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Young 5.2 Build thread

6K views 75 replies 7 participants last post by  davidtownsend 
#1 ·
(I haven't been super thorough on everything I've done since I'm writing this build thread a year and a half after I got it. Sorry ahead of time for the quality of the pictures. They were all taken on my phone)

I've had jeeps all my life. My first one was an 84 xj. My mom said if I can fix it I can have it. I took it to my high school auto shop and fixed it up! I drove that for a couple years until it died. After that I bought my first zj.
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Automotive parking light Automotive side marker light Wheel Tire Land vehicle


I drove that for a long time until the tranny died on that one. I bought my newest jeep and gutted the inside of both because the new jeep wasn't pretty.
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Then I junked the old zj=(
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The first thing I did to the new jeep was completely gut it. The only thing I didn't take out was the carpet. I bought 2 bottles of armoral and cleaned the crap out of the new jeep. While I cleaned I installed my deck, speakers, and amps. I have a Sony deck, back to door speakers, and amp. I have Rockford Fosgate tweeters and the front door speakers are Bose. My subs are Jl audio. I also have a street edge amp that I am going to run all my door speakers from.
I took all the side panels and rear bumper cover and spray painted them black so they weren't all faded. I also painted the rims so they would match the side panels. The first stuff I did was mostly cosmetic. Then I did a full tune up. I used synthetic oils and e3 spark plugs(I've read the reviews on them and I'm going back to the champions). Here is it after I finished cleaning it up!
Automotive side marker light Automotive parking light Tire Wheel Vehicle


I ordered my 2" bb and a member on here gave me some 31" tires! I bought a set of 15" rims on craigslist for pretty cheap. I believe they are Craiger D-windows.
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Automotive parking light Automotive side marker light Tire Wheel Sky


The next thing I did was the e-fan conversion. My fan clutch was going out so instead of buying a new one I just went to the junk yard and bought a Ford Taurus fan, I used this write up:

http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f13/ford-taurus-two-speed-e-fan-install-pics-233676/
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I bought a high flow cat and a magnaflow muffler. It is a great combo! I just need to weld it all together instead of the clamps. And my y pipe is crushed on the passenger side. To help my engine breath i made my own cold air intake from Specre parts. it gets the job done.here is what it looks like. maybe i will look for a dokota air hat soon.
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My tranny started going bad so I bought one off of eBay and installed it with my friend in a day. I crushed the cps wire and had to buy one of those. I also installed a new tranny cooler. The only bad part is that my transmission slips if you start off slow. The next thing I need to do to it is adjust the bands and my tv cable.

Continued........
 
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#2 ·
I did some more cosmetic stuff. I made some hood vents by drilling some 1.5” holes in the middle of the hood

I had the old emblems from my old jeep and spray painted them black. It looks pretty cool on the green paint job. I'll post a Picture in the morning.

The P.O. hit something that put a huge dent in the driver’s door. If it has dent I want to put them in. plus I have never bondo’d anything. I didn’t take to many pictures but here id the before and after. I still have to sand it down again and then paint it. When I have some more time it will be finished. Before:

That is the main things I have done to my zj since I got it. My next moves are;

Changing my plenum gasket
Swapping my lower radiator support and front and rear bumper covers
Changing my spark plugs, wires, cap, and rotor
710 fuel injector swap
242 transfer case swap
33 tooth speed gear

I bought the gaskets plugs and ordered the speed gear so most of that will be in the next couple of days. I am planning on going to the pic-n-pull this week or next nd getting the rest of my list. I also might do a front to rear swap in the near future. i hope you guys enjoy this and if you have any ideas feel free to say them.
 

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#3 ·
I've done a lot to my Jeep since I last posted. I finished my bondo project. Got a rear bumper cover from the pic n pull and sanded that down and spray painted it black. Got new headlights. Used something like peal n seal on my front two doors. My next project is either fixing my front bumper or getting one from the pick n pull and cutting that one down and painting it.
 
#4 ·
It's been a while since I updated my thread. I have done a lot to the Jeep. I changed the plenum gasket and did a full tune up with oil change. I went mudding one day and put a whole in my radiator so bought another one of those. I did a Bosch 710 injector Swap. Got out off of a 98 Ford exploder. They added about half a mile to my mpg. But it runs a lot smoother now. My Jeep is turning into a Ford. First Ford e fan and now Ford injectors. I moved to Maryland and had to do a safety inspection test. So I have to get a tail pipe and clamp it all down tight. My y pipe is crimped so I bought a y pipe as well. I didn't want to use the old o2 sensor so I bought a Ngk off Ebay. He also said my my motor mounts were bad (which they weren't). So I bought the prothane inserts. Those are going to get pressed in tomorrow or Tuesday. I had to change out three studs on my rear Axel. I found a easy way to get them in without killing the lugs. Freeze the stud first then oil it up and pull it through with the lug nut. Went on super easy! I sprayed down my y pipe bolts so hopefully they come off easy without a fight. Ilk post more pictures when my laptop is fixed. The hard drive took a **** on me so I'm thinking about getting a 1tb and upgrading it. I'll try to keep this updated as stuff happens! With pictures.
 
