I got started this weekend tearing things down, starting with the peripheral things (wires, alternator, power steering pump, pulleys, etc.).

So, since last February life’s kind of gotten in the way, along with the weather being too hot for my liking to work on my Jeep. Fast-Forward to last weekend when i finally made some time to get busy getting this project done.

I started with cleaning up the firewall in my Jeep. Pulled the battery tray, cleaned everything up, and painted the firewall with the same rocker texture and black engine enamel I used on the inner fenders. I hadn’t realized how bad things were behind the battery tray, so this cleaned things up nicely.

This morning Dave took off at Oh-Dark-Thirty for Phoenix, and had a helluva trip ahead of him. He experienced just about every kind of weather imaginable (ridiculous wind, rain, sleet, snow, you name it) but made it there with no casualties.

Here’s Klooge in his new home, about to be completely torn apart and restored by Dave.

And that’s pretty much that, I guess. As much fun as I had with “Jeep Week 2021,” I really hope to not have to crank so hard on a big project like that ever again… I’m getting too old for this.

Now I just gotta get my “Jeep 3.0 Project” off the ground, which involves getting that 304 torn down and to the machine shop (not even going to play around with this one), then clean up the 999 & D300 and service both, drill-out the D300 yokes to receive U-bolts (to get rid of those problematic U-joint straps I’ve always hated), clean up and repaint the drive shafts & brake pedal assembly, rebuild the steering column & automatic transmission linkage, install my Conn-Ferr 1″ shackles (up front), clean up the firewall, refurbish the engine-side wiring harness, obtain all of the needed engine & drivetrain parts, and put that sucker back together. Then I can swap the stereo head unit and tune-up the amps & speakers, adapt the TJ seat brackets to the CJ floor (to get those TJ seats lowered back down to ‘normal’ height), re-install the factory HVAC, install a BedRug carpet kit, paint the YJ top and doors, then take it to the exhaust shop for a new proper dual exhaust with a set of Magnaflows before ordering the Eagle 589s and 35×12.50 Swamper SSRs.

Sounds quick and easy if you read it fast.

Yesterday, we worked some nit-noid stuff – although exactly what, I’m not entirely sure (it was something of a blur by this point). I’d pulled the stick from the T-176 while it was in 1st, not realizing the issues THAT would cause – it wouldn’t come out of 1st, or do anything at all really once I reinstalled the transmission stick on Friday. So, today I pulled the stick again, and remembered how things were laid out on the shifter (since I rebuilt this T-176 just 20 years ago), found the correct shift shaft, popped it back into its neutral position, then reinstalled the stick. All was well again. Moral of the story: don’t pull your transmission stick unless it’s in neutral. Learning has occurred. LOL!

We took off in Dave’s Ram to go get the car hauler from U-Haul, swung by HF for a couple more things and finished up the day just transferring tools and whatnot over to my Ram, since Dave now had to park out front with the trailer strapped up.

Today was the last day – last push to get Klooge ready for the trip to Phoenix, and we still needed to swap the YJ top over to Dookie, install my new paddle handle doors onto Dookie, get the new Rampage soft top Dave brought with him onto Klooge, get all of Dave’s tools and other newly acquired Jeep stuff loaded up, and do something with the old CJ top & doors.

We heard something about there being a major football play-off game that day, but we didn’t care a bit – we’re having fun with the Jeeps!

Had fun getting Klooge onto the trailer, between the downhill slope, using the starter motor, and actually running, it popped right on, we got him nailed down, and all that was left was to take my old CJ hard top and doors over to a buddy’s house for storage.

Now, my poor Jeep looks like crap, has no driveline, and my carport and garage are trashed. I’m not entirely sure who got the better end of this deal, to be honest. LOL!!

Today, we installed the steering column, brake & clutch pedal assembly, power steering pump, and wiring harness from Dookie. The new brake booster kit I’d ordered from Summit Racing turned out to be too big to fit with the MC2100 upgrade I’d done, so after we figured out the OE booster was still good, we installed it along with the new master cylinder from the kit and bled the brakes after a trip to O’Reilly’s for some vacuum hose junctions and over to HF for a vacuum brake bleeder kit.

A bit later, we got the brake booster vacuum plumbed and decided that since the intake valves were stuck closed because of the missing lifters, gave the key a turn and it actually fired up – ran like crap, but it ran.

Counted our blessings and put the repop fenders I’d picked up with the Jeep on… then called it a day.

While I was sitting there yesterday brooding and being pissed about the bent rods, Dave actually got the 258 exhaust and T-176/D300/skid plate from Dookie ready for install into Klooge. This morning we popped it all in.

After that was all done, we still had lots of daylight so decided to stab the engine. It went in super easy – easiest I’ve ever done, actually. Got it all bolted down and then it was getting dark.

Buttoned up for the night.

So Tuesday Jan 19th was cold & rainy, and so was Wednesday the 20th. We did manage to get some nit noid stuff done. Dave finished up putting in the new fuel tank and finally got the locking cap off, and I decided to pop the valve cover and change the valve seals. Unfortunately though, I discovered two push rod ends staring at me once I got the valve cover off. Hopefully, they’re just collapsed lifters, because one of the rods (#4 intake) was actually bent, whereas #5 intake was still straight as an arrow… which explains why it still runs… like crap, but still runs. Hopefully, we got lucky and he can fix this without a complete rebuild.

