ghetdjc320 Posted February 18, 2020 Share Posted February 18, 2020 Hello all, Been meaning to start my build thread for some time now but haven’t had a chance. I’ve already finished a lot of work on my truck but will try to document all the work I have already done and add what I’m doing now and still plan to do. The truck is now at my home on Guam so getting NOS parts and having access to specialty tools is difficult but not impossible. A little history: I bought my MJ in November of 2017. I can’t count how many Jeeps we’ve had before the first my first one I remember was a 1988 xj wagoneer. I sold my YJ in December of 2017 after having built that thing into a stroker powered show rig. I picked up my MJ at night in the dark from a guy on the Illinois side of the St Louis MO area. Was listed as a 92 and was pretty rough. Aside from the seats and the dash, there was no interior to speak of. Thick rubber floor mats covered over rusted out floor boards. The outside had been painted with rattle can bedliner. At the time I was living in Arkansas and I started stripping down the truck to repair body work first and stop the rust. After working on the body and cutting out and replacing rusted panels, I started working on the engine. Turns out someone had swapped in a renix block and head but used the HO intake and fuel injection components. It was a mess and ran terribly. To make a long story short, I decided to build high performance 4.0 engine. I had built a couple of strokers in the past and was pleased with the results but ultimately, not that impressed. Other guys who were building 4.0s were getting close to stroker HP/TQ numbers and to build a stroker right you really need to use the long 4.0 rods imho. So I started building a high performance 4.0 with the plan to one day boost it. Here is the basic engine build info: 96 XJ block with 200k+ miles (This block is the first year of the revisions for NVH) bored .060 and decked .025. Edelbrock aluminum head, roller rockers, hylift johnson lifters, cloyes roller cam set, 505 stage 1.5 cam (do not recommend 505 for anything but the final product was good quality and is a decent profile for boost). Melling HV oil pump Silovilte hypereutectic pistons 11cc dish ARP bolts for everything Coated cam bearings King main and rod bearings NEW 4.0 crankshaft not undersized Cometic .040 head gasket (.037 quench) felpro permadry gaskets 99+ intake manifold 24lb injectors accel coil Block was align-honed and blueprinted. Rotating assembly completely balanced I had some awesome pictures of the engine but of course I can’t find them anywhere now. Here is a spec sheet on what else has been done. Body: Spadano rockers JCR vanguard front bumper Bullet Lined JCR MJ rear bumper Bullet lined Bed Bullet Lined Napier MJ Flares Here is where the mod part of my resto-mod comes into place. My MJ is currently in the body shop getting every panel straightened to perfection. It will receive several coats of Aston Martin cinnabar orange. Also had a 1969 mustang mach 1 hood intake grafter into my hood. new windshield with 97+ XJ molding Interior: was able to find all the interior trim pieces at a salvage yard in TN and get most of the original gray interior trim pieces. My interior is originally the two tone gray with black accents and I’m keeping it that way while fully restoring it. Being an Eliminator I had quite a few factory options like: fog lights, full length center console, rear sliding window, bucket seats with flip forward levers and many other options. Here is a summary of what has been done: reupholstered seats back to original Dynamatted interior after replacing floor pans new auto custom carpets with mass backing new headliner restored all the trim pieces and repaired any cracked plastic with plastic welder new rubbers for doors Now for the mod portion of my build: reworked the dash bezels and layout to accommodate a Sony car play double din unit with backup cam (see my write up here in the diy section). new infinity reference speakers for all stock locations new interior map lights refurbished all under dash lighting and wiring to make sure every original option was working as it should Transmission was in good working order so I just did a flush and fill with new filter and added some seafoam trans tune. Transfer case I rebuilt and added double card an driveshafts front and back. Rear axle is the original Dana 35 but I installed revolution 4.56 gears, revolution chromoly shafts, Detroit truetrac, all new timken bearings and seals and a TNT truss. I know many will knock the d35 but after having built and worked on many axles, I just don’t feel like much is gained going with a stock d44 vs what I built. I have addressed most of the D35 weaknesses and am conservative with tire size. I’ll post up more info shortly along with some pictures and my future plans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghetdjc320 Posted February 18, 2020 Author Share Posted February 18, 2020 Here is my truck when it showed up at the port after crossing the Pacific Ocean and also when I dropped it off at the body shop Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghetdjc320 Posted February 18, 2020 Author Share Posted February 18, 2020 At the paint shop getting some much deserved body work Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghetdjc320 Posted February 18, 2020 Author Share Posted February 18, 2020 A hint of things to come! I really appreciate all original build also but like I mentioned, this is a Resto-mod. I want to make sure every factory option works as it should and that every part is like new. However, I am adding some special touches along the way. I want it to be a clean build though. Kind of reminiscent to the reproduction CJs and FJs that are being custom built. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghetdjc320 Posted February 19, 2020 Author Share Posted February 19, 2020 Here is my modified dash. Tried to keep the overall look as oem as possible. Most of the time when I see this swap they remove the center vent. I have a whole new ac system and want every vent to work as it should so there was no way I was going to remove it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghetdjc320 Posted February 19, 2020 Author Share Posted February 19, 2020 Suspension: rear soa with 4x4 4leaf packs (would like to swap a couple of leaves out for some xj ones to lower the back a bit. front RE 5.5 coils full Artec bracketry for my original non-disconnect Dana 30 jks track bar Moog ZJ steering linkage (will upgrade later but not sure with what) RRO control arm brackets metal cloak control arms all new moog bushings Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Limeyjeeper Posted February 19, 2020 Share Posted February 19, 2020 Gotta love the 91's. Great build. I am planning on doing exactly what you did with the double DIN. Using an android unit which is much shorter it should go in. Any particular reason you moved the controls to the top instead of moving the controls and vent down a bit, which is what I planned to do? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghetdjc320 Posted February 19, 2020 Author Share Posted February 19, 2020 My dash unit only uses a single din and there was more space in the dash where the old hvac control went. It was much easier to mold everything in place by moving the head unit down. If you see my thread on that project you’ll see the pics I took and the problems I ran into. Definitely worth it though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghetdjc320 Posted February 19, 2020 Author Share Posted February 19, 2020 2 hours ago, Limeyjeeper said: Gotta love the 91's. Great build. I am planning on doing exactly what you did with the double DIN. Using an android unit which is much shorter it should go in. Any particular reason you moved the controls to the top instead of moving the controls and vent down a bit, which is what I planned to do? here’s the link Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghetdjc320 Posted February 19, 2020 Author Share Posted February 19, 2020 Managed to find a set of NOS tail lights with the black trim. My spare NOS chrome trim one and originals will be in the for sale section soon. I’ll have the new tail lights clear coated with several coats to protect them. Salt air and intense sun is our killer here on island. Looking into getting a decent car cover also for added protection Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghetdjc320 Posted February 19, 2020 Author Share Posted February 19, 2020 Have a line on some custom projector headlights with morimoto projectors and black shrouds. Hopefully I can grab them and add that to the build. Had a set of the GTR lighting 5x7 projectors in my YJ and they were phenomenal Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Limeyjeeper Posted February 19, 2020 Share Posted February 19, 2020 2 hours ago, ghetdjc320 said: here’s the link Apologies. didn't catch that. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghetdjc320 Posted February 20, 2020 Author Share Posted February 20, 2020 Was able to grab a set of custom made 5x7 headlights with morimoto hid projectors. They were taken off a newer XJ. I’ll polish them up and replace the bulbs. I don’t have a picture but they look almost identical to these: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghetdjc320 Posted February 21, 2020 Author Share Posted February 21, 2020 Here is a bit of a teaser for the color and mods: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghetdjc320 Posted February 21, 2020 Author Share Posted February 21, 2020 Color is oem 2019 Aston Martin Cinnabar Orange. Ditzler PPG paint. Can’t wait to get the trim all perfected and reinstalled along with the new tail lights. Going to get the new tail lights clear coated with several coats from the body shop before installing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fiatslug87 Posted February 21, 2020 Share Posted February 21, 2020 Wow! That's going to look GREAT in the Guamanian sun! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghetdjc320 Posted February 21, 2020 Author Share Posted February 21, 2020 1 hour ago, fiatslug87 said: Wow! That's going to look GREAT in the Guamanian sun! Thanks! Yeah it really glows in the sun. It has a tremendous amount of pearl in it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghetdjc320 Posted February 23, 2020 Author Share Posted February 23, 2020 Here are the long awaited pictures of the finished product. Still working on a lot of cleanup and trim piece restoration. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
89 MJ Posted February 23, 2020 Share Posted February 23, 2020 Looks good! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
High2by Posted February 23, 2020 Share Posted February 23, 2020 Good color choice! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manche’nopoulos Posted February 24, 2020 Share Posted February 24, 2020 Wow that’s a beaut! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghetdjc320 Posted February 24, 2020 Author Share Posted February 24, 2020 Ok guys, don’t hate me for this. Matching NOS black trim tail lights. Been hunting these down for a while. Uploaded in full HD lol: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
89 MJ Posted February 24, 2020 Share Posted February 24, 2020 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scguy Posted February 24, 2020 Share Posted February 24, 2020 Beautiful truck and taillights Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
High2by Posted February 24, 2020 Share Posted February 24, 2020 15 hours ago, ghetdjc320 said: Ok guys, don’t hate me for this. Matching NOS black trim tail lights. Been hunting these down for a while. Uploaded in full HD lol: Wow... That is all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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