1995 Jeep YJ - a project car 20 years in the making

[Geeto67]

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f102/Geeto67/1995%20Jeep%20Wrangler/EE808C64-4FBC-4065-9EDE-BF2477F6D24B_zpsrjc9tetf.jpg

 

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f102/Geeto67/1995%20Jeep%20Wrangler/A4F4EB79-47EF-41EA-B114-4363D7E47A32_zps6qrdyfoz.jpg

 

History: I purchased this Jeep Wrangler brand new from Lynbrook Jeep (now defunct), in May of 1995 as a senior in High School. I traded my 1987 Jeep XJ Cherokee 2 Door Laredo (4.0L, 5 speed, AC and oddly an AM radio) which we called "the grenade" because it had 140K on the clock and 1500 of those miles with a Studebaker R3 Paxton blower bolted to the air-conditioning bracket and huffing 6psi into the throttle body with home made plumbing, and no tune. No I did not trade it in with the blower attached. But that's a story for another time.

 

Up until this point I had a lot of bad luck with cars. The 1967 Buick Skylark I "inherited" by getting it off the cement blocks in our backyard and running under it's own power had cracked the frame at the firewall mount (a common rot out area) and had to be sent to the junkyard, and the 1967 Chevelle SS had been plowed into by a drunk driver while parked right before I got my license. I had managed to save up some money with the sole purpose of buying a car my senior year.

 

I remember standing at Bob Grossman's classic car dealership on Long Island in April of 1995 looking at an $11,000 1970 Dodge Challenger with a swapped in 440 and 4 speed (god I miss 1990's muscle car pricing), which dad was sternly against because 1) he was convinced I was going to kill myself or go to jail, and 2) he hated mopars that weren't hemi powered. Also as a daily driver he was convinced the road salt in Rochester (where I was moving to for college) would eat the car alive. We looked at one other challenger that day (a mint white 1973 Rallye 340 for $3500), a 1970 SS396 chevelle, and a 1966 SS 396 chevelle and didn't buy anything. On the way home my father told me about the CJ5 he used to use to deliver food for chicken delight when he was a teenager and he suggested we go to the jeep dealer the next day and look at wranglers.

 

Most people don't remember this but there was a shortage of 4.0L powered 5 speed wranglers in 1995. UAW strikes in April had crippled production of a lot of chrysler products and 4.0L wranglers were very desirable. I had called every dealer in the tri-state area looking for one and was only able to find two, both on Long Island. Smithtown Jeep had a Mango and black 4.0L SE and Lynbrook had a Canadian imported Sahara YJ. Mango is Jeep speak for "salmon pink" so we went to Lynbrook to check out the canadian cars. It turns out that they had a connection with a jeep dealer in Toronto and had actually imported 5 or 6 but there was some question as to how to title them and whether MOPAR would actually honor the warranty. We were about to walk when the salesman, this really scary crusty old timer named "Abe" pulled me aside and said: "we have 1 US wrangler coming in in May, the guy ordered it special and had been waiting for it for 4 months and we sold him into an XJ cherokee yesterday. If you want to put a deposit down on that car it's yours when it gets here." My father hated the idea of me forking over a deposit for the promise of a car but I left a $1000 deposit and waited.

 

Whomever ordered the wrangler knew what he was doing: here is the list of options from the build sheet:

 

Optional Equipment

 

