This project began (July '01) after the motor in the "Croc" developed a death knock and Toad brought me over to the darkside. He said he had a '72 Commando that had all the stuff I was looking for. Already setup SOA, D30F, D44R, P/S, and P/B. The only things "missing" were the motor, tranny, & transfercase. This shouldn't pose a problem, as I retained the TH400/D20 out of the "Croc". How hard could it be to find a running 304 (This will come back to haunt me later)? After a few emails & pics, we seal the deal over the phone and the adventure begins. He says we can get everything going in time to make the Dixie Run, some 8 weeks in the future.

The week before a planned household move, Toad says he's got a motor. I know my wife is going to fume over it, but I plan the first trip to TN. This would the beginning of many long 9 hour roundtrips to work on the Jeep. On arriving Friday night after work, I get the scoop on the block. A friend has it on a stand in Oak Ridge and says it was rumored to run fine when pulled. Saturday, morning we arrive at Benji's house to find a very rusty block that's been in the weather for several years. We load it up and haul it to the "Toadworks" in Clinton. Once off the truck, we connect a flywheel and modified bellhousing to see if she'll fire. The other components (carb, dist., coil, etc.) were scrounged from the guts of dozens of scrapped Commandos. It takes the rest of the weekend and a set of rebuilt heads, early model intake, & Ford MC2100 to finally get her to fire up. There are a couple of low cylinders, but once cleaned of the "dirt dobbers" and crud, the outlook is slightly better.

Several trips were spent cleaning massive amounts of sludge from the bottom end and installing new gaskets, oil, and filters. Also, I pickup the tranny/transfer at LoneWolf's and took it to TN in the trunk of the Honda. It was then mated up with an adapter ring and flexplate I bought from JeepmanEd to the motor.

Toward the end of Aug.(?), Toad fabs the bracket to bolt the TC adapter to the crossmember, as the ears are broken on the stock assembly. The rolling chassis is drug into the barn, "prepped", and promptly dubbed "Mossy". We drop the motor, tranny, & transfer into place as one assembly with a chain hoist and a few choice words (boy, was that sucker HEAVY!). The crossmember holes don't lineup (the new adapter moved it rearward about 1"), Toad to the rescue. He welds the stock spacers together, and I drill/tap them for 1/2" bolts. Once these are bolted to the crossmember, raised to meet the frame, and aligned, he MIGs the spacers to the frame.

My brother graciously "donated" (he said it was a Birthday gift) a set of 32x11.5x15 BFG MTs mounted on rusted chrome "bullet holes". A few hours cleaning them at the house with a wire brush and SOS in the driveway made a difference. The results almost cause him to reconsider! He also hauled them and and a load of parts up to the Toadworks AND actually twisted a few wrenches. I was glad to have him involved, as we both love Jeeps and miss wheeling together (since the sale of my '86Nissan). We got the front bearings cleaned & repacked, and also get the brakes cleaned up, but leave them unadjusted (BIG mistake!) due to time constraints. As we towed her up the hill & out of the barn to go back into the woods, the chain slipped off his hitch. The resulting calamity was like the reading of "Toad's Wild Ride". I barely had time to get behind the wheel and miss the rapidly approaching barn & tree stump (not an easy task with unpowered P/S!). The next choice I faced was where to actually go. The cattle gate w/ phone pole posts & proceeding hill didn't look good, nor did the boat trailer immediately left of it. The remaining options were to hit one of several partsters, the Commandtoad (like those bumpers wouldn't total loss a semi!), or head toward her normal parking place. I decided to steer into the "hole" only to realize once committed, that my hood was leaned against a tree, right in my path. Luckily, I stopped short of the big trees, but managed to mangle the hood, a small tree, and the already defunct hardtop. I was pleased with my quick thinking (after several sleepless weeks) and that the grill had emerged untouched. However, I still felt like crying over the damaged hood.

The next trip found the brakes adjusted and functioning OK (yeah, no joke!) and the driveshafts installed. After a lengthy cooling system flush and carb swap from the SC-2, she was running pretty good. Considering the SC-2 had sat in a field for 5 years and only ran long enough to drive on/off the trailer a few times, I decided to skip the rebuild for now. The maiden voyage was taken by Toad, Melissa, & myself late one Sunday afternoon with bare exhaust manifolds blarring. She wouldn't upshift until Toad connected the Vac. line to the modulator at the turn around. When slowing down to to turn into the driveway to the barn, the tires hit the springs, the still un-powered brakes faded, and I swung very wide, narrowly missing a trip thru the ditch. Melissa screamed like she had been shot, just enough to scare the living crap out of me for the second week in a row (refer to prior incident). We did some more minor "adjustments" and took another ride or 2 before I parked her in the woods for an extended rest. Dixie Run was the following weekend and 4 weeks before I could return.

The remaining 2 weekend jaunts were spent readying her for the trip home. As the front springs were incredibly soft, Toad proposes a bit of tweaking. The main leaf from the hood donor's front leafs had their eyes torched off and inserted in the existing packs. It gave a noticable lift and firmed it up just right. We added the exhaust from the manifolds outboard of the frame, also from the hood donor. A gift of 2 glasspacks from my brother was used in combo with AdvanceAuto adapters & extensions to finish out the exhaust system. It actually sounds pretty good, but discovered near deafening at highway speeds. A "new" hood was bolted on after liberally soaking the hinges with WD40. We planned to use a hardtop from one of the partsters, but Toad had one in Oak Ridge that was already "loose" and required less effort to install. As we arrive to retrieve the top, he tells me it was the factory original off none other than the Commandtoad! I still can't believe he'd part with it, but it's not like it'll EVER go back on! The rollbar on loan from LoneWolf was also bolted to the rotting tub, more for stability than safety. I managed to get the parking lights and headlights funtioning with a bit of scaping, and contact & ground cleaning. She was once again parked in the woods pending the tow back to NC.