Wait – what are those shiny things?

Aww – crap.

Uh-oh

Thursday night I got a call from the hospital to come see my Mom. About 5 hours later she passed – peacefully – but at least we were there with her. Totally out of nowhere, ‘something’ got out of control and her body just couldn’t take anymore of all the things she had going on. A few weeks ago while I was watching her struggle just to take a nap, I said a prayer and asked for her to go peacefully sooner than later so she wouldn’t have to suffer a hard ending… and I feel like I might’ve just gotten an answer. I’m more relieved than upset or devastated, as most people would think I would be after losing Mom.

A big help through all of this has been the arrival of my BFF Dave. We’ve been working hard on getting the drivetrain swaps for the Jeeps sorted out, and having Dave here to work with side-by-side and just enjoy ourselves being together has been incredibly helpful not only for the project, but also because there’s just nothing that can replace the time you get to spend with the most important people in your life. Mom is gone, but she would want us to be together right now.

This past Saturday, the day after Dave drove from Phoenix to San Angelo, we finished pulling out the TF-999/D300, driveshafts, motor mounts, and exhaust system from Klooge. Sorry I got a little behind on my ‘blogging… then again, I’m actually catching this up on 10 Feb, while back-dating to 19 Jan. Behold the power of owning your own blog.

The TF-999 decided to spill its guts when I started working on the cooling lines – they pretty much disintegrated, so I guess I’ll need some new ones when this all goes into my Jeep.

Sunday, after some re-organization and clean-up, while Dave was working on dropping the fuel tank (he bought a new one), I worked on getting the 258 unbuttoned and ready to come out.

It’s times like this I’m reminded that the clamshell mod (as Dave calls it) was the best $8 I ever spent on my Jeep. Under the grille bolts and both fenders swing out of the way.

Also had a chance to put the first piece from the transplant into Klooge – the radiator.

Monday was about getting the engine & transmission/T-case out of my Jeep.

A happy Dave, now that we got the engine pulled out of Dookie.

Today was cold and trying to rain all day, so Dave worked on getting the rest of the fuel tank stuff taken care of, while I pulled the steering column and brake/clutch pedal assembly from my Jeep. I don’t think we got any pics of that.

Hopefully, it won’t rain tomorrow so we can get more done, otherwise it’ll be a marathon to squeeze everything else we have to do before he has to leave this coming weekend.

OK – that 304 is OUTTA THERE! Cold freaken day, but my buddy Harry came over and we got it out. I’d piddled with getting the last bits disconnected last weekend and all we had was a ground strap (that came off with the driver side engine mount) and the kick down brackets for the TF-999.

Discovered last weekend that the previous owners had gone with dual exhaust, meaning they’d Redneck Engineered a second pipe and Cherry Bomb for the passenger side. Apparently, they cut the Y-pipe extension to the passenger side, smushed it flat and welded it closed. Hey – whatever works, I guess! I’ll bet this Laredo was a pretty cool and fun toy for them while they had it.

I decided to just bite the bullet and leave the transfer cases with their respective transmissions to save time during the transfer of my Jeep’s drivetrain into the Laredo for Dave to take home with him, and spare the driveway a couple of new puddles of 90-weight in the process. So basically, Dave gets a turn-key running Jeep, and I have my work ahead of me to get mine running again – but this time, for the last time.

I also struck a deal with Harry to take my 33×15.50 TSX Swampers and 15×10 steelies, along with my old hard top and doors for $500. Since Dave scored me a pristine set of full ‘paddle handle’ doors, we’ll swap that YJ hard top onto Dookie before Dave takes off with Klooge after next week (he already picked up a Rampage black denim YJ soft top, which should work nicely with those half doors… when I met him, he had a ’92 Wrangler Islander, and had always preferred the factory top against the Bestop units). Once everything’s back in order, drive train-wise in my Jeep, I’ll be upgrading to some 35×12.50 Swamper SSRs and a set of Mickey Thompson Classic IIIs (for weight savings and one more cosmetic point for this ‘Jeep 3.0’ project of mine).

Now, I just gotta pull the engine mounts, exhaust, transmission, T-case, and drive shafts, then we’ll be ready to bring the 258/T-176/D300, driveshafts, clutch linkage, brake pedal, and steering column over from my Jeep into the Laredo. After getting everything wired up and replace the valve seals, it should be running… then we work on the little nit-noid things before he heads home.

OK – so between work, finishing up cleaning out my Mom’s apartment, my New Years’ Eve B-Day (and subsequent hangover), and a couple days of bad weather, I’m ready to pull the engine tomorrow morning. A bit behind schedule, as the first day Dave gets here we’ll be pulling the 258 & T-176 from my Jeep to reinstall into this one (that’ll be easier, since mine is substantially cleaner, easier to get to, and significantly less ‘Redneck Engineered’ (I have some pics to share of the clipped, smushed, and welded Y-pipe on the factory exhaust system later – this guy had dual Cherry Bombs, after all).