Code Description Code Description Code Description

*P6 PREMIUM CLOTH BUCKET SEATS -TB DESCRIPTION NOT AVAILABLE

ADCP CONVENIENCE GROUP

ADH HEAVY DUTY ELECTRICAL GROUP

AEC BRIGHT WHEEL GROUP

ALAP SE DECOR GROUP

BARP 90 AMP ALTERNATOR

BCDP 500 AMP MAINTENANCE FREE BATTERY

CADP HIGH BACK BUCKET SEATS

CDBP RECLINING FRONT SEATS

CFMP REAR FOLDING SEAT

CKCP FLOOR CARPET

CKNP CARGO COMPARTMENT CARPET

CUFP FULL LENGTH FLOOR CONSOLE

DDQ 5-SPEED MANUAL TRANSMISSION

DMDP 3.55 AXLE RATIO

DSA ANTI-SPIN DIFFERENTIAL REAR AXLE

ERH 4.0L POWER TECH I-6 ENGINE

GAF DEEP TINT SUNSCREEN GLASS

GCBP FRONT DOOR TINTED GLASS

GCFP FULL METAL DOORS W/ROLL-UP WINDOWS

GFA REAR WINDOW DEFROSTER

GRVP LEFT MANUAL MIRROR

GSVP RIGHT MANUAL MIRROR

GTVP SWING-AWAY MIRRORS

JHAP VAR INTERMITTENT WINDSHIELD WIPERS

JHBP REAR WINDOW WIPER/WASHER

JKAP LOCKING GLOVE BOX

JKC ADD-A-TRUNK LOCKABLE STORAGE

LBBP COURTESY LAMPS

LCDP MAP/DOME READING LAMPS

LDAP UNDERHOOD LAMP

MBBP BRIGHT FRONT BUMPER

MCGP CHROME REAR BUMPERETTES

MFYP CHROME HEADLAMP BEZELS

MFZP BRIGHT GRILLE

MRJ BODYSIDE SIDE STEPS

NFAP 20 GALLON FUEL TANK

PJNA MOSS GREEN PEARL COAT

RABP AM/FM RADIO RCD 4 SPEAKERS

RDDP FIXED LONG MAST ANTENNA

SBAP POWER RACK AND PINION STEERING

SUAP TILT STEERING COLUMN TBBP FULL SIZE SPARE TIRE

TMW P215/75R15 OWL ALL TERRAIN TIRES

VKUA SPICE HARD TOP

WJ5 15X7.0 FULL-FACE STEEL WHEELS

YEP MANUF STATEMENT OF ORIGIN

YGGA 9 ADDITIONAL GALLONS OF GAS

ZAGP SPRING - LEFT FRONT

ZATP SPRING - LEFT REAR

ZNGP SPRING - RIGHT FRONT

ZNTP SPRING - RIGHT REAR

00MA DESCRIPTION NOT AVAILABLE

00NA DESCRIPTION NOT AVAILABLE

00QA DESCRIPTION NOT AVAILABLE

2TDA CUSTOMER PREFERRED PACKAGE

2TD 25D CUSTOMER PREFERRED PACKAGE 25D

3VPA CUSTOMER PREFERRED DISCOUNT

4EA SOLD VEHICLE

4SPA SUPPLEMENTAL NY CONSUMER PROTECTION

4XA AIR CONDITIONING BYPASS

6J9 PAINT ORDER CODE

 

I know there is a lot there and some of it is kind of dumb (left mirror and right mirror have separate entries?) but the only options offered by chrysler not on this list are the Sahara package (which for YJs are just stripes and a nicer interior) and a block heater, making this one of the most highly optioned SE model wranglers made. The 3.55 axle with a manual trans and track-lok diff is perhaps the rarest option as it was part of a not well advertised "tow package". Standard gearing in a manual wrangler was 3.07 and the 3.73 optional gears had been discontinued many years prior. I have spoken to and showed the car to many "jeep experts" over the years and a lot of them have never seen some of the things my jeep is optioned with.

 

This year I decided to retire my old YJ as my daily driver. the mileage is about 142,000 miles and age was starting to catch up to the old gal. She's been to Mexico, Canada, and roughly 25 US states. She rescued my father in law during a New Orleans Hurricane (not Katrina), towed my broken GTO home half a dozen times, made roughly a dozen drag strip passes and two top speed attempts down an airport runway (BTW terminal velocity of a 190hp low flying brick is roughly 115mph if the speedo and my old garmin is to be believed), and spent the first half of her life every weekend on the beach in montauk surf casting.

 

Upgrades over the years are:

- Borla full stainless exhaust from header to tail pipe

- SmittyBilt XRC front bumper

- Tygar rear bumper and tow hitch

- NV3550 Rubicon Transmission

- rear swap to an earlier non-c clip rear axle

- American racing AR36 wheels and 30x9.5" tires

- Grant GT steering wheel

- Heavy duty rear shock mounts

- Aluminum "v8 swap" 2 core radiator

- Accel coil

 

Upgrades done over the years not still on the car

- 75hp dry nitrous shot

- 5 or 6 different Sony xplod radios, all ruined by water, 2 stolen after being ruined

- 2 radio shack "realistic" CB radios all ruined by water

- 6 different bumpers including a rare aluminum tube bumper 2 stainless steel bumpers, and a "racing" drilled front bumper. When I used to go off road as teen/20 something I went through a period where I was bashing those stock c-channel bumpers into funny angles

- 3 different sets of fog lights.

- half doors I can't seem to get keys for or the latches to work.

 

Now that the jeep is "retired" I am going to tend to some well needed deferred maintenance and cosmetics which I will document here. Eventually I do want to v8 swap it and while I have the perfect donor (5.9 GC limited) it is going to take me at least a year to track down the parts to make the trans work. However, as I seem to work on this thing damn near every day (even when it I am not driving it) and have all sorts of little tricks and small projects planned, I thought it might be fun to document that stuff here.

[iwashmycar]

Pretty great story. I cant believe it seems to be in amazing shape for all of that.

 

Some new wheels would really set it off lol...Heck...some OEMs in gloss silver would really keep it "clean"

[Geeto67]

Pretty great story. I cant believe it seems to be in amazing shape for all of that.

