My CJ "Restification" Journey

[MoGas]

I sold this CJ-7 back in 2001. I had owned it from 1995-2001.

I ran into the last owner at a gas station in Flagstaff, AZ around 2008, and we got to talking about the old Jeep.
It had changed hands a few times since I had sold it. I gave him my card and told him "If you ever want to sell it, let me know."

October 2016, I got a call from a number I didn't recognize but I answered anyhow. It was the guy that owned my old Jeep. He had hurt his back pretty bad and was now close to 70, so he said, "It's time."

I now live in Houston, and he now lives in Waco, but the title was in Flag and the Jeep was parked under a tree behind his Flagstaff house. He really tried to just give it back to me, but I made him take some money for it. He knew I had a lot of history with it and he felt I should have it. It also had been sitting a while, so the true condition was unknown. Anyhow, he had the title mailed to Texas, we met up and did the exchange, and I waited until my scheduled trip in December '16 to roll around.

In the meanwhile, I had my buddy Jamie go over to have a look and get me some pictures. Most of my modifications were still in place. Rust had advanced due to sitting out under that tree in the winter. The freeze/thaw/freeze cycles are really rough if a little water gets in the seams, which it had. Jamie told me the radiator was full and green, the engine was up to full on the oil and looked pretty clean, tires were in good shape and holding air, brake master was full, power steering was full, overall OK “as parked” condition.

These are some of the photos @JJackson sent me in 2016:

 

[Zeep]

Looks like every survivor CJ in Michigan. You should be off to a good start!

 

[MoGas]

Looks like every survivor CJ in Michigan. You should be off to a good start!

Yeah, but it’s rotten for Arizona or Texas…

 

[MoGas]

Here is the video of when I first saw it and getting it moving again. This was December 2016.

Credit @Fergie for the camera work and @remerglobal for the editing.

 

[Zeep]

Did that have all the gas drained? Hard to believe, it would start and idle like that, with 2 year old swamp gas.

 

[MoGas]

Did that have all the gas drained? Hard to believe, it would start and idle like that, with 2 year old swamp gas.

The edit doesen't show, but I had put one whole jug of fuel that you can see in the video, and then we went and filled the jug again so I could have gas to put in the carb and in case I had to run it off the jug. I poured the rest in towards the end of the video befor I break it free from being frozen in the ground. More on that to follow...

 

[MoGas]

I forgot to mention the trip from Flagstaff to Houston.



I worked out getting the title and keys from the PO, and now I start thinking about the logistics of bringing it to Houston, where I currently live.



I figured that when I went out to AZ to see my family at Christmas, I'd get the Jeep registered and start working my way back to Texas. Sounds simple enough, right?

My wife (At the time my girlfriend) thought it would be fun to fly out and ride back with me. Now, she's kind of bougie, so this was WAY outside her wheelhouse. Flying to Arizona, driving a 47-year-old vehicle that I hadn't owned for several years, that had been sitting outside, untouched, for 3 years or so, almost 1500 miles, is not something that she had ever considered.

I flew in on the 26th, spent a couple days with family, then on the 28th, I went to Flagstaff to get the Jeep. My lady was flying in on 12/31 and we were planning on New Year's in Sedona, then start driving back on the 1st.

I get to the Jeep on the 28th, and as you see in the video, we got it running and driving.

I had put a few gallons of gas in it and drove it around the block a few times. Things are going well. I go to my buddy's shop on the 29th and put on new belts, change the oil, grease everything, look at the brakes, check all the gear oils, filters, that type of thing. I vacuumed it out and cleaned the interior as best I could to get ready for the trip. I also was bringing a bunch of stuff back that I was storing in Flagstaff, so I loaded all that up in and on the Jeep. It's running really well, and I feel confident that this is going to work out.

Let's recap: 47-year-old vehicle, that for all intents and purposes, was acquired sight unseen. It hadn't been run since it was parked under a tree in Flagstaff for over 3 years. I'm going to drive this thing 1500 miles or so just a couple days after resurrecting it. My lady is coming out to ride back with me for a fun road trip. What could go wrong?

30 December 2016. The Jeep is packed full and has stuff on the roof rack. I did a bunch of maintenance to prepare for the trip the day before. I have lunch with my buddy I was staying with and prepare to drive to Phoenix since my lady was arriving at 8 AM on the 31st, then we are to drive immediately back up to Sedona for New Year's Eve.

Around 3 PM, I’m finally heading out of town. I stopped at a gas station to fill up. This is the first time I've put gas in it other than the few gallons that I put in to get it running, never really allowing it to dawn on me that there was either very little or no gas in it when I got to it. As the pump is filling, I notice fuel dripping on the ground. The seam of the 15-gallon tank is leaking... Now, since that's at the halfway point of the tank, it's only going to leak until it gets to half tank. I know my best bet to find a tank is to get to Phoenix, so I fill it up and start heading south for the 50-mile trip to the valley.

