Well i guess its time for me to make a build thread once again! My last build on here documented the building of my $200 ZJ, but sadly about a month ago the jeep was totaled and needless to say i was devastated for being such a cheap jeep and having just shy of 300k miles it had been one of the most reliable vehicles ive ever owned and i had become attached to it . . So over the past month i spent a little time everyday searching through craigslist and facebook sale pages trying to find a cheap replacement ZJ, I had gone to check a few out that i had found only to be disapointed

Well last weekend i stumbled across an ad for a 1998 Cherokee for $800 with just over 200k miles, it was located about 2 hours away and from the pictures it seemed to be in decent shape. The ad stated that it was in need of some repairs and hadnt moved in over a year and that they needed to sell it ASAP. Well i decided to jump on it and called the guy up, told him i could be there next day with cash and a trailer to take it away. . . . . So i did just that and by monday afternoon i had acquired a 98 xj for $600

Its going to need a decent amount of work to get it road worthy/reliable and it also has some areas of rust that id like to repair ASAP!!

The Specs
-----------

- 4.0
- Auto
- 203k Miles
- Np231
- Dana 30/ 8.25

The Repairs Needed
-------------------

- [x] Exhaust needs replacing (completely rotten)
- [x] In need of front and rear brakes
- [x] Front bumper and header panel need replacing
- [x] Cooling system needs a flush badly, will probably replace radiator/ water pump/ thermostat and heater core
- [x] Battery cables need replacing
- [x] Some areas of rust on rocker and rear quarters (will probably cut and fold rear) as well as rust eating away at lift gate
- [x] Passenger window off track
- [x] Replace ghetto rigged radio
- [x] Neutral Safety Switch (no reverse lights, no overdrive, pending code P0705)
- [x] Rough Idle
- [x] CEL on for O2 Sensor and EVAP leak
- [x] Driver door panel

The list will most likely continue to grow because well its a jeep lol


The build plans for now
----------------------

- [x] 2" BB consisting of coil spacer, AALs and shocks
- [x] 31" Cooper AT3s off of my wrecked ZJ
- [x] IRO Adjustable lowers also off my wrecked ZJ
- [x] Trimmed fenders and cut and fold quarters
- [ ] Homemade front and rear bumpers
- [ ] Hitch and recovery accessories
- [x] 8.8 Swap


Some Pics!!

















And my previous Zj in all her glory





And her demise

 

Started on making repairs today and also got it registered and insured . . it had a rough idle and would die if you didnt feather the gas pedal while in park, took out the throttle body with sensors and replaced it with the one from my zj and while i was at it replaced the spark plugs, Runs smooth and idles smooth now

This is the throttle body i took off it, i can only imagine how gunked up it is inside




The spark plugs i took out


The nastyness in the cooling system


And the front bumper removed, its also missing the vacuum ball so for now i capped the vacuum line with a screw lol

 

Tomorrow i plan to pull out the NSS and clean it up as well as change all the fluids and attempt to flush out the cooling system

 

Good luck! you got a lot a work ahead of ya

 

Haha thanks! so far everything is going smoothly!

 

Seems like it! Just know no matter what happens, I'll be along for the ride. Right here in the comfort of my office chair lol!

 

Sorry to see the loss of the zj. It was nice. But glad to see you in a xj now! If you want a front bumper, i have an older model stock one you can have. It would get you by for the time being.

 

Well i didn't get as much done today as i had hoped, chopped off my rotten exhaust, changed the oil and then spent a good amount of time getting the NSS off the vehicle. Finally got it off in once piece and cleaned it up nice inside, reinstalled it and i now have reverse lights, overdrive and i can start the jeep in park and neutral!

Didnt take many pics as my hands were covered in pb blaster, degreaser, dielectric grease and brake cleaner lol

A word of caution i should add here, ive seen some write ups about loosening the nut holding the NSS to the shaft and prying off it with a screwdriver . . i tried that technique at first and ended up popping the nut over the threads which in returned damaged all but 3 threads, i found it easier to take 2 screwdriver and work them behind the NSS and slowly tapped them in from behind . . it worked perfectly and popped the NSS off the shaft!









Tomorrow ill try to tackle the cooling system and fix a few things in the interior

 

Progress! I hate cooling systems, we've never got along well.

 

Yea it sucks! but im definitely loving the xj even with the amount of work it needs! And i plan to run to the junkyard this weekend for a bumper and header panel but thanks for the offer anyway!

 

Yea any progress is good progress! and im not looking forward to it lol

 

Subbed

 

Got some things done on the jeep today and as of right now shes running and driving like a champ! Did a quick flush of the cooling system for now, once funds allow ill replace everything. Right now though shes running at 192 according to my torque pro app. Also took some time today pulling parts off the ZJ as itll be headed to the scrap yard soon . . Was hoping to get some 2" AALs in the mail today to start lifting her up a bit but it looks like they will be here tomorrow or monday

Some pics from today . . I took a bunch of the rusty areas on the jeep, not sure how i want to handle it all yet so any input is greatly appreciated! would really like to take care of it ASAP before it eats away the whole jeep

- Parts scavenging the ZJ -



- Collection of lift pieces -



- Collection of junk -



- A little crusty -



- Was going to swap this out for my v8 tie rod on the zj but the zj didnt want to give it up easily so back on to the xj it went lol -



- Ended up taping over all the rust here to keep it from raining on my head for now, hopefully going to grab one of the same color from the junkyard -



- Gorilla tape FTW! -



- And THE RUST!! -

















- And since i havent posted any pics of the interior yet i figured id grab some today, still needs a good deep cleaning so i bought some Tuff Stuff to spray all over tomorrow -











- And for fun i mounted up my maglite -

 

So heres how the dash looks after driving her around for about an hour . . according to my torque pro app the jeep is running at about 192 degrees



I also started replacing the burned out interior lights with LEDs

 

Lookin good! Ya that's some decent rust. I think you should go for the rat rod look lol