4x4 > 2x4

So I've been away if you hadn't noticed, and this is due to taking a new job that requires a couple extra hours a day in the car. By the time I get home I'm pretty much just ready to eat dinner and go to bed. However, the nature of my employment is that often I go days and weeks of working without tangible evidence that I am doing anything. This has led me to pick up projects making things with my hands, or just generally creating something that gives me that visible reward for time spent. I started by restoring my BMX bike from when I was 12. It looks great, but I cant really ride that all over the place. Next I rehabbed an old cruiser into the now dubbed 'General Patton' who will be making his debut this summer. While I enjoyed those projects, they were short and only served their purpose briefly. It wasn't until I took a trip up to go snowboarding recently that I realized what I needed to do. You see, I had to sell my 4x4 Pathfinder for something more economical for my commute. But when I took this little baby up to the snow:

I soon remembered just how much chains suck and I need a 4x4 to get around to all my adventures!

That was it, that was the exact moment I got bit by the Jeep bug. Soon After I went out and bought a project Jeep to build, a 1975 CJ-5!

Only it turns out that when I checked the Vin this wasn't a '75, it was a '76!! You see the law says that 1975 and earlier don't have to pass smog checks in CA, and you can put any engine you want in them! SO this '76 with a small block 350 and headers out to glass packs was worthless to me. I had one good week with it (6 days to be exact) before I sent it on its way. Much to my dismay, I was once again not a Jeeper. All my wonderful thoughts of driving down the road giving the Jeep wave as I headed off to and adventure in the mountains or just mending fence on my imaginary ranch were shattered. I moped around for the next week. Staring at my empty garage. Wondering just what could have been...
By now the Jeep virus had spread throughout my whole body, so the very next weekend I went out and bought (after verifying the year FIRST this time) a 1974 CJ-5.

HA HA! A Jeeper once more! *Jeep Wave*

This Jeep was FULL of what seemed to be garbage at the time. It didn't run, it wouldn't roll, and someone had ripped the dash apart leaving a bird's nest of wire going who knows where.
But there was one good thing about this thing, Zero Rust! According to the Previous Owner (PO) this thing was garaged for its whole life next to a dryer and a hot water heater. Well the frame and the body showed it!
SO now that you are all caught up with where I am at, we can get down to business.I am going to strip this baby down to the frame, custom fab some armor, paint, reassemble and trick this baby out, all in my single car Model T Style garage! Oh, and I don't even have a full set of basic tools so I am going to have to acquire everything for this build and on the cheap!
My idea is to see if I can utilize all my knowledge and resource base and get this thing built to perfection. I will blog the whole build, and ask lots of questions as well as barter for goods and services. Im pumped to dive right in and see what I can do, ad keep you all posted of my progress and mishaps along the way!

Look for more posts soon!