first build
 

Hello my name is slade I am 24 and live in WI, recently My dad and uncle had passed away. I used to help them build a number of off road jeeps,samurai's and other rigs, I remember when I was 5 riding with them in a old cj5 with no doors,loved it. well anyways I feel its my turn I have a 1999 jeep xj the motor just blew, and the only mods are a roof rack from a 07 liberty and the bfg tires. I am looking for some ideas or websites for parts. I am looking for a set of tail light guards online but cant find them for the xj's, I was thinking of putting a 4.5 rough country lift as well. I need this jeep to hold the road but still want to turn heads. I am excited to start but dont know where, even finding the right motor is a chore. I have been told the older 4.0 will fit in a 99 then I was told stay away from the 0331 casting number on the heads. well if I do that Ill have to stick a older 4.0 but Im hoping to avoid custom work to get it to fit. by looking at some of these pics on this site it looks like I have a long ways to go, but I hope to be finished by spring. thanks in advance for your imput this build means a lot to me and I hope it will last

Welcome to the site. Have pictures of the rig? Always good to shoot plenty of befor, during and after pictures, you never know when they will come in handy....lol

As for finding parts, a good reference site, and product site for most jeeps is www.quadratec.com

I usually start there, see ideas, price them out, then go shopping for exact parts for less money either locally, or online. Buy a lot through www.summitracing.com and www.jcwhitney.com as well....

Worse comes to worse, google, under the shopping tab returns a lot of results too.

Welcome to the forum and sorry for your loss. Let us know if you need and help or advice on the build. The guys here are super helpful and friendly! I like to use craigslist for parts as well as make my own. I would recommend checking out essentials for jeeps as well as the quadratec catalog for you small parts.

Thanks, just bought a 94 2door for parts so Im going to beat on it in the woods then pull the motor for the 99 and get started. should be fun