Freerider15

So..a LOT has actually been done since the last update.

Just got busy with life, taking some grad Mechanical Engineering classes, and things in general.

Looks like I left off with the exhaust. The exhaust got a good coat of header paint, and all mounted up.

However, I was still getting leaking from the eBay heade (can't say I'm surprised).

Overall, doing it again, I'd just got get an OEM one from a junker, throw a couple welds at it if needed, and be done. But, I had this one so I ran with it.

I bought a fog machine, and fed it through a shop vac and into the rear tailpipe. Amazing how well that works. Kept at it until there was nothing what so ever coming from the engine bay.

The header leaked where the two down tubes met.

So I took to the inside and took it from this:



To this (getting the MIG nozzle in there was a bit of a pain, so not the greatest welds):



Thought that was good enough...nope.

So I finally just drilled each size where the pipes come in, and refilled with weld. That worked like a charm.

Got the header bolted back up with another new gasket...no leaks.

On another note, my exhaust tuck was a *hair* too high. Though not really that much of an issue, I'll work the crossmember mount to get me another 1/2" or some between the floorboard and the muffler.

A shot looking back:

Freerider15

So now that the exhaust and such was done, it was time to focus on the interior. Well, actually these kinda happened before and after each other.

First was getting the headliner done. Got it pulled down, and used the handheld portion of our carpet cleaner to very gently go through and get the headliner really nice and clean. It will likely still need replacing in a couple years, but this will be fine in the meantime.

Headliner out, roof given a good clean and wipe, and then strips of CLD placed:



Headliner laid out, and the 3M Acoustical Batting added:





Headliner got installed after, and for the most part wasn't too bad. The biggest PITA was the fact that I should have done it in sections. The roof cross bracing made issues in areas, but got that taken care of. The only other pain, is the dome lights are a bit of a pain to get seated back in.

I used some of the remaining roll to stuff in and around the rear quarter panels like so:

Freerider15

Now that the sound deadening was in place, it was time to get the stereo system installed.

Unfortunately lost most of my pictures of this, so I'll show what I've got.

Power Distribution Bar run from the battery and mounted, and then the amp power line and fuse run from that:





I went with the following found sound setup:

Headunit - Alpine CDE-143BT
Amplifier - Infinity Reference 704a, 4-channel car amplifier — 70 watts RMS x 4
Speakers - Infinity REF-6522EX 330 Watt Shallow-Mount 6-1/2" Coaxial Car Speakers

I won't lie, getting it all done was a bit of work. I ran the two sets of RCA cables towards and down along the passenger side floor. In hindsight, I wish I had just run them straight when I was installing the interior. I ran the speaker wires down the driver's side (to get them separate from the RCA cables). The amount of wires makes getting the trim back on a bit of a pain.

Amp in place and installed, with all wiring tucked away:



Speaker wire (larger gauge) run out the driver's door with connectors crimped on and heat shrinked:



Stereo wiring, cables, etc. and such ready to go:



I've never liked how the stereos tend to just "hang" in the back. So, I took some of the extra foam I used for the heater core and built a sleeve that the very back of it would be supported by. It still had plenty of body exposed to allow for heat dissipation.

In hindsight on this, I should have made the stereo wires a bit shorter. It got to be a pain to pack it all in there. Thought of it just as I was about half way through :laugh:

Ran the RCA cable up over the dash, using rubber lined clamps to hold them in place:



Stereo in and done (just took this picture, felt odd not having a wrap up :laugh



I haven't gotten around to dialing in the amp, and the system already blows away the stock setup.

Once that was all done, the interior got finished up and put all back together...huge step in getting it there!

As a note, everything, as usual, got a scrub and clean before going back in.

Hell, even the metal cover below the steering wheel got a scrub, wire wheeled, and in this case, a coat of paint:

Freerider15

Other things, in no particular order:

I got my Boostwerks Comp Mount for a hidden winch and steering brace setup.

Mine is actually a Gen 2 (I believe it was), but I just wasn't able to get it installed right away.

The install wasn't a walk in the park, mainly since my Jeep wasn't 100% straight even after repairs. Damn close, but just enough to make things a little harder.

Either way, 110% worth it.

