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Jeep
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Time left: |
(10/13/2008 1:00:00 AM) |
Seller: |
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Bids: |
12 |
slick1725 |
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Current Bid: |
USD 6000 |
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The Short Version: Up for sale is a 93 Jeep Wrangler with a 5.9L (360) Mopar Magnum Crate Engine, NV4500 5speed Manual Transmission mated to a NP231 Transfer Case, Rubicon Express 4.5” HD Lift and fully customized interior.
The Good: All the items above, civil but powerful setup, new paint, new top, tub liner cleaned and recoated , new radio and speakers, Tuffy boxes, reliable and rust free!
The Not So Good: Hood wrinkle (read below), Fuel gauge reads ½ tank at empty (reliable though just wrong ohms), it’s a jeep and most do not have AC in this model.
View Pictures Here – http://s45.photobucket.com/albums/f64/Slick1725/?action=viewcurrent=fb3f9588.pbw
View Video Here - http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6131274834778698675hl=en
History: My grandfather purchased this jeep in 97 with 35K miles the year I graduated high school. I drove it under his ownership through college. It was stock when he bought it with clothe seats and only carpet in the front. Someone had run larger tires (maybe 31’s) because the fenders showed signs of scrubbing. I drove it stock through college and really enjoyed it. I left the hood unlatched one evening and let the hood fly up on me (remember the scene from Ace Ventura Pet Detective). That mistake wrinkled the hood and busted the windshield. Insurance covered them both but I talked my granddad into letting me try painting it myself. Didn’t get the wrinkle out completely nor was the paint anything to brag about. I did get to upgrade to a bestop supertop. I also decided one day to race someone and dumped the clutch at way too high an RPM and shredded the rearend gears. I managed to talk my G-Dad into 4.11 anticipating larger tires. Once my grandfather officially sold it to me I put a rubicon express 4.5” lift on and made a custom aluminum diamond plate dash with new gauges. The first year I was married on Valentines day of all days I went to help some friends out and managed to hydrolock the block which broke 2 rods and poked a hole in the block and the oil pan. I decided to install a mopar 360 at that point. The jeep made it to 125K on the original engine with no troubles other than self inflicted. I have put about 10k on the new setup. We recently had our 1st child and I am now sad to say that not only does my fleet of vehicles need to get smaller but this one is no longer practical. I have enjoyed driving and working on this jeep for just over a decade. I decided to finish up the things I have been living with and give here a paint job for a royal send off.
Interior: The interior has been fully coated with grey herculiner bed liner. I pressure washed and recoated it last month. I have bestop reclining seats with fabric that matches the top and they are completely water proof. They were installed 3-4 years back and have some mud stains but they look pretty good overall. The dash is fully custom. I did retain the original dash pad in the make over for safety. I also installed a tuffy lock box glove box with “oh crud” handle, a tuffy lock box arm rest, and tuffy plastic wheel well boxes. I have all the keys for the boxes. I installed a new radio since after putting the jeep back together from the paint job the older radio decided to not work. I also installed cut slots in the diamond plate for 4X6 speakers (original dash location) and also installed VDP molded plastic speaker pods with interior lights on the roll cage. A summit racing heater was fitted under the dash and vent controls were added in under the dash in easy reach of the drive and passenger. About a year ago I won an ebay auction (yahoo I get to pay the most) for full doors. These were stripped and restored. The interior panels were redone with thin wood board, foam padding, and vinyl. About a month later I say where I could buy replacements but I decided to keep these due to cost and they should not deteriorate like the originals. The rest of the door hardware is in good condition. The passenger side door keyed lock does not work as I am missing one small part. I will check with mopar on this. They do lock from the inside and the keys are so similar the ignition key works in the drivers side door.
Exterior: I disassembled the jeep about a month ago to start the grand send off / mild restoration. I had multiple areas on the jeep that though not rusting needed attention to make her look good again. The hood didn’t match and some rattle can paint just under the doors didn’t match either. I also needed to fill holes where the original tailgate hinges were located. I had installed a CJ tailgate and never really finished the job. The paint job came out pretty good and is comparable to the original factory finish. There are a few dimples and one or two bugs that got in the paint. I spent countless hours in prep sanding, color sanding, and buffing. I did not have the funds to replace the hood and the wrinkle is still there. It adds character Ha Ha. The fenders flares were all removed and painted. The bumpers and side bars were sanded and repainted. I also purchased a new supertop soft top and tinted widow skins from bestop. This really contrasts to the white and make the jeep look really sharp. New chrome tow hooks and stainless Pro Comp lights were installed on the front bumper. I also installed new Jeep vinyl stickers to round out the job.
