Kamaran

Well guys...I started a rumor on my local forum(XJsocal.com) that I flopped my xj! I sent out a text that was only ment one of the guys...wanted to mess with him, but it sent to like 10 other people cause everyone in my phone is under XJ-XXX...
So it sent to XJ-bryan, Xj-Mark and so on lol. So I had to carry the story for a few days lol...


Anyway I've been busting my but at this haunted house. We built it and now are finishing up with decorations and everything...Everyone on XJ socal is invited..I can bet everyone of you will get scared at some point!! Anyway not much time has been going towards my jeep but heres some updates!
I was feeling bad for neglecting my jeep...so I figured I may as well toss the lift on it! I called Mark to get advice on pulling the leafs...nothing worked & the bolts wouldn't break loose. After some muscling around with a breaker bar I finally got them!




Once my leafs were off I looked them over...bushings didn't look old at all..my shackle bushing on the other hand needs to be replaced lol. I decided to look up the part numbers..I was curious what leafs these were since I was getting a steady 1.5-2" over stock with them! I found out they were OME's...1" medium duty leaf pack! Awsome! So someone replaced the leafs at some point...I bet my front unknown coil spring is a OME replacement coil as well since I was getting 1" lift from those.
After finding this out, I decided the bastard pack I bought needed to be rebuilt..and since my leafs on my jeep already gave me a 1.5" lift I wanted to use those, with the extra leaf added to it..seemed like the smarter route!!
When pulling the other leafs apart I found out it wasn't a S10 bastard pack but a RE1410 AAL...which is a 2.5" add a leaf...cool!
So during the leaf rebuild again I called Mark...needed advice on what to do. I had a few options I was looking at!
XJ main, Re aal, XJ 2nd, XJ 2nd, XJ 3rd
or
XJ main, Re aal, XJ 2nd, XJ 2nd, XJ 3rd, XJ overload
or
XJ main, Re aal, XJ 2nd, XJ 3rd, XJ overload

I settled on option 3 and it worked out great! I got 4.5" of lift out of them...They should sag down to around 3.5"-4" which is just perfect for me:wootdance:
Me & my buddy Arron installing the rebuilt leafs.

Here you can see we only used 2 clips for the springs....On Pirate4x4 the leafs guys told me I would achieve more flex because the leafs will have more room to move freely! If a issue arises I'll add another clip like they come from the factory...but I don't think they need it!

And while I had the leafs out I figured I should check out these extended bump stops taht came on the jeep....With the bump stops on the axle & 200lbs in the rear this is what we got....



Very nice surprise!! I won't ever hit the fender & my shocks are about 3/4" before bottom out! Perfect!!! !When I trim my fenders, they'll never hit..! So when I cut and fold it'll be perfect! Nice!
You can also see the bedlined fender wells & underside! Came out great and looks 100X's cleaner...although it won't stay that way!
I also made homemade BPE's out of my rear sway bar mounts..no pics though!

The day after we figured we should take the little one to CEC for a birthday party because I'll be working on her real B-day..
Spending time with my little one.

Let her drive a jeep of her own.

Then got jealous because her jeep has a sick jerry can mount & a D44 lols


When we left CEC I decided to drive behind the little shopping mall and this is what I got!
I could of gone higher but if you look right under my front drivers side tire, you will see a snapped off post and I didn't want to risk it popping my tire!

The stock shock was limiting this side the most! Thats fully extended, brake lines were almost at full stretch as well!

Decent rear end flex! My leafs are still conforming to the AAL at this point...barely a day old!


That same night I said screw the stink bug look and got to wrenching! No pictures of the process because I was litterally working in the rain! Lifting a jeep in the freezing rain?...now thats love!
My brother tightened down my passenger side bump stop instead of loosening it, so it snapped the bolt inside the coil tower! Need new ones now:bringit:

Theses are from today..just afew hours ago!


