If I recall correctly, the down pipe was dimpled at the factory to clear something with suspension when it's at full compression.

With a lift on it, it won't be any issue.

 

Actually it was dusguised as front drive shaft clearance but it actual purpose is to act as a pre cat to heat the cat up faster

 

The cat that I took of was completely empty inside and I have an aftermarket high-flow cat going on when I get the new APN header slapped on. I'm hoping by next weekend I have it going, but I imagine that won't be the case. My time to turn wrench during daylight hours is pretty much gone, and my wife works every Saturday and Sunday so I'm tasking with keeping the children alive. Stupid rules.

 

Got the fuel rail and injectors off tonight. The old 1-hole injectors didn't look too terrible, but I have a set of 703s to go in anyway. Pretty sure I'm also getting a 60mm bored throttle body, because why not? Got the rear diff cover painted up but I probably need to get another tube of RTV because I seem to only get one use out of them even though they're mostly full. Got all new stainless screws to go in the cover. (5/16"x3/6" 18tpi if anyone is wondering)

Tomorrow I will probably get it lifted back up so I can start on the front coils and shocks. I took a mess of pictures of the current intake and wires and hoses, but it appears that the 99+ intake has stuff in different spots, so this may be an adventure.

 

Speaking of the intake, I managed to grab a couple pics that weren't terrible...

 

Wow! The intake is looking good.


We call it 5/16-18. Much easier to say lol.

 

What kind of paint did u use. And why two tone?

 

I saw it on another forum (I think it was a Miata forum) and it was two-tone and I thought it looked kinda cool. The bottom (silver) is a 2000 degree header paint and the top is I think Duplicolor 500 degree engine enamel.

Been raining here all day so I probably won't get anything done Jeep related today, but that probably makes the wife happy. I spent time every night this week working on something or other.

I might get into the interior and check out some of the dash stuff. I have a couple CRAZY ideas but I have to see what I'm working with to figure out if they're even possible.

 

Well, Rusty is now lifted. She fought me every step of the way too. I broke a sway bar end link on the passenger side ($14) and it took me several hours to do the front because I was just winging it and googling it as I went along. The driver's side took the longest but playing around with jacking up the opposite side and finally taking the sway bar link completely off was the trick. I had the top of the link taken off, but the bottom of the link was in the way. On the passenger side I broke down and took the LCA off and that made things a lot easier. Between jack stands, my jack and the scissor jack from my van I got it together. The new coils are the same length as the old ones, which surprised me a bit, but they're WAY beefier. I can barely get the front to move when I jump on the bumper, so I'm wondering how it will drive. Right now the axle isn't centered in the front so I ordered a relocation bracket because I can't afford an adjustable one right now, and I didn't really want to just drill a hole in the existing bracket, so we'll see what the relocation bracket looks like. It was only $28 and I can send it back if I don't like the looks of it.

I also got the back diff cover back on, but I have to get some more gear oil. It's not like it's going anywhere any time soon anyway, I don't have a throttle body at the moment.

Probably won't have any more time to work on it this weekend and we'll see what the weather looks like this week as I'll be working in the dark. Next up is getting the existing intake manifold and exhaust manifold off so I can tackle that. I'd like to think that I can have it going this week, but that might be a pipe dream. Here's a couple pics as I didn't take too many as I was working.

 

Well things seem to have settled a bit. I did some more bumper jumping and the axle centered more than it was initially. Once I drive it it might just go to normal. If I had to guess I'd say it's sticking out 1/2" more on the driver's side and before it was maybe closer to 2" maybe?

 

Weird, tried to post some pictures last night and I must have not submitted the post.

Some eye-candy pictures...

 

Cha-ching! I just ordered 4 Goodyear Wrangler Duratracs from of all places Sears. For some reason they were even cheaper today than they were yesterday when I looked at them and with a $50 off online coupon 4 tires shipped to Sears was under $500. I'm not complaining about that at all!!! There might even be a rebate with them too, at least there was recently, I'll have to dig...

 

Nice! I plan to get duratracs also. What size did u get

 

Holy cow that intake looks good. Makes me want to do the same. Lol

 

I just went with 31x10.5x15. I think it's a nice size, larger than stock, looks tough, and since this Jeep will be on the road 99% of the time, I didn't want to go with 33s. Besides, I like the stock flares and didn't want to have to cut/fold, etc. I'm hoping that I don't have any rubbing after the lift, but I still haven't had any wrench time on the Jeep lately so it's still not running. I'm leaving work a little early today to get the lawn mowed for the last time this year and get the driveway cleaned up, but maybe I'll start working on getting the existing manifolds off of the Jeep tonight.