16x06 - Jeepin' It Real (1979 Jeep CJ-7 Levi Edition)

[bunniefuu]

Is there anything sexier than a
four-wheel-drive V8 and a bit of faded Denon?

That's really good stuff.

No need to answer that.

This is a CJ7 Renegade Jeep Levi Edition.

Off it goes, it's like driving an
excited puppy down the road.

This rust looks a bit sinister.

While retro might be all the rage.

It's actually even worse on the inside.

Right.

If you'd worn the same outfit for 40 years,

then you'd need a makeover too.

In 1944, Willys Overland
produced the very first car

in the world that was a
civilian four-wheel-drive Jeep.

And they called it the CJ.

The CJ standing for Civilian Jeep.

Now the CJ Jeep has got such a familiar
silhouette and it has done for years.

It's got that tapered snout.

It's got that flared wheel arches,

the open c*ck
windscreen that folds flat.

I mean, they are very familiar cars.

They kept that shape all the
way through their different models,

all the way up until the one that
I'm going to go and see, a 1979.

And that's what makes these cars so popular

because they never lost
that famous silhouette

and that's what people
remember about them

and that's why they've
got this nostalgic feel.

Now the one I'm on my way to go and see,

I'm very excited about because
this is a special edition model.

It's called the Levi Denim Edition.

And if I was to be honest with you,

I think I'm more excited
about it being the Levi Edition

than I am about the Jeep itself
because I know that it's such a rare beast.

Hello, good morning.

Good morning.

You must be Kara.

I am, Mike. Nice to meet you.

Very nice to meet you.

Oh, we get a hug.

That's nice.

What a friendly greeting.

Thank you.

So this is the car.

It is.

So you went and found this one
on an Internet auction site, correct?

Correct.

So what happened?

We spent $11,500 for it.

But once we got it home,
a whole different story.

OK, so what was wrong
with it when you got it home?

Mechanically, it wasn't as they said.

Yeah.

And rust you could see
and some you couldn't see.

This is a warning for people out there.

I mean, they should know it's buyer beware.

If you're going to click with a
mouse and you're going to buy a car,

at least go and stand in front of it.

or send a mechanic or somebody to inspect
it because there's lots of people out there

that are going to take
advantage of people like you.

Nothing.

OK, well, let's have a good look around it

because already I can see some of the
evidence of the rust and I'm looking here.

We've got rust in what
I would call the A pillar.

Is that on both sides?

Yes.

Kara, it is.

Do you mind if I have a look underneath?

You can see that they
have just painted over stuff

with some thick black paint
and they've made it look OK.

They've basically cheated you.

Right, let's have a look at this engine.

Now, this one's got the
rear and I'm very excited.

V8 engine.

Oh, look at that.

There it is.

Yes.

OK, well, that's exciting.

Oh, I can see it's had
some work done to it already.

It is a V8 engine.

These are replacement hoses,
aren't they, at the top of the engine?

Got new hoses.

Yeah.

What else have you done to it?

How does it run?

Is the carburetor OK?

It's a new carburetor.

There's a new clutch.

Yep.

Redid some of the wiring.

Cool.

OK, so you've done wiring.

I can see you've got a fuel filter
on here as well, which is new.

I love the fact it's got vinyl mats.

You know the thing that's really
excited about this interior, though?

It's these seats.

This is the Levi edition.

It's got the Levi's buttons
that you get on your jeans.

And although the seats are ripped and torn,

I'll have to find a way to refurbish them.

You've actually advertised a car, I
think, at a reasonable price, $7,800.

But I won't know if it's
worth that until I get it

out there on the road
and give it a little drive.

Do you mind if I take it for a test drive?

I'm sure.

It'd be great.

Thank you very much.

Oh, this feels good.

This feels good already.

Already, this car is... I
haven't done 50 yards

yet, and it's captivated
me because I love it.

I love the upright, bouncy,
lofty driving position.

Now, the one thing with these cars,

it's really difficult to tell if
there's anything wrong with them.

At the moment, I'm on a rutted bit of road,

and I'm bouncing along.

But because they're so tall,

it's really hard to tell whether
the suspension is busted or not.

And I won't know that until I
really go and get it off-road.

Make sure there's no nasty
noises coming from that gearbox.

And there isn't.

Feels good.