Rear sits at 4.5" and front a 3.25"! Thats measuring from center of the hub up!
Same flex spot..same stupid post that I didn't want to roll over stopping me! I'm taking a sledge next time and beating it flat:smile:

Rear has more in it!!! But I didn't go high enough

Fronts also got some more..roughly 3" off my bump stops at this point!




Let me know what you guys think!

Kamaran

Lagging yet again...

I installed my KWIP grounding kit.

Then my steering coloum went crazy! Something shorted or something...I can turn the jeep off & take the key out and it still won't turn off lol. Gotta figure that & my turn signals out!

Then my power steering pump decided it wanted to dump fluid everywhere 1 night out of no where..jeep sat for 2 days without running, came out 1 night and fluid everywhere...So I decided it was time to change it out & install my steering brace!

Let me tell ya, this sucks ***** if your doing by your self! Trying to line up 2 braces and the holes on the power steering box sucked!!!! I also had no instructions & TnT was closed...so I winged it and made it work & got it right for the most part!
Here you can see I had the inner brace installed..but it wasn't right.
The very front bolt with the nut is where a spacer belonged..& the empty hole should have a spacer in it as well...figured that out after I put it together like this.


Installing these spacers, they go through the frame to take up the void and make it more solid...as seen in the picture above, with out these spacers it just a empty whole...much stronger with these spacers in & a bolt through them!
I ended up having to cut/shave 1/8-1/4" off each one..no biggie.

Here you can see what I mean..theres a large hole in the unibody rail & these just fill the spacer to make things solid! I had to drill out the whole very slightly to make them fit..took 10 seconds!



Then left it like this because I ran into more issues. The nuts in the kit didn't fit the bolts..bolt were wide threaded while the nuts were fine threaded
Then I found out that 1 bolt was about 1/2" too long..wether thats because I installed it wrong or what idk but I'm damn sure its right..no other way to get it on there..no other bolt wholes lol besides the 2 that I used.

I solved the issue by going over to lowes the next day & getting some nice grade 8 nuts that actually fit the bolts. I also got a bolt that was 1/2" shorter! It just barley fit...you can see what I mean here.

That bolt it just touching the power steering box..if anything it'll rub a grove and be fine. I'm not worried at all!
Another shot.


Here it is installed..the gold/bronze bolts are the grade 8's, theres 3. Those go into the power steering box just like normal. The 2 silver grade 5's are where the spacers belong..spacer goes in and bolt goes through! Also if you look the brace kind of tucks under the frame rail..theres 2 factory holes there. 2 bolts go through it as well..added strength I guess. Was really bolt on besides for the few hickups..if I had another hand it would of taken a few hours but that wasn't the case lol:hamer:

Very front bolt hole is a IDK wtf its for lol..and the other 3 are the stock bumper mount. I'm running no bumper up front but will try & mount it up..hopefully I won't have to cut the front of the brace because its thick..but I may have to, in order to use the factory bumper. Since I want to run the Detours tailbone & backbone I plan on keep the factory bumpers..I love the stock bumper look.

Reviews: steering is a lot more responsive/stiffer..before I could turn the wheel about 1/2 a turn without any input. Now its dropped to nothing almost..still a little slop but thats from the box or the TRE's. I also get whining at full lock now though..never had it before but no big deal. Will go to a durrango box in the near future!


I also decided I wanted my AIT sensor in my airbox vs my intake manifold..so I broke out a 1/2 drill

Put thread sealant on the sensors & twisted them it..no need to for anything else..the 1/2" whole was perfect and these threaded in fine & held tight!



I also rigged up a light for the center console...its always on whenever the interior lights are on..I may try to make it so that its only on when I open the lid... works really good though.
I just cut off a kick panel light at the junkyard and wired it in!


Now my jeep will read true air temp vs the super heated air in the intake manifold!

Pulled this from a waggy...thought it was cool vs the newer style one that everyones got..plus this was the first on I ever saw like this & I wanted something different!
My beautiful girlfriend helped me out with the arts & crafts while I did the real wrenching

I took a red & green sharpie to the white paper thing to get a more vivid color while its light up. Its not red & green vs teal & orange lol..