Final installed product:







I opened up a slot on the bottom, the long round hole, since I'll be running a Smittybilt 8k on this rig (I've had a couple sitting around). The handle **** swings just below this hole, and makes for easy engaging and disengaging. You might be able to see it in some other pictures. If not, I'll follow up with it.



Winch going in. You can see it's rotated here to have the handle down. This is just how it sits mounted if you were to be looking from the back:



Winch sitting in there:





Brace from below:



The only other thing I had to do, was to trim the fan shroud just a little to get it to fully sit down, as it was hitting one of the power/ground lugs on the winch.

I still need to get the control box and wiring done, and get a rope put on. But, those haven't been high priority.

Freerider15

While I had everything apart, I went ahead and put a trans cooler in.

Of course most of those photos went too, to I'll throw up what I have.

I went with a Derale 9000 Series Fin & Plate Transmission Cooler, 8.875" x 10.125", 1/2" In/Out.

I dislike regular barb style fittings, so I went with AN fitting anywhere I could. I got the trans one put in easily. The radiator was a little more of a pain. One of the fittings on the radiator already was setup for one, but the AN fitting bottomed out before the sealing faces were together. So...a little dremel action in the vise to cut off a hair of the screw seat:



And it screwed right on just fine.

The other hole was originally just a tube clamp style output. So, using my air compressor to create a positive pressure inside the radiator, I cut the tube off, drilled out the fitting (very slowly and carefully), and tapped it for NPT thread.

The AN adapter fitting went right in after:



An installed pic, since the rest are gone:



If anyone is curious, I can get more photos of how I routed all the tubing and such.

Freerider15

Got my Boostwerks Trans Shifter kit installed. Still might need a little tweaking but it works as is:



The Jeep had a remote start system installed previously, brand was "Code Alarm".

It wasn't fully still installed, so instead of just trying to get it all wired back in, I just pulled it all out...glad I did.

This was the installers version of splicing:



Instead of doing it right, and clean...we'll just strip off a section from the wire we need and wrap these other wires around that one, and then just wrap it all up in electrical tape.

There were 4 splices like this. Got it all fixed and back to stock now.

Back on the front, I got my generously given to me Bilsteins and JKS shock adapters mounted up. A good buddy of mine (and former roommate) didn't need these after he started his 1 ton build on his TJ. So, he offered them up to me for this Jeep.

It as well got new rotors, pads, calipers, and Crown steel braided lines installed as well. I had to do an inline spice on the passenger side the flare I tried to get done wasn't perfect. Just a minor thing to fix from the accident it was in. As a note, the general clamp style flare tools...suck. Picked up an in line flaring tool kit:


Far far better tool.

I also ended up pulling it all off after this picture on both sides to get the front frame portions on both sides sprayed with 3M rubberized undercoating.



The panhard axle side mount is one that has kind of puzzled me. The OEM bolt in an M10, yet the hole on the axle is larger (loser to 1/2"). That leaves room for play, which on the panhard...I don't like.

Here's the original bushing sleeve, with an OEM M10 bolt:



A little...loose I'd say.

So, I installed a bushing sleeve I had around, meant for a 1/2" bolt (bushing looks worse than it is in this picture):



I then drilled out the axle side to 1/2", and it's like it should have been! Fits SO much better now, no play at all.

Freerider15

The Brown Dog motor mounts we're a little worse for wear in the bushing department.

So, I decided to try the StinkyFab Motor Mounts and Trans mount.

Quality products by far, and install wasn't too bad.







I got the inner fender cleaned up, wiped down and painted. Followed that up with getting the fender mounted and the front end worked on:

Freerider15

From there, I got the rest of the front end put together, cleaning and painting as I went along. Hell, even the cross member that bolts to the front, that the top of the header panel bolts to got cleaned and painted :laugh:

I went with clear turns and side markers, and amber LED's.

For the headlamps, I went with Hella H4 E-Code housings and drop in LED bulbs. Light output is fantastic, and cutoff is great as well. I tried Autopal E-Code housings, but they don't work with LEDs, they only work with incandescent bulbs. The Hella housings in these pictures were actually stolen off the buggy. A new pair landed yesterday that i'll be installing.







And then, finally yesterday I got some 265/75R16 Duratracs I've had around mounted up...love it.





Which brings us to today.

