98 Jeep ZJ "SHTFV"

[jaydubya2003]

I've been working on reading this build from the first page to the last for few weeks now. With work, a baby on the way, and many other changes regular life has in store I have taken a little time every week to read some more. I've lurked here for a bit, gathering information and admiring builds and this one stands out of the pack (I might be biased towards the ZJ...). My wife and I had a 1996 Jeep ZJ Limited with the upcountry and towing packages. We loved it, but we we're forced to sell when bills came due without the money to pay them. The wife even shed a tear or two (which is saying a lot for someone that could care less about my automotive hobby). Now that we're in a better position we've purchased a vehicle for the family needs (2006 Rav4 Sport), and I've gained a company vehicle that provides my transportation for work. Having those bases covered I started thinking about my next vehicle purchase. I wanted room for myself, my wife, our soon to be born son Jaxon, and our two dogs. Your build thread has helped me to come back to the rig that I've regretted selling ever since...the Jeep ZJ. Seeing what you're able to do with yours is amazing!

With the space needs we will have I'm going to go straight for the "adventure trailer" and will incorporate many of the accessories into that, but this will come with time.

You're work is second to none, your ZJ is well thought out and executed, and your welcoming nature is an asset for the rest of us. Thank you for sharing your build with us.

 

[96_Grand]

The welding process on the rear bumper was pretty straight forward. I followed the same theory as when I welded the front bumper by stitching a few inches from opposite ends of the bumper as I went. The only problem with doing this is the starts and stops . Generally speaking you will end up with high spots at all of your starts and stops which means you have to do the grinding process very carefully as to avoid the whoopty doo effect. I also left the bar clamped to the bumper as long as possible to keep warping to a minimum

The result was a bumper that stayed fairly square and where it was meant to be

This was a ton of welding. My levis had a hole in the knee, and I ended up with a nasty burn on it The bumper turned out ok though! i decided to do a little grinding with the bumper ttached to the vehicle, as it is much easier to apply pressure when it is solid mounted

Sometimes I find low spots and have to add a tack weld here and there to fill it. This is a PITA because if I do not grind it correctly, I make a mess of the area around it. I must also do this in the early stages of the grinding, otherwise I will ruin the final finish for sure!

The next stage is to remove the bumper and take it to the workbench.

While clamped to the bench, I have to weld the inside of the bumper and add the frontside and lower finishing plates. This consisted of 1.5" X.188 flat bar

It is always tricky installing these, as the angles are hard to find. I use clamps to make sure the plate I am welding it to isn't bowed after it was previously welded

The end result is much cleaner and stronger. You would be amazed at how much flex is removed with the small plates on a new plane

It is also my last chance to correct any warping by pre-loading the plates pre-welding

And now back to the least fun 4 hours to spend, the grinding process. I set up a few pallets outside the garage and break out the 7" disc sander, the 4" makita and the orbital DA

The results are well worth it though. I love it when you can't see where there were any seams!

Next on the list is the tire carrier!

Why isn't there a company funding this? Do you make bumpers upon request?

 

[piratexpress1369a]

i like the design ..do you have a template for it ?

 

[jeepin_idaho]

Your build is AMAZING! I've just gone through all 34 pages and I'm inspired. Great work!

 

[97ZJguy]

Did you have any driveline issues with the 4.5" Rubicon Express kit?

 

[Recce01]

Hey man nice to c u on here. Its been awhile. The zj s lookin good man. Mines kinda slowed in progress. She got used alot this past summer and fall. I also spent alot of time on my new M416 trailer. I have some plans for mine come spring. Cant wait.

Now it has really been a while! I plan to explore the forum a bit when more time presents iteslf, I'll have to see if you posted anything on your M416 trailer, that is on the list of items for me too some day! Hope you are well man!

waiting patiently for updates

I hope you had some serious stock of coffee

it took me some time to get caught up on this .. what a read .some cool ideas for sure ..i will be watching for sure

Well, sorry it took so long, but updates are ready to be posted!

This is one awesome rig!!! I love it :sombrero:

Thank you!

awesome build, the ingenuity in that rear kitchen setup is insane! props!

I stole that idea fair and square, We absolutely love it. Thank you!

I have seen a LOT of ZJ builds, and built a few myself. VERY impressive build, you should certainly be proud of what you've done. My ZJ currently is on long arms and 35's, and is used for a combination of some harder rock crawling and towing an M416 for the expedition type stuff. I am on the lookout for another ZJ as my unibody is pretty much shot. Even with the lighter wheeling this is something that will show up eventually, I think Ted Z pointed out some of the rear bumper issues earlier in this thread. Also, another area of issue to keep an eye on is your short arm suspension system. The mounts are notorious for peeling off of the unibody, resulting in a very undesirable scenario! If you haven't already, I would start looking into long arm systems. Yes they absolutely perform better and are designed a bit more for the more technical trails, but the main reason I upgraded to long arms was dependability and not having to worry about my control arms mounting to the weak unibody. My preference is Clayton's long arms, and they include a rail that runs between the front and rear mounting points to distribute the load across the unibody. On my next ZJ, I will use Clayton's again, but strengthen the unibody from bumper to bumper to hopefully avoid this issue.

