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Finally! - 2000 TJ Slow Build... (very slow...)

82K views 602 replies 65 participants last post by  kennyboobear 
#1 ·
Finally! - Silverstone 2000 TJ

Well I've been wanting to make a build thread for ages, but haven't really had much going on with the Jeep to showcase other than my "custom" Audio/Visual system as well as a few little interior tweaks, Ie.) The Jeep badge/plaque on my glovebox. But I finally got my first real parts that I can showcase... putting them on this weekend ....
Day I bought it

Since the netbook is now (and has been for a year) in place of the CB, am currently planning to relocate the CB to the inside of the Console.

This is currently mounted on my dash, acts as GPS/Movie/Music/Portable Computer station thing.

Lastly a poser shot for kicks..


New Corner Guards with steel flairs... Can't wait to get them on


Currently: As of July 2012

 
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#225 ·
No kiddin, but ah well. I'll soon have the whip in California so I won't have to look far to find a spot to go wheeling lol

Man that thing looks bad freakin' ***. :2thumbsup:
haha thanks, I can't wait to get the new bumper on. Me thinks it's gonna add a whole new level of umph to the appearance of mah rig.
 
#228 ·
OH and I found a 1999 TJ Sport I may pick up as either...

A.) 2nd Jeep
B.) Gift for my old many
C.) fix and resell for profit..

Needs a tranny, gonna take it for a spin on Friday and see how the engine sounds/feels and find out the mileage. Otherwise the exterior/interior is in pretty damn good shape considering it's a 13 year old vehicle.

 
#229 ·
Progress...



And waiting on Brown Santa to drop off my new bumper....

It seems that our house is always the last one of their UPS route, which means stuff generally ends up getting dropped off at 6-7pm. D'oh!
 
#230 ·
Brown Santa FTMFW :2thumbsup:





Bedlining is progressing well. Gonna coat the back sides of the fenders tomorrow. Currently have 1 1/2 cans spread across the front sides of the two fenders.

Another 1 1/2 for the backs and then a fourth can will go over all sides to make sure the coating is full and complete.



Oh and..... :shhh:









Pros.

Engine runs smooth
New Starter
New clutch (though I suspect it's a cheapy, it definitely doesn't "feel" right)
Rust free
Power steering feels beautiful, as do the brakes
No funny creaks or sounds when driving
Body is in great shape minus 2 dings, one on either half door
Soft top assembly and cover is in decent shape

Cons

It needs....
Soft uppers
New seats (some tears in the upholstery)
New tires (upon further inspection there's not as much tread left as I once thought. They may be good for another 4-6k miles)
Climate Control Module
New windshield
New transmission

It has highish mileage (168k)
Heater doesn't work
AC WORKS but the climate control module is fubared, so that'll need to be replaced

Other than that, it tracks fine on the road and drives rather pleasantly for a Jeep aside from the lack of 3rd and 4th gear.

I've not yet pulled the trigger on it, but price negotiating pending, it'll be sitting in the driveway in a few days.
 
#231 ·
Fenders are looking good.

What your realistic plan if you buy it If you got a good price you can make money. If you got an ok price and want to keep it you know it's worth the money. My last jeep had 170k and it still wheeled great in moab. Only reason I sold it was for A/C.

That bumper it legit.
 
#232 ·
gspup said:
Fenders are looking good.

What your realistic plan if you buy it If you got a good price you can make money. If you got an ok price and want to keep it you know it's worth the money. My last jeep had 170k and it still wheeled great in moab. Only reason I sold it was for A/C.

That bumper it legit.
Thanks!

The plan for the second Jeep is up in the air atm. Either sell it, give it to my dad or give it to my girl. Still yet to be determined, and that's assuming we come into an agreement on price.

Makin progress on the bumper today as well :D

 
#235 ·
Had a blast today! So beyond the realms of exhausted though haha. Logged two trees among other things. What time did you two head out? We finished out with the last of them around 6-6:30ish.

Got a vid of the log bridge crossing after we made repairs to it that I'll post once it finishes uploading to Youtube.

:drool:

Looks so good! It's going to look great on the front of your jeep Kenny!

And as for that steel blue TJ, I say let the gf drive it so then you can build that one up too, but have her pay for the parts :D :teehee:
Thanks! I can't wait to throw it on and honestly, I'm tempted to test fit it tomorrow but I've still got to put a few coats on the inside of it and if I test fit it I'm not gonna wanna take it back off lol

Fenders go back on tomorrow morning though, and bumper may go on in the afternoon, we shall see :cheers2:

Just to show the texture......

 
#237 ·
Ah bummer. Forced upgrades :2thumbsup:

Sounds like it's time to box them in and be done with it lol

As for the video...

Not sure if you got to this point but one of the bridge pilings had been washed downstream a bit, so we had to get it back into place. This was just after shoring everything up and getting it drivable.



