Beginners love
 

So back when I was 16 I got my license and my parents sold me their 94 base 2wd Cherokee. I loved it right away. Wanted to lift it and convert it to 4X4 when I could afford it but a year went by and I rolled it. After I rolled my Jeep I bought a 2001 Ford Taurus (POS) from my grandparents for 1300. Couldn't pass that up. Well that was 4 years ago and I was tired of this effin ford so I took a look on Craigslist. After 2 months of searching and long decision making I decided to drive 2 hours away to possibly trade my car straight up for a 91 Jeep Cherokee limited on 33's and a 4.5" lift. Here she is

Now mind you I had this nice looking perfect running low mileage car which was my daily driver but it was a ford. I took a risk, believed what PO told me about it, and traded it for this beast. I'm glad i did now but driving it home I was a little concerned but its a Jeep. They are bullet proof. :) Here's a few things I saw on my first look before I drove it home:

Cons:
No Bumpers
No carpet
No headliner
Driver side rear passenger door handle broke
Blower doesn't work
Missing horn on steering wheel
Power steering leak
Driver side Brake light broken
Driver side turn marker broken
****ty house paint job
Few dents here and there

Pros:
98+ cooling system
New water pump
4.5" lift
15" black pro comp steel rims
Good tires
Bad *** Flared fenders
New headlights
Runs good
New radio
New 5pt front bucket seats

I've been meaning to post this build for a few weeks but I've been really busy with work and a pregnant fiance. Lol. :) I've done a few things to it wish I had pics but I don't so ill go over what I've done and take pics and report here. Lol.

Looks like a decent start. I bet most of those parts can either be found at a junk yard, on the for sale section here or even check out rockauto.com. I like the fiberglass front fenders. Should totally make it into a prerunner style XJ. Good luck.

This story sounds way too similar to mine!! Haha. Looking like a great start!

Nice lookin rig! I drove one of those old Taurus's, you got the better deal in that trade lol.

Thanks guys. Ya I'm loving this jeep more and more each day. Its been some work and tlc and learning and im enjoying it. Lots of trips to the JY but got most of everything for free. :)

So after I got it home i took a closer look at everything and u found quite a few things i should have noticed at first but oh well. Lol. Here what I found

Bad motor mounts (really bad)
Bad lower radiator hose
A few jacked up vacuum lines
4X4 didn't engage just needed fluid tho but it leaks out front output shaft
Bad tranny mount
No running lights
Bad fan belt pulley
Death wobble turning left
Uneven tire wear on front
Front sway bar disconnected
Wiring screwed with causing lots of shorts

Long road ahead of me. There is more but ill get to that later.

My first trip to the JY I picked up all the interior things I needed:

Horn on steering wheel
Driver side speaker cover
Transmission option switch
Door handle
A lot of fuses and relays. Lol.
Driver side kick panel
Cigarette lighter

All easy quick and cheap things to do so why not get it out of the way first. Lol.

Allright so i got my interior squared away as much as I can for now. Just threw a blanket down for carpet. Now on to the wiring... arg. Lol
No running lights so i start with the radio and of course it wasn't worked right. Fixed that and now I'm blowing fuses. I followed all the wires and found a positive and negative plugged right into each other on the back hatch where the PO removed the wiper. Fixed that all up and everything's working again!!!

I had been searching Craigslist for a few parts here and there and came across a good deal on some bumpers a set of chrome stock and a nice rear offroad one all for $40 my dad needed a new back one so i gave him the stock one for $20. So it was a pretty damn good deal. Here's mine and my dads side by Side. He's got a 93 sport with a 2" lift

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Here's the back bumper

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On my way down there I stopped a a JY and picked up a used fan belt pulley because mine was pretty shot.
My fiance took this shot of me putting the pulley and bumpers on

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One thing at a time. Lol. :)

Sorry pics were sideways. Lol

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The next day I got a couple of things and just cleaned stuff up a bit. Got a brake light and front turn marker

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Ran the wires for window defrost over since there was no rear wiper and the toggle fans were put on the left

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Bought some cup holders and rigged this up


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My buddy gave me this and I thought it was pretty sweet so i put it on. Lol.

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Gonna do a few things under the hood next time :)

Over the next few days I tackled a few things under the hood. Put new motor mounts in, got a cold air intake off Craigslist, fixed all the vacuum lines. I had a high idle so i went about fixing that. I took off the throttle body and holy crap. Its was caked about a centimeter thick of crud. The air flow sensor was completely clogged. So i cleaned the hell outta that and put it all back together stock to go get it smogged. I was a lil worried but it passed with flying colors. :) So i got it home and started working on the intake. I'm not done completely but here's the beginning stage. I'm still not sure how I want to approach actually getting cold air tho. Lol


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I re-positioned the IAT



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Then i found out I had pretty bad blow by going on so i rigged this up


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Its kinda rigged but it works like a charm. All I did was cut a mini water bottle and but a spectre breather filter inside (the tip fit perfect in the neck of the bottle) ran a tube to It, taped the bottle back together and put a hole in the bottom and slid a tube in that end. Taped it all up and it works great!!! :)

Put a new steering stabilizer the old one had worn bushings from DW


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And that's it for now.

Until next time.... ill be driving it 45 miles round trip to work. Lol. :) :)

Here's a few pics around the jeep

The seats

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My carpet job. Lol

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My subs

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Where I put the sub adjustment

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The radiator fans

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I had to break the shroud on this one so it would spin freely. Its too small and weak anyways so i just ordered a 12" pro comp to go in its place. :)

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My battery cables were giving me hell so i bought this for now


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The engine compartment. I'm slowly removing the AC components gonna get the bypass pulley next week


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Found a broken bolt on the exhaust manifold. There's my leak

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Well I was gonna buy the AC delete pulley but decided buy a lil something else :)

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Yupp new injectors! Got two sets of 4 for 60 bucks free shipping. Gotta love eBay
While I was awaiting those I made myself a headliner. Grabbed the box from our 55" flat screen and started cutting and taping away. Lol

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Got a couple old thin blankets and used lots of this stuff. Hahaha

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And my end result. It probably won't line up perfectly but it will work for now (till I wana go rip one outta the JY) Had to do it two tone which I kinda like. Lol
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Gonna install it tomorrow along with my new fan which I should have gotten bigger....