Guys
Let me introduce myself . I am an engineer with decades old lust / craving for a lousy thing called a Jeep . It is lousy 4 people who know that i invested 1 year 16 days at the cost of my vacations and family time to approx 1.5 tons of metal with wheels called a CJ -7 . Conveniently my wife niknamed the Jeep as "acceptable saukan ". With reference to an old thread " Jeep 4 U " written leisurely after completing a 2 yr professional assignement ( https://www.pakwheels.com/forums/4x4-clubs-off-roaders-suv/101794-what-jeep-make-jeep-4-u ) , I will now take some time , step wise , to share the ultimate CJ -7 for me .
Will start of by going reverse :
The finished Product :
Specifications :
Engine : 2 JZ , 3.0 L , 230 bhp ,In line 6 cylinder
Gearbox : Prado ( '90 -'96 )
Axles : Prado ( ~ '96 with special 10 : 41 axle ratio ) . With both front and rear diff locks , electronic free wheel hub , 4 disc brakes
Tyres : 265-70- R-16 Dunlop All Season
Leaf Springs : Dihatsu and Rocky . Front leafs with reverse shakles
Speed : I really dont know . Have done 140 kph in 4 th gear for almost 70 km on motorway strech from pindi to Lilla ( a corrola overtook me with grin look and that did it . Hopefully the car driver will respect Jeep drivers a bit more ). Yesterday did 160 kph but then jeep was almost like flying so really dont think that jeeps should be measured at high speeds. BUT, on a drag can easily roast a civic . Had a drag at airstip in Khewra and the 1.3 km runway was a bit too small to go beyond 140 kph and then brake also without going into a ditch .
Additional Lights : PIAA wide beams , Unity Searh Light ( not installed in pic but notice the bore on RHS)
Paint : Customised paint of an international company ( however the paki painters did not do the justice that the paint deserved )
The Starting Point :
The starting point was ,as always ,with a search for a jeep.My personal priority was a CJ -7 . Some chicks, however plump ,do facinate u . It either the "grey matter" , "the air that she carries" or simply the compatibility of minds that gets u attracted ( btw i am not in that age group / leauge now .LOL ) . Coming to the point , CJ -7 always attracted me . It is one of those feels that cannot be justified and then can u justify "attraction - facination - love "? . In a long gist , this was the reason that no other model qualifies for affection in my eyes as a CJ -7. So where do i look for ???
Varients of CJ -7 ( with excuse to local talent of converting them into wranglers or body change with NCP wranglers ) was a no -go area for me (again cannot justify ) . However , in 1999 , Federel Flood Commission ( it exists ) auctioned off nine vehicles ( as per my recall ) '84 model orginal metal hard tops , 3 door CJ -7's. My quest was to find one such piece . In Choa Saiden Shah , there was one in a "gang raped" condition . In Rwp , Mr Nadir will never sell his blue beuty . One was with a civil contractor , another with a generator supplier in Lahore who refused to sell . Then one was located in NWFP ( i still luv this name ) but had a registration number of NWFP which unfortunately our Police loves to stop whenever they lay their eyes upon one. Almost on the verge of settling in for an orginal soft top ( 80 model silver color ) , someone informed me that just north of Balakot and near the conflict zone there is repotedly one parked in a garage . So off goes Mr hasaan iqbal , loaded with apart from other things a reasonable amount of hard cash and then I got there and then this beauty was bough with minor " rape " done to it by the local experts .
Specifications :
Engine : Original 2.2 L diesel replaced with 2 L ( civil engine0
Gear Box : orginal gearbox reaplaced with 4x2 hiace gearbox
Axles : Belive me : rear diff of a pajero with original front axle :-#
Body : Luckily no body engineered it to an extension or played with it reversably which was the reason i bought it ( maybe 75 k over its logical price ):S ( To be continued: as and when i am able to upload the pic )
Resource
Every project has its key planning phase . Scope Of Work , Finance , RESOURCE, Job intent and finished product delivering as per intent .
I was lucky . I knew what I wanted . I knew what it should look like . I knew how it is to be utilised and for what purpose i want it thereby setting the stage for its expected performance .
However , the most important variant in all this is the resource that is required to do it actually . Trick of the trade is that go to the right people with rite intentions and spell out the requirement . I must confess ,that since renovation projects are based on availability of items in the kabaar market , th value for money and service is something that i am ,like a lot of us , novice.
