The 2k expo rig

[grahamfitter]

FWIW The water pump on my 6 cylinder Wrangler (different engine I know) failed at about 150K miles and the radiator died soon after probably because of the debris. With 130K or so on the engine I'd be tempted to replace the water pump just to prolong the life of the radiator.

I love the Wagoneer but I know for a fact I will never own one. In Debbie's mind, owning a vehicle with wood trim on the outside is a deadly sin second only to infidelity and she has made it abundantly clear on many occasions if I ever turn up with one its over. Oh well, I'll just have to live vicariously through yours and I wish you both well.

Cheers,
Graham

 

[Root Moose]

Two words: heat gun

Works for both fake wood grain appliqués and infidelity.

 

[preacherman]

Two words: heat gun

Oh I've got plans for that:sombrero: stay tuned

 

[KEENO]

Oh No! Not the Wood Grain... Retro Baby!

KEENO

 

[Burningtree]

A buddy of mine had a grey one about 15 years ago. Though I never drove it, I always felt invincible just riding in the thing. You are gonna have a serious wagon(even w/ stock size tars) when finished.

 

[preacherman]

I have been really busy on the jeep.

First I fixed the valve covers and then upgraded the ignition system to the Ford TFI style. Here are a few articles on the upgrade.

http://fsjeep.homestead.com/TFI_Upgade.html

http://www.ifsja.org/forums/vb/showthread.php?t=94911&highlight=duraspark

The old connector

The new one

All finished (you can see I also painted the valve covers)

It really is as simple as 2 wires and the rest is a spark plug change and new wires. It made a noticeable difference. It starts faster, idles smoother, and accelerates better.

I also fixed the brakes with new EVERYTHING this is not an area to skimp on. Check out this rear brake shoe

Hopefully I will get the mechanical finished soon so I can move on the fun stuff (expo upgrades)

more to come...

 

[Overland]

great find and great build. i have been on the lookout for a FSJ for a long time now. problem up here in canada is rust.

i really think your going about the build the right way. the most important thing to me in my vehicles is reliability. a big lift and tires and all the armor and recovery gear in the world is no good to you if the darn thing wont start 400 miles from home....keep going the way your going and when you get all the bugs worked out see whats left of that budget for the other stuff.

any update on total spent? i really like the idea of adhering to the 2k budget.

 

[preacherman]

I need to add it all up. Off the top of my head I would say around $500. I will add it all up soon.

 

[Rev]

I just found this thread. I love the wagon! Looking forward to following your progress.

 

[IllianaXJ]

Nice upgrade. Good to see you have it up and running!

 

[twisted]

very interesting! i too am buildin a expo rig on budget so this will be interesting thread to get ideas from for my newley purchased 91 xj:sombrero:

 

[preacherman]

Got a chance to add everything up. So far I have spend $731 on repair/replacement parts and $363 on tires. Bringing my total to $1,094. I am half way through the cash and have more than half of my upgrades finished:xxrotflma

 

[jesusgatos]

Way to go on getting all the mundane stuff out of the way.

 

[preacherman]

Look what I got

The nice delivery man brought me a gift yesterday. 4 tires:wings:

Going with my cost savings plan I got 4 "new" tires from treadwright. (I was going to put up the link but their site seems to be down today)

I got 4 31x10.50 15 all terrain tires shipped to my house for $363. I ordered them on Monday and they arrived on Thursday. They are retreads but I got a set of matching BFG AT's. Several people told me you have to ask for matching sidewalls or you might get different brands so I asked for a matching set and got a matching set.

As you can see they look brand new and they only way you can tell they are retreads is they have the word "treadwright" now stamped on the side in a very small place.

These are not your grandfathers retreads. I read several articles online before I got these tires. They have a 35,000 warranty and come highly recommended. I will post some mounted pics as soon as I get them mounted (hopefully today)

 

[Root Moose]

That's awesome.