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Project: Pavement Sucks in a zj

76K views 568 replies 49 participants last post by  GREASYHANDS 
#1 · (Edited)
I bought this xj about three years ago with 233k miles.

Motor made some noise so I decided to pull it and refresh the bottom end. Upon tear down I found a cracked head also. So after a few weeks of ownership and a few hundred bucks I had a fresh engine. About a week later I wanted to pop my offroad cherry, so off to SLSD I went. After bombing around the dunes I managed to find the deepest water hole on the beach.

Snap crackle pop, hydrolocked, lesson learn'd. Found a replacement 4.0 and slapped it in. Then I figured I could use some protection on the front end, I added a large square bumper.

I rocked that front end for a while until I found a better replacement. I reattached the bumper on the rear and sealed it to so it would be an air storage tank.
Then I was gifted a D30 lunchbox locker, this was the coolest thing I had added to my build so far. I added and subtracted a few acc's here and there but still managed to conquer everything the USFS had to throw at me. So I decided to try some parks. I was not so happy with my suspension set up after a few trips. I found some new leaf springs and ditched my blocks and add-a-leafs, replaced the front coils and lower control arms, and added a tcase drop with a longer yj yoke.
I forgot to mention that I have also been daily driving this thing since I bought it. Loved doing this until gas jumped over 4 bucks a gal.

Then about two weeks ago I noticed some slight twisting in my leaf spring mount. Pulled the carpet and found lots o rust. I knew my floors had been gone since I bought the Jeep but when I pulled the carpet I found this,

plus the fact that the unibody started to crack at the leaf mount. So now I am in the process of boxing the "frame" and turning my mall crawler into something more.
 
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#7 ·
Not much progress this weekend. I did get the passenger side almost done. I have the rear portion of the unibody almost fully welded and boxed. I stopped working on it due to the fact that I couldn't stand welder throwing molten metal onto my forearms. I think I have most of the steel to box everything in now I just need to keep an eye open for some sheet metal to replace the floor pans
 
#12 ·
I also picked up a hack and tap yoke for my 231. The yoke I have I believe came off an early 60's corvette and bolts right up to a stock front ds. I have been looking all morning trying to find a seal flange that someone will sell with out buying the $200 kit. Any Ideas on where I could buy this? I swear I found it a year back for about thirty bucks.
 
#15 ·
I failed to mention I only had time to nearly finish the passenger side. The left side is next after a few braces have been installed.

I will also try my hand at modding doors and removing them, and installing some after market sound in the headliner.
It should be back out before the leaves start turning. Fall and winter wheeling:rock:
 
#21 ·
Today I put gas in the jeep for the first time since spring :woot:

After work I managed to run a bead of silicone sealer along the seams. I also cut up my hinges and took my doors off. :beer: pics to follow soon. Those frigen torx hinge bolts sucked too remove. 5 of the 12 bolts came out easy enough. The rest I had to weld nuts over top and remove them with a large wrench. I think I used about $10 in 5/8 nuts.
 
#29 · (Edited)
I think the floors turned out pretty good. I had never worked with sheet metal before. I was suprised how well it formed with out alot of pressure. All the hard bends were done on the edge of the work bench.


I caulked most of the seams trying to keep the noise, heat, and elements out of the cab. There is still one area by the drivers foot that needs to be reworked, but I wanted to drive it.
 
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