Daily driver 94 2-door XJ build

Blaze

Blaze

The Jeeper Reaper
Joined
Aug 9, 2005
Location
Wake Forest, NC
Figured I'd put this in here since it isn't really build, I'm just going to be bolting on a bunch of parts.

My diesel tow rig finally lunched a head gasket, so I'm thinking rather than have that AND a Tahoe that I daily drive, I am going to sell the Tahoe and the truck and buy a Vortec BBC Suburban as my tow rig and get something cheap as my DD. I went back and forth on what to get till I realized I had this sitting here for sale. Figured since no one was buying it, might as well keep it.

Bought this thing a year ago with a blown motor. Like BLOWN motor, windowed the block and all. Still ran and drove though! I had another wrecked XJ here with a motor that had 40k miles on a rebuild, so pulled that motor and stuck it in this Jeep. Did some other cleanup work and took it for a test drive and the rearend is whining like crazy. I parked it and put it up for sale as-is. No one bought it, so I'm going to pull it back in here and get to working on it. Overall it is a really solid Jeep. Has a little rust in the passenger side rear floor pan and some other bumps and bruises, but is a very solid and good running 2-door. Pretty uncommon color too.

Initial plans:
Chrysler 8.25" out of 00 XJ I have here, 3.55 gears
4.5" Rusty's lift kit I have on the shelf
Procomp 7089 16x8 wheels I have sitting behind the shop
Some 31s, whatever I can find that are good.

Future plans:
97+ frontend swap
new bumpers
new skids
bedline interior
bedline the headliner
some form of cool looking body armor
ZJ rear disc conversion

We'll see how it progresses. I am going to try and swap the axle this weekend, maybe install the lift at the same time.

Pics as it sits now.
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I DD'd a Cherokee for a while when I got tired of paying $4+ for diesel (ha!). It worked well for my needs back then.

So what are your needs from this vehicle? If they don't include attracting high school girls at the mall then why (other than already having it) are you doing a 4.5 inch lift? For a DD it will just hurt ride quality and mileage.

All I'm saying is that some of your planned mods will do nothing except make it worse (as a DD).

If it's a DD/wheeler then disregard my question, but you didn't mention that at all and I know you have other projects in the pipe for that.
 
It'll be a dd/wheeler. I have a couple other cars I drive as well. I don't mind dding annoying cars either. Hopefully soon my commute will only be 10 miles to the shop and back. This should look nice parked out front when I'm done with it. :)
 
So this Jeep had no headliner when I got it, it is like a tin can inside. I am not sure if this will work, but I'm pretty sure I can make it happen. I pulled the headliner, soundbar, and dome lights out of a wrecked 00 XJ in the shop last night. I am going to pull the material, put some gray bedliner on it, and mount the soundbar and dome/map lights off of the newer model into this Jeep. Should be pretty cool looking. I thought about redoing it with the cloth material, but I have two sons and they will get the headliners dirty in no time with cloth, so bedliner it is!
 
Post pictures of that. I love a 2 door but prefer a manual. I saw this for sale and considered it but I have enough already atm.
 
Got a little backed up in the shop tonight with customers coming over and trying to finish scrapping another XJ. I got one side of the lift done, gotta finish off the other side of the front and mount the new axle and rear lift tomorrow night.

I also hadn't started the thing in like a month, but it fired right up first shot. Runs great too.
 
Got the front lift done other than installing the new extended brake lines and the track bar and snugging everything down. I also need to install new shocks all around, something with a little more travel and that aren't dead. Going to order some today.

Also got the rear spring packs built and installed, the upper shackle bolt is stuck in there really good, so soaking it in PB Blaster and tonight we'll heat it with the torch and hope for the best. Hopefully tonight we'll be able to get the new shackles and axles installed and start snugging everything up.

I also picked this guy up yesterday. It is really nice but rusted to shit. It was a western NY truck and shows it. Probably weighs a few hundred pounds less because so much metal is rusted away. :lol: It has a ton of new and good parts on it though, including an almost new winch and front bumper. Not sure how I feel about the front bumper yet, but I'll think about it. This Jeep has pretty much every part I need that is bad on mine.
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Got the suspension almost done. Most of the stuff is bolted up, just need to install the new shocks, longer brake lines, and a new track bar in the front. Then tighten it all up and it'll be ready for some new tires.

I stuck the wheels on it with a set of bald 33s and I love the look. I know 33s and 3.55 is not an ideal combo, but 4.56 are in the not so distant future.
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I need a lift like that.... You going to pull that lower plastic off?
 
Yeah, the previous owner used some kinda gorilla snot glue to stick them on after rattle canning the lower part black. Plus part is missing. I am going to take them off, clean them up and trim the fenders a bit, then spray the lower body that is currently black in black bedliner.
 
Almost done with it, shocks and track bar should be here Tuesday. I just need to find some decent 285/75/16 tires for the thing. I installed new brake lines tonight. I used 94 C1500 fronts and a 95 Dakatoa 4x4 rear.
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Well, got it all bolted up and took it for a test ride. The front driveshaft seems to be binding up big time on decel. I'll need to get that straight before I wheel it. I'll be the guy running a lifted Jeep and 33s for a bit with no driveshaft though. :lol:
 
OK, teaser pic, horrible quality but it was raining and after midnight when I left the shop last night. It looks higher in the front because of where I parked it, the back was down a little dip in the yard. I am going to be ordering the tires Monday probably.
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Got the wheels and tires on the Jeep. Going to have to do some hackage and am going to install some degree shims on the rear axle to correct the pinion angle and maybe bump the rear ride height just a smidge. I am also going to try and mount the front bumper this weekend.
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A few reasons, I read good reviews on these tires, they look good, and they were several hundred dollars cheaper. I think they'll give me a good combo of good traction offroad, good on road manners (this is going to be my DD), and affordable.

BFG All-terrain is one my favorite tires, but I hate paying the price for them.
 
Trimmed the front fenders and mounted the front bumper and winch. I still need to do some aligning of the bumper and add a couple bolts that were missing, but that part is done. All I need to do is align the front axle, adjust the steering wheel, align it and it is ready for the road!
 
Well, we adjusted the track bar and set the steering wheel straight last night, but need to take it to get it aligned. In the process of screwing around with the front we realized that the pinion bearings are shot. I guess that means 4.56 gears are in the future.....
 
Gets some no lift shackle relocation brackets on the rear spring and it will ride and flex much better..... Looks good!
 
This thing is a neverending saga. Replace blown engine, rear axle is dead. Replace rear axle and front axle is dead. Replace front axle and it needs a driver's side u-joint.

So yeah, it is getting close, unless something else breaks.....
 
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