Finally bought myself a Jeep

I've been wanting to work on a project like this for a while now and finally pulled the trigger. The only problem is I told my wife I wouldn't do any "major" work for at least 6 months, so suspension, lockers, etc are going to have to wait a bit. I've done a few things on the cheap to get by for now.

The XJ I found was still very stock but only had high mileage (235k). Everything was in great shape though and the price was right. So far I've done the following:

Fixed some leaks
patched up the body where it got hit right before I bought it.
Found a cheap set of wheels with 31" tires that had only 1000 miles on them, mounted and balanced off a grand cherokee.
Cheap lift using spare silverado shackles and grand cherokee springs.
On board air
roof rack
Overhead console out of a chrysler minivan
seats out of a grand cherokee (much more comfortable)
LED light bar
Swapped in a full gauge cluster to get rid of the idiot lights.
Fixed a few electrical issues.
Plenty more to come....

Day I bought it:


Cheap temp lift and tires:


Overhead console, just need to hook up the temp sensor:


ZJ seats:

looks good

Hardcore!

On Board Air:

I found a Chrysler RV2 A/C compressor in the junk yard along with a york, but decided to install the RV2. I really like the look of the vtwin setup. I first removed the airbox to make some room. The bracket was fabricated with some steel I had laying around, the back part bolts to the block, the front is welded to the power steering bracket. I added a big piece of steel in between for support. I then found two steel pulleys at the junk yard, one serpentine off an older jeep, and a v-belt that was just laying around. Trimmed the center of the v-belt pulley on my mini lathe and welded the two together. Everything seemed to line up just fine for winging it, so I was stocked. Compressor goes to a separator, manifold with relief valve, safety valve, pressure switch, and lines running to the gauge in the cab, tank in the rear and quick connect on the front.

This thing is awesome and keeps psi at a constant 90 at idle while using a regular blower nozzle. I put it to the test blowing up a massive island at the river a couple weeks ago.

Roof Rack:

This was my first big welding/fabrication project and I really like how it turned out. I used 1x1 square tube, 1/8 wall thickness and 3/16" for the gutter mounts/clamps. 3/8" rod was bent and cut for tie downs.





Testing the light bar bracket to make sure it is centered:



Ready for paint!


Flat Black:


Finished product with clamps and light bar:

Me Likey.

Great stuff.

Looking good! I love the ZJ seats they are way more comfortable than our XJ seats! I always said if my dad's 93 ZJ ever bit the dust, I wanted first dibs on the seats! Good to see they bolt right in.

This thread went from "aww cute he bought a jeep" to "damn this guy is serious" in about 3 posts.

Looks really good. I'm looking forward to seeing what you do when curfew wears off..

Can you tell me a bit about wiring that minivan overhead ci sole in? Interested in adding one to my 01.

Great work on that roof rack man it looks sweeeeet!

Nice design man. I really like the eyelets you put on the inside of the rails. Roof rack was my first mod too. It's all downhill from there man. Have fun.

NCjeepgirl83 said:

Looking good! I love the ZJ seats they are way more comfortable than our XJ seats! I always said if my dad's 93 ZJ ever bit the dust, I wanted first dibs on the seats! Good to see they bolt right in.

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The fronts bolted right in, I just needed to use the base from the XJ seats. The rears took a little more work. The bottom mounts from the ZJ need to be used and I cut a bunch of plastic and foam from the rear of the bottom. The back part just needed a few new holes drilled, but went in pretty easy.

cal said:

This thread went from "aww cute he bought a jeep" to "damn this guy is serious" in about 3 posts.

Looks really good. I'm looking forward to seeing what you do when curfew wears off..

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Thanks! I've been kicking around a bunch of things: rock sliders, custom suspension front and rear, roll cage, etc. One of the plans is to build it capable of keeping up with my brother's silverado desert truck while still being able to crawl over whatever I run into. The curfew is actually kinda nice since it gives me some time to plan a few things out.

Rockhound-NC said:

Can you tell me a bit about wiring that minivan overhead ci sole in? Interested in adding one to my 01.

Great work on that roof rack man it looks sweeeeet!

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The console was originally meant for a nice clean spot for switches and whatever else I wanted to put up there, but I thought the display would be pretty cool if it worked too. The minivan console fits perfectly and the visors use the clips built into it. I removed the fabric from the sides and hit it with some steel wool to clean it up and polish the plastic a bit.

I found out the original display from the minivan was fried while trying to figure out the wiring. However, the display found in the ZJ's will fit right in it's place (easier to find). The other problem is the communication between the computer and display are different between the XJ and ZJ, so not all functions will work. Basically you only get direction and ambient temperature (get the sensor and plug out of the zj you get the computer from, should be found right behind the grill). You also get a drive timer, that starts when the vehicle is started. I wasn't worried about the rest to be honest, so I didn't continue to dig. I made sure to get the plug as well to reuse, the Black/Orange wire is ground, Red/White is constant power, Yellow/Dark Green is ignition power, Yellow is door latch sensor, Dark Green/Red is ambient sensor signal and Light Green/White is sensor ground. I'll try and take a few pictures next time I pull it down, I prewired everything for the switches...now I just them and the accessories.

I just got the sensor and plug from the junkyard today since I forgot the first few times around.

Sorry for the lighting in this picture. Lights work, direction works (needs calibration), "0C" will be temp once I wire up the sensor.

welcome to the "my xj didn't come with a leaky factory roof rack" club! :cheers:



just finished lifting her this weekend, still some bugs to iron out but wooooohooo

A few updates.....

Played around in lucerne valley a bit and was very impressed with the temporary bastard pack (just added the main leaf from an S10) and grand cherokee coils with spacers. Handled the whoops with ease.

Welded up a bracket for my hi-lift and mounted the shovel using quick fist mounts.

Found some wheels and tires on craigslist I couldn't pass up. 35" goodyear MT and soft 8's with 4" backspacing. I outlined the stock fender flares, taped up the paint and started cutting a lot of sheet metal. Still need to adjust the bumps and close the gaping hole in the wheel wells, but the tires fit very well.

Spent Turkey day messing around outside of Barstow. My white duct tape inner fenders did their job for the day!!

Just had frame stiffeners delivered wednesday, so that's next.

Couple of updates to the XJ....

Messed around with the lift to balance it out a bit more, finished welding in new metal for the rear wheel wells, fixed all my oil leaks with new rear main seal and eliminated the oil filter adapter. Replaced the water pump and thermostat after the pump starting spewing coolant all over the place.

I also had a winch laying around and wanted to keep everything as tucked up as possible. I cut out the cross member, built a new one using thick wall 1.5" square tube, welded 1/4" plate to the frame and welded 3/16" plate brackets for going down the frame rails. Rotated the ends of the winch to line everything up where I wanted it, cut the stock bumper for the roller fairlead and buttoned it all up. It was a bit of a last minute project, but I'm really happy with how it turned out.

Also threw a picture in there from cleghorn a while back...right after my kids crapped their pants and before sideways pulled my lame ass up the hill. Thanks again sideways!

that's an interesting front bumper. i like the design, although i'd probably change that fairlead out for a hawse style.. i can see those rollers getting beatup pretty fast.

Thanks Cal. Those were my thoughts as well. The rollers were put on because thats what I had laying around. A hawse will most likely be used instead. Eventually the stock front bumper will be replaced once I get around to building one.

lagoober said:

Also threw a picture in there from cleghorn a while back...right after my kids crapped their pants and before sideways pulled my lame ass up the hill. Thanks again sideways!

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that was a fun night, stupid broken yota lol

My kids and I had a great time and it was good meeting you guys. I'm game for another!

Love the hidden winch