neohic

I was on a side road so I clicked on the high beams… that’s when the problems started. Then I wiggled the wired at the switch in the floor and sometimes they’d come back. Haven’t looked into it thoroughly yet though. The wiring (although not done by me) is fairly new but the switches in the dash are old. I cringe when I think about doing anything in that dash. It’s all functional, but far from pretty.

Not quite top priority right now. When the time comes, I’m sure travel will be a part of the adventure.

Does anyone know when you find out when you've got a problem with your headlights? That's right... when it's pitch dark outside. Dumb, old Jeep really surprised me last night with the headlights going on and off. I suspect it's the dimmer switch that went bad.

Heck yeah! That’s exactly what I need. In other news, I opened my front door to find that the drill press fairy stopped by very discreetly. Over the past couple months I’ve ran up to MN for one reason or another three times. One was for fun, another to volunteer to help my dad build his new shop, and the last was to help out after my father-in-law passed. My wife flew up before me and I waited a few days before driving up. I arrived and my father-in-law held on for several days… it’s a complicated story so I’ll just say that he had health problems. I had plenty of waiting to do so I spent more time on my dad’s new shop. I managed to get the main power run and we flipped the lights on shortly before I drove back home. My dad surprised me with sending me the drill press I had my eye on. Thanks, Dad! Good bit of shop infrastructure.

Another vote for adding the 4x4. Good looking truck regardless.

Mmm… count me in for more.

The main reason that I wouldn’t do another stroker is the cost investment. I did mine 15+ years ago and I think I had around $3500 in it. Mine is on the milder side so I wouldn’t have any issues running it on a stock RENIX computer. Granted, the truck has been mostly sitting for the past six years, but the seat of the pants feel of my truck when it was my daily driver was awesome! Plenty of power and gobs of torque. I’m still very happy with my engine. At the time, it was a good option. Since then I’ve done a bunch of drivetrain swaps in a bunch of different vehicles. Smaller V8s fit fine in our trucks and companies like Novak make swaps way easier than they were in the past. A bone stock GM 4.8/5.3 has way more potential than our 4.0s in terms of tuning and “easy/cheap” horsepower. If I were to start from scratch, I’d do a GM 4.8 in front of an AX-15 with a Novak adapter but I’d build my own engine mounts. If an automatic was a priority, I’d consider an old school AMC 360 with a modern carb replacement fuel injection in front of an AW4… but that’s not what we’re talking about.

I'm on the bandwagon of "strokers are cool... but..." as I'd never build another. Yup, they're nice that everything bolts right back in where it was but it's still based on an engine that had its basic architecture engineered a long time ago. Modern engines are far more efficient in how they make power. If I were to do it all over again, I'd pick an engine that matches my wants/needs and go from there.

I’ll look into it. Might be one of the guys on an early CJ group I’m also on.

No fiberglass bodies… ever. That was a “solution” from years past and I’ve got zero interest. Body mounts on the frame look fine but the hat channels on the tub side are gone. I could deal with character rust if it was wearing factory paint and everything in the surface was honest. Who knows how many gallons of filler is waiting to fall off. This is my ideal solution. My little CJ is considered is an “intermediate” from after AMC bought the Jeep name. ‘72-‘75 are the only years thought would physically bolt to my frame and have everything line up. ‘76 came along and they changed everything. Finding a good 47+ year old donors is proving to be difficult.

Winter soon? Hu… could’ve sworn I was going to do something about an engine this year. Maybe I’ll clean up the paint again. Yup… that’ll fix everything. Some serious decisions need to be made on the body too. If an engine swap is happening, then the front clip will come off to get to everything. After that it’s a few more bolts and the tub is off. Body work? Tub swap? Thoughts?

Still a very cool truck. Thanks for the update and all the best with the trans swap.

I mean… HOW prerunner are you thinking? Welcome aboard!

I get a real Wrenches Gone Wild vibe with this truck lately. We’ll done, sir.

I was thinking the same thing. Why drill all kinds of holes in a GOOD bedside?

Indoor. It’ll be parked in the shop all winter. The plan is to park it closer to the north wall in there and as close to the big doors as possible. When it’s parked for winter, that’s where it’ll stay.

Yup… but I’m hoping to just find something that I don’t need to put a bunch of effort or cash into.

Started a sink project today. I don’t have plumbing in the shop so this little sink will drain into a future bucket that lives in the cabinet. Water will be a container that lives on the counter and gravity will run the whole operation. Don’t have a water container figured yet. I’ll cruise the local Goodwill to see what could work.

New plate day. Truck pretty much got the equivalent of an AARP card.

Few changes today. I’ve decided to get rid of a two drawer tool cart I have in favor of one less thing on the floor. Hammers needed to move… … and the miter saw cart needed an additional work space. It’s not somewhere to sit or anything real heavy, but it is somewhere to put something to sand or set tools on. I also had a go-to spot on the old tool cart for common bits, glue bottles, and lacquer thinner. Best part is it forces me to put away tools so the new top can fold down. There’s still the same back corner a drill press will eventually go. I smoked a drill using a 4” hole saw this week so a drill press took a good jump on the priority list.

It went off the property today! Made a bench out of leftover stuff and delivered it to a neighbor’s place. Just around the block, but on the road is on the road. Guess it deserves a wash finally. … dirt trap is nearly full! Anyone have a good recommendation for a car cover to keep the dust off through the winter?

Stock shafts to the axle or something fancy?

Desk is done minus drawer pulls. Went a little overboard with utilizing plywood scraps I’ve been saving. Then I let the dust settle down to put a few coats of polyurethane on. There… now I’m ready to work remotely.

Nope. The old panel went into the spare parts bin that the blank panel came out of. I like the blank in the dash better.