Cheap and quick..looks cool when its light up!

Then I got my D30 cleaned & painted!

This thing had about 1/8" of power steering fluid & dirt caked on it. Some degreaser & about 2 hours with some hand tools & a hose made it new again!




Thats all for now guys..gotta clean the interior of the odds & ends and get completed pics for you guys..I've been lagging pretty bad lol.
Hoping to smog it this week though which is good news

Kamaran

Oh I also installed a new thermostat & housing..it can be seen in the second pictures..my tstat was stuck wide open lol..much better now!

Kamaran

Cricket..Cricket..

IZAREBL

Kamaran

Guess I should update with the current plans. Pics of progress to come of course but heres the current plans!
Pics will be up tomorrow!

Well currently, my ECU fryed..idk why but it did...swapped in a
Renix 90 ECU & was happy..felt faster from 2800-5k, felt peppier all around! Fixed my butt connected CPS, thanks PO..No more stumble or misfire below 2k rpms! Awsome, jeep feels alot better, alot faster & sounds better! Its true the 90 ecu has different/better perametes. Better tune/hotter tune. whatever you wanna call it!
Ok so now, gonna non op my baby this week! Having a buddy do some wire work hopefully..wire relocation, cleaning up all the factory junk, duck tape and crap from the factory is not cool..yes its true, seen it on too may jeeps..UGLY!..hiding/tucking most of whats in the engine bay! My wiring isn't bad! Its all factory, its just ugly how its all over lol. So wire clean up & wire tuck coming.
I come from boosted Supras, Is300's, Sc300's and crap so a clean engine bay for me is a must! Hence the wire clean up!


Gonna hopefully pull my motor soon..with a week! Get that out of the way, and start a rebuild..I also have the other renix core I bought..but I want a numbers matching jeep so I'll be using my block!
Ditch my A/c and cleaning up/deleting as much as I possibly can! Hoping to relocate the batter up by the firewall/blower motor, somehow just so it looks cleaner & make more room..you'll see why shortly!
Motor rebuild will be .60 over bottom end, probably close to stock compression, ported head, probably stock valvetrain..may go with bigger valves, probably some SBC ones, just so I can take advantage of the extra air!..stock cam for now since I'm also turboing my baby! I may look into the comp215 & comp 200 since I won't need aftermarket springs with them but we will see!
Yes turboing the XJ..I'm seeing more and more & I come from a boosted inline 6 world. So its happening!
Also why I wanna clean up the bay & make room, its gotta be clean! Gonna do just a simple 6-8lbs setup..nothing to extreme but enough that I'll be happy! She will get meth injection as well..was gonna do it even if I stayed n/a so now I have a good reason to do it!

I'm gonna bust my but and get those axles swapped in here as soon as I can! May sell the C8.25 with Zj brakes for a 8.8 with factory lsd..I need a lsd in the rear if its going turbo lol!
Otherwise the lifts done for now! Shackle relocation boxes at some point..maybe christmas! Got my lowers to install as well but otherwise suspensions pretty much done!..gotta install my Zj steering
& steering stabalizer tomorrow!
So 3" and 31's with 3.55's possibly 3.73's..depends on what axle I do in the rear and what ratio it has, 3.73 will be max though!

so ya lets here what you guys got to say? I'm surper interested in feed back, comments, concerns!

Red82

Dude you have done some work! Nicely done bringing back a rig some people would have junked. Its looking great.

harleyxj

I'm to return the love ! Lol. The red wagon is looking great man ! I'm impressed with your patience on all the same things you gotta do to make it right. Keep up the great work !

Kamaran

Haha thanks man. Ya I'm kinda pissed at myself but love my jeep! 1600 for junk..I see people buying HO cherokees with lift & tires for less than that..most with less miles to lol
I'm even more mad now, because I wanna turbo this thing..these Aw4 is a variant of the auto trans in the TT supra's..I coulda built up a badass autotrans for cheaper than what I payed for my new ax-15 lol! Wouldn't of been as fun though..5 speed rules! Would of saved so much cash if I had just bought an automatic though...
Luckily the only rust I had is on the floor boards which I saved!

