed that just as the clutch was fully disengaged, the pedal hit the floor of the old CJ. We decided it would be prudent to bend the pedal rearward to give it more throw. We used a 4 1/2-inch grinder with a cutoff wheel to cut almost all the way through the pedal. We then bent it forward and cut a bit more out before welding it up. Now the clutch is fully disengaged just before the pedal hits the floorboard.
Just before we painted the...
Just before we painted the cage, we remembered to add in these sleeves for the seatbelt shoulder strap anchors (like in a YJ or TJ). More than lap belts in an early CJ-5 you scoff? Yep. So far we haven’t sampled the flavor of a steering wheel or dash of an old Jeep at a 35-to-0 mph accidental stop and hope to never have that experience.
With a quick call to MagnaFlow...
With a quick call to MagnaFlow Exhaust we had a 2.25-inch stainless steel Hot-Rod Builder Kit (PN 10701), a stainless 5x8x14-inch oval muffler with offset/centered 2.25-inch inlet/outlet (PN 12225), and a Universal high-flow catalytic converter (PN 99036HM) to tuck up under the little CJ and quiet that 2.5L down a bit. Yep, we added a Cat on an emissions exempt vehicle. Why? Well the ’98 XJ computer has an upstream O2 sensor and a downstream O2 sensor. Running no cat might cause the engine to run funny…or at least smell funny.
A big ol’ pipe cutter like...
A big ol’ pipe cutter like this makes installing this kind of exhaust kit much easier. Even though this was our first experience building an exhaust with one of these kits, it came out pretty good. As with the intake, we have lots of leftovers and can easily add a second custom exhaust system to another Jeep in our arsenal either now or later. The Hot-Rod Builder Kits are intended to be usable for building dual exhaust on big yacht-length muscle cars, not super-short old Jeeps. Turn the welder way down to avoid blowing through the stainless steel exhaust tubing.
Lastly, we finally got around...
Lastly, we finally got around to building those rocker guards that we kept hinting at in earlier installments of Project Ground-Up. We used an air saw and a grinder to trim the CJs rocker’s to tuck the 13⁄4-inch 0.120 wall DOM tubing rocker guards up as high as possible. There are three runners connecting each guard to the frame. The center runner passes right under the a-pillar, so we can easily tie the rollcage A-pillar into the frame for added safety.
A Few Odds and Ends
Here are some more odds and ends from Quadratec that we used for the build.
PN 55210.03: OEM headlamp dimmer switch for ’46-’71 CJ
PN 13004.02: Rugged Ridge hood latch set in black for ’42-’95 CJ/Wrangler
PN 14247.0201: Two rear metal push-button tow point non-retractable lap belts for ’76-’91 Jeep
PN 14247.06012: Two front metal push-button three-point retractable seatbelts for ’82-’91 Jeep