Enthusiast I
First a little back story on the thought process that started this build. Me and my roommate were doing a road trip from San Francisco to Tucson. As we drove we discussed doing the gambler 500. So we set out to buy a beater that we would have no attachment to and build it with both of our tax returns. After some searching on craigslist we found it. 
We talked the guy down to $1,000. Drove it home and immediately fell in love. So that brings me to the building. First thing we did is head to harbor freight and load up on recovery gear, jerrycans and a high lift jack. The next day we went with a friend to Hollister SVRA for a shakedown run.
We decided that we were happy with the suspension height but needed larger tires and a locker. A winch would be necessary since we would mostly be wheeling solo. Both of us are high end dealership technicians, me Audi him Volvo. So we decided that this build was going to be catharsis for us, so very little measuring or fitting was done. Think of it as sloppy overlanding. We installed and Aussie locker in the rear, eBay front winch bumper with 9500lb badlands winch, harbor freight off toad lights packed with KC 100w bulbs ,30/9.5 r15 Achilles desert hawk Mid tires and a cb radio.
After our first road trip and camping experience we found the broken bench seat was not going to cut it and the 30 year old carpet had to go. So we stripped the interior and installed some buckets out of a 96 zj and made a locking center console out of a ammo can. We also installed a transmission cooler and hood vents to help keep the truck cool while exploring the desert. The hood vents are for a house and the transmission cooler is from a Ford Explorer. The rear bumper was missing when we bought it so I reworked the discarded front bumper to fit on the back. The fuel injectors on renix jeeps are notorious for leaking so we swapped in some injectors from a Volvo 850.
After a few more trips I was getting tired of all of my gear getting scattered around the bed and the cooler tipping over leading to soggy tents and sleeping bags. So I got some scrap shelving parts from work and made a tie down rails system in the bed.
That’s basically is how it sits today. It’s far from clean but it works well. We sit at just over $4,500 including purchasing the truck and recovery gear. I’m sure there are other things I’m forgetting but that’s the bigger things I’ve done.
We talked the guy down to $1,000. Drove it home and immediately fell in love. So that brings me to the building. First thing we did is head to harbor freight and load up on recovery gear, jerrycans and a high lift jack. The next day we went with a friend to Hollister SVRA for a shakedown run.
We decided that we were happy with the suspension height but needed larger tires and a locker. A winch would be necessary since we would mostly be wheeling solo. Both of us are high end dealership technicians, me Audi him Volvo. So we decided that this build was going to be catharsis for us, so very little measuring or fitting was done. Think of it as sloppy overlanding. We installed and Aussie locker in the rear, eBay front winch bumper with 9500lb badlands winch, harbor freight off toad lights packed with KC 100w bulbs ,30/9.5 r15 Achilles desert hawk Mid tires and a cb radio.
After our first road trip and camping experience we found the broken bench seat was not going to cut it and the 30 year old carpet had to go. So we stripped the interior and installed some buckets out of a 96 zj and made a locking center console out of a ammo can. We also installed a transmission cooler and hood vents to help keep the truck cool while exploring the desert. The hood vents are for a house and the transmission cooler is from a Ford Explorer. The rear bumper was missing when we bought it so I reworked the discarded front bumper to fit on the back. The fuel injectors on renix jeeps are notorious for leaking so we swapped in some injectors from a Volvo 850.
After a few more trips I was getting tired of all of my gear getting scattered around the bed and the cooler tipping over leading to soggy tents and sleeping bags. So I got some scrap shelving parts from work and made a tie down rails system in the bed.That’s basically is how it sits today. It’s far from clean but it works well. We sit at just over $4,500 including purchasing the truck and recovery gear. I’m sure there are other things I’m forgetting but that’s the bigger things I’ve done.
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