1949 International/Jeep Wrangler Rock Crawling & Overland Build

[GoldiesGarage]

This will be my third body swap and I like using the old frame and then slowly replacing the body mounts with custom ones.
My rules for truck body swaps are
Frame - Fenders - Cab/body - bed
Frame - determines wheel base
Fenders - determines Cab/Body location, because the tires need to be centered in the wheel wells.
Body/Cab - determines bed placement.
Bed - gets shortened or lengthened. So tires are centered in the wheel wells.

Like I mentioned earlier I use the old frame to keep things together.
Once the tires were in the center of the wheel well and the body was eye-balled square. I welded the temporary brackets to keep it all in place.


Getting some measurements on where to cut

Test fitting and centering over tires.

I do not remember how much I cut off I think it was around 12 inches.

Getting it back together




And just like that the KB2-R was born. A 1949 International KB2 is on a 2014 Jeep Wrangler JKUR Frame.

Notes* With every abandoned project, the previous owners normally always give you a set of unforeseen challenges. In my case, this Gentleman welded the hood to the front fenders. I guess he wanted to do a tilt-front end. Also, he removed all the front fender mounting brackets, including some of the hood hinges. So my front clip just sitting on the cab and the frame.

 

[TwinDuro]

Very cool! I'm diggin' it! Always loved old Cornbinders!

 

[GoldiesGarage]

Very cool! I'm diggin' it! Always loved old Cornbinders!

You don't see many around.

 

[GoldiesGarage]

Still on the hunt for a run of the mill Gen 4 LS Engine. I decided to mess with the bed. Every truck bed I have built. I try to do something with the bed floor.
1956 Chevy - bed floor tilted up.
1950 Dodge B2B - Bed floor was removable.
1949 Int. KB2 - ???

On Craigslist, I saw a post for a 8ft Bedslide. I was thinking to myself I could shorten it and use it as the bed floor. This would be cool because I have never seen it done before. It would do 2 things for me.
1- I would have easy access to everything under the bed, Fuel pump, Battery(ies) Air Compressors and other things.
2- I would have a functioning Bedslide, all the stuff on top will slide out and be easy to reach.
I took the drive to L.A. to pick it up, paid the Lady $300 for the Bedsilde and came with 20+ spiders for free.
Got home and looked over how it was designed and how I can shorten it. Looked pretty easy.
My friend Belmote came over to get dirty.


The whole process wasn't too bad.

Cut the rust bed floor out


Cut the Beslide to the desired length


Do some welding

Added some fish plates to be on the safe side.
Make mounts for the Beslide

Add some paint.


There you have it, a functioning sliding bed floor - An Eli original.





Still have some finishing to do but I know this will be super convenient down the road.

 

[shortbus4x4]

You don't see many around.

Not true......if you look in my back yard.?
I have mostly Loadstars with some 60s Travelalls and a pickup. My wife loves the yard art.?
Nice build with the KB, am going to love seeing it in action.

 

[GoldiesGarage]

Not true......if you look in my back yard.?
I have mostly Loadstars with some 60s Travelalls and a pickup. My wife loves the yard art.?
Nice build with the KB, am going to love seeing it in action.

I too, have other Internationals... 1958 A-120 and a 195X R-Series Cab and front fenders. I try to save as many old vehicles as I can from getting crushed.
Are you telling me you have a horde of KB's/R-Series in your back yard? Because I need some parts.

 

[shortbus4x4]

I too, have other Internationals... 1958 A-120 and a 195X R-Series Cab and front fenders. I try to save as many old vehicles as I can from getting crushed.
Are you telling me you have a horde of KB's/R-Series in your back yard? Because I need some parts.

All my Internationals are 1960s and newer. I have played with the idea of getting a R190 with an inline 6 gas engine though.

 

[GoldiesGarage]

With all of this spending of my monies. I need to recoup some cash. I took the front and rear bumpers off to try and make them presentable.

To figure out resale value, I needed to figure out what brand and kind of bumpers these were. It took me a long time to figure it out. The front turned out to be Expedition One ($951) and the rear was Poison Spyder ($729). Geez, these are expensive when new.

I took a wire wheel to it to try and get most of the flaking paint off. I then put a layer of primer following that was some spray can bed liner. If you ever used this stuff before it will hold all the dirt and dust if you don't put something on top of it. So I bought some satin black spray paint and put 2 layers on. Finally I finished up with some satin clear. This is how they turned out.









I was able to sell the bumpers, to my buddy Dunker, He owns a 2018 JKUR

Another steel part that could be refinished was the Teraflex RearTire Carrier. Did the same method as the bumper. Turned out nice enough to sell. About 2 months on the market it sold.





Yay, more monies for other car parts....

 

[GoldiesGarage]

Frame Rolling - Check
Body swap - Check
Engine - Hmmmm...

Well, I guess I need an engine. I like buying running donor cars for the one simple fact I can hear the engine run. Less risk on a bad engine and unforeseen expensive problems. I'm looking to do the SUPER BORING - nothing special - everyone has done it, GM LSx base engine and trans. While surfing CoPart, I found a few potential vehicles. but this one caught my eye. It's a 2011 Silverado 2500HD 4x4.






