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Project Blurple

142K views 830 replies 71 participants last post by  green50gt 
#1 ·
After parting out my Scrambler project due to cost I knew I wouldn't be happy not having anything to build and I REALLY want to get back out wheeling. My biggest financial focus is still buying a house this spring, but I also decided to build another much more budget-minded rig to enjoy until I get a better opportunity to go all-out. Realistically I expect to go in stages, where I do the mild(for me) budget build now, wheel and enjoy it for a while, and do various upgrades over the years. It'll be more expensive in the long run, but it's worth it to be able to get out and enjoy it rather than being in the garage forever and out of funds. For now I came up with a very specific plan and a very specific budget to do it in and I intend to stick to it.

Here's what I wanted:
-4.0L 5speed soft top TJ in decent shape. Something running and driving, or at least damn close so that I don't get nickel and dimed to death doing another scratch-built rig.
-Built 1/2 ton axles. I had a set of 1 tons halfway built already but not what I wanted. Those would've been close to $4k all said and done, where I can find well built 1/2 ton axles for under $2k. Plus the weight savings is nice, I didn't want quite fullwidth, and I want to give myself a glass ceiling of tires I can safely run. I know with 1 tons I'd end up running at least 40s and going overboard again. Plus I want to run a twin stick D300 so wanted passenger drop. I want to stick to 37s for price, weight, and streetability, and being limited by axle strength while wanting to be very reliable will help me do that.
-Custom longarm suspension with ~100-102" wheelbase. I kept the links off the Scrambler to use on the new rig. 2.25" .375" DOM lowers with Johnny Joints, 1.5" .25" DOM uppers with Ballistic flex joints and/or heims. Triangulated 4 link rear, 3 link front with panhard.
-Custom cage with frame tie-ins

I just got rid of the bulk of the Scrambler last weekend and I was really in no huge rush to find a TJ, but I ended up finding one near Pittsburgh, PA for a good price. 98 TJ, 4.0L, 5 spd, dark blue, high miles, for a pretty low asking price. A college/wheeling buddy of mine who lives near there was kind enough to go check it out for me. Long story short, it's got some issues that are fairly minor to me but were major enough for most people that I was able to get it dirt cheap. I went down Friday night and picked it up:





I made it a whole 6 days without having a Jeep project at home:lol:

Now the reason for the project name: It looked dark blue in the pics I saw, looks dark blue in most light, but if the sun reflects the right way it's definitely got a purplish tint to it. Chrysler called the color "deep amethyst" but over the past 12 years the sun has turned it a little more blue and a little less purple. So what color is it? It's blurple. It'll be getting lots of armor and upgrades that are planned to be Blitz Black, so it'll only be about 50% blurple.....I still like the name though!

Definitely got some miles on it:

I got it home and spent about 20 minutes bombing through the yard and into the woods a little bit and it's already a blast. Definitely like a little go-cart compared to anything I'm used to.

The whole underside and frame is in great shape with only this exception:

That's no problem for me considering I built the entire frame of the last project, but it was enough to get the price knocked way down. I'll cut it out, patch it, and probably plate over it to be safe.

The body is pretty good overall. Front fenders are cracked but those will become highline tube fenders anyway, there's a bad spot in the tub by the passenger side rear body mount that I'll cut out and weld in a new panel even though it'll be getting covered in armor, then just a couple hinges, eventually a windshield frame, etc. Nothing bad at all. It'll be getting banged into trees and rocks in no time but I still want it to look pretty good.

And of course, the retarded driveway poser shot:


I'll be building it over the winter and fully intend to have this phase done and ready to wheel spring 2011. The cheap purchase price saved me enough to do some extra upgrades and I kept some parts from the Scrambler to use as well. The specs of what'll be happening shortly:
-4.7L stroker (I'll have the crank and rods this week)
-Rebuilt AX-15
-New upgraded clutch
-Twin sticked Dana 300 (got it already and in great shape)
-Triangulated 4 link rear, 3 link with panhard front (got links leftover)
-Coilovers at all corners (looking for 12-16" travel, 2" body, remote resi's for sale for a good price, let me know if you see any)
-37" IROK radials (picking them up for a good price in the next week or so)
-15" beadlocks (shipping to me tomorrow)
-Full cage, harnesses, suspension seats, etc. I plan to be able to use a back seat but won't have it in most of the time
-RCI 2161 fuel cell behind rear seat(would love a GenRight setup but not for $900)
-Black soft top to replace the fugly worn out tan one, and got some 1/2 doors already that I'll run most of the time.
-Passenger drop D44 front from mid 70s FSJ widetrack Cherokee, 65" WMS, rotated knuckles, 4.88s, Detroit, Yukon stubs, Yukon Superjoints, stock inners machined for full circle clips, mid 80s Dodge outers, flattop knuckles. Probably gonna get full Alloy USA shafts and keep the existing ones for trail spares. Might get Longfield joints, or might run the Superjoints in the new shafts and throw the Alloy USA(heat treated Spicer) joints in the spares.
-Mid 70s Ford 9", 65" WMS, 4.88s, ARB, disc brakes. Gonna run stock shafts for now, hopefully these'll last till I can upgrade the front to some variation of built 9", at which point I'll put 35 spline alloys in the rear too.

