Eighty8 Posted January 19, 2020 Share Posted January 19, 2020 oh man, where do i start....? Short story i suppose... ive lurked these forums for awhile now and have wanted to make a build but rarely spend enough time on a computer todo so. anyways, i picked up this 88, shortbox, 4x4, 4.0L in the summer of 2018.i spent some time fixing the hatch patch lift/front end, one of the PO really had no idea what they were doing or didnt care. after said and done, i had her driving good. it was setup with a RC longarm & netting about 3in of lift. i did swap the coils cause i had no idea what they had stuffed in there and i had an extra set of 3in. (lowcoglife) after acouple weeks of PO repairs, i was happy i had saved this poor manche from certain doom as the life of a farm truck. i have a weird rule, before building a rig i have to daily it for a good while. has to prove its worth and show its colors. well, after awhile.. i decided to dump some money in her and did alot of odd and ends, which i won't really get into (nothing todo with the swap, jus giving abit of a backround story) i took it out and did some good wheelin', now i forgot to mention it had a good ol solid 4.0L tick to her, apon inspection after buying...it had 4 bent rods. i did abit of cleaning/flushing/replacing but not dumping too much into it, but alrdy planned on a swap at this point & started seeking an xj. came across a decently clean 98 xj but without much PO history & lots of miles, but the price was right. The adventure from 1988 to 1998 began about 2months after that. I'm about 6-7months into the swap due to personal crap.. medical issues, occupation change & moving. life getting into my jeep time >=[ anyways, i don't have much of an internet connection where i am now and have to hotspot my phone. so i will update as fast as i can trying to keep my post in correct order. currently i have alrdy swapped 95% of the interior, have all the wiring ran inside&out and i am rdy to pull the motor from the donor for some repairs/upgrade then drop it in. Now, I'm calling this a shade tree swap because when starting, the location i was at i didnt have much access to anything but hand tools/cordless power tools. I'm very motivated & spent several years in a shop turning a wrench but got out of the profession 5-6yrs ago. So this swap was done with basically hands tools, no welding, no air tools & stuff bought locally. (menards, lowes, napa, advance, farm&fleet) now that i moved, i have a fully setup & heated garage with my buddy. welder, compressor, plasma, tons of tools between the 2 of us. i also picked up a cheap 89, shortbox, 5spd, 2wd, 5spd that i brought back to life with lots of labor lol. i now daily it 60-80miles, 6days aweek. end game is 98 swap, d60/10.5 ton swap(have axles alrdy need built), 3link/4link, hybrid exo cage, custom topper/rack and stuff lol. ill be doing full frame stiffeners in the near future as well before the tons. she will be a built overland rig. planning a 4k trip to az in march (before the tons) for a test run. currently sorting all the pics from the swap for i can upload in order & update as fast as possible. (having a issue uploading photos, will get them up asap) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eighty8 Posted February 7, 2020 Author Share Posted February 7, 2020 ima leave out the basics. this is shortly after i pulled motor, interior & started cleanup/paint on the engine bay. When i started the swap it was summer & hot as hell. I was happy to find only one hole in the pass. floor pan when pulling the interior. i think the first big step or challenge is all the spot welds & adapting the firewall. i will say i did this abit half-assed but i had no access to a welder or much else needed. i was in a hurry at the time & wanted to make it simple. i don't plan on this being a show truck. all i seek is good functionality & durability. i also like simplicity. after the test fit in the pics, i drilled 3 holes and bolted the template up and made my cut for the steering. i used alil bit of silocone and of course thread lock finalizing everything.(yes i left the template, i thought about doing this while forum hunting, have yet to see any kind of problem- biggest factor i worried alil about was it spacing the booster out abit.) i used both the xj donor dash mount brackets, and wow spot welds out the butt. i did alot of my work after sun down it being so hot. my spot weld bit broke after bout 5 welds. said screw it and ran through the rest with a bit. i later plugged & sealed them all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted February 8, 2020 Share Posted February 8, 2020 I've always wondered how many total spot welds were in our Jeeps. lookin' good! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eighty8 Posted February 9, 2020 Author Share Posted February 9, 2020 17 hours ago, Pete M said: I've always wondered how many total spot welds were in our Jeeps. lookin' good! haha, it really opened my eyes to them doin this swap! & thank you! gonna try to get updates goin abit faster. i should have the motor in this week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eighty8 Posted February 9, 2020 Author Share Posted February 9, 2020 after most of the firewall work is done, getting that dash to mount is the next thing. now i will say I'm not exactly sold on how i did this, so sometime ima add 2 more upper dash mount points. the only upper mounts i used were the 2 xj brackets. for the lower, i hung the dash from the upper mounts- double checked locations and made sure all looked well then marked and drilled stock dash points for the 98. i simply just nutted/bolted these being able to easily reach through the door wiring access hole. (remember youll have a lower bracket/brace as well with the 97+) i didnt take many pics at this point as life was getting in the way, i was just in the process of moving and saving my 89 2.5 2wd. sadly the 88/98 sat for about 2-3 months after this due to the move&always working on the 89 with the little free time i had. -my pics won't upload(due to my slow internet access) ill get them up when it decides it wants to work better! lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted February 9, 2020 Share Posted February 9, 2020 which method are you using to upload the pics? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eighty8 Posted February 11, 2020 Author Share Posted February 11, 2020 On 2/9/2020 at 8:33 AM, Pete M said: which method are you using to upload the pics? draggin & dropping, they are fairly small files. its 100% my connection tho, i live in bfe and have to hotspot my computer to my phone. which at best anywhere on my 2acres, i can get 2 bars lol. sometimes it works ok, others not so much. we are only offered 1 internet service through a dish and its abit expensive & i don't use the net alot. every bit of free time & money have been for the comanches for the last 3months as well lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eighty8 Posted February 11, 2020 Author Share Posted February 11, 2020 After months of sitting outside, alone.. i finally moved the manche to be loaded and moved to our new home. a heated shop, huge barn & 2 acres to store all kinds of jeep junk! sadly the 88/98 sat in the barn for about 6weeks, only having 2 stalls in the actual garage/shop..my 89 manche needed work, also my neighbor had afew things to fix and his JK is in the first stall undergoing a stretch, tons & 42s.