picked up my YJ about 4 years ago - a bone stock 95 w/ 2.5L & AX-5
First thing it needed was a set of tires, so I went with 31x10.5 Cooper Discoverer STT... they rubbed a little so I trimmed the flares to the crease and made a set of 1" shackes from 1/2x2" flat stock. all was good for a little while.
about 6 months into ownership, I lost 5th gear. I didn't feel like bothering with it and drove around the last couple years as a 4 speed. with the 31s and 2.5, 5th gear wasn't much use anyway, and I figured 4 gears were good enough for all those older CJs I should be fine.
as time went on I've done some upgrades here and there - some big and functional, others smaller and mainly cosmetic.
It started out black, which I eventually (about a year ago) changed to Rust-Oleum industrial paint "safety yellow" and painted the trim pieces wrinkle black. My windshield took a rock so I replaced it with a polycarbonate one (no more broken windshields for me), I replaced the tail lights with LED versions (same Jeep box style, but made as LED), installed LED front signals, replaced the front seats with buckets from a Neon.
Last summer I installed a 2" BDS kit and just last month installed a Daystar 1" BL. also a little over a month ago I replaced my slightly tweaked steering linkage with a crossover style using heims and 1.75"x.250" DOM
about a year ago I got a great deal on an 88 K5 Blazer that the frame was broken and about 75% of the floor was totally gone.... but the motor (5.7 TBI) and trans (700r4) were in great shape with a little under 80k on the ticker.
I pulled the motor, trans, computer & all wiring and parted out the rest for just a little more than I paid for the whole thing :highfive: then I started collecting parts as I could afford them. replaced most of the external accessories, oil pump, pans, gaskets, ignition components, etc. and got the necessary swap parts.
a few trips to the U-pull got me an 8.8 which I replaced seals and all brake components, got a NP241 and installed a JB SS SYE, a couple CV shafts from a ZJ, etc, etc.
well I've finally got all (I hope) the necessary parts together and ready, have a binder full of printouts on wiring for the YJ and the GM ECU, and took some time off work.... now as my dad would say "time to SH-- or get off the pot" lol
came out to Dad's to begin my swap.. I've set sort of an ambitious timeline as this is my DD and I have 10 days off from work... though I'm remaining optimistic as I've "pre-installed" quite a few things.... radiator, exhaust from the cat to tailpipe, gauges, so those should save me a little time.
pulled it into the garage tonight so it'll be nice and cool and dry (raining here tonight) when I start tearing into it in the morning.
I took a few pics of the "before" engine bay as well as the new powerplant sitting on blocks awaiting install... but for some reason I keep getting "upload of file failed" errors from the forum, and they're well within size limits so maybe a glitch in the forum itself?.... but I'll try again to post pics as soon as the forum lets me...
tried again this morning, still won't let me upload, so in the mean-time, I'm hoping linking to my pics on facebook works...
stock engine bay:
another view:
new engine/trans/TC ready for install:
First thing it needed was a set of tires, so I went with 31x10.5 Cooper Discoverer STT... they rubbed a little so I trimmed the flares to the crease and made a set of 1" shackes from 1/2x2" flat stock. all was good for a little while.
about 6 months into ownership, I lost 5th gear. I didn't feel like bothering with it and drove around the last couple years as a 4 speed. with the 31s and 2.5, 5th gear wasn't much use anyway, and I figured 4 gears were good enough for all those older CJs I should be fine.
as time went on I've done some upgrades here and there - some big and functional, others smaller and mainly cosmetic.
It started out black, which I eventually (about a year ago) changed to Rust-Oleum industrial paint "safety yellow" and painted the trim pieces wrinkle black. My windshield took a rock so I replaced it with a polycarbonate one (no more broken windshields for me), I replaced the tail lights with LED versions (same Jeep box style, but made as LED), installed LED front signals, replaced the front seats with buckets from a Neon.
Last summer I installed a 2" BDS kit and just last month installed a Daystar 1" BL. also a little over a month ago I replaced my slightly tweaked steering linkage with a crossover style using heims and 1.75"x.250" DOM
about a year ago I got a great deal on an 88 K5 Blazer that the frame was broken and about 75% of the floor was totally gone.... but the motor (5.7 TBI) and trans (700r4) were in great shape with a little under 80k on the ticker.
I pulled the motor, trans, computer & all wiring and parted out the rest for just a little more than I paid for the whole thing :highfive: then I started collecting parts as I could afford them. replaced most of the external accessories, oil pump, pans, gaskets, ignition components, etc. and got the necessary swap parts.
a few trips to the U-pull got me an 8.8 which I replaced seals and all brake components, got a NP241 and installed a JB SS SYE, a couple CV shafts from a ZJ, etc, etc.
well I've finally got all (I hope) the necessary parts together and ready, have a binder full of printouts on wiring for the YJ and the GM ECU, and took some time off work.... now as my dad would say "time to SH-- or get off the pot" lol
came out to Dad's to begin my swap.. I've set sort of an ambitious timeline as this is my DD and I have 10 days off from work... though I'm remaining optimistic as I've "pre-installed" quite a few things.... radiator, exhaust from the cat to tailpipe, gauges, so those should save me a little time.
pulled it into the garage tonight so it'll be nice and cool and dry (raining here tonight) when I start tearing into it in the morning.
I took a few pics of the "before" engine bay as well as the new powerplant sitting on blocks awaiting install... but for some reason I keep getting "upload of file failed" errors from the forum, and they're well within size limits so maybe a glitch in the forum itself?.... but I'll try again to post pics as soon as the forum lets me...
tried again this morning, still won't let me upload, so in the mean-time, I'm hoping linking to my pics on facebook works...
stock engine bay:
another view:
new engine/trans/TC ready for install: