Jeep Enthusiast Forums banner

Joopacabra

29K views 155 replies 27 participants last post by  mustanggarage 
#1 ·
Hello everyone. I finally decided to start a build thread on my jeep. my wife asked me why it said joop on the side when we got it lol so that is how it got the name joopacabra. here is a picture of my new to me yj.

it is a 1990 with the 4.2 and automatic. it was exactly what i was looking for.

I had a 95 when I lived in utah that I did a 4 to 6 swap and a bunch of other things too. so I am not entirely a newbie to jeeps. I spend a lot of time building and playing with mustangs so I have a fair amount of experience tinkering with cars and I have a really nice garage and tool selection to play with.:2thumbsup: here is a thread I did on my garage.
http://www.garageretreat.com/forums/f7/welcome-doghouse-1794/

I started looking for this jeep because I wanted something I could fix up for my daughter to drive to school in the winter, and because I really missed my old yj. We built a nice 67 mustang for her but it actually turned out a bit too nice and now she is afraid to drive it to school for fear of it getting vandalized so I guess it will be more of an occasional driver than a daily like I had planned. here is a pic and thread of it if anyone is interested.


http://www.moddedmustangs.com/forums/projects/224094-mustang-sarah-pic-heavy.html
I wanted a jeep that needed some mechanical work because I like doing that sort of thing, but I wanted one that the body was in decent shape because I don't like doing body work.
I wanted an automatic because I am going to be letting my daughter drive it. I also wanted the 6 cylinder because after the headache I had doing the 4 to 6 swap before I did not want to go through all that again lol.

this jeep is probably going to be different than the majority of jeeps on here because it has a different mission. I live in Iowa so there is not a lot of great rockcrawling places around here and with my job I can't go far from home very often so the primary purpose is for snow. I want it to be capable of getting through an Iowa winter and be relatively safe on the road. I want it to have good all weather capability and not sit up too high so that it is going to be blown all over the road when the wind kicks up. so a lift is not in my immediate plans. I may replace the springs, I would like to put a bit larger tire under it 31 10.50 like I had in Utah because that is the look I like, but I do not want to lift it any more than necessary.

I plan to fix all of the little problems that it has and at some point swap in a fuel injected 4.0 engine. I have already done a lot to it so I will go through some of that in the next few posts.
 
See less See more
2
#128 ·
I had been having a problem with the jeep intermittently cutting out when I was going down the highway. it only did it if I drove over 50 mph or so. I could drive around town all day without an issue. I finally had to bail and take it to a local mechanic who I have had do work for me before. at first they thought it was my spark plugs. no joy. then they decided it was the pushrods were the wrong length. they swapped those out and it did not fix it. It acted like it was possibly running out of fuel, but it only happened driving down the highway so I could not reproduce it or test it in the shop. I decided it was possible I had either a corroded pickup or something inside the old fuel tank and it was not allowing enough fuel to flow. When I did the Hesco MPFI conversion it uses an external inline fuel pump.
I never really liked that system even though it does simplify replacement. I decided to swap in a 95 style fuel tank with in tank pump. I got it all bolted in with new tank straps, I also stripped and painted the skid plate. put it all back together, filled the tank and the gas gauge wouldn't work. so I ended up driving it about 150 miles and after testing all the possible reasons it wouldn't work I ended up dropping the tank again. the new sending unit I got was bad. so back to the parts store for a new one. swapped it in, tested it and everything works. but that did not fix it either. I was getting really frustrated at this point. I had to leave town for a conference/vacation so I dropped it off at the mechanics again. I special ordered in a new crank position sensor from HESCO and it arrived right before I left. when my mechanic friend was swapping the cps to see if that fixed it, he found that the wiring harness had a melted connector. this hesco conversion has a front mounted cps and apparently when I fixed the rear main seal I pulled on the wiring harness relocating it to get the pain off and it allowed that connector to move enough that at speed the airflow in the engine compartment caused the sensor wire to touch the header. it didn't do it idling, and it was only intermittent. it was also down behind my powersteering pump where it was not easily seen. what a pain in the neck. anyway after all that it is running better than ever. it is smoother, runs up to 70 on the highway easily. lots of power. All in all after everything I am glad to have that sorted.
I put some new heavy duty currie front shackles on to replace the stock ones. I don't really like the looks of boomerang shackles on the front. so I went with these


I also decided to put some wheel spacers on, because I wanted a bit wider stance, but I like these wheels I didn't want to buy new ones with less offset. I am happy with the result.



