[Tom95YJ]

Last Sunday, I had traded my Auto-X Project/DD Miata for a Pretty clean '89 Wrangler Islander . After looking for someone to trade for almost 2 years I found someone was willing to trade.

Specs on the YJ :

1989 Islander Edition (Pacfic Blue A.K.A. Smurf Blue )
4.2Lw/ Ba10 (works for now)
Hardtop with Full steel doors
208,000 miles
RUST FREE minus the P/S front fender

The Bad : Jeep would not idle on its own, and front axle would not engauge in 4 wheel drive. Minor repairs that would scare away most who are not too knowledge able with Jeeps .

My Plan for this Jeep is to keep it small yet capable for a DD/Light duty trail rig

Mods I intend on doing will be

2.5" Old Man Emu Springs (36R's)
Bilstein 5100 Shocks
TJ Grizzly wheels
31x10.50 Tires Probably a set of BFG KM2's
Take off Axles from a 4 Banger YJ for the 4.10 gears ( YJ has 3.07's)
Front and Rear Spartan Lockers
Front and rear bumpers most likely from Eddie (Beserk on here ) he did a Phenomenal job on the ones on my Last YJ !
Rock Sliders with a Tube on them I had PSC Rocker Knockers on my last YJ I may fab some for this one.
4 Hid Offroad lights like I have on the XJ (2 on bumper, 2 on Windshield frame )
8,000 lb Winch Either a Warn VR8000, or another Smittybilt XRC8 comp like I have on the XJ .
Spray bed-liner inside the entire tub.

Here are some pics from the first day once I got home with it.

 

[Tom95YJ]

On Monday after work I had to take advantage of the Beautiful weather outside .

So the obvious thing to do was to remove the Hardtop and Doors, Then I had worked on the interior a little. I had replaced the stock shift knobs with the ones I had in my last YJ, Rewired the head unit so it worked, I had also installed my son's car seat so he could enjoy the Jeep with me . After I was finished with that I went back to working on the exterior and Bedlined the T-case skid, Frame, Front bumper, Rear crossmember, and Hitch.

After I was done doing my projects TJohnson88 came over to check out "The Smurf" We started talking about the running issue so we popped the hood and started to tinker with the carb. We had found a broken Vaccum line under the carb. So we took some extra line off another hose and cut a small peice to install on the bad line. After that it wanted to idle but the Idle set screw was set to like 300 rpm so it died. Tyler had started it up and I had adjusted the screw a little and have it Idling at 750-800 rpm and it runs on its own now. But it has a slight stumble while Idling but when driving its smooth as silk so I am sure the timing is off. I'll address that over the weekend.

 

[Tom95YJ]

Today I had Ziptied up all the wires under the dash to get rid of the ratsnest of wires . My Neighbors Brother in law sold me his stock TJ Grizzly wheels so I threw them on the YJ today Which makes it look much better !

 

[Tom95YJ]

Looks like a solid rig to start with!

Yes is it a solid rig. It has lived in Southern California for 22 years the last 2 have been here in Utah. It is rust free minus the p/s front fender. Which will be replaced soon.

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[Tom95YJ]

Sounds like a good opportunity to build some tubes!

Tube fenders may be In the works down the road But for now I'm just gonna get another stock one.

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[Tom95YJ]

Sub'd!
I just read through your XJ build the other day. Excited to see what you do with the YJ.

Welcome back to the cool table! :thumbsup: :cheers:

Cheers

Thanks.

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[Tom95YJ]

Today I removed the track bars and swaybars in prep for tomorrow's trip up Forrest lake trial in UNITA national Forrest. I'll be sure to take pics.

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[Tom95YJ]

So ugly yet so much potential, looking forward to see how you transform this old girl.

Thanks , I think ! Lol.