 

Thanks! I tried to keep it in good condition as best I could. When I used to go off-road on the weekends I would hose off the bottom of the car after I got back to the house. The thing has been in the Atlantic ocean at least a couple of times up to the frame and yet the frame is more solid than most ohio TJ's half it's age.

 

It is one of the "galvanized" bodies so I am sure that has helped but it does still have rust in the common jeep areas: both front fenders, the windshield frame, the door hoops, and the driver's side floor board. All of which I plan to attack in the next couple of weeks/months. Most of the rust started to develop after I moved to ohio.

 

When the car was new I would do the mother's three part system (cleaner, glaze, pure carnuba wax) on it twice a year, and then regular wash and wax in between. The paint is the original moss green pearl, except around the locks of both doors since the thing has been broken into half a million times. I don't have any clear coat peeling nor is the paint coming off in sheets like other YJs the same age.

 

Some new wheels would really set it off lol...Heck...some OEMs in gloss silver would really keep it "clean"

 

Been thinking about new wheels, but I am kind of attached to these. The American Racing Ar36 came out in 1995 and these were one of the first sets anybody had seen around NY. I remember sending a pic of the car with my new wheels to American racing and then a few months later seeing the American racing ad in Peterson's 4 wheel and off road of a wangler in my same color combo with the AR36 wheels. I'm not saying I had anything to do with that, just it was an extremely popular combo for the time. Prior to the AR36 everyone seemed to have Centerline AutoDrags or similar on their jeeps so this was a huge departure.

 

I have thought about stock steelies (I still have the original wheels and tires in my garage) or even the stock alloys, but the AR36s are back spaced about an inch out and I don't want to loose that extra track. Maybe a set of chromed or white wagon wheels for that CJ vintage look. I had a neighbor back in queens with an XJ that had natural finish vintage Torque Thrust D wheels on it and it looked pretty killer, but I dunno. New wheels are kinda low on the priority list at the moment.

[Mitch]

Maybe a set of chromed or white wagon wheels for that CJ vintage look.

 

CJ vintage look with square headlights? Goddamned YJ guys.

[-Alex-]

The design, the color combo, the wheels...it absolutely screams 1995.

 

Not really sure what your plan is, but I'll watch along.

[Geeto67]

CJ vintage look with square headlights? Goddamned YJ guys.

 

way better than all those CJ7 guys that seem to be buying up YJ tubs to restore their CJs

 

seriously, how can you hate on this:

http://www.goldeneagledecals.com/yjeagle.jpg

[-Alex-]

Looks like that guy should've just bought a CJ. However, the CJ wheels look way better than the AR36s.

[Mitch]

I do need a YJ tub, if you know of one that's not rotten, too.

[Geeto67]

I do need a YJ tub, if you know of one that's not rotten, too.

 

I'll ask around, you'd be surprised at how little jeeps rust in NY because they use sand on the road instead of salt. Right before I moved here I sold a red '91 with a really nice body for $300 because the engine was blow.

 

I'm sure you have been out to Rudy's CJ's, he is probably the best source for rust free jeep anything but that is because he travels around the southwest buying up all the rust free project cars he can and shipping them back to Ohio. He ain't cheap but he is usually cheaper than the body man.

[Mitch]

Yeah, I keep my eye on his website.

[Trouble Maker]

http://www.goldeneagledecals.com/yjeagle.jpg

 

What's up with the leaf springs/mounts ruining the approach angle, was that just the design on that ear?

[Geeto67]

What's up with the leaf springs/mounts ruining the approach angle, was that just the design on that ear?

 

looks like it. It's an old school lift shackle design. The stock YJ shackle is the same setup just shorter. Good modern YJ lift shackles tend to have a kink in them now to put the spring perch up higher. I think that setup was more common for spring over axle conversion since they tend to use flatter springs.

 

Not every lift is designed for rock crawling, some are just to fit big tires.

[Cordell]

What's wrong with CJ guys? Better then that Chrysler built shit. AMC built FTW.

[Geeto67]

What's wrong with CJ guys? Better then that Chrysler built shit. AMC built FTW.

 

Nothing it was a joke. I had a 304 powered CJ7 project and it was fun when it worked. I love AMC (I still search CL religiously for matadors and rebels) but what Chrysler brought to the Jeep brand was build quality. When Chrysler improves your build quality - you know you are not long for this world.

 

Honestly, the only thing I could never understand was this snobbery about headlights. Jeep people sometimes make Porsche purists look like walmart greeters over a styling cue forced on to jeep by the federal government's standardization of headlights.

[Mitch]

It was lighthearted ribbing about the damned headlights. I was trying to be nice and build rapport with you and you turn it into your typical bullshit. I should have known better. I'm done in here, have a nice day.

