JPTHING Posted September 19, 2008 Share Posted September 19, 2008 I have wanted a place to show my hobby for a while now, and it is nice not to have to join another XJ club to show my MJ project. I will go through some steps it took, and show the progress over time of how it all began. I am a very competitive person, so when I would see something someone had, I would make mine just one step better. So you can imagine how my friends and family have felt with the ever changing mind. I will get my pics together, and start showing the progress. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JPTHING Posted September 19, 2008 Author Share Posted September 19, 2008 So I have no pics of my original MJ but I currently have it's identical brother in stock form, so I improvised and took pics of to show how it looked. Typical MJ Shell is from original MJ, but the other one was 2wd. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JPTHING Posted September 19, 2008 Author Share Posted September 19, 2008 I drove it in stock form for about 4 months before I decided to do a hack lift on it. SOA w/5" lift blocks, 8.5-9" rusty's coils, homemade Uca's, and Lca's Homemade trackbar, Schedule 40- 3" pipe driveshaft Homemade crossmember. Looks great, didn't last long. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JPTHING Posted September 19, 2008 Author Share Posted September 19, 2008 Once everything died, I decided to turn it into a project. I wanted v8, super strong manual tranny, Upgraded t-case, axles to come later. plucked the stock 4cyl out of there, and planned for the V8 Decided to go with the Chevy 350 Original idea for the Tranny was SM465 mated to a Dana 300 with a Rube-adapter steel adapter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JPTHING Posted September 19, 2008 Author Share Posted September 19, 2008 So now it was time to try and squeeze this 90 degree engine into a spot where a 60 degree engine would have better fit. As you can see it is a very tight fit. Portion of floor had to be cut for tranny to fit. View of t-case from below Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JPTHING Posted September 19, 2008 Author Share Posted September 19, 2008 I only stayed in Cali for another 6 months, before I decided it was time to move back to Wa. We missed Wa. too much. So the jeep sat at a friends house in Cali for 3 months untouched before I hired a friend to go down and pick it up. Before I left Cali I purchased a used 14bolt from a fellow Jeeper, which had disk brakes, 5.13 gears, and a Detroit. The pics are of the final plan I had for the triangulated 4-link which is similar to what it is now. I still had the stock MJ unibody which was a concern, and I hadn't figured out a way to strengthen it without too much work. Once I got it into my shop, I started to work on ideas for the frame strengthening. Since I couldn't figure out a great way to deal with the frame. I decided to work on the ultimate front axle. I wanted a Dana 60, but I knew I couldn't afford $5000 to buy a built D60. So I decided to build one, but that didn't get too far before I changed my mind. I thought about the strengths of a D60, but I hated the thought of being the same as everyone else. So I decided to go one better. I thought that if I had a rear 14 bolt, why not make a Front 14 bolt. So I started getting the parts together and figuring out a plan to build a front axle with a 10.5" ring gear, 1-5/8" shafts, and Dana 60 outer parts. Here is what I had come up with. The kicker is that I am $7000 into the front axle. What a dumbass. A 14 bolt rear axle with one tube removed, then a new piece of 3-9/16" 1/2" wall Dom tubing welded into its place. Crane End forgings welded on the ends. BTF Trusses welded on both front and rear 14 bolt axles(front was lengthened to accommodate my upper arms). 5/13 gears, with Detroit locker, 1-5/8" raw unsplined Dana 60 inner 4340 shafts and Ox u-joints(I found out they suck after I had already purchased them), all brand new Dana 60 outer parts, with used Knuckles, 35 spline D60 4340 outer shafts, Custom made removable axle seals. After the 14 bolt axle got home from the guy who did the tube work, and I put the thing together, I decided to get busy on the 16" Fox coil-overs for the front suspension. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xjcrazy09 Posted September 19, 2008 Share Posted September 19, 2008 holy cow!!! :eek: can't wait to see more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JPTHING Posted September 19, 2008 Author Share Posted September 19, 2008 As you can see in the last couple of pics, I started to look into exhaust problems, I had purchased Hedman tight tubes as referred by a fellow Xjer, so I cut the unibody, and was going to reinforce it. Another PITA that had to deal with the unibody frame. So I started measuring frames, and checking out how they might mount to the body, and what would work best with the engine choice I had already dumped several thousand dollars into. I didn't have to look far, cause I used to be a Chevy fan, which I had 3 K-5 blazers at one time. So I found a guy on a local(Wa.) board who had one, he measured it for me, and it was perfect. I knew a local Tranny wizard, and found out that the D300 was going to be problematic for me. it was at that time I felt it was time to go for "unbreakable" drivetrain. Now it was time to change the tranny, and T-case as suggested. I had heard good things about the SM465, but after installing one into my XJ, and then installing 2 others, cause of the same problem, I decided I didn't like the tranny to slip out of 3rd gear all the time. So now for pretty much the exact same tranny, without the issues. My choice ended up being an NP435, with a modified bellhousing, and NP205("indestructable" for the most part). While putting the Tranny, and T-case together I worked on finishing my Engine. Here are some more recent pics of the engine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JPTHING Posted September 19, 2008 Author Share Posted September 19, 2008 After I got the frame part figured out, I started putting all the parts together in the frame, and then started cutting off the unibody from the Body itself. I don't have pics of the body after unibody was removed, but I will take some. I will jump ahead for a little bit just so I can post the last few pics are posted. These pics are more current, but not of how it looks today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darren Posted September 19, 2008 Share Posted September 19, 2008 I'm glad you ditched the blocks and pipe driveshaft. good move. