Project Heepster Build Thread ('67 Jeepster)

[Project_Heepster]

Just started this build a few months ago. Figured I'd start up a build thread now that there's a real place to put it again.

Project Heepster is my '67 Jeepster Commando build with a goal of building mainly off budget junkyard parts (hence, the "heep"ster name). This is my first major top to bottom build, so essentially I have no idea what I'm doing just learning along the way. Still have my XJ on 37's to run trails while this thing takes up all the garage space.

Here's a rundown of everything I'm planning to put into the project:

1967 Jeepster Commando Body
Stretched Jeep TJ frame (stock+14")
5.3L Lm7 (or possibly 6.0L if I can find a good deal, havent bought an engine yet).
4l60/4l65
NP241C
99-04 Ford Dana 60 Front
Ford Dana 70 Rear
3 Link front
4 Link Rear (both on coilovers, we'll see what size I end up being able to fit)
40" DOT tires of some sort, want this thing to be streetable somewhat at least.

Here's some pictures of what it looked like when I bought it back towards the end of 2020. Bought it part way through someone else's project. Mostly for the tub since it was in reasonably good condition for a 50+ year old jeep. Didn't come with an engine and I sold off the TH350 that came in it, because 4 speed.

Stage 1 was getting a frame and suspension to make a roller to swap the body on to, which I'll put details into my next post.

 

[Sandy Johnson]

subscribed. Old jeepsters are pretty much my favorite thing ever when they're on 40s. They have style. I wish I could find one around here and drop it on my stretched YJ frame.

 

[Project_Heepster]

Stage 1: Get a rolling Chassis to put the body on

The frame that came with the heepster had a number of issues against it so I knew from day 1 it was going to get ditched. For one, it's not boxed all the way back so I'd have to do all the work to box it which sounded like a PITA. For two, the PO's had hacked it all up to put in new motor/trans mounts that were pretty atrocious even by my Fab standards. For three, it's way too skinny in the mid section as the rails went straight back at the same width as the front which means very limited transfer case/axle/suspension options. To marketplace it goes.

Luckily, a long long long time ago my brother had also started in on a Jeepster project and had procured a nicely stretched TJ frame. He decided to F%$# off to Florida for a few years and it sat around just waiting for me to take it, so I did (right as he decided to move back lol). It's been stretched 14" from stock which means I should be able to get a 107-108" wheelbase out of it pretty easily.

At the same time, I found myself some junkyard axles (the 70 actually came with the project). This thing also came with a nicely built D44 up front, but I mean... one tons... So I went off and bought myself a 99-04 Ford Dana 60. I really didn't want to deal with hacking off all that radius arm stuff and the 99-04 was pretty cheap.

Here's a few pictures of the frame when I got it with the axles sitting pretty underneath.

 

[1Sinner]

Love those old jeepsters. Will be a cool build. I couldn't find a decent one for cheap which is a large part of the reason I'm building a very stretched cj5. good luck, keep us posted.

 

[Project_Heepster]

subscribed. Old jeepsters are pretty much my favorite thing ever when they're on 40s. They have style. I wish I could find one around here and drop it on my stretched YJ frame.

Woohoo, all it takes is one to make the build thread worth it lol

 

[Project_Heepster]

I was itching to get building on the suspension for the roller, but first the D60 needed a few "modifications".

The 99-04 has significantly less stuff on it than the 05+ super duty axles, but it still has some shit in the way that needed to be cut off to fit link brackets.

Marked myself a line that was just inboard far enough that I knew I could fit my link brackets in there, then went at it with a cutoff wheel and a hammer and chisel. I was actually pretty surprised at how easy this was. Cut a full circle all the way around, then cut a few slots in it to chisel the whole thing apart. Came off within maybe an hour of work, not bad.

The plan eventually is to weld the tube to the casting in a couple places to bring some strength back to it. It'll also have a bunch of other things added on that'll hopefully tie together to add some strength (link brackets, bump stop pads, etc.)

​

 

[DutchVDub]

Looking good.

 

[Project_Heepster]

Bear with me as I figure out this whole formatting thing.

Now that the front axle was prepped it was time to start building the front suspension on the rolling chassis. Hired a few friends with the promise of beer to come over and start hacking away at the current brackets on the TJ frame. All we had at this point was cutoff wheels on angle grinders, so it was pretty brutal to say the least. This would've taken me weeks, but we managed to get most of the old brackets off within a weekend.

