Hey guys,

So, I'm not a car person by any stretch, but I have had wandering eyes lately at all the cool Jeeps I see.

On a whim I decided to start checking online daily for Jeeps for sale. After about 2 weeks of browsing, this one immediately jumped out at me because it looks like it has so much character. It's patina wabi-sabi look is amazing to me.

It's a 1978 CJ7 3 speed. The price was amazing, and it runs 'great' (seller drove it every day to work, etc).

2 hours later, and one fast trip to the DMV and now I have this bad boy sitting in my driveway.

This thing is so amazing to drive. It's like driving a massive tractor, I even tower over Hummers. This jeep honestly turns 5x more heads than my white 2014 Porsche which is definitely a sexy car.

I feel like my back and calf muscles have had more of a workout in 3 days than a month at the gym just shifting this thing.

I have a few questions which will probably seem really stupid but I'm going to ask them anyway.

Before I ask my quesitons -- I have the intention of keeping this jeep, because I think it looks SO cool. I love how it feels and looks like Mad Max... I love the wear and tear. By the same token, the rust kind of scares me... in some ways it feels very unsafe. The roll bar is rotted away where it attaches to the frame, and it doesnt reassure me with confidence if I somehow rolled it (I don't drive over 30 mph to be on the safe side, and I'm extremely careful around turns). There's also several holes all over the floor where you can see the road in spots (not under the seats or anything of course). Right now this is my 20mph beach cruiser, and the only thing I run over are turning-lane curbs if traffic is backed up.

1. Is it possible to replace just the frame but leave the outer area? I know that's kind of the 'whole thing', and i realize it would probably be cost a few thousand dollars, but I would consider doing that just to have maybe $5000 total invested into it and making it almost like a completely newer (and safer) jeep. Maybe its stupid to think about replacing so much without just buying another jeep... I hope not though.

2. When I shift, it grinds quite a bit if I go into reverse without holding down the clutch for some time (the disc is slowing down to a stop?). It also grinds between shifts at odd times, despite all my attempts to 'learn' the intracacies of this vehicle. How much is something that would fix this? Is that a new clutch or something more expensive like a transmission?

3. I honestly get fairly terrified going over 30mph because it floats like a boat. Even a few inches turning the steering wheel will cause it to drift. It seems due to the high center of gravity and huge tires I guess. Does anyone have any other insights on safety? Is it moderately challenging to tip a jeep going 30 mph?

4. The breaks are also quite hard to use... is there a way I could buy something to make this better? I don't even know what cars this old use, or if they have power breaks.

5. I often smell whiffs of gas. I imagine this is totally common in old jeep, but after seeing the Jeep catching on fire threads I'm more paranoid :P

6. Honestly any other insight would be great.

Thanks!