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I drank the kool-aid (project Mall Crawler)

mcantar18c

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Fayettnam
Kiefer and I went and picked it up earlier.

93 ZJ with the 5.2, 200k on engine and chassis.
Clean tan cloth interior, power everything, no stereo though.
Mostly clean forest green exterior, some mild body damage on the drivers side fender and top of the door from a tree, little dent on the pass side fender but that'll be gone soon, seriously faded plastic trim.
New radiator, fairy fresh trans.
Good tires, more than enough to get me through winter.
Leaks trans. Should be a fairly easy fix, looks like it just needs a new gasket.

Not too bad for $700 bucks.


TO DO (Phase I)

I feel comfortable/confident enough with my fab skills to where I'll be building most if not all of my junk myself.


Body/interior:
Stereo. NEED a stereo.
Replace drivers side fender, possibly front drivers side door too.
Trim lower lip off fenders.
Paint (gonna go with the color Mike used on his XJ).
Rustoleum spray-on bedliner on rocker/door trim, bumpers, fender flares.
Tint.
Polish up the headlight lenses.
Replace tan interior with black+woodgrain trim if money allows... low on the list though.

Beef/armor:
The normal skids (tank, etc.).
Planning on sleeving the framerails (all 3 sides, not just the normal 2).
Low-profile winch bumper (thinking about doing something similar to Starboard's latest version of his winch bumper).
Debating rocker replacement. I like the idea of it, but I dunno if its worth the work. Leaning towards yes.
Not sure if this is possible on the ZJs, but if it is I want to open up the ends of the rear of the frame rails, insert rectangle tube as far as I can (a few feet-ish) and spot-weld it from the outside, using that as the mounting point for a fairly simple rear bumper.

Drivetrain:
Minor engine tune up.
Replace overdrive housing gasket (believed to be the source of the trans leak).
Swap tcase for a 231.
Swap turdy5 for 8.8 or 44, whichever I can find a better deal on (probably 8.8).
Haven't decided what I'm gonna do with the front 30. Probably gonna leave it be.
4.xx gears (undecided). Goal is 35s so I'll find a gear calc and figure out what'll bring me back to stock power, then go up one.

Steering/suspension:
Gonna (need to) make me some beefy one-ton steering. Not sure on hems or BJs (I will do that searching on my own, please don't chime in on that cause I know everybody has their opinions on it and I know who likes what from reading the posts).
4-4.5" lift. Less if possible, I'm gonna try to get away with as little as I can... I'll be limiting the uptravel and relying on LOTS of droop for flex.
Not sure what I wanna do about arms. Maybe 4 link rear and radius front? Dunno, I have some searching to do on that. All I know is that I'm gonna get tired of measuring crap by the time I'm done with em.


Phase II will have the fun stuff. Fancy azz projector beams, cage, motor will probably be dead by then so maybe even a 360 swap :D But that's all up ahead, gotta finish what's already on my plate first.


I'll put up more/better pics when I'm feeling less lazy, but here's a quickie in front of my garage...

IMG_1205.jpg
 
Yup, runs pretty damn good, that's why I didn't run away when I saw the mileage.
Has some minor things here and there like the door handle trim is hanging cause its missing the screw, but nothing really major.

Also forgot to add that I might be playing around with body armor (rocker guards, door guards, etc.)... I *might* be getting a job at a custom shop as a fabricator, where I'd have access to a press brake and lots of other goodies, and as long as I sport the company logo on what I make its free to me :D Nothing's set in stone yet though.
 
cripes, Forrest, ya had to be like Yella, me and jimgrms, huh?:dunce:

1. WTF is this, does it smell fresh or something:
fairy fresh trans.

2. Yella has a stack o stereos at the chop shop, hit him up;

3. Looks like a decent buy. At $700, how friggin bad can it be?:clap:

BTW, silly as it sounds, there is a ton of good info on Grand Cherokees (both ZJ and WJ) over at www.mallcrawlin.com
 
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cripes, Forrest, ya had to be like Yella, me and jimgrms, huh?:dunce:

1. WTF is this, does it smell fresh or something:

2. Yella has a stack o stereos at the chop shop, hit him up;

3. Looks like a decent buy. At $700, how friggin bad can it be?:clap:

BTW, silly as it sounds, there is a ton of good info on Grand Cherokees (both ZJ and WJ) over at www.mallcrawlin.com

Lol well one of my buddies has a forest green ZJ on 33s and it looks pretty sexy, so that kinda influenced me. I figured I can't go wrong with a running, driving, comfortable 4x4 for $700 lol.

Not very long ago the PO installed a trans with ~90k on it when the original went south.

Yup, lately I've been spending almost as much time on NAGCA and MallCrawlin as I do on NAXJA :gee:

I'll give Troy a call when I get some cash for a stereo. First things first, gotta get the trans to hold its stuff so I can drive it, then I can worry about how crazy I'll go driving it around with nothing to listen to.

PS, check these out.
 
Paint (gonna go with the color Mike used on his XJ).


tell ya what, how bout you stand right here next to me, imma pull out my pocket and you are gonna hold on to it, and if anyone asks, the answer is "yes, i am mikes b***h"


use your own damn color. whole reason for rattle canning an jeep with ok paint was to NOT look like everything else...
 
tell ya what, how bout you stand right here next to me, imma pull out my pocket and you are gonna hold on to it, and if anyone asks, the answer is "yes, i am mikes b***h"


use your own damn color. whole reason for rattle canning an jeep with ok paint was to NOT look like everything else...

I like the color. Big fawkin deal.
 
It looked like a dark gunmetal to me. Which is what I'm going for.
At least share this bit of info... about how many cans did it take to cover the Jeep?
 
I painted it a dark graphite with metallic flake. Only one place usually has it in stock and it's a small line for the company.

Took some base paint. Then the colored paint. Still not done. Takes more than a few cans. Depends on how you paint.

Walmart has a real bright pink you should do. Would match your personality.
 
Didnt you not want a vehicle because you were shipping out?

he fell off his bike and broke his foot, and is now delayed in deploying until, what, March?:anon:

And Mason, I wasn't referring to the color of the jeep :eyes::laugh::kissyou:
 
he fell off his bike and broke his foot, and is now delayed in deploying until, what, March?:anon:

And Mason, I wasn't referring to the color of the jeep :eyes::laugh::kissyou:

Yup, March 25 :banghead:

And I wasn't responding to that part of your comment :D
 
sooo... what color did you paint your nails before picking it up?:D

glad to see you in a jeep again mason:thumbup:

The same color you painted yours when you picked up your station wagon Jeep :gag:

Me too. It may be a bitch Jeep, but it still gives me that nice warm Jeepy feeling.
 
take some toothpaste to those headlights for now, buff em really well and they will be a bit less hazy. Rather cheap flex adding mod imo
 
Really? Toothpaste? Awesome.
Yeah they're pretty bad, those fancy projector beams may need to be bumped higher on the list.
 
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