The Joopacabra build thread.

[mustanggarage]

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.

 

[mustanggarage]

and here she is

 

[Barrie]

Sounds great, gotta love it when they start right up.

 

[Chris]

That's awesome. When are you gonna take it for a drive?

 

[Havasu]

Damn, she sure sounds healthy. Can't wait to see how she does on the pavement or better yet, the dirt!

 

[mustanggarage]

Hopefully I will have time to get it out and go for a test ride today.

 

[mustanggarage]

well 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.

 

[Havasu]

Great story. Lol

 

[mustanggarage]

today's test run was much less interesting. the jeep is running perfect. it sounds great, actually has some pretty decent acceleration. the oil pressure, temp and everything are right in the sweet spot. no weird noises, and no leaks to speak of. overall this thing is great. next weekend I plan to pull the hardtop and put the bikini on.

 

[Barrie]

today's test run was much less interesting. the jeep is running perfect. it sounds great, actually has some pretty decent acceleration. the oil pressure, temp and everything are right in the sweet spot. no weird noises, and no leaks to speak of. overall this thing is great. next weekend I plan to pull the hardtop and put the bikini on.

Great news!

 

[mustanggarage]

I pulled the hard top off today.

then I never really liked that grant steering wheel. it was a major pain to put on, and the stupid horn started honking every time I turned the wheel so I have had it unplugged for the last year or so. So I decided to replace it. I really like lecarra steering wheels. I have one in both my 65 and 67 mustangs. they are pricey but they look and feel great, and I much prefer the horn function in them over the grant version. So I found a lecarra wheel that suited my taste, and spent quite a while trying to find the proper hub adapter. I finally called lecarra and they told me what part number to order. so I got it ordered from summit and swapped that in tonight.

I also put in a set of rugged ridge molded floor mats.

while I was swapping the steering wheel, the stupid little horn wire broke right out of the contact button. so I had to carefully pry the old wire out and solder in a new wire but I did get it working properly. then I put the bikini top and wind blocker on.

and I replaced the valve cover breather with a billet one from edelbrock.

then I took it for another short drive. out to supper with the wife then run around town for a bit. the jeep seems to be working perfectly.

 

[Barrie]

Nice work,glad to hear that it's working out to your expectations.

 

[oldognewtrick]

So....what's next on the project list?

 

[Havasu]

Damn, I love this thread.

 

[mustanggarage]

So....what's next on the project list?

nothing big, but I did order a sound bar for it today. I have some speaker boxes sitting on the wheel wells and they work pretty well, but I want something that looks a little better.

Damn, I love this thread.

thanks. I love this old jeep. it is still no where near as fast as my mustangs, or as comfortable or capable as my truck, but dang it is just cool. I look forward to a time when I can actually enjoy what it is made for. trail rides and exploring offroad. for now my job makes it difficult to do much of that so I just build the jeep and enjoy it.

 

[Havasu]

I'm waiting to see you install those flat fenders, since I have yet to tackle that one for my jeep.

 

[mustanggarage]

Maybe someday I will have to do that. But I like the look of the pocket flares

 

[Chris]

Flat fenders is a commitment, you then need a new bumper and trimming of stuff.

 

[mustanggarage]

I got to do a little cruising on some back roads yesterday

 

[Chris]

Looks good