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97 TJ Heep to Zombie Killing Jeep Build

438K views 825 replies 181 participants last post by  cpia84 
#1 ·
So I always wanted a Jeep Wrangler and recently had an opportunity to pickup a 1997 TJ for cheap. Being that it is an SE with 4cyl and auto trans dana 30 and 35 cheap is really all it was worth anyway:laugh: But now i had a platform to start with and with our first child just being born I will be selling my motorcycle which will help fund the build. Along with what I had sold of a collection of 1/5 scale RC cars, one of which paid for the Jeep. But still looking to do this build on a budget and so I won't be buying $900 bumpers. The Jeep is taking place of the motorcycle as a toy and I still have my F-150 daily driver so can afford to have it down(torn apart for days or weeks at a time).

What I purchased in October of 2010


What I sold to buy the Jeep


First thing I did was gut the carpet, it was trashed. Also took out trunk thing to remove rust and repaint.


Parked next to the daily driver.


Took off the fenders to repaint and removing the stock steps. Also cut off front bumper jugs


With the carpet torn out the floors revealed some rust but not as bad as I would have thought with the condition of the top which would be my next purchase.




Brought it by a friends house to put some H2 tow hooks on the rear bumper:rofl:


Home in the garage for the first time. Took off mirrors and wiper blade arms and sanded and repainted. Let the money spending start. Did alot of tune up things like plugs, cap and rotor, new battery, O2 sensor, TPS, valve cover gasket etc...............


Put new black top on with tinted windows and removed rusted spare tire and spare tire holder. Added NRA sticker.


So after putting a black top on I decide I wanted the interior to be black (slate) so I purchased a dash out of a wrecked 06 TJ to install.


Painted the headlight bezels black with Krylon Fusion. And took off the front bumper to expose the rust under it. Ground it down and repainted, then installed smitty bilt stinger.



 
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#105 ·
Looks good & I think a bikini of some sort is pretty important here in FL, I've been caught a couple times with the top down and more times with the bikini and no doors and the bikini helps a lot, even in pretty hard thunderstorms :)

Another good thing is to leave a rain jacket, or tarp in the jeep to leave over the dash when parked, that's what I do a lot with the doors off and bikini on, or top down
 
#106 ·
Yeah the bikini top was a great investment, makes me never want to use the soft or hard top again.:2thumbsup: I've been carrying around trash bags with me to put on the seats if they get wet but like the rain jacket idea.

BTW read through your build of the stroker and great looking jeep, I can't wait to get to the point of a motor upgrade. First i want to finish with rear track bar, adj uppers and lowers, axles with 4.88 gears, SYE, winch etc.....

So yesterday I finally got the jeep offroad with a few other jeeps and what a great time. Have some issues to address before next outing but looking forward to it very much.





 
#112 ·
I wish I had a garage like yours !!

And your Jeep is sick
Thanks, and the garage does come in handy.

Nice build man, i recently sold my 4 banger auto tj it was so slow i could not imagine putting all that armor and larger tires on it lol. But seeing your makes me actually miss mine, sooo much smoother riding than my YJ but i chose the 4.0 over the smoother ride lol. Keep up the good work.
I'm with you as I'm not very happy with the 4cyl, but knew when I bought the jeep it would be replaced by a 5.2 or 5.9 magnum at some point. It gets around town great just sucks down the gas and is no good at interstate driving. I have to finish with the suspension (SYE, HP dana 30 & 8.8 rear geared to 4.88, adj UCA's, and just ordered a adj rear track bar) then my focus will be 100% toward finding a donor vehicle to do the V8 swap. That's the only reason I bought a 4cyl jeep and it was way cheap. I'm in it for about $3k at this point so really can't complain much considering I enjoy driving it as much as my truck that cost alot more.
 
#111 ·
Nice build man, i recently sold my 4 banger auto tj it was so slow i could not imagine putting all that armor and larger tires on it lol. But seeing your makes me actually miss mine, sooo much smoother riding than my YJ but i chose the 4.0 over the smoother ride lol. Keep up the good work.
 
#114 ·
Thank you, more progress was made today with an email confirmation that my warn M8000 winch will be here this week. Followed up with a JKS adj. rear track bar. Also put a new battery in the motorcycle so I can put it for sale, then it's axle's, SYE and adj. UCA's. Once at that point the suspension will be considered done for now, and it will be V8 swap time.
 
#116 ·
Thank You, Just remember if you have a TJ/YJ and want JK wheels you will have to buy adapters to convert to 5x5.5 lug pattern. The kicker for me was that I'm going to end up buying 3 sets of adapters so I can mount my spare. The black soft top with tinted windows is a cheap Smittybilt I got on ebay for around $265. I then bought a like new hard top and finally got smart and bought a bikini top. Living in Florida the bikini top is really my favorite, makes me feel like I'm in a jeep. If it wasn't for all the rain we get I would just got topless all the time.
 
#122 ·
So got alittle done tonight. Fitted the winch plate and managed to keep the sway bar cover in place, just had to make a some modifications to it. My sway bar is rusted and looks like a$$ so I wanted to keep the cover on. Long term goal is to replace with antirock.



Then removed the plate and mounted the winch on it, then reinstalled onto the bumper. It makes the jeep look official:thumbsup:



Also had developed a very slight ticking coming from the engine bay and decided an oil change was in order. So dropped 4 quarts of this stuff in and it purrs again. As much as I want to replace the little 4cyl I can't help but be impressed by how well it runs with 166,000 miles on it.


