The TURD (TJ Under Restoration and Development)

[scotch737]

Well, I guess now is as good as any time to start this thread. I purchased a 97 TJ a few weeks back. Lots of plans in the works. I'll keep it simple. This will be a full restoration. Extending frame(lots of frame repair) and body 15" to run a LJ soft top. 5.3 LS, 4L60E. Plans are to stay LCG with new short arms and 3.5" springs. MetalCloak Fenders and 35" BFG KM2's. 44's F&R. Will have cruise and A/C, or the wife will shoot me

The night I picked the up

Grabbed some decent "roller" tires from work (Yes you can fit 4 31" tires in a civic..)

Starting the removal of weak sauce...

The lil 2.5 is going away to help someone out.

Up next is rebuilding the 231 with SYE and some goodies, and detaching it from that sad excuse of an
automatic...(anyone needs it let me know)

Axles will be here this weekend. Stay tuned for updates. This is going to be one hell of a project.
Thanks for all the help Doc, Catfishblues. And I'm sure many more on here in the future!

 

[scotch737]

Not much of an update. Just gathering more pieces and parts. Got my axles this weekend. Pulled wire harness and dash out, starting to strip the tub to prepare for the cuts. I did manage to find another frame that is in much better shape than my current one. Will save me tons of time mainly. It still needs some attention in a few areas, but I'd say it's 90% less work than my current MA born frame lol. Have lots of side work to get done this week. Probably not much happening. Next weekend I might start the surgery

 

[scotch737]

Well a small update on the mass gathering of stuff that I have no room for... I picked up a "donor" truck today. Complete 2001 Silverado Z71 5.3, auto with 174k.
The tow trip was the easy part. at home yanking it off with a Tahoe was another story. Tahoe worked great, Truck with one rear tire off bead, not so much. But alas she is off and ready to be dismantled for the heart and soul of the TURD.

 

[scotch737]

So I'm excited for this weekend. I got my side work done, so now its back to the TURD. I'll make sure I have someone take video or pics while I'm pulling the Engine/Trans stuff out of the donor truck with the front bucket of my cousin's tractor. Totally legit...

 

[scotch737]

So.. I came up with a paint theme I'm going with (the viper steel grey with some blue accents) also maybe change the nickname of the TURD to "Archangel" when he's all painted up .. Flame on, I love my Mass Effect (sad note...I can name the guns in this pic.. James is holding a Graal Spike thrower-shotgun, And Garrus, the non human, is holding a Krysae Sniper Rifle. LMAO, I'm a nerd.)

 

[scotch737]

Sorry for being away for a while. I've been super busy with work and other things. But this past weekend I actually worked on the heep. I cut the bad spots out of the "new" to me frame to prepare for the autorust safe t caps. And we made the cut to prepare for the frame extension. I dropped it off today in 2 pieces to be sandblasted and primed so this weekend I will be installing frenched in rear outboarded shock towers, New engine mounts, relocated rear spring coil perches(upper) and making my own custom crossmember for trans. Hopefully to have the frame all done by next week and painted outside with satin black chassis coat and eastwood internal frame coat. Project should roll along much faster now with the cooler weather.

No Turning back NOW!!!

 

[scotch737]

So, like I stated from the start, this is a slow go project/build. But I'm trying to do this spending the least amount of money possible. And it's working. lol. Anyways, updates with pics. Got frame back, they did fine, have pieces to finish it and put in back together soon. Pulled engine and trans from donor truck. Building that beast at work over the next 2 months. Tick Performance is grinding my camshaft and will be taking care of my heads. I'm taking the whole thing down and putting new bearings, rings and such. It's going to be anodized blue block with gunmetal grey heads and intake. Fun has just started. Got me a center console off ebay cheap. Going to put a 10'sub and amp in that thing.

More updates coming soon. This Jeep will be the one I've always wanted in the end. Not taking any shortcuts. Doing it right. Body work incoming.

 

[scotch737]

Well got the LS all tore down this week at work. And everything is a bit dirty, not bad hot tank will fix that. Only one problem found. And its kinda big...
#6 rod was bent, apparently PO ran this thing and never knew it, or it vapor locked sometime. (hell I ran it for 3 seconds and heard nothing). Cylinder only shows shadows of oil ring, no signs of piston rock or anything. After talking with Jerry up at M&M block and head, I'm buying a replacement factory rod to fix the bent one, and Ordering a set of 99.0 MM pistons to make this basically a iron block 5.7 LS1. No replacement for displacement! Cleaning all the covers and such and prepping for paint Oh yeah and the TURD's body is coming off soon. WOOT!

