My son convinced me to start a build thread on my "new" Jeep, a 1998 ZJ Limited.
WARNING -- the first few posts in this thread are going to be history, provenance, how I got into the position I'm in today... Skip ahead if you're looking for hard-core Jeep stuff. This one is history, getting to the point where I bought the 98.
This is my second Jeep -- the first was (is) a 96 ZJ that still rolls around, now owned by my son, KG6MOV. As he recounts in his build thread, I bought the green one after seeing a nasty wreck on my way to work one morning -- a Honda CRX Si, just like the one I was driving, crushed between two full sized vehicles. Neither occupant of the CRX survived.
We decided a larger vehicle was in order. More survivable, good for camping with two little kids (they've grown), that kind of stuff. We bought the 96 ZJ and traded in my little roller skate, the CRX Si.
Should I tell the story of how (and why) my son threw up in it about two weeks later? Nah, save that for a while...
We did many camping trips, trips with the whole family, Ham Radio Field Day trips, having a lot of fun in the green Jeep.
Tempus Fugit -- whether we want it to or not. Around 2008, I'm thinking of new wheels, something smaller and zippier. The 96 ZJ is still rolling along, and son needs wheels of his own. The solution was pretty simple -- dad gets a new car and son gets the green Jeep.
Dad got a brand new Mini Cooper S, turbocharged, sports package, a zippy little car. I noticed quickly that it didn't have the clearance of the Jeep... I also noticed that it cornered like it was on rails.
Much fun for many years in the Mini. But there's something about flings -- yeah, they're a lot of fun while they last, but then you wake up one morning with a headache, a bad taste in your mouth, and all your money is gone...
Driving back from LA a few months ago, going up the grade out of San Louis Obispo on Highway 101 in the Mini, I signaled to move into the left lane and applied foot to the floor, accelerating up the grade.
Until... Nasty noises and dropping power! No surprise, check engine light flashing! I'm suddenly reduced to around 2500 RPM, and not a clean, smooth 2500 RPM either.
But it wasn't fatal; the engine still ran. Code reader reports misfires (oh really!)... Limp home and take it to the local Mini dealer. 84K miles on the engine.
Their diagnosis: lost an exhaust valve on cylinder 4, compression is zero. Compression on cylinder 2 isn't too good either. Borescope exam shows cylinder walls are okay, so that exhaust valve stayed more or less where it was, just not working right.
They want $9800 to rebuild the top of the engine, with no guarantee that they won't find more trouble. KBB shows a good value for one of these to be around $3500. So Mini wants around 3 times the blue book value of the car to start fixing it?
Nope!
Talking to other folks, the independent mechanic we use, independent Mini shops, and more. Yeah, we can try a head job at $3k or so, more if the head is cracked and most of the folks I talked to expected it would be, and the only way to find out is a pressure test after the head is pulled off. And then there's the excitement of pulling off the head to take it in for a rebuild, looking down into the block, and seeing something that makes you use special words...
That engine (the Prince R56 engine) doesn't have a very good record for reliability. It sucks, really.
Shortening an already long tale, I decided that while it had been a fun fling, it was a snake that had bit me more than once. Time to part company. Donated for a tax write-off, and it's somebody else's problem.
Now I'm faced with not having wheels for the first time in decades. Luckily enough, there's usually spare wheels among the family members, so I can get around. But it's a bummer. Really.
Oh, the Mini dies with under 85K on it. The green 96 has around 250K on the original engine? And the Mercedes has over 360K on the original engine and turbo? Hell, my daughter is driving our old 2003 Mazda with 160k on it!
New wheels are out of the question. We start the long process of looking on Craigslist. Hey, filter out everything that doesn't have a clean title, and has "mechanic" in the listing. I want something that more or less runs and isn't going to cost a lot of money to put it into safe driveable condition run for a few years.
Looked at a couple of promising vehicles -- except when I call Terry, our independent mechanic, and tell him what I'm looking at and ask his opinion, he says "Run away!" Looking at another vehicle the same day, I mention the one I'd looked at earlier, and that guy's opinion is the same -- run away, it's going to cost you a LOT of money around 200K miles (it had 192K on it). Okay, I get it.
Tempus Fugit -- time passes -- whether we like it or not.
Then it pops up in Craigslist -- 98 ZJ, 187K miles, running, clean title, $2000. Pictures look good -- white Grand Cherokee Limited with the 5.2 V8.
I talk to son about it. He's encouraged. Hey, we know what goes wrong with those, we know how to fix them, and have plenty of spare parts! Let's look at it!
Talked to the current owner and arranged to look at it on a Saturday morning. He's about a 15 minute drive away. Let's do this -- son will go over it from tip to tail, and if it has major problems, we leave.
But it felt good -- and the thought of driving a Jeep again? Yeah, I could do that. I knew how they handled. I liked how they handled. Yeah, it's not gonna get the mileage the Mini did (21 - 28 depending on how lead-footed I was and how much of the time I left it in Sport mode, which was most of the time), and it won't corner as well, but hey... Like going home again.
