Project: My Escape from Arklay Mtn
 

New to owning Jeep and to his forum. Picked up this project Jeep fairly cheap and saw a lot of potential. I live in Wisconsin so was surprised by current findings in rust on it due to age (which is actually just a few months younger than I am based off what manufacturing dates I've found on . It's a 1986 base model with 2.8L V6 that's been rebuilt already when I got it. Carbureted and has AX5 manual transmission. Has a NPG 207 Transfer Case. Pretty stock currently but plan on extensively modifying it.

Current project plans:
Replace most of fuel delivery system (all except carburetor as that was recently rebuilt and needs fixed/replaced as I currently have hole in fuel tank from previous owner)
Replace most of brake system (Have a leak and can tell most of system's been ignored too often by the state it's in)
Have to get new current tires for stock tires since I don't have space to keep a car and not use it so have to replace so I can turn into daily driver and get rid of van currently driving

A lot of my fixes will have to be as I have time to do them since as stated I have to use this as a daily driver until I can get a new place that gives me room to have more vehicles parked.

Things I'm considering on upgrading/modifying:
Lift with appropriate Suspension/Steering upgrades (WI DOT that I saw said 4" max lift but saw one place that said there is a hard to find statue that states can go up to 5" lift)
Fenders
Upgrade front axle but probably keep it as a 35 but plan on doing axle swap on back
Re-gear differentials to account for the larger sized tires and lift
Front and Rear bumper
Spare tire mount and Hi-Lift mount to rear bumper
Winch
Recovery points
Armor/protection
Replace carpeting/headliner (not sure to what exactly yet)
Repaint (Like jart_mn's idea of using Monstaliner as exterior paint for it)
Thinking of doing engine swap to something with more power as I want to have this with the ability to tow larger loads than the 2.8L will handle
Thinking of keeping it with the AX5 Manual Transmission but might see if I can upgrade gears to something better to handle the previous mentioned towing
Undecided as of yet but looking at installing an aftermarket A/C (was not factory installed) or making changes to increase air flow to help keep things cool

If you missed the reference in my Thread name, I'm looking at making this a daily driver that is setup to be a "Bugout" vehicle as well so it will need to be able to have better off-roading abilities than stock had. I want it to be able to tow better than it currently can so that I'm not limited there. I do plan on getting another Jeep later on to actually make into a dedicated 4-Wheeler (due to previous mentioned limitations on Lift height in WI) hence another reason want this one to be able to tow.

I have basic repair abilities as I've done some of my own work but will be first to admit a lot of what I'm looking at doing will be a first for me. The other experience I'm drawing on is I work for a company that makes heavy duty trucks for the military along with the Hummer replacement vehicles. I will love to hear any feedback on things along with ideas as I stated I'm fairly new to a lot of this.

As said, :help: will be appreciated so don't be afraid to provide any. Thanks.