After several aborted attempts to get Mossy back to NC, an opportunity presented itself in early Dec. A co-workers husband (Sucker!) had a truck and time to make the run, but it had to be done in one day. A few calls netted all the required logistics to make it happen. We left at 0600 on Friday morning and stopped in Asheville to pickup a borrowed tow dolly from LoneWolf. By noon we met Toad at the Toadworks and were ready to load. A quick measurement of the straps confirmed we'd have to swap on a set of 205s to be able to strap her on the dolly. A NASCAR style tire change was done and she was loaded on the dolly and strapped down. A mere 6.5 hours later, Mossy rolled into my driveway under her own power.

The next day (12-18-01), my son Josh & I, swapped the BFGs back on the front and started the task of removing the "botanical" elements from Mossy's exterior. A stiff brush and a bucket of hot, soapy water had the desired effect. An hour later she sat completely moss free, both inside & out. It was then she became "Nameless". Since then, I was able to get the signals, 4 ways, and brake lights funtioning like new. A few more tweaks have been done to get the doors latching all the way.

This past Saturday (12-22-01), found Efi67Jeepster here for alittle wrenching, chatting, and riding. A trip over to Bumblebee's nest, was the first real roadtrip for the Commando in more than 3 years. She puked a pint of oil up in DaddyD's driveway on arrival (badly leaking valve covers in the rear). The return trip found a plug fouled and missing. A quick diagnosis revealed she was a quart low from the leaking and oil burning, and #7 the culprit of the miss.

I drove it over to my folks house Christmas Eve and back late Christmas day. The results weren't any better, as it used/dripped/burnt about 4 qts. of oil on the roundtrip. I've managed to do a few repairs now and things are slightly better. The major leaks (valve covers & rear pan) have been squelched and a new load of 20W50 has eased the smoking somewhat. The oil pressure has also increased about 5lbs. @ idle and is normal at higher RPMS. I also changed the gearoil in the transfer case. It had only about 1/2 qt. of the blackest stuff I've ever seen! I refilled it with some economy Penzoil 75W90. What a difference that made, the whine and noise is completely gone when on the road.

This past Wednesday (1-2-02) it started to snow, and I knew it would be a good time to test the 4x functions. On Thursday, I drove it to work about 8-10 miles. What a blast motoring past all the "lowriders" spinning & sliding around. Since I have no bumpers (or towhooks) yet, I had to leave those in the ditch where they sat. I locked the hubs and tried to make the short hill out of our developement, but the powder gave way (could have been the worn out BFGs?) and had to drop her into 4high. The ride in was cool, literally, the heat seemed to go straight out the gaps under the doors. I'm guessing the heater core has lost 75% efficiency (probably filled with crude) and neads a good cleaning. Other than that, it was a hoot. I even did a couple of doughnuts in the big parking lot before parking her beside a light post (might keep others from sliding into her while THEY do doughnuts!). The brakes must have got "damp" on the way home. Boy, what a chore trying to stop! This will get tended to ASAP.

Not wanting the brake situation to get any worse, but not wanting to buy a set of extended brake lines for the drums, and then switch to discs soon (I hate spending $$ twice!), I pulled a Toad. The PO had used some nifty (read: cheese) extensions on the front hoses that began to leak the first time they had pressure on them at the ToadWorks. I figured as a "stopgap", I would just use some hardline to extend to the good stock hoses. It looks like it's going to work OK. I did the left side last night, but need one more brakeline union. Multiple trips to every Zone, Advance, & NAPA in town proved futile in this search. I finally found another union and got both sides plumbed. It definitely stops better with both ends braking!.

(2-18-02) After alot of hunting and searching, I finally found an engine to replace the original "Moss" mill. A guy from CORE (Carolina Offroad Extremists) had a complete 304 from a '77 CJ7 that was rebuilt about 5 years ago and only ran for 4-6K miles since. Seems a severe wiring fire pretty much sidelined the CJ and Robert planned to drop in a FI 258 after revamping the suspension. My brother grabbed Dad's utility trailer and we headed to Salisbury to pick it up. $400 & 2 hours later, we were headed to my "uncles" shop in Mocksville. "Uncle" Richard graciously allowed me to store the engine AND do the swap in his state of the art backyard garage. Plans include removing the headers, new rear main, new pan gasket, a light polish of the valvecovers and new gaskets. The stock MC2100 (still has an AMC tag) will be retained with a stud kit and the Prestolite electronic ignition should work until I convert to Motorcraft/TFI. I also just received a set of "6bolt" calipers & brackets and a set of "2bolt" calipers & brackets. The plan is to use the 6bolt parts on the front and the 2bolt parts on the rear. Toad reported that the narrower 2bolt rotors should work better on the rear because of the tight clearances. We'll see! Some scavenged lapbelts, a set of "Speedy Machine Works" (Drayson's) hinges and 20' of 1/0 welding cable will also find their way onboard.

(3-4-02) I just returned from a trip to GRQs place. After some searching around the state, I found a couple of the fabled Northern Tool "4000lb" winches. It really a de-rated REP8000 with Northern's badging. It came complete with winch, solinoid box, leads, hook, D-ring, snatch block, tree saver, and roller fairlead for $299. I'm planning on stuffing it behind the grill, in front of the radiator, with the cable running thru the bottom slot of the stock grill. Hopefully, this will require minimal cutting of the grill. Thanks again GRQ! Toads grabbing the steel (4"x4"x.25" box) for a set of custom front/rear bumpers. It's gonna take a bunch of work, but I want it ready for the JAM in June! I've got a couple of "free" vacation days coming to do some work in the near future.