Legal Mumbo Jumbo:

What follows on this page is a combination of my personal opinions and ideas. I have made virtually no attempts to discover if any of these ideas are legal or considered to be safe in the view of any legal entity. I take no legal responsibility for any of this, and any modifications that you make to your vehicle are strictly your responsibility. Whatever modifications you do to your vehicle, please be extra careful. It's not only your life at stake, but also that of your passengers, and of the other people on the road.

Front Bumper Idea:

Lots of guys cut down the ends of their front bumpers, especially on the CJ/YJ/TJ family of Jeeps, for clearance reasons. Not only does this get rid of that thing sticking out on the corners of your front end, but it makes it easer to get a front tire on that rock that's coming up on the side of the trail. However, these trimmed bumpers aren't always legal, and also aren't necessarily the greatest thing to have when you're on the street, as you've lost that corner protection.

My idea on this would be to cut the ends off of the stock bumper, making them even with the frame rails. Then, take a piece of channel that will fit over the front bumper and make a full-length bumper. Hold this bumper over the stock one, and drill four holes all the way thru the top surfaces thru the bottom surfaces. Then, use four hitch pins (the kind with the pull ring on one end and the spring retainer thing on the other) to hold the new bumper onto the old. When you go off-road, you can pull the new bumper, and put the new bumper back on when you need to be road-legal again.

Also, by using four hitch pins, you can split this new front bumper in half, left and right, and still have it stay in place without flopping around. Then, you have two shorter pieces that would be easier to stash in the back of your rig. Additionally, you could weld some expanded metal or short pieces of angle iron onto the new bumper segments (leave the corner of the angle pointing out), so that you could use the bumper sections as traction ramps.

Jeep Building Idea:

If I were going to build another Jeep (okay, I might be doing this for Sooz), here's a different way I might do things:

First, I'd find some old 4-cylinder CJ or YJ. (The older the better.) From what I've seen, the 4-cylinder versions are less likely to have been beaten up as compared to their larger-engined brethren. I'd look for one where the mechanical is trashed, so I could get it mondo cheap. If the engine and transmission are gone, so much the better, because the I won't have to find a place to get rid of the old stuff. Also, my reasoning for an older Jeep is that since I'm looking at an engine swap, and the easiest way to stay legal is to use an engine that's the same year or newer than the vehicle, an older Jeep would give me more options.

Next, I'd find some mid-sized or large GM car that's the same year or newer than the Jeep, and something that's pre-airbag and rear-wheel-drive. The body and interior on this car can be totally wasted, as long as the mechanical and wiring are okay. Once again, I'd be looking for mondo cheap.

(I bet you can see where this is going.) Since GM steering components are used in Jeeps with power steering, I'd swap the steering, engine, wiring, and possibly the transmission from the car into the Jeep. There will be some adapting of the transmission to a transfer case if I use the car's transmission. However, I should be able to find junkyard parts to do that, instead of spending the $450+ for aftermarket parts. Any engine wiring needed for the engine would be right there for me to salvage, and I'd sure consider using the entire wiring harness, because not only would it be simpler than cutting and splicing two harnesses together, but I could use a standard repair manual for that car for troubleshooting purposes in the future.

Depending upon what rear axle is in the Jeep, and what's in the car (how wide it is, and if it's a big 10-bolt or a 12 bolt axle), I might even adapt over the car's rear axle. All that this would take is welding on spring pads and shock mounts (easy for me to do), and to have the axles and brake drums/disks drilled to the right bolt pattern.

There might even be some parts of the car's driveshaft that I could use, like a CV yoke setup. Most likely, the car will use a slip yoke (unusable), or if it has a CV yoke, the slip spline length of the driveshaft may be too short for a 4WD.

Most likely, the car would have front disk brakes, so I'd have a set of calipers that I could use on a disk brake conversion on the Jeep. Also, if I use all of the car's brake drums and calipers, I could use the power brake booster and master cylinder from the car, which would be matched to the brakes.

Most likely, the car wouldn't have any interior parts that I could use, so at this point, I'd offer any parts of of what's left to anybody I knew, and then sell the remains of the car for scrap, but not until the Jeep was running and I knew for sure I didn't need anything else off of the car.

The end result would be a Jeep with a good-sized engine (possibly fuel injection), a good braking system, and strong power steering; several of the items us Jeep builder types go for.

(To go back a page, click here.)