MY 1989 JEEP YJ RESTORATION JOURNEY

My wife and I had a mission that before we had our first child we would pay off all our student loans and other debts (with exception of our house).  Her car being paid off helped in this issue while my Explorer not being paid off was a problem.  The solution was to get rid of the Explorer and fix up an old Jeep that I had sitting at my brothers house a little over 800 miles away.  Plus I figured I could probably learn how to fix most everything on a Jeep if I tried which would make for one less worry in my life, I'm trying to be as self reliant as I can be when possible. 

So mainly the Jeep will be my transportation when the wife and kid aren't with me as well as for taking the dog to the beach (main reason for a water hoseable tub), a Camping vehicle, and emergency transportation if the trees in our neighborhood ever get knocked down again.  Since I work from home it won't have to be a daily driver per say.

P.S.  This all had to be done within the $5,000 budget since that is what I had saved up and borrowing money to fix it up kind of went against the whole purpose of the project. 

CURRENT UPDATES

Saturday September 15, 2007

Updated the Seats, Dash, & Top sections

Friday September 14, 2007

Updated the clean up page with some more before pictures...yuck.

Updated the Dash with new pictures.

Updated the fuel system page with the pictures I now have.  Forgot to take any pictures of the completed setup or the instillation...sorry.  I will get some after shots but I'm not taking it back down for in process shots.

Also bought new plugs, distributor cap, plug wires and rotor...wires come in tomorrow.

Took off the door panels for cleaning and fresh paint on the panels.  Also fixed the issue with the passenger side door not wanting to close...sprayed it out and greased up the fittings only to discover it was a pin coming out of the handle...oh well there lubed up now anyway.

Almost got it to start but it seems like there is a timing issue...stay tuned.

Thursday September 13, 2007

Put in a couple of hours this morning and Rick did some work yesterday so now we know what we are looking at for the front brakes.  Apparently they are not as bad as we suspected.  Also after new fluid and bleeding the clutch it appears that it can be salvaged as well. The front seat were also installed, sort of.  The drivers side has the slider installed and the two front bolts of the seat are attached.  Some sort of adapter plate will need to be made to attach the rear two bolts.  Also the handle that controls the slider needs to be bent downward a little to clear the seat itself.  It felt pretty nice sitting in the seats other than the steering wheel felt a little close to my legs, but that could just be me...for such a little guy my quads are pretty good sized...probably why I was able to run so fast.  As for the passenger side, well since only one slider was salvageable I decided the passenger can do without and we mounted the seat directly to the riser and still have the same situation with the back two bolts for this one.  Sits about 1/2 inch lower than the drivers side but I'm sure taller people won't mind and my wife will have to get over it...if she even notices.  Starting too look pretty good and should get it moving by this weekend and hopefully once things get rattling around we won't find to many problems under the hood.

Wednesday September 12, 2007

I finally received my hardware for the Soft Top so my Jeep finally has a roof.  Also installed the rear seat only the latches that mount to the wheel wells that are suppose to hold the back of the seat down don't quite fit so I need to figure that one out.

Monday September 10, 2007

Lot happened this weekend...

Gas Tank was delivered but not the sending unit or fuel pump so still waiting...

I did however undercoat the bottom of the Tank and sand the Skid plate in preparation for rust stop and undercoat.

Completely dismantled the dashboard for restoration.

Took lots of digital pictures and should get them emailed to me this week so I can do lots of updates to the site.

I updated the Task 3 - the tub liner so it is a bit more comprehensible.