Project Daily/Trail XJ

AndyCastellini · Apr 24, 2016

I'm getting out of the car scene since everyone is going too low and far away from functional.

I picked myself up a 1999 XJ Sport in Forest Green Pearl with the two tone interior.

I wanted a spot to put all my photos and updates, and also be able to receive some feedback and help along the way. So I figured I'd start with a build thread.

Here are some photos from the craigslist ad.

Once I get rid of my B5 S4 I will be able to get some parts on order. But until then I have some things to address.

I replaced the water pump and thermostat, since the old pump was leaking from the weep hole.

Got the oil pan gasket and rear main seal, but haven't had enough energy to tackle that job yet.

Got a set of led pods to replace the hella lights. Along with some flush mount switches that will be going where the ash tray is.

I will keep this updated as best as I can.

Any input will be appreciated.

Thanks

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AndyCastellini · Apr 25, 2016

Well got a chance today to start the oil pan gasket and rear main seal.

A side not to anyone with a stock height xj, removing the track bar is necessary to get the oil pan down.

Here's the leak at the rear of the pan.

Looks to be in okay shape for having 176k on it. No metallic flecks in the oil.

Gotta clean up before moving onto the girdle so I don't get any of this grease up inside.

Been a long process to get this thing out.

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Dragonlich1961 · Apr 25, 2016

I fought tooth and nail to get mine out. Even at 3 inches of lift i had drop the trackbar. And I had to do it twice, the rear portion of the pan gasket slid and wasn't sealing the first time.

Ou2mame · Apr 26, 2016

I've read that the oil filter adapter seals can cause a rms looking leak. I've gotta replace mine. I thought it was the rms but after careful investigation it turns out it's not.

I had a b5 a4 for ten years. It was an adventure. I got a 99 xj for simplicity.

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collkid · Apr 26, 2016

Ou2mame said:
I've read that the oil filter adapter seals can cause a rms looking leak. I've gotta replace mine. I thought it was the rms but after careful investigation it turns out it's not.

I had a b5 a4 for ten years. It was an adventure. I got a 99 xj for simplicity.

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Yeah wow.

I came from an Audi world before. You WILL LOVE the easy of keeping an XJ running.

Change the oil every 5k. That's. It.

Ou2mame · Apr 26, 2016

Oh yeah I've had jeeps in the past and while I had the audi.. I hunted down a rust free 99 with low miles and I'm slowly going through the neglected maintenance check list I made haha.. I'm doing the diff fluids tomorrow.

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AndyCastellini · Apr 26, 2016

Ou2mame said:
I've read that the oil filter adapter seals can cause a rms looking leak. I've gotta replace mine. I thought it was the rms but after careful investigation it turns out it's not.

I had a b5 a4 for ten years. It was an adventure. I got a 99 xj for simplicity.

Yeah that Audi stuff is for the birds. Too much stuff to go wrong, and to work on it is such a pain, the special tools, tight areas, all the sensors and electronics, limp mode, etc.

Well I got the girdle off and everything a little bit cleaner. I started to hit the upper part of the rear main seal thats in the block with a punch, but the punch is too small and keeps slipping off the metal in the seal and just making holes in the rubber. I'm going to get a better punch set tomorrow and try again.

I also ordered the wrong rear main from Quadratec, I got the one for the cj, yj. The lower half of the seal that goes in the bearing cap doesn't have ears on it, so looks like I need another one of those.

AndyCastellini · Apr 27, 2016

Went to harbor freight today and got a set of punches. The one I used for the rear main seal is the 3/16th.

Needless to say, with the right tools the rear main came out in 2 taps of the hammer.

While I wait for the correct rear main seal to get here I got a had a set of infinity reference component speakers laying around, so figured if get them set up in the front doors.
The tweeters actually came out pretty cool. I need to get a new stereo soon however since the screen on the factory one doesn't light up.

Looking for a decent head unit with a sub out, USB, and bluetooth streaming. Any one have any recommendations?

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GordoSmasho · Apr 28, 2016

Alpine. Most all of there models meet those requirements.

AndyCastellini · Apr 30, 2016

Well I got it all back together, and it's still leaking.