[2 Sweet]

I love hearing detailed stories like this about a car's history. Good stuff

[Robochan]

I guess it's a jeep thing. I don't get it.

[Geeto67]

It was lighthearted ribbing about the damned headlights. I was trying to be nice and build rapport with you and you turn it into your typical bullshit. I should have known better. I'm done in here, have a nice day.

 

Actually I totally got that and was happy to see it. I wasn't directing my comments at you, just poking a little fun at Cordell's comments.

 

And you have to admit some jeep guys (not you) do take the square headlight thing way too far. Case in point when I used to work in Manhattan I used to park with the midtown south cops, 3 of them who drove new TJs. One if them was a beat cop and he would always remind me real jeeps have round headlights. Usually at the most in opportune times (sometimes screaming it from across the street) and 3-4 times a night on average. He had a CJ two and he could be a real dick about it at times. Also when I first started surf casting the other jeep dudes would give me a hard time about the cheap plastic interior calling it a "chicks jeep" (oh how far we have come where Rubicons now have power windows and leather).

 

So anyway, I meant no insult. Consider this a formal apology and let's try to get along. good? Good.

[2 Sweet]

FWIW, I think the square lights look better

[Cordell]

FWIW, I think the square lights look better

 

Being that my Dad was driving his CJ7 when I was born and he still has it, I'm very partial to the round headlights. It's willed to me, so yeah it's special for me.

[Geeto67]

so...kicking off this month's round of small projects in an attempt to un-ruin my Jeep: this month's theme is "lockable Storage"

 

Here are some teaser images, as I will be posting more as work progresses. Like most of you all I am a lot of other things first (a dad, a husband, a intergalactic knight in the secret space army, etc...) so updates will come as I can steal time to photograph stuff and work on my own junk.

 

first up Center console:

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f102/Geeto67/1995%20Jeep%20Wrangler/786B5654-5D1A-46F9-B79A-6AE280944706_zpsyorstohr.jpg

 

So a couple of weeks back my car got broken into by a couple of columbus's finest car thieves. I say Columbus's finest because they actually felt the need to break into an unlocked car, as I tend to leave both doors unlocked because there is nothing ov value in the car to actually steal and after 13 or so break ins this minimizes the damage. But not car thieves in columbus, they still felt the need to damage anyway. Which brings me to my next point: they ripped the lid off the 20 year old aftermarket center console (which was also unlocked) just to steal a $5 usb cigarette lighter plug in. Amateurs. anyway, the old center console was put in so I had a place to put my cup of coffee and not have to reach into the glove box for my registration, it was hardly secure and had all of the construction quality as those speaker boxes we used to make out of MDF in shop class in the 1990's (remember when that was a thing?) and unfortunately it didn't take to the manhandling well and is now toast. So the new center console? yeah 50 cal wide ammo box, with a motorcycle pillion seat for an armrest because I am one of those dudes who has to have an arm rest for my orangutan arms.

 

 

second:

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f102/Geeto67/1995%20Jeep%20Wrangler/6233D3C8-C873-4BDF-ABD1-101BA251E49B_zpsjd7wiejl.jpg

 

so these are actually really cool for two reasons. 1) if you google TJ tailgate hinges on a YJ you get all sorts of incorrect information and dead end leads and 2) this are actually the same color as my jeep which is nice.

 

What you are looking at are a set of "heavy duty" hinges for a Jeep YJ wrangler. These are not TJ hinges (sort of...I'll explain in a minute). Half way through the 1995 model year Mopar revised a few things to 95MY wranglers. Some of it was done for testing purposes like the rubber bumpers on the hood for the windshield fold down, others who knows. This is in the who know category, but for some reason they redesigned the YJ hinges to these cast aluminum pieces. The old jeep tailgate hinges go back to the last days of the CJ7 and are steel. They rust and the pin hogs out the hinge over time so your tailgate drops like an inch when you open it and it never properly seals out the water. MY 1995 was made just before the change over to these hinges. So, Mopar made these hinges for the YJ in the YJ bolt spacing, and they continued to use it on 1997 TJs because I think that's actually what they designed it for. Sometime in the future they changed the TJ hinge bolt spacing so later TJ hinges require holes to be drilled and reinforcement plates to be fabricated for inside the tub. But not these babys - this is a true bolt on replacement hinge. Kinda neat, right? so what's difficult about swapping hinges? well nothing except that Jeep in their infinite wisdom painted the jeep bodies assembled so when you remove the old hinges there is a good chance a chunk of the old paint is coming with it, and underneath you probably don't find any kind of rust protection or protection from dissimilar metal corrosion (like when you sandwich steel and aluminum together and then expose it to ohio road salt and moisture). I am going to redo the whole lockable trunk area and these hinges are part of the upgrade.

 

stay tuned.

Edited March 7, 2016 by Geeto67