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walkerhoundvm's rebuild thread

AJ2393

Scrambled in the Head
Silver Member
Lifetime Member
City
North Dighton
State
MA
Wow, your Scrambler looks awesome and sounds like it finally runs correctly. A long way from where it was all those years ago. I'm so happy for you, and that's it's finally the driver you have always wanted. Congrats on the soon to be here family arrival as well.
 

walkerhoundvm

Just trying to stay upright
Lifetime Member
City
Cave Creek
State
AZ
Working on some of the minutia lately, prompted by some bullying by the wife about spare parts in the spare soon-to-be baby's room.

1) the gas pedal had some flaking paint, probably from heating/bending during the rebuild to get it aligned to my feet. Removed, sanded, primed and painted, good as new.

PXL_20210606_152928428.jpg

2) The fuse for the heater motor kept blowing. I remember this may have started a while back, when I had to replace my heater core. I went through the wiring and couldn't find anything out of the ordinary, though the resistor was a little loose. Fixed that, but fuses kept blowing. Checked the (+) at the motor and it was hot...suggesting that it may not be grounding very well. Although the mounts to the firewall were all tight, the new paint might have kept them from grounding well, so I scuffed up the paint at those mounts and tightened her down again. No more blown fuses :)

3) I had some aftermarket gauges from CJLaredo on ebay - they seem to be Crowns that he "upgraded" with in-house faceplates. I don't know if he makes them any longer. Anyway, they have a weird 3000K bulb so I had to find a replacement that was green. Well, a little too green, so I had to replace the bulbs in my speedo, too. Like I said, a little too green.

PXL_20210606_152012697.jpg

4) You'll also notice the OEM radio back in its spot. The wife was fed up with radios in the closet so I decided it was probably a good time to install it and consolidate some of my aftermarket radios (if anyone is looking for some retros in working order, let me know. Nothing OEM any longer, though). Since I have that BT amp in the dash, I wanted to make sure to incorporate it somehow, all I had to do was find a switchable 12v source from the radio. Easier said than done, and I'm not ashamed to admit it took me a couple tries. The first I found and soldered was for a light that was only on when the radio was on. Turns out that light goes off when you put a cassette in, so I had to take the whole thing out and find one in the amp board instead. Now, amp turns on when radio turns on, amp turns off when radio turns off, and both radio, cassette, and BT are amped. Sounds great, plenty of volume at speed - enough to blow the speakers without much effort.

PXL_20210606_144859043.jpg

I guess one thing I am ashamed to admit is that I have been considering selling it. My wife says "no," that I've spent a lot of time, money, blood, sweat and tears on it, but I have some personal reasons that I'm losing sleep over. I would probably aim for Barrett-Jackson in the spring if I were able to make up my mind.

She's about as done as I can imagine her being. Drives like a dream and easily does 85+ on the highway (hard to say for sure, speedo only goes up to 85). Does fine in 105+ temps. 12mpg/1000 smiles per gallon with a lead foot. Only thing I might do sooner or later is drill the front driveshaft yokes for u-bolts.
 
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AJ2393

Scrambled in the Head
Silver Member
Lifetime Member
City
North Dighton
State
MA
Selling?? The remorse of putting in so much time/energy/effort to see it go down the road with someone else is a bitter pill to swallow. Just my firsthand experience. In the end if you decide to sell, I'd still be happy for you if that's the right choice for you and your family. You have done and amazing job on this one, and if I could shop for one at today's prices I'd be first in line. Good luck with your decision.
 

walkerhoundvm

Just trying to stay upright
Lifetime Member
City
Cave Creek
State
AZ
I would be interested in a retro. Any include a cassette deck?
Yes, I have two. One is a Clarion that's pretty neat - just plays one side at a time, then you have to eject and flip, just like my OEM. The other is a realistic (RadioShack brand) that flips itself. The Clarion was NOS, the realistic was used. I also have a Jensen, but for some reason the rear channels quit when playing cassettes. I'll probably keep that one as backup.

Haven't used either in a couple years, so can't make any promises. Importantly, these things are always subject to capacitor failure at this age. Some of the wires are cut/unlabeled.

The realistic, if I remember right, was probably due for a new belt. The clarion seemed to be doing OK, but may have had static while changing volume. Typically that requires a little cleaner on the volume dial.

Happy to give them a both new home for the cost of standard usps shipping.

PXL_20210606_205815391.jpg

PXL_20210606_210526275.MP.jpg
 

Pman

Busted Knuckles
Lifetime Member
City
Mount Pleasant
State
SC
Man, that bums me out that you’re considering selling; you’ve been on here and JeepForum for a long time. I still remember your rig profile pic being in primer grey. I’m sure whatever decision you make will be the right one for you.

I had to chortle a bit at your pedal repaint. I just did the EXACT same thing.

Nice work on the stereo! Winning!
 

Randyzzz

Blown Budget
BENEFACTOR
Gold Member
Lifetime Member
SOA Member
City
Redmond
State
OR
Selling! Didn’t think I’d ever hear that, although I would be lying if I said I haven’t considered that on mine. And I haven’t even got it running yet! No idea what your reasons are, but they must be valid if you’re considering it.
 

AdamH

Scrambler Junkie
BENEFACTOR
Gold Member
Lifetime Member
SOA Member
City
Mt Holly
State
NC
I can understand the selling part. I vowed to never sell my first Scrambler while building it And then the first year after. However I quickly realized that my “dream” Scrambler was no longer my dream when completed. Too tall and no back seat For my daughter. I could have changed all that but i felt like I’d be bastardizing the completed Jeep. It looked too good to change. I sold it to a close friend and member here on the board and built the one I have now. The memories I’m making and will continue to make with my wife and daughter in the new one are priceless.

whatever your reason(s) are as long as you can sleep at night knowing they were right … that’s all you need.
 

Randyzzz

Blown Budget
BENEFACTOR
Gold Member
Lifetime Member
SOA Member
City
Redmond
State
OR
I can understand the selling part. I vowed to never sell my first Scrambler while building it And then the first year after. However I quickly realized that my “dream” Scrambler was no longer my dream when completed. Too tall and no back seat For my daughter. I could have changed all that but i felt like I’d be bastardizing the completed Jeep. It looked too good to change. I sold it to a close friend and member here on the board and built the one I have now. The memories I’m making and will continue to make with my wife and daughter in the new one are priceless.

whatever your reason(s) are as long as you can sleep at night knowing they were right … that’s all you need.
My first Scrambler, Copper, did the same thing. Built to my plan but the plan didn’t fit my lifestyle when done. My current build, Red, is also exactly to plan, but the paint threw me for a loop. It’s coming out too nice overall to use, and will end up never seeing dirt and be a weekend cruiser if I keep it. I can’t decide if I can justify keeping something with that big an investment and knowing what I could sell it for. In my case, I’m leaning towards keeping Red and finding a Jeepster to build for a daily. I promise I won’t go overboard on it. (Right…)
 

walkerhoundvm

Just trying to stay upright
Lifetime Member
City
Cave Creek
State
AZ
Took @Randyzzz 's lead and upgraded my original alternator, which turned out to be a 105A version making the 145A an upgrade in more than just appearance. Also had to get the correct belt. $280 for the alternator and $25 for the belt on Amazon. Not driving much lately with the 115*+ temps. Have the day off and might be headed to the post office to see how well it can keep cool.

Update: it's not likely I'll be driving when it gets this hot any more. I'll get an OBD reading on the engine sometime, but I don't like it when the gauge goes over ~1/2.

PXL_20210617_220125525.jpg
 
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