In case you're confused, we have many of the UA'08 attendee's sending us blog entries about their preparations for Ultimate Adventure that starts in a month. The Mello's have some great advice about getting prepared for UA or any big wheeling trip.
Hi I'm Jeff Mello and my wife Julie will be my co- driver for this years UA'08. We are newbies to UA but we've been around Jeeps for a while, in fact we live amongst several of them, literally. When it came time to pick which trusty steed to take out of the stable and subject to the rigors of the Ultimate Adventure we chose Julie's 1979 CJ-7, her first Jeep that she bought in stock form years before we were married. This poor Jeep has been through alot and deserves some TLC and a vacation after years of misuse. Affectionately referred to as the "Buck Eighty" this old girl has been a trail rig , family truckster, competition crawler, dune runner and all around great Jeep but years of neglect and being limped to the trailer and put away wet have taken their toll.
Modifications over the years have rendered only the frame, pedals and VIN tag as original to this Jeep but the heart and soul is still very much with the brand. An AMC 360 runs on propane backed by a T-18 and stock geared Dana 300. Tom Wood provides shafts to the Dana 44 axles, the front is stolen from a Waggoneer and the rear from a '75 CJ-5.
For the UA I have a cast of characters known as the Rage 4th racing crew helping me make some repairs and modifications. Great guys, they don't even know about UA they just like my beer. Thanks guys maybe I'll tell you soon.
Being a professional racing team we have a system. On the white board in the shop we have a priority scale labeled "have to", "should", and "want to" under each is a list of between 20 and 60 things. Here's how it 'breaks down'... so to speak.
"Have tos" are thing that need to be done to make the Jeep move if we don't clear this list we may as well bring the rototiller.
The "shoulds" are thing we already know are broken and likely have been for some time but they haven't rendered the Jeep useless yet. Like cancer these "shoulds" eat away at the good parts of the Jeep and eventually clump together as several new things on the "have to" list. We typically get about half of this list cleared and the other half we fix on the trail. Subscribe to the magazine? Good, you'll read more about the "should" list in a couple months.
"Want tos", ya, these are things like install an 8 track and do a cool ghost flame on the hood. Nothing from this list has ever been crossed off.
In the next 30 days the highlights of the "have to" and "should" lists are:
Build a replacement Dana 44 rear.- Since the old one gots the cancer real bad! We'll take a junk yard '72-'75 CJ housing that is bent, has holes in the tube where the spring perches ripped off and isn't compatible with the 33 spline axles I got 4 years ago. We'll put it all together with a brand new Detroit, fresh parts from a fresh junkyard and we'll spend more time than it's worth to have it spit shined and perfect then fill it full of Red Line Oil and head for UA.
Got gas?- Taking the 360 off propane will involve installing a TBI fuel injection system and fixing a leaky old fuel tank. Getting to run right will be another story, anything electronic around me goes haywire, but when we do it'll sound great thanks to the brand new headers and Hushpower mufflers!
Build a couple of racks- did I mention my wife... yes I'll be packing whatever she wants into something you can park sideways in compact parking stall. A roof rack with legs will second as a table, and a spare 35" BFGoodrich Krawler will be along for looks only accompanied by a gas can.
Transfer case adapter- Simply put it broke in two. The problem is that it broke because "build a new skid plate and cross member" has been on the "should" list for half a decade. This can of worms ain't even left the bait shop yet so stay tuned.
Lights, mirrors and a windshield- half the battle here will be finding them, the other half is wiring the third half will be convincing the cop that "that's legal where I'm from".
So there we have it. Wish us luck the last minute officially starts at the bang!
Cheers,
Jeff