So I was looking for a stock XJ for an overland build and came across this wanna be monster truck. I wanted to spend about 1k on a stocker with a bad engine and go with my favorite medium weight axle combo - d44/9'.

I found this one down the street for a hilarious price (9k). I told the guy it was worth 4k at best and he called me a week later and we worked out a price. Honestly the parts are good but this thing was thrown together in a bad way - it needs a lot of work. Lots of weird little issues and potential for issues (the flexplate inspection cover was missing??)

The good:
1 ton steering
OTK track bar
Rebuilt i6
Tuppey head
Decent interior
No aftermarket wiring connected
ford 8.8
D30 hp swap
4.56 gears
olympic rack
Arb bumper
Smittybuilt read bumper
sliders


The okay:
Tires are feathered and trash. I'll sell them to someone with a cj for offroad only. I'm going to go with a hybrid tire (or kms)
Warn winch needs a rebuild, no remote (my trail rigs remote works on it after the rebuild)
fenders are cut

The bad:
Rear axle is an 1/8 off
Trans cooler line leak
Rough country radius arms
Overlifted
Brake lines were extended in the laziest method possible
8.8 ebrake isn't connected
No lockers

Plans:
Have the arb bumper powder coatedRaptor line roof rack after sandblasting
Full time rearview mirror camera
Overhead console
Lower 1-2 inches
Bushwhacker cut flares
Awning
Roof top tent
Custom Drawer system/camp stove
5 gallons of propane
10 gallons of water
Dual battery setup
Dometic Fridge
Super 8.8 kit (so rear axle track is wider, c clip elimination, chromoly shafts)
Electric lockers
Have it drive like a Cadillac at 70mph on 35s

A little background:
Ive currently got a CJ5 with a GC 4.0 swap on 44/9 with 5.13s, 4:1, on board air, stretched, tce, etc. Great off-road rig so I don't need something nearly as capable here. I would rather be on 33s so we will see where this build ends up and how much I lower it down. My girl has a 97 XJ we've been wrenching on for a couple years. Also have a family 01 TJ to play with.

 

I obviously started with the overhead console and full time rearview mirror. The rearview camera is always displayed automatically from startup, and in reverse zooms in and adds guidelines. I plan to do a double din later with multiple camera inputs for a lower rear camera and a front camera.





I scored the overhead console with all wiring locally for $30. About $6 in gray headliner material from Joann's went into it, but I blew about $30 total on material. Allow more material to fold on the top side of the console!! I messed up and had to finagle the headliner material, but it was good enough for me.

















The rearview camera was $90 - $50 review gift card so $40 total. I didn't purchase a hardwire kit, I just modified the included 5v 2amp cigarette adapter board to work.










I tore apart the stock mirror and used 2 part epoxy to attach the old mount so I wouldn't have to strap it over the old mirror. The photos shown were to show a friend how to remove the straps, final back of mirror is much cleaner.



The extra wire I pulled is for some cargo 12v outlets. I'll be pulling 0 gauge for an inverter after the dual battery and adding (2) 110 outlets to the rear.

 

So I've just been doing fluids and some adjustments the last few days (changed every fluid). I decided to add some rear dome lights to the hatch. I was originally going to piggyback off the pink/white hatch sensor, but I found my rear dome overrides all lights while still allowing my hatch lights to turn on automatically when the rear hatch is open. So if I'm grilling or packing up I have light without running all the interior lights. The guy who is going to build my kitchen and drawers is out of town so that's about a month away from being done. Roof Top Tent is here, that will be going on next.

 

I like where you're going with this. Keep it up.

 

Mounted the smittybuilt RTT (we already had it).

We hadn't used the tent in 6 months or so and I honestly forgot that I really do prefer a ground tent just because the RTT takes up so much space and keeps you stuck unless you want to fold the tent (5 minutes or so, we leave our pillows and bags in it). I'm hoping to have my trailer built by March and instead of carrying 4 kayaks I am going to change it to 2 kayaks and the roof tent so I can have the top rack free again.



