My full conversion

[smokeum99ta]

It's been a couple weeks but my son and I got some stuff accomplished today's.

Took out the old gauges





The spiderweb of wires



Got the boy to install a overflow tank.



Snuck a picture of him at work



The overflow tank finished



Gauges done. Need some screws for all the plastic trim pieces but for now I'm happy with the gauges









So glad I went the Dakota digital setup. Very simple to install and it came with everything that was needed. What you'll think?

 

[onetonbb74]

Looks good, wish that setup was around when I did my dash. Do they make a 120 mph speedometer?

 

[smokeum99ta]

Looks good, wish that setup was around when I did my dash. Do they make a 120 mph speedometer?

Thanks. Yes they make a 120 speedo. There all kinds of setups. Thought I bought a 120 speedo, but just went back thru my order only to see that I musta missed it. Oh well I still like it.

 

[smokeum99ta]

Well today I put insurance and tags on the beast. Took the family for a quick spin around county. Trucks runs and drive perfect. Couldn’t have asked for anything more. Feel so awesome cruising around in it. Still got some odds and ends that I wanna do but hey it great for now.

 

[2Dogs]

Nice work! Props for tackling anything/everything that got in your way!

 

[smokeum99ta]

Nice work! Props for tackling anything/everything that got in your way!

Thanks It was totally worth it in the end.

 

[smokeum99ta]

So after yesterday's maiden voyage, today i took the beast to my friends shop to check the alignment. And everything was spot on other than the toe in.


The truck just cleared the garage door by a 1/4 of a inch. Thought we were gonna have let all the air outta the tires to get her in there. Lol






After cruising around today I'm seriously considering selling my jeep now, as I have no interest in driving it anymore lol

 

[smokeum99ta]

Driving around at night sucked with the lighting the truck had. So I bought some LEDs lights and wiring harness.


Not sure I like the look of these but I'll wait to see the finished results




The wiring harness



Before



After



Low beams



High beams



After all was said and done. I like the lights since the grill hides most of them. And the wiring harness from lmc is a piece of s*** . Should've been plug and play but it wasnt. Wires were stuck inside the wrong ports of the harness. Then only one light would work from each side. So I had to rip the brand new harness apart and redo the wiring so that all the lights work. Next time I'll just buy a couple relays and wire to save the headache.

 

[smokeum99ta]

Next up is the top. Gonna do a light sand and paint with a black bedliner.

Carried the top inside the carport





Not sure if you can see the difference where I did but the black stuff was very rough and the rest pretty smooth




Left half done.



Done for tonight. Playoff baseball time

 

[smokeum99ta]

Finished sanding and washed the top



Taped off the window edges.



First coat applied




I purposely coated the rubber seals just in case anyone was wondering. My thoughts on that is to help prolong the gasket since I didnt buy a new one and I think it looks cleaner. Tomorrow I'll apply another coat or two to finish it up.

 

[smokeum99ta]

Top is done. Installed new seals on it. Put it on the truck.









Ran into a little issue with window seals at the top section. Hoping someone will chome in on how to fix it.

 

[imiceman44]

Top is done. Installed new seals on it. Put it on the truck.









Ran into a little issue with window seals at the top section. Hoping someone will chome in on how to fix it.

Unfortunately 9had the same problem with my 73, you need to adjust the door to match the seal plane, and once you get that right then you adjust the fender to match the door with shims.

 

[smokeum99ta]

It's been awhile since I've done anything other than drive my beast. But I've been collecting some stereo stuff.





First things first. Gotta mount the amp. Decided on mounting it under the passenger seat. So I built a mount.




Test fit on the mount.



I painted the mount. I wanted to paint it black but all I had was red. So that'll have to do for now.



Mounted





Controls are easily accessed.

 

[smokeum99ta]

Next it was time to mount the front speakers in the doors. Started with the passenger side.

After a few layouts and some test holes. I found a way to mount them with interfering anything.



Hole cut out



Cutting out the hole in the carpet



Running the wire sure was a pita.



Mounted



Turned out OK. But when I did the drivers side the window motor is in a different spot than the passengers. And after cutting the hole it pushed the speaker to close to the edge of the door not allowing it to close without rubbing. So I'm scraping this setup and building a raised box in the next few weeks

 

[smokeum99ta]

Got some thick paper from my wife to mock up the speaker box I'm gonna make. After some measurements I came up with this



Made it curve like the door



Will clear the carpet



Fits closed



Plenty of leg room. Doesnt interfere with comfort




Think I'm gonna send it. Now to pick up some sheet metal and fab it up

 

[smokeum99ta]

Well I couldn't wait for the weekend sonic picked up a small piece of 22 gauge sheet metal.



Took apart the tape and laid out my templates to ensure I had enough.



Cut out the pieces. I tried something new, used sheetmetal snips instead of the grinder to cut down on dust. Came out alright but left a jagged edge. I just pounded them flat.



Tacked up



Welded inside and out then ground the outside smooth





Double checking fitment again and lay out speaker hole





Mounting clips



All clips welded and hole cut out



Speaker fits



And of course some primer



Gonna make the other side tomorrow. Not sure if I'll paint them or cover them with carpet.

 

[smokeum99ta]

Put some carpet on the boxes I made today









Mounted



Passenger door finished. Eventually I'll get black door panels and paint the carpet black too. I think itll look better.





Drivers door



Drivers door looks nicer since the panel is black.

 

[smokeum99ta]

Working on my stereo today. Made new panels.

Started with the originals. Used them as a template








Cut out and routered smooth. Wasnt gonna use the original 4x10 rear speakers but someone swapped them out for a decent set so I figured why not lol





Covered the panels in black felt.








Before





After





Speakers installed




Not sure why I put the cigarette ashtray back in since i cant stand smoking but i felt like it needed it.





Once again not sure if I'm gonna keep the speaker grills white or paint them. So for now I'll leave them alone. Also ran all the wiring for the speakers and amplifier but no pictures.

 

[smokeum99ta]

Finished up stereo today. I also installed a small fused distribution block to try to clean up the engine bay some. I had way to many wires hooked directly to the battery for my liking. Kinda still do but its alot better than before.



Now I have 4 open spots for future connections



Probably gonna get something like this to finish it off

 

[dasnake15]

Found some rust that caused some pin holes. But I welded them up and bondo will do the rest.











Shockingly the measurements are correct without cutting again and the door gaps are pretty good. More to come tomorrow

I know you did this is almost two years ago but would you know the measurements, off hand? I had a 90 K5 tub converted to full convertible and put it on my 73 chassis a couple of years ago. I just tried to put my top on but it looks like the windshield frame is too high making a gap where to top sits on the quarter panel.