Jeepster...yes, Jeepster!

88 CJ-YJ

Way back in August, I delayed work on the 88 CJ-YJ.  

The reasons, in no particular order:
  • Work
    • I got busier at work (and they pay the bills!)
  • Driveway
    • The remaining tasks (axles, paint, etc) were not going to be great to do on the driveway...especially since I was on the HOA's radar screen.  I decided that I really needed to do this work in my garage.
  • Overdrive
    • I was having severe doubts about the TH350 transmission.  First, I couldn't find a great position for the automatic shifter in the cab.  Second, I have always been worried about the lack of overdrive in the TH350.  In particular, as it affects highway RPMs and gas mileage.  
  • AC
    • I also started questioning the lack of AC, but that was a lesser concern.
  • Jeepster
    • I was also tired of the Jeepster permanently fixed in my garage.  I decided that I either needed to get to a rolling chassis or sell it to free up my garage.

Indoor Storage

So the 88 CJ-YJ went into storage in Dallas...The red 1971 Jeepster is just a parts car that I picked up very cheap a few years ago.  It's been at "Mom's Indoor Storage" up in the Dallas area.  

I had to remove the red Jeepster to store the 88 CJ-YJ.  The proprietor of "Mom's Indoor Storage" was excited about the change.

Scrappage

I brought the red Jeepster back down to Austin, where it got disassembled and parted out.  I didn't have a title for it, and it was too rusty to save as a complete vehicle.  I kept a few good parts, of course.

With two people, this goes pretty fast - there was no drivetrain in this Jeepster.  

I also scrapped another 1968 Jeepster parts car that was also very rusty.  And also no title.  It had some very good parts on it - most were sold, and a few were kept.  


As always, my trusty sidekick was very helpful during the destruction phase:

Selling, Organizing and Cleaning

In addition to all the disassembled Jeepster parts, I've been thinning out my overall Jeep parts collection.  This simplifies storage and frees up cash to (later) buy more Jeep parts.  
This has been very successful, and I have now transitioned over to the Jeepster!



Project: Jeepster Rolling Chassis

Current Status

This picture is from June 2020, but it still looks the same today! 😞

Tasks

To get to a rolling chassis, there are a bunch of large tasks still remaining:
  • Lock down radiator/fan position
  • Lock down motor position - cut firewall if necessary (but hopefully not!)
  • Lock down front axle position
  • Build 3 link front suspension
  • Regear and build front axle
  • Finish build of rear axle
  • Bolt on wheels!  

Radiator / Grill

I covered some of this back in 2020 in this post:

and this post:
https://jeepster512.blogspot.com/2021/04/cooling-system-july-12-2020.html

I made some progress this weekend by getting the grill fully modified, and by re-making the condenser and transmission cooler mounts.


Passenger side - the brackets are made and ready to be welded to the grill

Brackets on the driver's side - ready to be welded into place.

The center grill support was completely removed, so that the radiator could sit lower.  I'll have to re-fab a center mount.

Next steps...continue adding pieces until the grill, radiator and fan are all installed into the Jeepster.  There is a lot of fab work and welding to be done.