VM 2.8 turbo diesel frame-up TJ build

I can’t say WOW enough! Your build/swap is truly amazing!

I’d love to do something like this someday. But I’m busy right now restoring my son’s ‘73 Nova. Replacing all the rusty body parts, tubbing it, and stuffing a 383 stroker in it.
It was his first car. I gave it to him when he was 16.😸
Thanks.

73 Nova....awesome car...would love to see pics if you have.....

Thanks for looking at our build....it's been 2 1/2 years and 5 semesters.....everyone who worked on it are anxious to see it go......but not looking like it will happen till next quadmester....which is in February. Still needs drive shafts, a hood, intercooler plumbing and a few other odds and ends. Keep watching for the updates....thanks again.
 
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Damn that thing looks sharp. Are you going to keep those wheels or go with another set?
I've never bought new rims and tires for any car I've ever owned but the TJ is definitely getting new rims and tires.....only problem is that I don't really know what I want. Any ideas as to rubber and rims would be welcome. Thanks again.
 
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What a great feeling to have one foot out of the tunnel! Great work, and a fantastic result-and a big congrats to your students as well.
Thanks! Seems lately that we're taking one step forward and two backward. We were filling up the radiator the other day and a student noticed a leak....he went to investigate the source and found the plastic bottom of the rad was cracked....somebody must have dropped it because it was holding coolant when we stripped the chassis. Going to buy an all aluminum rad to replace it, but auto class ends on Friday....new auto class doesn't start till February. Keep watching for updates and thanks again.
 
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The auto shop at the school is back on and we’ve already started working on the Jeep. In November, on the last day before auto classes ended we discovered a crack in the lower tank on the rad....ordered an all aluminum 4-core rad with a built in fan and shroud out of Gaylord, Michigan. Students installed it, but had to first plasma-cut a notch out of the mounting bracket to accommodate the inter cooler piping. Another class installed the two plastic rocker mouldings and an LED license plate light. We had to go with euro/Aussie tail lights and they don’t have an integrated license plate light. A great start to our first week back in the shop. Slip yoke eliminator for the NP-242HD transfer case on order from Tom Woods....looking forward to getting it installed so that we can take measurements for custom drive shafts.

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Man this is awesome!

Oh, and tell that kid to pull his mask over his nose! :LOL:

I'm kidding of course, the mask police piss me off.

Seriously though, love the color and can't wait to see it once it's all done. Anxious to hear how you like driving it as well. More kids need to spend time doing stuff like this. Keep them out of trouble at that age.
 
This is fantastic.
I’m sure every kid who ever had hands on this, when they see you rolling around town will brag about how they helped rebuild it.
Every kid who has worked on it has also signed their name with a sharpie on the inside of the 1/4 panel....1/4’s are both full of names!
 
Lots of highs and lows this week! Got the slip yoke eliminator and when we opened it up we discovered one spline on the tom woods shaft is different from ours and so it has to go back. Now not sure what to do. Was thinking of buying the hack n tap kit for the nv242 but the bearing retainer on my case doesn't have a flange to mount the seal to that comes in the kit. Posted pics of the kit along with the bearing retainer from our transfer case...the kit has a red anodized seal retainer with a 4 bolt flange....but nowhere to bolt it to on our case.....hoping someone can give me some direction on how to make this work. I like the idea of the hack n tap because we have the machine shop literally in the same room as the auto shop. Machine shop teacher is on board with cutting, drilling and tapping the output shaft for us....that way it will have a nice square cut and perfectly centered threads on the end. Also got the hood on and realized that it has a different flatness relative to the rest of the front end...will have to scotch-pad and re-clear the jeep when I can get it to the family body shop. Lots of disappointment on the transfer case issue because we were all looking forward to getting it measured up for drive shafts....everybody want to see this thing move.

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You can always keep the hood flat-there is quite a sun-glare off all that real estate, and sometimes it’s right in your eyes. Disappointed with that SYE- we are all looking forward to the first video under power. You guys are so close!
 
You can always keep the hood flat-there is quite a sun-glare off all that real estate, and sometimes it’s right in your eyes. Disappointed with that SYE- we are all looking forward to the first video under power. You guys are so close!
Turns out I can use the slip yoke eliminator from tom woods but need to change out the oil pump and bearing retainer with one from an 03 grand cherokee with a 4.7 v8....I called on an old friend that works parts at a dodge jeep dealer in Cedarburg Wisconsin...he's a whiz and gave me a list of vehicles that have the transfer case parts that I need....I was feeling so defeated yesterday but now very happy that I can use the tom woods slip yoke eliminator.
 
Turns out I can use the slip yoke eliminator from tom woods but need to change out the oil pump and bearing retainer with one from an 03 grand cherokee with a 4.7 v8....I called on an old friend that works parts at a dodge jeep dealer in Cedarburg Wisconsin...he's a whiz and gave me a list of vehicles that have the transfer case parts that I need....I was feeling so defeated yesterday but now very happy that I can use the tom woods slip yoke eliminator.
Very cool. Having friends like that-it's a different kind of wealth.
 
Lots of education for the teacher this past few weeks trying to figure out how to make the slip yoke eliminator for the NP242-HD from Tom Woods fit into the donor NV242 transfer case from the Liberty. So if anybody ever wants to install an NV242 into their TJ, and want to use the said SYE, the bearing retainer housing and the transfer case oil pump must be swapped out for replacements from an 02-03 Grand Cherokee with a 4.7 litter v8. Got it all back together today and we're now ready to measure and adjust our driveline angles and also measure it for drive shafts. Hoping to have those in our hands before the end of next week. The short list is getting shorter and I'm getting pretty excited.

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Got the cooling system done today...we plumbed it with copper and straight pieces of rubber. Started her up and let her run for 20 minutes...got it up to operating temp..no leaks...machine shop in town is making drive shafts and should be done in a few days....still need to finish power steering and intercooler plumbing...when the engine warms up it doesn't sound diesel enough...I guess thats how common rail diesels sound...
 
Got the cooling system done today...we plumbed it with copper and straight pieces of rubber. Started her up and let her run for 20 minutes...got it up to operating temp..no leaks...machine shop in town is making drive shafts and should be done in a few days....still need to finish power steering and intercooler plumbing...when the engine warms up it doesn't sound diesel enough...I guess thats how common rail diesels sound...
Tried to post a video but file size was too large