I do love the comfort of the RTT but giving up the storage sucks. I figure for kayak fishing trips if I need to haul a third or fourth kayak it can go on top of the Jeep rack or we can pull the RTT off the trailer.

The kitchen and drawers are still going in the back of the Jeep since we do a lot of camping and trips without kayaks.

 

How do you like that rear bumper? Looks like it overhangs as much as a gladiator bed.

 

LOL I hadn't even thought about the departure angle so I literally went outside and looked. The tire could definitely slap some obstacles being so far out.

Ignoring the spare, the departure angle on the red one is 4 degrees lower with less lift and 33s than on the blue one, so it does take a major hit on departure. For a hardcore rig I would go with a different bumper, but I wanted this smittybuilt bumper for an overland build and it happened to already have it.

I don't need a thicker bumper to drag over obstacles and I want to be able to carry my hi lift, spare, 6 gallons of water, a fire extinguisher, and 11 or 20lbs of propane. If I get hung up on this rear bumper the hi lift and/or winch should keep me moving, and I already messed up and took the wrong jeep (I have a verry capable CJ5 built for wheeling).

 

Looks good!
What brand reverse camera do you have?

Also can I see how your cargo net is attached? I need to install one in the next 9 months or so. I have one I pulled off a semi truck but need to think about mounting it.

 

Reverse camera is a "Vantop". It has some limitations I don't like but it has a lot of good features. For example, you cant adjust the reverse lines on this one. But it does default to always showing the rearview camera and auto switches to zoomed backup mode. Everyone seems to be using the same chinese hardware with different screens and software. Overall for $40 I'm blown away at the quality, I would pay $200-300 for this if it let me adjust backup grid lines.


I used snap hooks with loops sandwiched with a washer behind the rear seatbelt mounts. Just pulled the seatbelt mounts (torx) and slid them in. A strap at the bottom goes around the seat. I got this net for free but it's quality isn't great.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Everbilt...2464/205883006
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Thanks!

 

Thought I had a bad check valve on my fuel pump, but I looked under the hood and realized either an injector was leaking or the quick connect coupler. Pulled the couplers and they were rusted so I ran a new line. Set a timer for 10 minutes to "verify" it wasn't an injector and she started right up. Left it overnight and started it cold at 8am and it fired right up. It does not fire as quick or hard as the 2002 4.0l I swapped in my CJ5 so I think the new fuel pump will help (I have to drop the tank anyways for extra drawer mounting points in the cargo area, so I'm doing it then).

I didn't use a replacement MOPAR fuel line. I used 250 PSI fuel hose with doorman quick connects to make a new line (I did double the fuel line clamps like we do on boats so I'm not terribly scared, I may order a new MOPAR line later).







If you don't own a quick disconnect set, the back plastic pieces on the new connects are removal tools, just pop them out and put a slit on them and you could probably disconnect your lines easily.

 

I pieced together a spectre cowl intake so I could go dual batteries. Haven't decided which batteries I'm going to run yet or the driver mount but that's no big deal.

I did have to add a half inch hood lift. Since I plan on raptor lining it I'll be making a hood that clears the 5" inline filter and gives room for lifting the inline up off the valve cover. I did do some more routing and make a mount to hold the filter. I'll add more if anyone is interested.

Cabin noise is not bad at all. I'm going to add some dynamat to cut it down.





Some brackets not shown above. I didn't realize all the Spectre elbows and pieces were plastic so I'm going to have custom 3" tube bent when I pick up the second hood.


Oh yeah, all that engine bay room:

 

Installed all new heim joints on the steering. Still stuck with about 2 degrees of caster so I am going the ball joint route to get the caster I want.

Dropped the tank and found that the fuel pump was very new (under 2 years) and a Carter. I think I'll order another anti siphon valve (the silver part on the top of the assembly) and keep it as a spare. It looks like that was what failed. On a positive note startup matches my CJ with an FI 4.0 and is instant.

I had a smittybuilt 6721 storage box I temporarily installed.
It's not what I want but it was sitting in the garage collecting dust so basically free. I found a place to mount my grill and propane so the slide out kitchen will just be a dream until the situation changes here (gfs step dad is veryyy busy and can't do the drawers right now)