My J2000 had been the biggest time burgular of my career as a magazine editor. Now that it's out of my hair (so to speak) I'm getting excited to devoting some quality time to the other vehicles in my fleet. Here's the game plan.
WHY-J - I'm still thoroughly enjoying my $500 4-banger YJ. It's fun to drive, I don't care too much about it off-road, and most of the parts I'm adding to it bolt on easily. The radiator is starting to fall out 'cause the brackets broke off of the tank. I need to fix that and then add some better safety for me and the kids. I'd rather do a completely new cage, but if I can't find anything I like I'll just fabricate my own. I don't wanna go too nuts, though because eventually I'm gonna need a 5-seater and I'm sort of thinking it's going to be cheaper and easier in the long run to lengthen the YJ than it will be to build a Scrambler.
The Evil Truck - My M-715 has laid dormant under a blue tarp for most of the winter. The power steering reservoir leaks a bit and I need a new exhaust gasket on the passenger-side head. The engine really needs another 100hp, so I'm looking at an affordable Vortec iron cylinder head swap, a Comp Cams XE 268 cam with a custom exhaust profile, an Edelbrock Performer RPM manifold, and some roller rockers to bump it up to 400hp/400lb-ft.
Murderous Overkill - The more I go to Glamis the less I want this truck to be 4WD. I wanna hork past those damn buggies at the sand drags with the big block sucking race gas and Nitrous Oxide. I'm thinking the leaf springs need to go bye bye. Especially considering the concessions I'll need to make on the front suspension to allow ample driveshaft and diff clearance. I'll build a 4-link in the rear for some bypass shocks and coilovers. Up front I've sort of settled on a long-travel 2WD A-arm setup. I've been visiting my buddies at JD Fabrication with my camera, tape measurer, and an open mind and I'm pretty sure I can get about 20-inches out of the front suspension without doing a centermount A-arm setup. It'll be overkill for sure.
Project JR - We're getting more and more questions about XJs, so Cappa though it may be a good time to dust off this little chestnut that's been sitting collecting dust outside our offices for the past couple years. Sick buildup? Nope. I'm gonna devolve it by taking off the big lift, going back to 31-inch tires, removing the bent front axle and regrearing or replacing the 9-inch rear. It's not a real prerunner and fooling myself into thinking it was just didn't work.
The DJ-3A - Eventually I need to build a custom fuel cell that mounts underneath the cargo area so I can mount a bench seat or a couple of race buckets for the kids.