I got the links all adjusted, axle centered, and toe taken care of. Now to put some miles on it and get it emissions tested and plated!

Freerider15

So there were some additional things done that weren't shown.

- Swapped a new passenger door in since the old was one peeled back slightly at the front lower corner.
- While pulling my buggy in, I managed to run over my fan shroud (new) and electric fan, so it got new of both.
- While doing a 100% suspension bolt check, I decided to remove the rear sway bar. This resulted in 1 broken Ubolt. So I just went ahead and bought an entire ProComp Ubolt set locally and installed those.
- Lots of other little crap :laugh:

The rig is still far from done. Now that it's roadworthy, it will give me time to drive it and work out small bugs. The passenger side window doesn't want to work from the driver's side or passenger side, and the driver's rear door doesn't work from it, so I'll have to dig into those.

A list of things to still wrap up:
- Make new side plates for the BDS crossmember uniframe attachment
- Use my $$$ Adams polishing system and give the Jeep a GOOD once over
- Try to get the key fob working
- Install new fabricated inner fender foam inserts, a pool noodle or two, and fender liners
- Install swaybar (just waiting to get some drop brackets from Bryson)
- Take care of rattles, squeaks, etc. as I can.

Next on the list for install:
- F & R Dirtbound Bumpers (DIY kits) - sitting on the shelf
- HD Offroad Shackle Hangers (sitting on the shelf)
- Front Driveshaft rebuild and install
- Tomken Gas Tank Skid (sitting in my shop loft)

Likely for now though will just be working what bugs I can out and putting some miles on it, since it's time to get the buggy back it's feet and get ready for EJS

Ralph77

I put the white lenses on my black '00. Really liked the look. Also bought the tail lights that do away with the amber off Ebay. Thing that bugged me was how the regular amber bulbs, especially the front 3157's, showed through the white lenses kind of destroying the look I was going for. I don't know how you feel about it but I can see the same thing going on with your Jeep. I am sure there are other and cheaper ways to solve this, assuming this even matters to you, but I did a little write up. Might be of interest to you.

By the way love the build.

https://www.cherokeeforum.com/f67/le...000-xj-246749/

RockinRonnie

WOW great build Bring them back after accident is great when they are clean to start with just makes you enjoy them more Great job looks SWEET!

thetastelingers

You've been busy!

I also installed a Comp mount. If you want to see where I put the solenoids, head over to my build page. I'll be putting up a pic of the entire engine compartment today.

Thanks for the update! too bad about the lost photos. I like it when people post detailed pics. I can never remember when I am working on something to take photos.

Interested to see what the rig looks like with the bumpers when you get them done.

Freerider15

Thanks! Yeah, the amber bit bothers me a little bit, but hadn't taken the time to try to find "white" LED's that turn Amber. I will definitely take a look and see what you were able to do!

I'll transfer these over to the wife's 96 or my buggy, so at least they still get use when/if I change it up.

I will say, I do like your "clear" signals better. The turns on mine are an actual clear, not prizmed or whatever one might call it like the stock ones. I'll likely keep the clears for the moment, but look at picking up that same set you did (ones I was originally looking at, they're just 2x the cost).

Thanks! Would have been easier to start with a clean slate for sure, but it feels good bringing this one back.

Awesome, I'd love to see what other are able to come up with. I had some ideas, just hadn't turned on my fabrication switch for it yet.

Since it's still got the D35, doubt I'll remotely be going anywhere that might even have the slightest hint of needing a winch. I'll probably get back on the list of things to wrap up as soon as the buggy is up again. Hoping to have that done in the next couple months.

A newborn hasn't made getting this thing done easy

thetastelingers

A newborn eh? I was swapping an LS into an FD RX7 when my son was born. I know EXACTLY what you mean.
Congratulations on the new kid. They are a ton of fun. A lot more fun than I thought it would be.

Ralph77

I did not like those actual clear ones. But you are right about them not being cheap. Just that I saw them on a black Jeep and really liked it so I just said screw it. Pretty sure I only paid $40 for the ones at the link in the write up at the time. Noticing that they are $60 now. Then my OCD kicked in and I had to get the tail lights that did away with the amber too. The price of those at the link in the write up is what I paid. I wanted them. What can I say. If I had a white Jeep probably would have went with black ones.