jeepinNC

Figured I'd start a build thread so i could get some feed back and mainly because my wife is tired of hearing about what I've done or am going to do with the Jeep. I told her it was better & cheaper than getting a Porsche and a young girlfriend but she didn't find that funny.

Picked this 98 sport up in Nov with 141K on it. It has a few dings and scratches but nothing major. Guy I got it from had the front drive shaft removed because it was giving him some trouble and he didn't want to spend the $ to fix it. He lived in town so the jeep never saw 4x4 while he had it. Heater also didn't work so between that & the 4X4 I had pretty good leverage on the price.

First order of business was changing the fluids, go over it with a fine tooth comb, and add lots of stickers. All good!

Second order of business- flush heater core. 20 min later we have good heat- Yeah!

Got a 2" hitch of CL & scored a roof rack (complete w Zombie Hunter decal which my kids love) and 4- 6" lights to boot

Tore off the plastic trim & took the heat gun to the "sport" decals. Still need to finish cleaning up the sticky.

Drove like that for a month before putting the front drive shaft back on. I replaced the u joint before reassembling since it was a lil stiff & rusty. Rode around the farm in 4x4 climbing up hills and through ditches & all seems good.

jeepinNC

Was planning a fishing trip to the coast over Christmas so I built a 8 foot PVC rod holder for the top. The boys were helping and we decided it would be much cooler if we added fins & painted it to look like a missile.

My wife said I had to get the windows tinted so no one can see her riding around in a jeep with a missile on top.

After Christmas I added 2 of the off road lights to the bumper & got them wired up. Nice & Bright!

Also found my old cobra cb & k40 antenna. Got them tuned up and installed. Now we can talk with other zombie hunters during the apocalypse (according to my kids)

This week I built a light bar for the top so I could mount my other 2 lights "mickey mouse style" .

I also built a rod rack holder for the front bumper out of an old 1 1/4" receiver & some 4" angle iron I had sitting around in the shed. I'll post pics later.

XJ98sport

nice to see another white xj

SnailTrail

Nice rocket! LOL. Do you take your fly reel off before putting them that holder? I dont really need a fly rod holder because all of my fly rods are 4 pieces. But, I was thinking about putting one on my 98 just for days where I need to drive to another spot and dont feel like breaking it down.

jeepinNC

i haven't tried out the fly rod in the missile. i think i could get one in there with no problem. i thought about using 6in pvc but had this piece of 4 in lying around. my fly rod is a 3 pc so i mainly built it for my 12 surf rod.

SnailTrail

Ohh ok, right on. Well then, when I throw one together I will let you know how well it works.

jeepinNC

I decided to add my other 2 lights as Mickey Mouse ears up top but didn't want them on the rack so I made a separate light bar for them. I had a neighbor with a metal fab shop bend a piece of 1/8" steel into a 2" channel, added a few scraps to keep the wires up and then made 1/4" legs angled to match the factory tracks. I plan to make 2 more for mounting the rack on since I don't like the flex of the plastic stock bars. I still have to wire up the lights.






Since I don't have the skid plate under the front to put teeth on I opted for the smaller bumper version. It's made from scrap reflective trailer tape so it looks really cool at night.



Here's the front rack hitch I made from some scraps. Working on a cooler and rod rack now.

jeepinNC

DOGS LOVE JEEPS!

jeepinNC

been raining here for 2 days. The thought crossed my mind to take the jeep out on the farm and play in the mud but i wasn't sure how the pigs would take to being invaded......

jeepinNC

Got my AEM air filter in the mail yesterday. It took a lil scrounging around the sheds to find suitable materials but I came up with enough pvc pipe to construct an adapter for the filter. Now I just have to finish making the heat shield and it'll be ready. pics soon (if it works that is.)

McGuinness

always nice to see another NC Jeeper! nice xj

jeepinNC

Just ordered an Accel ignition upgrade, Rancho steering stab, & Skyjacker shocks. May not be the best stuff but should be a nice improvement.

jeepinNC

The goodies arrived yesterday and today.

Now if it'll just stop with the freezing rain I can get around to working on this stuff. Went to the farm to check on all the critters and ended up doing doughnuts in the pasture with my 6 yo riding shotgun then climbing on some frozen compost piles - farm fun!

jeepinNC

Haven't been on here in a while but here are some updates. After a trip to fort fisher at Kure beach in May i decided it was time to start looking around for tires and lift options.

jeepinNC

Gone fishing!