Thoughts on buying this jeep?

[H2oSki2Live]

I'll be sure to do that. Has 31x10.5's on it right now. Tread is down some so that may be one thing to consider when I have to put new tires on.

 

[bcrowe]

Just a note, I bought an 89 YJ, ( 4.2L-258 ) with hardtop, full doors, 1 set 1/2 doors-soft uppers, 1 set trail doors, Bestop Bikini and Tonneau for $2300.

*My first Jeep was a 78 CJ7 (304 w/MC 2100) that I bought for $700 and my second a 97 TJ (2.5L) for 10k (in 2001). I have kids now, and this is my project.
Just letting you know that deals are out there, this was sitting on the side of the road one day. The guy had it in a barn for the last 6 years and I happened to catch him when he wheeled it out...

 

[H2oSki2Live]

That sounds like a very sweet deal on the 89 YJ. What all do you have to do to it?

 

[bcrowe]

Where to start...well, I drove it home (barely) the 3 miles to my house and took a contractor-sized bag of trash out of it, including the carpets, clothes, cig butts, coke cans, dead bugs, and old water-logged JP magazines. The roll bar pads and carpet were all mildewed up and the console smelled like a cat died in there. After cleaning and airing it out, I attempted to get it running.
I replaced the cap, rotor, plugs, wires (2 were not even carrying spark) and cleaned the carb using a method I found online where you remove the venturi cluster and make sure the idle tubes are clear. That helped, but I've found that the computer controlled Carter carb is just a PITA to keep running good. Right now, I can't tell if my carb is mis-tuned, my timing is off, or my ignition system is junk.
What happens is that I can be running 50 MPH or stopped at a light and the tach dumps to 0 (I believe is spark related) and the engine dies. I plan on performing the TFI upgrade to eliminate that as a problem.
After that, my carb may just need to be tuned and the Jeep timed correctly. I attempted to perform the 'Nutter Bypass' but I have my A/C unit in the way of getting to the ECU. I'm still planning on swapping the carb for a Motorcraft 2100 as I've heard the Webers can be a bear to tune and I'm not really that much of a mechanic. That would eliminate a ton of possible vaccuum issues as well.
Once all is up and running, I need to replace the exhaust. I had a major backfire a couple of weeks ago and blew the ass end out of my muffler. Anyone have suggestions on a nice exhaust setup?
Also, anyone swapped out the Peuogot transmission for an AX-15 on a YJ? I'm considering it as well. Pros/ Cons?

 

[Gone&DoneIt]

I am an advertising executive who specialize in automotive advertising. Heres a little piece of information you might find helpful one day. Major Dealerships average $2000.00 profit on all used car sales. So this means when the guy comes out and tells you that he has "Beat Up" the sales manager and the absolute lowest they can go is $####.## they still have 2K in the deal somewhere. For some reason that is there magic number. The way to put this to your advantage? SHOP SHOP SHOP, dealers hate the internet. Go in knowing what the car is worth. Also, get your own outside financing if you can. Don't tell the dealership this. Beat them up. When they say it is the best they can do, get up and leave (I promise they will stop you). Finally when they go as low as they can and no longer seem willing to work with you anymore. Leave, drive around the block, smoke a cigarette, and then go back and present them with the paperwork from your bank or lender. The reason this works, is the last resort for most dealerships is to make thier money on finance. If they have to cut into the deal to sell a car they will thinking that the finance guys will recover it in your payment. Then you take the wind out of their sails and are confident you got the best price. Does it work? I got a 2003 Tomb Raider Rubicon- 41k miles, with full extended warranty, All the bells and whistels, one owner in AZ. for $15450.00. Clean history. They gave the old owner 16k for it in trade allowance. How? When I got back to the finance office they had everything typed up and ready to go. They were planning on eating $550.00 on the front and then hitting me with a high payment on the backend making up that $550 along with another 1672.89 in charges fees and finance. (which totals $2222.89 in profit for the dealership). I thanked them, signed the odometer statement etc etc etc and then wrote them a check for $15450.00 and a second check for the real taxes and fees owed on $15k in the state of Nevada.

Profit centers at 99.99% of dealers in order:
1 Finance / warranty sales
2 Body Shop/ Repair
3 Used Car sales
4 new cars sales

Hope this helps someone.

 

[Sparky-Watts]

I am an advertising executive who specialize in automotive advertising. Heres a little piece of information you might find helpful one day. Major Dealerships average $2000.00 profit on all used car sales. So this means when the guy comes out and tells you that he has "Beat Up" the sales manager and the absolute lowest they can go is $####.## they still have 2K in the deal somewhere. For some reason that is there magic number. The way to put this to your advantage? SHOP SHOP SHOP, dealers hate the internet. Go in knowing what the car is worth. Also, get your own outside financing if you can. Don't tell the dealership this. Beat them up. When they say it is the best they can do, get up and leave (I promise they will stop you). Finally when they go as low as they can and no longer seem willing to work with you anymore. Leave, drive around the block, smoke a cigarette, and then go back and present them with the paperwork from your bank or lender. The reason this works, is the last resort for most dealerships is to make thier money on finance. If they have to cut into the deal to sell a car they will thinking that the finance guys will recover it in your payment. Then you take the wind out of their sails and are confident you got the best price. Does it work? I got a 2003 Tomb Raider Rubicon- 41k miles, with full extended warranty, All the bells and whistels, one owner in AZ. for $15450.00. Clean history. They gave the old owner 16k for it in trade allowance. How? When I got back to the finance office they had everything typed up and ready to go. They were planning on eating $550.00 on the front and then hitting me with a high payment on the backend making up that $550 along with another 1672.89 in charges fees and finance. (which totals $2222.89 in profit for the dealership). I thanked them, signed the odometer statement etc etc etc and then wrote them a check for $15450.00 and a second check for the real taxes and fees owed on $15k in the state of Nevada.

Profit centers at 99.99% of dealers in order:
1 Finance / warranty sales
2 Body Shop/ Repair
3 Used Car sales
4 new cars sales

Hope this helps someone.

Yup...yer exactly right. I sold cars for a very, very long 4 months a few years ago, and that's how it works. Another trick they use is to offer a car on sale, for say, $2000 less than sticker, then when you take the bait, they give you $2000 less for your trade. If you have no trade and nothing down, they end up getting $3000 to $4000 more on the financing. If you read the fine print, generally the sale price only applies to in-house financed deals, so you won't get that price if you have your own financing.

 

[H2oSki2Live]

OUCH! Just goes to show that you never can hurt yourself with shopping around and being an informed buyer.