Jeep Wrangler Forum banner

99 Sahara build.

22K views 104 replies 17 participants last post by  mrcarcrazy 
#1 ·
I just picked up a 99 Sahara. It's funny, this Jeep looks almost identical to my last one, it has one Huge improvement over the last jeep. Automatic transmission. And those seats. I've always loved these seats. This thread shall become one of greatness, or at least be moderately entertaining for the few people out there who are as touched in the head as I am.

Anywho,
:iamhappy:

Stats.
4.0
Auto
D35 Rear (I got an 8.8 with Trus system in the deal, just have to finish it and install it.)
126k miles


Current mods:
- unknown cheap 2" lift
- JCR fab DIY front bumper
- no rear bumper :p I suspect it had a nice swingout on it...and someone sold that sucker.
- Custom horn button (the clockspring is dead, this was the temp fix. I will replace the clockspring).


Plans - In no real order
- replace windshield
- Tube fenders
- replace lift kit with OME 2"
- 1" BL
- 33-35" tires
- lockers front and rear (front will be lunchbox, rear will be selectable).
- Tuffy center console - thieves are annoying
- fix random maintenance items
- install that sweet 8.8 rear end. - adj. control arms
- Monstaline the interior
- Etc

Here's some pics of it as I got it.


 
See less See more
3
#3 ·
Since I'm short on cash. It's just small stuff right now.

Paracord
His


Hers


steering wheel - not complete.



I also put the Sahara rocker covers back on. I figure they look nicer than not while I wait on rocker armor



Oh and an oil change. But you don't really want pics of the oil do you? :p


If you're still reading you get to see the coolest part. Santa came with my 8.8...it rained the night before...it was in the bed of his pickup, so a little surface rust. But I'll clean that up and get it painted. If my wife has it her way, the pass side will be pink. lol


I got it safely nestled into the garage so won't have to worry about mother nature eating any more of that sweet sweet rear end. It will be awhile before I get the 8.8 installed. I've got a bunch of parts to buy first.
 
#4 ·

Finished the wheel. Like I said this will be a very slow project. I would like to keep my nuts attached to my body.

Also ordered a clockspring....small maintenance crap that needs to be done before I get to the fun stuff. You can see the "Custom" horn button in the above image.

It's funny how you can see that I got better @ the coxcombing as I worked on the steering wheel. I may redo it someday, but it will work for now.
 
#5 ·
yesterdays mod was a floor full of rain :p I've left it window/doorless for the majority of my owning it (I figure I'll make it easy for someone to dig through it in hopes they don't destroy anything expensive (windows) to get in.

Well As is the norm in West Texas, the weather decided to do a 180, and it dumped about 1/2" of rain over the course of an hour or so. this translated to a rather moist jeep. All is well. I removed the three (yes three) round rubber plugs in my jeep. pass. side behind seat is the only section missing a drain plug (wtf, really?) I see there are metal drain plugs as well, I ordered a single oval rubber plug so I can try to knock one of the metal ones out...we will see hot that all goes. I used my shop vac to clean out the residual as my jeep hasn't been lined yet. That's scheduled to occur as soon as other things are done.
 
#6 ·
Round LED tail lights, license plate lights from superbrightleds.com (motorcycle section), and Eagle eye reverse lights from amazon.

The stupid hole saw cost as much as all the other stuff combined. it only cut one hole before failing....the second hole had to be cut with a jigsaw/dremel combo.

tape


template


HOLE-Y CRAP I just cut a big ass hole in my jeep



sombrero


I know a lot of people just drill into the plate to reuse OEM mount holes in the tub...my theory on this is if I'm not afraid to drill 2 4.5" holes in my Jeep, I'm certainly not afraid to drill a cpl small ones for the plate.

Another thing worth noting, even though it's not pictured here. Paint over the exposed metal to prevent future rust issues. all I had was red touch-up paint...so it looks like my jeep bled a little. :p
 
#7 ·
I got a little bored and decided to open up the dash to alter the blinker relay...I did that and found a snake in my dash



Crappy old snake needed to be removed due to 1/2 ass wiring like this. (and the fact it was non functional)


Dead snake


Light all finished


oh and I also reworked the tilt mechanism for the steering wheel. The cable had come apart, so I reassembled and I now have tilt.
 
#8 ·
oh and the stickers over the license plate are not for "security" (look up higher in the thread...) they are because I found the stickers in "photobucket, and I got bored..."

I have yet to install the clockspring....this weekend wasn't good for anything productive, so I'm hoping I can convince myself to work on it today.
 
#10 ·
This thing will be seriously overbuilt for my uses when I get done with it. But I'd rather have overbuilt than under built. :p

Thanks for the kind words. Previous owner is a very skilled guy, he did the 8.8 buildup, and has volunteered to assist whenever needed. I imagine the 8.8 will sit in my garage for a year or so before I can justify all the associated costs in doing that swap.
 
