Willys 2a 4L60E budget renovation basic tools

anyone got a good way to measure caster when reinstalling Cs on D44?
I have used digital level on flat of lower ball joint stud surface but wondering how others do it.
Camber - anyone have a method to measure when setting C's on tubes?
Will have housing tacked to bench with pinon at desired angle, heat Cs on grill to 250 ish and setting on with weld gloves and a little tap tap.

Progress
Mounted rear leaf front fixed hangers. Made hangers with rounded ends and a bit oblong to have adjust ability to get rear shackle at desired angle. used 3/16 plate tacked to pipe, heated and bent. Did some more frankenstein boxing of frame and frenched in by drilling 3 inch hole saw holes 1 inch apart. Mounted at 42.5 eye to eye, did not like rear shackle angle so redrilled 1.25 back for 41.25 eye to eye. shackle angle with one leaf is 25* no load, 65 degrees when leaf flat. Will see how it is once loaded. Using same BDS YJ 2 or 2.5 inch lift springs that been using for 10 years. will be spring under again.
Do you think i need to plate the frame where frenched? Was thinking adding 1/8 to each side but.....

cleaned up the leafs and did a little diagnol end cut chamfering to help allow more twist. Read an article from Deaver Spring years ago to do this.

Began front axle conversion from psgr to driver diff. Was thinking making a metal puller jig to pull Cs but thought heck a chain worked fine. DId this converison before on a D30 for my Commando using pinion center line as reference and cut long tube to short length. Been working godd for 8 years so far. on highway and wheeling. On this one i am considering shortening short side for better d shaft and crankshaft pulley clearance. Gotta mock up axle, engine, trans tcase to ensure front d shaft will clear. will need to make spring perch along side and maybe nothced into diff housing a bit. Any suggestions?

oh yeah. Married the frame back together. Added 10 inches and widened rear section 7 inches. got it pretty close. best i can tell is 1/2 twist in 12 feet. left front of frame to right rear. which i do not think is too bad for an ole 46 frame that there is hardly a place on it that it measures consistently from side to side or front to rear. Oh and it is 1/4 inch longer on one side verse other - Perfect! pics of the fun. pic of heep before started.

Any updates?

I'm starting a build soon

Vacation over so back working on it. Driveline is mounted mostly. Grill moved fwd to within inch of winch 8274 radiator an inch from grill. Mocked up front d shaft and going back on my comment need to have driver drop due to 4l60e trans. Passengers drop may have worked with my wider d44 frt. may have had to limit up travel to starter clearance. Or a 2 piece shaft. Would allow possibly a d300 t case or other and lower gear. Cheap build equal np241 and Jb conversion short sye.

Got front axle converted to driver drop cutting long tube to short length and sleeving cut piece to short side. Did this on my commando d30 and worked fine. Lot of work in d44 to make sua mount on driver side of diff. If I had to do again I buy a driver drop and narrow it. Chamfer and plug welded aligning with angles

dug the now 2 piece body out of snow bank and aligned on frame. Plan is add 3 to hood 4 to doors, 4 at rear wheel well. I stretched frame 10. Could have gotten away , had ok rear d shaft, with 8 and maybe 6 being how much I gained moving grill forward and rear axle back. Fun part is finding consistent reference spot left right and front back on body to measure off to center etc. Same on frame. Nothing real exact on this ole thing. Body is fiberglass so not sure tolerance. Mounted a string level and centered on frame an inch above body aligning best guess center marks on body and leveled body to string. This body always looked a little ****ed as if sagging at door. So can’t just level floor and glass back together.

Plan is glass floor and side at door back together keeping body line level. Floor is inch thick .25 glass .5 wood. 25 glass. Used multi tool to cut and bevel floor for glass prep. Left bottom .25 glass there. Gonna screw sheet metal up to bottom lay wax paper for release and start glassing and sandwich .25 to .5, wood in middle to take up space Inch thick fiberglass is a lot.

Brakes - need ideas for a new rear disc set up. Parts including hard to find brake cable for the 1985 Nissan 300z calipers I using are a bit of pita. Ideally a newer vintage caliper with e brake 2” or 50mm piston that has piston/pad travel range of 0.4” to 0.35” to match Suzuki/Geo Tracker rotor I using. The 300z caliper has been good balance with chev 1/2 ton disc up frt. Hydra boost, With 35’s, 4,000# vehicle so the 2” piston fairly important. Running the 5-5.5 pattern. Any ideas?
2015 escape travel good but piston 12mm smaller.

