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Tom95YJ's "The Smurf" Build

86K views 521 replies 64 participants last post by  Tom95YJ 
#1 ·
Ok guys I am starting a build thread for my 89 islander edition Dubbed The Smurf the name stems from an obvious resemblance to a smurf ! This is my 6th Jeep and 2nd YJ , I have been around the block a few times so I am not new to this Obsession as my wife would say.

Heres the back story with a little of idea of how it will be morphing over the next little bit of time :


Last May, I had traded my Auto-X Project/DD Miata for a Pretty clean '89 Wrangler Islander . After looking for someone to trade for almost 2 years I found someone was willing to trade.

Specs on the YJ :

1989 Islander Edition (Pacfic Blue A.K.A. Smurf Blue )
4.2Lw/ Ba10 (works for now)
Hardtop with Full steel doors
208,000 miles
RUST FREE minus the P/S front fender

The Bad : Jeep would not idle on its own, and front axle would not engage in 4 wheel drive. Minor repairs that would scare away most who are not too knowledge able with Jeeps .

My Plan for this Jeep is to keep it simple, and a Budget friendly since it will be DD/ Medium Duty trail rig I had several thousand in my 95 YJ and I was given a Ramen Noodle/ Steel Reserve budget with this one since I am now a Home Owner, Have 2 Kids , and I make about 1/2 as much as I used to 7 years ago. My 95 was build on a Filet Mignon and Topshelf Bourbon Budget.


Mods I intend on doing will be :

4" Lift
TJ Flares
PSC Rear 1/4 gaurds & Sliders
4:10 gears (4banger Axles at first 8.8 rear later on)
F/R Lockers (Spartans)
SYE w/ XJ shaft
TJ Grizzly wheels
Bedlined Interior
Front and rear Bumpers (2x4 boxed steel front stubby with Swing out carrier rear)
8000# winch
Bestop Supertop w 2 piece soft doors

Here are some pics from the first day once I got home with it.



 
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#63 ·
Man this thing is looking good so far. Can't wait to see how good it's going to look when it's finished! On a side note, I remember trying to break the spring bolts free on my YJ. Tried everything, ended up grinding the bolts in the end. What a hassle!
 
#82 ·
Just a thought here. When I put in my lift kit the front spring bolts came out no problem but I had trouble with both rear spring bolts. I took my cutoff tool and put a good sized cut in the bolt nuts almost cutting them in half from the opening to opening if that make sense. It seemed to relieve the torque and I was able to wrench them off after that. Hope this helps Gunny Out!!
 
#85 · (Edited)
Well the lift is finally on guys , sofar here is my only gripe that I have. All of the u bolts were the same size. So you have to hammer 2 on the front on then squeeze the hell out of them to get them onto the ubolt plate As far as ride quality is concerned it actually rides better then stock almost TJ like. The spring rate is really nice. It ride just as nice as my XJ with Re springs and bilstein shocks. It's soft and smooth on the road, over rough bumpy roads roads it's smooth and not that rough for a leaf sprung vehicle. I will give a offroad review on Sunday. It took is about 4 hours mainly because we were bull****ting with my buddy's coworkers and killed a bottle of crown if we stuck to working it would have taken 2 hours lol.
 
#86 ·
Here are some pictures of it in the light, I did measure from ground to bottom of the tub and got 6.25" of lift after taking in consideration the height difference of 235/75/15 to 33's once it settles we will see how tall it will actually sit. I am really anxious to see how it performs tomorrow offroad.



 
#88 ·
looks great :) I really need a soft top

On mine, my mech buddy needed to cut the frame bolts and rear track bar bolts as the wouldn't budge even with the air tools
 
#91 · (Edited)
They sent me a new main skin for free, I was told I can keep the old one if they don't include a return shipping label which they never did. So it's still on the YJ. I glued the small hole shit and I'll keep the new skin for when I need a new top I'll just buy windows


Access to a shop is great. At times I miss the times I worked there cause I had access 24-7 as long as I asked the owner if I could work on my stuff after hours since I had keys and an alarm code.
 
#92 · (Edited)
Here are some pics, and videos from yesterday. Nextime I wont take my son so I can really test it out on harder lines and trails for some reason he was freaking out all day and he usually doesn't freak out while wheeling. I did not get it to fully flex out the bowl that you can usually flex everything out it was filled in by BLM this winter while they were on the trail drilling for core samples, I also had a mechanical problem . Which was the Distributor bolt had backed out causing the distributer to rotate on its own so my timing was all over the place yesterday so I was missing and running like complete shit while underload. I also need to replace the trans stabilizer stud and tranny mount since they were bouncing around like crazy


FILE0019 - YouTube

5mile pass - YouTube

YJ 5Mile Pass - YouTube
















 
#94 ·
I was watching Video #2 - then switched over to Video #1 - I can't wait to go out with ya'll!!! No doubt unless you have been there numerous times it would be easy to get lost and not take the correct fork in the road.

However, I must say it was painful to hear your engine during the video. I am surprised you didn't just clunk out totally based on the sounds I was hearing.

Front bumper/winch - ordered!
Next month ordering a recovery kit

Then I should be able to go out with ya'll. Just trying to get stocked up on the bare necessities first. Of course got to install quite a number of parts first before I am ready. The boxes are lining up in the spare bedroom at the moment.
 
#95 ·
I was watching Video #2 - then switched over to Video #1 - I can't wait to go out with ya'll!!! No doubt unless you have been there numerous times it would be easy to get lost and not take the correct fork in the road. However, I must say it was painful to hear your engine during the video. I am surprised you didn't just clunk out totally based on the sounds I was hearing. Front bumper/winch - ordered! Next month ordering a recovery kit Then I should be able to go out with ya'll. Just trying to get stocked up on the bare necessities first. Of course got to install quite a number of parts first before I am ready. The boxes are lining up in the spare bedroom at the moment.
Most of the shuddering noise was my tranny jumping around due to a bad torque arm stabilizer stud And lack of upper bushing on it. Then the ringing was the trackbar where it was cut off and just rattling against the mount.

Asfar as the trails there. Most of the forks all lead to the same place. Some will just put you about 2-3 miles down the road when leaving if you take the wrong ones.
 
#96 · (Edited)
On Saturday I took the YJ out for test #2 which went extremely well. Since the jeep was running decent.



Today I received my Hei distributor in the mall from CRT performance and it is a really nice piece of jewelry, I also ordered a weber carb and adjustable fpr. For the YJ once it comes in I will be installing both the distributor and carb and using my buddy's shop and state emissions machine to tune the carb.
 
#103 ·
That should liven up the 258 a bit. Side note i swear i saw your XJ today at old ward..
I hope to have it on there in the next few weeks.

As far as my xj. It was with me at work today I'm not too amused by old ward trail or the B so I rarely go there
 
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