so i bought a j2
 

some of you already know i have had 3 rd2s thus far-... i still have my rd2 but my girlfriend needed a car and i kept an eye on craigslist for a j2 under a grand-... with some luck i was able to find a 99 5speed for $800. $800 became $760 and the car is now mine (soon to be hers).

cosmeticly it's kinda a heap but i've seen worse. it had it fair share of problems-... mechanically it's all there! engine has a leaky valve cover gasket but aside from that nothing to be alarmed about.



i just spent the better part of the night replacing fuses undoing sh*t wiring for speakers that aren't there. adjusting latches. replacing fuses and bulbs. fixing locks etc. didn't spend a dime tonite though!



it still needs a few pieces: sun visor, turn signal housing, 2 new tires, 2 interior door handles, center console, relay for the blower and i think that about sums it up.



i hope to get some pics up soon!

That's wuts up man keep it in the family I'm pretty sure she will love it!

i remember buying my 97 j2 for a grand, it had a new clutch and underbody was in decent shape, also looked at a 2000 j2 with the options and the 2.0l but it had bad rust on the body and frames and bad wheel bearings.



some of the stuff i did to keep it in good running condition is replace as much parts with oem parts as possible, timing belt, valve cover gasket, water pump, lower exhaust manifold, non captive knuckle swap, cracked gas tank sealed with q-bond and countless more..it costed me money and time but i learned a lot during the process so owning the car is a love/hate thing.



also keep spare parts in my car just in case, like axle seals and spare oem lug studs and the occasional case of high mileage oil for the oil leaking 1.8..pretty sure its the main seal behind the flywheel.

Good one man, I like that you're going around and tidying it all up before she's let loose on it. You should be able to get it serviced, insured, registered, and complete for less than $1500 total. Nice one.

spent $115 on some items from the junk yard-... dimmer switch, blower relay, sunvisor, center console (w/ lid!), new bezel /w heater controls, turn signal housing, driver-side interior door handles-... i think that was it.



it's shaping up to be a decent lil beater-...



up next is an oil change, new valve cover gasket, and hopefully sooner than later a new timing belt. some plugs and wires wouldn't hurt either.



i think while i'm in there she might be getting a tb coolant bypass and ported intake manifold-... we'll see.

my 97 j2 has the dash cluster with hvac controls from the 2000 j2, it has nicer layout and rotary knobs.

the plastic on the bezel is a bit brittle and cracks easily if the screws are too tight, i add a drop of super glue to make sure the screws stay in place.



good thing you didn't get the first gen j2's with the horrific captive rotors, i had to swap knuckles with a 99 RD tib and replace the bearings, ball joints and tie rod ends, plus a little rubber cement or rtv silicone on all rubber boots except axle boots will reduce dry rotting..try it.