And I know it has been brought before as well, but you really need to make it to Grand Slam West! Next year will be the 18th year we've had the event. There is a lot of the harder trails offered, but still plenty that you would feel more than comfortable taking your ZJ on.

Dave, thank you for the kind words. I hear ya on the unibody issues. Mine has seen better days for sure. I just have too damn much invested to give up now lol. A long arm suspension is working its way to the top of the list day by day! One day I'll get to a ZJ specific event.

I've been working on reading this build from the first page to the last for few weeks now. With work, a baby on the way, and many other changes regular life has in store I have taken a little time every week to read some more. I've lurked here for a bit, gathering information and admiring builds and this one stands out of the pack (I might be biased towards the ZJ...). My wife and I had a 1996 Jeep ZJ Limited with the upcountry and towing packages. We loved it, but we we're forced to sell when bills came due without the money to pay them. The wife even shed a tear or two (which is saying a lot for someone that could care less about my automotive hobby). Now that we're in a better position we've purchased a vehicle for the family needs (2006 Rav4 Sport), and I've gained a company vehicle that provides my transportation for work. Having those bases covered I started thinking about my next vehicle purchase. I wanted room for myself, my wife, our soon to be born son Jaxon, and our two dogs. Your build thread has helped me to come back to the rig that I've regretted selling ever since...the Jeep ZJ. Seeing what you're able to do with yours is amazing!

With the space needs we will have I'm going to go straight for the "adventure trailer" and will incorporate many of the accessories into that, but this will come with time.

You're work is second to none, your ZJ is well thought out and executed, and your welcoming nature is an asset for the rest of us. Thank you for sharing your build with us.

Thank you very very much! The trailer is quickly becoming the best way to do it with a ZJ in my opinion, especially if you want all the comforts. I hope you, the wife, new kiddo and pups are doing well. Your words mean a lot man, thank you!

Why isn't there a company funding this? Do you make bumpers upon request?

I have actually been approached, but haven't made any deals per say. I just figured someone would copy it and sell it under their name if they thought it cool enough. Kinda how the industry works these days hahahah. I do not have the time to do bumpers for people. I am much more of a prototyping kinda guy. I am not a fan of repetition. Thank you very much for the interest though!

i like the design ..do you have a template for it ?

Thank you! I do have templates, even files and plates available at a LaserNut, but they were just templates and needed some massaging to fit correctly.

Your build is AMAZING! I've just gone through all 34 pages and I'm inspired. Great work!

Thank you very much!

Did you have any driveline issues with the 4.5" Rubicon Express kit?

I had a small vibration until I placed a .750 spacer under the crossmember.

I feel a little funny quoting and responding to all of these this far down the road. I guess I felt it best before the resurrection happens

 

[Recce01]

The last year and a half plus...

I am finally back on the forum. The last few years have been a bit of a whirlwind for myself and the family. A lot has happened since we last chatted, most of which pretty good, and a little bit of it, downright crappy. Just to get the crappy out of the way, I broke my ankle/leg on new years eve this last year, put me down for some months and really rekindled my excitement for getting outside. Being stuck to the couch is the absolute worst case scenario for me. How did it happen? We were traveling to the top of Palomar mountain to enjoy the snow with some friends in our ZJ when we stopped to help someone get their Toyota out of the ditch. My buddy strapped him up and yanked him out with his LJ. I was simply walking back to my jeep when I slipped and fell. My foot slid into a hole and my leg kept going, not bueno at all. After I was done screaming like a little girl, all of the guys there carried me to my ZJs passenger seat where my wife then drove me to the hospital to have my leg/foot realigned. She was not at all pleased with the conditions on the mountain, but she pulled it off! So ya, not even a good story, just me admitting that I cant walk on slippery stuff.


So where is the ZJ now? Well you probably wouldn't believe me, but I have been slowly working on it all along. I didn't come on the forum too much because it sort of depressed me. There was so much I wanted to do, but didn't have the resources to do it, to include time. I made some big decisions, and had to pinch pennies for a very long time to tackle the new updates to the SHTFV. One of the last trips we took a few years ago resulted in the decision that we needed a new engine. There was a pretty significant amount of moisture coming out of the exhaust even after traveling for 6 hours straight. We were also experiencing some overheating issues. A quick call to a buddy, and it was decided that we had head gasket issues, or the all too common cracked heads. Either way the engine was coming out....