I've got a bit of wildlife in front of me.

Look at that.

Some cows right here.

I think this cow's reluctant to move.

Don't walk in the road, kids.

Come on.

Move it.

I'll tell you what I'll do.

I'll just go round them
because I can in this.

You can just go anywhere you like.

Let someone just go off-road,
and I'll go around them.

And this is what I mean
about testing the suspension.

It's not until you get in places like this

you can really feel how the
suspension's gonna work.

And I can tell you,

I can hear some banging and
clanging coming from behind me,

so there might be a little bit of an
adjustment we need to make to the suspension.

Hey, Cara, don't mind
me getting her vehicle dirty.

I haven't bought it yet.

So how was it, Mike?

Yeah, great fun.

I love the fact that you can legally
drive a vehicle with no door on it.

You are sort of outside in the
countryside whilst being inside in a car.

But the problem is, this car's
gonna need a ton of work.

It needs to be taken apart
and put back together carefully.

Plus, it's gonna need a bit of
suspension work as well underneath.

I think if you was to hold out
for your price, she wants 7,800.

I think it'll be waiting a while.

But I thought I'd
make you a firm

offer of $7,000 and
I'd take it away today.

You know what, Mike?

Don't give me that look.

You've given me... No, I think
you... No, that's a great offer.

And I think it's time
for us to cut our loss,

and I know you guys
are gonna do a great job

and can't wait to see what
it looks like after it's done.

Really?

Yes.

Fantastic.

Thank you so much.

I've just gone and bought myself
a CJ7 Renegade Levi edition.

HE LAUGHS Hey!

How you doing, son?

All right!

A Wrangler.

Well, actually, it's a Jeep CJ7.

And this is a good one.

Look.

It's written on the side.

Is the Renegade.

How cool is that?

It kind of looks like a Wrangler.

Yeah, but they all look
the same, don't they?

Once they got the shape right, they just
stuck with it and gave them different names.

But this is the Renegade.

1979.

This is a 79 car?

I was born in 79,

which means that we came off
the production line at the same time.

Yeah, unfortunately, though, you've
worn a lot better than this old Jeep.

Yeah, this rust looks a bit sinister.

Sinister is a really
good word to describe it

because the poor people I got the Jeep off
paid a healthy sum for this vehicle online.

And they didn't do what
we tell people to always do.

Go and stand in front of it or send
a mechanic to go and check it out.

But the unscrupulous
person they bought it from

fleeced them because
he took pictures from afar.

He's actually hand-painted over the rust

and hand-painted these
stickers on to disguise it.

Oh, it's like a bad Scooby-Doo movie.

It's not only on this
side, it's on both sides.

It's rusty on the other side of the rock.

And it's not just on the surface,
it's right underneath as well.

It's going to be even worse on the inside.

Don't worry about it.

See? I'm glad you're on board.

It's good, isn't it?

Oh, no, I'm definitely on board.

I love it.

Because if you think about it,
we are living by the beach, right?

This is a Californian car.

The fact there's no doors is awesome.

The fact that you're not
contained, it's awesome.

This is what they call the Levi edition.

Even the dashboard's
got a bit of faux Demin on it.

And look, it's got Levi buttons.

Your bit's ripped.

Don't worry.

And I've got a great idea.

I was thinking,

why don't we cover the
inside with actual denim?

Well, I know where we can get some denim.

Because I've seen your Jean-Claude
Van Damme, stonewashed, ATSG...

Don't you go anywhere near my closet.

No, I'm going to use them.

All I'm going to say is.

that there's enough material in your jeans.

to, well, trim a whole bus.

Well, that was cruel.

Right, fair.

What's the drive like?

Right, now, this is the good bit,

because this isn't your regular little
four-banger, or even a straight six.

No, this is a
proper... You ready?

It's a V8!

It's a proper V8.

What is it with Americans
and this obsession with V8s?

Drive's amazing.

It's got a little bit of
smoke on the start-up.

It soon disappears.

I don't care.

I don't care.

In fact, I love everything
about this vehicle.

There's only a handful
of times where you can

come back here and
have this look of smugness.

Renegade smugness, this is.

Yeah, this is definitely
one of those times.

Yes, yes, yes.

Now, this, this is a cool car.

