EFI Swap Lets Junk Mail DJ5 Conquer the Trails

(Jeremy)>> You're watching Powernation!

(Jimmy)>> Keep going!

(Jeremy)>> Today on Carcass Junk Mail was such a blast that we had to bring it back. We have a few more goodies to add making it the ultimate wheeler.

(Jimmy)>> We also fabricate some new doors for added safety on the trails, and then take it out for some more adventures. ♪ ♪ [ tires squealing ] ♪ ♪

(Jimmy)>> What's up everybody? Welcome to Carcass. Today we've got Project Junk Mail, our 1978 DJ-5 Jeep back in the shop, and this thing started out as a down on its luck mail delivery vehicle and we've turned it into this. After we stripped it down to just the frame rails we got to work. We built our very own four link suspension, assembled a set of one ton axles, dropped in the freshly rebuilt drivetrain, and we rounded that all off with a paint scheme that paid tribute to the mail Jeep's roots. Then we headed out to put all of our hard work to the test.

(Jeremy)>> And today it's all about improvements. You know when you build a rig like this you just build with the money you have available, and then when you gain a little bit more money like when that stimulus check hits you can rush out and support the economy and buy some Jeep parts and throw it at your trail rig. That's what we're gonna be doing today. So we're gonna convert this thing into fuel injection, take care of some steering upgrades, and build a set of custom tube doors to help us feel a little bit safer when we're out on the trails. Jimmy let's get started.

(Jimmy)>> Let's do it.

(Jeremy)>> For the fuel injection setup underneath the hood of our Jeep we went with an e-f-i master kit that we picked up from FiTech. It comes with everything you need to install it underneath the hood. You've got some hoses and some fittings, a little fuel filter here. You've got your hand held controller that helps you watch your vital signs, and your throttle body setup. Now we went with the Go Street 400 horsepower throttle body and it works well with vehicles ranging from 150 to about 400 horsepower, and since our Jeep's got about 250 horse this thing will work perfectly. Now another big part of their setup is their force fuel module. This works in conjunction with your factory fuel pump, and what that does is puts fuel into this module. This module converts it into enough fuel pressure to control the injectors in the throttle body and you're all set to go. Like I said super simple to install. We're gonna start right here with the module. Okay so to mount the module we could go back here on the firewall but it gets a little close to the exhaust manifold. We could go down in some of these little crevices but it could make it hard to plumb. So we think we're gonna mount it right here on the shock hoop. Now you can mount this completely vertical or horizontal and we're gonna go kinda half way in between. We'll mount it right here. So all I've got to do is just make a couple mounts and we'll get this thing installed. Alright let's make our bracket about three and a quarter. Using some one inch flat strap I'll cut some pieces, drill some holes, and weld it all together. ♪ ♪ Alright so now we'll just bolt these bolt these brackets onto this module, and then we'll just weld everything in the Jeep. ♪ ♪ So we'll just get this set in place here on the shock hoop and we'll grab the welder and weld it in. [ welder crackling ]

(Jeremy)>> Alright! ♪ ♪ Okay we'll get rid of a couple of fuel lines, get this carburetor out of the way, and then I'll set our throttle body in place. ♪ ♪ Alright now all we do is set our throttle body into place and it bolts right up to the existing flange that the carburetor sat on. Alright so that's the two major parts of our fuel injection system installed. So now what I have to do is hook up some lines that go from the module to the throttle body and then we'll run one from here back to the fuel cell. ♪ ♪ For our return line we went with braided stainless steel to give us a little more protection underneath the Jeep. ♪ ♪ With the return line installed we'll hook up a couple of quick connections. ♪ ♪ Alright one of the last things we have to do is install an oxygen sensor because our e-f-i needs to see an air/fuel ratio in order for it to work correctly, and FiTech sends this little adapter. So all we have to do is drill a hole into our exhaust, clamp it down with the supplied clamps, and that just means no welding involved. Alright so we don't have a lot of room down here on the exhaust because it's so short, and the idea is to stay far enough away from the manifold before we get to the muffler, and we want to put this on a flat, not any type of a curve. So I think the spot to be is gonna be to install this right about there. Using a step drill I'll drill a hole in our exhaust and install the sensor bung and our sensor. ♪ ♪ Now all we have to do is just plug in the connector. Alright that wraps up everything underneath the hood. Now we'll go inside, connect the hand held, and fire this thing up. ♪ ♪ So with our hand held plugged in I've got to do the initial setup. Like tell it we've got six cylinder, 258 cubic inches, and we'll set the idle speed to about 850 and this thing should fire right up. [ engine starting ]

(Jeremy)>> Just like that. So now all we have to do is a couple more things to button this thing up and then we're gonna head right back out on the trails. ♪ ♪

(Jimmy)>> Coming up, we build some custom tube doors for Junk Mail giving us some added protection.

