Last night my search for my Jeep ended. I brought her a 97 TJ, 4.0L, 5 speed with only 95,000 miles, factory air blows cool not cold, it haas a 3 inch Rough Country body lift and is running on 33x12.5's. Today was the jeeps first day at home and what a day. The previously owner never put up the top and not only did it never get covered it has set awhile exposed to the elements. I am not sure what mold growth and fungus which was growing in the carpet or seats. It needs a lot of TLC. So the work begins.
Exterior body is great no rust and the frame is solid
As I said inside not so hot looking.
Amazingly the interior of the tub has only a little surface rust.
Time to clean it all up and spray in a Berliner, need new seats, a top, dash, center console, brakes and most likely a clutch.
Congratulations! It looks like some "elbow grease" is in order, but otherwise a good deal. Acquired my first Wrangler about 4 months ago and I am still pumped. Welcome! :welcome:
Lots of good advice here....the 3" BL is really a hazard/ makes it tippy and top heavy....the cleaning and replacement of seats will give you a good knowledge of your Jeep....IMO I would go with the Frameless NX from Bestop....I speak from my personal experience best top I have ever had for my TJ........to run those 33"s effectively you need "about" 4" of lift...so if you get 1.25 out of the Body look for 2.5" SL like OME. That is how I ended up thanks to the Forum and I am very happy with it!!
The first thing I did when I brought it Friday night was order an 1 inch body lift to replace the 3 inch. A 2.5 suspension. New pro comp 15x8 with 31x10.5 BFG's. 62mm throttle body and a throttle body spacer. Have not decided on the exhaust. Going to keep it clean and simple.
Okay it has been a long weekend. I spent Sunday searching salvage yards. Amazing out of 4 yards here in the DC/Baltimore area not a single wrangler. So no donor parts. I spent today working on the interior.
The tub has been sprayed with a spray in bed liner
The interior trim has been cleaned and sprayed with interior vinyl trim paint
4 cans of Rustoleum Metal Restorer Primer
5 cans Rustoleum Spray in Bed Liner (2 complete coats)
1 can of Dupli-Color interior vinyl paint black
1 can of Dupli-Color interior vinyl paint light gray
1 can of Dupli-Color interior vinyl paint dark gray
It took about 4 hours by myself to strip out the interior. About 1 1/2 hour of sanding, wire brush and cleaning the area with a shop vac prepping for paint. About another hour to wipe down with denatured alcohol. I spent about another hour cleaning all of the vinyl trim. Then the fun part of painting. Primed all of the metal and then stated painting. Between coats while everything was drying I worked on or painting the interior dash/vinyl trim pieces. After everything dried I started putting everything back together. Pulled the radio head unit and cut out the splices and solder/shrink wrap all of the wiring harness. So in basic terms a weekend project.
I want to get my tub done.. but live in a aprtment so it makes it a bit more complicated. .
really only way I could do it is to take passenger and back seat out and but in my place. . then drive it to a shop and drop it off.. then I run into the problem of not having transportation.. figure a shop would take days
I want to get my tub done.. but live in a aprtment so it makes it a bit more complicated. . really only way I could do it is to take passenger and back seat out and but in my place. . then drive it to a shop and drop it off.. then I run into the problem of not having transportation.. figure a shop would take days
I live in a condo I talked a friend in to letting me use his drive way for the Labor Day Weekend. It is really simple a cheap as heck if you do it yourself. Shops in the area I live take about a week and charge about 800. To just do the tub not including any of the interior trim.
Today started by replacing the master cylinder and slave cylinder. Trying to resolve the problem of after driving for about 35 to 45 minutes the clutch goes to just grabbing. My guess since the hydraulic fluid appeared as if it had cotton floating in it and it was the same color brown as engine oil that when the previous owner replaced the clutch about a year ago. The garage he took it to did not replace the master cylinder, slave cylinder, nor changed the fluid. Got everything today, started filling the reservoir and the master cylinder was leaking where the hydraulic line connects. Okay, time to take it all apart and figure out where the break down is. I must say my YJ did not use the stupid little push pins and actually used a compression fittings. Can not say how much I dislike how the hydraulic line connects to the master and slave cylinder. Going to try to put it back together tomorrow and if not just order a whole new pre-assembled master, hydraulic line and slave cylinder.
Spent the day taking the clutch and master cylinder back out. Have I said I hate those stupid little pins you have to hammer out. Took everything apart and steel wooled and cleaned the h-e-double toothpick out of the clutch hydraulic line, convinced the guy at the parts store to give me new rubber washers and bought some stainless steel 1/8 cotter pins. Filled the system up with High Temperature Dot 3 Full Synthetic After getting everything back together and recruiting my 14 your old son to help the clutch system has finally been bled. I want with a Perfection clutch Master and Slave Cylinder from Advanced Auto, price was reasonable and most importantly they both are made out of metal, so no stripping the plastic on the bleeder valve. I am still thinking of some way to convert this push pin system to a compression fitting. If any one has done it in the past I would appreciate any tips. After getting everything back together I soaked the Jeep down with simple green and power washed all of the crud from it getting it ready for next week. Busting out the buffer.
The TJ is up and running, still have a few items left before it becomes a daily driver. The clutch is now responding the way it should. However, I have noticed a hesitation at speed and the Jeep feels like it is bogging down in 1st on an incline. So off to NAPA to pickup a cap, rotor, wires, plugs, and a new coil. I good tune up should clear up this concern.
Maybe the mods could move this to the Build section for you so you can show off even more! It looks great dude!
Edit: just realized it's already there lol
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