Jeep 4.0 in 69 Barracuda

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JohnFM3 said:
It really turned out well. Its amazing what a bit of color followed by wheels and tires turn the look of a vehicle around.
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I agree! I had a brand new repro set of 14 inch chrome Magnum 500s for another vehicle. I got tired of looking at the crappy looking, paint oversprayed steelies that were on the wagon. So I bought new tires for them and installed the rears (front suspension is still out of the car. The rear of the wagon looks so much better

Before:
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After

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My old boss would say wheels sells cars
Even a rusty pos can look good with the right set of wheels
 
I like both of them. 75SlantSix, fill me in on those headlights. Are you into Autocross?
 
JohnFM3 said:
Latest Update ~ Still no exhaust.
After the bad influence of my neighbor, I grabbed a set of rims I had been saving for my Jeep and installed new Hankook tires. The rims are polished aluminum 15 inch American Racing AR23 with a overall width of 8 inches and a 3.5in backspace.

Rear: 235/60 15
Front: 205/70 15

It really turned out well. Its amazing what a bit of color followed by wheels and tires turn the look of a vehicle around. I will make time this winter to pull the wheels off and attempt to polish them up. I will also be looking for knock-off's (???) or what I recall them being called as spinners. The little center cap thing with 3 little wings as shown in the picture below. Probably wont be chrome as the rim is a polished aluminum. Maybe color matched to the car, or Matte Black.

View attachment 1716403254


The new rears show how badly the rear suspension needs redone. New leaf springs are in this car's future sooner than later. I feel the rear needs to be raised about 1 inch from its current location.

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lookin' better all the time
 
JohnFM3 said:
I like both of them. 75SlantSix, fill me in on those headlights. Are you into Autocross?
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I autocross it at MoParty every year but other than that, I haven’t autocrossed it anywhere else yet.
Here’s the headlights. They’re better than the dim stock ones that were on it but they could definitely be better. I’m in talks with a guy that builds much better quality headlights about having a set built with the same style halos that mine have.
Fit for Jeep CJ-7 1976-1986 7'' Round LED Headlight Halo Turn Signal Hi-Lo Beam | eBay
 
75slant6 said:
I autocross it at MoParty every year but other than that, I haven’t autocrossed it anywhere else yet.
Here’s the headlights. They’re better than the dim stock ones that were on it but they could definitely be better. I’m in talks with a guy that builds much better quality headlights about having a set built with the same style halos that mine have.
Fit for Jeep CJ-7 1976-1986 7'' Round LED Headlight Halo Turn Signal Hi-Lo Beam | eBay
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My wife autocrossed a white vg30 powered Datsun 510 2 door. Nick named Cloud 9.

Thanks for the link, I will follow up on those. If you hear anything back on the other headlights, let me know. If I am in a better financial situation, I would be into a set or 2 (as they would fit my jeep as well).
 
510 cool that's my fav datsun

Before they became Nissan.....junk
 
JohnFM3 said:
My wife autocrossed a white vg30 powered Datsun 510 2 door. Nick named Cloud 9.

Thanks for the link, I will follow up on those. If you hear anything back on the other headlights, let me know. If I am in a better financial situation, I would be into a set or 2 (as they would fit my jeep as well).
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I’ll be sure and keep you posted on when he has the available.
 
Ok group, next project I am working on while waiting for exhaust work. I have attempted to install my American Powertrain hydraulic clutch master cylinder recently and have ran into some impacting issues. If installed in the location as is, I can not pivot the cylinder down enough for the shaft to reach the up high to connect to the pedal. The inner brace as shown in the top image was moved up abit to give the cylinder as much room in the engine compartment.

The wheel well is preventing my master cylinder from sloping down far enough.

I see a couple of options.
  1. Patch the factory clutch hole and drill a new one higher up. Get as close to the upper nut used for the steering column bracket.
    Of course the obvious issue I see is the inner bracket impacting the steering column bracket. I would have to extend that steering column bracket to be part of the firewall support for the clutch master cylinder. And this may not be high enough to reduce the required angle for the master cylinder to clear the inner wheel well.

  2. Pocket out the inner wheel well.
    I am fairly confident that the pocket would be roughly 3 to 4 inches tall and about 2 to 3 inches front to back. So if I was to cut that section out then weld up a corner of a box to fill the moved metal, I believe it would clear.
As we know, the factory setup has that clutch rod going nearly vertical, so option 2 seems to be more inline with the factory design.

Optionally, I have considered cutting the wheel well out just above where this would be a issue. Allowing for more visibility to the suspension and such.

Is there anyone here who has had this issue? How was it solved?

I suspect that I 70's a-body probably has more space between the firewall and the wheel well making this a bolt in kit as advertise, not on my car... lol Seems to be the ongoing theme of this build.

Side Note: I am thinking 6 more weeks and I will have my brake booster, master cylinder, and proportioning valve delivered and ready to install.

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Hard to tell for sure in a photo, but looks like you might be able to "persuade" the inner fender enough with a hammer?
 
nutz said:
ha i blew-up my brothers 232 in his gremin ...was driving it all over in the snow next day it tossed a rod
but then years later a bought a 74 jeep with a 4.2 had a rod knock ..drained the oil and anti freeze put a brick on the gas peddle ...it slowly died
then it started again ...did that three times till i gave-up ...it won
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Not too familiar with the 232,
The only AMC motors I've dealt with are V8 401's, 360's, then the 4.0L(242ci) and the 4.2L(258ci) straight six's.
- I looked up the 232, apparently it's just a smaller sibling to the 4.0's and 4.2's and maybe not as durable?
 
Never heard problems with the 232
I was out joy riding in the snow may have over rev ed a few times
Next day it tossed a rod.
Sad cause it was the coolest gremlin x I've seen .....red with gold pin stripes
Had traction bars with a open dif .....
And you wonder why amc went under
 
75slant6 said:
Hard to tell for sure in a photo, but looks like you might be able to "persuade" the inner fender enough with a hammer?
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Sorry for the much delayed response. Yeah, I maybe able to do so. If thats the case, I will cut it out and weld in a partial box to do it correctly. Sorry, being unemployed has really gotten to me. I have not had much interest in doing much in general, including working on my car. Still waiting for the exhaust to be installed.
 
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