The Yellowtail Build

[sjones26573]

 

[sjones26573]

 

[sjones26573]

Steering upgrade imminent! Finally ditching the old Merc box for good.

 

[sjones26573]

Thanks to samsterman99, the junk Merc box is out and the new Durango box is in. Required some frenching of the front crossmember tube with a BFH and cutting the old return line and running new soft line from the cut to the pump. Great to get rid of that massive dead spot causing wobble.

 

[sjones26573]

And to compliment the new box, new rubbers. And since a couple of my old MT/R's had a healthy amount of tread left, I finally have a fullsize spare again and a backup spare if a tire does fail.

 

[samsterman99]

Looking good Seth. Hope the box is still working well. let me know next time you're headed out and I'll join, need to shake down a few things.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[sjones26573]

Looking good Seth. Hope the box is still working well. let me know next time you're headed out and I'll join, need to shake down a few things.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yea man, it really broke in after a while and the clunkiness disappeared. And luckily no drag link modifications will be needed. I still have a few things to take care of before I wheel again like bumpstops and trimming and patching the UCA mount but its pretty much all small stuff. Hoping to hit URE before closure. And I'll get up with you sometime this week.

 

[sjones26573]

Body: Thoroughly washed and buffed
Front bumper: Painted
Louver: PlastiDip stripped, pending paint
Flares: Painted
Turn signals: Stripped, tinted, cleared, buffed
Drivers side rocker: Backside cleaned up and painted where rust was growing against body. Couldn't do passenger due to stripped bolt. Will finish painting both soon
Wheels: Touch up paint on all rock rash
Plastic Windows: Polished

Hasn't looked this good in well over a year. Difference is night and day. The powdercoat on the front bumper was in bad shape both due to rock rash and a wreck earlier this year (car made right on red while I came thru on green) and the wheels especially had bad rock rash from night wheeling Daniel. The tint on the signals had faded and clouded, which I believe was because the clear I used last time wasn't UV Stable. Used Krylon Fusion in 6-7 coats this time, which is UV Stable and made for plastic anyways. Don't be concerned, I strive for clarity in my tint job and the lights are still quite acceptably bright. And I'm not even finished painting yet, next will be the rockers, rear bumper, and louver together.

 

[sjones26573]

Found out about the True Patriot Auto Show last night on Facebook and decided to swing by with my roommate today. Sure glad we did. It was a blast.

 

[sjones26573]

 

[sjones26573]

 

[sjones26573]

Click 4 vids:

 

[sjones26573]

About time for an update. I had picked up 6 used hockey pucks around Raleigh for a total of $5 to do the front bumpstops, and ordered some cheap 2" extensions from 4WS for the rear.

Since my TJ was still down from wheeling for repairs (basically for the entirety of 2016) but my parents wanted to run Richlands Rd, I drove the 10A instead (it handled it like a boss).

I received a new set of Rancho RS9000XL's, however, Rancho had a glitch on their website for a while and I ended up getting the 2.5" shocks for the front and 3.5" for the rear (I have 3" front coils, 2" rear coils, so clearly there will be issues). It just so happened that the front shocks both arrived dented and the colors didn't match (one was clearly an older shock someone had opened and returned) so they're already on the way back. I'm going to get a set of 3.5" instead, as I think, due to the shorter compressed length of the 2.5", I'll have a bunch of uptravel I won't be able to use, due to my fenders, and more importantly, the truss interfering with the frame. So basically I'd only have 6" or so of usable travel (the 2.5" only have 8.5" of travel). The 3.5" should allow me to use the full 10" of travel, with more downtravel than up.

And today I replaced the spark plugs and changed the oil, as it occurred to me I haven't changed the plugs in the 50,000 miles I've owned the thing. A good amount of erosion as one would expect from plugs so old but otherwise looked decent, and I had never had issues from them. It really didn't change the idle much, just smoothed it a bit, which should be a testament to how well the old set lasted.

 

[sjones26573]

*sigh*

 

[sjones26573]

Built a new crossmember, this time using .25" wall 1.25" DOM instead of .125" wall. I did get primer on it but ran out of time to paint it.

Then I had to figure out how to transport the 10A wheels w/ tires to Raleigh in the TJ since the JK was no longer going (concert we were going to in Raleigh got postponed due to snow). Managed to pack 2 on top of my spare and 3 rode on the hitch rack. Tilted all the way but made it ok.

 

[sjones26573]

I welded in some new Barnes shock mounts on my 8.8 a while back and installed RS9000XL's all around. Still not pleased with the ride so there's more work to be done in that department. Stay tuned.

Anyways, I got my Firestik stuff in to replace the busted up mount of the same variety I killed on some low garages. New coax as well.

We're going to strip down my 4.0 Saturday at work to locate the true source of the ticking and eventually fix it, so I ordered a full Sealed Power (Fel-Pro) gasket kit from RockAuto. It will also allow me to replace the RMS for the second time. Everybody seemed to be out of T6 5W-40 in gallons (even Amazon) but I found a good deal on 3-packs on Wal-Mart's site and it'll ship to the closest store for free. Ordered filters and head bolts from Amazon (Engine will be stripped twice, once to diagnose, again to fix. We have a spare head gasket kit and head bolts at work for the in-between).

I had already been negotiating the classifieds this week and got a set of factory fogs for the price of shipping, and my father is picking up an MC rear track bar in Wilmington for me this week. Since MC decided to have a sale today after I had already spent all this $$$, I also opted to order the rear sway bar links I had been patiently waiting for.