Before I left Flag, I called a place called AMC 4X4 Salvage that was in Glendale just NW of Phoenix. This place was always a great business to deal with over the 30 or so years that I have had Jeeps in Phoenix. They happened to have a completely new tank kit in stock. Tank, straps, sender. The problem was that it was after 3pm on a holiday Friday. They wouldn’t be open by the time I got there. I asked them if I could pay with a card over the phone, and I’d take a chance if they left it out where I could find it. It was decided that they would put it in the recycle dumpster and they gave me the combo to the lock on it. Perfect!!

I headed down I-17, with fuel dripping until it gets to ½ tank, fortunately, the fuel gauge works, and I know the route well enough to know where the fuel stops are. I had my little 2.5-gallon fuel jug full just in case, also. I stopped in the Verde Valley to fill up. Yup, still leaking over ½ tank. No change for the worse, so away I went.

I pulled into the salvage parking lot around 5:30. Went to the dumpster, unlocked it, and there was my new tank kit right on top. I put it on the passenger seat and made my way to the big, 24-hour Autozone in Phoenix in case I needed anything else. I changed the tank in the parking lot with the help of a local hanging out at the store. I went down the street to fill her up, and presto!! No more leak!!!






I went to a cheapo hotel so I could get a few hours sleep and shower up. Got up in the morning, drove over to the airport, and at 8AM, my future bride had her first look at her chariot for the adventure of the next few days and couple thousand miles. We went and had a nice breakfast at Matt’s, and wound our way up to Sedona.






After celebrating on New Year’s Eve, we got up in the morning and hit the road. The Jeep was getting pretty good mileage. It really was only comfortable up to 65-70 mph. After that, it took a bit more activity to drive, and the fuel consumption would raise exponentially.





The drive to Houston was honestly, uneventful. Got around 13 mpg, didn’t use any oil, everything worked. Our first night was in Las Cruces, NM. The next day we started heading to our next hotel in Fredericksburg. We stopped on the way in Van Horne, had some great Mexican food, and got a couple photos. The last leg into Katy went just as smooth.







That’s pretty much the trip getting my CJ out to Houston.



I’ll get back to updating the project.

 

[MoGas]

After we got the Jeep to Texas in January 2017, I pretty much just drove it around here and there.




I added a GM based TBI system. It was a great upgrade all around. Better starting, better economy, I spec'd it out to handle modern ethanol fuel so I wouldn't need the additional expense of using Ethanol Free fuel. I also went with a computer controlled HEI distributor.
Really no downside other than the cost and my time to install.

 

[MoGas]

One of the things I brought back from my Arizona storage was this 8274 that had been sitting in the corner of my shop for years. I had picked it up as a backup for the one on my LC80, but it is a natural fit on an old CJ.

 

[MoGas]

While I was replacing my ball joints, I came across this issue...

 

[AggieOE]

Looking great! I'm a hair confused on dates. So did all this happen around 2016 to 2017 or are you still working on it?

 

[MoGas]

Looking great! I'm a hair confused on dates. So did all this happen around 2016 to 2017 or are you still working on it?

Yes, I went and picked it up right after Christmas 2016 and drove it back to Houston. The other items are completed, but I'm just posting all the different activities to get the thread brought current. I'm still working on it and it's been quite a journey.

 

[m-l_johnny]

I put the AFI kit on my CJ when I had the 258 in it. Bought a kit because I knew I didn't know enough to cobble parts together from the junkyard. Had issues right off the bat. Called for help/ support and the guy insisted I had vacuum leaks. Turned out I had bad sensors right out of the box. Once I got that squared away, it ran great until the distributor gear wore the gear off of the camshaft.
I now have a 304 in the CJ (long story and a bit of regret) and attempted to put the TBI on it, but think I got a crappy distributor from AFI and couldn't get it to do anything more than idle. Have a dialed in 2100 carb on it with a DUI distributor and it runs well, so I'm leaving it alone for now.

 

[MoGas]

September 2017
I had rebuilt the front differential. I also replaced the axle seals, ball joints, brakes, and installed a set of Alloy USA Chromoly axle shafts with Dana 44 Universal joints.

 

[MoGas]

I put the AFI kit on my CJ when I had the 258 in it. Bought a kit because I knew I didn't know enough to cobble parts together from the junkyard. Had issues right off the bat. Called for help/ support and the guy insisted I had vacuum leaks. Turned out I had bad sensors right out of the box. Once I got that squared away, it ran great until the distributor gear wore the gear off of the camshaft.
I now have a 304 in the CJ (long story and a bit of regret) and attempted to put the TBI on it, but think I got a crappy distributor from AFI and couldn't get it to do anything more than idle. Have a dialed in 2100 carb on it with a DUI distributor and it runs well, so I'm leaving it alone for now.

I only had 2 issues. Both were issues that had nothing to do with the system itself, but were just exposed because of the new system. I'm putting a post together about those issues.