Let's go look at this thing!
--bob k6rtm
WARNING -- the first few posts in this thread are going to be history, provenance, how I got into the position I'm in today... Skip ahead if you're looking for hard-core Jeep stuff. This one is history, getting to the point where I bought the 98.
This is my second Jeep -- the first was (is) a 96 ZJ that still rolls around, now owned by my son, KG6MOV. As he recounts in his build thread, I bought the green one after seeing a nasty wreck on my way to work one morning -- a Honda CRX Si, just like the one I was driving, crushed between two full sized vehicles. Neither occupant of the CRX survived.
We decided a larger vehicle was in order. More survivable, good for camping with two little kids (they've grown), that kind of stuff. We bought the 96 ZJ and traded in my little roller skate, the CRX Si.
Should I tell the story of how (and why) my son threw up in it about two weeks later? Nah, save that for a while...
We did many camping trips, trips with the whole family, Ham Radio Field Day trips, having a lot of fun in the green Jeep.
Tempus Fugit -- whether we want it to or not. Around 2008, I'm thinking of new wheels, something smaller and zippier. The 96 ZJ is still rolling along, and son needs wheels of his own. The solution was pretty simple -- dad gets a new car and son gets the green Jeep.
Dad got a brand new Mini Cooper S, turbocharged, sports package, a zippy little car. I noticed quickly that it didn't have the clearance of the Jeep... I also noticed that it cornered like it was on rails.
Much fun for many years in the Mini. But there's something about flings -- yeah, they're a lot of fun while they last, but then you wake up one morning with a headache, a bad taste in your mouth, and all your money is gone...
Driving back from LA a few months ago, going up the grade out of San Louis Obispo on Highway 101 in the Mini, I signaled to move into the left lane and applied foot to the floor, accelerating up the grade.
Until... Nasty noises and dropping power! No surprise, check engine light flashing! I'm suddenly reduced to around 2500 RPM, and not a clean, smooth 2500 RPM either.
But it wasn't fatal; the engine still ran. Code reader reports misfires (oh really!)... Limp home and take it to the local Mini dealer. 84K miles on the engine.
Their diagnosis: lost an exhaust valve on cylinder 4, compression is zero. Compression on cylinder 2 isn't too good either. Borescope exam shows cylinder walls are okay, so that exhaust valve stayed more or less where it was, just not working right.
They want $9800 to rebuild the top of the engine, with no guarantee that they won't find more trouble. KBB shows a good value for one of these to be around $3500. So Mini wants around 3 times the blue book value of the car to start fixing it?
Nope!
Talking to other folks, the independent mechanic we use, independent Mini shops, and more. Yeah, we can try a head job at $3k or so, more if the head is cracked and most of the folks I talked to expected it would be, and the only way to find out is a pressure test after the head is pulled off. And then there's the excitement of pulling off the head to take it in for a rebuild, looking down into the block, and seeing something that makes you use special words...
That engine (the Prince R56 engine) doesn't have a very good record for reliability. It sucks, really.
Shortening an already long tale, I decided that while it had been a fun fling, it was a snake that had bit me more than once. Time to part company. Donated for a tax write-off, and it's somebody else's problem.
Now I'm faced with not having wheels for the first time in decades. Luckily enough, there's usually spare wheels among the family members, so I can get around. But it's a bummer. Really.
Oh, the Mini dies with under 85K on it. The green 96 has around 250K on the original engine? And the Mercedes has over 360K on the original engine and turbo? Hell, my daughter is driving our old 2003 Mazda with 160k on it!
New wheels are out of the question. We start the long process of looking on Craigslist. Hey, filter out everything that doesn't have a clean title, and has "mechanic" in the listing. I want something that more or less runs and isn't going to cost a lot of money to put it into safe driveable condition run for a few years.
Looked at a couple of promising vehicles -- except when I call Terry, our independent mechanic, and tell him what I'm looking at and ask his opinion, he says "Run away!" Looking at another vehicle the same day, I mention the one I'd looked at earlier, and that guy's opinion is the same -- run away, it's going to cost you a LOT of money around 200K miles (it had 192K on it). Okay, I get it.
Tempus Fugit -- time passes -- whether we like it or not.
Then it pops up in Craigslist -- 98 ZJ, 187K miles, running, clean title, $2000. Pictures look good -- white Grand Cherokee Limited with the 5.2 V8.
I talk to son about it. He's encouraged. Hey, we know what goes wrong with those, we know how to fix them, and have plenty of spare parts! Let's look at it!
Talked to the current owner and arranged to look at it on a Saturday morning. He's about a 15 minute drive away. Let's do this -- son will go over it from tip to tail, and if it has major problems, we leave.
But it felt good -- and the thought of driving a Jeep again? Yeah, I could do that. I knew how they handled. I liked how they handled. Yeah, it's not gonna get the mileage the Mini did (21 - 28 depending on how lead-footed I was and how much of the time I left it in Sport mode, which was most of the time), and it won't corner as well, but hey... Like going home again.
Let's go look at this thing!
--bob k6rtm