ROCKS TO TROPHIES
THE CAPABLE AND USED SHOW JEEP
There are car guys, and there are motor heads.
Andrew Vun is a motorhead. He likes tinkering, building and enjoying anything with a motor—import tuner cars, off-road machines and even motorcycles.
His passion for cars started with the import tuner scene when he was in high school. He went through a number of builds before getting super-deep into a 2004 Subaru WRX. He got so deep into the import tuner show scene that he was winning, but the car was no longer street legal, because of multiple mods … such as the headlight being replaced by a turbo inlet.
With the Subaru off the street, Vun needed a daily driver and a vehicle that could tow. Because he lives in Washington (state), he started searching for something that could handle all kinds of weather. After some Craigslist sleuthing, Vun stumbled upon a 2001 Jeep WJ Grand Cherokee. He knew little about Jeeps, but he figured it would be a good vehicle for his purposes.
Little did he know the path his Craigslist find would take him down.
Jeep Life
Vun’s interest in his Subaru show car faded pretty quickly as he found adventure, friends and learned the ins and outs of building a capable 4x4 with his Grand Cherokee. He spent all his free time and a lot of money building up the WJ. However, in late 2014, it had a catastrophic engine failure. Vun
thought long and hard about whether to put a new engine in or embark on a new off-road build. Even though he knew he’d never get back the money he had put into the WJ, he sold off the valuable bits and then sold the build in its nonrunning state.
It was time to start from scratch and put the lessons he’d learned to work.
All the options were considered: a Toyota, an American pickup, an old Land Rover or another Jeep. With the truly massive aftermarket support behind the Jeep JK Wrangler, it was the avenue Vun chose. The modification routes he could go down on a JKU are nearly endless, and that appealed to Vun’s desire for capability and car show attention-to-detail sensibilities.
“THE MODIFICATION ROUTES HE COULD GO DOWN ON
A JKU ARE NEARLY ENDLESS, AND THAT APPEALED TO VUN’S DESIRE FOR CAPABILITY AND CAR SHOW
ATTENTION-TO-DETAIL SENSIBILITIES.”
Early Wrangler Life
In early 2015, Vun purchased a Red 2007 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Sport, and he quickly got to work on the modifications.
The first iteration of this Jeep would be a fun and capable “weekend warrior” build. This was the setup you see on most modified Wranglers: 4-inch lift, 35-inch tires, metal bumpers and a winch. Vun enjoyed this setup for some time, progressively tackling more-challenging OHV park trails.
That, of course, meant he was breaking more and more parts and upgrading Jeep components along the way. Just one weekend after Vun had sleeved his axles, he managed to snap his Dana 30 clean in half. Luckily, the sleeve allowed for a trail fix that allowed him to drive the Jeep home.
As many of us do when parts break, Vun looked at it as an opportunity to take the build to the next level.
First up of course, was ditching the stock Dana 30 and 44 axles and upgrading to Rubicon Dana 44s with upgraded gussets and sleeves. Bigger tires are always useful in rough terrain, so 38-inch tires were installed on beadlock wheels.
With all that rolling mass, it was time for proper gearing and more power. The axles were fitted with 4.88 gears, and an RIPP supercharger system was installed. The supercharger, along with a custom tune, bumped horsepower from 230 to about 300 ponies.
The Car Show Scene
Because of this second round of modifications Vun’s friends started prodding him to take the Jeep to car shows. He was hesitant at first because he’d never heard of, or seen, Jeeps at the shows he attended. Mini trucks, lowrider trucks and insanely lifted, street-focused builds were common, but off-road Jeeps weren’t—especially ones that were actually used. In the end, Vun decided it was worth a try and applied his past car show knowledge and experience to his Jeep.
“AS MANY OF US DO WHEN PARTS BREAK, VUN LOOKED AT IT AS AN OPPORTUNITY TO TAKE THE BUILD TO THE NEXT LEVEL.”
The first shows with the Jeep were just small, local events, but Vun’s build quickly got plenty of attention, because attendees seemed to like seeing something they weren’t used to. The
car show judges were also a bit lost on how to judge the vehicle because they’d rarely encountered off-road builds at the import shows. This attention turned into top awards at most of the local shows: Best Truck/SUV, Best Off-Road and even a Best of Show.
After that first Best of Show award, Vun was approached by his friend, Rob, to join the highly competitive show team, the “R-Rydes,” all of whose members were looking for a local truck/SUV class competitor. Vun resisted at first: He didn’t want to “baby” his Jeep just to show it off at shows at a super-high level. Rather, he loved wheeling it hard on the weekends.
“VUN DECIDED IT WAS TIME TO GO HUGE AND REALLY BUILD SOMETHING HE COULD USE TO TACKLE ANY TERRAIN HE WANTED AND THEN POLISH UP TO WIN SHOWS.”
Even so, Vun eventually joined the team and found his niche—having an off-road vehicle that’s excessively used as an off-road build and a show build at the same time.
Stepping Up to Show Car Standards
After showing with the R-Rydes team for a year, Vun had learned a lot about the professional show scene. Many people appreciated his build; however, just as many didn’t believe it actually got used to its full capabilities offroad (haters are going to hate).
Because Vun’s Jeep gets used hard off the pavement, he doesn’t mind breaking a few parts if it means he can have fun with his friends in the
rocks, mud and steep, technical trails at the local OHV parks. Clearly, this Jeep was built for capability, but Vun also realized that paying attention to every little detail on the build would be the only way to stay competitive at the shows—color-matching, custom parts and so on. As Vun was preparing for the next evolution of this build to stay competitive at the shows and to tackle harder terrain on the weekends, the COVID pandemic shut down everything. Vun was lucky enough to keep his career on track, but he went an entire year without a single car show and with a lot fewer off-road adventures. This allowed him the time to do a deep dive and really plan out the direction for the Jeep.
Go Big or Go Home
Vun decided it was time to go huge and really build something he could use to tackle any terrain he wanted and then polish up to win shows. Of course, this meant big-built Dana 60 axles, 40-plus-inch tires and coilover suspension. The issue with that plan, however, was … the big money required to pull it off.
After much research and some sleuthing through the classifieds, Vun picked up a Dana 60 out of a 2004 Ford SuperDuty for only $500. After a bunch of time and labor doing fabrication work on that front axle, it was ready to go into the Jeep, along with a hydraulic steering-assist system. With the money he saved on the front axle, Vun was able to put together enough to buy a fully built Ultimate Dana 60 complete rear. He then bought a full Fox coilover suspension setup. Over one weekend, and with the help of some good friends, Vun had it all installed into the Jeep.
Post-Quarantine Winning
The build was finally “done,” as you see it
here, in July 2020.
Vun’s first plan for the Jeep after the upgrades was to tackle the hardest trails at the local OHV park, Tahuya (which is also where the photos for this article were taken). It was close to home, so Vun figured that in the worst case, he’d have to get the Jeep towed home. That didn’t need to happen, though, because the Jeep’s capabilities were second to none; it easily ate up the hardest trail sections Vun could throw at it.
Vun says this one trip changed his style of off-roading forever. As he pushed the jeep to tackle harder and harder terrain, the adrenaline rush was addictive. Whether he was bouncing the Jeep up a rock section or jumping it in mud pits, he just couldn’t get enough. This is how a built rig such as this is supposed to be used, and Vun wasn’t going to baby it just to do well at shows.