Probably the longest duration build thread you will ever witness
 

Hey all! I've been around the forums for a less than a year. I purchased this beaut back in September. As the title states, this will be a very long duration build. I had gotten married back in August and now I am an expecting father, come June. So, w/ that said, my life has taken quite a turn and in turn make this a turtle-like build.

When I picked it up:

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perched on 17" Jaguar XK8 wheels... '95 sport 2WD, AW4 transmission, manual everything

When I show up to check it out; looking under the hood (very aged looking engine compartment, minus the really shiny brass looking sensor) the PO immediately says that he just replaced it. I start it up, do a walk around all is good. Check the windows, and the front passenger window does not roll up/down. Get in the drivers seat, start messing w/ all the dash switches; as far as I know, everything works, except no power to the stereo. The AC was running on full blast when I started it so I figured it was all good. Gave it a test drive and was already sold. I return and talked to the guy a bit more and got him down a few hundo.

Off I go! On the way home, I stop for gas and see smoke rolling up from under the hood; check that out and it's coming from the fuse block. A fuse was molten to the block so I pulled it and saw that there had been wires wrapped around the contacts. Well, I started it back up and turned everything on... still good to go. I drive it home (about 30 miles down the interstate), and about a mile before I get home, everything starts shutting down. At that point, I saw the battery gauge dropping very rapidly, so I shut everything I cna down to make that last stretch. Get home, back in the yard and it dies.

Moving on...

First things first, I find out that there are 2 fuses in the block for the alternator; cleaned up the one and went ahead and replaced both... good to go. hen I move in to the dash compartment to take care of some electrical issues... no idiot lights (no bulbs), no interior lights when doors open, no stereo power. All works now, but I still cannot turn the lights on w/ the headlight switch, nor do they come on when I open the liftgate.

Now that I have idiot lights, I find out there is a CEL fault code. Turns out that the sensor that the PO replaced was the reason for the CEL. I pulled it for inspection and saw that the wire was cut. I fixed that and the CEL cleared. YAY! While I was working in the dash, I decided to install a USB port in to the blank panel:

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The manifold was cracked so I ordered the APN header and motor mounts (Energy Suspension), while I was at it, then replaced those.

The heater core had been bypassed and I also found that the AC only worked on the high setting. I found that the resistor was open, so I went ahead and replaced both the heater core and the resistor. Well, the resistor blew again so I checked the switch and it all seemed to check out ok. I got another resistor and also a blower. All works great now.

My Uncle was in town, when I was doing most of this work, so he was helping me w/ it when he could. I had mentioned something about the flexplate... he swears up and down that it's the rods/lifters/pistons. He also said, if it ain't broke don't fix it. I'm a big fan of that. I am also a big fan of preventive maintenance. Well, I never got to it. So now it's worse.. the bolts that are in are welded in place, one has the head sheered off and one may be missing. O2 sensor was throwing the CEL... took care of that.

I have spent a lot of time cleaning the jeep, inside and out, trying to get the grease monkey garage smell out of it. Tinted the windows and front corner light. Installed blue led strips in the footwells. Blue leds in the glovebox and shifter assembly. Also, the third brake light was shot so I modded it and added an led strip to the inside; theres a pic running around in a forum here somewhere. Also, made a headlight harness and installed some Silverstars.

Just recently installed an OHC from a '90 cherokee, a seatbelt (one was cut) and painted the grill and headlight bezels w/ some black trim paint. Also, came across an awesome deal on some turbines and threw down some graphite paint on them:

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Got tires put on them yesterday:

235/75 15
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Sitting up next to what they will replace:

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And how she sits today:

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As for now, I need wheel bearings, upper control arm and the transmission needs some attention.

I am very glad you got rid of those wheels, to me i couldn't stand the way that looked on a jeep

X2 and nice work on fixin all the things that it had bad on it. it's a shame how you can buy something used that seems to work in good order later to find out that it turned out the other way. what are your future plans for this XJ?

+1 on getting rid of those jag wheels, lol. that sucks about the flexplate and an obviously ignorant PO.

Awesome job on the USB port mod, I haven't seen that one before. Interested to know more about that.

I'd like to convert to '97+ doors, update the interior, some under hood mods, start w/ a 3" lift, then bump it up another 1.5" in the future and paint. I'm really diggin' the green that i see on the newer wranglers. I have A LOT of plans. LOL!

I work in avionics, so I built a fast rate USB charger, to install. You can cheat and just gut one of those cheapie little chargers and use that. But, I like the idea of not waiting all day for my phone to charge (It will charge in 15 minutes, even w/ Pandora and GPS running). I had put the info in a thread, here, some time ago. I believe I included the schematic, if people were interested in a fast rate charger.

That is AWESOME. I'd love to see it. My phone's battery SUCKS and I love being able to stream music from my phone via Bluetooth to my head unit.

Great idea! :cheers: How's the wiring look for that?

Third brake light
 

CLICKY!!!

I used an SMT led strip.

I love seeing how people re-engineer their Jeeps on here. Awesome work! I will do this mod one fine day. The USB port in my head unit just doesn't charge fast enough.

Tinted tails
 

Just added one of these...
Born 6/10 2:40 p.m.
https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.n...50156960_n.jpg

That's awesome man! Congrats
Your first?

Yes it is. Thank you. Daddy's lil' Jeep girl. :)

Haven't been updating very often; of course, no major updates to include. Some small things that have been done recently.

Converted all interior lights to blue LED

Installed factory dash clock.

Installed center console and moved USB port to there.

Installed a new head unit, ran new speaker wire and straightened out some more wiring.

Found the source of 2 water leaks and sealed that up (antenna rubber boot in the kick panel was loose and right rear quarter window seal).

Pulled and cleaned the cargo area carpet, then reinstalled.

Replaced passenger side window regulator. Looking for master power switch (thinking about mounting to center or overhead console) for next mod and at least two power window regulators for the front doors.