Sidenote: I didn't wheel the TJ today as it's sitting in the driveway sans bumper, winch, and fenders. I ended up riding ***** with my buddy Brian in his first REAL outing. Needless to say, he's hooked lol, he's the fourth one on the bridge in the Orange JKU.
 
#238 ·
So me thinks in the coming weeks I'll finally be pulling the trigger on the ucf 1" tcase skid and Lipton mount.

Additionally i'm eyeing the genright 19 gallon tank that allows me to stretch my 44 back 5" for a bit of extra wheelbase....

My whole philosophy behind the build has been to build a DD that can still rock the gnarliest of trails without needing to be trailered. Relocating a tank inside the cab would go against that so the genright tank seems to be the most logical option.

Putting the fenders back on today also, so I should have photos this evening assuming I can get this battery mount all cleaned up and painted today. Didn't realize how corroded it's become but it's definitely in need of some restoration. It came powder coated from metalcloak so I'm mildly disappointed in the coating's inability to hold up. The fenders have been on for a year and the battery mounts are more protected from the elements than the outer fender so, maybe I'm crazy but I definitely don't think it should be as bad as it is.
 
#239 ·
Made some progress today...



Excuse the crappy phone pictures, the camera in my galaxy 4g doesn't seem to like overly bright subjects.

As a result of the powder coat issues with the battery tray, I won't be able to put the driver's side fender back on until after I paint and let the tray cure so.... for now she's still sittin' in the driveway.

Also installed my 39 tooth speedo gear, so if anyone needs a 34 tooth.... shoot me a pm. Will just charge shipping on it, otherwise I'll be listing it in the "leave a speedo gear, take a speedo gear" thread. :cheers2:
 
#241 ·
Thanks brother, I'm really startin' to like how it's all turning out :2thumbsup:

Just took a few shots with an actual camera....





On another note, I replaced the hardware that mounts to the underside of my winch with grade 8 hardware. Partly because the hardware my winch came with wasn't long enough to go through the lock washer, fender washer, bumper and fairlead plate. And also because extra beef is.... well, extra beef.
 
#244 ·
I wish I had one of those. It looks very nice man!
Muchos gracias, gentleman! I'm quite satisfied with how it's all turned out. I got everything completely buttoned back up this afternoon and took it for a bit of a spin. Good news! I installed the speedo gear correctly :laugh:

 
#247 ·
That is one nice bumper dude.
Muchos gracias, gents!

So I got bored today.... and then this happened...



More info. and video to come shortly... :2thumbsup:
 
#250 ·
Good eye! Yessireee! The tone is gawjus! In fact, I'm headed out for a drive now, just so I can listen to it :D
 
#249 ·
Okay, so I went to advance auto parts and saw this 99$ Magnaflow stainless muffler. The part # is 14325. I researched a bit on my phone, went outside and measured and this Magnaflow is 14" excluding the inlet and outlet piping. The OEM muffler is 20".

I said, okay, I can do this. Couple clamps, piping, and an exhaust sealant to make sure the fittings are nice and secure/sealed. I thought about it more and more though and decided to put all that back as I'd be better off having some weld it together for me.

Ended up going on the advance auto site while I was in store, on my phone, and did an online in-store purchase. Threw on the "BIG30" discount and got the price down from 99.99 to 69.99. Was 75 and change out the door. Right around the corner is a local muffler shop, ACE Muffler.

Gentleman comes out, takes a look and says we're looking at 95 plus tax, or 80$ even if I have cash. Naturally I said "Hell yea!" Hopped in the Jeep, sped to the bank, and pulled out the 80.

This muffler sounds awesome IMO. The tone isn't too obnoxious but is most DEFINITELY leaps and bounds throatier than the OEM. The tone between 1750 - 2100 rpm is jaw dropping and when I get on it to get on the interstate it sounds even better! The equivalent of a cat back without replacing my factory piping for 155$ and it's a Magnaflow Stainless muffler. I couldn't be happier :2thumbsup:

Vidyuh! Apologies for the quality as it's not the best.... but for now it'll give the idea and will have to suffice. :cheers2:

 
#254 ·
haha that's actually in the immediate future. Once I get the other corner off and stripped/bedlined along with my rock sliders, the next big purchase is going to be the UCF 1" belly skid & lopro mount :2thumbsup:

Thanks for spoiling the surprise, dick. :laugh:
 
#255 ·
For kicks, I recorded a video of what the Magnaflow sounds like inside the Jeep. Definitely a mod I'd recommend every Jeep owner to get. :2thumbsup:

 
#257 ·
Haha thanks. I didn't realize the mic was gonna pick it up as well as it did or I'd have turned it off completely. Ah well, makes for some nice elevator music while the Magnaflow hums.

Got two things accomplished today. Tested my avg. highway mpg with a 40 mile test sample. cruise control between 65-70 without drafting in some heavy crosswinds (12-15mph wind with gusts upwards of 20-25mph) for 40 interstate miles.

In total, between exiting and getting to the gas station total mileage was right at 41.