After that, I got the axle centered nice and square where I thought I wanted it under the frame and started mapping everything out. My original plan on where I wanted the body to go relative to the frame was totally off. The firewall was pretty far forward, which pushed the front axle forward, which then ran into the steering. I had the option of moving the steering box mounts or shifting the tub and axle backwards. Seeing as how I didn't have any body mounts even made to this point I went with moving the tub on the frame. Pro-tip, always have a whiteboard in the garage:

I was originally shooting for a 110" wheelbase, but after much deliberation ended up saving myself a huge headache by going to 108" down the line. Now that I had a good idea of where the axle needed to go I Tac'd on some brackets and built myself a PVC front suspension.

Remember how in the beginning I said I had no idea what I was doing? Ya, this is the first example. I had read a bunch of different threads on pirate and various other places and totally thought I knew what I was doing when building the front 3 link. I tac'd all the brackets on where I thought would be great, measured everything out and put it into the 3-link calculator and BAM 140+% anti squat. Along with the fact that the upper link was actually longer than the lower ones which is a real bad plan, this was not what I was looking for. I left it like this for a good while while I figured out the rear suspension and got some more practice under my belt. I'll come back to this one in a later post with my final setup, it has definitely improved and probably could use even more tweaking. At this point though I was also experiencing some paralysis by analysis, so I went into Fuck it, Build it mode and figured id fix shit later. Ya... totally gonna fix it later...

 

[Project_Heepster]

While I scratched my head on the front suspension build, I went full on into the rear build. The front brackets were a combo of Barnes4wd 3 link kit and the Ruffstuff Panhard Kit. I liked a little bit of each kit more than the other so I kind of mixed and matched to get what I wanted. All using 1-1/4" Johnny Joints for all links. I wanted everything to be streetable and having the noise of Heim's really wasn't part of that deal.

Similarly for the 4 link rear, I ended up with a mix and match of bracketry. For the frame side brackets I really liked the brackets that GenRight is putting out. In general I try to avoid GR just because of the ridiculous cost, but for the weld together 4-link brackets at $100 for the pair I was alright with it. They got the geometry where I thought I wanted it with onboarding the lower links and the upper link mounts were nice that they were adjustable in case I fucked anything up in the geometry (hint from earlier, I definitely fucked up the geometry).

I knew going in that these brackets would likely need some modification and I was right. They fit perfectly on the stock TJ frame width, problem is I needed them to be mounted to my extended section which is much thicker. Off comes the top of the bracket and now it fits like a glove:

Got the rear axle located where I wanted it, tac'd in the frame side 4 link brackets and went to work on the axle side. Took everything from my first round in the 4 link calculator and tac'd everything onto the Dana 70. For this one I went with all the Barnes brackets again. They had a nice truss that fit's the 70 pretty well and the lower link brackets I liked because they looked like they'd do a good job of protecting the Johnny joints and those things are pricey. Once welded on I made some more PVC links to go flexy flexy

After last time with the front axle, how could I fuck this one up? I got the anti-squat number I wanted and everything was looking good. I know everything there is to know about suspension design now right? Wrong. After doing some more reading I realized that I had completely ignored the roll steer part of the calculator. I was sitting at 80-100% Anti-squat depending on which hole I put the upper link in, but I was also at like 7* of roll steer. (yikes). Took the brackets off, moved them around until I was happy and put them back on for what is (hopefully) the last time.

Time to move on to coilover mounting and bump stops. Here's where I finally landed on the 4 link calc. This is with the upper links in the middle hole, so its got some adjustability to the anti-squat numbers a bit.

 

[Clb]

Awesome
Best body jeep ever dunn

 

[Project_Heepster]

At this point I was continuing to practice on the rear and learn everything I can before I try and tackle the front again. So I started in on the coilover mounting. Spent a bunch of time at work procrastinating by looking at various options for rear coilover mounts that would work alright within the TJ frame. Thought about making my own, but I havent acquired a tube bender yet so that was mostly out. I ended up deciding on the Poison Spyder rear TJ coilover mounts. They looked pretty stout and seemed easy enough to mount into the frame.

At this point, I also managed to convince my dad to let me "borrow" the plasma cutter for.... awhile.... so that my life would be a little easier making progress on the build. This was my first crack at notching out the frame to fit the coilover mounts. I originally thought that with a full width axle I wouldn't need to notch the frame much, so I went in about halfway. I also tac'd on the axle side brackets to see if I could get the height just right.

