I am at the beginning of my project of building a CJ with a Small-block chevy, roots style blower through the hood and a TH-400 4WD trans as my starting position.
I will be starting from scratch with a new manufactured chassis, fiberglass tub and trying to build it to be bulletproof to anything I throw at it. I'm Looking for the best axles & housings, and everything to get it all lined up in order.
Disc brakes are planned all around, and I would love to have lock-outs all the way around too.

it is going to be more road driven & show then out in the dirt, but I still want it trailworthy in case I ever get a chance to go out west.

Can anyone suggest companies to avoid? to use? Good luck & bad luck stories to go along with them?

Thanks, I look forward to chatting through my build.

BTW, this will be my 4th CJ, I had 3 CJ-7's by AMC, and a CJ-5 made by Kaiser.
I would like to base my build off the 1980-86 wide-track CJ-7. the 5 I had was a bit funky handling compared to my 7's

Well tooold as you prolly know by now the build will depend entirely on the tire size you intend to use.. So starting with tire height you will then choose wheather or not to use one ton axles are lighter.. Pushing with a blower will require stronger axles than most rigs..
Then you will need to STOP that thing so you will want the largest dia rotors/drums you can fit in there.. As you prolly have found big tires don't stop well with small rotors..
I'd be looking for a 3/4 or one ton donor for my tranny and axles.
Big JIm <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/pfft.gif" alt="" />

3 CJ builds and counting...please share your knowledge.

<img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cheers.gif" alt="" />
B

I am starting from scratch for axles & housings, it will have disc brakes all around. I am planning on using 32" tires as a starting point. Not too huge, but respectably sized for it's intended usage.

The blower will be underdriven, it is more for show and noise then to build any real HP. I chose the roots style blower for it low-end grunt and high visibility sticking out of the hood.

The engine will be a GM crate engine, or just a shortblock since I need to go with 7-1 compression pistons. A steel crank, Electric fuel injection that looks like a mechanical system.
What headers are working best with Chevy small blocks in a Jeep chassis? Or should I look for a set of Ram-style cast iron manifolds from the 70's corvettes and get those ceramic coated. a Mr. Gass "X-pipe" will be right behind the headers, and I plan on dumping the exhaust out the sides in front of the rear wheels.

the chassis will be fully Line-X coated, I plan on lots of chrome, a fuel cell under the body behind the rear seat, and a full roll cage becuase I had my 86 CJ-7 upside a few times (6-flips from what the witnesses stated) down on a freeway from a head-on collision and recognize the need for better protection there. This was back in 1989, and yes it still hurts!!
The seats will be aluminum high-backed race seats with 4-point harness's.
Accesory lighting? I saw a rack in the 4wd hardware catalog that flips downward when not being used, are they worth it, or are they junk?

Thanks for any help you offer, please mention some other places for getting parts if you know of any. I got the JC Whitney catalogs (JCW is mostly junk IMO) and 4wd hardware catalogs so far.

If you are that worried abuot safety, get 5 point harnesses instead of 4 point...They're safer by far.

And IMO, I don't like the overhead lighting...looks bad, and seems to be easily damaged.

heres is where we are at so for, it looks like BDS is going to be my blower of choice along with their electric fuel injection that maintains the classic looks of the old mechanical systems.

And to clear things up, this is not my 4th build, just my 4th CJ, this is the first "real" Build from the ground up.
I have located a few rotted CJ choices to use the VIN number from. Has anyone played with adapters from Novak engineering? Have they been quality pieces? if not, please explain any issues.

Thanks