Side note** One thing about auctions is that most of the other bidders are car flippers. The more damage on it the less they are interested. With every body panel damaged and I am only interested in the powertrain. It gave me a chance at winning. Another thing on my side was there was something wrong with the power distribution. The truck had no power. No power = no start, I have no idea how many miles were on the truck. Did the engine get damaged in the roll over? On the other hand, the perks of this truck are the 6.0 L96 Engine producing 360Hp And 380Tq. The trans could be a 6L80e or 6L90e. Transfer case was electronic which sucks but I can dream about having an Atlas 2 speed t-case one day. Also, it is equipped with hydro boost. I like using them. They are easy and work great once all the custom lines are figured out.

I figured that it was worth the risk. When it went to the live actions I threw a last minute bid on it. Hammer price was $1800. With taxes and fees I left paying $3094. Taxes and fees are more than half of the hammer price? That is a lot of money for me to gamble with.

CoPart loads your purchase on your trailer for you with their forklift dozers




Plans for this truck
Get it running
Pull the engine and trans
Make it fit in the KB2-R
Get a stand alone harness
if it all works out... Be happy

This engine better start...

 

[GoldiesGarage]

After getting my most recent purchase to my parents house I did a once over. I couldn't open the hood. I put the key in and gave it a turn and...nothing. Yep, just like the ad showed. I had to pry the fender off the hood so the hood could open. Now that the hood opens, I can see what I bought this for. My new to me L96/6L90e. Seeing that the frame was straight and that I was the first one to open the hood since the roll over. I had a hard time believing that the engine was bad. I was poking around the fuse box and suddenly some light inside the truck turned on. Went inside and some of the dash was on. Perfect, this what I needed. It's going to start. I put the key in, gave it a turn and... nothing. Hmmmm... going back to the engine bay I wiggled more wires and now the hazard lights turned on. Is this it? Will it work this time. Went back to the driver seat. All the lights were on and the words on the dash were in Spanish. Not knowing what errors it was saying, I inserted the key and gave it a turn and... just like that it started right up. It sounded great. Now that it started, I wanted to know how many miles were on the clock. Scrolling through the menu everything was in Spanish. Not knowing Spanish I looked at the numbers. I finally hit the Odometer... 267,750 miles. No way, I scrolled though it again and yep it's correct. That is about 29,000 miles driven a year. This truck was driven.

Sad thing is I didn't do any videos or take any pictures.
BUT I refuse to do a pictureless post
So...

I had to get the KB2-R ready to accept the extremely beautiful but very HIGH mileage L96 that I just acquired. The KB2 Body was still sitting on the factory body mount riveted on the old frame. So next was to make some new body mounts. I had to remove all the rivets. I used my air hammer with a spade bit to take the heads off. I would then switch to the pointed bit to push the rivet out. Just so you know, I hate taking rivets out and dirt falling everywhere.

















I think it's ready.

 

[shortbus4x4]

Sure it was miles and not km that was on the display?

 

[Geos7812]

What a project. I am new here but will follow.

 

[GoldiesGarage]

What a project. I am new here but will follow.

I know right. Maybe one day it will be on the road.
Welcome to the forum.

Sure it was miles and not km that was on the display?

Yeah, I'm sure it's has 267k miles on it.

 

[GoldiesGarage]

With the KB2-R ready for a modern power train & me full of excitement. It's time to pull this engine out.

My buddy Belmonte came over again to help disassemble the 2011 Chevy.

There wasn't anything complicated about the removal. Remove the front clip, unplug a million plugs, front and rear drive shaft removal. I took the transfer case off so the engine & trans will be shorter and easier to manage.



I wrapped the ratchet straps around the headers and pulled it out.

I was very careful about removing the wiring harness. I plan to use it in the International. I called some of the standalone companies and I found out that the E78 ECU I have is not supported. From what I gather it pretty much requires the BCM (Body Control Module) to operate. I don't have money at this time to buy a stand alone. The Chevy harness is FAT & BULKY with lots of small electronic boxes. I am not a fan.

 

[Lilnuts]

Very cool thread, Nice build. I'll be following this one for sure.
I have a 49 KB-3 long bed on a 1980 Gmc 3/4 ton 4x4 chassis with a new/old 1980 350sb. I also put a NV4500 5sp manual tranny in. The KB's are so narrow it's tough to get a modern v-8 in there without cutting the inner fenders, but I was able to do that using the older motor. I also put a tilting front clip on and didn't have to cut any sheet metal. The KB's used a flat "ladder style frame. The modern trucks use a dropped cab style frame. Makes getting a "lift" for off road tire easy without changing the stock suspension. If you want bigger wheel openings in the front fenders, the KB-5's bolt right up. You will have to either use the KB-5 running boards or mod the stockers if you plan on keeping the KB running boards. Probably not a good idea if your going for some serious rock trashing in your KB. Sadly mine is not completed yet but I won't give up.