To be fair to Jesse James, he also has West Coast Choppers to run, and I imagine that takes a lot of his time. I think if I were him I'd make that my first priority given that it's the business that puts food in my childrens' mouths. Also, the impression I get when he's there is that he just doesn't have the enthusiasm for today's projects that he seemed to have when the show started.
Plus, I too liked the 'vehicle must appear to be stock' rule which has definitely gone out of the window in more recent shows. When the show first started it was about problem solving, inspiration and metal fabrication, with a little bit of frugality thrown in thanks to the set budget. Nowadays, even though they still have all those rules in place, they're not adhered to terribly closely. It seems like someone comes up with a concept, and then Discovery Channel (or whoever holds the bank account) simply throws money at the show so the builders essentially have free rein over the build.
All this is miles away from the original spirit of the show, and while they do still have some cool episodes, nothing to match the first ones.