OK. Let's see what we have to work with here. As you can see by the pics, there was nothing too special about this little Jeep. It started life as a very base model 1989 YJ with the 2.5 liter 4 cyl motor, the AX5 tranny and for some reason it had an NP207 transfer case instead of the more common NP231 with the 21 spline input shaft. Who knows?

The axles were the factory installed Dana 30 HP front axle and the much maligned Dana 35 rear axle, 4.10 gears in each. It had the factory roll bar and some old Steel Horse front seats, a rear bench, and a pretty sad looking Bestop soft top with soft uppers on the factory half doors.

The body was pretty straight and the rust devils had not gotten too far yet. The motor was MIA but that was no matter...less work for me that way. I began by just getting some degreasing and cleaning up done. I hate working on greasy, messy project vehicles. From there I unbolted a few things to get them out of my way. I found the front frame rail on the drivers side had the bumper ripped out of it at one time as the welded in nut was gone. It had some kind of an old alarm system that was cobbled in and one radio speaker that was stuffed under the dash on the passenger side. I guess the magnet on the speaker was holding it in. That was OK...it was keeping the radio antenna company which was a rubber ducky kind that was stuffed under the dash as well. Nice. Gotta love POs (Previous Owners). I removed all that stuff too.

That dash frame was a cause for concern for me. I could see even before I pulled the dash that there were water ingress issues...go figure! Jeep never made submarines, that's for sure. I wondered how the wiring connections, etc, were looking back there and I had to treat any rust I found, so I pulled it all apart and went through everything pretty well. The windshield got a new cowl seal and the dash was acid washed for rust (Naval Jelly, actually) and then painted with Hammerite smooth finish white. I had hoped it would be tougher than the average paint, but I think I would have been just as well off with cheaper Krylon enamel. It scratches easily. Oh well, It looks nice for now, but I think I should have had it powdercoated.

The rust had not gotten into the cowl frame much, so that area was sanded, treated and painted before it was all put back together. I cleaned all the copper strips for electrical contacts on the gauge pods, etc, and put silicon grease (for electrical connections) on all plugs and connections. I don't pretend to think it won't leak somewhere in the future.

Oh, did I mention torx bolts? Wow, was that an education. When I redid the dash and windshield I had to remove the torx bolts in the windshield hinges. I had to weld bolts to the top screws and drill the bottom screws out. I replaced all the screws with stainless steel ones and put anti seize on all the new screws. It was like a half day project for 16 screws. Amazing.

Blue Oval YJ : The Beginning

Here are a few more shots of the little beast. Check out the rusty dash frame. Think it leaks when it rains? Yep.

Soooo, I have continued to strip old crummy stuff like all the splash liners that Jeep installs in the wheelwells. They will all be in the way anyway. I also separated the computer wiring harness from the body harness and pulled all that out while the dash was removed. With the help of a service manual, it was not too bad. I tagged all the wires that I was uncertain of or that went to stuff like the starter relay, etc. I plan on eliminating the fusible links and placing a master power center under the hood when the new motor goes in.

I also pulled the front axle wiring harness that selected 4 wheel drive. All that wiring removed left the engine compartment much neater. I de-greased the engine compartment a bit more and removed all the items that I would not use after the swap.

I keep finding neat stuff like this pic above of the rear frame crossmember. I unbolted the existing bumper, an aftermarket rockcrawler style that actually was pretty nice, and discovered the frame was spider cracked around all the bolt holes in the cross member. Wow. It looked like someone hooked it up to giant paint shaker every night till the frame fatigued.

Well, I think that gives you an idea of what I am up against here. I am turning the corner and getting ready to begin on the suspension, so the real stuff starts soon.