Well, after agreeing to buy Blaine's WJ V8, I shall be selling this car in a couple of weeks. I'll put up a proper "For Sale" thread at the right time.

Congratulations in advance RiChard

I forgot to post this up after the offroaders challenge in february:

25 feb:
We had a "failure to proceed" on the offroader challenge. Whilst about 2/3 of the way through the GPS navigation exercise, I came up to the crest of a dune to find that the water pump had blown. The bearing had failed and wrecked the seal and the whole thing was shaking itself to pieces. We stopped, noted the GPS co-ordinates and decided to leave the car there overnight, continuing as passengers with Hennie, Elyassi and Mark. We went back next morning in a 2-car "convoy" (never less than 2 cars on a desert drive of course), armed with a new water pump which I bought that morning. About one hour after arriving at the site we were on our way! Thanks to Hennie and Marina for your support.

The really frustrating thing was that I fitted that water pump just 4,000km ago. Possibly faulty bearings, maybe an overtightened drive belt.

Repairs underway

Ouch....wasnt this the car thats goona be looking for a new home shortly ?????

He's demonstrating how easy it is to make effective repairs in the desert........ when accompanied by a nissan patrol with a winch !

[quote} =MB Hammer;44540......when accompanied by a nissan patrol with a winch ![/QUOTE]

And an entire Jeep Parts store too !

AED110 for the pump plus a couple of hours of our time (including a lift to the site) and the vehicle was driven home and has been running perfectly since. The annoying thing was that the pump that failed was a new one, shipped in from the USA in preference to buying a cheap Chinese one in Sanaiya.

Fitting the new one took less than an hour, as said above - not bad for "field conditions", although we were fueled by clootie dumplings during the Jeep equivalent of BDR (Battle Damage Repairs).

Well, contrary to my earlier post, I will now NOT be selling this Jeep - but I will probably now be selling Blaine's old one. This ZJ is so good on sand that the WJ (V8) can't compete.

There, my mind is now made up, I think.............

Richard .....suggest you hang on to both .....one as a back up...keeping in mind that wicked Jeep thing !

Sept 11th 2011:

Well the radiator is in (along with a new pressure cap) and so are the headlights. The new lights are infinitely better than the old ones - especially the yellow plastic American one (which isn't meant to be yellow, but that's the effect of the sun out here). The lights need adjusting but that will have to wait until tonight.

I'm going to be sorting out fluids etc this week - I already have a new oil filter, 6 litres of synthetic oil, but need to get fresh oil for the transfer case and differentials plus some of the special (Chrysler/Jeep only) automatic transmission fluid. The air filter and ancilliary drive belt are done already (easy to do when the radiator was out!).

Some "drivetrain" work is next - front CV boots and several anti-roll bar drop links for a start.

I'm enjoying this.

Sept 12th 2011:

By the way - last night I did a few relatively minor jobs:

Changed a number of blown lightbulbs
Adjusted headlights
Reattached torn seat mounting (heavy duty washer was used to spread the load where the mounting bolt had torn through the frame)
Degreased engine, engine bay, transmission and axles using STP degreaser and a jetwash. It still needs to be done again!
The grille is back on, the loose front bumper reattached, etc.

My box of bits has arrived from America so I now have CV boots, balljoints etc for dealing with the front end. Included in the package were a pair of tailgate struts so I no longer risk serious injury from a failing tailgate (fitting those were this evening's job). I have also ordered a replacement for the missing bolt on the anti-roll bar drop link and that should be here tomorrow if our local Jeep dealer's parts department is up to scratch.

The engine bay is stained from being sprayed with rusty from the radiator leak - clearly there was no anti-freeze in there for some time! Anyone have any suggestions for clearing it? Patio cleaner has been suggested - but I wonder how that will affect paint, rubber components, wiring etc.

I've been thinking that a good spray over with WD40 would lift the rust and then it can be degreased again and hopefully the WD40 will take the rust stains with it.