- City
- Chicago
- State
- IL
Finally getting around to starting a thread on my build, which is a frame off for an 83 SL Scrambler.
Guess I should start with the history of how I got here. For those that could care less, and just want the technical details scroll down to post 2 and save yourself the agony of the backstory.
First car I purchased out of high school in 91 was an 85 CJ-7 258. While a huge improvement over the prior complete POS’s I owned, this CJ was possessed by the devil (even by CJ terms). My father and I worked on it constantly through the years I was in college, and even after I gave it to my little brother. Heep 1.0 finally met the crusher in 98, after rusting into literally nothing.
Fast forward through 98-04, lots of work, lots work travel, a marriage, and a divorce, then a move to Chicago single again. It was time to purchase my 2nd CJ, this time a bucket of mechanical mess on a solid frame / body. This 84 CJ-7 304 (AKA Heep 2.0), was many a weekend project with my father flying up to Chicago to fix one small thing after another after another. Age and illness started to take over for my father in 2012, the trips stopped, and he passed away in September 2014.
After many hours of thinking how best to remember my father and more importantly teach my newly born boy / girl twins about their grandfather, I finally came up with this project in honor of my departed old man.
I always wanted a Scrambler, and it seemed to be a perfect thing to fully rebuild one “right” so that it would be a part of my new family as they grow up, just as my father’s cars were part of my life growing up.
Now, here is where I realized I had 3 major limitations.
- 1. I needed a decent Scrambler as a starting point
- 2. I realized while I have decent mechanical skills, I was nowhere near skilled enough to do this whole project by myself. However, wanted to also find someone that would let me work on my build so I learned something and was part of the process,
- 3. I live in the city of Chicago, so space to park is a problem let alone space for a shop that doesn’t cost the price of a vital organ per month.
I got points 1,2,3 taken care of in June 2015.
I wasn’t going to start a tread since originally because I felt like a slacker by not doing it all myself. However, after almost 6 months of lurking / reading helpful post, good ideas, solid advice, and a bunch of funny stuff; I came to the conclusion that you guys just want more pictures of Scramblers being brought back to life.
So here is the starting point, which just happened to be my builders CJ-8 that he had for 10 years.
Guess I should start with the history of how I got here. For those that could care less, and just want the technical details scroll down to post 2 and save yourself the agony of the backstory.
First car I purchased out of high school in 91 was an 85 CJ-7 258. While a huge improvement over the prior complete POS’s I owned, this CJ was possessed by the devil (even by CJ terms). My father and I worked on it constantly through the years I was in college, and even after I gave it to my little brother. Heep 1.0 finally met the crusher in 98, after rusting into literally nothing.
Fast forward through 98-04, lots of work, lots work travel, a marriage, and a divorce, then a move to Chicago single again. It was time to purchase my 2nd CJ, this time a bucket of mechanical mess on a solid frame / body. This 84 CJ-7 304 (AKA Heep 2.0), was many a weekend project with my father flying up to Chicago to fix one small thing after another after another. Age and illness started to take over for my father in 2012, the trips stopped, and he passed away in September 2014.
After many hours of thinking how best to remember my father and more importantly teach my newly born boy / girl twins about their grandfather, I finally came up with this project in honor of my departed old man.
I always wanted a Scrambler, and it seemed to be a perfect thing to fully rebuild one “right” so that it would be a part of my new family as they grow up, just as my father’s cars were part of my life growing up.
Now, here is where I realized I had 3 major limitations.
- 1. I needed a decent Scrambler as a starting point
- 2. I realized while I have decent mechanical skills, I was nowhere near skilled enough to do this whole project by myself. However, wanted to also find someone that would let me work on my build so I learned something and was part of the process,
- 3. I live in the city of Chicago, so space to park is a problem let alone space for a shop that doesn’t cost the price of a vital organ per month.
I got points 1,2,3 taken care of in June 2015.
I wasn’t going to start a tread since originally because I felt like a slacker by not doing it all myself. However, after almost 6 months of lurking / reading helpful post, good ideas, solid advice, and a bunch of funny stuff; I came to the conclusion that you guys just want more pictures of Scramblers being brought back to life.
So here is the starting point, which just happened to be my builders CJ-8 that he had for 10 years.
