raviolli Posted May 31, 2011 Author Share Posted May 31, 2011 lmao no that IS hilarious i cracked up just reading it and imagining it i must say, seatbelts can be quite awesome. though i was gripping that handle so hard when we stopped rolling that even after unbuckling, i was still sitting in my seat....and i was on the top side Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raviolli Posted October 18, 2011 Author Share Posted October 18, 2011 its been a while...ive done pretty much nothing except start 'er up here and there, but today i stopped at the boneyard on my way home from work and pulled a header panel, grille, both headlight bezels, and all of the side marker lights. paid $100 for all of it. pulled it off a cherokee of course. theres only ONE comanche at cocoa auto salvage and here's that beauty! the bed and tailgate seem to be in decent shape. not a whole lot of rust. taillights are no good, otherwise i would have picked em up. i didnt pull everything out of the bed and look closer though, as mine is in great condition but if anyones interested, this is at cocoa auto salvage in cocoa, fl. anywaysss....my progress-- my passenger fender is a lil bit smashed so the header-to-fender gap is wayyyyy off. it almost looks like the header is narrower than the jeep itself but I'm not worried about it. at least not anytime soon ..at least the front end resembles a vehicle now.. all i need to do before i throw away the old cracked header is swap over the headlights since they look newer. oh and the jeep emblem of course. this one came with (missing) plastic stick on letters. i had the metal ones :yes: oh and i had another nice find in this trip to the JY....I found a J20 on my way home and snapped a pic before we parted directions Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lexluthier72 Posted October 18, 2011 Share Posted October 18, 2011 Keep an eye on that aftermarket valve cover. They are notorious for warping/leaking. IF/when it does, find a VC off a 94 wrangler (metal) and replace the valve cover. Good looking start! -Erin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zenobian_84 Posted October 19, 2011 Share Posted October 19, 2011 Good progress man! Not bad for a freebie. In fact, it eerily reminds me of the same looking truck I found at a Pick and pull in Daytona beach last weekend. the exterior was the exact same looking, inch for inch as yours. Except it had maroon interior and yours is gray, lol. You've given me reason to get off my lazy @$$ and start working on my own floor pans. :fs1: :doh: :thwak: Also, :drool: :drool: awesome J20. Can't believe there are still any left on the road. :cheers: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raviolli Posted October 19, 2011 Author Share Posted October 19, 2011 Good progress man! Not bad for a freebie. In fact, it eerily reminds me of the same looking truck I found at a Pick and pull in Daytona beach last weekend. the exterior was the exact same looking, inch for inch as yours. Except it had maroon interior and yours is gray, lol. You've given me reason to get off my lazy @$$ and start working on my own floor pans. :fs1: :doh: :thwak: Also, :drool: :drool: awesome J20. Can't believe there are still any left on the road. :cheers: thanks! :cheers: where at in daytona? i went to school up there for a few years. before then, i wouldnt dare pick up a welder, grinder, or anything besides a simple screwdriver or simple socket set lol and if i can give any advice on floor repairs, i would say make sure you seal it up ASAP! every day i worked on mine, i cleaned up, blew out any dirt or metal shavings and sprayed primer, but that didnt stop my welds from rusting little by little. i had to use a crappy welder with no heat control (besides high and low) and no gas so the welds arent pretty. thats why moisture is still able to get in there. but no matter what, they should have been sealed up right. I'm really hoping the texture from a roll-on bedliner will hide the welds completely but definitely jump on it! there are some decent floor pans on the web for a reasonable price. i almost ordered them but at the time i had low income and just happened to flip that car and score some free sheetmetal lol. now my floor tells a story :thumbsup: P.S. -- you should have heard how mean that J20 sounded :drool: :drool: :drool: Erin, ive read about that here in this forum. havent thought too much about it yet. this motor has 276,xxx miles on it so far. ive only driven it maybe 20 miles in the (almost) year ive owned it due to it not being registered. i do run it often though. I'm just not sure yet how soon I'm going to replace the motor, and with what. i have been thinking for a while that i want to drop in a 360ci mated to a 4x4 NV3500 but know its going to take some custom mounts and other odds and ends so its just a long thought process. ive got a shopping list of parts in my head but don't really want to get into that right now. anyways.....i will have to drive it for a while soon. i need to put new axle shafts and bearings in my daily driver and I'm worried about what kind of other damage lurks in