I'd never heard of the J8 either. CJ-8 and CJ-10, yes. This has a tinge of cultural appropriation. I owned and built street legal CJ-8, 30 years ago and counting, which had many of the J8's upgrade elements. Having built less than 26K units between 1981 and 1985 the Scrambler as it was known suffered a big fall off in buyership toward the end of production as Jeepers were slow to see the value in a 104 inch W.B., 5 foot long bed pickup style Jeep, with a full hardtop and cab version hardtop available, both of which I had. The era also suffered from weak transmissions; choking smog reducing engine add-ons; and puny axles; all of which were replaced by upgrades. It was a rock star rock crawler in its day that you could actually drive to the trailhead, which i did for many years. I loved that rig and continued to build it up between 1986 and 2016, when I finally got too old to enjoy it. I put about 200K miles on that rig. These are becoming so rare that the value has skyrocketed. As far as installing a diesel engine, I tried like crazy to install a diesel into the CJ-8 during the first couple years of ownership, but alas, living in CA and with the CARB it precluded any replacement oil burning power plant. Here is the list of upgrades to compare to the J8:
Jefe's Scrambler as of 01/15.
1982 Jeep CJ-8, desert sand and Nutmeg, by now all rattle can Sand. AGR power steering box and pump, MORE 1-1/2” forward steering box brackets, Chevy power discs front and Cadillac disc rear, removable 10 watt CB, Full Kayline Nutmeg soft top and full soft doors, (not made in nutmeg any more) windjammer, 1/2 doors and tired bikini top, custom soft cab top, beat up custom rear tonneau cover, removable, fold down rear seat. Room for one more seat behind the rear seat. Rear, swing away tire rack with MT. bike fork clamps. The front half of the frame has been 3 side plated and gusseted.
ENGINE: built for torque. Peak torque: 1400 rpm. Pulls down to 300 rpm with stepper motor disabled.
4.2L I-6 block and crank, with .060” overbore pistons and rings, making it a 4.4L displacement.
4.0L, High Output head with Mopar MPI fuel injection, Hesco adjustable fuel regulator with gage. H-264-14 cam (.470” lift) and Cloyes double roller timing gears and chains advanced 4 degrees, High Volume oil pump,
stock ‘95 XJ exhaust header, 2.5” aluminized tubing, cat and throaty 12” glass pack. Hand throttle, MORE engine mounts. 2-5/8” AutoMeter gauges (0-4K tach, oil, temp, Volt, Vacuum) a rather new yellow top battery.
DRIVETRAIN:
NP-435 (6.69.3.34/1.66/1.00/R8.26) Adapter by Advance clocked Dana 300 w/ 5 gear TeraLow 4:1 gears, and Currie twin sticks, (you can have low range, front wheel drive only if you want it.) Sacramento drivetrain drive shafts w/ extra long splines, 6 bolt SuperWinch hubs, (plus a new spare set) u-bolt style u-joints, 130:1 crawl, 65:1 in lo/2nd gear. 142:1 in lo/reverse. Dana 44, 30 spline front, w/ARB air locker, Warn 4330 ChroMoly shafts, custom made ChroMoly steering-over rods with 1 ton TRE’s, Parts Mike steering-over knuckles, CTM bushing outer U-joints, 4.88:1 Dana 60, 35 spline rear w/ARB air locker, Mosier H.D. shafts, 4XDoctor pig cages
SUSPENSION:
Springs-Over-Axle w/ 6 leaf RE SOA 2-1/2” lift springs with front reverse shackles.. Rancho 9000 adjustable shocks. H.D. shackles. Extra long S.S. brake hoses.
OFF-ROAD OUTFITTING:
Fenders trimmed to clear 37-13.50-16 TCL ProComp XTerrains on 8” wheels Extra wide front rubber fender lips. Tired rear fender lips to keep the CHP off your case. Currie steering brace and welded/over boxed front frame horns, Radiator saver. Stubby 'rockhugger' front bumper, Ford Mutt recovery “D” rings. roll cage, Wrecking Ball Proof custom rocker panels, "Off-Your-Rocker" steel rear diamond plate quarter panels, 24 gal. steel tank and steel skid plate with exterior fuel pump and filters. On board Premier Power welder (180 amp alternator) which has a battery charging feature and an aircraft style manual throttle for adjusting amps. Class III hidden 2” receiver hitch. Warn #8274 Winch (aka: fastest winch in the west) A big plastic box of spare parts, belts, hoses, u-joints, plus a couple spare driveshafts, 60 inch high lift jack, snatch block, tree saver, 20K pound recovery strap with D rings.
In it's dress as received in 1986:
In the Little Sluice, Rubicon 1998:
The final version of the venerable CJ-8 in 2016:
On it's way to the new owner 2016: