highvoltagefeathers

SO.
I'm 18, just about to graduate high school in east central kansas, and am expecting some graduation money to shower my stone white 97' 4.0 XJ Sport with.

This jeep is almost bone stock at 112,000, but I'll list what I've done:

Front and rear differential fluid change with some nice synthetic 75-90
Transmission fluid change
Synthetic engine oil change
Re-blacked bumpers
"fixed" rattling catalytic converter (for now)
Spectre cowl air intake (fantastic)

AND THATS IT. THIS NEEDS TO CHANGE.

Parts I have on order currently:

APN 3-2-1 header (just arrived)
Walker replacement downpipe WITHOUT the annoying pancake dent
Magnaflow high-flow cat. ("flow gains" debatable, but this one won't rattle)
after-cat electric exhaust cutout (ebay gamble. We'll see how this goes)
Super-44 muffler
Walker 2.5" tailpipe

Parts I want:

2" lift
remote start
slightly larger, more off-roady tires.
99+ intake manifold
jeepersandcreepers.com 62mm billet aluminum TB
703 injectors
E-locker for rear (please santa)
new passenger-area carpet to replace the half I have left (bad diff. fluid spill on right side)
8,000 lb + winch
new bumpers
5.9 grand cherokee v8 swap
120 shot nitrous
rear wheel steering
paddle sand-drag tires

etc

Just figured I'd start a thread for this one.

moesizlak07

long shopping list you got there... but go for it. put up some pics so we can see your ride

mcguyver_xj

R u super serial bro...???

A Black Cherokee

Lol

highvoltagefeathers

So, to get this project started, I made a trip to a few of the local pick and pulls, and picked up some goodies on Ebay and Summit Racing.

Now I've got:

• Clean Dodge Neon 703 fuel injectors
• Spectre Performance Cowl Intake
• 99+ Intake Manifold, all cleaned and enameled.
• set of APN stainless 3-2-1 headers, wrapped to try to reduce engine bay temps.
• new Walker downpipe WITHOUT the pancake dent
• High-Flow catalytic converter
• Magnaflow Muffler
• Walker exhaust pipe with a nice stainless tip

And here's my baby saggin' ***** on those worn out leaf springs...

highvoltagefeathers

The gasket was a perfect match with the head, but not so much with the header and intake manifold, so I used a carbide tool in my dremel to gasket match the manifold and a couple stone wheels for the harder stainless header. Now all is flowing well.

highvoltagefeathers

I just got my RC 3" lift installed!
New coil springs, leafs, control arms, shocks, boots, sway bar drop brackets, etc...

Also got some 30" BFG A/T's slapped on.

Went mudding, and everything's holding up great.

Installed an RC steering stabilizer while I was at it to avoid death wobble and associated problems.

highvoltagefeathers

So I've done some work,
I've installed new pioneer 6.5" speakers all around,





And I've done about 4 weekends of fiberglass work to finish a Subwoofer enclosure which fits snugg into the recess in the right rear wall of the cargo section. Its going to house a 1400W dual voice coil Pioneer Champion 12" Sub, driven by an Alpine mrp-m500 monoblock amp.





And probably the most fun addidion is a 35 Watt HID spotlight. Its one of those cheap deals on ebay. WARNING I anticipated this, and I'm glad it didn't surprise me. DO NOT EXPECT THE CHEAP ***** PLASTIC FANTASTIC REMOTE CONTROLL TO WORK AT ALL.

I used a PS2 joystick module, an Arduino Uno microcontroller, a dual H-Bridge MOSFET motor controller, a relay, and a couple project boxes to make a nice and smooth analog controll for the light. The PS2 Joystick has the feature of a button which is triggered when you press down on the joystick, which I use to turn on and off the light.







This light was also advertised as "weatherproof" which was a TOTAL JOKE.
I had to seal the snot out of it with silicone.

Still, I feel I have a finished product which will work for me just as well as a >$400 Golight.

