1978 Jeep J10 Factory Z Code.
Bought new by my Father Steve Hurse in 1978 this J10 was his daily driver and off road truck for years.
I believe the story goes in the 80's, the camshaft in the 401 broke and he used the shop at his work to rebuild the motor. The oddity of the cam failure was that it snapped in half and caused some serious issues.
In the late 80's early 90's the truck was used as a support vehicle for a jeep trail run, during that day it pulled many other jeeps out of trouble when they got to a certain point in the trail, after that my Dad tired and wanting to move on booted out my uncle from driving and full sended the J10 through rough trail while catching air on all 4 and it made it one piece.
Mid 90's when I reached driving age the Jeep was handed down to me where I drove it as I could afford to as a high schooler.
During that time my Father bought a J20 and we used that pickup for his trucking business and one day around 50 miles from home the engine ran dry on coolant.. My Brother and I pushed that 360 all the way home (Wide open throttle barely keeping 35 MPH) and when it turned off it was the last time for that motor period it was cooked!.. My Dad decided the easiest way to get both running again was to small block chevy 350 the j10 and transplant the 401 to the J20. However now I wish we would not have done that from a collectors perspective. I soon departed for the Military after graduation an sold the J10 to my Uncle and at some point he traded it in for a new car in another state. (est 1996-1999)
Fast Forward to 2006 the truck reappeared on a car lot in my home town. what are the odds right? The back story here was a used car dealer bought it for wholesale for $800 according to the paperwork I found. I assume he kept it for use and just decided to let it go and it reappeared on that used car lot. Another tidbit was I actually met the man at a sporting goods store driving it a few years earlier before that and could identify the truck via knowledge I had about it.. So I knew it existed locally before hand.
I purchased the truck for $2700 sticker price and brought her home. It was really like a lost family member home coming, I used it for a few months while transitioning to a new job. Since operating it cost more and it needed work anyways, I parked it at Mom and Dads since you can see they have a shop and I did not. In typical fashion took things apart with the intentions of "working on it" 13 years or so pass by and Covid hit.. So beings I had to stay home anyways I decided to tow it to my house and get it driving since some work had been completed already and it was just a cam break in needed performed on the otherwise stock 454 at the time.
Currently has a Mark4 aka (LS6) 454ci Chevy Engine +.20 over.
#512 396 Large Oval Port Heads
Howards Hydraulic Big Mama Rattler Camshaft.
SpeedMaster High rise Dual Plane intake.
QuickFuel 750 VS Carburetor
Nitrous Express Mainline Kit running a 150 Shot.
Mallory Hyfire 690 Ignition.
MSD Start and Step
Nitrous Express EZ Controller.
2800 Stall Convertor
GM Stock TH400 other than the output shaft swap to make it compatible with the QuadraTrak Transfer case.
also changed the factory 3:73 gearing to 4:10's in the dana 44 diff.
Currently I'm still in progress of little repair items and interior panels and such and cleanup. The body is in pretty good shape but I do have some rust and do have plenty of time to prevent further decay. However given that fact Ill have to have the truck repainted as well after that work is complete.
I do plan on finding that 401 in the wild and putting it back to factory condition but till then I'll use the truck to give the WRX bois a run for their money or at least make passing me a task...
Anyways hope enjoyed the history of this J10!