.
 
#129 ·
there is not too much going on with my jeep right now. I am driving it to work everyday, because my daughter is driving my truck while she is home from college. she starts back to school in april. I am going to buy a new rear bumper with tire carrier some time in the next couple weeks when I get my tax return, and as soon as I can take it off the road for awhile I will swap the bumper and the rear axle as well as change the front gear ratio. in the mean time I have been just playing around a bit.
I fixed the dome lights last night replaced both door switches now I have both under dash lights and the rear courtesy light in the hardtop working properly. I also still have the map lights in my rear view mirror, I also got me a new shift knob for the transfer case.

it's a bad picture, but it is billet aluminum on top with the shift pattern, and it looks like rubber tire tread around the sides. it looks and feels kind of cool I think.



I was also looking on facebook the other day and I saw this jeep on yj fanatics. it was bright yellow and he had the bezels around the head light painted black. it looked really cool. I wasn't sure how it would look on my jeep because it is so much darker, so I decided to try it with plastidip so if I don't like it I can just remove it. anyway what do you think.

before



during



after



so basically just whiling away the time waiting to do some real tinkering.
 
#133 ·
I got my new rear bumper today. I did not take a picture of the bumper, but the first thing was to remove the old bumperettes.



it makes it a lot easier if you put the jeep on the lift. then of course, it is difficult to get your hand in to hold the nuts. sometimes people drop the tank to get at them, but I found that my short 11/16 socket on my 1/2 inch drive ratchet is just the right size to fit in there and wedge against the gas tank. then I removed it with another ratchet. piece of cake.

then since I always do stuff by myself I had to figure out how to lift the bumper into place and get the bolts started. First I tested the bolts that came with the bumper, and of course the holes in the frame are too small to fit the bolts so I enlarged them with my die grinder. I used a piece of cardboard to make a template of the bumper bolts, then enlarged the holes a bit more than necessary to get the bolts in. Then, the bumper weighs about 75 pounds so it is pretty awkward to hold it in place. once again the lift proves its value.



I set the bumper on my rolling project center and lifted the jeep to the right height, then started the outside 4 bolts.

I removed the cart, lifted the jeep back up, and finagled the new bolts in. my fingers are just barely long enough to be able to reach and start the nuts by turning the bolts and just holding the nut in place. then once all nuts were started I tightened them using the same technique I used to take the old ones out. then I drilled a small hole through the bottom strap holes into the frame and just used self tapping bolts to hold them in place.

then I put the D-rings on.





finished. All said it took less than an hour.

 
#134 ·
if anyone actually reads what I wrote in this thread they will notice that I ended up not getting a tire carrier bumper. I looked at a lot of different bumpers and I found a few I liked that would fit the bill. but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that in my case the tire carrier would actually be more of a nuisance than a help. I use my jeep as a daily driver and so I am getting into the back a lot. it is a nuisance already to have to open the tailgate all the way in order to lift the glass, having the tire carrier would make that even worse. If I was running 35's and needed it, I would deal with it, as is it would be like putting a wing on a ford escort. solely for appearances. also I am a bit weird I guess. I like my YJ. I like it's quirks. I like the square headlights, I like the dash layout. I even like the gas filler behind the license plate. it is just one of those things that make it a yj. and I think its cool. a lot of the tire carrier bumpers required relocating the license plate and I decided I didn't want to do that. so I bought this one. it will give me the recovery points I wanted, a hitch receiver which is useful for many things and not just for trailers. and it won't give me what I didn't want. it was also only 300.00 so if at some point I decide I need a tire carrier it won't be too great a loss.

so anybody want some bumperettes lol?
 
