ExpeditionXJ

Sorry, didn't see this. There are horror stories about the Notch flare fitment. The glowing review you find everywhere with the white jeep is a company friend / shill.

ExpeditionXJ

Life has been been crazy busy, but I'm now back to working on this jeep. Will do a good update when I get some time. I gave the flares my typical OCD treatment when coating them... They turned out beautiful.

ExpeditionXJ

Some teasers:

Jeepology

I have to agree. I have them and fitment is terrible. They do look great though LOL.

is that monstaliner on yours?

ExpeditionXJ

Yes it is. Bumpers, rockers, & fenders are going to be black Monstaliner. The body will be a deep tan like the interior.

I'm essentially doing a bumper to bumper restoration on a 1999 XJ. Lots of work but it will be bad *** once it's done.

Jeepology

Used monstaliner on all my stuff too. Good choice

01EXPOXJ

Looking good so far! I am going the same way with my XJ wish I had your patience though. I tend to rush things but I'm learning to slow down(a little). Keep it up!

cbs_24

I really want to monstaline up to my windows w/ their white color eventually.

ExpeditionXJ

I definitely rushed it at first. The first thing I did to it was the massive pain in the *** job of coating the interior. I think I mentioned this previously, but the Jeep was filled with so much fine sand it took 120 hours of prep before I could get proper adhesion (including fixing the mess I created with the tar insulation ).

I'm also have to research the **** out of everything, so when I wasn't working on it I was researching. Last year after doing my SYE, belly pan for the long arms, rear main seal & oil pump in rapid succession I was officially burned out. It was no logner fun and became a chore. Luckily I messed up my wrist and was out of commission for 4+ months, so I got a nice break. LOL

ExpeditionXJ

Massive update with pictures to come later this month. Lots of changes and additions to the build plan. It's been stationary in garage for a year now. So it’s about damn time I get some work done.

I took the other week off to work on the Jeep and finish the front suspension. It was a disaster. I've installed, aligned, and uninstalled my front suspension at least 3 times due to the following:

• Bilstein gave me the wrong shock valving
• Rubicon express gave me incorrect info on their track bar measurements
• My TNT long arm kit had a part that was out of spec
• My Metalcloak 4.5" springs gave me 6" of lift

It's all been ironed out, and now I'm just waiting for the remaining parts. In the end the front suspension has been as meticulously pieced together. It took lots of measuring and planning, but I wanted to get as much suspension travel as humanly possible for a 3.5-4” lift with 33’s.

Here’s the winning combination:

• Dirtbound tube flares
• Custom progressive bump stops that limit 5” of uptravel (building these this weekend)
• 3.5” Metalcloak dual rate springs w/ a 22.5” extended length (~3” longer than others on the market)
• Rukse 5/8” spacers
• Bilstein 7100 short body 12” travel shocks
• JKS upper shock mount adapters
• JKS lower bar pin eliminators

This combination lets me run 33” tires on a ~4” lift, while only reducing the up travel by 1” and adding a ridiculous 8” of droop. I have sway bar disconnects, steering upgrades, a track bar, and other small stuff, but those parts are all secondary.

Atmos

good stuff man, can't wait to see this thing flexed out

Jesse Marquez

Where are those update Pics?? I've been checking everyday for two weeks now! I love you approach and thought process on this build. I plan on building a similar rig when i get back from my deployment. Looking forward for some updates !

ExpeditionXJ

Sorry man! I still haven't gotten around to taking photos for the massive update. I've been working crazy hours and dividing the little spare time I have between the jeep and a few projects around the house. The more I put off the update off the more massive it will be. LOL

I'm replacing the distributor gasket and valve cover gasket this weekend. Hopefully I'll have time to take some good pics of all the suspension & steering work I've done. I really need to get better at taking photos while I'm working on it, rather than after the fact.

ExpeditionXJ

Mini update:

Front shocks + JKS bar pin eliminators + JKS race shock mounts did not add up the lengths the specs indicated, and is ~1" longer. I need more up travel. I plan on learning how to weld later this year, so relocating the upper mounts (hoop) will be in order.

Also, the engine works! It had been sitting for a year after I replaced the rear main seal and oil pump. I finally got around to pulling the distributor, replacing its gasket, and priming the pump. The engine timing is perfect, so at least I didn't screw that up. Will be replacing the valve cover gasket within the next week or so.

I'll try to come up with a bullet point list of everything that's been done to the jeep over the past year or so.

ExpeditionXJ

Replaced the distributor gasket the other week. Making sure the timing was correct wasn't near as difficult as I was expecting.

The weather is about to start cooling down, and I plan on getting back to the Jeep in full force. I've done a lot of suspension and steering over the year that I haven't updated this thread with. The good news is I'm about to remove everything, reinforce the frame, truss the axles, and reinstall it all. I WILL take pictures this time. The bad news is I wasted a lot of time this year fiddling around with the combination of suspension components... and still have an undrivable jeep in the garage.