1970 J4000 RestoMod Americana Build

[TurboJ4000]

The engine and trans went back into the frame and along with a lot of new parts it was time to continue on the wiring.






I reassembled the front end a bit to take it for a spin down the driveway and back.

[TurboJ4000]

I picked up this winch for dirt cheap. Its a Warn M12000. I debated for a long time on hydraulic vs electric winch. I had found a cheap hydraulic warn that would have been awesome but getting a pump to run it and the lines etc wasn't worth the hassle. The electric will do everything Ill need, which likely isn't much since this isn't a rock crawler.

So I started on a hidden winch mount. I cut the extra length off the frame, removed the tube crossmember that was in the way and started welding up a beefy frame for the new winch. The big frame warns have to be mounted to the face of the bumper/winch plate so this makes that work and hides it under the bumper. I didn't get a good picture but the engagement level sticks through the plate so it can be reached just below the front bumper.

[TurboJ4000]

I havent finished the bumper brackets yet but this is what it looks like with the bumper in place.

[TurboJ4000]

Can you tell I have ADD, then I moved on to the seat issue again. The old seats needed to be redone and after calling a few shops I decided it wasnt worth re doing them. So if any of you guys want them I have the bucket seats that are free to a good home.

I found a set of Ford Escape seats with nearly zero use since the car was wrecked in the first couple thousand miles.


The side airbags had deployed but fortunately modern seat airbags have intentionally weak stitching at the seam for the air bag so if you remove the cover and sew it back up you can reinstall the cover and its like brand new.

The other plus is that these are heated and power, the power isnt a huge deal but heated seats will be nice. The plug for the seats is ridiculous with 90 wires but it was relatively easy to find the two that are needed to power the seat motors and the two wires that are needed for the heated seats. With the covers sewn up and some new seat brackets made they fit awesome with the factory jump seat.



I also had the seamstress friend replace the top panel that used to have the headrest holes. We took the covers off the headrests and cut the replacement panel out of those and once that was done they almost look like they below there, just 50 years newer.

[TurboJ4000]

I got the new tires mounted on the AEV wheels. They are 35" BFG KM3s. I fully expect them to be annoying on the highway but hopefully not so much so that I want to change them. I'm quite proud of my used parts dealings this wheel and tire set up would have been $2300 dollars if it was all new and I have less than $1000 into this set up.



Then it was back to more wiring work.

[TurboJ4000]

I took a break from my Jeep for a while to work on my buddies early CJ5. Some previous owner had done a FSJ drivetrain swap including the 360, Dana 44s, TH400 and quadratrac but they seemed to be in a bit over their heads with the leaf spring mounting.



So we took this messed up suspension, which is hard to explain the issues here but there are lots. The springs were too wide so they built up the frame with some 1" thick plates that were booger welded, some of the springs were bent in to mount and the frame was so lopsided that they used body mounts to level the tub and then welded the bumper on 3/4" higher on one side of the frame.



When we were done the frame sat level and had all new frame mounts and shackle hangers. The axles still need the spring perches cut off to get the right pinion angles but that will need to happen with full weight on it.

[TurboJ4000]

Back on to my Jeep I sent the cab out to be sand blasted and primed and then bedlined the underside of the floor and painted the whole engine compartment with Eastwood underhood black. This will make touchups easier later and keeping white clean in an engine bay would be a nightmare. Black isnt that much better but at least its dark.

You can see the new winch rope and fairlead mounted in this picture as well. I didnt take many pictures of all of this work but I also bedlined the underside frame work of the bed and the inside of the fenders and header panel to protect from rock chips.







I seam sealed the crap out of the floors on the top and bottom side and first painted them with Chassis Saver, the inside will get sound deadener before the carpeting.

[TurboJ4000]

I then loaded the whole thing on the trailer included all the parts to be painted and brought it to the paint shop.



Unfortunately I didn't realize how much paint work would cost plus the metal repairs that were needed, so it came back home to get more of my lower quality handy work. The driver door needed to be patched in a few spots and the grill panel needed some work as well as a few other areas.



Once the metal work looked good and I did a bit of bondo work I shot the bare metal spots with epoxy again.



And then sprayed it all with polyester primer that lays down very thick. This is all the parts set up to be sprayed.



And sanding for hours and hours.



I then painted the insides of the doors and the door hinges so that the paint shop doesn't have to hang the doors. This may not work out with the paint shop but either way I can paint the inside parts that wont have to shine in the sunlight.

