This first post is just to create the build thread. Not much in here today.
I bought this Sport in June of 2013 after my first TJ died on me. I had bought the first one used in early 2004. It was a trade-in on a Honda lot. I saw it there amongst the endless backdrop of Accords and Civics and similar used offerings. It simply stuck out. It fairly screamed for me to look at it.
And I did.
And I bought it and fell in love with the thing. It was only a 2.4L SE with just about no options, but it had the carpets, rear seat and AC, and the PO had slapped an aftermarket stereo in it. It had half doors, and after it sat in my driveway overnight I went out to see how to take down the top. That first drive turned me into a Jeeper for life. I will *never* be without an open-topped Jeep again.
Anyway, after ten years of very heavy use it threw a rod, which punched a fist-sized hole through the block. The Wrangler casting of the 2.4L block is not what one would call "common" and in 2013 it was no longer being produced at all. A rebuilt one would have taken months to get and would have cost nearly four times what a 4.0L would have. This was my DD, so I needed to get wheels ASAP.
I decided that for a few grand more I could just get a 4.0L TJ and then sort the situation over time. I did. It was beat to hell and severely abused and I was a newb at buying beat up, old, poorly lifted rigs. I got taken. But the frame (slightly tweaked) was more or less rust free and the driveline seemed to be solid.
Happily, I got the *exact same* TJ, just moving from the 2003 SE to the 2003 Sport - same color, same interior, same everything. They were even built in the same month.
And I shamelessly cannibalized that very nicely maintained and kept SE into that beat AF Sport. I swapped over just about everything. Now I am building it. I donated the blown SE with all the beat up Sport parts on it to my best friend, who was good at engine swaps and who also had wanted a jeep most of his life. He is like me in that he makes little money. We poor folks have to stick together, so I gave it to him knowing he would eventually build it into a very nice rig.
So this thread will outline the initial purchase of my Sport, with all the unhappy discoveries and initial work needed to make it run reliably, as well as the gift that allowed me to almost immediately retire it from DD status and turn it into a toy that I could leave on jack stands as long as I needed without having to panic-repair it in time to get me to work on Monday mornings...
For this first post I will post up the sales ad photos, the pics I took on the road trip home, and the next day after some initial cleanup.
I will try to keep up with this thread regularly.
Thanks for reading. I hope all my missteps and screwups help some of you to avoid problems. I will post part numbers when I can, too.
This first image is of my dead 2003 SE the afternoon I brought her home from the Honda dealership. I have been addicted since that day, HAHAHA!!!
I bought this Sport in June of 2013 after my first TJ died on me. I had bought the first one used in early 2004. It was a trade-in on a Honda lot. I saw it there amongst the endless backdrop of Accords and Civics and similar used offerings. It simply stuck out. It fairly screamed for me to look at it.
And I did.
And I bought it and fell in love with the thing. It was only a 2.4L SE with just about no options, but it had the carpets, rear seat and AC, and the PO had slapped an aftermarket stereo in it. It had half doors, and after it sat in my driveway overnight I went out to see how to take down the top. That first drive turned me into a Jeeper for life. I will *never* be without an open-topped Jeep again.
Anyway, after ten years of very heavy use it threw a rod, which punched a fist-sized hole through the block. The Wrangler casting of the 2.4L block is not what one would call "common" and in 2013 it was no longer being produced at all. A rebuilt one would have taken months to get and would have cost nearly four times what a 4.0L would have. This was my DD, so I needed to get wheels ASAP.
I decided that for a few grand more I could just get a 4.0L TJ and then sort the situation over time. I did. It was beat to hell and severely abused and I was a newb at buying beat up, old, poorly lifted rigs. I got taken. But the frame (slightly tweaked) was more or less rust free and the driveline seemed to be solid.
Happily, I got the *exact same* TJ, just moving from the 2003 SE to the 2003 Sport - same color, same interior, same everything. They were even built in the same month.
And I shamelessly cannibalized that very nicely maintained and kept SE into that beat AF Sport. I swapped over just about everything. Now I am building it. I donated the blown SE with all the beat up Sport parts on it to my best friend, who was good at engine swaps and who also had wanted a jeep most of his life. He is like me in that he makes little money. We poor folks have to stick together, so I gave it to him knowing he would eventually build it into a very nice rig.
So this thread will outline the initial purchase of my Sport, with all the unhappy discoveries and initial work needed to make it run reliably, as well as the gift that allowed me to almost immediately retire it from DD status and turn it into a toy that I could leave on jack stands as long as I needed without having to panic-repair it in time to get me to work on Monday mornings...
For this first post I will post up the sales ad photos, the pics I took on the road trip home, and the next day after some initial cleanup.
I will try to keep up with this thread regularly.
Thanks for reading. I hope all my missteps and screwups help some of you to avoid problems. I will post part numbers when I can, too.
This first image is of my dead 2003 SE the afternoon I brought her home from the Honda dealership. I have been addicted since that day, HAHAHA!!!