The tires are 75% to 50%. I have a full size spare. The chrome rims still look pretty good accept for the two that scraped on a curb sometime back (see pics). No leak issues.
Mechanical: The engine swap is turning 4 years old or so and is still running strong. I have only put about 10K miles on it since I have had other vehicles as my primary drivers. I spared no expense with the swap. The Mopar Magnum 360 (5.9L) was purchased new and is rated at 300 HP and 375 Ft Lbs. I mated it to a new Dodge NV4500 with AA adapters adapter to the stock NP231 transfer case. I also installed a slip yoke eliminator kit and drive shaft. The engine came with a mopar ignition system which has worked flawlessly. I installed a 1 wire GM alternator on custom stainless steel brackets. The power steering is a Saginaw type typical of dodges and chevys. I had plans to switch to hydroboost brakes so the power steering reservoir has an extra return on it. The power steering brackets and pulleys came from a dodge diplomat and fit really nice. I installed an Edelbrock manual choke 650 cfm Thunder AVS carb with KN Filter. I have had no problems with this setup. The manual choke is easy to use and it cranks right up on cold days with a half pull on the choke and a few taps on the gas. I did a custom exhaust too starting with patriot ceramic coated block hugger headers into 2.5” down pipes and then a 2 into 1 connector to run 3” pipe out the passenger’s side. I installed a Flowmaster Series 50 SUV muffler. All exhaust work is mandrel bent aluminized tubing. It has a stainless steel tail pipe. The radiator was purchased for a Chevrolet swap setup and bolted directly in place. I have been running a Flex-a-lite universal black widow fan. The only issue is the fan must be turned off before crossing a river or flooded trail (got a story for that one). I have installed the “warhead arming” switch on the dash for manual control in those occasions and an indicator light.
The front and rearend were completely reworked about 6 years ago (approx. 30k miles ago) when the 4.11 gears were professionally installed. I did a brake job a couple years back and had the rotors and drums turned at that time.
Electrical: At the time of the engine swap I stripped out the factory harness and started over with a painless wiring kit. All the wires are labeled on the wire itself which is great for troubleshooting or adding new stuff. I have added a few items so not everything has labeled wiring but everything is straight forward and can be unplugged fairly easily. I have hooked up the turn signals to function through a single green LED on the dash using diodes (just incase you were wondering where the other light was on the dash). The speedo is an electronic type and must be calibrated using a 2 mile stretch of road. I must have been 20% off when I did it sometime back and never changed it. This makes the odometer 20% off as well as your speed. I plan on recalibrating using my GPS. I was a bit eager when I was building the dash and bought my gas gauge without checking the ohms range. It reads ½ when I need to get gas. Really have about 3 gallons left. All gauges are autometer and are standard sizes.
Operation: This jeep is awesome fun. It has plenty of power and can run circles around a stock wrangler. The exhaust sounds great. It is not too loud but there is no mistaking it is a V8 under the hood when you get on it. The lift is just right for a daily driver and a weekend toy or hunting vehicle. I do not hot dawg it much but it will bark tires through 3rd even at ¾ throttle. It is slightly unique with the CJ tailgate. It can be left in the rain with the top down with no worries. It can pull trees from your yard in granny low at idle and can cruise on the interstate at 2200 rpm at 70 MPH in overdrive. I have not driven this jeep offroad much, maybe a few dozen times during my entire ownership. It did more than I expected in stock form and is only better now. This jeep could be all you need or the beginning of a monster. Unfortunately I have to leave the rest of the story to the next owner to write.
Extras: The jeep will come with a slightly bent Hi Lift jack (it is still good for a tire change). Some spares, a manual, small empty tool box that fits in the wheel well boxes, top cleaner and conditioner, and the remaining herculiner if it is still good.
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