Mike's Jeeps
Mike is the creator
of jeepfan.com. A near lifelong "Jeepfan"
playing around, in, and with Jeeps for decades.
Now on Jeep number 6 (plus a Liberty and about 5
for parts) with the jeepfan.com JK the saga
continues.
Visit detailed pages
on the current jeepfan.com Jeeps below.
jeepfan.com CJ - 1978 CJ-5
jeepfan.com JK -
2007 Wrangler Unlimited
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readers jeeps
Mike "jeepfan" in
1976
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2002
Liberty KJ My second longest owned
Jeep 2002-2007. The everyday driver I sometimes referred to as a "car".
This Jeep was a true one but somewhat tamed. I only once (technically)
wheeled it, I did play in the snow
whenever I could.
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I took it to
Paragon Adventure Park during the closing
weekend. I actually used it in low-range and had a pretty good time
with it. I never really went on a trail that day but there was 3" of
snow and I did need 4wd to get out.
The Liberty was your basic Sport
Package with add-ons like the Select-Trac transfer case and off-road
package. Automatic, power windows, locks, yadda yadda. This Jeep
was traded for the new 4 door JK
Rubicon Unlimited.
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94 Cherokee Sport Owned 1995-2000
This was my daily driver and was equipped with a 4.0 Liter, 4 speed automatic,
K&N Air Filter, 235/75R15 BFG All Terrains, and a SmittyBuilt Grill Guard (Not
shown in this picture). It has been a great vehicle I used for work and I
occasionally used it off road.
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I also looked forward every year for a good
snowfall to play in. I have to say that it
sure worked great on a few 4-Wheeling trips.
Although it is a little lacking in clearance and
could use a lift kit but this vehicle was not my
main off-roader. I sold the Cherokee in
2000 and miss it. |
85 CJ-7
Owned 1994-1995. This Jeep was an accomplishment. It originally was
two Jeeps, part 85 and part 86. The 85 was hit extremely hard in the drivers side and the
86 burned completely in a fire. After completely disassembling the body from the
burned Jeep, which was in great shape, although the paint was burned off, it was sent to a
local sandblaster and came back clean and primered. I cleaned up the frame and used
the engine and transmission (258 6cyl and a T176 4speed) from the 85. The axles were
from the 86 which was lucky because this 86 had a Dana 44 rear. I
 used the rims from
the 86 and bought new 31X10.5 BFG All Terrains. The hood, grille, windshield, wiring
and the whole interior were from the 85. Luckily the hard top was not damaged in the
accident but the driver's door was toast. I picked a set of doors from a
Wrangler. After the Jeep was assembled it
got a fresh coat of paint (Veridian Green)
by my buddy Mike. The Jeep looked great but the 258 was not in the best of shape and
the carburetor was driving me crazy. |
I Remember I kept the engine from my 70 CJ-5,
well it was about to come to life again. First I decided to calm it down a little so
I replaced the intake and cam with an Edelbrock Performer Kit. Since I was driving
it everyday I added a Holley 670CFM Pro-Jection. The engine was adapted to the
existing 4 speed with an adapter from Novak. I installed a full dual exhaust system
to control the noise. In 1995 I got a different job that I have to drive a
lot of
miles so once again I had to sell my pride and joy, luckily for me my buddy Glenn (that's
with 2 Ns) bought it from me so I get to visit now and again. But as before I knew
that getting rid of one meant looking forward to another.
See more of this
Jeep...Glenn's Rig
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89 Wrangler YJ Laredo Owned 1989-1991. I used this Jeep to drive back and forth from college
and cart around my girlfriend. This Jeep was very classy looking, it was a white
Laredo with a black hard top and aluminum rims.
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I only got off-road with it a few times on account I did not
have much time on my hands. This jeep
remained stock with the 258 6cyl and a 5 speed
transmission. |
| 80 CJ-7 Renegade Owned 1988-1989. This was one of my favorites, when I first bought it it
had been in an accident and had a slightly bent frame, after that was fixed by my buddy's
body shop I pretty much just drove it for a while. Unfortunately it had the dreaded
Iron Duke 4 cyl engine that should have been taken out back and put out of its
misery. So, like the previous Jeep a Chevy was the only choice.
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I picked up a used 307 and installed a Crane Fireball II cam
and an Edelbrock Performer Manifold topped
with a Holley 600 4bbl. Also this engine was backed with a TH400. I finally
sold this Jeep in 89 because I was driving back and forth from college and it was not very
good on gas, but at least I gave this up to buy a 89 Wrangler (Not much better on gas and
not as fun to drive).
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70 CJ-5 Owned 1972-1993. My Dad bought this Jeep in 1972 (I
was 3), it saw its share of trail rides and plenty of highway driving. I remember
a lot of broken parts and bloody knuckles. It was originally green and had a Buick
225 V6 with a 3 speed transmission
 with a Warn overdrive. In 1984 the original steel
body was pretty much gone so it was replaced
with a 4WD Hardware fiberglass body and a
one-piece front end. After a while with
the new body we decided that the old V6 needed
to be retired so a Chevy 350 was added.
The 350 was completely redone.
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The engine had a Edelbrock Torker II manifold, a Competition Cams 292H camshaft, and a Holley 700
double pumper. We also installed a set of Vette fuelie heads that had been reworked.
The 350 was pretty quick, we
 estimated 375 to 400 HP.
The new engine was backed by a
TH400 with a shift kit and a B&M Holeshot converter. After the engine upgrade I
moved to bigger tires. In the picture below (Circa 1986) you can see
the 33X12.5 Revenger Radials with chrome steel rims.
I was sad to sell it after all
the time and work in 1993 but I just looked forward to the next project. By the way
we kept the engine. Check out the pics below.
This picture was taken by my buddy Mike in my parents driveway probably in
1986. The rubber is gone today but the ditch I dug in the driveway is still there!
Related
Article:
V8 Conversions into a CJ or YJ
Check out
this! (70 CJ in a Line-Lock!)
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