And it might be because I live by
the beach now, and let's be honest,

it's got that kind of cool beach vibe.

Or it might be I have a love affair
with Jeeps, the fact that they build

these really strong, sturdy,
go-anywhere vehicles.

Or it's the type of car you
can throw the doors off,

sling your stuff in the back,
and just go on a journey.

It feels like it's the car that every 80s
kid in America drove in every 80s movie.

And they were just having fun
doing it, because let's think about this.

See all of this?

This wouldn't work in the UK.

So being a British boy and a
car fan in the UK, I was jealous

of those American kids that
were just having more fun than me.

But now, Mike and I get to have some fun.

It's Arthur.

Now, CJ stands for civilian Jeep.

And the CJ range of vehicles,

oh, that's legendary.

Think about the word
legendary, it can also mean old.

And she's actually 40 years old.

So as you'd imagine,

she suffers with a number of issues.

For example, she smokes on the startup.

The rust really worries me,
and the body mounts are toast.

And of course, on top of that,

the seats are ripped.

One of the great things about
this car is how easy it is to work on.

So I'm going to use that to my advantage.

and do something really drastic.

First up, battery.

The body of our Jeep CJ7 needs so much
work that I'm removing it from the chassis.

First, I disconnect the battery,

then unscrew the starter solenoid.

from where it sits on top of the arch.

Then remove the brake
lines from the master cylinder

and pull the cable from the throttle.

Now, the early CJs have all disappeared.

In fact, if you find a
CJ1 in a barn anywhere,

give me a call before Mike.

There was only around 40 CJ2s ever made,

mostly for prototyping.

So if you find one of those,

give me a call too.

It was actually the CJ2A
that started proper production.

Around 200,000 vehicles were made,

which brought this
military Jeep to the masses.

See, and now, one and a half
million CJs have been made.

from CJ1 to the end
of the line, this, the CJ7.

From underneath, I can remove the
handbrake cable and unbolt the bracket.

Now, after the CJ7, it
then became the Wrangler,

and then it received a
dramatic name change.

Whoa!

It was called the YJ.

But I don't know why.

Now, that's it.

That's the car taken apart,

aside from the nine bolts that
hold the body to the chassis.

Now, these bolts pass through the chassis,

and they're held in by
c*ptive nuts inside the body.

And they do have a habit of rusting.

And I have a habit of breaking rusty bolts.

One down, eight to go.

But even if I weren't pulling
off the body, I'd want to

replace these bolts if the state
of this one is any indication.

And the bolt is pretty
much half its original size.

It's lost all its strength and integrity.

No wonder it was easy to break.

There you go.

Those parts are ordered.

Hey, you are back once again.

For the Renegade Master.

It's the 80s.

It is the 80s.

Oh, I love this Jeep.

It brings back so many memories.

Yeah, me too.

And your timing is perfect.

Right, a little ray of
sunshine in your life.

No, I just need an extra pair of hands.

Excellent.

Because no doubt you're
going to tackle the rust issues

because you're going to
have to get right underneath.

Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike.

I'm ahead of you on this.

What I want you to do is help
me lift the body off the chassis.

Ah, yes, sir.

What are you talking about?

Well, the military talk, innit, eh?

Jeep.

That's where it comes from.

I know.

Originally, back in the 1940s,

Second World w*r and all that,
three companies tendered for this,

Bantam, Willys and Ford.

Then they produced
over half a million of these.

You know, they built a
prototype in 18 hours.

18 hours to do the prototype.

It's amazing, innit?

Come on.

Fascinating.

It is fascinating.

Like the name Jeep.

Do you know where that come from?

You know, I just told you we're
going to take the body off the chassis.

General Purpose Vehicle.

That's where the name comes from.

General Purpose Vehicle.

Doesn't the word general.

begin with a G?

Yeah, but say it.

G.

G.

Per.

Jeep. See? There you go.

General Purpose.

That's where it comes from.

I know.

Do you like it at the ramp?

Oh, nice and easy.

I just want to detach something.

Okay.

Well, stay there.

Perfect.

Right, just keep going up ever so slowly.

Did you know the name
CJ stands for civilian Jeep?

Did you also know...
Yeah, of course.

...that they made one and a half million
civilian Jeeps between the CJ1 and the CJ7?

Come on.