Glued 4 inch gap at door cut back together. Have 4 layers of 1708 fiberglass matting over wood and honeycomb coremat core holding it together. Lifted it and no cracking. Now onto cutting it at rear wheel well to stretch 4 more inches. Stretching in 3 places to keep proportions looking good. 3rd stretch will be in hood.

Gas tank - need ideas.
Plan
build out of 14 ga plain steel
Separate skid plate
Bung and sump well for oem 2000 vintage GM pump
Located between r axle and r frame member protruding up through floor about 6 inches.
Will have removeable seat on top
Approx space/ tank size 32 x 18 x 10 tall
did similar in my Commando out of 1/8” and welded mount tabs and no skid. This jeep gonna take more rock impacts back there is reason for lighter material and separate skid
Mount ideas for a thin material tank?
Any pre made brand using GM pump I should look at?

Summer over so back at it again. reinforced frame dog legs, boxed remainder of frame in, completed the 4 inch body stretch at rear wheel opening and filled in old cage holes and dash gauge holes in preparation for the 99 s10 cluster to be sunk in dash. used 12' of 60 inch wide 1708 csm fiberglass matting and close to 2 gallons resin. Mocked up seats and cage a bit which led to more body mods of cutting floor again moving the bumped up section of rear floor to the rear a bit to get psgr seat back further, drivers side done years ago, and make room for cage bars for seat mounts. patterned rear wheel well panel to fill in gap from stretching body 4 at rear wheel and moving axle back. planning to make rear wheel well filler panels on bench, then glass into body as part of interior floor extension that will support them. pics of near full compress and approx rider height at rear. some other items and pics. Please share any suggestions or what i should be planning for.

Figure out the fan yet? If not:



These are great sources for the newer brushless ****.

Decided to use oem mechanical clutch fan. Anyone need Volvo electric fan with relay set up? I have a couple .

Been fiberglassing and modifying body more. Body mostly completed, need to add 3 inch to fenders and hood. Any ideas how/where to add this and keep the taper and look?
Used approx 25 feet x 50 inch wide fiberglass 1708 mat and 3 gals polyester resin approximately to stretch 4 inch in two places, modify floor, trans tunnel, patch old holes and fill in dash gauges for clean slate to sink 2000 chev instrument cluster in it. About $400 for all materials. including enough to finish stretch of fenders and hood. Not sure what would have cost if was a metal body, however working with fiberglass is pretty easy and end product strong. Made and installed fiberglass wheel well filler panels, cut floor and moved the raised up rear section back more to get seats back further, cut floor for under floor battery and or air compressor that may get a metal box built in once cage in to see clearance, formed up trans tunnel with chicken wire and wood covered in tin foil and layered fiberglass on. THen flipped body and peeled off chicken wire and wood. TIn foil release worked great. Then 2 layes core mat and 2 layers fiberglass on bottom side. It really stiffend up the tunnel sides. Chicken wire mold works well.

love to hear ideas to stretch fenders and hood 3 inch and move the rear angled downward portion of fender forward more to close up wheel opening. The axle is moved forward so have larger than stock gap rear of tire to rear of fender. Pics follow.

fender hood stretch ideas????
FUel tank build started. Mocked up size with wood/carboard. 27 wide, 24 long, rear portion drops behind axle and is 11 tall. Will hang 2 inch below rear frame rail and have skid plate, tanks sticks up 1 inch above floor. front portion of tank is 5 tall going over rear axle. 20 gal capacity. Fabbed up tank today from a sheet of 14 gauge. Bent floor seperate, then bent up sides with 1 inch flange that captures tank floor profile. will weld in and out. Lid will have GM pump mount and a couple 1/4 npt bungs to pressurize and one for a gauge. Will soap seams to ensure no leaks. It is bare mild steel. Did same in my COmmando and no issues in 10 -12 years. PLanning to recess rear corner of tank lid about 1.5 inch so pump does not stick up higher than tank top. Anyone on if having tank mount flange below full level a bad idea?
Spare tire will sit on top of tank and rear seat at time. Planning a cover plate of sort to protect tank.

Fuel tank vent/roll over valve - any ideas?
one for axles trans t case too?

side plates of tank