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Mssldn's 1981 Scrambler

mssldn

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This is going to be a slow build and I don't really have a direction yet.

Just because I never really introduced myself, I will now. I have always loved Jeeps and about everything that Jeep has made. My parents wouldn't allow me to have an open-top Jeep while I was young. I almost was able to talk my dad into a Comanche as my first vehicle, but he ended up saying no. So my first Jeep did come until after I graduated high school.

I had been looking at YJ's (I wanted something "reliable" and loved the 4.0LHO), but couldn't get over the square headlights. When the TJ's came out it was a perfect fit at the time. I had a good job and financing a new jeep seemed like a good idea at 18. Learned my lesson; if I can't pay cash I don't need it.

I ended up in Michigan to finish my education and that is where I purchased my first scrambler.

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I got it from just outside of Hell . . . Hell, MI. It was sitting in a field and hadn't been road worthy for some time.

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Messed around with it but and was planning on doing a 4.0L swap, so I dumped the 258 and just towed it back to Idaho.

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It worked great as a trailer. Don't would about the extra holes in the body it is mainly bondo. there is also a 2x4 on the other side as well.

I got back to Idaho and got distracted. Mainly with finding work, but my wife's CJ7 was also calling. It was also nicer to work on a relatively rust free western jeep rather than a rusty midwest jeep.

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This is back to in 2008, and he is a lot bigger now, but I do appreciate the help my little buddy gives me.

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If I'm welding he has a mask and it is down. If I'm grinding he has ear protection on before I do, which is a good reminder for me.
 
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mssldn

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So I wanted to break this out. While she will probably never read this, I just wanted to thank my wife for putting up with me. I always joked when I was younger that I would marry the first girl I met that was hot and drove a CJ7. Well I found her.

No pics of her (she seems to always be behind the camera), but here is her Jeep.

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The paint job was a joke one night while we were dating. We did it over Labor day 2001. Then 9/11 happened a week later and it took on a whole new meaning.
 
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mssldn

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So we had stripped the seven down to bare metal and was planning on painting in the fall and putting it back together this winter. Well a guy quit at my office and large amount of work was shifted on my plate while they looked for a replacement. So while the seven is in primer it never got painted because it got cold. I was back at a stand still on the seven and it was pushed to the side of the garage.

It seemed like a good chance to work on my scrambler, but again the rusty jeep from hell (literally) didn't make me want to start into that right now. One day but not now.

Well, I stumbled across a solid scrambler for cheap that was within a 150 miles of me.

The owner was not willing to take a deposit and I didn't want to drive out there with only four pictures. It seemed like it took him forever to get more pictures and I didn't want to bug him and get the price to go up. When he finally posted the additional pictures, he told me he might have a guy coming from Washington to look at it on the approaching weekend. I told him that I would be there that night with a trailer and cash in hand.

At the time I told the owner that I had neither a trailer nor a tow vehicle. I made some calls and roped a buddy into coming with me and using his rig. I was able to get the only u-haul dolly in town reserved, but the place was to close before I could pick it up. I explained my situation to the guy and he ultimately agreed to wait there after closing for me.

My friend and I got the trailer and got on our way. I looked it over in the dark, talked Jeeps for a minute, and loaded it up. I got back at 2AM and had to get up for work at 6AM. However, I was not tired all day.
 
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mssldn

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New to me 81

It is in my garage now. With two jeeps in there I cannot get good pictures of the whole jeep. Here is a picture from the prior owner.

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This is the only real rust flake/bubble on the whole jeep

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There is some kind of underliner on the bottom of the Jeep that is peeling off. You can see it in the pic above and below.

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There is none on the frame, so I'm assuming that it was done with the body off the frame.
 

mssldn

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I am also assuming that it is a SL versus a SR because it has striped seats and A/C. But who knows what is original.

The PO said the trans/tc combo is a T18/D20. So the stock driveshafts don't fit and he never had any cut. The engine is currently a 258 with CA emissions. The compressor is missing along with other parts (back glass for the top and bulkhead are the other big parts).

The paint is not orginal and it looks like a CJ7 top was on it at one point. You can see the two different colors and there is/was a big bead of silicone run across the bed. The wheel tubs look a little rusted but nothing serious. The holes had bolts through them, which I assume held the bottom of a wood bulkhead under the back of the CJ7 top.

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Randyzzz

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I love watching stories like this develop...keep it coming!
 

mssldn

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must be cold up there now, no new updates. :popcorn::popcorn:

Promised the wife that if I bought the 8 I would sell my truck before I tore into 8. It was our third vehicle and never really got used. I guess fourth is you counted the 7 in the garage and fifth now that I have the 8 (Honey, why do I need to sell a car again? Maybe they are sacking up a bit). That is also not counting the scrambler "from hell" and the 1948 Willys Wagon I have at my father-in-laws. She tells me to sell those too, but my father-in-law says no they are fine where they're at.

