New member, 92 YJ Islander RHD (and a couple pics of the other stuff)

[dodgerammit]

Hello all. I'm a relatively active member on FSJNetwork, but now that I have a new YJ ride, I'd figure I'd join here and start a specific thread on my recent purchase for my daily driver.

I'm not new to Jeeps (or AMCs for that matter).

I've owned this one for over 7 years now and keep making subtle improvements to it.

Picked this one up for the Wife about 5 years ago

Sincerely hope you never have to do a rear main in one of these. Goes down as the hardest rear main I've ever tackled. The seal is easy. Getting to it isn't.

And the star of the thread is this pile:

Drove 3 hours and hauled it back home. Can't find anything YJ in good condition locally. Everything has been turned into rusted out, clapped out, woods toys that are cobbled together.

It has the 4.0

Is an auto with 126K miles

And is RHD (no, not used as a postal Jeep ever)

The back story is bought new in Laconia, NH, converted from LHD to RHD, and used exclusively on the lakes in the area for some business. It found it's way to KY, where it sat in a shed for over a decade before being nabbed by a guy who bought and sold antique tractors, then purchased from that guy by the PO. The PO spent a few grand on tires, brakes, making sure all mechanicals and gauges were operating and then listed it where I scooped it up the first day it was listed.

 

[dodgerammit]

I had searched for a YJ for about 6 months, passing over probably 95% of what was listed. I missed out on the first one. the second i went to look at looked way better in pics, but since it was at the top of my budget and needed a proper paint job, I passed. The 3rd one popped up locally and would have been a score, but local people pulled it from a decade of slumber and promptly ran the old gas through the carb till it ran the tank dry, sucked a bunch of trash into the fuel system, then listed it after it started giving issues. Hence why I have to leave the area to find anything decent.

 

[dodgerammit]

I found this one in May of this year. Over the next 3 months, I made it into exactly what I wanted.

First thing was getting some clean sheet metal. I knew the fenders had rust, and having owned many classics, rust is ALWAYS worse than it appears. The Fenders can be complicated to repair correctly, so I found a set of clean, rust free examples someone had stashed back years ago but never used.
Promptly took them home and cleaned them up.

Wranglers and any old Jeep for that matter are cheaply thrown together without regard for longevity or corrosion resistance.
If this was to be my daily, I was going to address that.

After scrubbing them down and letting them dry for a day, all pinch welds got seam sealed to prevent dirt and water from starting trouble.

I followed that with some Rustoleum for the engine side

And Durabak for the wheel well

Turns out, new fenders were the correct call

 

[dodgerammit]

As I pulled parts off or gained access to the frame in other ways, it got cleaned and coated in POR 15.

New fenders installed. Also sold the hard top and full doors minus the lock cylinders and picked up a set of half doors.

Got really lucky and was able to remove the windshield hinges with some MAP gas and an impact. The cowl area behind isn't painted from the factory and can hold nasty surprises. Luckily, the scale wasn't too bad and the metal was solid enough to coat in POR 15. I followed that with Rustoleum primer and white paint. Also did the back side of the hinges the same way. Did I mention how much I hate rust?

Speaking of rust.
And.
Here.
We.
Go!

 

[dodgerammit]

And more rust

Some seam sealer:

During this time, I replaced the body mounts with the one-piece 1" lift-body mount kit, replaced a couple of worn main eye hangers, shackles, ditched the 2 1/2" junk lift for some soft ride stock height springs, and got a new rear driveshaft. Got rid of the track bars and installed new shocks and a sway bar.

 

[dodgerammit]

*sighs

Walks to other side.
Groans and rubs temples....

Patched the floor pan where the flip up seat was causing stress cracks

 

[dodgerammit]

Knocked out the cracked windshield

Started scuffing and spot primer

Skimmed and prepped the tub:

Snagged a set of factory running boards and prepped them along with the other flares

Blasted everything apart, masked, put drop plastic out, made a filtration system, did a final tack, and donned my respirator.

 

[dodgerammit]

First time working a tricoat paint. I chose Toyota's Blizzard Pearl

Scuffed, washed, and tacked the tub down and applied dark gray Durabak

Installed new glass

 

[dodgerammit]

And after a month of gassing off, I finally got to put the final touches on it.

Ever since I was about 8 years old, I remember seeing a couple of the Islander package Wranglers and thinking they were the coolest, Miami Vice looking, things around. Now, I'm getting my own.

Found the appropriate, gray colored soft top

Reinstalled the flares

And that is how I have my own Islander

 

[ytradio]

Great job, and it wasn’t that bad to start with really, at least compared to mine. My biggest problem has been finding “ any” decent metal to weld to. It is what it is.

 

[ACKyj]

Beautiful restoration!

