97 TJ Heep to Zombie Killing Jeep Build by north50

5 minute(s) of a 286 minute read

Yesterday while in Sarasota I stopped and looked at this bad boy thats for sale. Not feeling the wheel/tire combo but the rest of it was pretty nice.

I meant to post this a few weeks back. i had purchased this grille off of Craigslist and determined I would cleanit up and hang it in my office.

What I started with

Cleaning off the old crap

Really thought about leaving it like this and just letting it slowly rust while hanging on my wall.

But instead I painted it.

I think the blue CJ7 Grille I have I'll just resell.

8-10-2013

Some of the "fleet" as of late.

I've been using the heck out of the white Jeep, even picked up groceries with it the other day.

Also took the family in it to a party at friends house. Wish I had pictures of the craziness that ensued on his Polaris Razor.

Then today I went out trail riding with a couple guys from work.

It was pretty wet but we still had a good time exploring and getting through the trails. Then we stopped in an opening for a cold drink and to see where to go next. Well when I stopped the Jeep it was hissing. So up with the hood.

The Jeep had been running around 220 on the temp gauge and upon inspecting under the hood the upper radiator hose had a small hole in it near the water pump side. So I remove the upper hose and it's dry insideSo we cut the hose shorter to eliminate the hole (if I had to do over again I would have left it alone) Well it did ok while creeping out of the woods but once on the road it over heated in no time so I pulled over and shut it down. I think the small hole in the upper hose although it was letting a small amount of coolant fluid out it was keeping the pressure down and letting the hot air escape the cooling system.

So up with the hood again.

I have all the parts i needed in my garage at home but I was a good ways from home. So had to run to the parts store and grab a new upper hose, thermostat and gasket, and coolant. 

My buddy helping me get the Heep to run cool again. Just pulled it into an empty lot and he had everything we needed in his cherokee. Made for an interesting day but actually it was pretty cool having to fix the Heep roadside. I just tell everyone it's an adventure vehicle in the sense that every time I set off in the Heep it's an adventure if I'm going to get where I'm headed, keeps it interesting.

We got the Heep repaired and it made it home with no more issues

Oh, there was also the incident with my plate. I'll have to get a replacement coming Monday.

All and all was a great day to be offroad with friends and eventually made it back home. Learned somethings as well like bring spare parts with me and have tools onboard a Jeep at all times.