No I haven’t disappeared…
I think this has been the longest I’ve ever went without updating.
So much has happened, and at the same time not much has changed at all. If you know what I mean. I won’t try and fit it all in one post, I’ll backfill in dribs and drabs. Much easier for me.
Work is good as usual, home is good. Grace has finished the six month long process of bringing her stuff up here and even turned off her telephone line down at her parents so I guess we’re offically co-habitating now.
Her cat has disrupted the feline balance here somewhat, but I’m a sound sleeper so the middle of the night brawls they have downstairs never wake me up!
You guys don’t know but I was without a car for almost two months and it was brutal. Sam drove me to work in the morning (at least he always got up for school) and Grace came to pick me up in the evening. It made for some long days, but I was working a lot of overtime during that period anyway.
I finally got another Jeep. Not a TJ like I wanted, but a decent one of those is 15 grand used so that will have to wait for awhile.
Nope, I got me a bona-fide real Jeep, an old CJ-7 that drives like a truck, bounces, rattles and squeaks more then the ’69 ford tow truck I drove years ago.
But it’s a solid foundation to make a good weekend rock-crawler out of. If you know Jeeps I’ll fill you in on the specifics, if you don’t prepare to be bored (or moreso, whatever the case may be).
It’s an ’86, considered by most best year for the CJ-7’s. It has 258 straight six, Dana 30 front axle, Dana 44 rear, and a Dana Spicer 300 t-case. Motor was rebuilt less than 10k ago, it has like every piece of stainless add-on you can get (which I usually don’t like but it looks OK), all new autometer gauges and a monster tach with tell-tale, headers, dual exhaust, MSD 6AL ignition, Tuffy security console, BFG 33.5 x 12.5’s on AR wheels and what appears to be about a 4 inch lift. The motor pulls strong, everything works, and it goes straight, so all in all not bad. The main thing is the frame is good, and there is like NO rust on the floors. It has those ugly double tube chrome bumpers and nerf bars which I really hate, but they’ll have to stay on for awhile.
So I was surprised but my Wet Okole covers fit the seats pretty good, so I slipped them on. Makes me feel at home, I sat on those seat covers for 3 years every day in my ’00 Wrangler… I also installed a CB (Cobra 29LTD) and antenna. I have a Cobra 148 GTL and also a good 10-meter radio I could have installed but it would have been overkill for what I need.
I have tons of stuff need to do, most will have to wait until spring. I plan on gutting interior and coating the tub inside with Herculiner. I need to swap the doors with a pair I have that are mint (but need to be painted). I also have to paint and swap the tailgate. I want to put steel corners on the rear and do the custom tail light thing, with the LED lights, of course. And I want to put in a new lift kit, a proper one with new springs. And a steering box brace is mandatory. And finally I want to get a rear bumber with swing away tire carrier and trail rack. Soon after that I’ll swap out that ugly front bumber with a rock bumper and hopefully one day add a winch to it. And I want to get one of those trick CO2 tanks for onboard air. Once summers here of course I’ll need a bikini top.
I figure if I spend a few grand I’ll have a really solid and capable machine, and fortunately they just go forever and you can keep rebuilding them forever too!
Oh you want a picture you say? Ok, maybe just one.
OK, here she is, a little dirty, like a Jeep should be. Here’s a shot of the interior looking through the drivers door, nice neoprene, right? And here’s the view from the other side. As you can see, the interior needs some cleaning, tidy up loose wires under dash, etc. And I need to mount some speakers to cover up those holes in the dash. Eventually I want to get the Tuffy overhead console to get the CB out from between the seats.
So it will give me something to obsess on, spend all my spare timne on, and yes, have fun 4-wheeling with.
OK, I’m dead tired so enough for now. I’ll write as soon as I can and post more pics too.
Oh yeah, happy new year and hope you’re holidays were good…