(Jimmy)>> At this point Jeremy's finished up our e-f-i conversion. So what I'm gonna start doing is working on a set of tube doors for our Jeep. The last time we were on the trail we were lacking some side protection in the rare event that we tipped this thing on a rock. So what I envision here is coming off our roll cage bar with a set of hinges that make the door easily removable, come straight across, kinda contour the body, and then go back across. Maybe put a plate in the center to make it look cool, and really that starts with cutting some tube. [ saw buzzing ]

(Jimmy)>> I'll start by cutting out some inch and a half d-o-m for the door. Then I'll cut out a chassis side of the hinges and put two 90 degree bends in each one. ♪ ♪ [ mechanical humming ]

(Jimmy)>> Alright so I've got one half of the hinges cut out and bent, and what I did was I mounted them on a piece of three-eighths rod, and what I'm doing here is just making sure that they stay in alignment when I go to tack these on to our roll cage bar. So I'll just prep this tube, place our front half hinges here, and that way I can put the other side of the hinges on this tube, hang the front tube, and then build the rest of the door from here instead of trying to float the whole door in here and then try to mount it later. So I just gotta prep this and then tack. [ grinder buzzing ] [ welder crackling ]

(Jimmy)>> With one half of the hinges tacked in I'll mount the door side of the hinges using a couple of bolts. ♪ ♪ Alright just got to tack it. [ welder crackling ]

(Jimmy)>> Alright it doesn't bind or anything. So we can start building doors. About 29. ♪ ♪ When making tube doors like this it's just a lot of cutting and notching until you get to the desired design that you want. [ saw buzzing ] ♪ ♪ [ welder crackling ] ♪ ♪

(Jimmy)>> Alright two more tubes, one down and one across, and then we'll figure out something in the middle. [ saw buzzing ]

(Jimmy)>> I've just got to make sure this tube is level with the top one and we'll tack it in. [ welder crackling ]

(Jimmy)>> Alright so the door's almost done and we have one more tube to make, and actually on the door itself I'm gonna put a notch in this tube going down. That way we can run a tube from up here down to here and it'll stick out a little bit on the bottom just like this side. [ saw buzzing ]

(Jimmy)>> Alright so we've got this end fitting pretty good. The only thing now is notching this tube so that it can slide up farther and meet this one. Get a good weld around it and then we'll figure out something for the frame. [ saw buzzing ] ♪ ♪

(Jimmy)>> Alright with that tube in place we can start working on the cover. For the door cover we're using eighth inch plate for added protection. ♪ ♪ Alright that looks like it fits pretty good but I'm not gonna put this on yet until I can weld the tubes all the way around. So for right now I'm just gonna get working on the latch and then we'll finish the door. For the latch we're going with an auto lock bear claw that we got from Summit Racing. These are pretty universal. You can use them for a hot rod or a Jeep, and I've just got to mount this one on a plate, weld it to the door itself, and then I have to make a plate to mount on the inside to mount the pin. So once that's done this thing will be fully operational. [ mechanical humming ] [ welder crackling ] ♪ ♪

(Jimmy)>> Alright let's see. Alright so the only thing left is to weld this whole thing up and give it a fresh coat of paint.

(Jeremy)>> Up next we take our steering to the next level.

(Jimmy)>> What do you think?

(Jeremy)>> Dude I love the doors. They work perfectly on the Jeep. So that's one thing we took care of. The other thing is we switched this over to fuel injection. The last thing we're gonna do is some steering upgrades. Now if we ever move over to a bigger set of wheels and tires it's a good idea for us to do some steering work. So we're gonna be moving away from the hydro assisted steering and go to a full hydro setup.

(Jimmy)>> And something that you get with a four link and crossover steering setup is bump steer, and inherently bump steer isn't a problem, especially in a rock crawling situation because you're going so slow that you have full control over your vehicle, but if we were to take something like this down the highway that could quickly turn into a dangerous situation. So full hydraulic steering eliminates bump steer, and like you said if we want to go to a bigger set of wheels and tires that will eliminate any potential issues.

(Jeremy)>> Now we already have PSC steering underneath the Jeep. So a lot of the parts underneath the hood are interchangeable. So it's just an easy solution to use PSC again, but what I do have to do is get rid of this assisted ram down here and the gearbox, and then we have to go to the full hydro ram and you have a solution on how to mount that right?

(Jimmy)>> Yep, I'm gonna cut it on the plasma table.

(Jeremy)>> Well I'm gonna go grab some tools and I'm gonna start getting rid of some parts. ♪ ♪ We'll loosen up some of the fittings on the hydraulic ram to get them out of the way. Then we'll get started on the drag link and the tie rod bar. ♪ ♪ Now we can get the gear box out of the way. [ drill humming ]

(Jeremy)>> Get this heavy thing out of the way. ♪ ♪

(Jimmy)>> Alright so while Jeremy's been taking apart the Jeep I've been designing the bracket for our hydraulic cylinder. So I'll cut it out on the table here, take it over to the Jeep, tack it on, and see if we can make this thing work. [ torch hissing ]

(Jimmy)>> For our cylinder bracket we're using quarter inch steel to make sure this thing stays where we want it to. ♪ ♪ Once it's cut out I'll grind the paint off the axle and start tacking the pieces into place. [ welder crackling ] ♪ ♪

(Jeremy)>> Now the hydraulic assisted steering we had underneath the Jeep used this smaller cylinder in conjunction with our steering gearbox but now that we're going to this full hydro setup we're gonna be using a two and a half inch bore, eight inch stroke cylinder, and that works in conjunction with this orbital. Now this is kind of the brains of the operation that accepts the input from our steering wheel and turns it into a hydraulic pressure, and that moves the ram to the left and to the right. Now we got all of this from PSC and it came as a kit. Everything from our fluid, hoses and fittings, and it even came with all of our steering. Now Jimmy's already got the mount made for the cylinder. So that's where we're gonna start. Wow perfect timing Jimmy. You ready for the cylinder?

