So I finally had my new Jeep. I did alot of work on it those first few weeks. I put a CD player in, a cheapy 100w amp and box behind the rear seat. The seats that came in the Jeep were beyond strange. They were cloth seats out of some Toy I think. At any rate, they had to go. Luckily I had my old Jeep with the normal vinyl buckets. I changed the seats and took the Hardtop off all in the first day. I got it registered the next day and insured and drove it to my girlfriend's house in Hanson, Ma. (It's about 15 miles I think) I made it okay but the clutch was really bad. I sort of had to pump it to get it to work right...it was definitely difficult to drive. I made it home that night okay too...BUT...the next day my parents were harassing me to get the thing inspected. So off I went with my $29 bucks in hand. I stopped at a stop sign and was pumping the clutch to build up some pressure...when the light turned green I went, then pressed in the clutch to go into second when I heard a loud and pretty damn scary "SNAPPPP!!" The Jeep was shifted into neutral and everything seemed okay, the engine was still running n everything anyway. BUT the clutch had NO pressure at all. I managed to roll into a school driveway nearby. I went in to ask if I could use a phone to call a tow truck but all they would say was, "The buses are coming soon, you'll have to move that thing!" Grrr, stupid woman!!! I obviously needed a tow truck fo a freaking REASON!! So what did I do with my jacked self? I started the Jeep and pushed it into the street and down the road to another parking lot. It just happened that one of my friends drove by and picked me up. I called a tow truck from my house to get the Jeep.

The next day I got the call - the clutch SYSTEM was gone. It all had to be replaced!! SHIT I thought, thats gotta be alot! YUP, it definitely was: almost $900 in fact. Well, I got the Jeep back in 4 days and convinced my parents to pay for half so I was all set.

So off I went again to get my Jeep inspected. This time it was a no go because a) the guy couldn't find a matching VIN (the windshield had been replaced), b) there were holes in the floor (hey! They weren't that big...) and c) no cats!

I went home and pulled out the seats again. I cut sheets of sheetmetal I stole (ahem, borrowed) from work and began cutting them with snips. I used a hammer to bash them into my floor until they were roughly the same shape and pop-riveted those babies in! I put sealer around them to keep out water. I sprayed the whole floor with under truck spray and then put a thick pile rug over that (I bought 5'-8' at a local warehouse for like $40. If you want to do this yourself, 5'8' is the perfect length). So with that done, I put the seats back in and the Jeep was ready, wel almost. I found the VIN under the driver's side door jamb but I still had no cats. Oh well, my dad has influence, maybe I'll get away with it. And get away with it I did. I got my new sticker from a friend of the family at a gas station. I was going to get cats anyway so I didn't feel guilty or anything : )

Breakage: The first week I had the Jeep on the road, I overheated really bad. I blew the lower radiator hose and was leaking coolant pretty bad. I replaced the lower hose, but my friends and I went offroading (I have pics and I swear I'll get them on here ASAP!) and I was bouncing pretty bad so my fan hit the hose and cut it off. I had installed a temp gauge the day before (after the first over-heat) and on the way home I noticed that my temp gauge was red-line! I went staright home and shut the Jeep off about a mile from my house. I replaced the lower hose again and this time, it held up real nice.

A few more probs: No gas gauge...I ran out of gas one night driving home from my girlfriends because the stupid thing didn't work. Needless to say, it sucked. I found a gas can in some front yard and used as much as was in there - it got to me to loacl gas station Thank God. I put a five under their little plastic tank so that way it wasn't stealing : )

Also, I always heard this banging under the Jeep and could never figure out what it was. One day I was determined to find out. I crawled under the Jeep and saw my front drive shaft hanging off the Xfer case! I tried to put it back on but it was too short! Christ...no 4wd! What the hell!!! I took the thing off to stop the banging and decided I'd fix it later, it still hasn't been fixed. But of course that wasn't the banging. The true prob was that the grille mount was missing the lower rubber! It was just bouncing on the frame! It was pretty damn noisy too. I never wound up fixing that yet either.

The latest problem, I've had is that my fuel line collapsed. I thought I was out of gas and tried to put some in but it was still a no go. That little fix was cheap so it was no big deal. Anyway, thats where I'm at right now...