I managed to con an old friend into helping me tackle this project at his shop SubiWorks in Murrieta California. When I say help me, I mean he does the work and I kinda just stand there and hand him tools. Pretty much anything forward of the firewall is none of my business, or at least I am very intimidated by it anyway.


Before tearing the motor out, I managed to score another 5.2L engine and transmission on Craigslist for $400. I was very pleased with myself until we tore it down and realized that this motor also had cracked heads. Thankfully I was able to sell the trans and a few more things I had to buy new heads for it. In the end it would have been cheaper to just rebuild the one I had, but I was assured the motor I had bought had 60K on it, I even saw the cluster, so I felt fairly confident. Either way, it wasn't worth risking anything so we decided to do it right.


This scares the crap out of me......

 

[jeepdreamer]

Craigslist motor, not class... stupid spell check. :/

 

[jeepdreamer]

Welcome back sir! Seems we travel in similar jeep lanes. My xj cracked it's head. Scored a class motor and have been putting mine all back together for the last couple months.
Since your back...I have a question for you about your drawer system. I'm almost ready to begin mine and wonder if you had to do it all over again. ..would you still have the two drawers that pull out or one full width one? Are you happy with the drawer/pelican arrangement or all drawers?
Again, welcome back and good to hear your healing up.

 

[Recce01]

My man OP helping to extract the OG engine.

While this was going on, I was over at Millenium Motorsports in Temecula seeing about some new heads...

Have I mentioned that Flickr screwed everything up, now I have to do 4 extra steps to get the image url, ****** Flickr?

He was going to do the long block for us, and let us (OP - Subiworks) do the assembly and install. His machining work is top spec, he used to do all of our rally car stuff back in the day......

He had my other donor motor all torn down

Then I picked up a box of goodies, to include every gasket, new water pump and a host of other items. I now know that whatever you budget for a motor, just add about $700 to that for all the stuff you will need that you don't know about yet! This is from one of the many trips to the local auto parts store......

I have a pretty good collection of these.....

When I returned to SubiWorks, this is what I saw.....

I don't know about you guys, but that sight scared the crap out of me. I cant even imagine being able to reassemble all of that. Op is a damn proper mechanic though, he basically said that everything only fits one way, so do one thing at a time and before you know it, you will have it all back together. Not sure I was buying that to be honest... But onward and upward Time to clean everything to be reused.....

 

[Recce01]

Welcome back sir! Seems we travel in similar jeep lanes. My xj cracked it's head. Scored a class motor and have been putting mine all back together for the last couple months.
Since your back...I have a question for you about your drawer system. I'm almost ready to begin mine and wonder if you had to do it all over again. ..would you still have the two drawers that pull out or one full width one? Are you happy with the drawer/pelican arrangement or all drawers?
Again, welcome back and good to hear your healing up.

Thank you sir! Yes, I am still all about the drawer config. and pelican arrangement. To be honest, it may be better to consider alternate materials, as I have approx. 12K miles on the jeep with the drawers and the hinges tend to loosen from the wood over time. The wood itself seems to have "stretched" a little due to the harsh roads we frequent. Not even sure of a proper alternative. I can tell you that everything functions almost as good as original even with the somewhat frequent tightening of screws.

 

[Mekcanix]

I am so glad to see your back, your build has been very inspiring. I will admit that I was getting out of the jeep thing, but one saturday about a month ago I went through your build again for the fist time in many months, and it helped rekindle my excitement for my xj. I will be copying some of your work. I would be very interested in the files on the bumpers if possible. Again thanks for putting up such a detailed build its a insperation

 

[Ben Holeton]

An engine rebuild is in my future, too. I have a friend who is awesome with this stuff. Though what may happen is just order a blueprint 5.2.

 

[Recce01]

I am so glad to see your back, your build has been very inspiring. I will admit that I was getting out of the jeep thing, but one saturday about a month ago I went through your build again for the fist time in many months, and it helped rekindle my excitement for my xj. I will be copying some of your work. I would be very interested in the files on the bumpers if possible. Again thanks for putting up such a detailed build its a insperation

Thank you Mekcanix! By all means possible, copy whatever you like! So, How close is an XJ to the ZJ in the front end? I am thinking the bumper wont fit at all? Don't give up..... ever

An engine rebuild is in my future, too. I have a friend who is awesome with this stuff. Though what may happen is just order a blueprint 5.2.

Hi Ben, The engine situation is never a fun one. If you have the chance, may as well do some upgrades, it is all the same amount of work. I wish I would have!

 

[Recce01]

Engine swap continued....

I also had to address the cooling system. Along with a new water pump, I purchased an aluminum Radiator from Griffin, water lines and thermostat. I was hoping to see it run just a little cooler than the standard 210.

I am very pleased with the quality of this radiator, makes me want to practice welding aluminum.

So, Flickr is giving me the bad panda message again. I can not access my photos!!!! Not a fan of Murphy and his dumb law hahaha. I finally get time to type .......