my rear end. i need to inspect my diff and rotors too so if i end up having to order more parts/have it apart longer than expected, ill be driving the jeep to work until its done. and thats 32 miles one way, 5 days a week just for the one job...i work two. so i may have to buy a few things to make it secure and sound before i take it on that kind of voyage......again....and again....and again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zenobian_84 Posted October 20, 2011 Share Posted October 20, 2011 thanks! :cheers: where at in daytona? i went to school up there for a few years. before then, i wouldnt dare pick up a welder, grinder, or anything besides a simple screwdriver or simple socket set lol and if i can give any advice on floor repairs, i would say make sure you seal it up ASAP! every day i worked on mine, i cleaned up, blew out any dirt or metal shavings and sprayed primer, but that didnt stop my welds from rusting little by little. i had to use a crappy welder with no heat control (besides high and low) and no gas so the welds arent pretty. thats why moisture is still able to get in there. but no matter what, they should have been sealed up right. I'm really hoping the texture from a roll-on bedliner will hide the welds completely but definitely jump on it! there are some decent floor pans on the web for a reasonable price. i almost ordered them but at the time i had low income and just happened to flip that car and score some free sheetmetal lol. now my floor tells a story :thumbsup: P.S. -- you should have heard how mean that J20 sounded :drool: :drool: :drool: The LQK I'm talking about is about 3-5 miles from the Daytona Speedway. If you get onto 1792 and follow it for a whiles, it will branch off into 17, and 92. Take 92 for about 2 miles, and it'll be on the right hand side (this is of course if you are taking SR-44 onto 1792) Here's a link to their site to check their inventory. I suggest you get out there if you're interested! There were about 4 MJ's out there this past weekend in good "picking" shape! http://www.lkqselfserve.com/FindaLocation/LKQFlorida/LKQDaytonaBeach/tabid/173/Default.aspx I wish I could have heard that J20. I also wish I had access to any sort of welder. Shame I don't. :( Or else those floor pans would have been done 2 months ago, lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raviolli Posted October 20, 2011 Author Share Posted October 20, 2011 ahh yess, LKQ. ive been there a time or two its only a few miles from where i went to school. maybe sometime i drive up there again to visit my teachers and see whats there. actually, all the cars we worked on ended up there once we were done with them lol. let me know if you ever see a pathfinder painted like a zebra lol. i masked off and sprayed the entire passenger side :yes: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lexluthier72 Posted October 20, 2011 Share Posted October 20, 2011 All good. Id just say keep an eye on it. I had the same cover, and it finally warped and shot oil all over the exhaust manifold in the middle of traffic. The 94 metal cover is cheap insurance. Great looking truck! -E. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raviolli Posted October 21, 2011 Author Share Posted October 21, 2011 All good. Id just say keep an eye on it. I had the same cover, and it finally warped and shot oil all over the exhaust manifold in the middle of traffic. The 94 metal cover is cheap insurance. Great looking truck!-E. thanks :cheers: its amazing how just a new front clip can transform it into practically a whole new vehicle. i can't wait to see it with a 3" lift, aftermarket wheels with a smaller backspacing and some fresh 31" A/T's or M/T's btw...how much should i expect to pay for a metal valve cover? the junk yards around here hardly have any jeeps other than cherokees, but ill keep looking Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raviolli Posted October 23, 2011 Author Share Posted October 23, 2011 well i ordered a 3" rough country kit tonight. i was going to wait, but i found this kit that included the coils, AALs, shocks, and lower control arms and was just under $400 shipped so i figured what the hell. so there should be more posts to come in the near future :wrench: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lexluthier72 Posted October 23, 2011 Share Posted October 23, 2011 Not more than $25 for a metal cover. I had to go an hour outside the city to get one. -E. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raviolli Posted October 23, 2011 Author Share Posted October 23, 2011 wow thats not bad at all. ill just have to look around next time i go. ill put it at the top of my list though :cheers: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lexluthier72 Posted October 24, 2011 Share Posted October 24, 2011 it should not be hard to find. Totally worth it. (most of the cap is metal as well) so make sure you get a cap with it. :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kyleag89 Posted October 24, 2011 Share Posted October 24, 2011 If you ordered the RC kit for an XJ the shocks will be too short. