The Joop Experience

"Let's build Jeeps this summer", Ben said. "It'll be fun!"

What could possibly go wrong?

Finding a suitable project base

Every rebuild starts with some sort of a base vehicle. Ben and I decided we were going to build a couple of Jeeps this summer, so we poked around on Craigslist.

We decided to start with a project that would eventually be my Jeep. We set a project budget (total) of $5,000. I found a sweet Jeep on Craigslist - This guy up in Tri-cities Washington was selling his baby. Already tricked out with a 350 V8, lift, custom sifter, roll cage, winch, 35" tires... well, you get the idea. Selling for $5100. So, we're based in Boise, ID... Pasco, WA is a fair drive, and we'd need a trailer (no sway bars + unfamiliar vehicle = not driving 300 miles on the freeway).

I was totally enamored of this Jeep; my wife, Angie... not so much. Ben had some concerns too, but I figured it had everything I'd want to do to it already done, so why not! I got ahold of the seller, and started working the deal . This is also when we started trying to track down a trailer. Too big for a U-Haul dolly or one of their "car haulers". Tates Rents had a  

perfect flatbed, but we'd have to wait a week. My brother Jake had a trailer, so I called him... bad tires and expired plates. It's Friday. I tell him we'll buy two tires if he buys the other two and I'll pay for the registration, since we can do it online. He agrees, and... no go. DMV has no record of the old registration (it expired a WHILE ago).

Everything about this deal was going sideways. Then Ben texts me that he's found another guy on CL who is selling TWO Wranglers for $4000. He's in Eagle, and we can come see them anytime. Best of all, Ben points out, this means we have both of our Jeeps secured. 

So, we go check out these two Jeeps in Eagle. One, a 1990 Wrangler Islander catches my eye, and Ben likes the other, a 1989 Wrangler Sahara.

4/8/2017
Done Deal.

1990 Wrangler YJ Islander

Our new friend from Eagle even delivered the Jeeps to Ben's Batcave. Here's the Islander. We'll have pics of the Sahara later. Seems these Jeeps were owned by a par of brothers, and when one passed away back in 2005, the other brother parked them  in a pasture. Our friend in Eagle bought them a couple of years ago, and had finally decided he didnt have the time or room to fix them up himself. 
This gem had the stock L6 motor, fading paint, and about an inch of dried mud in the tub. These Jeeps were LOVED by their previous owners! (Edit: Pristine "show Jeeps" are not "love". Jeeps covered in mud and scratches are Love.)

Made in Canada, eh?

4.2L I6 Carburated AMC 258 - 112 hp @ 3200 rpm, 210 ft lb @ 2000rpm 
AX-15 - Aisin 5-speed 
NP231 - "Command-Trac" part-time only - 2.72:1 ratio low range - shift pattern 2H - 4H - N - 4L 

(That's Ben's dad, Mike in the background. Hi, Mike!)

So, why "Joop"?

Legend has it that when the tooling was modified from making CJ body panels to making YJ body panels, the dies changed. The "Jeep" on the side panels was embossed on the earlier models, but from that point on, the embossing was "Joop", then they put decals on the embossing to spell "Jeep". So, as you can see in this detail pic, the stickers were all removed, leaving... Joop.

(Background pic of War Eagle Mountain shamelessly stolen from SummitSean at http://www.summitpost.org/war-eagle-mountain/172858)

The above gallery is from Delivery Day, or Day One as we sometimes call it. My son Cody vacuumed out the flooring, revealing factory carpet in excellent condition, preserved, no doubt, by years of encasement in mud. No rot. Seats in decent condition. The tear you see in the driver's seat is the only one. You'll also note the hard top (aftermarket - Islanders shipped with soft tops) is faded badly, but like a Red Door and a 'Stones song, we're gonna paint it black. 

Down below are some shots from Day Two, April 9th. These "Days" aren't "all in a row", and also don't include the HUGE amount of work Mike and Ben have done on this project on evenings and weekends when I wasn't with them. People, friends like this don't just "happen".

You can get an idea of the mud in the engine compartment here. Take a closer look at that wiring. It'll get mentioned again. 

So, that wiring thing I mentioned? Yeah.

4/15/2017 Day 3. Ben has removed the front clip, fenders, and hood. This is a good shot of the wiring harness, and could go a long way to explaining why we got no spark at the plugs. ECM sends a fire signal, distributor never gets it. Also, note the discolored paint on the cowl just in front of the passenger side wiper. We'll revisit THAT in a bit, too.