[TurboJ4000]

I have just about taken care of everything that I have the ability to do and its now ready to go back to the paint shop for them to do the final sanding and paint the rest of the truck. The bed will only be getting paint in the small middle section and the inside will be color matched bedliner and the skirts on the outside will also be color matched bedliner.

I'm getting near the end of this and I cant wait to drive it for real.

[TurboJ4000]

Well we have PAINT...on most of it at least













I started reassembling the doors with the trim and man I really like the colors. I was worried that the white would be too "off white" but it really looks great with the brown.







I then bedlined the inside of the front fenders to hopefully prevent any rust and this weekend Ill be hopefully getting them installed once I polish the badges as best I can. The side trim all polished up very well with minimal effort, the badges look a bit rougher so we will see how that goes.







The paint isnt the best but its plenty good for this truck. I hope to have this thing on the road in the next two months. The bed is nearly ready to go to Line-X to have a paint matched white bedliner done on the inside of the bed and then I can re assemble the lights and all that for the rear of the truck. The side skirts for the bed will be a little bit longer before I get them done since I need to do a bit of rework on the passenger side. I thought I could live with the slight difference from side to side but I will regret it later.

[SJTD]

Looks really good.

But white beadliner? Idunno.

What did you use inside the fenders.

[TurboJ4000]

The inside of the fenders is Monstaliner. The white for the bed is to sorta match the original bed which was body color white inside. I debated black but I think the white (color matched) will look pretty good.

Looks really good.

But white beadliner? Idunno.

What did you use inside the fenders.

[ProTouring442]

Take it from someone who will suffer a lifetime of issues from neck damage, put the headrests back on.

Beautiful build!

[oregonphil]

ProTour, X2 on the headrests, been there too. 'Course he has a pickup so that rear window slow his head down a bit... When somebody rear ended me the force broke the back of the seat. I ended up half way into back in the Jeep. It's a REAL pain in the neck.

[TurboJ4000]

I understand the concern from you guys and I appreciate it but I’m too young dumb and stupid for now. I can’t give up that old school look of low back seats.

[ProTouring442]

I understand the concern from you guys and I appreciate it but I’m too young dumb and stupid for now. I can’t give up that old school look of low back seats.

I have several damaged discs, two herniated discs, one with fairly serious impingement. I get severe tension headaches triggered by the damage. When I am in the throws of a full-blown tension headache, I throw up (a lot), cannot stand any light (I wrap a shirt tightly around my eyes and still it feels like someone is shining a million candlepower light in my face), and cannot do anything but lie on the couch and pray my head explodes. These can last anywhere from a couple hours to a couple days.

And the car in which I was rear ended, a Buick Reatta, had headrests. Had it not, I would be dead (as would my father who was also in the car at the time).

Just saying...

[SJTD]

Dats why I spent many hours installing Lexus seats in my '84. Didn't come with headrests, couldn't find later Wag seats. Got theses pretty cheap plus these recline.

[TurboJ4000]

Seam sealer and urethane sealer done and ready to get bedliner done.


The front bumper brackets are nearly done, just need to duplicate this on the passenger side. should be plenty beefy and when I get around to a brush guard this will not be in the way. I used the factory bracket with some tabs rebent and welded to the new frame. It will all have to come back out and be sand blasted and painted.





Tonight I am planning to get the bed and tailgate bedliner coated. Its going to be Raptor liner tinted to match the paint. The quotes from LineX and Bullet Liner were way more than I hoped so I'm gonna give it a shot and see how it goes. If I hate it I'll bite the bullet and have them do it.

Once the liner is done the bed can be bolted down and wired for good with the tailgate installed and taillights etc. I am very excited to get to that point.

[SJTD]

Did you do the bed liner?

[TurboJ4000]

Did you do the bed liner?

I did and it looks fantastic in my opinion!

This was the first coat after scuffing all the epoxy primer and cleaning it all up and lots of masking.









The final color match right after spraying is spot on and I hope it doesnt change as it cures. Raptor says it takes 7 days to fully cure.











I did three coats and then a light dusting coat. I used Shopline single stage urethane paint as the tint but only the pigment components of the paint.

The metallic brown is next and I'm sure that wont match as well but as long as its not too far off I'll be happy. The texture looks great and I am very excited to get the bed installed for the last time.