Do you know, even Enzo Ferrari
said this is America's only sports car.

Yeah, well, he was cheeky
that Italian, wasn't he?

He was.

Off you go.

Look at that.

Splitting it open.

I love it.

Body off chassis.

And I'm going to say, actually,

the chassis looks remarkably good.

It could do with just a general cleanup

and then you've got access to both
those nice bits that I'm getting to you.

Yeah, and I can get to the rust now.

Yeah, very good.

Listen, I'm here to help,

so I'm going to take the seats
away and I'm going to get them fixed.

First, I'll take this rear seat.

Ooh!

That's too heavy.

Do us a favour, mate.

Bring that out to the car and don't
forget the box of parts are good for you.

I'll reverse the car up to the door.

See, the body on its own
isn't actually that heavy.

When you consider,

you take off the bits like the
engine, gearbox, chassis, axles.

It weighs around 500 pounds.

It's like 200 kilograms.

See, having it on a
ramp is great for access.

I can get inside all the nooks and
crannies and actually, on assessment,

the car's really solid from here backwards.

The two bits that worry me are the bits
that Mike pointed out, the sill on that side

and the sill on this side.

and I thought it looked bad on the outside

and it turns out it's actually
even worse on the inside.

It feels like that's
just made up of filler.

Yeah.

Now, to get into the
real root of the problem,

I'm going to have to
remove all the paint

until I'm satisfied that
the rust is no further.

I'm using an orbital sander to remove the
paint and assess the extent of the rust.

I'll keep grinding until
it becomes good metal.

There's no option here
but to be honest and brutal.

I won't be doing myself any favours
by pretending it's better than it is.

So I've got three
problems in this area here.

I've got the outer skin, that's rusty.

I've got this A pillar,
part of that's rusty

and I've got a little
hole into the floor.

That square gets rid of the outer skin.

This square here,
that deals with the floor.

The problem I've got is the A
pillar support here is still quite rusty.

I'm going to make a patch
for the floor section first

since it's the foundation of the work I'm
doing on the outer skin and the A pillar.

It's actually a little bit
harder than I thought

because it's not a simple
case of a bend here.

There's also a little swage line here, plus
I've had to add the return down this side

to give me something to
put the outer skin against.

So I'm tempted to tack that in
and then rebuild this A pillar support.

I want to build the A pillar from here.

Now the front side's just a
90 degree bend, that's quite

simple, but this back part has
got this strange contour to it.

I've managed to salvage
that sort of complicated corner

off the original panel,
the panel I cut out.

My plan is to weld
that back in there like so

and create a panel that sits between the
two and replaces the foot of the A pillar.

That's gonna weld in
there, put them all together,

weld it up, it's gonna
look like a seamless panel.

Because ultimately this Jeep is
made in various different panels.

You've got internal
panels, structural panels,

external panels, and
what that actually does

is it inadvertently
creates traps for water

and water and metal equals rust.

And then this, at the
same time I've protected.

the underside here
with a bit of etch primer.

Remove the paint off the top section,

place this in like so.

Now weld that in, then I can
get on with the outer panel.

Now before I commit to weld this in,
I'm actually gonna acid etch primer this.

I'm also gonna drill some holes in it.

A few here and then some
down this sort of corner here.

That way that when this is on,

I'll be able to plug weld it from
behind to make this area really strong.

Etch primer is acidic.

It gives much better protection
against rust than plain primer.

These holes I drilled allow me to weld

the outer patch directly
to the sill in the A pillar.

These need to be able to stand up

to a fair bit of wear and tear.

Now this front wing
worries me a little bit.

The reason is it's multi-layered.

It's made up of a number of panels.

And I can see the outer panel

there's obviously something going on.

It's bowing out, plus I can
see the rust is coming through.

The main panel, the wing itself,

I can't see because it's hidden
somewhere in the middle.

And that inner panel, I
already know is pretty crispy.

Now I could just cut it, get inside,

and make a decision, but
this is a modularly built Jeep.

It actually makes sense
to me to just simply

remove the wing and
tackle it on the workbench.

It's just held on by seven bolts.

It's a shame really, because
the majority of the wing,

the inner's actually been
protected by something greasy,

which is helpful for metal.

But here, I mean, that's in a bad way.

See, as a restorer, I'm constantly weighing
up when to replace and when to repair.