#12 ·
With the Truss kit installed (a lot of welding) it is now a drop-in. (well it needs a new DS)

I'll need adjustable control arms and such to dial it in. but I'm planning on going that route anyway. along with new lift, driveshaft, SYE, locker, new gears...etc...There will be a lot of buying before I'm ready to slap it all on.

It currently has the same gears as my Jeep, but those will be gutless with 35's. (currently on 31's with a ~3" spring lift of unknown origin)
 
#14 ·
This weekend was good. I fixed a previous owners "horn fix" in where he cut the wire to the horn to wire in the god awful dash mounted horn button you see in pics above. This took some careful soldering and a slight burn to the finger...Then I tackled the clockspring. Luckily this is a very simple procedure and actually took less time than fixing the horn wire.

Old and new clockspring - My advice on this mod. Buy from Amazon. This is the same part that Autozone sells, and cost 1/2 the money.


My Jeep celebrated its 127k milestone with an error free dashboard.


Next is a new windshield.
 
#15 ·
Bedlined bits and pieces.

Well it was a long hot weekend. I didn't get much done around the house...including jeep work.

I painted my mirrors, headlight rings and front bumper with rustoleum bedliner.

So far I'm pleased. One of the cans was messed up and would just spray air unless you constantly shook it. Luckily I had most of it done with the first can....stupid rattle cans.

Anyway. here's pics. The leftover paint I originally used to paint my bumper didn't look good enough, and didn't seem overly durable.

This mirrors mount was 1/2 bare metal. looked terrible. so I chipped off as much as I could then sanded and painted.




Hoping to get a windshield this week.
 
#16 ·
Windshield was replaced yesterday.




Supported a local company, and a Veteran. I felt good about that :D

Next thing on the Agenda is JK shocks, friend has a set for free, and these current shocks ride like absolute garbage. If it rides decent, that will buy me time to get other things done before I address the suspension which will be a few grand to complete.
 
#17 ·
Well I decided to go ahead and try and diagnose a clunk, and while I was at it I might as well go ahead and make sure the poor ride wasn't due to the control arms being torqued improperly.

I loosened all the control arm bolts. One was less tight than the rest. Oddly enough it was in the same location as where I had been hearing a clunk...

So I got to torquing everything down. Guess what happened?

Hint:


That bolt had apparently been over torques at some point. It snapped. So it got replaced with a 9/16" diameter grade 8 bolt.

I torqued the rest back down and took it on a test drive. Great news. The ride is vastly improved, and the clunk is gone.

Hopefully the jk shocks will go on later this week...if weather cooperates.
 
#18 ·
#22 ·
Great news. The bumper arrived. All the parts are there, now I've got to take it to a buddy's where we will weld it up.

I have to applaud JCR and KOR. I purchased through KOR, and dealt with them when the first bumper box arrived to the local UPS Facility in such bad condition they refused to deliver it. It was destroyed. Only 4 pieces were there. I notifed KOR. and JCR had another bumper on the way the same day. This one came surrounded with expanding foam packages. And it wasn't going anywhere!!!

The real test of a company is how they handle a sticky situation. JCR and KOR both did exceptionally. I applaud you both, and I'm very happy I went with yall. Thank you for the great customer service.
 
#25 ·
I'm expecting it will be a 3 day build. Hoping to get everything except the tabs welded. Then I'll do all the grinding. And once it's pretty we will add the tabs. And finally grind them down and paint. (Likely monstaliner)
 
#26 ·
The bumper still isn't completed, my welder friend left the country for a bit and other projects have taken precedent. He ran into an issue with the bumper warping a bit around the trailer hitch. He was careful to weld in short sections to keep the heat down...but apparently that's not enough with this design. He's working it over to get it perfect (slightly type A).

In other news, I flushed the coolant...this was what the distilled water that I flushed with for a few days looked like (temps dropped into the 20's so I had to get some antifreeze in there....that wasn't fun)


I went with Zerex GO5/distilled water mix


Once temps warm up I'll tear into it again and use a chemical flush, then more distilled, and just keep swapping out the distilled until it comes back clean(ish).

I used the hose first and blasted out the heater core and radiator.... Heater now functions much much better. I will get this cooling system back to a reasonable place in the coming months. Oh, I ordered a new overflow/expansion tank from partsgeek. it was ~20 bucks and will be here today. Once everything it clean(ish) I'll install it. (current one is NASTY even after an acid wash).

I'm going to start harassing my friend on the bumper and see if I can't get it finished soon as well.
 
#27 ·
The stars aligned last night and my buddy and I both had time to get to welding on that bumper. He had messaged me a few days ago that he was pissed as the bumper had a warp to it. (It didn't last time I saw it...so I was shocked). he ended up cutting it up and re welding to minimize the warp. It appears that the heat of welding the hitch in really screwed up the shape. It's fixed now.

This was my first weld.




Here's more of the attempt at minimizing warp. (as well as welding short sections and letting the piece cool between weld sessions.)
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top