 

[chrishf12]

Nice build! I'm an NCSU alum myself.

 

[sjones26573]

Nice build! I'm an NCSU alum myself.

Thanks man, it's still pretty far from what's in my head but progress is picking up again, now that I'm stripping salvaged Jeeps for a paycheck between classes. Just a little more fabricating and modifying of suspension brackets and a few more parts to install and I'll be back on the trails again, for the first time in over a year, and for the first time since installing the D44/locker/4.88's. I've got the itch but I mandated I wouldn't wheel again until everything is set up right and all parts that need replacing are replaced.

 

[sjones26573]

So, in the past month, I bought an Antirock, Metalcloak Hi Crawler Caps (can't run Stubby caps with an AR), and Brown Dog 1" Rubber Motor Mounts. The TJ has developed a major exhaust leak, which I am nearly certain is a crack in the rear manifold. Likely going to replace both front and rear manifolds with Omix pieces to get another 100,000 miles out of it, since no aftermarket unit will last. I already have a Magnaflow downpipe which is SS and has a 2.5" ID and plan to run a Flowmaster Super 10 (also 2.5" and SS, basically same as the knockoff I have now). To be legal, I need to put a post cat back on it, and I chose a Magnaflow 4" Dia Universal unit as a good, cheap choice, which also sports 2.5" in/out and is SS. So I want to ditch the mishmash of 2.25" and 2.5" aluminized in there now and have it all done with 2.5" SS piping. Trying to figure out the best shop in Raleigh that can properly weld stainless.

 

[orange150]

Henry's doesn't do stainless?

I've also read somewhere that when building your exhaust, upsize the catalytic converter and muffler, then go back to where you were. So, 2.5 pipe to 2.5 in / 3 out cat to 3 in / 2.5 out muffler (or 3in/3out muffler to 3 in / 2.5 out resonator, or whatever). The rest of that thread started getting too deep into exhaust theory with exhaust pulses and all that, but that part stuck with me...

 

[sjones26573]

Henry's doesn't do stainless?

I've also read somewhere that when building your exhaust, upsize the catalytic converter and muffler, then go back to where you were. So, 2.5 pipe to 2.5 in / 3 out cat to 3 in / 2.5 out muffler (or 3in/3out muffler to 3 in / 2.5 out resonator, or whatever). The rest of that thread started getting too deep into exhaust theory with exhaust pulses and all that, but that part stuck with me...

Henry's is where I went today but they wouldn't even discuss it without a post cat. That said, I'm not sure if they do back-fed TIG or not. I believe RJ's does, need to go check them out.

That may be a proper way to do it but I don't have a ton of room between my crossmember and body, and 2.5" should still squeeze in ok. 3" would be pushing it. It's not a V8 or anything so uniform 2.5" will be more than enough. Plus I already ordered the cat since it was $58.88 shipped with a promotion on Amazon.

 

[Blaze]

Henry's is where I went today but they wouldn't even discuss it without a post cat. That said, I'm not sure if they do back-fed TIG or not. I believe RJ's does, need to go check them out.

That may be a proper way to do it but I don't have a ton of room between my crossmember and body, and 2.5" should still squeeze in ok. 3" would be pushing it. It's not a V8 or anything so uniform 2.5" will be more than enough. Plus I already ordered the cat since it was $58.88 shipped with a promotion on Amazon.

Henry's is awesome, but unless you bring it in on a trailer they won't touch a car without a cat. They should have installed one if you wanted them to though. They just redid the exhaust on the Trans Am including cutting and rewelding the collector on my stainless headers. Henry's is the ONLY place that touches my cars. Did you go to the one on Millbrook? Tell them Bryan from Schoch Auto with the Trans Am sent you, let them know you work up there, our card is on their board. I'm going to be taking the shop truck up there shortly, not sure if you noticed how bad the muffler is on it yet.

 

[sjones26573]

Henry's is awesome, but unless you bring it in on a trailer they won't touch a car without a cat. They should have installed one if you wanted them to though. They just redid the exhaust on the Trans Am including cutting and rewelding the collector on my stainless headers. Henry's is the ONLY place that touches my cars. Did you go to the one on Millbrook? Tell them Bryan from Schoch Auto with the Trans Am sent you, let them know you work up there, our card is on their board. I'm going to be taking the shop truck up there shortly, not sure if you noticed how bad the muffler is on it yet.

I went to the one on Capital since it's not far from my apt on Wade. But that is good to know you shop there. I'm sure they'd put one on but at that point I was just talking about replacing the pipe. But I do want it to be completely legal, and I've already got the Magnaflow Universal cat on the way. Once I've got the cat and muffler and have replaced the manifold (or replaced the gasket if I get that lucky), I'll take it up to the Millbrook shop and get a proper quote.

 

[Blaze]

I went to the one on Capital since it's not far from my apt on Wade. But that is good to know you shop there. I'm sure they'd put one on but at that point I was just talking about replacing the pipe. But I do want it to be completely legal, and I've already got the Magnaflow Universal cat on the way. Once I've got the cat and muffler and have replaced the manifold (or replaced the gasket if I get that lucky), I'll take it up to the Millbrook shop and get a proper quote.

Yeah, and they touched my Trans Am and you KNOW how particular I am about that.

 

[sjones26573]

Yeah, and they touched my Trans Am and you KNOW how particular I am about that.

That works for me.

Oh and don't you think it's about time for a new avatar pic?