And this wing, yeah, I
think this is a replace.

See, this side is actually
worse than the other side.

Better make that two wings.

Now, not only were
these new wings in stock,

on the shelf, literally round the
corner, they were only 159 dollars.

That's 120 pounds.

And look, they bolt straight in.

Now the great thing is, putting new wings
on the car guarantees there's no rust.

These are obviously new and solid.

Plus, they even come
pre-prepared in this nice black primer.

They represent really good value.

So I'm just test fitting these wings,

making sure they're all okay,

because aftermarket panels do
have a reputation for being ill-fitting.

They sometimes need a little tickle.

These actually look all right.

And bear in mind, while
this is away at the body shop,

I get to focus on that.

Now, LG CJ7 is a Levi edition,

but the interior isn't
actually made of denim,

because that would be a fire hazard.

No, they're made of a
vinyl that looks like denim.

Now, I found online some new
old stock, which is absolutely lovely.

And I thought, do you know what,

it's going to be quite easy to just
replace the seats and put this stuff on.

But then I thought to myself,

do you know, the seats
are so exposed, because it's

a CJ7, it's got no doors
on it, there's no roof.

And I want the interior to be
as important as the exterior.

I really want the car to pop.

So I sent the seats down
to my friend's build-in,

to come and meet the
upholsterer, who's called Hector.

And I said to him, let's go crazy.

Let's make the interior really special.

Be prepared to dazzle me.

Hector!

Hey, what's up, mate?

How are you, brother?

I'm doing wonderful.

How are you doing today?

I'm all right, yeah, not bad at all.

Good to see you.

What's going on?

Right, I see you've got my seats.

I sent them.

What do you think of them?

Well, I think they're completely trashed,

but it is okay, because
we can still save them.

Oh, I'm so pleased you said that,
because I bought some new old stock,

which is the original material
for the inserts of the seats.

What I was thinking, these decals that
you sent over, I took both colors here,

which is the light blue and the
darker blue, and I picked them out.

So as you can see,

I did make you a sample of the thread.

So we've got the thinner thread
here that matches to the gold,

that will be used for the bolsters and
the complete backsides of the seats.

Oh, I love it, yeah.

And then this lighter blue is
actually going to be used for

the piping here to separate
the bolster from the inserts.

It's going to look better than ever.

There you go.

You see, there it is.

There you go.

Yeah, people think it's pretty easy, huh?

Look at the state of this.

Can we save these?

Yeah, we're going to actually
re-foam and rebuild them.

Ah, there you go.

Right, so this, let's just move this out.

So that now, that's the base.

Uh-huh.

Right, so now we've got this laid out.

Yes.

How do we take this apart?

Well, with the help of Raul,

he could help us UN-stitch
the pieces of the cover

since he's going to be
the one tracing and cutting.

Lovely.

So let's let him do that.

Come on in, Raul.

How are you, Raul?

Nice to meet you.

You all right? Good
to... And you, buddy?

You're just de-seaming it with a blade.

So these bits here are the bits
you're going to lay out on this new vinyl.

Exactly.

So how do we get the
template for the bit in the middle?

Just work up to measure.

This thing is free and full.

All right, gotcha, yeah.

Eight inches.

That right there is the front row?

Yeah, this is the front.

Now we're going to get some nice new foam.

Now we're going to
put a little bit of glue.

So he just sprays it very
lightly just to hold it in place.

What's next?

Ready to do the sewing.

Sewing.

Look at that, eh?

Look how even that stitching is.

Right, so now we've
got to sculpture the

bolsters on the side,
so how do we do that?

Well, taking the old pieces,

tracing and cutting
the new dark blue vinyl.

So we have the piping here.

Now we're talking, right?

The piping has already been sewn in,

and as you can see, there's our
two colours and our third colour.

Oh, look at us.

We're just smashing this.

Raul, nice one.

All right.

We've got these buttons we polished up.

Can we pop them back in?

There you go, good.

Right, so we've got these rods to put in.

There it is.

OK, so I've done this before.

You push that in, fold it over,

and that, ladies and gentlemen,

is how you re-trim a seat
using some of the original fabric

and then just add in a
little bit of hectic creativity.

We've still got the
back of this seat to do.

We've got to do the other seat
and the bench seats at the rear.