More to come.

89limitedxj

Nice to see another white xj in ks!

highvoltagefeathers

Good to see another kansan who cares about his white XJ!
See two of them in parking lots around the university, both stock, rusting, and unloved.
Nowhere to go wheeling unless you own land (or want to make the trip to manhattan).

highvoltagefeathers

Here is the new Pioneer DVC champion 12" subwoofer pushing 1400 watts in it's new enclosure. Alpine MRP-M500 running it from under the rear bench.
Such a shiny pice of equipment, needs a grill to keep it that way!

highvoltagefeathers

Forgot to mention,

Recently installed a blue livewires tune up kit with a high voltage coil, new destributor cap and rotor, and new plug wires. Opened up plug gaps all around an extra .025", running a little smoother.

Also ordered some ACC Mass backed carpet (better be nice for ~$400). I've emptied out the interior, wire wheeled all the rusty spots, and rolled down some rustoeum rusty metal primer, in prep for 2 coats of rustoleum enamel, a layer of poor man's "peel n seal" sound deadening, and the new carpet.

Always hated the window tint, and it was bubbling on the rear window, so I steamed it off.

I'll post pictures as I take them.

joecotter47

That sub enclosure is awesome! What is the process behind something like that?
BTW - Subbed, that's a nice lookin' XJ you got there, keep up with the updates!

highvoltagefeathers

Thanks!

The process is very potentially frustrating, time consuming, and itchy.

I should have taken pictures as I went...

Use blue painters tape to completely cover the area you want to be the back of your enclosure, and mask everything else with trash bags or plastic.

Take your time, and use as many resin batches as you need, but you want to ideally build up ~4-5 layers of fiberglass matt to establish the back side of the enclosure. Don't do one layer, let it half set, then get impatient and try to pull it out like i did, or you'll get a lightly warped piece.

Trim it to the contours you'd like, then make the MDF rings to hold the sub. I drilled 4 holes into the back of the ring, then wood glued dowels into the holes, and trimmed each dowel untill the ring sat suspended where I wanted it. I hot glued it in place, then gave each dowell a good, solid "foot" of fiberglass mat wrapped around it, and blended to the enclosure and ring to anchor it.

spray the edges of the back of the enclosure with some 3m spray stick, then stretch some felt nice and tight to form the nice organtic curves for the front. Soak some resin into the felt, then do 3-4 layers over that (layer around the edges where felt meets your original "negative" half of the enclosure).

Trim, sand, cover (fabric looks great, paint is a GIGANTIC pain in the ***** because you need to fill, sand, fill, sand, prime, sand, prime, and sand untill your old and don't care anymore, before you've got a sprayable surface.)

Stuff with polyfill if it ends up a little small in volume like mine did.

And thats all. Nice and simple!

If your into bass, and like cargo space, however, it is well worth it in the end. The finished product will be tough as a boat hull, sound great, and last forever.

And if your jeep ever... I don't know, decides to go HALO jumping and slams into the ground at 230mph, that enclosure will be sitting on top of the smashed burning carniage, waiting to bump out some tunes.

highvoltagefeathers

I've got some more pics,

Now some might not like the idea of tossing the PCV regarding the crank vent system, but I change oil regularly, and am not concerned.

First, the new ACC mass backed carpet. Install went well, not much to show there. Laid down rustoleum first, sound deadening second, then the carpet.



Heres the jeepersandcreepers.com 62mm billet throttle body. It fits great and works well with an engine that can already breathe easier. Warning to the spectre cowl intake owners: Your probably aware that this intake blasts (awesome) engine noise into the passenger compartment through the AC pickup. This throttle body whistles quite alot more than stock from 1/8 throttle to 3/8 throttle. I don't know that there is anything to be done about it, but thats the price of pretty anodized parts.



Here is the Livewires Ignition system. Install was very easy, asside from the pita mounting location for the new coil.



I'll keep posting.