Only thing I can think went wrong is when I put the pan back on, maybe the rear part that wraps around the end of the block wasn't seated properly.

There was no way I could see up there once the pan was in. Anyone have experience with an oil pan gasket?

Such a pain in the rear (no pun intended) to do it on the ground with the axle in place still.

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Dragonlich1961 · Apr 30, 2016

When I performed the rear main on my 94 I had the same issue. After pulling the pan for the second time I was pissed.
What I did was to pull the inspection cover off of the transmission and then use an inspection mirror to look at the seal with the pan in place. If it's not uniform and you can't see blue then try again.
If it's uniform and you see the blue gasket all the way around your good to go.
I had to disconnect the axle side of the track bar to gain enough droop. I'm at 3 inches.

AndyCastellini · Apr 30, 2016

Dragonlich1961 said:
When I performed the rear main on my 94 I had the same issue. After pulling the pan for the second time I was pissed.
What I did was to pull the inspection cover off of the transmission and then use an inspection mirror to look at the seal with the pan in place. If it's not uniform and you can't see blue then try again.
If it's uniform and you see the blue gasket all the way around your good to go.
I had to disconnect the axle side of the track bar to gain enough droop. I'm at 3 inches.

So if it is messed up, can I reuse that gasket or get another one?

It was such a PITA to get the pan in and out with stock height on the floor.

Dragonlich1961 · Apr 30, 2016

I reused mine. Doesn't leak a drop. Still leaking trans transfer both diffs and power steering, but that's a different story. I also fixed the oil filter adapter oring as well.

AndyCastellini · May 1, 2016

Well I think I figured it out. (Knocking on wood as I'm typing this though.) I got underneath and removed the transmission inspection cover and got my mirror and looked up at the top of the seal in the back of the pan. Couldn't see much but I saw some RTV and a little blue from the gasket. I also noticed that the fly wheel was bone dry, so the rear main seal I put in was doing fine.

Looked around a little more and a drip of oil came off the wire on the starter and hit me in the forehead. So I looked up and sure enough the filter was dripping. Went to Napa got a new gasket for the oil filter adapter and a T60 torx bit and changed that.

So far just had some residual oil coming out of the trans inspection shield, but I think I got it. No new oil has come out.

Dragonlich1961 · May 1, 2016

Best of luck. When mine didn't seat right it puked oil down the whole car. Smoked like a chimney because it puked right on to the exhaust. At least the bottom of my Jeep is rust proofed now

AndyCastellini · May 4, 2016

Well found another oil leak on the back side of the valve cover. So I got another fell to gasket and changed that.

Still not sure if the rear of the oil pan gasket is messed up, but replaced the oil filter adapter o-ring too.

Everything was going great until this happened. But luckily I could get it out easily. Didn't even need vice grips. Literally backed it out with my fingers.

Once I get these leaks straightened out, I'll be able to get my money in order for the fun stuff.

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AndyCastellini · May 7, 2016

All the leaks are fixed

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AndyCastellini · May 7, 2016

Now onto some better things. I made a pod out of some plastic I got from a steel supply for switches for external lights.

The plan is to do a 20 inch light bar on the front bumper two pods in the rear bumper later on, and two in the front later on. Looking at the JCR Bumpers or AR Fab not sure yet though.

Here's the wiring and pod I made. If any one wants one i can make them dm me for information.

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AndyCastellini · May 11, 2016

Got the switches mounted in the ash tray and also some Quick Fist clamps for my mag light.

Ordered all the pieces to retrofit projectors into some cheap housings too.

Those will be here tomorrow and billet started on them.

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AndyCastellini · May 14, 2016

Got some housings alto be baked.

275 for 3 minutes and a little prying and they came right off.

Painted everything black, went with the mini h1 projectors for TRS, Apollo 3 shrouds, 110mm Morimoto RGB halos for behind the shrouds, 55w innovited 6000k HIDs and Amazon housings.

Got some trimming and mounting to do this weekend.

I'm stuck with not knowing what direction I want to go in for my lift and tire setup, so if anyone has any good advice I'm all ears. Way too many choices out there it's quite overwhelming. I don't want it to look small next to my girlfriends JK on 35's with a 4" lift.

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Project Daily/Trail XJ

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