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"PayDay" my 2000 XJ Build

Muddy98

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Medford, OR
It took me three years to find the body I always wanted and I finally found one about a month ago.

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It has 250k on the odometer and I bought it without knowing about the 0331 head cracking issue but after alot of trial and error found out the head was cracked and decided to replace the engine before I started with the suspension.

I picked up 97 grand cherokee with a stack of papers and new parts new tires etc with a freshly rebuilt front end, 120k on a very well maintained engine. It could potentially be 75k miles and the second engine but I can only go by what carfax and the paperwork can prove.
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i got it for 800$ and started the swap knowing I had some modifications to make it work

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First I ordered a set of brown dog rubber motor mounts and then begun work on the swap

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Bought kilmat sound deadener and double din panel for whenever I get around to the interior amd started ordering parts

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Pulled the engine then taped everything off and "redneck" power washed the engine bay with one of those jet nozzles for a garden hose, degreaser and simple green. This thing was caked with grease

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Parts starting to pile up

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Flushed the heater core and radiator.
Heater core was black 😳

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Always label everything, (Tip) if you leave a large peice of cardboard in the sun for a few days it'll get brittle and let's you press bolts and nuts into it so they're kind of locked in and then you can label things on the cardboard.

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I went ahead and replaced the oil filter adapter seals, front seal and timing chain/gears, Then i replaced the rear main and oil pan gasket the next day.

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I bought this odb2 scanner for 20$ for when I go to install the o2 sensor adjustable non foulers (they come with different size inserts in the foulers) so that I can check the voltage and adjust amd make them read stock.
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Cleaned the donar engine up amd taped it up to get ready for paint

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Been cleaning parts the whole way and painted the intake

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Bought 4 hole injectors and a flowmaster 44
And replaced the power steering resevoir seal.

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Replaced the harmonic balancer added new water pump and grabbed a thermostat

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Painted the fuel rail, throttle body and thermostat housing. I really like this paint.

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Replaced freeze plugs (although I may redo them tomorrow because I think they're messed up)

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Took the 97 header to an exhaust shop to get a cracked fix amd weld some bungs for the downstream 02 sensors, then pulled the exhaust and just went ahead and ordered a 99 downpipe as it was cheaper than what my local shops were quoting me.

Ended up trying that new northeastern non crinkled pipe and waiting for it to show up through the mail.

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Bought new gates hoses while I was in town, looked to be the best form fitting ones.

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Painted the coolant resevoir after cleaning it for 3 days then accidently got electrical cleaner drip on it while I was spraying all the connectors out tonight but even if I gotta touch it up no biggie I think it turned out good.

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And here the engine sits as of today
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Today I did some more cleaning of the engine bay and painted the oil and tranny dipstick that same red anadized color. And cleaned all the electrical connections. I plan on just doing the valve cover anadized blue.

I also had to clean and repaint the other fuel rail as i overlooked that there were specks of rust inside the the one I had painted before :/ so I used the one of the 97 and gonna have to double check the fuel system. The injectors wernt clogged so I don't know what that's about..

I apologize if anything out of order or if I missed anything I'll add it to the next post iv been pretty busy with it and couldn't figure out how to upload pictures until I downloaded the taptalk app and wanted to start this thread before I got to behind on myself.. there's still alot to do and I'm trying to get her back up and running before fire season starts but if you have any questions feel free to ask. Iv been wanting to do one of these build threads for quite awhile.




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Also got a new headliner and the onewaylight kit to add to the interior. Once she up and running again and I have the time I'm gonna take care of the saggy headliner, install the sound deadener, double din and light kit.

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Thanks, I got some of that kilmat sound deadener from amazon.

I got the exhaust manifold back from shop today
Not too shabby for 20$
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Good luck with the downpipe, I ordered the same and couldn't get it to work. The flange is much wider then the OE piece and it wouldn't clear the Oil pan.

Ran into the same issue on my 94. A good bit of grinding on the flange right at the oil pan flange fixed my issue; I had to remove the entire formed flange down to the flat metal. But other than that, it fits better than either of the two Walker pipes I had to cut apart and rework to get to fit correctly; I always assumed my aftermarket header was just a little bit off...
 
Looking CLEAN! Subd for more sexytime
 
Sorry for not posting in awhile guys, Fire season started and iv been up in the hills without alot of time to dig into the XJ.

I got the downpipe O2 sensor bungs welded in and tried for a test fit. It seems like it's gonna be on the money without having to bend or grind anything, the downside is the hanger it came with was welded on in the wrong angle.

I had a little bit of time on my last R&R so I dove into it got the tranny buttoned up and today I worked on getting the engine bay buttoned up and made some decent progress. Just have a handful of things left to do before I can turn the key.

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Heads up on that OBDII sensor, I have that exact one and it had me chasing an intermittent voltage leak for about 3 months. So don't leave it plugged in.
 
So the last two days I finished putting it all together everything went pretty smooth, put in a new transmission mount to pair with the brown dog motor mounts, got the coil pack and camshaft synchronizer dialed in to replace the distributor and hooked up all the accessories the only setback I ran into was the power steering pump reservoir I tried to fix with new o rings and rtv was still leaking which is a common problem so I just threw the one from the grand cherokee on there and it worked out.

I couldn't get the muffler on and still don't quite understand why the 2.25" inlet for the muffler won't slide into the 2.5" downpipe outlet but I have to take it in to weld the tailpipe to the muffler anyways and figure I'll leave it to the guys at the shop.

With all the seals and new parts I installed i was a bit nervous for leaks but She fired up on the first turn and after burping the radiator I took it on a test drive it sounded as healthy as can be other than being a bit obnoxious without the muffler on and didn't drop a drop of fluid.

It had a check engine light on with the original motor but It's gone now and the obd2 reader had one code p0171 bank 1 running too lean.

I never replaced the o2 sensors so I'll grab those and start tracking down that issue but all in all after all this time I am happy she's up and running and stoked that's all that came up now it's time to add it to my insurance drive it for a little bit and wait for the lift kit to come in.
Heads up on that OBDII sensor, I have that exact one and it had me chasing an intermittent voltage leak for about 3 months. So don't leave it plugged in.
Copy that thank you yeah I mainly got it just to see what voltages the o2 sensors were gonna be to make sure my bungs were tricking the pcm correctly and so far the downstream ones are reading just as if I still had the precats on 😎
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Got the exhaust welded up today at the shop and put insurance on it.
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After fixing the upstream sensor code i Started getting downstream o2 sensor codes so I'll be messing with the different inserts for the o2 sensors in the next few days.


Added some of the Onewaylighting lights from the led kit and put some blue leds in the shift lights

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Now I can finally start cleaning the interior lol im just Happy she's on the road.

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Did you try it without the o2 sensor spacers.

How's it sound with the flowmaster?

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Did you try it without the o2 sensor spacers.

How's it sound with the flowmaster?

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I went through and tightened everything down and they went away for a couple days then popped back up but I haven't really spent much time diagnosing those yet but I'll mess with it when I get back from this fire.

The flowmaster super 44 sounds great overall and is my new favorite. Real throaty and sounds good in all the right places for an XJ. deep grumbly idle, raspy at 1400-1500 rpms for a second then it just sucks air through while your cruising highway speeds and its quiet as can.


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Today I added the double din bezel and installed a pioneer dmh-2660nex

Took me a while to find one that was in stock but it's nice. Capacitive touch and android auto were my buying reasons, I just plug my phone in and can use my voice to find me the nearest tacobell. I love technology.

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