Also gathered up a bunch more crap laying around in the garage to sell and turn into more Jeep parts. Have the JKS adj. rear track bar to go in tomm. Then I think I'm going to do the Monstaliner kit and get the interior in shape.
 
#123 ·
So had a chance to meet up with a few local Jeep club guys on Sunday in east Bonita and had an absolute blast.









Ended up having to go through a pretty deep hole, and almost made it. Probably could have gave it hell and came out but got tired of eating mud pretty quick. Will have doors on next time:laugh:


My new favorite picture of the heep.


Ended up with mud everywhere, but worth it.
 
#128 ·
Yeah it was alot of fun but wish we had rock trails like those with mountains in their state.

Wow looks like you guys had fun. Nice mud coating in the bottom of the Jeep. :laugh:

If you go for the Monstaliner, you won't regret it. That stuff is radical.
The mud coating was almost white when dried and was a real PITA to get clean. I saw your Monstaliner job and was very impressed, will be following your process to a tee looking for the same results. By the way enjoyed all the pictures from your recent wheelin trip.




man, that is looking awesome. i like what you did with the liner on the grill. i just did my body fender panels with it. looks awesome.

keep up the good work!
Thank You, and I love the Rustoleum Bed Liner spray, just haven't figured out a good way to wash those parts of the jeep yet.

Just got done with reading the whole thread. Very nice work my friend!
Thank You, I hope to have alot more done to it my the end of the year, but as of late have just been enjoying using it.
 
#129 ·
Thanks, we had a great time. And thanks x2!! It's all about prep work. That's 95% of painting after all. :D

Thats a TON of mud. It looks pretty awesome dried on the side of the Jeep though. By the way, what kind of LED lights are those? I bought some off ebay, and they look exactly the same, the white LED's that light up red...well, these:

HERE

And if they're the same, or close to, I was wondering how you like them?
 
#133 ·
Yep same ones, they work great, get alot of complements and are very bright. Just have to figure out reverse lights yet.

wash Rustoleum Bed Liner spray - with a big deck scrub brush the ones with a broom handle.
I have been using a hand brush I use on the boat and it works well for regular cleaning but not so great to get the mud stain off. Will have to try the large more stiff bristle brush i guess.

I have a 4 banger in my jeep, and with 200,000 on it it still runs great. I want to go to a 4.6 inline stroker, but its hard to rip out the 4 when it so dependable.
oh you should probably pull your floor plugs next time you going mudding lol.
I'm with you on the little 4 banger just keeps impressing me, except on the highway:laugh:. I had the floor plugs out but had floor mats in which were blocking the holes. Lifted them after the picture and most drained right out.
 
#135 ·
Looks familiar :shhh:


I spent all Monday cleaning mine and got a nice sun burn

Your build is looking awesome I just read through the whole thing... I'll be buying that bed liner for my Metalcloaks and corners I can't believe how nice it looks on your rig, the pictures just don't do it justice.
 
#136 ·
^ haha, I know exactly what you mean. I cleaned on the jeep Sunday when we got back and it still looked like crap Monday so I cleaned it some more, but still worth it. You can't beat that Rustoleum bed liner for the ease of use and cost. Look forward to seeing the metalclocks and corners on your jeep. Why you selling the snorkel? I got a Cobra 29 CB through a friend and took your advise and stopped by Pilot. They had everything I need to do the install tonight, thanks for the heads up.
 
#141 ·
your jeeps have built in clinometers! just look at teh angle of the mud haha!

looking good! dont copy SarahRose on the monstaliner job, it will take you a week just to prep! hahaha she knows im kidding......... kind of....... :)
 
#144 ·
I will be taking my time on the Monstaliner because I only want to do it once. One of the benefits of the jeep not being my DD, plus I only ever get an hour or two at a time to mess with the jeep.

The CAI apparatus that's required to use the snorkel is set up to connect to the 4.0 throttle body which is in a different location so no I don't believe it will.
That sucks, I like the way your jeep sounds with that Volant setup. Someone is going to get a good deal.

looks pretty good i like it
Thank You
 
#145 ·
Well I had alittle time yesterday to mess with Jeep. Received the Terraflex spare tire adapter which is mainly designed to lift the stock location on the tailgate to fit larger tires. I had bought it because it has both TJ and JK bolt pattern, The problem is I think it sits to high now. It is nice to have the spare on the jeep rather than taking up space in the garage though.


Also started on the install of a Cobra 29 WXNWST. The radio was free and I have about $70 in wiring, antenna etc. so I'm staying with the keep it cheap theme for this build.
 
#148 ·
And I like the radio. CB's are such a great tool to have in the Jeep, plus they're just FUN to use.

How do you even see past that tire now? Although, granted, with tires as big as yours, they'll block your vision regardless...
Trying to figure out where I want the CB mounted in the the jeep. Leaning toward putting it overhead on a smittybilt gear mount. I've settled for the antenna off the driver side of the rear bumper.

Yeah the spare tire is bothering me, it is only a 33" but looks like a 37" tire the way it sits. I'll be doing something different with it at some point if for no other reason than to save so MPG's. I imagine it is going to act like a parachute on the back that high. Plus now I really need side mirrors:thumbsup:
 
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