[19OlllllllO41]

This thread will detail the "revival" of my 1993 YJ I call "Betty White" (4cyl, 5spd, 93,500 miles). Shes old, dirty, and rusty....BUT with a whole lot of time & effort and a whole bunch of new parts, she should be looking good and solid once again. I have brought various Jeeps back to life over the years but for whatever reason I had never documented them with too many pictures. For this rebuild, I plan to take tons of pics and have some good before and after shots.

This build will not be anything too wild or radical as some of the builds on JF are, but it will be done with quality parts with the end goal of becoming a nice weekend warrior and trail Jeep. I have collected and stockpiled a lot of parts over this past winter with the goal of getting this Jeep driving by the end of the Summer (it hasn't run since last August when I bought it, parked it, and began taking it apart in my free time). It won't be the fastest build because of time/$$ restraints, but it will be fun none the less!

Current parts in the garage being/waiting to be installed (Stage 1):

2.5in OME Leaf Springs (36R's on all 4 corners)
BDS Shocks & Steering Stabilizer
M.O.R.E 5/8 Greasable Boomerangs, Daystar Greasable Main Eye Bushings
Axle Bump Stops
1in Prothane BL
1in Brown Dog MML (as well as Brown Dog engine brackets and cradle)
Warn Gas Tank Skid
Kilby Front and Rear Bumpers
MCE Flatty Fenders
Superwinch EPi9.0s
Hella 500FF's (The $10 Wal-Mart deal!!)
Chassis Saver for frame/undercoating
Monstaliner for tub
245/75R16 MT/R's on Moabs


Stage 2 parts/projects:
33'' Tires
8.8 and re-gear to 4.88's
Lockers
Roll Cage


Here is what she looked like the day I bought her home:

 

[19OlllllllO41]

A sneak peek of some of the new parts waiting to be installed..... :drool::drool::drool:

 

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Some of the initial interior disassembly and "stripping down"....

 

[19OlllllllO41]

Leaking radiator and crumbling fins after doing some power washing meant getting side tracked from the interior removal to install a new radiator....

 

[19OlllllllO41]

Forgive me for jumping around a bit, but here are some pics of sanding down, priming and painting the only small spots of rust on the body before they got any worse...

 

[19OlllllllO41]

Beginning of underbody work. You can see "before" pictures of the rear underside, and the progress of removing the gas tank and rear suspension. Despite the heavy coating of surface rust in spots, the frame is solid and just needed a good wire brushing and some thick coats of paint!

 

[19OlllllllO41]

Suspension/gas tank removal continued.......

 

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Prep done, beginning Chassis Saver application....

 

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A few more Chassis Saver application pix....

 

[19OlllllllO41]

Well the plan today was to install the new rear suspension.... unfortunately when laying out all of the parts, I noticed that I was missing some bushing sleeves and had been sent the wrong size bushings for the OME springs... after a quick call to MORE, new parts are being shipped and the suspension work will continue in a few days. So in the mean time I decided to install the Kilby rear bumper since it needs to be installed before I put the gas tank back in. I have used Kilby bumpers and skids on past Jeeps, and can't say enough about their quality and durability(These bumpers and skids were purchased a while back when Brad still owned the company though...cant say I know anything about their current quality with the new owner). It was a simple install with only 2 holes to drill, and then 10 bolts to install. Here are some pictures of the install....

 

[19OlllllllO41]

Well next up was the Prothane 1in Body Lift. Over all the install was easy (well breaking all of the old mount bolts loose last Fall took a lot of time and patience, but since it has been so long since I've done that I've blocked it out of my memory!), it just ended up being time consuming for me because I removed half the mounts then sanded, primed, and painted everything in the area, then put the new pucks in, and repeated on the other side. So waiting for paint to dry makes a hour job turn into a 2 day job! But in the end I am very happy with the kit and the outcome. I like this kit because unlike the Daystar kit, you don't have to reuse ANYTHING, it comes complete with new sleeves and all other hardware.

 

[Dino03TJ]

doing a great job so far!

 

[19OlllllllO41]

The missing bushings and sleeves were finally delivered yesterday, so that meant I could get to work on putting the new OME rear springs on. Leaf spring installation is very simple, aside from wrestling the differential a bit, but a good floor jack and tall jackstands makes it a piece of cake. The only "issue" that I had during the install had to do with the MORE bushings and sleeves. It seems that the OME leaf is not 2 1/2in wide like the stock springs, they are actually like 2 1/4in wide. So this posed a problem because the bushings would not "seat" all the way against the side of the spring (see pic below) because they were 1/4in too wide. To fix this I cut about a 1/4in off of one of the bushings and the steel sleeve, this made the bushings and sleeves fit properly. I had called MORE and they recommended I cut the bushing and sleeve down a bit as well. They said they have never heard of this issue before, weird.

 

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A few more rear suspension pics, and the "new rear stance" with tires on the ground!! Can't wait to get the front done to level her out! And yes, don't worry, I will cut off the extra length on the u-bolts tomorrow!

 

[19OlllllllO41]

Today it was on to the front suspension. I had previously removed the sway bar and track bar, so today it was the removal of the springs, shackles, shocks, steering stabilizer and bump stops. Some of the bolts zipped off with an impact, some had to be cut with a sawzall or grinder. But now she is close to being ready for shiny new front suspension parts once I get a coat of paint on everything!

 

[Dudeadam]

Looking good!

 

[honda250ex]

Looking really good man, where did you pick up that undercoating?

 

[19OlllllllO41]

Looking really good man, where did you pick up that undercoating?

Thanks for the compliments guys!

As for the undercoating, it is called "Chassis Saver". I am very happy with it so far, it seems to be super tough and goes on easy and covers well. I bought it from "magnetman" who is a vendor for it here on JF. They (magnet paints) are also the makers of "Monstaliner" which I will be putting in my YJ's tub in a few weeks. Here is a link to the Chassis Saver thread.....

http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f43/...-truck-auto-underbody-coating-thread-1132434/

Any other questions let me know!

 

[19OlllllllO41]

No new work done today, but the big brown truck delivered some stuff!!! Bestop seat covers, Lubelocker gaskets, and a new head unit.

 

[RJaco]

I have a spot of rust about like yours and someone let the hood blow up against the window. It has a little bare metal showing and thought I might touch that up, too. I was just afraid I would make it look worse.