drug in a new project ...what do you guys think.....long

[oldrusty]

Since the big block mopar is up and running I figured might as well drag this one in......

the patient 1982 CJ7 Renegade.......the story.....the original owner drove it to pennsylvania from mississippi to visit relatives last summer(2008). While he was here he wound up getting into an accident and the jeep had to be towed. The poor kid had no cash and no way to get the jeep home so he left it with the towing company.....Fast forward to last winter.... A friend of a friend buys the cj from the towing company with the plan to pull the engine to replace the one in his wrangler.....Fast forward a couple more months...the new owner calls me to ask if Id be interested in swapping the engines. After going over to look at both jeeps I convinced the owner the wrangler just needs a head gasket. We do the job and the wrangler runs great......Fast forward a few more weeks.....The cj gets bought by my best friend to be built up into a "woods buggy"..... Fast forward till last month.....my bestest buddy decides he'd rather go drag racing and buys a 5.0 mustang instead. He offers me the cj for $800.00.....The good.....virtually rust free tub, 4 almost new 33x12.50's on aluminum rims, Jeep specialty equipment winch ( looks identicle to a warn 8274), brand new moser rear axle shafts, brand new billet hei distributor, new high lift jack......The bad.....needs a hood, both front fenders, Body looks to have shifted on the frame, The first friend of mine cut all the engine wiring in preperation for pulling it.........so here she is

....so what does everyone think.....did I get a decent buy?

[jpdocdave]

i love cj's. when my wrangler is built, i'd like to restore a cj. i'd like to mainly restore to original, maybe w/ a 2" lift tops. whats your plans? glad to see it getting some attention.

[sinkrun]

Tires and wheels are almost worth what you paid I say good deal.

[oldrusty]

I forgot to mention I happened to run into the guy who originally bought it from the towing company a couple weeks ago. He asked me if my bud had ever done anything with the cj. I kinda chuckled and said I had ended up with it. Guys laughs and says " here I guess your the one who needs this then". Reaches into the console on his truck and hands me a clear pa title for the cj!!!!! Turns out the towing company had filed a mechanics lean against it and once the title came back they had mailed it to him........Plans are to try to straighten it out and paint it... The wife has always wanted a wrangler. I figure maybe this will be close enough.

[aemsee]

Great buy. CJ's are way cooler than YJ's or TJ's, but they definitly aren't as civilized. Maybe your wife won't like it, and you'll be stuck driving it :D .

 

Sheet metal isn't bad price wise. Here is a hood I found on craigslist here in Rochester.

 

http://rochester.craigslist.org/pts/1374503694.html

[oldrusty]

Ive seen some sheet metal locally on craigslist....Kinda holding off on that as I need to get my z71 painted before I start on this one...Plans for now are to just get it to run so I can move it around. Spent the last few nights putting the front clip back on and repairing the cut up harness. Hopefully Ill get to hear it run this weekend.

:cheers:

[aemsee]

Have you ever posted up any pics of your Mopar?

[dasbulliwagen]

Ive got my eyes on a similar project. My former boss's parents have a 79 CJ that is totally unmolested, original owner, that I don't think has moved in over a year. The owners are getting old and the husband has physical problems that won't allow him to drive a stick very easilly, and the wife just won't drive it. And these people (meaning the wife) won't sell anyhting because they think everything is worth a million dollars. Example... they have a 1962 Ford Galaxie 2 dr sitting rotting away, also original owner and basically rust free. But it has been parked since 1983 and every part of it will need rebuilt. But they had some guy tell them once that it was worth $17,000 and now unless they get that $17,000 they will just let it rot till then. And its most recent death blow is that they pulled it out of the barn its been in for 25 years and parked it outside underneath an oak tree! Just drives me crazy. I would like to have the jeep and just keep it stock, but the Galaxie I wanted to buy and fix up to give to my dad. I hate to say it, but it will take one or both of them to die before anything will happen with these cars. And their oldest son, my old boss, I think would just sell everything if he had the chance. But sorry if I hijacked, I wish you the best of luck with this project and hopefully it won't happen to you like it happened to the others! Good luck!

[oldrusty]

Have you ever posted up any pics of your Mopar?

I posted a few before but since you asked Ill post a couple more

 

1968 plymouth sport satellite...440 auto with 3.91 gears :D :D :D

 

my "other woman"...as my wife calls her... :rotf: :rotf:

[aemsee]

Thanks for the pics. Beautiful car. Used to have a 69 Satellite. Just a 318 but it was bumble bee yellow with a black top. What a tank. Paid a cool $100 bucks for it (1982) with a broken torsion bar. For the life of me I cannot remember where it ended up :dunno: .

[64 Cheyenne]

WOW! That's a beautiful car! I can see why your wife calls her "The other woman". :cheers:

[oldrusty]

Thanks for the compliment. The mopar is far from a show piece but I'm pretty proud of it. Its come a long way from the rolling dented shell I drug home a few years ago. Still needs some trim parts and bumpers along with the seats redone.

[Drahcir495]

a clear pa title for the cj!!!!!. . . The wife has always wanted a wrangler.

Great, you have the title now! I think it is worth the money, but I love CJ's :brows: . As much as this pains me to say, you can get a YJ front clip to work on the CJ. Not sure if this was the "wrangler" your wife is looking for? Good luck on the project :cheers:

[1999MJ]

I just droped one of these off at the scrap yard friday morning with a good hood but what I did keep was the headlights and buckets and trimrings and the dana 300 and the factory white waggon wheels. Also have a decent set of full doors with a little surface rust and all the hard top glass Would you be interested in anything? PM me

[oldrusty]

Had a productive day yesterday. Started out by putting the trim and seats back in the mj and taking it for a little spin. Felt great to drive it again. Still need to put new brakes on it and replace a broken swaybar link and shes ready to push some snow. :D Then moved on to the cj. Finished up repairing the harness....Went back and forth a couple times on wether to change the distributor or not ( I got a new gm hei style with it). Figured Id give the original one a shot. After a little shot of gas down the carb she fired right up. Disnt want to idle till I figured out the manifold bolts werent there. After I put them in and tightened them she starts right up and purrs like a kitten........Next up brakes.