mikegp

Hey, I might be buying a CJ-5 from a friend of mine for about 1000$ to have as a long time restoration project. im not sure the year but it came with a buick 304 v8 engine

my question is: it has rusted through a bit round where the stick shift lever meets the floor panel. the width of the hole is around 1/2" and the length is prob 5". can this be simply repaired by welding plates under and on top or is this a serious issue

drew

I'm no expert but a little rust around the gearshift might be the least of your worries. CJ bodies tend to rust around the wheel wells and rockers. The frames tend to rust where they arch over the rear axle. Let's face it, they're rust buckets. Crawl under it and check it out completely.
The 304 V8 was from AMC and is arguably the best motor ever put in a Jeep. Buick sold a 225 V6 to Jeep from the mid 60s to the early 70s.
$1000 sounds like a pretty good deal if it runs. Decide what you want to do with it and how much you want to spend. The sky's the limit.
There's a ton of info available on the web. Books by Jim Allen and others are great sources. Parts are so available you could probably build one from scratch.
Good Luck

JohnnyQuik

It's the rust in the frame you really need to worry about. If a little rust around the shifter is the biggest concern, I'd say go for it. A buddy of mine bought one many years ago without having someone who knows something about them look at it first. It had a big lift with 35's and a shiny paint job. It also had so much rust the spring shackle broke off the frame within a week and the floor boards under the carpet were sheet metal screwed in over foot wide rust gaps.

FWIW, I restored this one a few years ago. It had a fairly well built 304 (headers, cam, intake, Holley 650, etc). It was the only Jeep I've driven that was too fast for it's own good.

mikegp

as far as i can see the frame is in good shape, no cracks or rust holes. its seems to be only the body that is peppered with rust

jeepmedic

You can cut the old panels out, and weld new ones in. Body panels are pretty cheap and easy to replace. Check out Quadratec or 4WD (site sponsers) for replacement panels. DO NOT just weld the new panels over the old ones. You will get water in between and then you have the problem all over again....

I did mine like this:









The seal the overlapping from water...



bondo, primer, paint !





Theres always a fiberglass body to fix the whole problem....$2500-3000 on average.

Like others have said...the frame is the most important part. If that is solid the jeep can live forever !


Good luck