CJ7 Corvette Engine, D60's, Aluminum Body Over the Top Retro-Mod

1984 Jeep CJ Retro-Mod Description

One of a kind ground up CAD designed Jeep by mechanical engineer. Serious show stopper at off road events and around town. No shortcuts taken and the project has been built with industry leading race level equipment, you will not find a weak link in the jeep. It’s truly an all-around amazing toy that can roast ford raptors in the desert, run gnarly trails and maintains amazing road characteristics to enjoy a weekend cruise. There are only a few people in this industry who many can significantly modify a vehicle and maintain a near OEM feel. This project has around 800 labor hours, on top of $100k in parts. This has a trove of $1K parts in every corner imaginable. Anyone who recognizes the build parts and fabrication from the pictures knows you can’t build a comparable jeep for less than $100K.

This is a 100% finished and ready to roll off road or around town. There is only about 2000 miles on the entire build and crate motor. Enough run time to find and fix any bugs, but hardly enough for any wear on the components. I literally drive the jeep to work about twice a month and have taken it out on the trails about a dozen times. This has not been abused in any way. When I started the project I was more involved in the off road scene and after the couple years it took to piece together my interests have changed.

Custom aluminum body, LS6 corvette crate engine, bypass shocks, dynatrac dana 60 axles, PSC steering, hydro brake boost, atlas 2 T-case, tom woods drive shafts, ARB lockers, genright fuel cell, bead locks, just some of the components used on project. If you recognize these products you know this is not a pretty paint job sitting on stock axles.

Power Train

LS6 corvette 100% aluminum block and heads crate motor produces 400+ crank HP. Paired with level III 4L60E trans built by Novak and Atlas II T-Case. Full custom wiring harness professionally built, recently dyno tuned with over 300 wheel HP. Dual 3” exhaust, K&N intake, high flow in tank fuel pump with stainless AN- 6 lines. Novak aluminum radiator and electric fan, keeps engine Ice cold at 180 on 90deg day. Front mounted trans cooler, haven’t see trans budge over 160deg. No issues with heat. B&N aluminum shifter runs through gears like a race car. Appox $20K in power train between crate motor, fuel system, trans, cooling, T-case and peripheral components. Aluminum genright baja fuel cell with increased 18gal capacity.

Axles

Made in USA Dynatrac crate Axles $14K. Dana 60 high pinion, 35 spline, ARB locker, full float rear. Front dana 60 housing with D44 center section, 35 spline Chromalloy axle shafts, Dynatrac ball joints, ARB locker. Front axle is built with incredible housing strength and has clearance of D44 for up travel. Tom woods 1350 F&R drive shafts and Atlas 2 T-Case. With lockers on, and V8 this will crawl through anything with no hesitation.

Interior

Full set of auto meter gauges, custom laser cut dash, Bluetooth stereo, USB charger, Mastercraft Baja seats, 4 Point harness, B&N shifter, twin stick F&R t-Case shifters, custom laser cut removable aluminum roof panel, laser cut tube doors, full side doors available tied to the chassis roll cage.

Suspension

Fox 2.0 bypasses + coil body, eibach dual springs at each corner. 4 Link triangulated rear, and 3 Link with drag bar front. 14” of travel front and rear. Designed in CAD, almost no bump steer in front system. Currie chromolly anti sway bar in rear. 17” Walker evans aluminum beadlock. Currently running 35’s, built to clear 37’s or more and went with 35’s so it will drive into my garage.

Body/ Armor

The body is an all-aluminum front and back tub built by Aqualu. The interior has been professionally rino lined for durability. Exterior was professionally painted by huntington beach hot rod shop. It is the dodge charger PR3 color code. Front high clearance fenders, front/ rear bumpers rocker guards and custom laser cut skid pan. From scratch roll cage tied to rear shock towers and front frame. Over $15K between paint, AL tub, & body work.

Brakes/ Steering

Aftermarket hydro boost brake system that creates 2500PSI and half ton brake rotors at each corner. The brakes feel firm and it hardly takes much foot pressure to lock up the tires. The hydro boost over vacuum boost makes a crazy difference in stopping power, prevents roll through in low range while only tapping the brakes. I’ve driven $100k jeeps with a vacuum booster, on 37’s and nearly had the brakes to the floor preventing roll through in low range.

High flow full PSC steering system with pump, PSC steering box, reservoir, hydro assist and brake lines. With the PSC system you can practically turn the wheel with a finger in 4WD with both lockers on. Anyone who has steered off road with lockers and a stock steering box knows it’s practically impossible to crank the wheel.