scbrooks87

Nice! I'm gonna check out your thread today! Always nice to have some good ideas I also can't wait to get some visual mods going, right now I'm trying to behave and do the maintenance stuff and then do the big changes after doing what it really NEEDS lol.

dschappell

Sub'd

I'm doing the injectors on my 99 (4door) soon. Did you run into any problems with the rail or is just a pain in the butt?

scbrooks87

You know, everything went pretty smooth, but it was a pain getting the fuel rail out once everything was disconnected. I didn't know how strong the fuel rail was and was pretty cautious about pulling evenly and trying not to bend it. I ended up using a large screw driver and prying gently between the fuel rail and the intake manifold in several places, just kind of easing it out and prying a little bit at a time.


Also! I don't know if this rings true for all XJs from 96-2001, but my fuel line was 5/16, and the first fuel line quick disconnect tool I got only fit as small as a 3/8, so I had to go back and get the right size. I guess if you have pre 1996 it's just a clip that you can take off by hand.


When I was pulling the injectors out of the fuel rail after taking it off, it took quite a bit of yanking to get them out, and about half the rubber O-rings stayed in so I had to pull those out after. With a little bit of motor oil or petroleum jelly on the new O-rings, the new injectors went in really easy.


Hope that helps!
-Scott

scbrooks87

Quick question for people here. The cruise control and horn both do not work on this XJ, so originally I was thinking maybe the clock spring? The only reason I'm not sure on that is because the airbag light isn't on and isn't that supposed to happen if the clock spring goes out? Any other causes for the horn and cruise control not to work?


Thanks!

Bustedback

The clock spring is the most likely culprit.

scbrooks87

Thanks. It looks pretty straight forward to repair. I'll add it to my list of crap I wanna do lol.

FreddyD'Apice

What I would do for this clean stock 2 door.

88whitecomanche

I got lucky to get mine putting up a trade post on Craigslist...and at the time I was sapose to take off my ad for my 4 door I got lazy then the next morning I get a text asking to trade a 2 door for my 4 door...,.


Clean 2 door though....
Take care of those door panels...
Tore mine up last month and can't find a reasonable priced replacement...

scbrooks87

I'm really going to try to keep this thing nice and clean. I originally wanted to do a re-paint, but my recent outing changed my mind on that (for a while anyway). I had to ride up against a few bushes and decided I don't want worry about having to do that to a nice new pain job.


I forgot to get a picture, but I added some Quadratec floor mats to try and keep carpets clean, and put blankets over the rear bench so my husky doesn't totally get them covered in hair.


My next step (hopefully) is to change the transmission fluid, transmission filter, add a transmission cooler, and then do a coolant system flush and put in a new thermostat. Once all that is done, I think it'll officially be time to start the fun stuff!

scbrooks87

Quick question for everyone - My XJ came with the D35 and ABS, when I swap in the C8.25, do I have to do anything with the ABS? Or will the ABS work the same with the C8.25?


Thanks!

scbrooks87

Well, no pics but another update. Yesterday I spent a good 35+ minutes on the phone with Dirk over at DPG Offroad. This guy knows his stuff! I'll be speaking to him again on my lunch break to kind of firm up what my plan is. It looks like I'll be getting the 3.5" super ultimate lift kit from him. The plan is to order the kit sometime in the week of 3/30-4/3.


It's looking like my C8.25 will probably be picked up in the next couple days here, so that'll hopefully give me some time to get the axle cleaned up and prepped for install.

jmm0122_

Man that's a clean 2 door. Reminds me of mine when it was stock.

$1800 is a lot for a 3.5" non la kit. Hope the ride quality is nice(Cadillac like) for that $$.Haha. Good luck with the build.

scbrooks87

Yeah I've heard nothing but good stuff about DPG offroad, and the OME kits. I guess the on-road ride comfort is quite a bit better then stock, and then once the sway-bars are disco'd it's pretty capable off road too.


It's my DD so ride comfort was one of my primary concerns, but I also wants good off road capability when I am out on trips. I plan to have the rig for a long time, so I won't be skimping out anywhere that I can help it during this build. I'd rather spend more money and build it up slow than to go with less expensive components that need more attention. I can't wait to get this thing lifted with bigger tires though! I'll admit I like the look, and that's important too! haha.

jmm0122_

I understand completely. If I had the money to go with an OME lift on my jeep, when it was a DD, I would have but college kind of changed things so money was a little on the tight side haha. It always starts with a 3" lift with 31's and ends up being 5-6" of lift with 35's later on down the road. Its a sickness.

scbrooks87

Lol, yeah I can already see things happening in my future that were not planned originally. I also can relate to the budgetary issues. I am extremely lucky to have the proceeds from a classic car sale to do the lions share of the expensive parts of this build, but then the rest of it will be out of my pocket so it'll go kinda slow hehe. I figure it'll probably take me around 5-6 months time to save up for a rear ox locker, and around that much time to save for the front. Trying to decide if I wanna just save for a year or so and do both lockers and maybe do 4.10s at the same time. hmmmm.