Filled up before hitting the road and filled back up at the exact same pump (to keep the results as consistent as possible) and it took 2.6 gallons to top me off. That's 15.77 mpg in heavy wind without drafting! I imagine on a calm day I'll be closer to 16.5-17 and with a tail wind probably close to 18mpg on the highway. And I'll likely break into 20mpg territory drafting a big rig. (On a slight sidenote, I usually plan my road trip departure dates around the wind lmao, yup.... I drive a Jeep.) Today is a good day.

For some odd reason I was almost expecting somewhere in the neighborhood of 12-14 so the nearly 16mpg made me feel considerably better.

3mpg less than bone stock, in poor conditions with all the work that's been done to it? I can live with that.

Also finally got around to measuring to see if I needed to adjust my bump stops at all and I'm happy to say I don't think I'll be making any adjustments :cheers:





And just for ****s and gigs....

Some after shots of the fenders after a bit of dirt/abuse. I took her down a gravel road at about 35-45mph and the rocks slinging against the bed armor coating didn't change the appearance one bit on the underside.





So now all that's left to do is plan a bit of a wheeling trip/weekend for June 9-10 while the girl and I fly into New Orleans for a week :2thumbsup:
 
#258 ·
Fingers crossed... she goes under the knife today.

Gonna clearance my hood around the Metalcloaks.... :eek:
 
#259 ·
So hood clearancing was a success, and since then I've spent the last few days working on my buddy's JKU. Trimmed up his flares for him among other things.

Freshly notched hood.



Buddy's newly trimmed up JK.



That said, I think I'll be putting the future build plans a bit back, time wise. I noticed in the last few days that 1.) the rear corner that was damaged has come completely undone from the tube (result of the damage from the accident that went unrepaired, and instead hammered out.) I noticed it thanks to that whole corner squeaking every time I hit even the slightest imperfection in the road thanks to the corner now being able to move and 2.) I am starting to dread my fading paint.

I think the latter really got to me this past Friday at the local end of the month block party. Lot of vehicles line up for it, many of which had coats of paint that made mine look just plain shabby.



I've come up with a bit of a game plan though. I'm gonna start off by welding the seam back together as well as a bead along the inside of the tube where that panel attaches. I'll also have to weld on the outside where that corner panel meets the rear of the tub, as that section has also come undone. Clean up the welds and then I'm gonna bondo up and finally take care of that whole corner as best as I can so, even though I keep a steel corner over it, it looks somewhat better.

After that's done, I intend to do all the body work on my hood in preparation of.....



No, I'm not turning my Jeep into an old Ford. The plan is to repaint the whole Jeep this color. It's from Duplicolor's Paint Shop line and is called "Sublime Green Pearl." I'll be adding a metallic clear midcoat for a metallic effect and topping it off with about 6-8 coats of clear so I can sand away any imperfections for a finalized mirror finish. I realize this undertaking will probably park the Jeep for 2-3 weeks once I begin, but before I go any further with the build I want everything to be as close to 100% as it can be.

The basic plan will be to scuff up the current paint with 320 grit. Clean/prep/tack the tub (as I intend to remove the hood, cowl, windshield frame, grill, doors and rear gate to paint those separately), lay 4-6 coats of primer, 2-4 coats of filler primer, 4-6 coats of paint, 2-4 coats of metallic clear, and 6-8 coats of gloss clear (I'll be burning through 3-5 of these wet sanding to remove any/all imperfections for the end result.) Then after a rigorous buffing she'll be ready to go. Obviously there's far more to it than this but this is just the crash course of the idea. I'll probably be picking up the paint, reducer, primer, body filler, sand paper/blocks, clear coat, mid coat etc. in the next week or two to just have all the materials on hand.
 
#261 ·
Yup. It'll look similar to the electric green 2012 JKs but with a more metallic hue to it. Paired with all my armor/accents in black, it's gon' look purdie damn sick me thinks. (In a good way of course.)
 
#265 ·
Your seriously gonna repaint it ? But I thought you loved the rare silvestone metallic :D

In all seriousness, that will be badass !
I certainly think so. A bit bold and crazy, but still nice enough that it looks attractive. :D

As for the Silverstone, I'd love to keep it but Chrysler is against me on it. They no longer make the color in even a touch-up paint (according to the stealership) and to have an auto body shop do it in a way that will leave me happy will cost well over a thousand dorras. If I had the skills to color match the Silverstone Metallic, I'd do it in a heartbeat. Unfortunately Chrysler seems to have dropped the ball on the whole thing :thumbdown:

Very nice build. Im liking a lot of these TJ builds on here. A lot of them end up in people buying another TJ. lol If you dont mind me asking, How much did you pick up the second TJ you just bought for? Keep up the good work.
Thanks. I never actually got that TJ. Wanted to but the guy seemed pretty certain that it was worth what he was asking for it. I respectfully declined as I personally disagree that a vehicle that needs that much work is worth what one that needs no work at all is worth.

:cheers2:
 
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