If H.G. Wells’ The Island of Doctor Moreau showed us anything, it’s that tropical paradises can harbor monsters. Today’s Nice Price or No Dice L77-powered Jeep looks to be a Hawaiian monster, but will its price prove frightful?
A valuable social skill is the ability to know your venue, i.e. to ‘read the room.’ Having the right message in the right place at the right time is the mantra of successful advertisers and in the minds of many of you, yesterday’s 1986 Nissan 720 King Cab 4×4 was not offered in the right venue.
As we all saw, the chosen venue was Craigslist and while that might be the perfect place to sell pretty much anything, the Nissan’s $11,500 asking price felt to many of you to be more appropriate for somewhere like Bring a Trailer where apparently crazy-rich people shop. That disconnect resulted in a 65 percent No Dice loss for the little pickup. Maybe if the seller sees that result they’ll move the ad to a better neighborhood?
Speaking of better neighborhoods, hows-about we all take a little trip to Hawaii? Make sure you try the Loco Moco while we’re here, it’s delish. Why are we in Hawaii? Well, to take a look at this recent émigré, a 2013 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon, of course. The Jeep’s seller claims to have brought it to the islands after imbuing it with an all-alloy six-liter L77 engine the ad says was yanked from a Chevy police cruiser prior to its starring role in the Wrangler.
That cop motor should be good for something like 360 horsepower and 390 lb-ft of torque, a good bit more than the 285/260 the Wrangler’s original 3.6 V6 managed.
Along with the hot GM mill, this Jeep gained a rebuilt 6180e six-speed automatic and a refreshed Jeep transfer case with a handshake adapter between gearbox and splitter to make everything work. There’s been a metric crap-ton of other work and updates undertaken for the engine swap, so much so that the builder pulled the body off the frame to make it all less of a headache.
It all seems to be some quality work too. All of the drivetrain management electronics are said to have been kept, as have the cats, making this conversion 50-state legal, according to the ad. The truck also gets a hiked-skirt suspension and new Nittos that look to have tread aggressive enough to gnaw a face off.
It’s not all happy luaus and leis with the conversion, however. The seller says that the TIPM or Total Integrated Power Module is either not connected or is missing entirely. That means that things like the wiper delay and the lockers don’t work. That could be a deal killer for some.
It apparently was for the seller’s wife. Per the ad, the Jeep was built to take on “the rough roads of Hawaii,” but the seller’s spouse turned up her nose to the truck and went with a Tundra instead. At least that’s the reason given for the ad.
Aesthetically, the Jeep seems to be in decent shape for all the work undertaken beneath the surface. Some customization has been done to the exterior and interior, most notably some led lights and waterproof seat covers. It does come with the full hardtop and all four hard doors as well as a winch in the custom front bumper. The title is clean and the ad claims there to be 30,500 miles on the clock. Unfortunately, it’s not explained whether the original engine went tits-up or was just replaced due to being too weak-kneed for the present owner’s taste.
If this Jeep feels like a taste with general appeal, then we’ll just have to give some thought to its $36,000 asking price. For that much, it might even be worth shipping back to the mainland should Hawaii not be your cup of poi.
What do you think, is this L77-swapped Jeep worth that $36,000 asking as it sits? Or, does that price make this frame-off build look like a total rip-off?
You decide!
Hawaii Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.
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