Butters - Jeff's 81 Scrambler Build Thread

[hefavitzen]

It finaly got here! The truck rolled up and delivered on Thursday and it was a happy day. What a long trip it has been to get to this point. My only issue, it sure is cold outside.

Here are some pictures and I will post many more over time. For now I begin the "new owner spit, shine and tune" program. That is how we usually start, right?

Truck rolls into the parking lot near my neighborhood. Chris, the driver, was great and right on time.

Come on...let's unload it!

Like a caged animal.

Seriously, let's get her out!

Well, alright maybe she needs a little coaxing. It is chilly but come on, it's South Carolina. Hmmm, let's take a look.

Yeah! The 350 needed some coaxing but eventually it started right up. Not a puff of smoke from the side pipes; just a throaty rumble that made my little brother pretty jealous. He has a TJ with a cracked exhaust manifold on the 2.5liter 4. Anyone got an extra they want to part with?

It was an exciting trip the 2 miles home though. It doesn't like to idle at a stop sign...maybe a vacuum thing. It also has a very sticky throttle cable that I'll have to lube. The manual brakes are harrowing. For some reason the 350 just cuts off and you have to return the ignition switch and restart. Just, turns off! No one said it was in perfect condition and none of this is a suprise. Just the joy of a 30 year old vehicle that has been maintained rather than driven often and cared for with purpose. Yeah it runs, not WELL, but ... She's pretty anyway and I am proud to have it in the drive way ready to work on. It came with the full soft top you see, plus a half hard top, back seat, (needs front seats...spice), a tune kit for the carborator, an extra (the origional) Dana 300 long snout that needs a full rebuild, and tons of documentation including the origional sales reciept and the 1981 Scrambler Brochure that is full color 9 X 12 booklet style. I will scan that if anyone is interested...tons of pictures and stuff.
Jeep has had many extras installed:
- 350 with a bit of a cam and an Edelbrock intake and carb.
- Mallory Ignition
- SSBC 4 wheel disks
- Summers Brothers one piece axles
- Warn hubs
- Skyjacker lift
- Flaming river column
- electric fan
- Moroso tach and gauges below the dash
30 years of pleasing one family and now moved on to another family that hopes to get as much pleasure from it as the first family did.

 

[dmock]

Looks great! I am guessing you will have a busy wrenching weekend or two in front of you! Enjoy.

 

[jims chop shop]

Sweet !!
I will find a box for that power brake booster ASAP

Congrats !! Have fun !!

 

[aclaugh1]

Nice looking Scrambler!

 

[hefavitzen]

At dinner last night my wife said the damndest thing, "Your right, it does need a paint job. What color is it underneath? (it was black) What color you want to paint it? I like the color combo in the brochure that came with it."

WOW, such an enabler! Not typical Jeanne. She must secretly really like the Jeep.

I kind of like a green color, love white (she was luke warm on white) with blue stripes, she likes the dark brown with reddish stripes which I don't mind but I already have a brown pickup. I like Orange, green, burgundy, tan/cream and white. Hard choice!

 

[hefavitzen]

PM Sent

Sweet !!
I will find a box for that power brake booster ASAP

Congrats !! Have fun !!

 

[Randyzzz]

Looks great! The fun begins!

 

[walkerhoundvm]

Make sure all of the carb and manifold bolts are tight, then take a look at all the vacuum hoses - there won't be many with your setup. It's probably something relatively simple like a carb rebuild, resetting the timing, or ensuring everything is hooked up right. What altitude is she coming from? Could also need new jets for sea level.

The Edelbrock is pretty easy to rebuild, $45 kit I think. If you're thinking of keeping it, you should probably rebuild now while you're motivated and since you don't know when it was last done. Of course, you could just cut the garbage and go fuel injection. I loved my carb, to be honest, though.

Edit - saw she's coming from the Reno area - almost certainly could use bigger jets, might as well rebuild while you're in there.

 

[surfjeepzx]

I think I saw that one for sale on craigs list out west in Arizona?

Congrats.

 

[hefavitzen]

That is an astute observation! Rock Hill is 4100 feet or so closer to sea level than Carson City! I didn't even consider that.

I will have to start looking at what I need to do to get it squared away. The engine sounds like it may be have gears instead of a timing chain. It is noisy, but the engine sounds fine. It isn't the power steering pump.

Had to replace the battery. The one that was in it was pretty weak kneed and barely started the Jeep. Had it tested and it wasn't very healthy. Put in an Optima and it started right up...except I broke part of the battery terminal so I'll have to replace that...one after another.

Also, the behind the dash business is pretty nuts so I'll need to work on that. Lots of cleaning! 30 years of dusty and dry do make little rust, but lots of dirt.

patience patience patience...

Make sure all of the carb and manifold bolts are tight, then take a look at all the vacuum hoses - there won't be many with your setup. It's probably something relatively simple like a carb rebuild, resetting the timing, or ensuring everything is hooked up right. What altitude is she coming from? Could also need new jets for sea level.

The Edelbrock is pretty easy to rebuild, $45 kit I think. If you're thinking of keeping it, you should probably rebuild now while you're motivated and since you don't know when it was last done. Of course, you could just cut the garbage and go fuel injection. I loved my carb, to be honest, though.

