The $1,035 Jeep Wrangler YJ - Project Why-J

If you read Jp every month (and you should, dammit) you probably remember how I nabbed a perfectly good YJ for $500 from some chick who didn't know the only reason the clutch stopped working was because the clutch master cylinder was out of fluid. I filled and bled the master, threw a battery in it, and fired it up. Avid readers may also remember how I sold the extra set of Bestop sliding window door uppers that came with the Jeep for $200, bringing my total costs to a mere $300.

So, while that left me with a clean, running YJ with a nearly-new Bestop Supertop, nice American Racing Outlaw II wheels and comfy stock seats, there was still some work that needed to be done before it was what I'd consider drivable. In order to get the little 2.5L humming smoothly with as little fuss possible, I logged onto Crown Automotive's website to spec out some top-quality replacement parts and browse prices through its list of distributors. Crown carries a full line of parts for pretty much any Jeep vehicle you're likely to see driving down the road, reaching all the way back to WWII era flatties.

The parts came less than a week after I placed my order and everything fit like a glove. Read on to see how I pulled a forlorn and neglected Wrangler into a $1,035 family fun machine. I've already logged over 1,600 miles on it, including a couple desert excursions in which the Jeep was driven to, over, and home from the trail delivering over 19mpg in the process. There's nothing like flogging a bargain.

Cheap Wheeler Tally
So you wanna score good deals and hit the dirt for pennies on the dollar? If you've done better than this, drop me a line at christian.hazel@jpmagazine to tell me about it. I didn't include registration fees since each state is different. Prices were found on the internet from Crown and General Tire authorized dealers.

The Crown Automotive Tune-Up...        read full caption The Crown Automotive Tune-Up Kit not only saves you a lot of time chasing down parts; it's a bargain as well. The kits are available for a number of Jeep applications. The one for the '89 YJ included the following top-quality components: oil filter, spark plugs, spark plug wires, cap, rotor, fuel filter, and air filter.	It's always a kick in the...        read full caption It's always a kick in the mileage department to make sure your air filter is clean and new. On a 2.5L there's not much seat-of-the-pants improvement in upgrading to a high-flow oil-impregnated cotton/gauze filter, so I prefer to stick with the better filtering capabilities of the OEM-type paper replacement.	You may also recall from last...        read full caption You may also recall from last time that I had to pull the stock injector and clear the screen and nozzle of varnish and gum accumulated from years of sitting. The fuel had a sweet varnishy scent to it, meaning it had completely gone foul. I added some in-tank fuel system cleaner and replaced the in-line filter with the new unit that came in the Crown Tune-Up Kit.
To help clean out the crankcase,...        read full caption To help clean out the crankcase, I drained one quart of engine oil from the pan and replaced it with a quart of ATF. The ATF has much higher detergent qualities than regular engine oil and will help scour the engine clean as it runs. With the ATF in the crankcase, I brought the engine up to temperature and let it idle for about 10 minutes, then changed the oil and filter.	One thing I noticed was the...        read full caption One thing I noticed was the stock oil pressure gauge read abnormally high. Even after coming up to operating temperature the oil pressure read almost 80 psi at idle. The stock AMC-era senders are notorious for going out, so I ordered a new sending unit from Crown. With the new sending unit, the oil gauge in the dash reads a more realistic 40-45 psi at idle once warm.	With the fuel, air, and spark...        read full caption With the fuel, air, and spark taken care of, I turned my attention to the oil and cooling systems. While the crankcase oil didn't look exceptionally bad, it had the same sweet varnish scent to it as the fuel, meaning some fuel had gotten past the rings while I was sorting out the injector issues. Regardless, an oil change should be done to any vehicle that's been sitting for any period of time.
Although the in-tank injector...        read full caption Although the in-tank injector cleaner would probably have cleaned the factory injector (right) to some degree, I considered it relatively cheap insurance to replace the stock injector and O-rings with components from Crown. The new injector plopped right in and really smoothed out the idle.	After popping off the thermostat...        read full caption After popping off the thermostat housing I discovered a 180-degree unit had been installed some time in the vehicle's past. I put in the stock 195-degree thermostat from Crown, which will help the little engine achieve a more complete combustion of the air/fuel mixture. The engine doesn't run hot even in triple digit temperatures, so I don't know why the 180-degree unit was installed in the otherwise-stock Jeep.	If you recall from last month's...        read full caption If you recall from last month's installment on this Jeep (Why-J, March '08), the cap and rotor were in poor shape. I installed the new Crown cap and rotor, then replaced the 20-year old factory plug wires with the Crown units one at a time to ensure the firing order wouldn't get inadvertently messed up.
Since I noticed some grunge...        read full caption Since I noticed some grunge in the thermostat housing it was cheap insurance to flush the cooling system, adding a bottle of Justice Brothers Radiator Cleaner. The radiator mount brackets are starting to come off the tank, so I'll eventually solder or braze weld them back on, but for now they're well enough to get the job done.	The upper radiator hose on...        read full caption The upper radiator hose on the Jeep had a split that wept once the engine got warm. I also noticed the Jeep never really got up to its proper operating temperature, so in addition to new upper and lower radiator hoses I also ordered a new stock thermostat.	While the engine was idling...        read full caption While the engine was idling for the cooling system flush, I took the downtime to replace the windshield wiper blades with new ones from Crown. It's an often overlooked item, but the old ones were completely dry rotted and hitting the wiper switch without replacing them would surely have resulted in big scratches in the windshield.
The Jeep was sporting P235/75R15...        read full caption The Jeep was sporting P235/75R15 tires on 15x7 American Racing wheels. While the rears were OK, the fronts were bald, dry rotted, and ready to start delaminating. I ordered up five General Grabber AT2 tires to ensure a blow out wouldn't be forthcoming. I took them down to TAG Motorsports in Escondido, where Casey Soto mounted and balanced them.	Although I plan on doing a...        read full caption Although I plan on doing a full review of the General Grabber AT2 tires in a future issue of Jp, I will say that the tires are a screaming bargain, offering smooth, quiet on-road performance and grippy traction in most terrain. Not to blow the review, but so far I'm far from disappointed with their performance.