Not too bad overall. Next I tac'd in the Coilover Mount. Brought the axle up to what I expect to be full bump (lower links just about to hit the frame) and measured it out for a full compressed 14" travel coilover. Goal is to fit 14's front and rear, but we'll see what I end up with in the end.

This is the mount in place with the tire on.... Ya.... any flex and that thing is definitely not gonna fit even a 2.0" coilover 🤦‍♂️

Back to the plasma cutter again. This time to cut 90% of the way through. Basically just leaving the back wall of the frame. Now when the tire is fully flexed it's looking a lot better. Also, this pic doesn't show it but I eventually added some 1" wheel spacers. The 70 in the rear is a 65" WMS and the 60 in the front is like 69". So to bring them a little closer track width wise I figured a little wheel spacer action in the back wouldn't hurt too much. Sue me.

Repeat on the other side and we're good to go

 

[Project_Heepster]

After flexing the rear out and checking clearances I was pretty happy with the numbers and how everything flexed out. So I turned that PVC suspension into a steel one. 2.0"x.25" wall lowers, 1.75"x.120 Wall uppers, all DOM. Also added in the bump stops temporarily so I had something to support the frame. I put them directly under the frame rails for now, but honestly I don't really like
it that much. The plan is to outboard them at some point and get them out from under the frame rail. This should also make it easier to swap in real bump stops at some point instead of having to drill a hole up into the frame.

​

 

[Project_Heepster]

Now that the rear suspension was "done", it was time to go back to the front. After staring at everything for many hours, measuring and re-measuring, I still wasn't confident that everything was going to line up the way I wanted and that the body was going to look good with the wheelbase I was set on. So, in lieu of finishing out the front suspension in steel, I decided to leave it as PVC for now while I got the body onto the frame. This way I could check firewall and fender clearances amongst a bunch of other stuff before finalizing the front end. Moving the body on to the frame proved to be a pretty decent challenge with only one friend available at a time and having no lift in a two car garage....

Step 1 before it could move though, was to cutout the inner fender wells in the tub. I knew with the new coilover mounts that these were going to need to be out and redone for everything to fit. The plasma cutter came in real handy at this point.

​

Now that the body was prepped, it was time to get this thing on the new frame. Step 2: Remove top. This thing was wayyyy heavier than I thought. I was thinking that two of us would be able to just lift it up by ourselves and set it on the ground. The fact that its pretty flexible combined with the awkwardness of having to reach in to get it meant that a clever solution needed to be found. Luckily cherry picker to the rescue/

​
With the top, fenders, hood, and grill all removed, the major work could all take place. With only two of us, we definitely weren't going to be able to just lift the body off and put it on the new frame. So the solution instead was to lift the body high up in the air and support it with jack stands while we shimmied the old frame out and the new frame in. It was a process with a lot of trial and error while we inched the old frame out, moving jack stands as we went, then inched the new one in in the same fashion. It also helped that I had some extraa square tubing to run across the firewall that we could lift with the engine hoist.

Since the front axle was only held in by PVC we knew it wouldn't support the new body on the frame. So for the time being to get this all together I just grabbed some scrap tubing and welded the axle to the frame with some tie ins. After a lot more shimmies we were able to get the new frame under:

 

[Project_Heepster]

Guess we're limited to 5 images per post, thats cool it's a good reason to break this up. Now that the frame was under the body I slapped some tires back on it and cut the crap out of the rear fenders so that they would fit at full bump (where the frame would rest for quite awhile while I figured out the front suspension).

I think it looks pretty good as a low rider dont you? Sorry the pictures are out of order I'm still figuring this stuff out.

Frame rails fit nicely inside the wheel wells without too much cutting. Did have to notch a good amount out to clear the tires though.

 

[Project_Heepster]

Before I could move back to the front suspension I wanted to make sure that the body was actually rigidly mounted to the new frame. In the last post, the body is really just resting on the frame with now actual body mounts. None of the original body mounts on the frame lined up with the new body of course, so all of them had been hacked off a lot earlier in the build process. I didn't mention earlier either, but getting the original body mounts off the old frame was a real PITA. I didn't take any pictures, but at least 3 of the body mounts had rusted through and the bolts just sat and spun. So I opted to just cut the floor open and pull them out that way. Because I had cut the floor open I decided to ditch the old square plate holders on the inside of the body mounts in the cab and just went for straight bolts, nuts, and fender washers in those areas. When I go to put it all back together I'll either leave an access panel in the floor or I'll weld the washers and nuts in place, havent decided yet. For now here's some pics of the new body mounts. I didn't get too many, but if someone needs more pics just let me know and I'll take some.