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raviolli Posted October 24, 2011 Author Share Posted October 24, 2011 If you ordered the RC kit for an XJ the shocks will be too short. :wall: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raviolli Posted October 24, 2011 Author Share Posted October 24, 2011 it should not be hard to find. Totally worth it. (most of the cap is metal as well) so make sure you get a cap with it. :D ill definitely find a cap with it. i don't like the replacement i ordered new for the plastic cover Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raviolli Posted October 27, 2011 Author Share Posted October 27, 2011 got my 3" RC kit today. worked on it for about an hour with my buddy but ran out of daylight, got hungry, and mosquitos started attacking lol so we'll finish up on sunday. so far we got almost all of the front end apart except the control arms and coils. i need to rent a spring compressor to finish up. but for the front we just have to take the coils out, swap out the old LCA's for the new ones, put new coils back in, sway bar brackets, put sway bar back in, new shocks, re-assemble, blah blah blah. you all know the works. then move on to the back which is just AAL here's the goods oh yeah and i broke a bolt off where where the swaybar bolts into the frame rail so i need to extract that :shake: more to come (probably sunday night) :banana: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raviolli Posted October 31, 2011 Author Share Posted October 31, 2011 well ive got most of the lift installed. turns out my calipers are bad too (this is the first time i had the wheels off). all pads up front touch the rotors without anyone touching the brake pedal. but thats another project for another day...time for lift pics :thumbsup: here's the coil, shock, and control arm removed new coil and control arm installed shocks in (i just realized these are all pics of the passenger side lol here's with the wheels finally touching the ground (i think here its just the driver side wheel on note: it is the driver side this time i didnt put the sway bar back in yet....i snapped that bolt so i still need to get that out for the drop brackets. it was kinda sketchy backing out of the driveway and backing back in without it. probably threw out my alignment even more too lol but i made it and here's a few shots i started on the rear and got the u bolts and the clips that hold the pack together out, but that one bolt coming from underneath the pack is rounded out and i ran out of daylight so ill be tackling that another day thats it for now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raviolli Posted November 10, 2011 Author Share Posted November 10, 2011 finished up the rear today before work. i had to do the whole job little by little with two jobs plus swapping motors in my dads truck at the same time lol all i have left is the busted bolt for the sway bar and then putting in the drop brackets for that. then its new wheels, tires, alignment, and lots of brake work lol. and eventually longer u-bolts. i have the stockers in right now but left off the bottom plate that goes under the shock mount plate. i bought some longer ones but the diameter of the curve is about 1/2" bigger so i woulda had to enlongate all the holes to make 'em fit and they wouldnt hug the axle housing as tight so i figure ill just keep lookin for better ones. oh and the shocks in the kit seem to be plenty long enough. didnt realize they didnt come with dust covers so ill have to get some, but i had the truck jacked up, the axle hanging, and still had a few more inches of travel in the shock. mounted the wheels and set her down and theres plenty of room. still not going to flex it too much to be safe, I'm more for mud and light trails anyways, not crawling here's a couple pics and yes, i realize there are wead-eaters in the back. somehow, the bed of my MJ became a place to store everything going to the dump/scrapyard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RockMJ Posted November 14, 2011 Share Posted November 14, 2011 Looks good man, and just an FYI, most companies don't ship their shocks with dust boots anymore. Mainly because they fill with water and cause the shocks to corrode. Honestly, your better off leaving them off. Nice to see another FL MJ on here :D RockMJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raviolli Posted November 14, 2011 Author Share Posted November 14, 2011 thanks! ...another one that looks almost the same, at that! i never though of that with the dust boots. makes sense i have another addition. its not much... stumbled upon this decal online a while back, and not long after that saw it somewhere on here. well anyways, thought it was necessary for my jeep :yes: so there it is :cheers: oh and i also got this for my mini fridge. because the beer in my mini-fridge is, in fact, protected by zombies. so a word to the wise..... NEVER TRY TO STEAL MY BEER! :no: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raviolli Posted November 22, 2011 Author Share Posted November 22, 2011 i got some lil things done today. nothing