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What did you do to your ZJ today?

4M views 55K replies 2K participants last post by  98ZJ 
#1 ·
This thread is to serve as an inspiration to others modifying their ZJ's. Pretty simple, just post what you did to your ZJ today!


Today I shamefully took my Jeep to get the oil changed because it was to hot to change it myself.
 
#30,821 ·
This os true. Pull the rubber gromit from the door and you'll see the harness just plugs together. Has one of those red safety clips through it. Pull the clip, unplug, tuck away, and pull the 4 bolts out and the door is off.

Idk about other states, but in wisco you have to have at least 2 mirrors. So I have 2 blind spot mirrors off of a dump truck. Use the same bolt and hole the door just came off of. Bam, all 3 mirrors still in tact.
I need to do something about mirrors, I drove on the interstate earlier an that blind spot was bad haha I'll fab something up. Never had taken the doors off in my 2 1/2 yrs being a zj owner, gotta say its a ton of fun!

ZJ less one fog light:

2002 just sitting waiting for body work.
That 2002s stance is, interesting. Whats the plan for it?

sent from, uh
 
#30,822 ·
I need to do something about mirrors, I drove on the interstate earlier an that blind spot was bad haha I'll fab something up. Never had taken the doors off in my 2 1/2 yrs being a zj owner, gotta say its a ton of fun!

That 2002s stance is, interesting. Whats the plan for it?

sent from, uh
Yeah it's a project. Swapped engines with another parts 2002. This one has a high compression, dual sidedraft carbed and cammed to hell 2.0 SOHC M10 race engine in it. (Built for the vintage series so it really is a race purposed engine). 200hp is what I know so far. Have yet to get it all installed completely.

Other plans are rust removal. Rockers are heavily rotted and I put my foot through the passenger floor.

Car is red, though fading. Debating on bright red again or yellow or orange. Need to get fender flares. The wheels aren't what I wanted. Had some even wider from the other car and traded these with a friend. Might not be horrible with some taller tires and the right flares. Oh and the right front sticks out more because of a longer control arm... will be replacing that.

Edit: I was also thinking silver/dark gray.
 
#30,823 ·
Yeah it's a project. Swapped engines with another parts 2002. This one has a high compression, dual sidedraft carbed and cammed to hell 2.0 SOHC M10 race engine in it. (Built for the vintage series so it really is a race purposed engine). 200hp is what I know so far. Have yet to get it all installed completely.

Other plans are rust removal. Rockers are heavily rotted and I put my foot through the passenger floor.

Car is red, though fading. Debating on bright red again or yellow or orange. Need to get fender flares. The wheels aren't what I wanted. Had some even wider from the other car and traded these with a friend. Might not be horrible with some taller tires and the right flares. Oh and the right front sticks out more because of a longer control arm... will be replacing that.
Okay sweet man! Definately sounds like a project, but it's definately a good project, them 2002s are classics.

Not that my opinion means anything but I've always like red and blue on bmws, so I vote red

sent from, uh
 
#30,824 ·
Okay sweet man! Definately sounds like a project, but it's definately a good project, them 2002s are classics.

Not that my opinion means anything but I've always like red and blue on bmws, so I vote red

sent from, uh
Oughta just go with the old M color scheme of red, white, blue, and blue.
 
#30,825 ·
Thanks ej, tried adjusting by spinning the entire tb but it wouldn't clear the diff. I may of had the axle dropped at the time because I was swapping springs.

On topic, I polished off my lift by adding bilstiens.:2thumbsup:
How much lift do you have? I was able to spin mine with 4" of lift. You have to let it down past the diff and kind of move it up and down to clear everything as you turn it.

That's Chicago for ya.....I hate this state. If it wasn't for the wife's job we'd be out west or down south. As far away from Chicago as possible lol.
Chicagoland gas prices suck, but I wouldn't move out of this area. I made the decision years ago that I'd stay in Indiana though and commute every day. The cost of living is a lot cheaper over the border as far as taxes go. And, there's also less corruption. :D With the exception of the air quality, traffic, gas prices and crazy seasonal weather, it's a pretty good location. Jobs are plentiful with all the industry around, the schools are good (my district is one of the highest rated in the state), there's always something to do when you're bored, and we have a bunch of sports teams (most of which pretty consistently suck). One thing I really like about my particular location is if I go 45 minutes north, I'm in downtown. If I go 45 minutes south, I'm in the country.
 
#30,826 ·
Weekend update... I didn't get it all done, but I made some progress...

Tore this guy out


Put these guys in



Old and busted



Polishing the AC compressor...



Looks like I'll run some ATF4 through the crank case right before the next oil change. This **** is gross.



A stripped/crossthreaded metric pitch valve cover bolt...



Paint!!! Paint = HP.






Bucket o' injectors



Insulating supplies. thought I had one of the foam/foil stuff... Guess not.