 

[scotch737]

Well some more goodies came in today for the engine build. Making quick progress so far. Cam should be in next week, along with some upgraded
rocker arms, timing chain set and some other stuff. Working some more on the frame and body tomorrow. I'll try to keep adding more pics to make this interesting.

Here some pac springs rated for .660 lift, very sexy retainers and keepers. My cam is being shipped, custom grind 218/227 .610/.600 111 lsa
should have a good sounding idle and beast torque curve to 5k rpm.

Meanwhile, think ill

 

[scotch737]

I know there's not much jeep to look at here lately. But this is part of the build for the TURD. And currently engine stuff is happening

Got some more goodies in today. Upgraded Factory LS rockers with comp cams kit. Ready to install from Michigan Motorsports on Ebay.. Heck of a deal when you send your rockers back. If your doing a LS swap, this is IMHO, one of the most crucial cheap worthwhile upgrades you can do. These replace the open face needle bearings in the stock rocker arm, which have limited travel, and if they fail.. tiny metal stuff going through your engine is bad .. mmmkay! :laugh: Now these spin 360 and are closed bearings with snap rings. These will handle the new .610 lift cam just fine. The stock rocker arm is great, don't waste money on aluminum look good stuff(that you never see), when you can upgrade very cheap.

Next up is a billet, double roller Timing Chain set with everything included. Very damn sexy.:woot:

And some new expansion plugs and galley plugs, along with some new side bolts for the mains..

Going Friday to the machine shop to check on progress. Will update with more pics soon. This is my favorite part of the build, being a gearhead and all. I dont know, mounting the 37's is going to be pretty damn hawt lol.

 

[scotch737]

Finally made it up to the machine shop. Initial bore and clean are done. Final hone and clean incoming this week. Heads are cleaned and milled. Valve job is done, springs to be set up soon. After that, I will be taking the heads to do my own port and polish work(nothing extreme) hoping to gain a bit for low end velocity. Transmission has been taken to a master of GM trannies. Complete rebuild with a custom stall converter for nice trail riding. Uprgrading a few things in the rebuild to handle more torque. Hope to update more soon.

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[scotch737]

Not much done today. Had to take apart a 70 C20 to help pay for the TURD build. Got the 231 tore down and cleaned. Going to make a hybrid with 231C from an S-10 and add the sye kit to the back half of jeep case and use the chevy front stuff and chain. And use a master rebuild kit to replace all the bearings.. etc.. Also here's the sexy frame extensions. They look exactly like the jeep frame. Killer. More work on that incoming once my safetcaps get here .

And here's the 70' C20 that prevented me from working on the TURD today

Tearing down and prepping the 44's tomorrow. More incoming soon!

 

[scotch737]

Well I got my axles stripped for the sandblaster and next is cutting, grinding.. grinding.. did I mention grinding? ???

Just a tip for anyone who would care to know.. Building axles is expensive, both in your time and your wallet :'(

 

[scotch737]

So I got the floor pans and torque boxes delivered to me this week. So time to get the body flipped over and fix some rot. Pulled everything out but the steering shaft, seats and a few brackets and cage today.Left it in to steer it into shop later this week. Also picked up a TJ back half for some extra pieces and parts to help the body stretch go smoothly.

Found some coastline of some state under the cowl, Looks to rocky and light to be NC. Maybe up north. But for sure it's beach...

This is the pile-o-stuff I had in the back of the truck at the end of the day.. Oven cleaner incoming

Just some things that are going to be in a For Sale thread real soon. Hit me up if interested.

And some engine brackets etc... heading to power coater. Dash frame and backing plates to sandblaster. I'm anal about cleaning everything. Want it to look brand damn new when I'm done or I wont be satisfied.

And yes it's a tight squeeze on the hardbody, but it rode well !

 

[scotch737]

So I found a stock LJ cage to work with, of course I'll be adding some stuff to this, but it's a start for now. Should help a bit with the body stretch as well.

One sick LJ here, thanks so much @6ftunder ! and I also got to see some of your handy work in person @95yjjeep (VERY NICE!)

 

[6ftunder]

That LJ looks familiar! Good luck with the build, cant wait to see the progress.

 

[scotch737]

Sorry the build has been bouncing around directions lately..Just another update... ??? After grabbing my "new" axles this weekend. Dana 60, 35 spline front and a Sterling 10.5 rear both with 4.10's out of a 2007 f250. I brought them up to the shop to start hacking away. I was denied that job as It was really time to start putting my frame back together because my engine will be here in a few weeks. So I finished the extensions and had them tacked into the front part of the frame. Then I started thinking ;D while looking at this picture you'll see what I'm rambling about. [headscratch] I had to cut the frame at this location because I needed to use safe-t-caps to repair some rust spots. You can see where I cut the rust off the bottom of the "back half" of the frame.

And here are the safetcaps with the link mounts made on them.

So here's the dilemma. I want to run a custom 4-link now, not a store bought suspension. And I have a huge Sterling 10.5 to stuff back there. So why spend $400 on safe-t-caps just to cut them up : ?

Solution to my problem, Today I found a set of 4 Fox 14'' travel. 2.5" remote res Coil-overs used for dirt cheap.. I basically stole them [laugh]

And here's how to fix the room issue on a TJ frame.. We cut that SOB off and use these!

Much less and gaining more. So I have to do some measuring for my frame extensions to get everything just right and use this artec piece. Guess it's time to click add to cart. And hopefully this weekend some frame pictures will be brought to my viewing audience. Also when I make the back half from square tubing, I'll have to set the rear axle under the frame and do some creative jack stand work to start figuring for a fuel cell or possible custom made tank size. Aint this fun?

 

[scotch737]

I've been AFK for a bit, sorry for that, Been real busy getting parts and building PC's for people to help fund this project. I have the new axles at the parents house ( I have a cutting torch there to help clear all the massively thick mounts ) Then there's going to be lots of grinding involved. I have ordered my artec back half kit and going to pick up the square tubing for the rear frame tomorrow. I have the motor mounts here already. So next weekend I will be cleaning up the frame (ie. cutting off shock towers and factory trac bar stuff, plus I still need to remove the factory motor mount brackets. My goal is by the end of the month to get the front half of the frame completely done. I can't mock up shock towers without the body on the frame. Body work is almost done ( the repairing stuff , floor pans. etc. ) And I can't make the actual cut until body is right and mounted on extended frame. So here is the longest part of the build. Gathering all parts. And the actual time with family stuff and so much side work to do anything with all that I've aquired. Oh well, figured I'd give an update.

 

[95yjjeep]

So I found a stock LJ cage to work with, of course I'll be adding some stuff to this, but it's a start for now. Should help a bit with the body stretch as well.

One sick LJ here, thanks so much @6ftunder ! and I also got to see some of your handy work in person @95yjjeep (VERY NICE!)

Thanks so much man! Briley has a super clean LJ. I was happy to build his cage. Glad you both dig it!

 

[scotch737]

Sorry I've not been around lately folks. I've been having some "seizure" like episodes and missed some work, they finally released me to drive again today. So hopefully I can get back to working on the TURD some more and give you guys some updates. Although this has set back some of the budget plans a few months. I'll still get it done by winter hopefully.

 

[scotch737]

Back to the grindstone tomorrow folks. Will post some pics this weekend of some different things I'm working on for the TURD.. soon to become ArchAngel

 

[sammi_davis]

Good to see you back to work.

 

[scotch737]

So, since I've been cleared medically. I'm back at it. Today I went and picked up the beef I spoke of earlier. And I also picked up the engine block and heads / rotating assembly from the machine shop yesterday. There is lots and lots of work to be done. But all parts except the transmission and suspension brackets.. etc are here. The TURD is no more. ArchAngel is coming soon. After May 22 I'm dedicating 2 nights a week to get this done by September. Some fab work is going to have to be done, and some electric wiring (easy to me) will be rigged. And some of the creature comforts will need some custimization. Plan for the next few weeks is get the axles cleaned and prepped for paint/lockers. Get body back on frame after frame is done with shock hoops up front and coilovers going through rear tub beside seat. Get roll bar half way done. Get engine put back together to sit in frame to mock up suspension links. So just a few minor things lol. Anyways thanks for continuing to watch my slow build. Hope to bring the woo-pow soon.

This is my hand around the front axle tube.... These things are beast mode 2k...

And the engine block in a bag yesterday heading to my "assembly plant"

lol

 

[XJsavage]

Oh nit shigga! That's looks like one beast of a junkyard you found there.

 

[scotch737]

Oh nit shigga! That's looks like one beast of a junkyard you found there.

F-trucks in Denton, NC. He has a Facebook page. Owner is Keith. Damn good fella.