The truck finally sold and covered the cost of the 8 plus a little more. If I had to answer one more "is this still available" emails I was going to kill somebody. And I love waiting for people that never show up. I mean my evening or weekend was not important to me thank you for wasting it. :banghead:

The cold weather does make things slower, but it also makes these guys slower too:

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The 8 was sitting in a rural field before I got is and in Southern Idaho that means it fills up with hornets nests. I think I have gotten rid of most of them, but every so often somebody pops out and says hit me. It makes it so easy when that don't fly away because they are to cold. I guess there is a benefit to not having a heated garage.
 
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mssldn

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Engine swap

So the goal today was to swap this:

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and this:

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mssldn

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The first pic was from my wife's 7 and is a 4.0L from a 96XJ. The second is obviously my 8's 258. I haven't even tired to get the 258 to start and don't really want to right now. My thoughts were to get it running in the 7 and paint the 7 in the spring. I thought that I would sell the 7 at that point because I have the 8 now; however, I forgot to ask my better half. She told me that she is not "ready" to sell the 7 (I think I already said this but I love my wife). She didn't want me to even put the 258 in the 7 because she wants something "better." The 258 did end up in the 7 today because of lack of space in my garage and I'm sick of craigslist right now. But my mind is racing with all these ideas.
 
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mssldn

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Body Damage

Apparently there was a little unseen body damage on the 8. It looks like someone came down on something just behind the frame mount on the passenger side.

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I didn't get a shot from the underside, but the floor is bowed up and there is a big crease in the firewall. It runs from just above the a/c pass-through to the heater hole. A PO had used a ton of silcone to seal the a/c lines in the deformed hole. I don't want to do a frame off right now - I want to drive it - so I'm just going to leave it for now. The door opening seems fine and the floor on the inside is not really noticeable. Until I pulled the battery tray I did not even notice it.

One more shot:

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mssldn

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No final pictures for today (it got dark), but I did get the motors in their "new" homes. I do have some inference problems with the booster and the intake manifold in the 8 that I didn't have in the 7. Maybe the 7's booster has a smaller diameter or maybe the motor mount are in there wrong. I'll get it figured out later.
 

mssldn

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Gauges?

Just wanted to get some opinions.

My new 8 is missing the two smaller gauges (well they're not stock they're digital and rusty) and the speedometer cluster isn't in great shape. I could steal them from my wife's 7 but I was thinking of doing something different.

I still have have all the wiring out of my 96 including the gauges. So I wanted to do something like this:

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I'm not a fan of the upholstery but like the basic look. I thinking about making a trim piece like an old Willys Wagon.

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big_o_

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I agree about the upholstery, but I like the clean look. The willy panel would look good, and would make a great conversation piece. Just saying
 

JEEPTHRILLS

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oh man...i thought you were messing with photoshop to design a new dash....i didnt think that was real...HMMMM
 

mssldn

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I have been making slow progress. Apparently, I've been taking pictures on the camera's internal memory and on the card. I got a million little cords and haven't been able to find the right cord. So I got a couple on the card and some on the internal memory that I can't download. But here is what I got:

There has been some minor fitment issues with the 4.0L in the 8 versus the 7.

One is was the power steering hose. The 7's hose was longer. The 7's hose is the cleaner one in the pic. You can see the difference in the rubber section of the hose. While the 8's fit, it was stretched to the max. I was worried that if it was ever flexed it would rupture, so they got swapped.

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The next problem was the brake booster. I have read that others have had problems with the intake and the booster. However, in my 7 it was close but it fit. Not so in the 8 because there was contact. Looking at it there was a combination of the 8's booster was a hair bigger and the body mounts are shot. I could have got new body mounts and swapped the booster from the 7, but I decided against it for now. Instead I decided to look at an upgrade.

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On the left is a dual booster from an s10 and the CJ's single is on the right. To mount the new booster I picked up a YJ booster bracket.

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You can see the difference in mounting height on the brackets. This also eliminates the CJ's linkage which takes more effort to move. Obviously, no driving test yet.

Also been working on the wiring and other minor things. Moved the PDC to the front of the battery tray and off the fender. I will be shorting up the harness to fit better.

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Finally, I've got the antenna hole welded up. I never liked this position (leaks to easy).

Before:
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After:
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mssldn

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I need to update this more often.

I have a completely new appreciation for all of the threads I've followed over the years and the many on here. It takes some dedication to put this together. For some reason I cannot seem to remember to stop and take pictures.

In the last post I breezed over couple of projects - specifically the brake booster. The booster idea is not original to me. If you follow the link, I'm basically doing the same thing; however, I'm still using the stock master because I still have stock brakes. The stock master will bolt up to a mid-80's S10 booster (no new pin like duckbone on JU). Ultimately, I'm trying to build a cheap Vanco unit. There are other cheaper solutions on the market, but I haven't seen one that is a 9"-dual booster like Vanco's.

Vanco's:
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Duckbone's:
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