Wrapped



More sparkly ****



Installation pics




 
#30,827 ·
Chicagoland gas prices suck, but I wouldn't move out of this area. I made the decision years ago that I'd stay in Indiana though and commute every day. The cost of living is a lot cheaper over the border as far as taxes go. And, there's also less corruption. :D With the exception of the air quality, traffic, gas prices and crazy seasonal weather, it's a pretty good location. Jobs are plentiful with all the industry around, the schools are good (my district is one of the highest rated in the state), there's always something to do when you're bored, and we have a bunch of sports teams (most of which pretty consistently suck). One thing I really like about my particular location is if I go 45 minutes north, I'm in downtown. If I go 45 minutes south, I'm in the country.
We considered moving across the border but her drive would've been horrible commuting around the city every day. She works North of Ohare airport, already a 100 mile round trip daily commute. We bought just far enough away that taxes and gas prices don't suck as bad. Plus the new 355 extension helps her commute. Her company has locations in NC, ID, and TX so we're hoping something comes along and she can transfer. I just made a career change myself so I can find a job wherever we go a little easier.

OT: drove the niner to work since it'll be 50 out. Hoping to dial in the control arms and track bars more and align it.
 
#30,828 ·
We considered moving across the border but her drive would've been horrible commuting around the city every day. She works North of Ohare airport, already a 100 mile round trip daily commute. We bought just far enough away that taxes and gas prices don't suck as bad. Plus the new 355 extension helps her commute. Her company has locations in NC, ID, and TX so we're hoping something comes along and she can transfer. I just made a career change myself so I can find a job wherever we go a little easier.

OT: drove the niner to work since it'll be 50 out. Hoping to dial in the control arms and track bars more and align it.
When I'm not on a job, I commute to Glendale Heights daily. It's about 120 miles round trip for me and traffic sucks on the way back home. It's rough but it's a price I'm willing to pay. I function on caffeine though, I get up at about 3:30 every morning and normally don't go to bed till around 10. If the drive wasn't so far and traffic wasn't so unpredictable, I could easily get another 2 hours of sleep.
 
#30,829 ·
How much lift do you have? I was able to spin mine with 4" of lift. You have to let it down past the diff and kind of move it up and down to clear everything as you turn it.
Right now 3" but figure it will settle around 2.5". I did the OME HD springs but added their 10mm spacers up front. I had my jack under the diff to hold the axle up at the time but it is good to know in the future I can make adjustments to the rear tb by just removing the frame nut and bolt. What a PITA to line up the axle end of the rear tb, I had to do it twice and don't want to ever do that again.

Removed my rear sway bar.
 
#30,830 ·
When I'm not on a job, I commute to Glendale Heights daily. It's about 120 miles round trip for me and traffic sucks on the way back home. It's rough but it's a price I'm willing to pay. I function on caffeine though, I get up at about 3:30 every morning and normally don't go to bed till around 10. If the drive wasn't so far and traffic wasn't so unpredictable, I could easily get another 2 hours of sleep.
Dang that's a hike! I couldn't handle traffic that long. I worked in Schaumburg for a bit and was ready to go postal after a week.
 
#30,832 ·
Yesterday I tested my new suspension setup at the local offroad park and discovered that I need to ditch the 3.5" springs with 2" spacers in the rear and just go with a 5.5" spring to avoid having the spacer pop out at full flex, even with limiting straps. So that means today I will be ordering the 5.5" springs from IRO.

Here's the test run footage - skip past 6:38 for the action:

 
#30,834 ·
How do your tires not eat the body like that? Damn their close.
Bump stops, wheel spacers, and trimming/hammering bro.....:cheers:

In the rear, the tire can be a C-hair away from the body and it will never hit. The reason is that the axle moves rearward and up in an arc when it compresses, not straight up. It gets farther away from the body when it's stuffed. Same with the front but it's trickier with the turning and all.
 
#30,837 ·
weekend of fixes over

this weekend I replaced a fuel injector and new seals on the other 3 on the driver side fuel rail also new oil pan gasket, valve cover gaskets, pcv valve, coolant, coolant temp sensor, and a new timing set. and it was the first time ive done any of them if I wasn't for the advice from the threads on this site I might not have been successful.
thanks to all...:2thumbsup:
 
#30,839 ·
Dang that's a hike! I couldn't handle traffic that long. I worked in Schaumburg for a bit and was ready to go postal after a week.
Yeah, the drive is rough but the job is great. It's worth it for me. Traffic does really piss me off on the way home though. I usually say screw it and bend over to pay the tolls to take 355 all the way down to 80 for the return drive. 88 and 294 just get too crowded.
 
#30,840 ·
Yesterday I tested my new suspension setup at the local offroad park and discovered that I need to ditch the 3.5" springs with 2" spacers in the rear and just go with a 5.5" spring to avoid having the spacer pop out at full flex, even with limiting straps. So that means today I will be ordering the 5.5" springs from IRO.

Here's the test run footage - skip past 6:38 for the action:

"It doesn't hit the hook anymore!" bahahah yeah, it misses it by like 2", same as your front driveshaft in that clip. Awesome stuff mate! :thumbsup:
 
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