Edit - saw she's coming from the Reno area - almost certainly could use bigger jets, might as well rebuild while you're in there.

 

[Polarfire]

Congrats again! Looks like a great Jeep!!

 

[Randyzzz]

In my experience, Edelbrock carbs are not a good choice for off-road. They're easy to work on and tune, but they like street driving, period. Even the off road needle/seats don't help. If the manifold supports a spreadbore, find a good quadrajet- they're poor man's wannabe fuel injection.

Or convert to TBI, and eliminate all carb problems.

 

[John N]

In my experience, Edelbrock carbs are not a good choice for off-road.

Or convert to TBI, and eliminate all carb problems.

Same as my experience....

and yeah....save a lot of pain and do the TBI now.

 

[Bushmaster6]

nice platform to play with... so, in other words, now you're screwed

you're going to have fun with it!

I don't normally dig the bullet hole style wheels, but that particular set looks better than most, and would look nice done in one color (ie: a darker metallic or all aluminum-silver).. it's an easy rattle-can project that makes a big difference

 

[hefavitzen]

Same as my experience....

and yeah....save a lot of pain and do the TBI now.

For now I am just going to rebuild the carb. I am trying to start cheaply until I know what is going on with it. It has some electrical hurdles I'll have to hit right off. For the price of a EFI I can put in a junk yard Vortec. Wouldn't that be the better deal? I was doing some reading about the various kits and they are all betwen $1,500 and $3,000. I can just put in a Vortec for that price it would seem.

1) It runs beautifully, burbling out the side pipes sound awesome, and then it just stops. No wierd noises, no puff of smoke, just stops. Turn the key and all is back running again. I dunno what that is all about. I am going to replace the rotor and cap on the Mallory Unilite distributor, but if that doesn't fix the issue, I'll replace it with a DUI.

2) The right hand turn signals do not work, so I have to trace that issue down.

3) It has a B&M TH350 that I do not fully trust but I have not driven it further than the two miles from the pickup point to my house as I do not yet have tags. (issues with how the title was signed and SC needing an official Bill of Sale...waiting on the seller to mail all that back) Not sure what to think about it yet so I am reserving judgement. I'd rather have an AX15 or some other 5 speed manual trans.

4) I need a stock spice drivers seat.

5) I know that in 2 or 3 years I will want to strip and paint her so I am going to try to just make the Scrambler reliable as possible now and enjoy it while I save for paint and all the lovelies that come with a body off job. (frame recondition, that manual trans, new exhaust, hell maybe new Vortec.)

 

[hefavitzen]

I am a little iffy on the wheels as well. They will do for now, but I enjoyed my old origional steel white wheels.

I think once I decide on a new color I'll start thinking about wheels. First things first, get it road worthy and drive it a while.

Off road would be nice, but I don't know where to go around here and don't trust the Jeep enough yet to believe it won't leave me stuck. That engine stopping issue is priority number one.

nice platform to play with... so, in other words, now you're screwed

you're going to have fun with it!

I don't normally dig the bullet hole style wheels, but that particular set looks better than most, and would look nice done in one color (ie: a darker metallic or all aluminum-silver).. it's an easy rattle-can project that makes a big difference

 

[hefavitzen]

The PO included a bunch of documentation for all the stuff that he added; around 30 items from transmission and carb to hood lock and radiator suspension and brakes and all that stuff.

What is amazing is that all this stuff was added in 1997. It seems like all that stuff was added and then he parked it in a garage and left it there.

Unusual.

 

[hefavitzen]

Brakes needed Cleaning!

So I had been having some issues with my brakes as it was taking about 4 car lengths to stop from 25 mph. That was not good.

So, on Friday I extracted the old fluid, cleaned out the mess and added the new stuff.

MUCH BETTER! Still need to bleed them, but way way better.

Here was what I had to clean up.
Brake fluid is supposed to be clear with no flakes!!!!

And there was a nice coat of this gunk in there too.

And plenty of crap clogging it all up.

Way better today...got to take it out driving and it was great!!!!

 

[walkerhoundvm]

Good work - don't know if you've thought about it, but there is an upgrade for booster brakes that a bunch here have done and I'm thinking of doing after my tub swap. Do some research, as there are inexpensive ways to do it using YJ and Ford parts and some welding, but as best as I've been able to find, these are complete kits: Booster upgrade from Classic Performance

OK, off to watch the Giants Bowl, been thinking too much lately about brakes!

And how is the engine coming along? I was wondering if you might have a vapor lock or vacuum issue (i.e. improper tank venting). Hard to tell without knowing more about the symptoms and your set-up.

 

[hefavitzen]

That price is half what I have found so far! Does it work alright?

I am going to verify what amount of vacuum I am actually putting out on my engine. I am a little worried the cam is messing with the vacuum.

Good work - don't know if you've thought about it, but there is an upgrade for booster brakes that a bunch here have done and I'm thinking of doing after my tub swap. Do some research, as there are inexpensive ways to do it using YJ and Ford parts and some welding, but as best as I've been able to find, these are complete kits: Booster upgrade from Classic Performance

OK, off to watch the Giants Bowl, been thinking too much lately about brakes!

And how is the engine coming along? I was wondering if you might have a vapor lock or vacuum issue (i.e. improper tank venting). Hard to tell without knowing more about the symptoms and your set-up.