Bought my 98 sport 4.0 with 150,xxx miles for $2k. Planned on doing all the work with the immense help of my brother.
Here's when I first bought it.

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Things I've done so far:

-Magnaflow muffler, new exhaust from manifold
-2 bosch o2 sensors
-oil changes with lucas oil stabilizer
-trans filter/flush/gasket
-read diff flush/gasket
-front diff flush/gasket
-seafoam
-coolant flush
-custom cold air intake
-custom DTS driveshaft
-new hub assemblies
-axle shaft u-joints
-new wrangler radial tires (looking for 31's for after the lift)
-rear pinion seal
-new (to me) pinion yoke
-new thermostat (old one wouldn't go passed 160 degrees)
-new gates serp belt


Things to come:

-install my lift: 3 inch replacement leaf pack from rough country (my leafs are beyond flat) and 3 inch poly spacers in the front. new bilstein shocks (haven't had time to install yet)
-new carpet
-new front bumper from a guy on CF
-paint axles and anything i can see
-bedline the rockers and wheel wells
-accel super tune up kit from quadratec
-31's
-fan shroud (already have)
-valve cover gasket (already have)
-not sure what to do with the fender flares. im missing the front driver side. should i just rip them off and do the snip and fold? or new flares? suggestions please.
-hood vents (already have)

random pics to come.

 

Some random pics:

Some body damage


Tight fit


New tires




Shows how bad the leafs are. Literally beyond flat.


lost my drive shaft one day


new one

Plan on adding pics of the lift before and after and other random pics as things get done.

 

buddy has the same jeep to the tooth, but with a 4.5 inch, bfg AT 31's around some black steelies that look the same :P.

same lights, same grille, same fading flares



If you're buying a new lift, its actually cheaper to get the 4.5 X-Flex that comes with new packs.

 

i love steel blue xj's great start can't wait to see more

 

i got mine from fat bobs garage. the leafs were the same price for 3 inch and 4.5 inch. $260

 

Nice project jeep, can't wait to see the lift pics.

 

Let's see a pic of your friends jeep for future reference

 

Decided to relocate the IAT sensor today.

Before:


After:


Check engine light is on now. I'll try and take care of it later.

Water temp sensor is next.

 

We actually got some work done today. Finally installed my hood vents.







We also installed the fan shroud I bought a freakin month ago. Also installed new water temp sensor. We all know what those look like so no pics needed. Check engine light is now gone.

I noticed a few degree drop with the hood vents and fan shroud installed. Nothing dramatic but worth it. Right before the 210 marker. I plan on getting some spray on silicone, if it exists, my dad says it does, and spray my injectors and dist cap

Lift should get done this week. I'm getting my shocks on tuesday, BDS 5500.

 

Nice build!!! I like the hood vents. I am adding lights soon and a roof rack.

 

Finally started the lift. Tonight we just did the front. Went until about 2:15 am and had to call it a night. Will start hopefully again tomorrow. 3 inch spacers up front. Went with BDS 5500 shocks since I couldn't get the deal I wanted on Bilsteins. BDS are probably better since they're Michigan made and never heard a bad review on them. Some pics.


Tonight we just added the coil spacers, removed shocks, removed steering stabilizer. Took about 3 hours with lots of rusty bolts.


Of course the wood block thats been used forever decided to crumble tonight.








Almost done.

 

i just did my spacers and shackles the other night. my leafs are sagging BAD what did yours run you?

 

i got mine from fat bobs garage. $260 replacement pack with 3 inch lift. the 4.5 inch lift is the same price. shipping was $40 though. i think rustys has a good deal of the leaf packs too.

 

The front is totally done. It took about 8 hours of actual labor but 2 days with driving around looking for crap we ran out of. Ended up adding new sway bar bushings and basically took apart all the steering which took the most time to put back . Seems like everything went wrong while doing this but whatever, the end result will be worth it. The rear still needs to be done so right now I'm driving around with half lifted jeep but it looks sweet. The rear will get done this week, time and money permitted.

 

After you finish the lift make sure you check all your bolts a day or two later. Some of mine loosened up after driving around awhile. Because of this I also used the blue locktite on my bolt threads.