There's still plenty of work ahead of us.

We've got a long night
ahead of us, haven't we?

But now we've got this
done, we can just crack on.

Sounds good.

Let's do it.

Now, with the body out of the way,

I can turn my attention to
the engine and the chassis.

Now, the good news is,
this is in pretty good Nick.

I reckon I just need
to give it a little bit

of clean-up and it's
going to look brand new.

Well, apart from these,
this is the body mount.

And this is absolutely toast.

This would have been
responsible for that

knocking noise that Mike
heard on the test drive.

I'm going to swap these out for new ones

when the chassis is cleaned
and the body is painted.

Now, another issue that Mike moaned about

was the cast smokes on start-up.

I have a pretty good idea what it
might be, or at least I know where to look.

Now, these are the rocker arms.

They act like pivots with
a push rod pushing in here

and they move or they rock up and
down as the valve opens and closes.

Now, these Springs here, this
is what keeps the valves closed.

Until the push rod pushes the
rocker arm, which opens the valve.

If I rotate the crank, you'll see that
rocker arm is pivoting on that middle point,

being pushed up by the push rod,

and it will force the spring side,

which houses the valve,
downwards, opening that valve.

Look at that.
It's like a spring-loaded seesaw.

Next up, I want to remove that spring

and have a little peek at
the valve seal underneath.

I need to prepare that the valve
itself doesn't fall into the cylinder.

First up, I'm going to
remove the spark plug.

And then what I have done
is I've seen people fill via

the spark plug hole the
cavity of the cylinder with rope.

They basically fill it
with rope, jam loads in

there, and it's that rope
that holds the valve up.

That's a little bit sketchy.

What I'm going to do is
take the spark plug out,

apply this little adapter hose,

and I'm going to fill the cavity of
the cylinder with compressed air.

See, now that cylinder,
that number one

cylinder, is filled with
compressed air pressure,

and it's that air
pressure that's forcing

against the valve and
holding the valve in place.

Now I can take the spring off.

Now, this spring compression tool here,
this takes the tension out of the spring,

apply that, make sure
it sits nice and central,

and then simply do it up.

And then when the spring's totally released
of tension, I can get the keepers out,

and there's two of them in there.

All right, using a little magnet,

I'm going to take the
keepers out one at a time.

There's one.

I'm going to draw the spring.

And while this is in my hand,

I'm just going to take a little
bit of tension off while it sits.

Oh, yeah.

May go straight away.

You can see that
there is a tiny crack in it.

And that crack is enough
for it to stop doing its job.

That crack's going
to allow oil to get past.

Also, it feels really hard.

It's kind of plasticky.

Now, this type of seal is
actually called an umbrella seal,

and it works in the
same way as an umbrella.

Imagine this sits around the valve itself,

so it's passing through this
hole, going up and down.

And as the oil is filling the
cavity of the rocker cover,

it drips down, and it should be
protected, like an umbrella, by this seal.

But because there's a crack in it,

oil is sitting and seeping through
the crack, down the valve stem itself,

and then filling and pooling
inside the combustion chamber.

So when you start your car,

the combustion chamber's
got oil in it, and that oil

burns off and creates smoke,
which quickly goes away.

It's only there on start-up.

So you think there's no problem
until you park your car up again,

the oil drips down through
the crack, sits in the

combustion chamber, and again
you've got smoke on start-up.

This isn't doing its job.

This new valve seal's way more flexible.

It's going to sit around the valve
and act more like an umbrella.

It's going to protect it,
allowing the oil to hit this,

go down the sides, through the drain
away, back into the sump of the engine.

These little umbrellas
are great, but being

made of rubber, they
do eventually deteriorate.

They harden and then they crack.

It's a pretty easy fix, and
the whole kit is just $27.

That's about 20 quid.

That's a simple case of popping them
in and not getting the bits mixed up.

Now, this is an exhaust valve.

Now, this one hasn't cracked,

but it has hardened.

When you're stripping down an engine,

it is absolutely imperative
that you're methodical.

Take each individual part and replace
them back in the exact space it came from,

and that's because,
as the engine's running,

it wears slightly and each
part will wear differently.

For example, the parts on
cylinder one won't wear at the

same rate as cylinder four,
and if you swap the two over,

it will create microscopic differences

and those differences will
affect the way the engine runs.

