Project CJ Rebuild

    Ok, let's start with the good.  The drivetrain is pretty solid, a 304V8, a Holley Pro-Jection system feeding it, sucking air through a big K&N Filtercharger.  New Headers and Dual Exhaust get the gases out the back.  Tranny is a T-18 4-Speed that I'm told has a 6:50-1 low gear in it.  Rear Axle is a Dana 44 with a Detroit Locker and Chromolly Axles, Front Axle is the stock Dana 30 with a Lock-Right Locker and Warn Hubs.  The suspension consists of Rancho RS-9000 adjustable shocks all the way around, and last summer I installed new leaf springs for a 2 1/2" lift.  The tires are 33x12.50-15 TSL Thornbirds mounted on a set of American Racing rims.  I also recently installed a new 3-core radiator with an electric fan that kicks on when things heat up, so I can now keep my cool even while trail crawling in Moab during the summer.

     Now the bad...  (In my own defense, let me say that I bought this Jeep used, and kid who I bought it from was somewhat of a hack)  The electrical system is probably my biggest complaint.  Somewhere there's a drain on the battery, so if it sits for more than a week or so, the battery is dead.  Also, sometimes the Ampmeter looks like a windshield wiper blade, wildly seesawing back and forth from about 8 to 16 amps.  It does level out when cruising, but at night I can actually see the headlights fluctuating in brightness when idling.  I've cleaned up the wiring a lot since I got it, but when I first got it the wiring harness in the engine compartment was full of chopped wires, bad splices, etc.  The engine leaks some oil, mostly around the pan gasket and the oil pressure sending unit, which is one of those that uses the little plastic tube to run true pressure to the oil pressure gauge.  Also, at times when idling for a long time, I'll notice a slight amount of oil smoke out of the exhaust.  Recently my heater fan quit, someone stole the stereo out of it a while back and a dumb little thing, but there's no windshield washer fluid resevoir or pump.

     And of course, the ugly.  The body has suffered a bit of rock rash, and there's some serious rust coming through the right front fender.  The Windshield frame is totally rusted out on the bottom, where it sits against the rubber padding between it and the tub.  On-road manners had to be put in the ugly category, cause that's how I feel when I'm in freeway traffic.  It seems as if the combined slop of 20+ years of use has added up to some pretty bad road manners, and once in a while I feel like I'm not the one deciding which lane I'm going to be driving in.  Couple that with the "torque steer" affects of the Detroit Locker in the rear, and things can get down right scary at times.  As a result, I'm more and more often finding myself reluctant to drive the thing on a daily basis. 

     To see the cost comparison of my possible options, let's continue this on the next page -->