My dad grew up on a farm using cj5s to get around feed to the cattle over steep hills and rough terrain, when he moved off the farm, fixed up one of the old jeeps. I had a lot of memories as a young kid of being in that cj5 with him, so I wanted a project for he and I to do together. So, we found an old 1980 cj7 on a farm and talked into taking it off the owner's hands for $450. We thought we had a good deal, and a great starter. It had a really rough body, good sounding GM 151 four cylinder, and solid frame. A lot of learning later, I'm not so sure of our deal.

We opted to patch up the body, using sheet metal and floor patches. It looks descent, but we're no professionals. The body once painted showed our bumpy body work, and I'm sure rust will again show up soon. Aftermarket fenders were used up front. Wrangler seats were added, some tranny work done on the leaky SR4, steering work, tires, etc. We came across a '88 wrangler tub in perfect condition for $250 and couldn't pass up, so had it sandblasted, we painted, and stored it. Now we have a pretty good looking fun to drive around jeep at about $1800. 

However, the 151 barely has enough to reach highway speeds, the SR4 is a crap of a tranny, although noisy is still holding up, tub will probably need swapped, and I think the axles went to wider in '82 or '83 so these narrow ones really make me nervous on the road. Basically still a lot of work to do. Things we are still thinking about are small V8 swap (or 4.3V6), along with this will have to be a new tranny, and wider axles. I would also like a little lift to fit 31-32". Anyway I'm just finishing med school, so time is limited, budget even more limited (will be paying off school loans until I die), and as much as I've tried to learn, am still a novice.