crawldaddy
NAXJA Member # 1491
- Location
- Alameda, CA
Years ago, before the kids made their own kids, camping on the Rubicon was one of our favorite things to do...and Big Red was the tote vehicle for all the camping gear, tools, and replacement parts for the Samurais. We had a fleet of those little guys, and three of them may show-up here in the coming weeks.
But back to Big Red. He's standing on 35's with alloy guts in the original axles, Detroit rear, ARB front. He's an XJ Limited, so leather seats, 242, and a few other creature comforts.
The details of the build escape me, but it's high enough, and all the necessary things are there. Words like Tom Woods, SYE, 4.56 come from somewhere deep in my memory. One thing I do remember is that we spent over $12k along the way to make it right. Somewhere I have a high-steer kit that we never installed. We should have the sway bar disconnects, but got lazy about reconnecting once we learned how to drive it. It does fine at 80+ on the freeway.
Now the reality check. He was sitting in outside storage on Treasure Island for around 10 years with all the torture that entails - as shown in the photos. It's beyond needing a good bath. The driver's seat is pretty-much hosed, but most of the remaining are "good enough".
My son-in-law and his coast guard friends came over to get it running. I was the smart guy who opened-up the air ducts in the intake to shoot starting fluid down his nose, not knowing that the guys had already screwed-up one of the o-rings at the back of the fuel rail, and fuel was leaking down the back of the engine. When he backfired through the intake, a small fire ensued, scorching the electrical bundle behind the engine. I looked at it, it's not too bad - should be an easy repair for someone young enough to crawl around in there. The fact that it did bark and run a bit is a good sign.
He's now in a hangar in Rio Vista - about an hour from SF or Sac, and I'm there most every weekend.
Even though it's in an embarrassing state at this point, it's not so far behind the power curve that it's junk - far from it. I believe that in a few hours time, this big guy can be back on the road and having fun just like before. With a bit more work and a small amount of money, it might even look fairly decent again. I think there's even a replacement tail light in the back somewhere.
Since I hardly ever use the email associated with this account anymore, let me ask you to just text me at five-one-zero, five-eight-nine, seventy-four ten. I get too many goofy telemarketing calls to answer, but I will listen to voice mails.
Oh - how much? Something reasonable to one of you guys. Less than $5k. Come kick the tires and let's talk about it.
http://i64.tinypic.com/244ob9j.jpg
http://i66.tinypic.com/313obk6.jpg
http://i66.tinypic.com/2mor2ub.jpg
http://i65.tinypic.com/4jx3eo.jpg
But back to Big Red. He's standing on 35's with alloy guts in the original axles, Detroit rear, ARB front. He's an XJ Limited, so leather seats, 242, and a few other creature comforts.
The details of the build escape me, but it's high enough, and all the necessary things are there. Words like Tom Woods, SYE, 4.56 come from somewhere deep in my memory. One thing I do remember is that we spent over $12k along the way to make it right. Somewhere I have a high-steer kit that we never installed. We should have the sway bar disconnects, but got lazy about reconnecting once we learned how to drive it. It does fine at 80+ on the freeway.
Now the reality check. He was sitting in outside storage on Treasure Island for around 10 years with all the torture that entails - as shown in the photos. It's beyond needing a good bath. The driver's seat is pretty-much hosed, but most of the remaining are "good enough".
My son-in-law and his coast guard friends came over to get it running. I was the smart guy who opened-up the air ducts in the intake to shoot starting fluid down his nose, not knowing that the guys had already screwed-up one of the o-rings at the back of the fuel rail, and fuel was leaking down the back of the engine. When he backfired through the intake, a small fire ensued, scorching the electrical bundle behind the engine. I looked at it, it's not too bad - should be an easy repair for someone young enough to crawl around in there. The fact that it did bark and run a bit is a good sign.
He's now in a hangar in Rio Vista - about an hour from SF or Sac, and I'm there most every weekend.
Even though it's in an embarrassing state at this point, it's not so far behind the power curve that it's junk - far from it. I believe that in a few hours time, this big guy can be back on the road and having fun just like before. With a bit more work and a small amount of money, it might even look fairly decent again. I think there's even a replacement tail light in the back somewhere.
Since I hardly ever use the email associated with this account anymore, let me ask you to just text me at five-one-zero, five-eight-nine, seventy-four ten. I get too many goofy telemarketing calls to answer, but I will listen to voice mails.
Oh - how much? Something reasonable to one of you guys. Less than $5k. Come kick the tires and let's talk about it.
http://i64.tinypic.com/244ob9j.jpg
http://i66.tinypic.com/313obk6.jpg
http://i66.tinypic.com/2mor2ub.jpg
http://i65.tinypic.com/4jx3eo.jpg
