wheelerboy12

well its time for it again another jeep, another build. more pics, more carnage, more fun. This time around i have crossed over to the other side, the XJ. ive wanted an XJ since i was very little but for somereason my dunb *** just never seemed to get one, had tons of chances over the last two years to get one, but every time i traded around my rigs or bought one i always got something else because i figured id like it, or it seemed like a good idea at the time, for the past two years ive gone from chevys to fords to hondas and back to chevys and back to hondas and then back to fords, toss a ZJ in the middle somewhere and then now were here, at the final destination. MY urban assault XJ.
First off a few pics, this is after a few DAYS of scrubbing, and detailing. and its still not done...









And a 6 hour motor scrub, went from a muddy greasy brown tinted motor to this.. not nearly done, everytime i get bored i go out and pull another random part for a detailed scrubbing.











thats it for pictures, theres some damage on the other side that i forgot to get pics of, im going to repair it as best possible, hopefully it wont be to hard since im going to school for auto body soon, After the damage is repaired i plan on painting it OD Green with a satin finish, with satin black trim and grill/bumpers.

Plans as of now

~3" lift
For the rear i plan on doing the RC shackle relocation kit and IRO boomerang shackles, brake lines, lift shocks, some sort of AAL to add .5-1" long term inludes fox 2.0 shocks, and custom rear leafs.

For the front i plan on IRO 3" coils, lift shocks, brake lines, quick discos, adj. track bar,

V8 ZJ tie rod, V8 durango steering box, Fresh tie rod ends and ball joints and wheel bearings, 4.10's

rear end disc swap, new bearings, 4.10's and some form of locker TBD

Either 31x10.50's or 32x11.50's
MORE TO BE ADDED LATER. running out the door.

rmoore1031

I'll be watching this build. Congrats on getting a XJ. I'm guessing this is a 91? You didn't specify the stock specs.

wheelerboy12

Thanks!

Current Specs:
1992 cherokee sport
engine: 4.0 HO
trans: AW4
tcase: NP231
Axles:
front: Locked up D30, unknow locker brand.
Rear: Open Diff D35
Tires and wheels: Factory aluminum 10 hole rims on mix matched 235/75/15's

Future plans:

Suspension and steering
~3" lift, Custom, Deaver springs front and rear, Fox external res shocks, boomerang shackles, RC shackle relocation bracket, Front mid arm 4 link, V8 durango steering box, V8 GC drag link. other stuff that i havent come to a full set decision on yet.

Armor/Bracing/Exterior
Body work, paint,, O.D. green in a satin finish, Front and rear steel bumpers, uni body frame stiffener, rock sliders, skid plates, steering box brace, LCA skids, Axle truss front and rear, and more stuff to come
removable doors

Interior
convert rear bench to 2 bucket seats, rear cargo storage box, custom center console that completely seperates left and right, even in the rear seating
area. also american sized cup holders, tons of them., some cage stuff.
i plan to modify two factory sound bars to be sealed enclosures for 6x9's and each sound bar will be positioned behind the front and rear seating, essentially putting a 6x9 behind each passenger (my solution for summer door less music) some subs. not going to go to into detail into the stereo as im going to be leaving that as its own sections, along with electronics since i plan on adding tons of electronics.

wheels tires:
15" crager soft 8 rims, and then either 31x10.5 mud terrains or 32x11.50 BFG all terrains (bc they measure out so god damned small, both sets of 31's from them ive seen (one mine and one brand new at the store) measured out smaller then 30" so im hoping a 32 will land me at 31.))

performance:
motor rebuild with mild performance upgrades, (balanced, weight matched, port polish, 4.2 crank, mild cam. maybe an over bore,
Turbo T04E 57 trim .62 a/r exhaust housing
3" turbo back exhaust catless
ford 24lb injectors

electronics:
Tons of ****. to much to talk about. I am a huge fan of android, and a huge fan of arduino so expect to see plenty of both in the jeep.




As for right now plan on it being an extremely slow build, since im un-employed and currently enrolling in autobody school at my local community college i dont plan on having a lot of money, hopefully ill be able to find a part time job soon, witch would mean a major increase in building.


now for an update on work ive actually done to the jeep since i got it,

as i think i already mentioned the first few days were spent detailing inside and out, and the motor. next up i noticed that when i pushed the pedal to the floor quick there was a bit of a stutter before she would rev up, so i replaced her brown/black air filter and her coroded plugs, and ran a half a bottle of seafoam through the brake booster and a quarter in the oil and a quarter in the gas, the combination of the three Majorly cleaned up her stutter and improved throttle response, i would imagine a new cap and rotor plus some plug wires and maybe another sea foam treatment would do the trick, next on my list involves cutting the front bumper and flares up to make for better clearance, after that i think im going to sell the wheels and buy some crager wheels and some used 31's and cut her up to fit em. then maybe some budget lifting to get her up there for some wheeling.

k4ylr

Excited to see what you do with Android/Arduino integration.