See , as a professional Projects guy , i knew this limitation . Even if i am satisfied with a purchase , i know that there must be a better option/bargain lying somewhere deep into Shuba Bazaar , Chamman , Sultan ka Koch , karachi etc etc . This was the area where my decade old friends helped me out tremendously ( atleast five trip were carried out scouting for me by my these friends ). I will take a minute and some words to step wise define them :
Nikko Ustad ( 03335214839)
Nikko Bhai and i go back to the 90's . I was a teenager visiting their workshops frequently . After sometime , he out of his busy schedule , started responding to my questions and that lead to the foundations of a great friendship . out of the way he bought and installed a 2 c diesel in '99 in my father's 1967 corona which is working till date without even a clutch change . ( BTW cars are not his area of work but did it out of friendship) .
He always discouraged me from getting a Jeep . Why ? Only was testing me if i really really have the audacity / nerdness / craziness of a jeep lover or not .
During the countless sittings , i hope he new deep down that my day will come which will create great deal of trouble for him . AND one fine day in 2009 , it finally came as a blizzard to his workplace in form of a cj -7 . He wittingly told me to get the bushes of leaf spring s installed , service the brakes, clean the radiator and spend about a couple of thousand along with tire change and enjoy the ride. I agreed and did not get any of the job done and went home . The next day when i came and requesting him to strip down the vehicle , Ustad Nikko started laughing anf confessed that he knew that i am mad enough to go into the quicksand of jeep renovation.
So the jeep project started . I must reveal that what my jeep is today ( i am proud of it ) it is toatally because of Ustad Nikko.
All the selctions , specs ,combinations were discussed advised and surveyed by us both for well over three months . he bought me the 2 JZ at throwaway price . ( knew that he is taking a risk as this engine was never installed in any jeep before ( to my humble knowledge ). I mean a car engine in a jeep . R u Kidding ??? What would happen in low rpm ranges ? where and when torque range will be available ?
All i can say is that the guy knows his job as nobody else . He was the first guy to make a local Wrangler ( blood red ) wayback in 1990. He was the guy who instaled a 5.2 l V -8 in CJ 7 for an OMV executive who took the jeep to England in 1992-93 and it really passed British road standard test ( barring the one point complaint by the import inspector that the head lights were too strong ).
There might be others , but for me Ustad Nikko is the numero uno in this line of craziness and i am a witness in the shape of my ride that he is the best .
Khanno Dentor ( 03455036578)
A struck up guy in every sense . But the catch is he is the true professional . I knew him very well . I knew that if he dents my jeep then the project timeline is a "walk in the clouds " .
But then , who will spend 45 days on four fendors and a step board . Guys , post paint , the denting work gets hidden but i know the pain, effort that Khanno put in my jeep . Everything is replaceable with a guage 20 GI sheet . (irrespective of the metallurgy ) But Khanno spend 6 mnths and resptored my jeep to as much as possible to the original metal . This is my sense of pride in his work that now I know that even underneath the paint skin , the genes are right . ( all genuine bolts were installed back , and when not possible , each bolt was purchased through kabbar ) . I can proudly say that except for four 27 mm bolts ( odd size ) installed temporarily on front hooks , there is not local bolting in my jeep. All because of efforts of Khanno's younger brother .( BTW , Khanno located the jeep in Blalkot and went with me to buy it )
Mehmood Ustad (03335161631)
Doc, as i call him , is a true mechanic . I must confess that he used to make me work as his "choota" when ever i used to push him.
All i can say about Doc is that kabbaar walas dont really like him . The reason ? . He is a perfectionist . He will not forward any "chalta Hai " kaam to his customer . the northern jeep walas have a saying . Get the engine, gearbox , axle overhauled by Mehmmood and then forget about it .He is that perfectionist .
Venturing into dual diff locks was only possible due to Nikko & Doc . About both these gentlemen , i just want to say that they know their job, they think out of the box , they analyse their work and their issues . AND the result in satisfied jeep guys like me. ( The drag that Doc did on my ride with rubber burnout is though a grudge that i have against him but then he had to check out the performance of his endavours. The drag link will be uploaded in due course in this thread )
THE DRAG BY DOC
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The "POWER TRAIN BAY " vs the Engine bay
Starting Point
The Power Train Bay as of test ride time
Wanted Diff Locks ( See the mess one undergoes)