 

[dodgerammit]

Great job, and it wasn’t that bad to start with really, at least compared to mine. My biggest problem has been finding “ any” decent metal to weld to. It is what it is.

Yeah, that is what took so long for me. Finding a solid enough candidate to start with. I wanted relatively low miles for the age, minimal rust, and the I-6 with auto (which was the most difficult part). I like a standard transmission, but my left knee is going bad, so clutch work hurts now.

 

[ytradio]

Yeah, that is what took so long for me. Finding a solid enough candidate to start with. I wanted relatively low miles for the age, minimal rust, and the I-6 with auto (which was the most difficult part). I like a standard transmission, but my left knee is going bad, so clutch work hurts now.

I got a new knee in the works very soon.

 

[Plastic Fury]

Nice work. That white pearl is a nice color and makes for a great looking Islander.

 

[dodgerammit]

Nice work. That white pearl is a nice color and makes for a great looking Islander.

Thank you! I'm not much on plain condiment colors (red, yellow, and white). So, if I'm going to have that color, I have to spice it up a bit.

 

[dodgerammit]

A small update. So, I have Holley Retrobright LEDs in my Wagoneer and love them. They look like sealed beams, but perform with modern technology. They've been in for over a year and have already saved me from nailing a brainless deer, just walking down the middle of the road one night. So, I knew the Islander would get the same treatment. So, early last week, I got a package from Headlight Revolution.

Inside was a set of 5x7s in the classic white color temp (3000K)

I decided on classic white as the Wagoneer has the truer 5700K modern white. (I wanted the absolute best visibility for it due to the difficulty of sourcing body parts for it) I wanted to keep more of the classic look with the YJ. That, and compare the two outputs.

If you can change a sealed beam, you can install these as they have a housing that replicates a sealed beam headlight with a Morimoto dual LED cartridge installed from the back.

The color temp is spot on. LED on the left, halogen on the right

Now for what's important. How they illuminate.
Instead of a central hot spot with a quick fade to nothing all the way around, these have a central hot spot that also has a solid, horizontal beam pattern that fully illuminates ditch to ditch. They also have a sharp cutoff to avoid being 'that guy' that drives around with crappy, unfocused Amazon LEDs that blind others.

This is LOW beam

This is the 3000K Classic white vs the 5700K Modern white

 

[dodgerammit]

About a month ago, I scored another item I had been searching for to complete the look I am going for on this ride. Took the Wagoneer on a mini road trip half way across the state and snagged a set of 4 Gambler wheels in really good shape for $100. Also noticed a single gambler with a 30" Goodyear tire available for $50 not far from the route I was taking. Was able to work out a porch pickup on that. So, Friday, I was able to get an appointment with the local tire shop to have the 'new' wheels swapped onto the YJ.

Perfection.

 

[machoheadgames]

Your suggestion to look for the driveshaft pic has me skimming through the thread. It’s easy for these threads to get buried since they’re in their own section…I never really see builds. Anyways, really nice work. We have very similar tastes. What you have turned your Jeep back into with the height and wheels and such is essentially what I did/am doing to mine. Only difference is I’m lucky where I live and never had to do any restoration type work like paint or metalwork. Great job.

 

[dodgerammit]

Your suggestion to look for the driveshaft pic has me skimming through the thread. It’s easy for these threads to get buried since they’re in their own section…I never really see builds. Anyways, really nice work. We have very similar tastes. What you have turned your Jeep back into with the height and wheels and such is essentially what I did/am doing to mine. Only difference is I’m lucky where I live and never had to do any restoration type work like paint or metalwork. Great job.

I had test driven a few different YJs when searching for my next purchase.
The first one was at the top of my budget. I think about 112k miles, 4.2 with a 2 1/2" lift. It looked good from a distance, but up close looked like Stevie Wonder had painted it. I test drove it, noticed many electrical components didn't work correctly, the top fit around the full doors poorly, etc. But the big thing I noted was it was way too bouncy. Almost bowed out of the YJs at that point. I knew going in they would be bouncy, but was mortified at how harsh that one rode.

Glad I kept searching. The next one I test drove was an unmodified hideaway with 106k on the clock. It had spent a couple of decades slumbering in a basement garage following health issues of the original owner. That ride was very nice for a short wheelbase, lightweight, leaf sprung vehicle. Also confirmed I wanted to have a half door/soft top combo (even though I drove it on a chilly 40 degree day and nearly froze). It had no top and the new owners were letting it sit outside in all weather and were neglecting very important steps to bring an old vehicle back from hibernation. The price was nice, but mechanically it needed too much for me to justify buying it.

This one had a cobbled together lift, but mechanically was very sound and had quite a bit of recent service work done with receipts. That, coupled with the low miles for the age (also due to about a decade hiding away in a barn), and the price point being low enough I could factor the rest of the budget to get exactly what I wanted sealed the deal.