2000 XJ Beach Buggy

[matt62485]

sup fellas? been a while. getting my 98 xj fixed up to sell, picked up a 2000 xj my dad had sitting around for cheap.

2000 XJ Sport, LP D30/8.25, AW4/NP231

Big suprise... (not)... water in the oil when my dad bought it which we knew and he planned to fix, so I suspected the head was cracked. My dad has too much other stuff to work on so I told him I'd take the burden off his hands

Out of the mud/trail scene, and I just want a nice fun beach/camping vehicle, this thing is too clean to destroy!

plans:

-new reinforced 0331 head and head bolts
-new water pump/thermostat
-new radiator hoses/vacuum hoses (has new radiator already)
-new brakes
-new lift (probably RCx 4.5" kit)
-Big 3 wire upgrade (probably from kellyswip)
-15% window tint
-neoprene seat covers
-some sort of stereo system w/ cubbyhole sub
-rear mounted swingout tire carrier (detours hopefully)
-jcr DIY front bumper
-roof rack
-265/75/16 when the mtr's wear

When I first got it from my dad after a wash.

 

[matt62485]

swapping stuff from the 98 to this one.

got the front done. smashed the eff out of my finger, well two of them. pinky came out a little worse. stupid broken bolt, and then the spring compressor got wedged... ftl.

 

[matt62485]

so finally had time to get the rear lifts swapped out. finished pulling the door molding off and cleaned it up.

after that pulled it in the garage and decided to start working on getting the head off. pulled the fuel rail, electrical, fan, air intake, etc off and started working on getting the intake manifold off. the damn thing has 4 bolts on the underside that are in b/t the exhuast manifold ports, and a PITA. after spending 15 minutes working the socket onto the bottom back bolt, which was the last one... it is giving me hell. i got it half way backed out and about had the intake off and the socket slipped off and now i cannot get it back on. walked away for the day. jeep-2, me-0.

 

[matt62485]

finally got the garage straight/organied where i could get it in the garage and got the valve cover off... revealing this...

so pulled the head off (by myself)... im 140lbs and with that 2" BB and tires made it way harder than I thought it'd be... that thing whooped my ass... but I got it off without breaking anything (except my back)

a lil inspecting and I saw what I guessed was the issue...

got a magnaflux kit to scope it out and sure enough....

 

[matt62485]

so, it'll be a lil while til i get all the parts i need ordered/acquired b/c of working 72hr/wks until april, so i figured i would start cleaning up the wiring/loom, etc and do a lil cleaning/painting in the bay.

starting moving stuff out the way and taking old loom/tape off... what a friggen rats nest.

pulled the front clip to paint/clean/make it easier to work on... about 50 of these fell out...

boxes of stuff i've pulled off... (hope i don't have any pieces left over when it's done! lol)

 

[matt62485]

got a new water pump, hoses, and some other crap. ordered a new heater/inlet tube for the pump too. hopefully get the head ordered soon, im working outta town so wanna be back home so i can be here when it ships.

oh, also ordered battery cables from KelleysWIP, great guy

 

[matt62485]

slowly getting cleaned up/painted

 

[matt62485]

so recently got a set of JK shocks (black ones for now) for $20, ordered detoursusa 1.75" stm rear shock relocators, set of RC bar pin eliminators for the front and plan to make a trip to the junkyard thiwhen i get back in town and do a little searching for some rodeo leaf springs and some thunderbird coils, then I'll order a trackbar from Ironmanfab and some control arm drop brackets from RC as well. also should be getting my battery cables from KelleysWIP soon. in the mean time I'm piecing together everything I need to install the head as well. Need a gasket kit, some new headbolts and ofcourse the head. Waiting until I'm back home (in town) for good to order it. My wife is pregnant and I dont want her even touching that thing to move it when it arrives b/c i dont want it sitting on the porch for long.

so that brings us up to now, i'm 75% done with the wire looming/taping, i need to upload the pix when i get back home. i'm working out of town on night shift and only have friday nights to work on it so it's a slow process.

need to finish it up before august, i've been doing some other work too, lol

 

[mattb6679]

Looking Good. When ya put that intake back on, go on and start the bottom bolts for the intake just turn em enough in so the will stay in the hole. That will make it a hell of a lot easier on ya for reassembly. Get ya a set of ratchet wrenches to tighten em up with, or just buy the one ya need at lowes. Hope this helps, it will go back together a lot easier than it came apart. Good Luck!!!

 

[matt62485]

thanks man. yea, this isn't my first epidemic with a jeep motor but them manifold bolts whooped my ass way worse this time then they ever have before for some reason. mainly the rear one though. i got some ratcheting wrenches for christmas but couldnt fit my hand in there to the rear one to use it, lol. but i got everything out of the way now, so hopefully itll be a little easier, im not putting it back together until i have the head/manifolds on

 

[RonS]

Looks really good. I like the wheels and tires and lift. As for the head, is this a common thing on the newer 4.0L? Just curious if maybe they did a casting change or something.

