Gone Postal : Mail Jeep Build

[TJcrawler97]

Man the jeep is sitting nice with some weight up front now. I had a blast today, that damn engine n trans was heavy!

 

[95yjjeep]

Man the jeep is sitting nice with some weight up front now. I had a blast today, that damn engine n trans was heavy!

Thanks Joe!! Thanks again for the help today! It was fun and yes that is one heavy ass drivetrain combo when it's all bolted together. Luckily the t-case will be super light in comparison. It is sitting much lower which I definitely like, like you said. I might need to make some hi-line fenders.

 

[UncleWillie]

Man that engine hoist looks like a pile of crap.
















Jeep looks good tho.

 

[95yjjeep]

Man that engine hoist looks like a pile of crap.

Jeep looks good tho.

Thanks Warbeast!!

 

[95yjjeep]

I went to the Auto Fair with my dad on Saturday and picked up some gauges. They were on a huge closeout so I picked them up. They're the street rod series from Auto Meter. I thought they looked retro and pretty cool.

upclose.

I got the motor mounts fully welded up. I think they should be pretty strong.

Another.

Paint.

another.

 

[95yjjeep]

Then a buddy of mine wanted to test out the suspension so we got the hoist out and messed around a little bit. I found out I need to extend my front shackles in length. I'll get that knocked out sometime soon. I think adding 1-1.5" to the shackle length will help the front suspension travel thru its full cycle much better.

rear works good. Just needs a traction bar and extra main leaf added.

 

[UncleWillie]

Dude you missed the engine and hooked the axle. Might want to get your eyes checked.

 

[TJcrawler97]

That was my bad, I wanted the wheels stuffed!

 

[95yjjeep]

Dude you missed the engine and hooked the axle. Might want to get your eyes checked.

Haha! Dang. I thought something didn't seem right.

That was my bad, I wanted the wheels stuffed!

Now we know it flexes like an old wagon. Once I rebuild the shackles lets hope the wheels do stuff up nicely in the front fender wells!! Thanks again for helping me get the motor back in on Sunday. Now I have to go through and cut all the wiring harness up. It's gonna suck!

 

[UncleWillie]

LOL. I have lifted the back of a full size Chevy pickup with no bed with that thing. For a Harbor Freight special it really isn't a bad crane.

 

[95yjjeep]

LOL. I have lifted the back of a full size Chevy pickup with no bed with that thing. For a Harbor Freight special it really isn't a bad crane.

I can't complain. It got my heavy motor and transmission in the hole so it gets a "10" in my book.

 

[95yjjeep]

I did a few cage additions today. I'm not done yet. I'm still planning on connecting two short pieces that connect to the center of the floor. I added an additional body mount to the center of the floor so the cage will tie in there as well. I plan on working on the rear shock hoop / frame tie-ins / rocker protection tomorrow.

Cage shots.

I also added to my front bumper too. I wasn't too sure about it a first but it's starting to grow on me. I wanted to tie the front shock hoops into the grill hoop to help strengthen this old shitty frame a little more. All this might be overkill but I'm wanting to eliminate as much frame twist and weak links as possible while I'm still building this thing. I still have plenty of room for the steering box and steering shaft on the outside of the passenger frame rail.

 

[95yjjeep]

Couple more.

Someone on Pirate4x4 wanted to see a shot of the fitment of the YJ soft doors so I'll post them here too. These doors don't fit worth a sh*t IMO but I'll be building some tube doors down the road once this thing is drivable. At least that is the plan.

 

[95yjjeep]

I know that front shackle angle sucks with the motor in place. I ordered some longer shackles from Ballistic Fab. They was so cheap I couldn' t justify building them for what they cost. Crazy! I will be doing some custom touches to their shackles though and box them together. I'll post some shots whenever I do that. I also ordered a traction bar bracket and some tabs and brackets for the transmission crossmember.

Another update. My NP231 adapter has been backed up ANOTHER MONTH. I ordered it from 4wd on one of their call in sales in mid March and they said it was in one of their warehouses and it wasn't. Pisses me off because I would have ordered it from a local guy if I knew it was going to be drop shipped anyways. So then Advance Adapters screwed up the first kits apparently so I won't have the transfer case/transmission adapter until the end of May. I hate being told something is coming when it's not. It's frustrating when you're trying to plan out a project and make progress.