Any chances of using an rPi at all to automate or run some on board features?

wheelerboy12

Maybe.. not sure yet.

as for the rest, i plan on the entire jeep being ran from android/arduino.
here ill layout some of my set in stone projects for you (and so i can keep organized)

1: temp monitoring, i plan on using arduino to monitor various temps including
oil temp
coolant temp
block temp
under hood temp
air intake temp
interior temp
outside temp
i plan on it at first being output to a simple and small LCD but eventually as i add more systems im going to make it so i can access all the info on an android tablet (probably a google nexus 7)

2: remote/push button start.
for the remote start, ill be able to start the jeep using blue tooth with my android phone. may also swap in power locks so i can control those from a distance too. in the end i want to be able to lick and unlock and start my jeep with my phone.

as for the push button start, its going to be like any other push button start... just im either going to use a thumb print scanner or a key pad ith a code, that way only i, or people i specify (or give the code to if i go the key pad route) can start the jeep.

3: system monitoring (this will completely eliminate my gauge cluster)
i plan to monitor just about everything you could ever want to monitor plus more
(everything will be digital, displayed in actuall numbers with acuracy instead of inacurate guages)
speed
RPM
oil pressure
vacuum pressure
A/F ratio
distance left to drive on tank
MPG
accurate fuel gauge
(soon) boost pressure
some other stuff that im not thinking about...

ive got a few other things floating around in my head, but as for now they are not set in stone.

unfortunately this is about as much as i can do as far as integration since i have an obd1 computer, if i was running an OBDII computer i could intergrate almost 100% into the jeep, but i chose to get an OBDI jeep for turbo purposes.

maybe someday down the line ill pick on a newer jeep with an OBDII computer for a DD that one will be packed with technology.

wheelerboy12

today i plan on cutting my fenders and moding my front bumper, assuming i can find a blade

PocketsEmpty

Nice! What do you use for cleaning those engine components? I really need to do that to mine.

Also, I think you forgot to mention a whole rear axle swap. The D35 is a turd.

wheelerboy12

For the engine detailing im in the process of doing a DIY, will PM you a link or post it here when im done.


as for the rear end, im going to beat on that d35 till she goes, then probably fix her and do it again. i may swap in a C8.25 if i find one.. other then that i dont think they will get swapped unless i happen to find non full width D44's from a rubicon.... but i doubt it.

Not to mention the largest tire i ever plan on even considering is a 33x12.5

but i do forse some issues with my prospected power output, turbo 4.5 stroker should burn some rubber and maybe eat up a few D35's eh?

as for the fender cutting, i have not got to it. i just scrounged around my house for $5 in change and a $1 loto ticket i have to return so i can try and buy some metal cutting blades for my jigsaw.

wheelerboy12

Finally, i have a goal.
just found out that next September some family friends are getting together a ton of people to go wheel moab and then the rubicon trail. the XJ is going. its gonna be great.

so new goals.


4.5" long arm. 33x12.50s. 4.56 gears. some sort of rear locker, armor for days. not to mention the small things i will want done before hand.

I have a lot to do in a few months time.


Edit: i still plan on staying with my same general plan, just a little bit bigger then i planned.

perpetual

I had glorious plans of integrating an arduino into my rig to control the climate, but messing with the vacuum system just seems like too much work. Was contemplating stepper motors to physically just move the levers and stash the cluster somewhere, but I don't think there's enough space available to do that right.

wheelerboy12

That was a project that crossed my mind but i dropped it about as quick as i thought about it, the complexity of it would not even be worth the gains. thats why all these newer cars cost so much, they have systems like that to controll HVAC that are at best pretty niffty, but a severe waste of money.

wheelerboy12

Well as an update, im kind of dissappointed in the jeep... I took her to a local 4x4 play ground to test and see what she could do, tried a few hill climbs, all of them i did with ease in my grand cherokee, with a slipping tranny, yet the xj couldn't get up any of them, it sucked actually, i was hoping i could find something wrong with it to explain the ****ty off road performance but i could not find anything, it just plain ol couldent do it. wtf.

letsgomuddin

Tires make a HUGE difference, that was your problem.

XJmike0122

Not being a dick but with that quote I see this being a life long build. Good luck.

wheelerboy12

even if it is tires my grand still out performed. with worse tires. the XJ has way better tires on it then my grand ever did. either way, i hope some bigger tires and a lift solve all that.

although after wheeling in it, and driving it a bunch on the road. i know that if i cant find the title to this XJ then ill be getting another ZJ.

but i really wanna find the title to this one... it may not handle as well or wheel as well but i still love it.