Right, that's one side done,

aside from, obviously, a new gasket.

I'll make sure the blue stripey
surface, that contacts the engine.

Of course, doing eight valve
seals each side takes a bit of

time, but it's worth it, and
getting this job done means.

that Mike's not going to have
any smoke on the start-up.

Valve seals taken care of.

I can go ahead and remove the old fan
that was driven full-time off the crank.

and replace it with a viscous
fan clutch that only engages

when and as much as needed
based on the engine heat,

freeing up the power of the engine.

Just a little drop of threadlock.

I don't want these bolts coming out.

The viscous fan clutch is
essentially a fluid coupling,

such as a torque converter
in an automatic gearbox.

It's now time to
reconnect the chassis with

the body and then add
the finishing touches.

And it's been an awful lot of work.

Body off, cutting, welding, grinding.

Add the seat covers taken by Mike,

the beautiful paint job in white, and
the final little detail of these decals,

and they feel like the
icing on a really cool Jeep.

In fact, this Jeep is
going to blow Mike's mind.

The only way this V8-powered
Jeep CJ7 Renegade

could be more American is
if a bald eagle were driving it.

It's like driving an excited
puppy down the road.

Unfortunately, it was a
part of an American tradition,

online scamming.

It wasn't as they said.

So, and did yeoman's
work repairing the body.

and sorting out the fiddly bits?

Why that tired interior...
Seats are ripped.

..is now the showstopper it deserves to be.

We paid $7,000 for the Jeep.

Front fenders, 367.

Valve seals and cover gasket, 43.

New interior, 2,432.

Viscous fan clutch, 37.

Body bolt kit, 400.

Decal kit, 419.

Paint and body work, 5,000.

For a grand total of $15,698.

And it was all done in 27 man hours.

When you've been
through the full denim revival

and suddenly you're the
hottest thing on four wheels,

you get invited to all the best parties.

Go west, young man.

Well, young men.

Oh!

Isn't it brilliant?

OK, OK, head off into the
desert, middle-aged men.

You know Las Vegas is like that way.

We're not dead to Las Vegas.

Where we're going to is
better than Club Tropicano.

All right, where all the drinks are free.

Fun and sunshine for everyone.

That's us!

And where is this party?

Well, this party is here.

Oh, oh, oh!

In this desert.

And it's out here somewhere.

You know, I just restored this.

Oh!

Ow!

Why don't I have a hat?

Because I'm the captain of the ship.

You know, hoist the mainsail.

Off we go into the desert.

Huh?

I'm steering and I've got the
captain's beard going with it.

Huh?

Yeah, you look like you're
about to sell fish fingers.

Oh, it's so capable of road.

I mean, you can point it in any direction.

So it doesn't matter where the party's at.

We are going to the party in our Jeep.

It's so old as well.

It feels better than a modern thing.

It's brilliant.

Well, this car's had a lot
of work as well, remember.

In fact, it's one of those rare candidates

that it's always very difficult
to take a body off a car,

but with a Jeep, it's actually
designed to take the body off the car.

Right.

So how difficult is it to
take the body off a car?

Because if I suggest it...

Is it really? Is that all?

Of those nine volts,
seven were really rusty.

HE LAUGHS.

Feels like I've just
got a little bit more...

Yeah, well... ...tune to
something on my right foot.

...fan and fan clutch in.

So the thing about it, the
fan's now not running full-time.

Gotcha.

It's actually conserving energy.

It's giving a little bit of power back to
the Jeep and making the cooling efficient.

Get you, eh?

You know, all the work you've
done on the underneath of this CJ7

and obviously with the
paintwork and the decals

and you will notice when
you open your wardrobe,

back at our workshop, where
you keep your stonewashed denim,

your Jean-Claude Van Damme's,

they're no longer there because
they are now... We're sitting on them.

We would fall out very quickly had
you stolen my stonewashing device.

It just feels like you're
sitting on new seats again.

Sure, it is quite comfortable.

It's very comfortable.

What I quite like as well is
that because it's a gin-open car,

people are going to walk by it and go,

oh, that's nice.

I'd seen those on Amtenstead.

Tight-fitting buns.

Every time you see somebody
behind the wheel of one

of these Jeeps with the
doors off and all exposed,

they're having a party, aren't they?