 

[Nissanwheeler]

this thing is looking so clean man, great job

 

[95yjjeep]

this thing is looking so clean man, great job

Thanks man! I really appreciate it. I swear building this thing is probably one of the best things I've done...other than my education or building my other jeep of course. Building something and having something to show for your efforts is pretty cool. If you're doing all the work or having a shop do it for you, it doesn't matter, it's definitely rewarding. The pay off is going to be driving this hoopty around! I CAN'T WAIT!

I was able to get my notches and bends pretty accurate yesterday and that makes welding SO much easier. Lets hope I can continue that today! I'm heading to the garage now so hopefully I'll make some decent progress today.

 

[95yjjeep]

I got back to work today. It was friggin' hot!! I have been wanting to add some additional rocker protection that I could tie into the cage. This was my solution. It took me all day to get one side knocked out. I think I was missing a few brain cells today! haha!

I tied the front section into the shackle mount. I'm hoping that tying everything together will make it much stronger overall.

Back looking forward.

I added plating where the tubing is welded to the framerail.

The c-pillar cage tie-in will attach to the back loop. The B-pill cage tie-in will attach to the new rockers. I will attach the shock mount with a piece of tubing that attaches from the B & C-pillar tie-ins. Simple but effective I guess.

Paint.

Another.

From inside.

A buddy of mine, TJkrawler97, hooked me up with some free used shocks for up front so i painted them and bolted them in.

 

[95yjjeep]

I tried to do something a little different with my floor/lower cage supports. I haven't decided if I like it yet but either way, it's staying. hah! the 1/2" bolt ties into the frame cross member below so that will be the 7th spot the cage ties into the frame.

another.

paint.

 

[95yjjeep]

I also got this cool little air filter from pep boys today. I saw the same one on PJ's YJ at the Farm on Saturday and I thought it looked pretty slick.

Then onto the dreaded wiring today.

All the pinouts that were cut and ready to strip from the harness.

I put a small piece of electrical tape around the wires that needed to be removed from the harness. It took longer this way, but I knew that if any wires were damaged in the harness, I would know to fix them and not assume they were being removed.

Half way done.

I still have about 15-20 wires to remove.

 

[Chris_Keziah]

The tube work looks great. I'd get a pre-filter for that air filter or your engine will hate you.

 

[88 BII]

yuck, wiring. look like you know what your're doing though. i'll have to give you a holler when i do my 4.0 swap lol

 

[95yjjeep]

The tube work looks great. I'd get a pre-filter for that air filter or your engine will hate you.

Thanks man! What do you mean by pre-filter? what is that? Like an air filter net cover?

yuck, wiring. look like you know what your're doing though. i'll have to give you a holler when i do my 4.0 swap lol

Wiring is definitely out of my element for sure. I've been dreading this part of the build for months. I'm hoping I can save myself some money by doing it myself. We'll see how good I am when it comes time to turn the key. I definitely chose this engine because of all the tech and support out there. I hate to have a "cookie-cutter" type of power plant but it seems to work well and it has a ton of aftermarket support.

 

[UncleWillie]

Wiring work sucks. But it will all be worth it in the end.

 

[bigblueyj]

Awesome progress man. I'd love to see this thing in person sometime. You'll love that motor once you turn the key and hear it for the first time. Keep it up. ANd I like the 7th tie in for the cage. It's different but it should work very well.

 

[95yjjeep]

Wiring work sucks. But it will all be worth it in the end.

It does suck. I worked on it all night tonight too and I'm still not done yet.

Awesome progress man. I'd love to see this thing in person sometime. You'll love that motor once you turn the key and hear it for the first time. Keep it up. ANd I like the 7th tie in for the cage. It's different but it should work very well.

Thanks man! I'm really trying to kick it in high gear so I can get this thing running by summer. I'm really eager to hear it run. I'll be taking this thing to a bunch of local events when its done so if you ever see me in it, feel free to stop me and check it out. I'll even take you for a ride in it if the passenger seat is free.

Update for tonight: I got all the wires removed and part of the power wires traced down and marked. I also got most of the injector / coil wires wrapped with new tape and back in place. I ran into a few snags on wires I can't figure out what they go to. I also ripped off the EGR assembly and made a few plates to cover those holes since I won't be running an EGR. One inlet was on the front of the intake, the other was on the exhaust manifold. I could have bought the cover plates from GM but making them was free.