(Jimmy)>>> Let's get it in there, at least tack it.

(Jeremy)>> I'll hold it up here for you.

(Jimmy)>> Alright ready?

(Jeremy)>> Yeah that looks close. [ welder crackling ]

(Jimmy)>> With the mounting blocks tacked in we'll remove the hydraulic cylinder and permanently weld everything up. [ welder crackling ]

(Jimmy)>> Then finish it off with a couple of coats of paint. [ aerosol can hissing ]

(Jeremy)>> That looks pretty good.

(Jimmy)>> Thanks, yeah, I already took some measurements for the tie rod. So I'm gonna go get to making those, and it looks like you're gonna mount that.

(Jeremy)>> Yeah I'll set the orbital up here. I think it's gonna go up on the inside chassis rail. I'll get that in there somehow.

(Jimmy)>>> I'll let you get to it.

(Jeremy)>> So I'll set the orbital up here on the inside of the frame rail. So I've just got to kinda mark it. We'll grind all this paint off and tack the bracket in. [ grinder buzzing ]

(Jeremy)>> We'll throw on a couple of tacks to start. Then fully weld it up and paint it to match. ♪ ♪ We'll install our orbital, hook up our steering, and connect our hydraulic lines. ♪ ♪

(Jimmy)>> Alright dude I've got some tie rods for you.

(Jeremy)>> Perfect, I'll get those installed and then just top the whole system off with fluid.

(Jimmy)>> Sweet and I'm gonna bend up a skid plate so we can protect everything we just did, and then we'll be ready to hit the trails.

(Jeremy)>> Sounds awesome!

(Jimmy)>> With all of our new additions we take Junk Mail back to the proving rounds.

(Jimmy)>> Alright everybody we're back out here at Adventure Off Road Park for the second test of our Jeep. We've got full hydraulic steering on this thing now. A couple of other upgrades, e-f-i, and we got some doors on it to give us a little more confidence, and honestly any day that we can get out of the shop is good for us to take. So let's see what we can do.

(Jeremy)>> Let's have some fun right? ♪ ♪ So there wasn't anything wrong with the Jeep before but you can always do improvements right? Not improvements I thing upgrades is a better term there.

(Jimmy)>> And it's kinda natural going from a box setup with a ram assist to a full hydro. That's just what you would do if you're trying to get a little bit more out of your rig. So far this thing is just a little easier to drive probably.

(Jeremy)>>> 100 percent. We're gonna take it out of gear and we're just let the gravity do her thing right now cause she's a little slick out here. Look at that! Again no issues, just a walk in the park. And here look at this super tight turning. That's just good ole fashioned fun right there.

(Jimmy)>> And e-f-i too. There's ways to get a carburetor to work off road with the weird angles and stuff but it's just get in this thing, turn the key, and you're gone.

(Jeremy)>> And I'm barely touching the gas. The idle's not searching. It's just solid steady. It's at 884 r-p-m.

(Jimmy)>> No hesitations.

(Jeremy)>> Just walking! You know you really couldn't ask for a better day. Not to be outside wheeling that's for sure.

(Jimmy)>> Yeah shaded by the trees.

(Jeremy)>> I mean AOP is such a great place to come anyways.

(Jimmy)>> Yeah there's a lot of different terrain. Really there's something for whatever rig you got.

(Jeremy)>> This is different than what we did last time. We're in the same park and yet it's different, which is just nuts. Like a little tricky here. Let's see what happens. That's all it took. I spoke too soon. ♪ ♪ Just like that.

(Jimmy)>> There you go.

(Jeremy)>> Simple enough, now let's try this one. This may be a little trickier cause we've got wet tires now. [ engine revving ]

(Jeremy)>> So we want to go forward?

(Jimmy)>> Go forward yeah. Go, go, go, yeah!

(Jeremy)>> That was perfect. We sat and that was 45 degrees at least. That was a heck of an incline.

(Jimmy)>> Oh I love that. Oh yeah!

(Jeremy)>> Body damage!

(Jimmy)>> A little tree rash alright.

(Jeremy)>> My bad! ♪ ♪

(Jimmy)>> You can't ask for much more than that, and if you guys want to see more of what we're doing go to Powernation TV dot com and be sure to check out our build pages where you can see the square body tow truck, the rally Honda, and more of this Jeep.

(Jeremy)>> We're super close to the truck but I say we hit a couple more trails and then we can call it day.

(Jimmy)>> Let's do it!

(Jeremy)>> Cause you know it is doing exactly what we want it to do right now. Just creep crawling through the woods.