Picked Up A 71 For A Buddy Of Mine......

Funny... A buddy dragged me out for a ride today on our local trails. At one point we pass through a property that had been burned a few years back. Most of the debris has been removed, but there's a '72 F-250 4x4 sitting up there that escaped un-scathed. We took a look at it and it has a brand new set of those on it (like still have the blue stripe on the tread). Unfortunately, they'll rot off before they ever see mileage, the road to the place has been severely washed out. And the truck itself is in really good shape, coulda been a contenda....

Looks like the 71 passed the flex test!

 

It is torture …I had the JEEP pretty sorted out and had gone thru most all the components over the winter to make sure it was ready for Rubicon this year. I think if I can get it back by next week I can get it back together and go back over it and be pretty confident wheeling it. I just don’t want to get it off-road and have issues because of something I missed after the accident. I’m still shooting on going with you guys this year. The only hold up with getting it back is they are going to do body work and paint before releasing it to me, because insurance won’t pay them until work is complete. Talked to them yesterday and was told most body work is done but won’t be in paint booth until Monday/ Tuesday-ish… then dry time and clean up and putting a few items back on, so possibly return on Thursday. Good thing I’m still off work I might stand chance to get it done in time.

 

Power steering pump came in yesterday.
Install went smooth and the steering is working properly now. I had to "shade tree" the return hose a little bit as it was too short...... but it will not be a problem.





Couple finishing touches were added.
14-3/4" steering wheel feels so much better in the hands, at a later date I plan to reposition the steering column.
Sun visors were attached to the roll bar.





The hood had a terrible rattle due to the lift off type hinges. I had some old stainless hinges in the parts stash that quieted it right down.





The only thing left to do is install the shelf and bikini top when it comes back from the upholstery shop.
Until then I will be driving and shaking it down!

 

Nice looking steering wheel and horn button.

 

I took advantage of the cooler than average weather and put some miles on Steve's jeep over the weekend.
Roughly 100 miles in total with a mix of back roads and a couple 20 mile freeway jaunts.
The jeep drives quite well at 70 mph on the freeway, one hand on the wheel and 3000 rpm. I backed it down to 65 mph and it is really comfortable, it might actually be more stable on the freeway than my jeep! This jeep is not a purpose built road trip rig like mine so the terrible noises from the SM420 and D18 are expected. The SM420 has its purpose but I would never recommend it for anyone who wanted to daily drive a jeep. Perhaps changing the transmission oil from 75-90 to straight 50wt oil would improve the shifting.

Of course the driving wasn't without incident..... after exiting the freeway on Saturday I smelled coolant. looked at the temp gauge, which I have been watching like a hawk, and I was shocked to see it at 230 degrees. I headed for an auto parts store just a couple blocks away and in that distance the temp came down to 170 degrees.
I had been a bit suspect of the radiator cap as it had lots of rash on it from contacting the underside of the hood during Steve's various roll over episodes.
Coolant had sprayed from the cap and gave everything a nice sweet smelling shine. The coolant level was within spec so a trip into the parts store for a new cap was all that was needed at the time. On the way home, freeway jaunt in reverse, I noticed the coolant temp bouncing between 200 and 170 degrees on what seemed to be regular intervals.
A new thermostat will be installed this afternoon.

 

I also drove my jeep around this weekend and was thinking about how loud the d18 is and clunky the sm420 is.

 

The SM420 makes the T18 in my jeep feel like a sports car.

 

The 3/4 synchro in mine has never been “right”. I replaced it, but.. also afaik, the dogs are NLA. I called everywhere. They are an ancient transmission that I try and destroy every time I drive my jeep… at 55 mph the noise is quite something to behold.

 

This one shifts fine, it just shifts slow.
Kind of reminds me of shifting an old Wiggins forklift with a manual trans.

 

When I hop in my wife's stock '67 with a T86, I am reminded how much nicer driving they are compared to the 420. But, trade-offs...

 

I installed a new 180 degree thermostat last night.... of course it wasn't easy.
For starters the allen head bolts holding the water neck on were rusted to the point that they would no longer hold the proper allen wrench.
No biggie.... I just tapped a metric allen wrench into the head and got em out.
First thing I noticed was the bypass tube on the water neck was plugged up with crud. When I cleaned up the the intake I found that a plug had been installed in the bypass hole on the intake.
This intake came on a spare engine that Steve bought.... so who knows what the intent was there......




The plug of course was rusted and no allen wrench in my arsenal would grip it enough to turn.
Using a right angle drill I punched through the plug and used an easy out to extract the plug.








Buttoned everything up with a fresh bypass hose and new bolts.





When I started working on the jeep I found the hand throttle cable was frayed and suffering from post beach driving growth issues.
Throttle cables aren't typically something that you make "good enough"...... they are either right or they go in the trash.
Steve's went straight into the trash and a new hand throttle assembly was sourced.





Jeep work for the evening was finished off with a cooling system burp and a test drive.
So far the engine temp stayed steady at about 185 degrees.
Kate is going to drive the jeep to work today...... 20 miles of freeway mixed with a few city miles. I'm sure if more improvements are necessary I will be hearing about them.

