Corners are in!

Awhile back I ordered a set of custom corner guards from Moab Fab. The corner guards are awesome and working with Bryce at Moab Fab to get them the way I wanted was a breeze. I'd highly recommend them, especially if you need any armor custom cut. My set will let me get 6.5" of stretch and is highlined. The wheel well is radiused for the size tire I plan on running as well, so it is huge. Best of all, I still have a rear corner and no goofy comp cut. Its also ends at the tail gate because all the body below the tailgate in the back is getting cut off and the frame and bumper will be raised up to gain more clearance for the suspension and axle back there as well as an improved departure angle. I seriously think that I could run almost no lift and a set of 38's out back and have things fit.

Either way, I got laid off and I'm waiting to go back to work. So funding is rather low. My wife and I talked about financing things and getting it over with, but in the end we didn't exactly see eye to eye on it. So that option is out. I'm leaning more toward getting the suspension, cage, and axles under it and having it be wheelable while I work on the drive train that I have for the Jeep. It cuts the cost in half and allows me to do it over time. We'll see what happens.

The budget...

A lot has happened lately. Most of it is non-related to the Jeep, but still affects my ability to build it. I think I mentioned building a shop before. I plan on building one, but it might come a bit later now. I have had a plan that will take place when the Jeep is done. I'll reveal more about that when the time comes, but its kind of a special surprise. Any way, its very important to me and is kind of in danger of not happening. So I've decided to expedite things in a way that I didn't want to consider. It will mean the shop will happen after the Jeep, but I'll still be building the shop. The Jeep will probably be built in a couple places. Parts will probably be shuttled back and forth. Any way, the task at hand now is to come up with the parts list and budget. Thats all the time I have right now. More to come later.

Finally... An Update after all that time.

You're going to be disappointed to read that I have done nothing to my Jeep aside from drive it a few times since my last post. Life has been crazy though. I was laid off, out of work for a long time, started trying to sell my house, got an AWESOME job, found a great house, and now I'm in the process of waiting for the people buying my house to close on their loan. After I get into the new house, were planning on building a shop some where in the range of 36'-40'x24'. If you haven't aready guessed, that means I finally have a place to work on the Jeep. In other good news, I snagged a new welder. It is awesome. I really want to see if I can snag a Miller TIG, as I think TIG is fun and I want to TIG a cage when I build one of the TJ. So I guess I have made progress in my build after all. Not in the way of progress on the TJ itself, but in tools to do the job. Now that I've got my new awesome job and more money than before rolling in, I'll hopefully be able to slowly start getting things done. We'll see though... The more you make the more your wife spends... LOL

More updates to come... stay tuned!

Late night score of the century.

Well, you'll never believe this. I found a D300 locally on Craigslist for cheap. The guy needed it gone fast. I literally emptied my bank account, but I wound up with D300 within a few hours of finding the listing. I got a hell of a deal either way. It was one of those rare deals that your friend of a friend has heard of maybe once. Any way, its late and I have to get up early. So onto... well... the picture...

The 435 has arrived!

Today Nick showed up with my NP435. I want to throw a big thank you out to him for picking it up for me. Hes cool as hell and I definitely enjoyed kicking it, sharing wheeling stories, and having a beer with him. Things seem to spin well in the trans. I'm going to clean it up, paint it, and then rebuild it. I need to find the factory Dodge NP435 to NP205 case adapter. I know that you can make D300 bolt up with that adapter, which tells me a 231 will bolt up with a little work. I also need to find a bell housing, clutch, pressure plate, ect. to make it bolt up to my 5.9L Magnum. I'm getting there slowly but surely.

Small update... Good and Bad News.

I've got a small update with some good and bad news. First the bad news. The kid that had the D300 that I wanted to buy didn't know what he really had. Please people, if you're selling something, know what you have and save every body involved time, money, and headaches. It took me 10 minutes to look up how to identify every t-case that ever came in a CJ as well as the history behind them. Its interesting stuff and stuff you should know if you plan on buying a D300, D20, or D18. The T-case was really a D18 and not a D300. Very easy to distinguish the two of them from one another. Right away I knew what it was and I was pretty disappointed. Back on the hunt for a D300 I guess.....

Now for the good news. My NP435 is on its way home. I found a guy on a local ish forum that makes the drive back and forth periodically. We met up and he was cool as hell. He went and picked the trans up for me and brought it back. Its not in my hands yet because of my schedule, but it will be by the end of this week. I definitely owe him some beer. I'm very excited about this transmission. Pictures will get posted soon.

More changes.

It appears that winter weather is upon us here, or its at least starting to get noticeably more cold. I've been thinking about what would make a good winter project. I realized that I already basically had one. My dad and I have been working on his shop. We're in the process of finishing up hanging the ceiling and insulating the walls. I managed to score my dad a 5 year old Lennox 80% gas furnace that we're going to use to keep the temperatures at least bearable. We just need it to keep it above freezing and keep the machinery at a reasonable operating temperature to help prevent things from rusting. I have no doubt that the furnace would keep the shop at a decent temperature though as its a big furnace. We still need to finish the insulation in the walls, put up OSB (not using sheet rock) on the walls, wrap up the ceiling, hang the furnace, reroute the gas piping, run the electrical for the furnace, convert the furnace to propane, hang the furnace, vent the furnace, take care of the duct work, blow insulation into the attic, and make a little shelving. It sounds like a ton of work and it really is, but it shouldn't take as long as it sounds.

That's one of my winter projects. Help my dad finish out his shop. It will be far too cold to do any major work on the Jeep very shortly. There's no room for my Jeep in the shop as my dad's 1955 T-bird is in the shop. Thus I must work on the majority of the Jeep stuff outside. I got to thinking about my recent decision to change up the drive train and a light bulb clicked on. I can make a little room to work on the drive train. I can rebuild my trans, t-cases, get all my adapters in order, rebuild my 5.9L, and try to get my drive train bolted together and in working shape. I could also work on the axles too if I can manage to get around to it and/or afford it. What does this leave me with? A running Jeep for the winter. That means with a bit of maintenance and a little extra work I can hit some snow this winter while I work on my drive train.

I still want to try to at least pick up a set of corner guards so that I can do the body work ASAP once it starts to warm up again or if conditions become favorable due to freak weather. If I can swing the fuel cell and what not as well, then that would be an added bonus, but from what I've read, the drive train will probably nickle and dime me to death for the winter any way. I've also got a go kart engine to rebuild, but I've already got all the stuff to do it. So if I hit a snag on the big stuff, then I may switch over to that to hold me over.

Any way, this is how I hope my winter goes. I really hope that its productive and I get in some really good snow wheeling this year.