Project Brooke: 1999 XJ

[bldeagle10]

lol I love the Chili Pepper Red, going to be expensive when I repaint it though, my goal is once I am in the Air Force, build a Factory Five GTM, then once that is done start driving that, and "restore" the jeep... but that is a few years away. thank you for the compliment, and I do like the rack as well. it is already getting put to use more than I thought it would!

 

[Black Dog]

I'm sorry for pooping on your dreams, but military jobs don't pay much especially when you're the FNG. I've had a few friends think they could afford the snazzy cars or big trucks or speed bikes only to have them repossessed when they couldn't make their monthly payments. Even though you'll have all your room and board and stuff paid by the air force doesn't mean you won't have any other expenses, so be sure to do the math before you sign the dotted line on your sporty car.

 

[bldeagle10]

I'm sorry for pooping on your dreams, but military jobs don't pay much especially when you're the FNG. I've had a few friends think they could afford the snazzy cars or big trucks or speed bikes only to have them repossessed when they couldn't make their monthly payments. Even though you'll have all your room and board and stuff paid by the air force doesn't mean you won't have any other expenses, so be sure to do the math before you sign the dotted line on your sporty car.

I have been thinking about joining the military since I was about 10 years old, I know to start I won't be making much at all, and I have about 8 grand of college debt to pay off, but I have done the numbers multiple times and if I live conservatively for a few years more I can afford it. the kit is only 20k need a donor C5 vette which are going for maybe 6-10k, strip what I need, sell the rest and make a few bucks back. after that the car is driveable and slowly I can start changing things...

I also do plan on making the military my career so I will be doing it for the next 25 years hopefully, I do want to be an officer so I will be getting my bachelors and that more than doubles the pay at every rank (rank on the E and O scale i.e. E-1, E-2, O-1, O-2) my life plan is to make it to O-6 at the most, O-4 at the minimum which would put me at major, lt. col, or col. and they make decent money.. 5,500 a month most I would make is 9770.... the GTM is really my only "big" dream other than a house. and its only going to cost maybe 50 grand total. no payments, most of it is over time. i do want a bike for better MPG but that I can get really cheap, I have my Jeep, and Suburban..so I'm set, after the GTM its all about staying conservative and saving for retirement and my house. It will be tough work, but the hopes of doing this is all I really have left to look forward to, and I will do anything and everything to get where I'm going.

 

[bldeagle10]

gearing question, with 3-3.5" of lift I want to run 31" tires, my gearing is at 3.55 which is stock, on 225/75R16 which are slightly above stock (stock is like 215) should I regear to 3.73 or 4.10? I was thinking 3.73 then I thought, well I may be towing alot in the future and with added weight from expo gear on trips, towing a 16 foot trailer on occasion then an m416 when I have the cash, maybe I should do 4.10, what do yal think?

anything?

in addition, has anyone heard or done research on swapping C9.25" rear and front axles into an XJ? just wondering if it would swap over only having to modify mounts and if they are stronger axles worth putting in. I just need mildly strong axles.

 

[bldeagle10]

going to do a budget 3" boost sometime soon, leafs are shot, coils are shot, front struts are shot, rear air shocks have a slow leak. going to do a bastard pack, with either s10 main leaf or a set of xj leafs, regardless, I want all new leaf packs and coils since they are saggy anyways. threw the flares back on as well. also, wonder if it should be spelled flairs, since they add flair to the fenders lol...

 

[Harmgrissom]

I'm loving that roof rack - complete roof coverage! Any info on maker?

 

[bldeagle10]

Olympic 4x4's top hat rack for XJ's 600 brand new, got mine off a NAXJA member for 300, it is a nice rack, but a major pain in the ******** to install. things don't like to line up properly so I had to make it fit, but now that it's all together it is a great rack.

 

[bldeagle10]

just finished running a leak down test, zero compression in cylinder 1, cylinder 5 was in the yellow didnt really look what psi it was at, it was almost in the red. didn't bother testing the rest... dad said, well...drive it till you can afford a rebuild...no idea how long that will be...

pretty surprising though, I thought my jeep had some balls, not bad for a completely worn out 330,000 mile hunk of crap...

 

[reece146]

If it's reading zero and low and the Jeep seems to move along well enough I'm wondering if you got incorrect readings.

If you had a dead cylinder you'd know it without the test.

And getting a reading of zero is highly unlikely otherwise unless your valves are stuck open or something. Again, you'd know that long before putting the gauge to the engine.