This was all done sometime in Jan 2021, so we're catching up to where it currently sits!

 

[Rad_Machine]

I've honestly never thought about making my own body mount plates like that and need to do mine bad. Looking good, man.

 

[Project_Heepster]

I've honestly never thought about making my own body mount plates like that and need to do mine bad. Looking good, man.

Some 3"x3" x 1/8" wall tubing made life a lot easier than trying to fab it up from plate. Went on fairly easily honestly, it was more work getting the old ones off than making and welding on the new mounts. Thanks!

 

[Wilson]

That looks like one that I’ve been eyeing next door to my sister in law, did you buy it out of Chico?

 

[The Freeak]

Remember how in the beginning I said I had no idea what I was doing? Ya, this is the first example. I had read a bunch of different threads on pirate and various other places and totally thought I knew what I was doing when building the front 3 link. I tac'd all the brackets on where I thought would be great, measured everything out and put it into the 3-link calculator and BAM 140+% anti squat. Along with the fact that the upper link was actually longer than the lower ones which is a real bad plan, this was not what I was looking for. I left it like this for a good while while I figured out the rear suspension and got some more practice under my belt. I'll come back to this one in a later post with my final setup, it has definitely improved and probably could use even more tweaking. At this point though I was also experiencing some paralysis by analysis, so I went into Fuck it, Build it mode and figured id fix shit later. Ya... totally gonna fix it later...

Just a quick observation- a (Slightly) longer upper isn't the worst thing- depending on whether it adversely affects the pinion angle / driveshaft at full droop.
I'd focus on roll steer and antidive.

 

[Project_Heepster]

Just a quick observation- a (Slightly) longer upper isn't the worst thing- depending on whether it adversely affects the pinion angle / driveshaft at full droop.
I'd focus on roll steer and antidive.

That's a fair point. By now I've learned a lot more on how all this stuff actually works and the theory behind the calculator which has helped a lot (still dont reaaallly know what I'm doing, but its getting better). Having the longer upper would definitely help at keeping a good pinion angle at droop. My worry was that because this is going to be a street-able rig I wanted to make sure that caster angle didnt get haywire during suspension travel. Getting the upper link to ~80% of the lowers meant that through travel caster would be more fixed. With the amount of droop I'll have I dont think the driveshaft angle will be too bad as well hopefully. I'll post up my updated 3 link stuff in a bit.

 

[Project_Heepster]

That looks like one that I’ve been eyeing next door to my sister in law, did you buy it out of Chico?

Negative, bought it in the Bay Area and supposedly it had come from SoCal before that.

 

[Project_Heepster]

With the body properly mounted (body mounts tac'd on for now) and the rear suspension in place it was time to go back to the front. I tossed the rear bump stop cans in under the frame and tac'd them in place so that I could at least just roll the whole thing around in the rear if needed while riding on the bump stops. It's a temporary solution until I get the front finished, but it may end up being where the cans stay in the rear if im too lazy to move them again. Sitting on its own weight in the rear I set the front of the frame on jack stands and got messing around with the front suspension. Here's a list of things I ended up changing:

1. Frame side upper link moved forward, reducing the total length in comparison to the lower links
2. Axle side upper link mount tilted backward, continuing to shorten the overall link length, but also this helped to get it out of the way of the trackbar and give more room for the drag link.
3. Tilted the lower trackbar mount back so that it was actually vertical instead of tilted forward
4. Moved the entire axle back ~1" (shortening all links equally) to allow more room for trackbar/drag link at full bump. Shortened the wheelbase to 108-109", which is fine with me.
5. Moved the frame side trackbar bracket backwards to get the trackbar perfectly straight horizontally
6. Bent the trackbar so that it clears the diff at full bump, since now the trackbar sits directly over the pumpkin essentially.