Got em for a great price from a member on here:


:beer:
 
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#111 ·
I'll post some soon. I've been working on it lately but nothing super exciting to show
 
#113 ·
Nah, I didn't touch the thing from about April thru November, just been playing with the red TJ instead when I get the chance.
 
#115 ·
pppppppppppppaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrtttttttttttttttttttttttttty
 
#116 ·
Guess it's been a while since I updated this.

The little bit of work I did last winter on the Jeep:
Chopped the frame up:


Bought the kit to narrow and raise it since it was cheap enough that I didn't feel like messing with more custom crap:




Then a tub came along for cheap.....cheap enough that I'd be saving lots of time and money buying it and selling mine, rather than replacing floorpans and repairing rust. So The new tub is black, which I like much better than blurple, so I guess I need to think of a new name.
Out with the old, in with the new




I also pulled the powertrain out and sold this since I don't need it:


Then progress pretty much stopped since back in March when I went and bought this:

Plus I'm getting married in less than 3 weeks, so time and money have been pretty tight for the past 6 months or so. I haven't brought the Jeep to the new house yet, let alone gotten any work done on it, but I've been making major progress on getting the garage operational. It's about 24x24 with 11ft ceilings. Not huge, but I'm doing some work to maximize storage space to make the most of it. It was pretty bare to start with:

A friend epoxied the floor in exchange for some fabrication on his new TJ

And now I'm about done with a bunch of shelves and workbench:

Tube and long materials will be stored under the lower suspended shelves.


Also gonna add a steel workbench section for heavy fabwork, but need my materials and equipment over here first. Next up is wiring the whole thing with a subpanel, 220V, a ton more outlets and lighting, etc, etc. Unfortunately with the wedding coming up that probably won't happen till late September. My goal is to have the Jeep here and be able to start progress again by early October.
 
#120 ·
^^ x2.

I would also like to know who did it.... Need to do my garage and sections in the barn that is going up soon....
A buddy of mine did it with Stonhard material. Up till a couple weeks ago he installed that stuff for a living but he may still be able to get it if he's interested in more side jobs. I can check with him if you want.

Yeah looks great! I am guessing out those back(or maybe front) windows you have a really cool view?
Thanks. It's a pretty good view, decent sized yard and woods, lots of wildlife, etc. Sooner or later I'd like to put in some small trails to play around in too.
 
#121 ·
A buddy of mine did it with Stonhard material. Up till a couple weeks ago he installed that stuff for a living but he may still be able to get it if he's interested in more side jobs. I can check with him if you want.


Thanks. It's a pretty good view, decent sized yard and woods, lots of wildlife, etc. Sooner or later I'd like to put in some small trails to play around in too.
Sean, how is that floor holding up? Ive been reading bout epoxy floors and hear they dont like heat, ie welding sparks...
 
#122 ·
Sean, how is that floor holding up? Ive been reading bout epoxy floors and hear they dont like heat, ie welding sparks...
So far it's great but I have yet to do any welding over it but I imagine it'll probably still get burnt once I do. I probably wouldn't have done it if I didn't have a decent hook up, but so far I like it a lot. I do plan to use a welding blanket when I'm doing significant amounts of welding and grinding, but I imagine once the coating starts getting beat up I'll give up and just abuse it!
 
#124 ·
I'm on Bull Run right at the end of Munsell.....south end of Fowlerville, about halfway to Gregory. I think we met up behind Cleary's one time when I bought that TJ track bar, right?
 
#140 ·
Same here. I've found woodworking is much easier, faster, cleaner, less stinky, and much more instantly gratifying than steel. But I haven't figured out how to make a wooden Jeep hold up to hardcore wheeling so I guess I still need to finish this turd.

1 week of marriage and already threatening to shove her hand in the disposal......priceless! :sonicjay:

Your build is gonna be in the garage longer than Bryce or Bennys! :teehee:
She almost burned the damn house down!! The girl who was watching our house on our wedding night called freaking out cuz shit was literally on fire under the sink.

And if you count the Scrambler I've probably got those guys beat.....been about 5 years now. Granted I've had a few things to wheel in the meantime, but the project rigs have just been holding down the floor.
 
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#142 ·
It finally made it to my house and into my garage:teehee:


No new progress on the rig yet, been busy with house and yard work for too damn long, and when I wasn't doing that I was doing tons of work to prep the garage. I'm almost done with the garage(biggest thing left is to finish the full re-wiring job) and then it's back to the Jeep all winter.
 
#146 ·
Geez I've parted out one vehicle my whole life and you guys act like it's a regular thing! It got me where I needed it to financially and I now have my dream house so no regrets. This one is pretty well on budget and I've got 80-90% of the needed parts so I think we're safe:finger:
 
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