WantaXJ

Excited to see where this goes man... Really wish my parents were into this when I was younger as well... Hope your kid(s) enjoy it!

OffRoadNewb

Thanks man. Funny quick story... I was sweating in the garage pretty much all weekend on this, and my daughter (she is 8) gives me this story she wrote about how cool her dad is and she can't wait to go camping in the Jeep. That I am working on it and when it is done all we need is our camping gear... if that doesn't give you motivation as a Dad I don't know what will... made me feel like a million bucks.

caronaxtr

Build looks like it's commin along good. Lookin' forward to see more. Sounds like you daughter is giving you HUGE incentive to get everything done....

OffRoadNewb

Thanks! And yes... I even sold a couple rifles (another hobby) to get this thing moving along some more. I should be ordering a front winch bumper here this month, and working on the getting the body done up. It's too hot for camping right now in FL anyway, but gives me time to work on it until fall comes around, then I am thinking of taking it up to NC again this fall/winter. They have an off road coarse at my Dad's work where they train people to drive off road, and since the only time I have ever been "off road" is in a 30 ton AAV-7A1 in the Marines... I think some lessons may benefit me... Can't really just drive over a tree or through a lake in an XJ, lol, so I need to learn some limits.

OffRoadNewb

Ok, so brake lines are hooked up. Here is my current dilemma...



The XJ e-brake line has a reg studd end, and the ZJ e-brake line has a rectangle end, which I need to use the XJ lines because the length is right, but the ZJ ends to hook it to the ebrake lever. Anyone got any ideas? thinking about welding a bracket on to it to make it except the ends that are there.

OffRoadNewb

After searching on the forum, I decided not to mess with cable clamps and making it work, so I ordered a set of cables from Morris 4x4 right here in FL. New cables, right length, right ends, hopefully will be like new and I will only have to do it once.

OffRoadNewb

Just got these back today, after waiting 2 weeks for my buddy to media blast them... that took him only 40 minutes... lol, anyway, will be working on these this weekend, hopefully get them on next week.

OffRoadNewb

A little more progress this weekend. Got the wheels primed and painted up...



Also got the track bar hole moved...



I know, I know... probably should do an adjustable track bar. BUT I worked last two saturdays on side jobs making extra money to cover stuff so far... AND I ordered myself a Nathan's 4x4 front winch bumper on friday. So hopefully that will be here soon. E-brake cable will be here tues.

On another note, Jeep beach is this week... which is awesome... except for the fact that I am on call... so I can't go. LAME. Hope to get out soon though.

Also my friend and I were pondering into this vapor lock situation on hot starts. First I looked into it and people were either insulating their injectors better and/or adding a hood vent. But I looked into this more, and the way they did this fuel system is retarded. The fuel press regulator and return is back by the tank, so when the injector(s) or rail gets vapor in it, it has no where to go. SO, I think in the future we are going to add a regulator and return line to the actual fuel rail. Not 100% sure on how or if there maybe an after market rail that would make this easier, but it seems like a better more permanent fix. If anyone has seen this done, feel free to give me your $.02

WantaXJ

Haha that's awesome man.. Glad to hear she's so excited about it

OffRoadNewb

Well, went to go install the new e-brake cables today from Morris 4x4... and here is what I ended up with:



I noticed the cable length at the end was a little different before I put them on, but thought it would even out... but nope. There is no way the bracket is going back on with this much difference... so I am in contact with them to see what the deal is. So far no progress.

I did get the wheels and tires back... and on the jeep....



The steering wheel is sitting about 1/4 turn to the right, the passenger side front wheel noticeably sticks out more than the driver's side. So it definitely needs an alignment/adj trac bar. Also these tires might drive me nuts on the first road trip... but might not be going out of FL as soon as I thought... will touch on that later. I only took it for a spin around the block. Going to pick up a t-case drop as well as soon as I sell these oem wheels.

A little irritated after a day of driving around looking for a place to make these cables the same length, and other stuff. Once the new bumper gets here, trac bar, and t-case drop, I will start hammering on it some more.

OffRoadNewb

No front bumper today... decided to get it ready for the new bumper coming in this week. If anyone needs oem wheels/tires/suspension stuff/front bumper, I need to get all this stuff out of my garage, make me an offer.

OffRoadNewb

Well, got the adjustable track bar, and front winch bumper from Nathan's yesterday. Was a busy day yesterday with work, my wife's first ultrasound...

That's right, my wife is 5 weeks into kid #2.
And it was our wedding anniversary as well, so we went out to eat.

But enough of that, on to XJ stuff, here is the bumper. I must say this thing is NICE... welds are nice, this thing is beefy. I haven't mounted it yet, I am going to rhino line it first, but it looks nice just bare metal.





I got the trac bar on this morning... went in pretty easily. I adjusted it a bit, but will let the shop adjust it when they do the alignment. I think it was worth the $$.



Waiting on the t-case drop from the mail man today, once it is here I'll throw it on and see if I can't go get it aligned today. If all goes well, I'll be doing the rhino lining this weekend. I have to go pick up the material on friday, hopefully the weekend won't be so rainy.

Redsnake

Nice build. Any more info on the e-brake cables f/ Morris4x4? I'm needing new cables for my '01XJ since I did the disc brake swap ~ 2 weeks back and have been following a few threads to see what turns up.

Also, I like the looks of that front bumper. Can you give some additional details... price, where you got it?

Thanks

OffRoadNewb

Yes, funny you ask. I actually just picked up the cables from Napa, they both got here today and went ahead and put them on. Turned out good. I have to admit they did not line up perfect, BUT they were close enough, and had enough cable play to make it work. I simply took a little off of the spring on the driver's side (shorter cable) to even them out, and wa la:





Now, I told Morris 4x4 to send a pick up of the cables they sent me, and they said the MFG was not going to take them back... SO I get to keep them anyway and they are still going to credit me. The girl Ashley there was very nice, and I was not expecting to keep the cables and get a refund. I would not hesitate to order anything from them again. GREAT customer service.

As far as the front bumper goes, I actually ordered it from Nate's 4x4 on ebay, because they were having a sale for JUST the front bumper for $455 shipped. They do have it on their website, but it's a little more $$ UNLESS you get their deal on the front AND rear bumper special. Then it comes out to the same price. I wasn't sure if I wanted that kind of rear bumper yet, so I just ordered the front. Here is the link to their site and the special for both and their ebay name/page:

http://www.nates4x4.com/ProductDetai...e=COM2_SLL_XJR

http://myworld.ebay.com/nates4x4fabr...p2047675.l2559

In other news, t-case drop is done as well.



With all this done I ran out of time to go to the alignment place, but will do that next week.

OffRoadNewb

So I got time to pick up the bed liner I will be using on the Jeep today. Here is what I will be using. I got it from Finishmaster, and my buddy used it on his frontier so I know exactly how it turns out, and it's going to look great!



Cost is about $195, but I bought it on an account from the guy who painted my car through his shop, so it ended up costing $120. I will prob only need 2 of the 4 quarts, so I might sell the other 2 to my other friend for his ridgeline.

I also got all the fender flares and what not off, and cleaned up.





I also took off the front bug/wind deflector... that is going to be fun to clean up off the paint. But I think it looks better.

Tomorrow I will start scuffing up the area I am going to coat, and the pieces that are off, then coat them tomorrow or sunday. The bumper being one of the pieces.