Oh, yeah, they're always having fun.

They're always having a party.

You never see somebody happy
behind the wheel of a Toyota Prius.

But every time you see somebody
behind the wheel of a Jeep,

they're having a party.

Smile. Here to here.

Exactly.

And that's exactly what
we're going to be doing.

Do you know what?

If you break down in the desert,

you're likely to be found only
three miles away from your vehicle

because you would have
walked round in a gigantic circle,

and the best thing to do is to try and stay
with your vehicle and survive off of it.

We're using it as shelter,
drinking and washing bottles.

Is this television's micro-survival
techniques in the desert?

Well, I'm just sort of lining you up
just in case something does go wrong.

OK, let's talk cash.

It's been a mission.

It's been a miserable year.

People want that feeling of
expectation and party and having fun.

And I'm telling you, we've
hit the nail with this one

because I reckon I can
get this to the market.

Or... You ready?

Yes.

$20,000.

20 grand?

Yeah, just over £15,000.

If you get 20 grand for this Jeep,

I will buy all the drinks
at this fake... I told you.

Tropicana place.

The drinks are free at Club Tropicana.

Exactly, that's why I get a bill.

Wait until you see this place,
cos I've heard all about it.

Apparently it's epic.
Absolutely... I am not convinced.

What's that over there? What's this?

This looks good. This looks promising.

This is more like it. Look at this place.

This is exactly what we were looking for.

Club Tropicana, we're here.

This is it.

Oh, it's even better than I expected.

We get exclusive use of
that, our beautiful yacht.

We've got Pedlos, there's that blue water.

You can go and swim in.

Can't wait till you get your
top off and dive in there.

It's going to be amazing!

The water's brown.

Don't worry about it.

The boat has sunk.

Imagine it's 1979.

when our CJ7 rolled
off the production line.

It's paradise!

Unbelievable!

Come on, man, I'm out of here.

Look at the Jeep.

Didn't I tell you this was paradise
with our beautifully finished CJ7?

You've had a good time, haven't you?

Yeah, of course I have.

Our permission to come aboard, Captain.

Of course you can, you landlubber.

Come on, let's get going.

Start her up.

She's on her way right now.

Man bottle station.

OK, fire up.

Yeah!

Go, go, go, go, go!

The first time round this Jeep
was sold by a dealer to a punter.

It was a disaster.

The previous owner got ripped
off and that's where we stepped in.

We've taken this Jeep and we've rescued it.

We've done all the jobs that dealer.

should have done in the first place.

Lots of fabrication, lots of
paintwork and that amazing interior.

Now, the first person to beat a path to
my door is this young lady behind me.

She's called Vanessa.

We've been through a drive.

She absolutely loved it.

But does she want to buy it?

So then, Vanessa, why a Jeep?

Why do you want one of these?

Ever since I can remember,

I've always wanted a Jeep.

Do you know what?

I've never wanted a
Jeep until I've had this one.

Now I want it and so does everybody else.

Everyone that comes into contact with this

just falls in love with it.

Do you like what we've done to it?

I do.

I love the interior and
those buttons especially

and I heard you put
a lot of work into it.

We certainly did.

Yeah, this is a special
edition Levi interior

and we've put it back to, I think,
better than it would have been

when it came out of the
factory with new foam,

that Levi buttons in the seats.

We've done lots of work to
the underneath of this car.

We've painted it all over.

It's just perfect.

It really is perfect.

So do you like it enough to buy it?

I do.

I need $20,000 firm for the car.

You can't go any lower.

I think I'm going to sell it for
20 grand over and over again,

so I'm going to have
to be firm at 20 grand.

What do you say?

No, I saved all my
money for this and I want it.

You want it?

Hold out your hand.

You just bought yourself a cracking CJ7.

Congratulations.

You're going to enjoy every minute of this.

Truthfully, I'm jealous.

Our Jeep is now going
to live life like it should do,

happily with Vanessa sat behind a wheel,

looking like she's just plopped
out of some 1980s movie.

We're really proud with the
way that this vehicle turned out.

It looks absolutely fantastic

and it was a real honour to
have it through the workshop.

If you want to see more vehicles
getting turned around by me and Ant,

then join us again soon
on Wheel Of Dealers.

Ta-la!