JWB37

heres a little update. I took the Jeep out for the 4 wheel parts customer appreciation run. It was a ton of fun and there were some great people there. Too bad I had to leave early for work

I left the front sway bar on because I still have stock brake lines, but I did air down my tires to about 20psi. I wanted to go to 15, but I wasn't doing anything crazy, and since I had to drive back to work, and fill my tires back up with a bike pump, I figured 20 was good. And it left me plenty tired after 20min of pumping tires lol




31s tuck pretty nicely in stock fenders.

Cherokee.Dreamer

We should be best friends

JWB37

I've been following your build! I love the way you have built up your rig. Better than mine! If I'm ever up visiting family in oregon I'll shoot you a PM

1998xjspt

<3

1998xjspt

nice color guys! iv got the same color and year. but mines automatic. i already got my RE 3.5 lift I'm just waiting for my Bilstein 5100s that i ordered from seriousoffroad. after that I'm looking to get a double shear track bar and 15x8 cragar soft 8's with 4 backspacing wrapped in 31x10.50r15 BFG KM2's!

now that you mention getting relocation brackets, ima check them out to see if they sell for a good price. nice build man! I'm really hoping mine doesn't need an SYE either! (fingers crossed)

Cherokee.Dreamer

nothing wrong with automatic. Thats what mine is

PocketsEmpty

Awesome XJ dude! I have a 98 Sport in the same beautiful color, auto w/ NP242 case. Did you have to do any bump-stopping with that lift or did it include bump stops?

Mine is all stock at the moment, I'll be starting a build thread once I get more into it. I am planning for 5.5" IRO Critical Path Long Arm lift kit and bushwacker flatties...i'm excited! :-)



Haven't decided on wheels yet--everyone seems to go with the standard black steelies or Soft 8s but I want to stand out from the crowd. so we'll see. 33's or 35s...haven't decided yet--not until the lift is done :-)

JWB37

Nice! I havent done any bumpstops, but the rear didn't need it, and the front only rubs a little at full flex if I have the sway bar disconnected. The wheel will hit the front fender that wraps around the bumper. With a 5.5in lift and 35s(go with 35s!!) you'll probably have to make some bump stops, but with bushwhackers(good choice on the flats!), it wont be as bad as stock. My long term plans for this are bilstien 5100s, shackle relocaters, bushwacker flats, and 33s. and regear to 4.56s. But I want to keep my jeep as a decent daily driver. Might even throw in a front locker when I regear to go with my rear LSD. I wish I could update my build more, but I am in my first year of college, so money is really tight.


There is so much you can do to these. Sounds like you are doing it right from the start. I wish I had done more research, but I guess my lift isn't too bad. Just needs shackle relocaters and long arms. and a new trackbar mount lol. But I have nice wheels and tires, and a clean XJ, so I can't complain. My friends like to ride in it, and girls love it! I can't wait to follow your build!


One thing I do have planned is to pick up a 99+ intake and some 784 injectors and do an intake swap. I just need to find one for a decent price. I'm looking to get all the MPGs I can out of this. I need to do my cowl intake also. hmm, I guess there is a lot of cheap stuff I could get done right now

PocketsEmpty

Just got my build sheet today. The color is called Gunmetal Pearl. Love it! :-) Anyways, I was reading up on the intake swap earlier. Definitely involves some custom fabbing of the new intake but supposed to be worth the effort. Here's a really good link I found earlier:

http://www.jpmagazine.com/techarticl...s/viewall.html

I've been researching for hours before I even got my XJ, I want to make sure it is as good as it can be with the setup that I want. Money is tight for me as well in fact I'm thinking of picking up a weekend job just to fund this project

I might have to look into the Bilsteins as I'm seeing great things about them everywhere. Shackle relocators seem to be essential as well--I briefly saw a thread earlier about some low-profile ones that are available. A slip yoke eliminator is definitely going to be installed--doing it right from the beginning. No t-case drops for me and hopefully I won't need any shimming but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it!

JWB37

That's interesting. I read an article somewhere that had back to back dyno tests of the new intake, and 784 injectors, and they had a 20hp gain. I'll have to find that article because I've heard both arguments many times, and on the internet its hard to know what to believe. From the write ups I've seen, there is very little to no custom fab needed for the swap. Some people ground out material so that each path way had an equal volume going to each cylinder,but that isn't very hard, nor necessary. There was some mount that changed in 97 or 98 that would require the newer mount, but I know for a 98, the swap is supposed to be really easy.