#135 ·
if anyone actually reads what I wrote in this thread they will notice that I ended up not getting a tire carrier bumper. I looked at a lot of different bumpers and I found a few I liked that would fit the bill. but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that in my case the tire carrier would actually be more of a nuisance than a help. I use my jeep as a daily driver and so I am getting into the back a lot. it is a nuisance already to have to open the tailgate all the way in order to lift the glass, having the tire carrier would make that even worse. If I was running 35's and needed it, I would deal with it, as is it would be like putting a wing on a ford escort. solely for appearances. also I am a bit weird I guess. I like my YJ. I like it's quirks. I like the square headlights, I like the dash layout. I even like the gas filler behind the license plate. it is just one of those things that make it a yj. and I think its cool. a lot of the tire carrier bumpers required relocating the license plate and I decided I didn't want to do that. so I bought this one. it will give me the recovery points I wanted, a hitch receiver which is useful for many things and not just for trailers. and it won't give me what I didn't want. it was also only 300.00 so if at some point I decide I need a tire carrier it won't be too great a loss.

so anybody want some bumperettes lol?
If you're doing it right the swing out carrier is the way to go. It's not cheap but it will take the weight off the door and carry just about any tire.
 
#136 ·
believe me I understand the benefits of the swing out tire carrier. and I was going to buy one until I realized that for the way I use my jeep right now it would be more hindrance than help. some day when I move back to utah and I can use my jeep more for what it was intended I will swap the bumper again. in the mean time I am happy with this one.
 
#139 ·
I had surgery on my hands over the winter so I built a mini jeep. I built a hobby level rc jeep based on a trailfinder 2 chassis. I painted it and had the decals designed to match my yj. it is also a lot of fun.

I have done quite a bit to the old joopacabra recently. I decided to take the jeep to a local shop to do the axle swap on it. this was just completed. so now I have my dana 44 rear axle with 4.10 gears and ARB air lockers installed with the matching front gears all G2 gear sets. new ARB front locker and ARB diff covers front and back. prior to bringing the jeep in for the swap I installed an ARB twin pump air compressor, one gallon tank and the manifold and solenoids.

so I now finally have the lockers and gears and axles set up to actually do some damage. now the next step is I decided I needed a bit more power. so I pulled the trigger on a Golen 4.6 stroker. it should be delivered tomorrow. then it will be time to tear apart this perfectly good nice running jeep to make it better.

 

Attachments

#141 ·
yeah the mini joop was a fun project. it comes as a kit so you have to assemble the whole thing, but only the chassis is included in the kit, you have to buy the body and all the little parts to make it work and look right. I had trigger finger surgery on both hands so I was kind of disabled for about 2 weeks so this was kind of physical therapy and a clean project I could do while I rehabed. it is fun, the lights work and it even has a working winch controlled by remote.
 

Attachments

#149 ·
I haven't had much time the last few days, but I have the shift linkage installed, I put new ARP torque convertor bolts in with blue lock tite, and got the starter bolted back up. my new exhaust studs arrived today so tomorrow I will get my new Banks header bolted up. while I have it up on the lift I still need to get the crank position sensor installed. and then mock up the exhaust and make sure it is going to bolt up ok. lots of stuff yet to do, but I am on call this week. I have next wednesday evening off so maybe I can get some stuff done then. I really want to finish it up by memorial day.
 
#150 ·
well, I made a stupid mistake last night. I am waiting on a few small parts, so I decided to do some detailing. the pulley for my power steering pump looked terrible. it was pitted and looked like it had 3 or 4 coats of paint and no one had ever stripped the paint off to repaint it, so I decided to pull it off and powder coat it. so no problem, I borrowed the puller installer from oreillys and pulled the pulley off, spent a few minutes with a wire wheel and 3 inch scotch bright pad and then powder coated it black. there are still a lot of pits that I am not going to be able to get out, but it looks better. then I go to put it back on and I find out the threads in the pump are stripped out and the installer will not thread in. so now I can't get the pully back on. I finally decided the pump looks like crap too, the return line is rusted etc. so I bought a reman version from summit. it will be here tuesday. another 40 bucks I should not have had to spend, but if it works, it should look better anyway. tonight I will finish up all the other minor details so all i will need to do is re install the powersteering pump, put the belt back on and put the grill back on then see if I can fire it up. after that, fix all the stuff I did not get right the first time, and clean up the wiring and do some more detailing and then get her out and drive. fingers crossed.
 
