Build Thread The Texas Hooker

[007]

This is the initial posting on the build for my new-to-me 84 CJ7 Laredo. I have a 1977 CJ7 Renegade on another build thread here, and I'm not "done" but have reached a crossroads and that's what brought me to this CJ.

I'm at a point with the other one that I need to do some drastic changes and that would leave me without one for an extended period of time, so I found a good deal on this Laredo and decided that I'd do some minor upgrades to the Renegade, but "build" the Laredo - then once it's done, go back to the Renegade and finalize it to where I want it to be.

 

[007]

So this past January (2019), while smoking some CJ owner's meth (cruising Craigslist), I found a wrecked 75 Wagoneer for sale about an hour away. I wanted one like this for the Dana 44's with passenger offset front and rear axles that measure around 59" wide. Exactly what I wanted for my CJ.


The guy was super nice and explained that he had just done a bit of work to it and that it also had a fresh 401 in it with about 3-5k miles on it. OMG.


I was over there about 2 days later and crawled under it and sure enough the block shows 401. I handed him cash and took the title. I had it towed to a yard a week or so later for storage. Here's my engine, a spare transmission and Quadratrac, the rear springs (for the CJ front) and some parts to sell like new rims and tires. I won't tell you what was paid, but it was a hit BEFORE I found out about the 401. Even had the Edelbrock Performer intake, a Edelbrock 600 carb (to sell) and an Edelbrock Performer cam!

 

[007]

Nothing budged for the next few months. In LATE January I started working out of state and everything in the Jeep world has been idle. Completely idle. I didn't even start my Renegade once until just after Halloween 2019.

But backtrack to July (2019). I was again on the pipe (Craigslist) and found what I was looking for - without a concerted effort to look for anything. I had kinda had it in my head to find another red CJ and basically make an identical twin of what I had just for the fun of it.

Well looking around on Craigslist I found this red 84 CJ7 Laredo for sale on the western slope of the Rockies and wasn't sure I could pass it up? I figured the JEEP-CJ Colorado Trail Run was coming up, I could pick it up then...we'll get to that later.

He had some extra fenders, an extra frame, some Chevy axles etc all included in the price, take what you want.

I wired him the money and he kept it until the trail ride began in early August. Well, as can happen in life, I was unable to make the Colorado trail run due to some urgent family issues. But, my friends on here at the trail ride helped me out in a difficult time. PistolDave had originally agreed to meet me on Saturday before the trail run and run up to Grand Junction to put it on his trailer and bring it back to Ouray. My original plan was to put a tow bar on it and drag it back to where I was staying until I returned home.

Well (and I still owe him for this) PistolDave went without me and picked it and some spare parts up and brought them back to Ouray. I made arrangements with a friend of mine to park it on his property there until I could retrieve it.

It has a running 258, no transmission or transfer case. Has a thin 4" lift I'll put on the Renegade (for now) and some aluminum rims I have promised to someone. There's a lot of scrap iron on that rear tire carrier/bumper. Can't wait to remove all that for some reason...

 

[007]

So....the plan....and I emphasize "p l a n"...

Well I'm going to keep it looking very original, much like I did with my Renegade. I have secured some J10 6-lug wagon wheels to have blasted and chromed to fit on the 44's and keep the Laredo look.

I'm planning to put the 401 in with a 700r4 transmission and a Spicer 18 transfer case. Both Dana 44's will have TrueTrac lockers in them. I'm planning on 35" Mickey Thompson Baja MTZ tires as well. With that setup and 5.38 gears I can achieve crazy crawl and still run 75 on the highway (if necessary). I have considered keeping with the Quadratracs now that I have 3 of them and that BJ's off-road offers better-than-OE chains - and I have not ruled that out.

I'm doing a Rocky-Road SOA and using the 75 Wagoneer springs flipped around front to back to move the front axle 2" forward, then a Poison Spyder spring outboard kit to move it up another 1" for a total of 3", then do a shackle reverse for better off-road manners. The rear will have stock YJ springs.

The engine will have my spare Holley Sniper EFI with the new Hyperspark CDI and Hyperspark distributor. Nice to see them release these, as the latter acknowledges the issues I had in polarity with both the OEM and ProBillet distributors. The standard red MSD6 box works fine with the Sniper as-is.

I'm going with a Chevy front brake kit from The-Jeep-Guy and rear disc from TSM. I plan on a hydroboost setup as well. Brake issues with my Renegade belong to me and the Renegade, but I've never figured them out completely and it's just not what I feel is overly safe. Safe is fine, overly safe is what we should shoot for.

This Laredo has a 20gal poly tank so I'm happy about that. I want to replace the dash with Speedhut gauges and add about three above the two beside the radio, one for transmission fluid temperature and one for (undecided). I also found that Rampage makes a nice gray soft top that matches my gray interior. Carpet is coming out, and the seats should scrub up clean. I'll probably replace the console with a different unit with gray top.

The plan is for something resembling this with gray interior. I’m probably going to use Laredo hood decals that are 83 or older because the letters are larger.

 

[ttuseth]

Just curious about the name of the thread...
I see nothing about Texas.... Or hookers!


Sent from my VS501 using Tapatalk

 

[007]

Just curious about the name of the thread...
I see nothing about Texas.... Or hookers!


