Anyone in Alaska>>> could be a steal!

[BajaSportsmobile]

http://anchorage.craigslist.org/cto/4480657692.html

Just in parts...

[BrianBlair]

Just sent the link to a few friends in Anchorage/Fairbanks. Could be an awesome deal for someone with some free time/mechanical know how.

BB

[beaker]

I actually went to look at this today. I'm not in at the asking price. The engine "might" be locked up; it won't crank over according to the owner. He's been telling prospective owner to consider the engine to be not repairable. The front driveshaft is dented to the point I would replace it. Ditto for the exhaust crossover pipe (this is a non-turbo IDI). There are some small tears in the fabric on the top and one failed window. The roof has corrosion perforation in one small corner, which looks to partially due to wear from the penthouse gasket. The interior is pretty much gutted, but retains the SMB sofa and a few of the cabinets. All appliances/heaters are gone. Plan on new tires. Most of the engine intake ducting is MIA, replaced by an air cleaner that looks like it came of a 1976 Camaro. The mid-ship fuel tank might be leaking from the welded plate area. Brake fluid reservoir is empty.

There are a bright spots. The 4x4 (Quigley) appears to be in good shape with no apparent cracks on the track arms. The ball joints look to be new. The van has a winch (I did not verify functionality). There is one of those rare no-longer available, 25 gallon Transfer Flow tanks behind the rear axle. Outside of the roof, the body is straight with no real rust; paint is dull however. The transfer case has a skid plate. It has an awning as well, but I could not inspect that due to its resting spot which is adjacent to some trees. The van apparently came from Washington State. The owner struck me as honest. The van was whispering that it wanted a Cummins 6BT with a manual transmission to me, but I ignored it.

At the end of the day, I decided that it would likely take me 2 months of my free labor and $15k in parts to make this resemble a reliable expedition vehicle. For me, transporting the van a few hundred miles to my home would be a major expense itself; 5" too tall for my enclosed trailer and 2" too wide for my car hauler. My career has taught me that the best estimate for any project is to imagine how much it would cost and how long it would take to do a project in your garage. Then multiply those numbers by PI. It's more accurate than I'd like to admit. When one prices a new penthouse top, this thing starts looking like a deal again.

[Elltom]

[rockbender]

Thanks for the update, Beaker. As an IDI fan I was hoping it was something simple like glowplugs or a GP relay to get it on the road. Sounds like a lot more than that and I won't lose as much sleep at night trying to figure out how I could have swung a road trip to AK to check it out!

[carringb]

If it won't crank over.... Good chance its hydrolocked from cylinder cavitation. I'm guessing he's probably ruled out the simple stuff, and that's why its for sale. I think it would be a great candidate for a Cummins swap, except I would be worried that a stock Quigley front end might not get along well with the extra weight.