Haha thanks my man! Its nice to get some activity in here finally! I can't wait to get some progress pics..I'll have some tonight, hopefully more soon!

Kamaran

Well guys Clifford the Red Wagon is down again! Driving home today rpms fell to 0 but it didn't stall..I gave it some gas and misfire misfire misfire! Idk what the hell I did or what went wrong..
It starts fine but misfires like crazy..acts like its 180* out on the timing..sounds like only 4 cylinders are firing..Idk whats up with it, gonna pull the plugs & crank it tomorrow. See if I can't hear anything odd, see if any fluids wanna come out, see if I have a stuck valve..Idk! Throttle input doesn't matter..100% throttle won't even make it rev..its stuck at like 500rpm just misfire or cylinders aren't firing..giving it gas doesn't do anything! Cat was glowing red at 1 point!

So this here starst the process of total restoration!! Motors acting up, and its well over 300k and pulls like a beast may I add but its time to rebuild the old girl! Trans is leaking inbetween where the trans & trasnfer bolt up..so a full tear down is happening. fixing everything I don't like, strengthing problem areas!
Motor & trans coming out, painting my engine bay black. Deleting & relocating alot of stuff in there to get a nice clean look..kinda going for the shaved & tucked engine bay look, although it won't be 100% it will be super super clean! Gonna make it as clean & neat as possible! Also have to swap in my Hp D30 nondisco and my C8.25 with 3.55's..have to get a locker installed, beef up the D30 with currie mini skids, boxed UCA mount and gusseted C's! Thinking of trussing it from the passenger UCA are to the diff but haven't decided..31's won't need it but it'll be nice!

Going to scrap off the grease and bedline the underside while everything is out! Gonna pull my carpet & interior panels again and redo some stuff..add more sound deadening, fix some wires, add some LED's, fixing my heater & quite possibly do ZJ cloth gray seats! This is a expitdition style vehicle so the interior is a big thing for me! Also working with another member on cutting out my rockers & adding 2x4 & bracing. That way I'll gain clearence and have rock sliders all in 1!

This Jeep has caused so many headaches for me! I haven't even enjoyed it..I've never even got to put her in 4Lo Shes fighting me every step of the way! I just can't let her go though! I keep thinking about tearing this thing down and buying a newer HO model with an auto trans, but I just can't do it! I'm too attached to my little red wagon..I'm seeing this one through until the end! This thread may not get updated very often, but it will get its share! I appreciate all the support and all the comments and interest in my build! I'm 19 with no job but I'm making this work!


yes plans for turbo will still continue..motor rebuild is top of the list first. Then finish all the rest, like axle swap, interior & just get it in a good solid condition! Once I know shes good to go then she will see boost!
I'm also kicking around the idea of doing a camo paint job atm..I like my red but I love the camo look of some jeeps! Its undecided and the motor, trans & trasnfer come first! I know I was told trans was just rebuilt and had receipts & paperworkf or proff..but they could of rode this trans & screwed something up then sold it..so I'll be pulling it all apart and looking it over! Transfer may be ditched for a NP241 out of a rubicon is I can find one..if not then it'll stay in stock form until I do!

Kamaran

50% chance that if it does get paint it will be urban! As in black, grey & white..if not the probably just go dezert tan with black accents..
Like this!
I really really like the bottom jeeps paint as well..I just don't think I'll make it look as good when doing camo in those colors. Probably come out looking funky lol.
I'll keep the roof white to keep temps down..If I do choose to do actual camo then I'll keep the roof tan for the same reason.

DMAXX

what did you use to polish your fuel rail? That looks sick!

Kamaran

Turtle wax polishing compound..annd then theres these like scrub pads at Lowes. I got the rough gray one and the softer white one..and a few micro fiber towels. Took about 2 hours but well worth it.
It made a big difference.