Sent from my VS501 using Tapatalk

Well, we will get to that...

For now....I am working in Texas and it IS a Laredo and Laredo is in Texas, I’m not.

But the hooker story has to wait a bit.

And no, there isn’t a hooker involved.


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[Project86]

I think I came close to "ODing" just on the explanation and the plan.

 

[Posi]

I can see this rig being ready for our Rubicon trail ride this summer. Should be a fun build.

 

[Belizean]

Wow ! A spare Sniper ? Before you were ready to install it? Something I need to carry around in my parts bag ?

 

[007]

Wow ! A spare Sniper ? Before you were ready to install it. Something I need to carry around in my parts bag ?

Ha! No... I bought it due to an issue I had with my original one.

Holley told me to buy a new one, and then send the old one back in the original packaging as a return as it would go through the same tech inspection at Holley as any other return would.

Mine was just out of warranty, but what happened to it they said it was impossible to have been my fault so this is what he suggested.

Anyway, I swapped it out and enough time has now passed that I never returned it so now I have an extra so-to-speak.


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[Petescj]

Dayum! You weren't kidding when you said you had a build thread for me to approve. Looks like a great plan. Can't wait to follow along. Nice to have a spare Sniper around lol.

 

[007]

BIG thank you to CJ and Andy for getting this post alive again...

 

[007]

So – now to get caught up a bit…

I got this Laredo home from Colorado in mid-June. I was in Ouray for a short getaway and towed it home then. You can read about our trip here…

https://jeep-cj.com/community/threads/corkscrew-gulch-brooklyn-trail-us-basin-road.63480/

The first thing I did when I got it home was to put a fresh battery in it and dump some gas down the carb (and put a little in the tank) and see if it would fire up. It was unbelievable. It fired right up and as soon as the fuel pump primed it ran like a sewing machine. I took a quick video of it and put it on YouTube to add to the for-sale ad for the engine.

I had it listed on Craigslist and Facebook for about a week or so and I had someone come over from San Mateo, CA wanting it. He “reserved” a pick up truck from Budget to bring it home in, but when he got there of course they were out and they gave him a minivan. He headed this way and got to my place around 6:30-7pm.

I fired it up for him and he (and it) was sold. We pushed it out of the garage and by 10:30 he was on his way back to CA. Our main trouble was the Jeep being almost too high for the hoist and then having to set it down a couple times to cinch it up to as close to the hook as possible to get it in the back of the van. Had to be high enough to clear the pan, yet have the hoist low enough to get inside as well. We made it with maybe an inch to spare.

 

[007]

A few weeks later I went about removing the ridiculous tire carrier/frame apparatus on the rear.




I can’t imagine what the intention was, but the whole thing had hinges, and latches and so forth. A bit of a Rube Goldberg setup…now it’s gone and has moved on to life as spare metal and welding practice.



I did luck into a nice OE Jeep rear cargo box!

 

[007]

Yesterday I started on the spring move/swap between this and the Renegade. This Laredo came with a 4” ProComp lift that I’m moving over to my Renegade for the time being until I decide exactly what I’m going to do with it long-term in the suspension area. I’m either going coils or SOA on the Laredo so it needs gone anyway.

I got the fronts off easy enough then went about cleaning and painting them. Tonight I hope to pull the stock springs off the Renegade, then clean and paint the Dana 30 and axle hardware. I’m also installing some tall front shock mounts. One of the originals is broke so I’ll cut off the other one, then bolt these on and replace the shocks.




I also found the Laredo had a nice set of wheel spacers. So I cleaned them up and mounted them on the Renegade.

 

[007]

Still pulling parts off of this Laredo for use on Daisy Jane (Renegade). Next step for this one coincides with my upcoming house move. I'm renting a Hotsy hot water pressure washer to do some driveway cleanup, but before I do the driveway, I'm going to hit both Jeeps with it. This one in particular as I want to get the engine bay completely clean so I can get it all painted Massey Ferguson red inside. I want to get the engine at least bolted in to this Jeep before I move - makes moving the engine easier ;-)

Why Massey Ferguson red? Well it matches up well with what was original, but it comes in an implement enamel so it's durable and easily repairable when the inevitable happens.

 

[caveman]

I used Ford white tractor paint and added a little extra hardener. Can't hardly scratch it.

 

[Flyfisher]

" while smoking some CJ owner's meth (cruising Craigslist) "

Hmmmm... this might explain why I bought ol' rusty nuts...

 

[007]

Not much progress to report on this one, but I did find a nice converted TJ coil setup that's coming off of a CJ. I'll know more here in a week or so.

I'm about to have the Daisy Jane Renegade in a place where I'm good to go for quite awhile while I work on this one.

It's amazing what I've been able to swipe or sell off this Laredo that I didn't need.

Running 258
4.10 gears
4" Pro Comp lift
Vacuum booster
Rear tire carrier (became a fantastic welding table)
Complete front axle
Wheel spacers

When I get back from Moab I plan to really give this thing a deep cleaning inside / outside and top / bottom. I hate working on dirty stuff. I want to get the frame cleaned up and painted and then get the engine compartment cleaned and painted as well.

Then I can get the engine / transmission / transfer case at least bolted in and see where things go from there.