CJ7 Restoration...Where To Start?!

[CJ7Romeo]

Hey everyone!

I just recently bought a 1979 CJ7 to restore, but have no idea where to start. The whole vehicle has been pulled apart, now its time to start sourcing new pieces and putting it back together again! Im new to all of this so have no idea where to start, what do you recommend? Start on the body and work my way in? Go from the ground up?

Who here has done a CJ7 restoration, and how would you recommend I go about it? Where is a good place to source CJ7-compatible hardware that is also affordable (Im based in Australia and would like to keep it local) I want to keep costs as low as possible, Any and all help will be much appreciated!

I'l post pics of the whole operation as soon as I get it underway!

 

[blackcj]

Congrats on the purchase and welcome to the family. Being a CJ 7 owner for 12 years I have torn my jeep apart a bunch if times. Learning lots on the way. It all depends on the condition of the jeep. How's the frame ? Hows the tub? And if you go that far and if the bank account allows it beef up the drive train while it's all open and accessible. What kind of offroading are you doing. This will depend on what kind of ride to build. If your building a great little rig with the 258 and some 35's or a big block with 40's and diffs the size of sydney. Start restoring what you want the rig to look like. Do it for the reason why you got it. It's endless what you could do. FYI I wound clean up the electrical system CJ 's have the worst wiring from the factory. Have fun

 

[69jeepcj]

I have redone many 7,s. To keep cost way down, what I did was evaluate the condition of what I had (frame and drivetrain, then body) search the local classifieds and ebay. I determined what I needed more, good drivetrain parts (engine, trans, driveshafts,ect.) or body, interrior parts. I looked for a complete jeep that had either good drivetrain or body, it seems you will get one or the other and not both when buying this way. Find a jeep that is being parted out or real close to it for super cheap, use what you need and sell the rest or haul it to the junk yard when your done. I have found whole jeeps for 500 bucks that we only put a new tub and fenders on, and ditch its rusted out body. Going about it this way only gets you a nice stock looking jeep but then I would buy the lift, tires and what ever else you wanted to upgrade it with, you will be using used parts as well so more than likely down the road things like ujoints, starters, altenators may go out, I seemed to work out the bugs for a few months after it was up and running, but fine after that. For a budget build this has been my best bet. I have gone the expensive route in the past as well and, well, its expensive.