Took it wheeling today had a blast other then puncturing a sidewall. Pics to come this evening

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[Tom95YJ]

Here are the pics

In one pic you see 90LSTurbo's CJ getting towed out of the way due to a battery terminal popping off at the trail head and it died. As he turned it off the key broke in the ignition so we had to hot wire it .

 

[Tom95YJ]

 

[Tom95YJ]

 

[Tom95YJ]

Today I fixed all of the vaccum lines going to the front axle , I did not check to see if it will funtion properly but I will some day this week when I get time.
I also stumbled upon the reason I have a misfire at idle and why my Co2 levels are so high to the point where I barley passed emissions testing

Who puts this Garbage in the 4.2l ?
Autolite Platinums Yuck. I wish the Parts store was open after 3pm today I would have bought some champion coopers to put in there. (Guess what I'm doing tomorrow)

 

[Tom95YJ]

Love those wheeling pics! Beautiful! Glad to see the kiddo along!
I have the most fun when I can bring mine along with me too. :thumbsup:

I hope you keep it that color. Looks great with the grey interior.

Cheers

I plan on keeping it this color. It may eventually get some tube fenders front and rear

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[Tom95YJ]

Today I gave The Smurf some new spark plugs , and bumped the timing. It runs much better now there is still a very slight stumble so I will be replacing the wires, cap and rotor this weekend possibly adding a MSD blaster coil aswell. I will also possibly be performing the nutter bypass . and removing majority of the Vacuum lines. Oh and after wheeling on Sunday I noticed that my Under hood light is actually working now !

 

[Tom95YJ]

After wheeling last weekend and friends always asking me how I want the YJ to end up, I need to make a decision on if I leave the XJ at its current state (still regear , add a rear bumper and sye) and get my wife another DD so I can take over the XJ as a DD . Which will intern make the YJ my Wheeling toy. If I go that route my finaly outcome will be something like this (with different bumpers )

Or I could stick to my original plan and keep the YJ as a DD , Maybe I build both the YJ and XJ so I can decide on which rig to take depending on the Venue !

 

[Tom95YJ]

I wave to most modified Jeeps. Jk's are the exception I don't bother to wave to them unless they wave first here in Utah practically everyone has a Jeep

Now back to topic and let's not turn this into another wave thread

I found these today at work I think they will work to hold the shift fork over on the cad. Thoughts ? I also have a a bunch of set collars I can use, Working for a company that carries parts for Industrial Equipment does have it's benefits !

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[Tom95YJ]

Today I had to buy some new parts. I guess wheeling last weekend weakened a 24 year old hub bearing assembly. It started to make a clicking noise like a bad u joint yesterday so I leaned out and saw the drivers front tire wobbling. So I pulled into the Oriley auto parts that was about 1/4 mile away and bought a new hub , 36mm socket , and a new torque wrench. Since my socket and torque wrench are in a buddy's toolbox just outside of tellico

 

[Tom95YJ]

I did a little work on the YJ today , I replaced the d/s hub bearing that was bad , and found that the u joint was trashed also. So I had replaced them and replaced the tire that had a sidewall punctured on the YJ's first wheeling trip.

 

[Tom95YJ]

Subscribed !

Whats the suspension and wheel/tire setup on that red one? Really like the stance, minus the missing flares. Never was a fan of any jeep without flares

I know that red one has a 2.5" lift and 35's. I am going to stray away from the 35's and lean towards 33's.

Here is how I want the final outcome to be 2.5" OME , Flipped twin-sticked D300 with 4:1 gearing. D30/8.8 combo , 4:56's front and rear Lockers, , full cage , fully armored and flat belly pan. Possibly cutting brakes and suck down winches eventually

The white rig belongs to A guy I've wheeled with in Baltimore 4wheelers it is his stock class comp rig. For Rausch Creek's comp series. I've seen it in action when I judged a few events and I like small rigs so I will be basically doing a carbon copy of his rig.

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[Tom95YJ]

Today I also installed one of the Rare Vintage JF decals on the YJ

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