(aka not moving for awhile) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted February 11, 2020 Share Posted February 11, 2020 get your house a cell booster. it'll change your life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eighty8 Posted February 11, 2020 Author Share Posted February 11, 2020 ok, now i got the "story" out of the way and kinda updated, lets try to catch up to where i am now. ill start off saying I'm always jumping back and forth, i can never focus on one thing with this truck. as soon as i got the chance to get it back in the garage with knowing it didnt have to come back out.. it was party time. i spent probably a day just looking at it and making a plan lol. this swap really is alot todo but nothing is really to hard. i made a list and went to town. first i wanted to strip some parts for easier access, so fenders and the pass. door came off. i cleaned and patched the pass floor, my neighbor did the welding for me since he does it for a living, turned out great. after that, i bed coated the interior with 3m (best out of a can ive found myself) after that, it was onto test fitting the heater box then dash & steering column. also installed the computer bracket from the donor. now with the heater box, i did have to drill one hole for the far Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eighty8 Posted February 11, 2020 Author Share Posted February 11, 2020 1 hour ago, Pete M said: get your house a cell booster. it'll change your life. ive actually been looking into one, think i might bite the bullet and pick one up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eighty8 Posted February 11, 2020 Author Share Posted February 11, 2020 after acouple hiccups i had everything where i wanted it as far the dash/heaterbox and removed everything again. as far as insulation, i did alot of research looking for a cheap but effective alternative. both the xj&mj factory firewall insulation were shot. i came across reflectix, always on the shelf at lowes&menards. i read alot of negative&positive reviews, mostly in the hotrod world. i ended up asking one of my dads old hotrod buddies about it, he laughed and said "man, i use that $#!& on everything" so i grabbed 2 rolls, 3m spray adhesive & 3m foil/duct tape. I'm not super concerned about sound deadening.. but i may still put a thin layer in. I'm still undecided on how I'm finishing the floor. i also test fitted & mounted the heater box, fuse box & the go-juice pedal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted February 11, 2020 Share Posted February 11, 2020 neat! does it absorb water at all? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eighty8 Posted April 11, 2020 Author Share Posted April 11, 2020 On 2/11/2020 at 9:45 AM, Pete M said: neat! does it absorb water at all? i don't believe so, although i can't be positive. it seems to be working awesome. good quiet ride & holds the heat/ac amazingly compared to before the swap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eighty8 Posted April 11, 2020 Author Share Posted April 11, 2020 alright, sorry for the delay in post, life has been busy. Any & all freetime ive poured into the truck tho. happy to say its running&driving great. have alil over 600miles on it since the swap. gonna try to pickup where i left off here. after getting the heater box test fitted & insulation 90% finished, i started getting my ext harness/fuse block/comp all in their final resting places & getting everything inside that needed to be inside. also worked on getting the fuse box mounted as close to factory 98xj location as possible and getting the dash harness in place(not fun at all) after mucho headaches i was able to fully test fit the dash for like the 7th time, but with all trim this time! and then onto the rear harness/wiring.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eighty8 Posted April 11, 2020 Author Share Posted April 11, 2020 ill say i did a good fair share of research on how todo the rear wiring and there is info out there, but i never really found much of a walk threw. i sweated this part of the swap, I'm decent with wiring but their is oh so much extra that is not needed. i notice on forums and FB its a common followed thread/topic when someone brings it up. i think its very over thought. i over thought it alot anyways. basically....cut or cap everything you don't need and tuck it away! ill share my way of doing it which i found to be simplist &also the method most used id say. i wanted to keep everything from the 98xj factory as possible so the system would function 100% as it did in the xj 1. i had marked everything on the harness when un-installing to prevent confusion&save some time i set the harness out and began capping everything. now i didnt wanna cut all the connectors out just incase i needed to trace something down the road or maybe utilize a rear window switch or somehting along those lines. so i basically just electrical tapped everything off as neat as possible slimming the harness up as much as i could. 2. i tried to keep everything tucked and out of the way as much as possible. my neighbor gave me these cool small, square 3m pads that you can ziptie to. they are peel & stick or screw i used aton of them for all my wiring, they work great. i used the dead space in the cab corners to stuff some excess wire, then jus kinda loomed the rest together neatly&freely in the back. 3. now the connectors you see below are the rear tail lights and the fuel pump connector. the fuel pump connector is sitting in the factory mj hole, which is what i used to route all the rear wires through. i made my own chart/list of wire/colors when i took the donor harness&tails out so id know exactly which wire did what. diagrams work to, but 0 service in the shop(all metal building in bfe) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eighty8 Posted April 11, 2020 Author Share Posted April 11, 2020 4. the fun colorful part lol. i decided to run all new wire from the cab to the tail lights &also extended the fuel pump harness to be on the safe side (glad i did added about 18in) 5. i solder, heat shrink, loom and taped all wires trying to keep them somewhat neat. i also took pics & made a color chart for my wires. i had 0 troubles when i got to hooking up my tail-lights. it could be done cleaner for sure. but for me this worked perfect, i left everything so i can easily get to it if need be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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