#5 ·
My next project is replacing the rear main. That is going to suck. I'm not looking forward to it at all. I'm also going to sea foam the engine since I only have about a 1000 miles left until I have to change it again. I also need to rebuild my new to me injectors. I just through them on I was so excited. A new fuel filter as well. Hopefully mpg goes up a little more when I rebuild the injectors sea foam it and change out my crimped y pipe.
 
#6 ·
Looks good. I thought people were using 703 injectors as a swap! I have the 5.2 and just did the plenum, timing cover (was leaking antifreeze out the gasket), and rear main. The only hard part about the rear main is getting the pan out around the axle after the bolts are out lol. I think overall the plenum was worse so don't be too worried. Injector swap and Durango air hat are next for me. :2thumbsup: keep up the good work. Gotta love a good olé jeep :cheers2:
 
#7 ·
Thanks man! I can't find a Durango hat at my pick and pull. I used a right up on here and the 5.2 work great with the 710. I'm going to the junk yard tomorrow to get a clock spring. My horn only works sometimes and the air bag light is on. Ilk also look harder for that air hat. I think that would help her breath a lot more.
 
#8 ·
Weird the write ups I saw for injectors said 703s. There must be more than one option but either are better than stock! And ya that Durango hat is twice the size I bet lol. I'm hoping to find injectors, the Durango air hat and multiple miscellaneous things my next time at the yard.
 
#9 ·
I changed out my clock spring and I don't think it fixed my air bag light our my horn. I'll have to wait for another one I guess. But good news I found a np 231 already bolted up to a 94 zj. It was a i6 though. I don't know if that will bolt up to my 46rh. I found a shop with the owner isn't a Dick like a lot of them are. He pressed my motor mounts in for 20. He told me his trick. He froze them first! The motor mounts are going in tomorrow and maybe my exhaust. I hope I have enough time! Our I'll have to wait until next week. I also stripped the front seat cloth off of a super clean zj at the junk yard. That was a pain in the ***. I'm going to wash them then swap them out and put seat covers on them. Now I need to get the back ones. Pictures will come soon since the mobile app won't let me upload any pictures and my laptop is down.
 
#11 ·
If you mean the bolts off the exhaust manifold then yes. I broke mine and put new in
 
#12 ·
I have a full exhaust again! It sound a lot cleaner with my high flow cat and magnaflow. I fixed the crushed y pipe and put in a new o2 sensor. She runs so good now. Mpg went up .3 or something like that. Nothing big. I bypassed my stock amp with a writeup on here. They make the speakers sound a lot better. Pictures for all of this will be up when my laptop is fixed. Hopefully in the next day our so.
 
#13 ·
Sea foamed my engine! What a difference! I have a couple big projects coming up! I'm doing the Durango air hat tomorrow night or Sunday. I also bought the gaskets for my rear main seal. That is going to be fun. I bought some new lights for my front bumper they are pilot 6 inch metal housing lights. They are really wide though. I might take them back. I figured out that wix oil filters are one of the best out there. I'm going to get Valvoline high mileage. What weight should I get? 10 weight 30?
 
#14 ·
Personally I don't like high mileage oils. I used it in a 2000 dodge caravan with 250k miles and it started leaking from the valve covers after a few changes. My theory is the additives make seals and gaskets swell but then with an old one it fails soon after. Just my experience. Just use a good full synthetic oil. I'm a Mobil and castrol fan myself. I run Mobil in my diffs and engine and castrol in my tranny and tcase. All full synthetic. Just my. 02
 
#15 ·
I hate Maryland. I can't find any wix oil filters in AutoZone pep boys or advance auto. I wish there was an O'riellys up here. I'll look into full synthetics tomorrow. I think I'll have to get a mobile 1 or k&n or puralator. What do you prefer?
 
#16 ·
For a filter? I'd say either Mobil or k&n. K&n is like wix in that they specialize in all kinds of filters. In fact my tranny filter is a wix too lol
 
#17 ·
I ordered a wix online. I'm not doing my rear main for a couple weeks anyways. So I can wait for it to come in the mail. I also have a wix transmission filter. I think I'm going to only use wix for my filters. Next is fuel filter.
 
#20 ·
Idk on that but I love my drop in k&n. I like being able to just clean and reoil it vs replacing it.
 
#21 ·
I need to look into that. I made a custom cold air intake but I need to get the stock air hose that goes from the air hat to the air box to put over the plastic cold air pipes. So it keeps the air colder.
 
#22 ·
Got the air hat done! It was a pain to cut the top hood supports off. I was using end cutters. That wasn't fun. It looks really nasty but I will clean it up tomorrow. It idled a lot better with the air hat. Might be taking a trip tomorrow so I will see if it raises gas millage. Probably a little.
 
#23 ·
The Durango one? I'm maybe going to do mine in a few weeks if I get to the jy sometime
 
#25 ·
Thanks for the tip. I make it a practice to take any bolts, clips, etc for anything I take off so I always have what I need or extra. It's saved me multiple times. Lol. Do you feel any power difference? Noice difference? I've only heard good things about this mod
 
#27 ·
Ya I like a bit of extra noise lol. And you can always have more power :)
 
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