I'm a local high school student who just recently got interested in four-wheeling. Before this I was mainly all about quad racing. I was curious to know how someone could possibly apply for a photography position? I'm an amateur photographer and I'm always trying to go wheeling and shoot photos of my friends. I wanted to know if you guys would be interested in having another photographer who knows Hollister. As I live 30 minutes from it, I am always out there, either on my quad at the Lower Ranch or in my truck at the upper range. If you could let me know, I'd be most grateful.
Grady Crawford
Pacific Grove, CA
Well, we don't have any "staff photographer" positions-around here, you also need to write, edit, turn wrenches, the works. But there's nothing stopping you from logging onto fourwheeler.com and uploading some of your best wheeling photos to our forums. It's a great way to share experiences with your fellow wheelers, and who knows, it might just get you a little notice.
I am trying to restore and build an '80 4x4 Chevrolet LUV truck. I am having a hard time finding a suspension lift kit. If I had the knowledge, I could build it myself. However, this is one area that I do not know about. Everyone who I have spoken with has told me that the truck was a waste of time and money, which has only pushed me to build it even more. I've been a subscriber to your magazine for about 10 years now, and I know that you try to help people with problems such as this. Is there any way that you could steer me in the right direction?
Steven W.
Homer, GA
No problem. Check out www.luvtruck.com, an online community dedicated to-yep, you guessed it-trucks like yours. It's full of message boards and links to places where you can find parts, so we'd guess that's a great place to start.
I was just wondering if you knew of any good Web sites for classified ads for big trucks for sale? I've already checked out eBay and Craigslist, but are there any other good sites to look for mud trucks?
Nina Moll
Zeeland, MI
None in particular that we know of. However, we will be launching a "Classified" section at our own site, fourwheeler.com, in the very near future, where folks can buy and sell four-wheel-drives of all types, so check back at our site from time to time-you just might find what you're looking for.
In August of this year, Volkswagen will be offering a 50-states legal TDI engine getting 50 mpg and 246 lb-ft of torque. Is it realistic to think I could buy one of these engines and drop it in my '98 TJ?
Jason Tripp
Pacifica, CA
It all depends on how much time, money, and fabrication skill you have. Besides the engine-and a complete set of motor mounts, which will need to be custom made-you'll need the VW transmission and a complete wiring harness along with the factory ECU. A custom adapter/output shaft to the transfer case will have to be fabbed up, and the transfer case will likely need to be relocated. This may require modification and/or fabrication of additional frame crossmembers, and of course, you'll need some new driveshafts made. Then you'll need to address any potential clearance issues involving (but not limited to) the oil pan and tranny pan, the exhaust system, and steering linkage. And don't forget about replacing your entire fuel-delivery and cooling systems too.
See where we're going here? By our calculation, you could easily sink $15 grand into a project like this, and by the time you're finished, you'd probably be time and money ahead simply buying a new Jetta and using it as your daily driver instead of your Jeep.
All is not lost, however-if you've gotta have a diesel Jeep, Mopar Performance has been working on a Wrangler conversion kit for the 2.8L VM diesel. We testdrove a running prototype at Moab last spring, and it was awesome. As this kit gets closer to coming to market, we'll let you know in these pages.