New to the Jeep thing, bought a '95 ZJ
06-06-2012, 03:45 PM
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Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: Queen Creek, AZ
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Year: 1995
Model: Grand Cherokee
Engine: 5.2L
New to the Jeep thing, bought a '95 ZJ
Howdy all, just wanted to introduce myself, name's Ben, live in Queen Creek, AZ, currently work as a software engineer for Intel, in previous lifetimes I've done everything from commercial electrical work to turning wrenches as a line tech and fabricator at a local performance shop. I've always been a straight-liner, currently daily driver a Grabber Blue '12 Mustang GT and have had a Mustang (or two or three) of one sort or another since I was 17, but for the last couple years I've been getting the urge to go explore some of the plethora of trails in AZ and the blue car just doesn't have the ground clearance.
After a loonnng process searching Craigslist daily, I stumbled across this '95 ZJ 5.2L Limited listed for $1k, stating it needed a new engine but was otherwise straight. Drove over after work, and discovered it did indeed have a hard miss (and was leaking a monumental amount of oil), but other than some very minor rust in the bottom of the tailgate and doors (Jeep came from Utah) the Jeep appeared to be in pretty decent shape, power everything works, doors all shut for the most part, leather interior has no rips or wear, etc. We haggled a little, money was exchanged and I came back the next day with a trailer to take my new Craigslist prize home.
After a little wrenching, figured out the hard miss was a broken valve spring coupled with 2 pair of crossed spark plug wires (the previous owner tried hard but apparently wasn't much of a wrench), swapped in a new spring/pushrod and seal with the motor still in the truck, fixed the plug wires and some broken vacuum lines and the truck was running pretty good, good enough to put through emissions anyway, which it passed with flying colors. Then I got ambitious and got the a/c charged up, figured out it had a bad high pressure switch, fixed that and now the a/c blows good and cold.
Next steps, a quick 2" budget boost setup, 31" tires on the factory rims, fix the epic oil leak in the timing cover, and find some cool trails to go explore. Oh, and put in a CD player with iPOD control, because no tunes sucks.
Down the road assuming this keeps my interest, I'll do a NP242 transfer case swap and throw a locker in the front with better axles, figure out a rear axle swap, bigger lift and bigger tires, etc etc etc.
After a loonnng process searching Craigslist daily, I stumbled across this '95 ZJ 5.2L Limited listed for $1k, stating it needed a new engine but was otherwise straight. Drove over after work, and discovered it did indeed have a hard miss (and was leaking a monumental amount of oil), but other than some very minor rust in the bottom of the tailgate and doors (Jeep came from Utah) the Jeep appeared to be in pretty decent shape, power everything works, doors all shut for the most part, leather interior has no rips or wear, etc. We haggled a little, money was exchanged and I came back the next day with a trailer to take my new Craigslist prize home.
After a little wrenching, figured out the hard miss was a broken valve spring coupled with 2 pair of crossed spark plug wires (the previous owner tried hard but apparently wasn't much of a wrench), swapped in a new spring/pushrod and seal with the motor still in the truck, fixed the plug wires and some broken vacuum lines and the truck was running pretty good, good enough to put through emissions anyway, which it passed with flying colors. Then I got ambitious and got the a/c charged up, figured out it had a bad high pressure switch, fixed that and now the a/c blows good and cold.
Next steps, a quick 2" budget boost setup, 31" tires on the factory rims, fix the epic oil leak in the timing cover, and find some cool trails to go explore. Oh, and put in a CD player with iPOD control, because no tunes sucks.
Down the road assuming this keeps my interest, I'll do a NP242 transfer case swap and throw a locker in the front with better axles, figure out a rear axle swap, bigger lift and bigger tires, etc etc etc.
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