Again, nice work so far.

 

[matt62485]

Looks really good. I like the wheels and tires and lift. As for the head, is this a common thing on the newer 4.0L? Just curious if maybe they did a casting change or something.
Again, nice work so far.

the 0331 heads on the 00-01 XJ's are notorious for cracking. TONS of threads/people with issues with them. Some claim to have never had any sort of overheating problems and still had them crack. Apparently there was a casting flaw b/t cylinder 3/4 upper side waterjacket/cylinder where it seems 99% of them fail. the pre 2000 casting (0630-7120) mostly seem to be pretty tough, however the exhuast manifolds don't line up properly due to the ports, so some sort of gasket/adapter has to be used, im just going to buy a new reinforced 0331 head from clearwater cyl heads.

and thanks, judging by your sig my "rig" isn't much lol. i just want a clean reliable beach/mountain trip vehicle

 

[RonS]

the 0331 heads on the 00-01 XJ's are notorious for cracking. TONS of threads/people with issues with them. Some claim to have never had any sort of overheating problems and still had them crack. Apparently there was a casting flaw b/t cylinder 3/4 upper side waterjacket/cylinder where it seems 99% of them fail. the pre 2000 casting (0630-7120) mostly seem to be pretty tough, however the exhuast manifolds don't line up properly due to the ports, so some sort of gasket/adapter has to be used, im just going to buy a new reinforced 0331 head from clearwater cyl heads.
and thanks, judging by your sig my "rig" isn't much lol. i just want a clean reliable beach/mountain trip vehicle

Thanks for the reply. I only ask because I recently bought a '98 and want to anticipate issues.

As for my "sig", I sold that about 5 years ago and just never changed it.

I'll be following along.

 

[matt62485]

Thanks for the reply. I only ask because I recently bought a '98 and want to anticipate issues.
As for my "sig", I sold that about 5 years ago and just never changed it.
I'll be following along.

ahh i hear ya. thats cool man. yea, i also have a 98 i'm fixin to sell cheap, it has the 0630 casting, which yours should as well. would serve someone a good wheelin jeep. i'd like to keep both, but with a baby on the way and no need to have a true trail rig since i dont hardcore wheel a lot, i dont see the need to keep it.

 

[Jason W.]

Wheel and tire combo is just right on that Jeep.

 

[family xj]

Are you getting any parts from www.capefearpicknpull.com ?

 

[matt62485]

Wheel and tire combo is just right on that Jeep.

thanks man, im going to go slightly larger (~32 instead of 31)

Are you getting any parts from www.capefearpicknpull.com ?

yea, plan to make a trip in a couple weeks when i get off night shift.

 

[matt62485]

"This message was sent to you at the request of CLEARWATER CYL. HEAD to notify you that the electronic shipment information below has been transmitted to UPS" Expected Delivery date 2/21/2012.





Head ordered! Also scored a DetoursUSA tailbone tire carrier, should be here soon too



Here's a few updated pix of some progress

 

[matt62485]

head bolts/gasket kit on the way.

 

[matt62485]

got home from outta town and had some goodies.


i did all this from about 3am til 9am this morning. couldnt sleep when i got home from night shift and im off tonight so i went to the garage and did work.

traveled home 2.5hrs for my night off and got home about 3am (i get to leave early on travel night) and ofcourse got home and couldnt sleep... so...


cut the old bolts and slit em to help me align the head... got it on myself.

80lb head > 140lb me. head won the battle twice, but i won the war on the third attempt

 

[matt62485]

night shift has me so screwed up. so i couldnt sleep, ofcourse. decided to tackle the pita intake/exhuast manifolds

the bottom intake bolts i slightly thread into the holes and made sure the bowl washers were outta the way, and slid the intake take over them. i put a socket/extensions on the bottom back on and taped it to it so i didnt have to fight trying to get to it once i put the intake on. made it much easier.

didnt seem like it wanted to pull tight very easy but i muscle it in to place. hope its seated well and i dont get no leaks.

dang exhaust manifold flanges were a major pita for some reason though

 

[matt62485]

some of you may not care about this part, but it's part of what i'm working on to get this thing where i want it.

im going to do a bi-xenon hid projector retrofit on some black housing 7x6 headlights i ordered off ebay. i figured i can get the black look i wanna go with, get sufficient light and run hids the right way. plus, im coming out cheaper than it would cost to run IPFs/Hellas, lets just see how it comes out and i'll post up the progress and some pix when its done.

 

[farmerjohnson]

its looking good man!

 

[Na5ty 2V]

love the jeep man, i am looking to pick one up just like it