big, but a step forward is still a step forward even if two steps back is still to come lol for one, i fixed my headlights. it turned out to be corrosion at the harness connector as i suspected. i took a brush to it and used a pick to bust up a couple clumps of the nasty green-ness. of course i had to take off the whole header panel to get to the connector and had to jump it to test em :shake: but at least now my lights work again, and i swapped out the passenger side headlight for one of the ones from the old header Then after all that mess, i threw my tag from my DD on so i could put some gas in the beast. theres a gas station at the back of my neighborhood, but its half dunkin donuts so a lot of cops hang out there :rotf: i put thirty bucks in and found out my fuel gauge functions (unlike my DD). it might not be completely accurate but i won't have to count my miles for once :clapping: so drivin around and putting it to the floor once or twice, i realized my jeep is uber slow (when comparing to my 4.3l vortec), and will only get slower with bigger tires, but is still ten times more fun to drive when i got back home, i hadnt gotten quite enough yet so i decided to put my (metal) 'jeep' letters on from the original header panel. the new header was missing the lettering and they were stick on so i had to line them up the best i could and drill holes to make these work but i think it turned out fairly well. i started by lining up the letters one by one the best i could and pressing just enough so that the stud would leave a mark of some sort telling me where to drill a hole. each letter has two studs, one going all the way through with a nut on the other end and another just long enough to keep the letter straight. did the same with all letters, working my way from 'J' to 'P' after i had all the holes drilled, i took the letters off and cleaned up the header a bit i used some goo gone and a rag, which seemed to just move the goop around but after enough elbow grease, it gets it all off putting the letters on would be a bit easier with the header off, but i already had it off earlier and didnt feel like taking it off again, so in order to get the nuts on the back side, i had to take off the mounting plate on the topside of the header (under the hood) with that gone, theres just enough room to squeeze hands in and put the nuts on. so, once again i worked my way from 'J' to 'P' if you ever find yourself doing this, careful where you leave the letters. or at least don't do what i did and step on the 'P' and bending the longer stud :doh: ...at least it straightened pretty easily anyways, thats that. they are a little bit loose but only enought to make a "tink" sound if you tap on them. and they arent perfectly straight, but it is a jeep so its probably not expected lol. i think some day ill put some emblem tape on the back side to tighten them up a bit and now my JEEP looks like a JEEP again! :banana: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raviolli Posted November 22, 2011 Author Share Posted November 22, 2011 andddd forgot to mention, i finally bolted down my seat again today. i was getting tired of the occasional rough shift and flying forward because the bench seat was only 'sitting there'. (it was out from when i was welding the floors) i also put the seatbelts back which i probably should have done before driving it to the gas station but oh well :roll: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RockMJ Posted November 23, 2011 Share Posted November 23, 2011 andddd forgot to mention, i finally bolted down my seat again today. i was getting tired of the occasional rough shift and flying forward because the bench seat was only 'sitting there'. (it was out from when i was welding the floors) i also put the seatbelts back which i probably should have done before driving it to the gas station but oh well :roll: Common sense isnt always common practice lol. Glad to see its coming together man RockMJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raviolli Posted November 23, 2011 Author Share Posted November 23, 2011 lol thanks don't get me wrong, i always wear my seatbelt on the streets, and i never really drive this rig since its still not tagged so the seat issue wasnt that much of a problem, but i gotta live life on the edge to some extent, ya know? oh and another post! i just ordered some cragar v-5s from summit :D black, 15x8, 3.75" BS, should be here in a few days. i was either going to order them or some tires but figured these will take out a smaller chunk until payday. ive got my eye on a set of 32x11.5x15 Dunlop Mud Rover's. i know i should stick to 31s, but these are a pretty decent price and i really want an aggresive mud terrain vs. an all terrain. plus the overall height of these are 31.5" so ill only be .025" closer to the fenders lol 32s with no trimming? :dunno: doubtful, but ill cross my fingers anyways haha and yes, before anyone says anything about me running 32s on my turdy-5 rear and 3.55 gears, i know I'm taking a risk but ill be swapping axles in the future anyways Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now