Meet the new SSDutch - purchased minutes ago off eBay. I hadn’t expected to find something so close to what I wanted to build. It’s pushing the budget a bit, but it was ultimately too hard to pass up a nice looking 1964 CJ6 outfitted with a fresh 4.3L Chevy V6 and a T18 (granny-low) tranny. That it has fresh seats, top, gauges, power steering and front springs is icing on the cake.
Engine is a rebuilt ‘90 Chevy 4.3L
Jeep has power Saginaw Steering:
Radiator is said to be a Mustang unit.
Motor mounts are Advance Adapters:
Steering column is later CJ:
Tight clearance for steering shaft:
The plans are to get this home, and swap my ‘66 axles under it. These axles have not been gone through while both of mine have, and I’ll get the 11” brakes, knuckle-studs, and fresh PowrLoks. I’ll also be getting a more streetable gear ratio - while 84:1 is great for rock crawling, the 4.27:1’s will be much more streetable—especially with an OD eventually. I’ll still have double the crawl ratio that Dutch had.
I’ll also probably swap my 1” Rancho springs in, the fronts are new on the ‘64 but the rears are original, and I think the shackles might be a bit taller than I prefer.
I’ll remove the front grill guard and tow bar - Dutch’s tow bar and tow bar shackles will get used instead, that way I retain my plow mount.
I’ll swap the Intermediate windshield I have on - to get taller glass and a real wiper motor.
I’ll need to design and get a rollcage fabricated.
Eventually I’ll get the TBI setup that the motor had originally - the motor is a ‘90 so it’s right in the year range I was looking for.
What else…oh wheels. I’ll be using the Stockton wheels and 32” BFG MT’s from Dutch. The question is what color to paint them, I don’t like white on white or black/white. At the moment I’m either thinking red or light gray wheels.
Eventually I’ll paint it, and yes it’s gonna be the same Ford Rangoon red as Dutch was. THe soft top is new so can’t justify a new top just to get a different color, and with a black soft top I can’t argue the red paint.
I’ll swap my back bumper on to get my stove/cooler rack on.
7.21.04 The Check Is In The Mail
...‘64 CJ6. I’ve never paid this much cash-all-at-once for a vehicle of any sort.
Once the title has been mailed I’ll give the green-light to the shipping company I’ve choosen: http://www.autotransportspecialty.com/ That was a no-fun task. It came down to reading reviews on http://www.epinions.com/ and http://auto-transport-reviews.com/, checking the DNS records (just to make sure everything matched the publically-posted info), and checking their BBB record. I also called Speciality and talked to them at length about the variables of the move.
The deal is - at this point anyway - as close to door to door service as is possible (the seller might have to meet the truck as his residence isn’t accessible by 18-wheeler), no unload/reload unless another car needs to come off first, and (hopefully) a low spot on the trailer so the Jeep will ride behind the tractor going down the road. 7-10 day pickup window, and 5-7 day transit time.
This is what it sounds like everyone is promised, though, so we’ll see how it all turns out.
8.13.2004 SSDutch Is Home
SSDutch finally arrives in Holland. Here’s a quick video of it coming off the truck. Plenty more pics to come, here’s a few we took while the sun went down and in the garage:
Tried to get some shots of the underside while it was up on the truck:
The driver remarked that it barely fit on the trailer—I thought he was talking about the height but it was the width:
In our driveway:
Kids were as excited as I was, I think:
Some drivetrain pictures:
Note the amount of space between firewall and distributor:
Pretty clean looking tranny cover job:
That’s a new fold and tumble rear seat - sure needs a good cleanup though!
Not sure why the diamond plate on the tailgate. Look at the cargo room though! ;)
In it’s new spot:
View from the house - sure seems good to see a Jeep there again. Sure sits higher than Dutch did:
First Impressions:
Stream of consciousness thoughts…..
Body is overall pretty dang solid. It’s got one crack under the drivers side tailight. Might run my old diamond plate corners. Then again they’re setup for the side-mount gas fill, and putting the rear tank in is gonna take some exhaust work.
Rear bed area has had some floor repair - same approach as the ‘58 I had with new metal just welded in over old. Not wanting to make a big project out of it, but wondering what I can do to stop mud and crap from entering the bottom and rusting things out from between the sheetmetal layers.
Front floor areas are really nice and solid - only see one hat channel that’s rusted on the passenger side. Still has the OE floor drains even.
Definitely not a show-Jeep. Exterior finish is bumpy but not like the durabak job on the interior. We’ll see what it takes to put a real paint job on it - but probably not for a year or so.
Seat of the pants feeling is that this Jeep has about 25% more power than the V6 in Dutch—but gear is different too so that might be it.
Shifting the T18 is definitely going to be a learned behavior - 3rd gear is the tough one - seemed to either try to hit reverse or 1st, and grind either way.
Low/Low. Wow. Kinda like the our Pontiac 6000 when I step on it - engine revs but speed barely increases…but this is a good thing on a Jeep.
Shifter/tranny cover job looks pretty good.
Drivers seat has been moved back so legroom is pretty good, still don’t like the 4cyl Jeep pedal, and kinda wishing I hadn’t given my V6 one away with the ‘58. Seems to not want to idle down cleanly, but would if I gave it quick tap.
But - definitely sit too high. Feels like sitting in 60CJ and looking directly at the top of the w/s frame. Between removing the sliders and changing to late model frame I hope to solve most of that. These seats look taller in the butt area too.
Motor sits in there real nice. There’s at least 1.5” and maybe 2” between the firewall and distributor. I’ll take better pics tomorrow as it really proves the 4.3 can be done without hacking the firewall, and still run an engine driven fan with full headlight buckets.
I gotta working backup light off the tranny! It’s a fancy Jeep!
Electric fuel pump, with some kinda primer deal setup - push a button and it runs the pump until pressure is up then quits. I think. Also has a low oil pressure kill switch.
Oh - one little thing…I note a pretty good ding in the rear driveshaft…bummer since its so new the sticker is still on it. Looks big enough to put the balance off a tad. Might have to deal with the PO on that one.
8.14.2004 Making It Our Own
I spent the day on the Jeep today, both getting to know it and making it our own by swapping on Dutch’s wheels and tires, cutting off the front grill guard and tow bar, and giving it a good cleaning. More pics….
Just as a reminder, here’s what we started with:
And what it looks like now:
More angles:
And here’s the reason for all this fuss and bother…
Comments are closed, but you can read the comments other people left.
Timmy on August 16, 2004
sparky on August 16, 2004
Worth on August 16, 2004
Michael Boyink (Author) on August 16, 2004
Worth on August 18, 2004
Jason on February 18, 2008
greg on January 07, 2009