Franken yj

[Ghost Rider]

Thank you, Its actually 1 piece of metal. I hand formed and hand rolled each. 100 hrs of work in the hood.

Nice job. I know how long it takes to make things. I have parts on my jeep that took me like 10 hr between design, program and machinning and when people ask me if I can make them a set if I was to tell them how much I will have to ask they will think that I am crazy...... Once again, great job!

 

[drew11]

Thanks Ghost. I know what you mean. My buddies thought I was crazy for doing it in the first place, especially to a perfect yj hood. Now they all want me to build them one. 1. I may have just gotten lucky for mine to have turned out that clean. 2. I don't have the time to do another. I loved doing it, but not sure I want to do another. I have a yr and 2 mos of working every evening and all weekends getting this jeep to this point. I am ready to wheel and enjoy. I love reading these threads and wished I had known about these forums when I was beating my brains out trying to figure out different things. I really enjoy seeing the imagination and engineering skills that are exhibited in most of the jeeps here. Fantastic work and craftsmanship, some with minimal tools.

 

[Ghost Rider]

Cool thing about the jeeps is that you never see two alike (unless is a brand new one owned by A jeeper or jeeper corn wana bee....) just like a Harley, people put work, effort and tons of money on this things to make them their own, to make tem special. I have some really cool jeeps and seen some horrible ones but the people with the horrible ones were so proud of them because the work them selfes. So you look at them, tell them they look good and move on..... You spent so much time on yours, take your time and enjoy it for a while. I make some nice parts forthe jeeps that few people purchased from me but I also have some parts that I made for my self and I wouldn't make them for anyone else..... Besides it will cost so much that I couldn't expect anyone to buy one..... You can drive down the road now and know that NOBODY else has a hood like yours and you did it your self..... You hit jackpot with that. Have a great day my friend.

 

[bignasty1987yj]

Well its been a while since i have posted any progress or comments. I am happy to say that i have not had any major issues with the franken yj. We have been driving the ever loving crap out of it. I will have to say that this jeep has way too much motor for a lifted jeep. I got on it pretty hard in first, second and third and it was getting pretty stupid on me. It is fun to drive and handles very good up to about 70 mph under normal conditions. Above 70 it seems to be at its limit of good handleing. No death wobbles or nothing like that, just feels like it may be a little too fast for what it is. Yesterday my wife called me and said that it wsnt going into fifth gear very well, guess i will have to see what that is all about. It sure gets some looks when you go riding in it. We went on a 100 mile trip a few weeks ago to check and see how road worthy it was and people were driving past taking pictures on their cell phones. Before that time it had only seen around town action. No mud yet, can't bring myself to get something so neat and clean muddy. And to all of you who say why have a jeep that you dont take in the mud, well i built it for the street, not the mud. Maybe someday, but not anytime soon. I may post some new pics later on but it still looks somewhat the same as the last one. Take care all, until next time.....

 

[bignasty1987yj]

Update on the 1987 yj:

It has been several months since the finished drivable product. All was well and the wife was driving the crap out of the jeep until i got some bad news one day that the transmission wasnt shifting right. 5th gear began to give problems. I changed the trans fluid and found some metal rings that resembled a thin washer and lots of hair on the magnetic plug. Needless to say, new trans fluid did not fix the problem. That was the only part that i used without getting it rebuilt or checking it out prior to installation. I could have kicked myself in the rear. I still drove it with only four gears and reverse. The shifter began to get real sloppy and eventually reverse went out too.

I took it all out and took it to a guy that i know that builds everykind of transmission you could possibly imagine. He took it apart and looked at everything. It appeared that the blocking rings was the only problem so $100.00 and two days later it was back in the jeep. My shifter problem still needed attention so i bought all of the plastic bushings that it requires to rebuild the shifter and fixed it too. Now it shifts like a brand new one.

I finally had to break down and put a soft top on it because of the weather getting cold. That broke my wifes heart to put a top on it. It is the first time it has had a top on it since we started driving it. I bought a nasty new old stock ford racing carburetor intake and some other goodys that i am going to change out on it shortly after the new year. Its way too much as it is but i can't keep my hands off of it. A fast efi system is in the plans next year. This thing is going to kill me if im not careful, im getting carried away with the performance mods the more i drive it. I just have to turn the msd rev limiter way down for my wile, lol. Until next time.......