 

I've got the 12.50 wide version on my M38, and 37's on my JK. Both sets have been on since about 2017 and they have been a good tire.

 

Kate drove the jeep to work yesterday.
20 miles of freeway each way and some in town miles running errands.
While this jeep has a completely different feel than mine, she commented that it was very stable on road and cruised very comfortably at 62-66 mph.
She felt that it had adequate Hp but wasn't as peppy as my jeep. I would equate that to the lower compression of the even fire 231 vs dauntless 225.
I'm taking this as her stamp of approval!
An oil change will happen this weekend and the bikini top is out for alterations at the canvas shop.
Otherwise this thing is ready to Rubicon!

 

Did you find the rims new or used?

 

Used
Craiglist and FB marketplace are the go to shopping locations.

 

With my 69 pretty well ready for the Rubicon I'm turning my attention to Steve's71.
I literally haven't seen this jeep since I unloaded last July after the Rubicon trip. It was driven off of the trailer, gear was unloaded and I parked it in a shipping container.
The last thing I did to the jeep was disconnect the battery before sealing the doors and locking the container.
Fast forward 11 months......
This morning I let Steve's71 see the light of day.
I reconnected the battery and pulled the fuel pump relay.
Cranking the engine over for 15-20 seconds produced 60 psi of oil pressure.
Plugged in the fuel pump relay and turned the key.
Darn jeep started up so quick it scared me!
It hunted for a high idle about 30 seconds (ecm blank from battery disconnect) and then settled down to 650 rpm and purred like a early 90's chevy pickup.
Yup, I'm going to brag.... This is absolute ECJ5 perfection.

My crew is off work, its lunch time..... I think I'll have a beer.

 

It is time to prep Steve's 71 for Rubicon 2025.
There are exciting things on the horizon for this rig!
I must admit that I have mostly treated this jeep as a storage shelf for Tahoe parts since the last trip.
It at least has been out of the sun and rain....... that's a win considering I didn't even empty the beer cans out of the spare tire trash bag.





The first order of business was to locate the key..... it was conveniently located on the new key rack which was organized according to vehicle year by the GF. Good thing none of my vehicles are the same year.....
Back to the fun stuff.
Rubicon 2024 was a great success for this jeep. There was a little complaint about the brake system towards the second half of the trip, but overall the jeep makes any driver that can follow spotter directions look like a pro.
I drove the jeep off the trailer last summer and parked it in the carport where you see it now.
Just for fun I thought I'd make a "will it start/first fire up after sitting" video.
I did not check battery condition or prime fuel system.... nothing. Just inserted the key and turned it.
Perhaps the best reason ever to fuel inject right here.....

 

The brakes worked well on this jeep but the pedal feel always lacked confidence.
You definitely could stop quick, but the pedal travel was almost bottomed out. I disassembled the master cylinder and found it to be a .938 bore.
This jeep has 3" diameter piston front calipers and 11"x2" rear drums on it. Browsing rock auto for similar CJ listings I found the manual disc brake CJ's with 11"x2" rear drums came factory with 1.06" bore master cylinders.
After changing the master cylinder the brake pedal feel is much more confident. The jeep has enough stopping power to relocate a well seasoned jeep dog from the bed of the jeep to the front seat area.





Pre-Rubicon maintenance continued with fluid levels checked front to rear.
The front hubs were removed and wheel bearings packed. Rear drums and hubs were disassembled revealing quite a bit of mud and debris in the drums from the last Rubicon trip.
Once the rear brakes were cleaned and adjusted, the rear wheel bearings were re packed with grease.
With all that out of the way it was time for a proper bath in preparation for final pre-trip inspection.

 

Poor Tahoe.

 

Lots of little items cleaned up/buttoned up!
The fuel gauge did not work in the jeep. At one point the PO (original owner) had cut the sending unit wire along the frame rail.
After years of exposure the wire appeared to be yellow. I spent an hour or so trying to find a wire in that shade of yellow at either end of the harness.
I eventually cut back the factory harness sheathing 4" and exposed what is a clean white wire..... I spliced the wire back together and tested continuity between the tank sending unit and the back of the fuel gauge, bingo!
The fuel gauge appeared to be burnt out so I replaced it with a known good gauge and turned the key. The gauge pegged to full and then swept back to empty.
It was at this point that I realized that the gauge was wired backwards with the 12V power going to the sending unit terminal. A quick ECJ5 search pulled up the fuel gauge wiring diagram. I verified via phone picture that I wired the gauge exactly how it came apart and did not mix up the white/green locations.
To the best of my knowlege Steve never messed with the fuel gauge, so it is likley that the PO got them wired backwards sometime back in the early 1980's.
I replaced the fuel gauge with another known functioning unit and wired it properly. No surprise it worked and appears to be reading accurate.





The bikini top was reinstalled after a trip to the canvas shop for repairs.
Steve was good friends with the owners of the canvas shop and recognized the bikini top. They reminisced about working with Steve and graciously made the repairs at no charge!
I am calling this one Rubicon Ready!