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeepcoMJ Posted September 19, 2008 Share Posted September 19, 2008 very nice project so far. I'll admit, I'm glad as hell that your first suspension hit the road...it was completely unsafe, or at least completely unfinished especially when utilizing stock UCA's for the longarms. good project, keep it up. and...the last post with pics the links don't work :redX: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeepcoMJ Posted September 19, 2008 Share Posted September 19, 2008 oh, what'd you do with the box? planning on using it, or selling it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JPTHING Posted September 19, 2008 Author Share Posted September 19, 2008 oh, what'd you do with the box? planning on using it, or selling it? I am cutting it down to approx. 2' and placing the fuel tank inside, and then a complete exo-cage over the whole truck which will hold the bed in place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BREEZE1 Posted September 19, 2008 Share Posted September 19, 2008 Image Not Found that was a good idea!! i really like that!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reson46 Posted September 19, 2008 Share Posted September 19, 2008 Image Not Found that was a good idea!! i really like that!!! No, it's not. Please don't do this. Willy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BREEZE1 Posted September 19, 2008 Share Posted September 19, 2008 I was talking about the concept of re-using the factory uppers in his radius arm design. Not the fabrication skill. No offence to the fabricator. :hateputers: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reson46 Posted September 19, 2008 Share Posted September 19, 2008 I was talking about the concept of re-using the factory uppers in his radius arm design. Not the fabrication skill. No offence to the fabricator. :hateputers: I was referring to both. Willy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mitch Posted September 20, 2008 Share Posted September 20, 2008 care to elaborate on why not to do whats being done? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JPTHING Posted September 20, 2008 Author Share Posted September 20, 2008 Because when you wheel with factory arms if they are twisted too much, which they can do very easily, they will buckle, and not work anymore. They are made from a flat piece of thin gauge metal, stamped in the shape of a U they don't have much strength when they lose their original form. We know, cause I have a buddy who tried to lift his XJ but decided to keep the factory arms, every time he went out, we had to replace his arms due to when he got back to my shop, the Jeep was driving sideways. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reson46 Posted September 20, 2008 Share Posted September 20, 2008 Image Not Found that was a good idea!! i really like that!!! No, it's not. Please don't do this. Willy care to elaborate on why not to do whats being done? In this picture specifically: - The stock upper control arms were used for the upper arms in his radius arm set up. They are made from thin stamped steel that are not designed to handle the additional stress that this radius arm will put on them when the suspension cycles. - The upper control arm brackets really need to be tied together. There is no lateral support in those brackets. As soon as there is any twist in the suspension, if the stock arms do not fail those brackets will bend or rip off. - The welds look very questionable. The metal does not appear to be prepared properly before welding. It looks like there is oil and dirt all over the axle. This will contaminate the weld. I also question the penetration of a lot of those welds. Willy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JPTHING Posted September 20, 2008 Author Share Posted September 20, 2008 that was a good idea!! i really like that!!! No, it's not. Please don't do this. Willy care to elaborate on why not to do whats being done? In this picture specifically: - The stock upper control arms were used for the upper arms in his radius arm set up. They are made from thin stamped steel that are not designed to handle the additional stress that this radius arm will put on them when the suspension cycles. - The upper control arm brackets really need to be tied together. There is no lateral support in those brackets. As soon as there is any twist in the suspension, if the stock arms do not fail those brackets will bend or rip off. - The welds look very questionable. The metal does not appear to be prepared properly before welding. It looks like there is oil and dirt all over the axle. This will contaminate the weld. I also question the penetration of a lot of those welds. Willy I would question all of those welds, I was using some plate I got from a scrap yard, it was Mil.spec Galvanized steel, it was pretty much impenetrable, so most of the stuff I welded didn't hold worth a crap. I have welded Galv. steel, with no questions, but the degree that this stuff was electrogalv. it was more galv. than steel. All the arms that were built were great, they are still being used in my buddies Xj but anything from the galv. was scrapped. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MiNi Beast Posted September 29, 2008 Share Posted September 29, 2008 someone reorganize their pics? :redX: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lewt2007 Posted September 29, 2008 Share Posted September 29, 2008 :needpics: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JPTHING Posted October 21, 2008 Author Share Posted October 21, 2008 I fixed my Photobucket problem Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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