#151 ·
story of my life, two steps forward one step back. I finally got my new powersteering pump and bolted it on with a new o-ring and went to install the fan pulley and fan. no go, this engine is a 4.0 with a 4.2 crank so I ordered a 4.0 water pump. bolted it up and it looked fine. unfortunately when I put the fan pulley on, it rubbed against the pump. so I called oreillys last night and had a waterpump for a 4.2 delivered today. I bolted it up swapped the studs etc. and let it set up for a few hours. then I put the fan on, new fan clutch, new belt. new lower radiator hose, unfortunately the upper radiator hose is also for a 4.0 and guess what? yep it doesn't fit either. fortunately I have learned a few things from my Dad over the years and one of them is never throw anything away until the project is done. so yes I have boxes and garbage strewn all over my shop, but I also still have my old water pump with the studs that did not come on the new pump, and the old upper radiator hose, also the hose clamps that came with my new radiator and hose kit were garbage so I re- used the old ones.

story of my life, two steps forward one step back. I finally got my new powersteering pump and bolted it on with a new o-ring and went to install the fan pulley and fan. no go, this engine is a 4.0 with a 4.2 crank so I ordered a 4.0 water pump. bolted it up and it looked fine. unfortunately when I put the fan pulley on, it rubbed against the pump. so I called oreillys last night and had a waterpump for a 4.2 delivered today. I bolted it up swapped the studs etc. and let it set up for a few hours. then I put the fan on, new fan clutch, new belt. new lower radiator hose, unfortunately the upper radiator hose is also for a 4.0 and guess what? yep it doesn't fit either. fortunately I have learned a few things from my Dad over the years and one of them is never throw anything away until the project is done. so yes I have boxes and garbage strewn all over my shop, but I also still have my old water pump with the studs that did not come on the new pump, and the old upper radiator hose, also the hose clamps that came with my new radiator and hose kit were garbage so I re- used the old ones.

then I added some water to the radiator, filled the powersteering pump, hooked up the battery





and turned the key on to cycle the fuel pump 3 times. then I held my breath, turned the key . and......nothing. no start, no crank, nothing. I figured I had knocked that stupid little connector that goes to the started loose, but it turned out that In all my fiddling I had just loosened the hot wire to the starter solenoid. once I discovered that and tightened it up, about 15 minutes of swearing and head scratching later.

then I added some water to the radiator, filled the powersteering pump, hooked up the battery





and turned the key on to cycle the fuel pump 3 times. then I held my breath, turned the key . and......nothing. no start, no crank, nothing. I figured I had knocked that stupid little connector that goes to the started loose, but it turned out that In all my fiddling I had just loosened the hot wire to the starter solenoid. once I discovered that and tightened it up, about 15 minutes of swearing and head scratching later.
 
#152 ·
and here she is



it was almost anticlimactic. no sputtering no cranking, it sounded like I just shut it off an hour ago. it fired up before it had barely even turned over. it ran perfectly right from the start. well, almost.
my first test drive was a bit of a disaster. first I was getting ready to go for a drive, noticed I had a small powersteering fluid leak. I tightened up the pressure line and got that stopped, then I found that the transmission cooling line which has a rubber line that goes between the hard lines and the radiator had a small crack and it was leaking a bit of atf. replaced that hose and finally took it out for a drive, I was watching my water temp gauge really closely and it seemed like it was having some issues with wanting to backfire on heavy load, so I kept it running and took it to the car wash (bad move in retrospect) after the car wash it was popping and running like crap so I tried to take it out on the hwy to see if it would run 50 and it died and I couldn't get it started. I could not figure out what was wrong. so I called my wife to bring the truck to tow me back home. she innocently asked me, did you run out of gas......crap! I was watching every gauge but that one lol. put some gas in it, and surprisingly it runs much better with gas. anyway. after that I drove it over to the gas station and it ran great. so after that bit of embarrassment the jeep is running great.
 
#153 ·
I pulled the hard top off yesterday. to put the bikini top on. with my power hoist a top it is an easy one person job, and I just store it there hanging above the jeep.



then I put a grant steering wheel on shortly after I got the jeep and I never really liked it. it was such a pain to get it installed, and the horn was going off constantly at odd times so I finally broke down and bought a lecarra. I LOVE lecarra steering wheels. I have them on both my 65 and my daughters 67 mustang. they are more expensive than grant, but so worth it. it was an easy install, except that when I was getting ready to install it the stupid little horn wire broke off the contact button that plugs into the steering column. this was the wire I had installed back when I first got the jeep, not something that came with the new wheel. anyway I managed to disassemble the contact button and solder a new wire in place, then I got it plugged back into the jeep and the steering wheel bolted up easily. it feels and looks awesome. IMO





then I put the bikini top on with my redesigned top support.



 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top