We took a break for a discussion. See, I'm not looking to build a monster crawler here, but I want a good, powerful, general-purpose off-road Joop that I can also drive around town. We'd been discussing doing an engine swap this winter, but that wiring was so jacked and I was so underwhelmed by that stock L6 motor, AX15 trans, and NP231, that we decided to up the schedule and do an engine swap now.  
Do you see how these projects spiral out of control? Yeah? Well, it's a Jeep, this is normal.

So, we acquired this.  A 2002 Tahoe. It had some rear-end damage and a salvage title. It also had an LM7 engine (that's a Vortec 327 for you civilians out there). And a 700R4 transmission. I didn't like the icky electronic-shift transfer case, but we drove it home for $1500. 

We parked the Tahoe out back and commenced the rip-out on Day 4.

Ben gets some new gear! Pneumatics are the way to go, and this project was the excuse Ben really didn't need to get a new compressor. Yay!

Ben loses control of his spending discipline! Well, you do a project like this, you're GOING to need a welder. Might as well get a decent one, and a wee cart to roll it around on.

Not done yet! Of course, you can't spend all your time welding. Sometimes you just need to cut things into itty-bitty pieces.

Meanwhile, back at my house.. Jeep builds don't happen on empty stomachs. I dry-rubbed and maple-smoked some ribs for a feast. Mike and Ben joined my wife and I, my brother Justin, and my mom and dad. Good times! You know you want some...

Naked Joop!
Take a closer look at that picture above. Remember earlier I mentioned that discoloration on the cowl in front of the passenger wiper? So, once we got the engine out and the firewall washed, that spot got more relevant, along with the blackened firewall. Yep, they had a fire. Inside, under the dash. Crispified the paint and did some smoke damage to the engine compartment. Melted a hole through the heater ducting. In good redneck fashion, instead of replacing it, they filled it up with high-expansion foam. We relaced the ducting, heater housing, and heater core. I aint freezing next winter!

V8 Test Fit

Day 5 - 6/3/2017
(Click to expando)

Junkyard Treasures

Day 6 - 6/10/2017
So we have this great Chevy V8 engine, a 700R4 tranny, and that transfer case from the Tahoe I mentioned. I'm not a big fan of electronical things in my off-road toys. That transmission is a great medium-duty gearbox. If it wasn't as relaible as it is, I'd be putting a manual transmission back in. So, transfer case... we went to the local Jalopy Jungle in Garden City and survived a rain/sleet/hail storm, and came out with a NP241 out of a 3/4 ton Suburban. $86 well spent. Even better, it bolts right onto the 700R4, no adapters required. No pics today, sorry.

Day 7

6/24/2017
Day 7 we installed the rebuilt heater, Mike did some paint work, and I ground rust off the dash plate so Mike could prime and paint it. We also worked a bit on my Grand Cherokee. Nothing especially picture-worthy today. 

Day 8

Back in the Saddle Again

Saturday July 8 We got another session of work in. Ben had ordered an electric fan which finally arrived; his mission for the day was to mount the fan to the radiator, mount that assembly to the front clip, and reinsert the front clip in the Joop... all so we dould definitively locate the engine and thus, begin fabricating th enew motor mounts.  Meanwhile, I disassembled the dash (which Ben and Mike had reassembled) so I could pull the clucth and brake assemly, remove the nasty 'ole clutch pedal and master cylinder from the mix, and reinstall ready for 700R4 Automatic goodness.

The above doesnt sound like much work, but in 100+ degree heat, it was plenty. Next week, Ben will be finishing the radiator mounting and fabbing the motor mounts. He'll be out of town some in the next couple of weeks, so next work session will be the 29th of July.

Day 9 - 7/29/2017

Engine mounting & Body cleanup

A great, productive day!  Got an early start, 8am. Ben got some engine mounts for this engine/vehicle combo from Advance Adapters. The first four pictures below show the engine mounts installed, ready to be welded. Once we got that done, I went to work on removing the oxidation from the body paint, while Ben went under the Joop to work on the transmission mount/skid plate (second row of pics below).
As you can see from the third and fourth rows of pictures below, the oxidized paint is cleaning up nicely. I also removed the broken plastic "rock panels". You can see below what that area looked like after removal (passenger side) and after I cleaned it up (driver side).  I also cleaned up the tires on the driver side, and started cleaning the wheels.  This wole cleaning process will happen several more times, but overall, she sure is lookin good!
Dayum, are you still reading this? There is more to come, stay tuned!

The Crew

These are the folks who have participated in this build. I am eternally grateful to all of them, and proud to be in their tribe.

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