Here's the final numbers as it sits, all tac'd together but nothing full welded:

Much happier with the anti-squat and relative link lengths at this point. Not too concerned about the roll steer as well, it's the steering axle so it should be fine.... Also this is all based on a theoretical sprung mass CG height since it doesn't even have a motor in it yet and I have no way to measure it. I'm gonna call it good for now. Here's a picture of the real deal. All the links are steel at this point, just an older picture:

Here's the front axle flexed out, while I take a look at things that interfere and begin planning for bump stops. I've been keeping track of drag link/trackbar angles as well throughout all of this and at ride height they both come out almost perfectly flat which is awesome. They're also right on the same length at ~38".

Next up is bump stops, steering, and then hopefully coilover mounting. Bump stops first just so I could rest it at full bump and roll it in and out of the garage, The wife will be happy to have her parking space back lol.

 

[Tjontherox]

A little motivation for you

 

[The Freeak]

That's a fair point. By now I've learned a lot more on how all this stuff actually works and the theory behind the calculator which has helped a lot (still dont reaaallly know what I'm doing, but its getting better). Having the longer upper would definitely help at keeping a good pinion angle at droop. My worry was that because this is going to be a street-able rig I wanted to make sure that caster angle didnt get haywire during suspension travel. Getting the upper link to ~80% of the lowers meant that through travel caster would be more fixed. With the amount of droop I'll have I dont think the driveshaft angle will be too bad as well hopefully. I'll post up my updated 3 link stuff in a bit.

I just went through this with my XJ - it doesn't NEED to be 20% shorter....
The UCA could only be an inch longer (and by longer- that means horizontally longer, not point to point longer) than the lowers to keep the pinion pointing a bit more "up" (toward the T-case) during droop. Conversely, that extra inch won't do "too" much to your pinion above rider height (heading for full bump)

What is your Antidive with the axle side upper in the upper-most hole on the axle bracket?



Another point- don't be afraid to run your drag link to the bottom of your highsteer arm to allow more uptravel.

 

[Project_Heepster]

I just went through this with my XJ - it doesn't NEED to be 20% shorter....
The UCA could only be an inch longer (and by longer- that means horizontally longer, not point to point longer) than the lowers to keep the pinion pointing a bit more "up" (toward the T-case) during droop. Conversely, that extra inch won't do "too" much to your pinion above rider height (heading for full bump)

What is your Antidive with the axle side upper in the upper-most hole on the axle bracket?



Another point- don't be afraid to run your drag link to the bottom of your highsteer arm to allow more uptravel.

Very true, it didn't really Need to be shorter, but I figured since it was only some tac welds and I easily had the room that I'd shorten it up to help with the caster angle through travel over the pinion angle. Figured the pinion angle ought to be just fine with it at ~80% of the length of the lowers and the angle at ride height being fairly shallow currently.

Antidive with the upper link in the upper hole on the axle bracket is ~106%, and with it in the bottom hole is ~55%. Figured this way I've got some easy adjustment if I end up wanting to shift it around without much effort at all.

I actually have a bent drag link that I'll be using that I picked up from WFO that ought to work great. Just a small bend in it to clear the frame rail. It didn't need much though, at full stuff on the passenger side I'm already welll into the fender. I'm planning on keeping as much of the fender as I can to retain the look, even if it limits my up travel an inch or so. Not too worried about the bend in the drag link either since it's 1.5" x .25" wall and I'll be running hydro assist as well.

 

[Project_Heepster]

A little motivation for you

That is a slick rig. Definitely adds to the motivation. I think the bullnose can look awesome when it's set up like that one is

 

[LCAC_Man]

I had to ditch the horizontal adjustable upper link mount in the front...NFW to get the bolt in and out with the trans in place...it's happened to others as well..

 

[Project_Heepster]

I had to ditch the horizontal adjustable upper link mount in the front...NFW to get the bolt in and out with the trans in place...it's happened to others as well..

What did you end up doing instead? I’ll have a better idea of how it’s gonna work once the trans is in, but I could see that being a real bitch to deal with if that ends up being the case

 

[LCAC_Man]

What did you end up doing instead? I’ll have a better idea of how it’s gonna work once the trans is in, but I could see that being a real bitch to deal with if that ends up being the case

Just a standard frame side link bracket turned on it's side...I tacked it in a few elevations until I got good numbers on the calculator then burned it in..

 

[LCAC_Man]

I actually ended up lowering it a bit from the above pic to improve my numbers, this is it's final location. You can see how hard it would be to get a 4" long bolt out of the side of a wide horizontal mount. And my frame is widened 3" over the stock jeepster so pretty close to what you have.