I'd do a re-test... possibly get a different compression gauge just to be certain.

 

[bldeagle10]

here's the deal, I heard I needed to test it when I had the miss fire issue. so I reproduced the miss and tested it, I realized that this is probably causing the valves to not seat properly, so later I am going to test cyl 1 again, my dad said cyl 5 was reading 27, and they just did a test on one of their race car motors (stock car K&N Cup) and it was reading 15 and was fine. so I'm guessing cyl 5 was fine. so if I test it when it is running fine, and it reads that it has compression, I am going to do my best to keep it running smooth with no miss fires (means I really have to keep my foot out of it and change my driving style completely, should be fun to learn really) this will give me the confidence to drive it till I have the money to rebuild...
here is a link to the trouble shooting thread so you guys can get an idea as to what the motor is doing and what we have discussed to try and diagnose thus far...
http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f11/help-diagnosing-rough-idle-should-fun-1194211/

I think this was stated in my last post in that thread but, for those that don't care to read through that my plan is:
save up, buy a junk yard motor with the same casting codes, immediately pull the head. it will be thermal baked and magnafluxed to check for cracks, resurfaced, new valves, valve job, valve springs, and all that hard ware, roller rockers, the springs will probably be stiffer a bit, I will hand port and polish the head, it will be built for a more performance application.. I will pull my intake one weekend and port match, as well as replacing the header and making sure that is matched up, then swap that head for my current head.

my current head will be set aside in storage.

the JY block will be torn down, sell off what I can to other Jeep owners. of course, I am never the type to screw someone over so I will only sell what is in decent shape after I clean it up really good and possibly even have the crank micro polished, rods thermal baked and shot peened to relieve stress etc. (I like going out of my way to make sure I am really helping someone/ giving out a really good product) the block will be baked, decked .010"-.020" if needed potentially bored out a very slight bit, it will get a 4.2l (258cid?) crank and rods, the crank will be ground .010" maybe, same treatment as the parts I sold, micro polished (happens when it is ground) baked, shot peen etc. higher compression hyper eutectic pistons, head and block will be painted with high heat ceramic paint, same color as the intake so an aluminum grayish... basically build a stroker, and do it right. and clean everything up.

once all this is done, I will rebuild the original motor, keeping it a 4.0l, but it will be completely freshened up over time. then stored in a crate till/if I ever need it...this is the plan anyways...

 

[Black Dog]

The Mexican pronunciation of Jeep is Heap (not really), I'm starting to learn that myself. When I bought mine in 2005 I promised myself I would drive it into the ground and I'm starting to feel gravel kicking up and hitting my butt, so the time is close. No matter what, I'm getting a truck (a Toyota Tundra to be exact), but I'm torn between junking out the jeep or keeping it and making it a project. Kinda sounds like you are in the same boat as me! If I keep it I'm doing a 4.6 stroker and 6 speed and NP241OR with 32s and 4.10s or 4.56s (4.10 better highway, 4.56 better offroad, haven't decided what to do yet, probably the former) which would be a lot of fun, but doing that with a couple hundred bucks a month finance payments will hurt. Your jeep has a butt load of miles on it so it is high time to give it a refurb.

 

[bldeagle10]

most, and I mean MOST of the suspension is original from 99, my dad really only took care of the motor. I will never get rid of this Jeep, it is my first car, and like I've said has been in my life since I was 8 years old. it holds a lot of memories. if you junk yours out, I'd be interested in your motor
I want a 4.7l, but really anything I build will be decent, better than running on 5 cylinders
later on down the line when I am making money, for sure it won't be my DD, it will be my baby and I am doing a ground up resto on it.
I still can't decide with gearing. I want 31's, so I am thinking 3.73 or 4.10, 3.73 would be good all around, but if I am going to be towing an expo rig around it might be best to hop up to 4.10's the weight of a loaded rig and expo trailer will take its toll. I plan on building an aluminum replica m416.

 

[bldeagle10]

took my muffler off today. just because I needed a change, when I go to put it back on I am going to need to buy new exhaust clamps, these are all **************** and wont come loose. my excuse was that there was a clunking noise and I looked and it was hitting the drive shaft because the bushing on the hanger was rotted away. but I really just did it because I wanted to hear what it sounded like.. it is LOUD. especially when it is cold.. sounds like a mini cummins though

 

[Black Dog]

For 31s you will probably be happiest with 4.10 gears. That will get your speedo back to close enough and will keep your power and stuff from being embarrassing.

 

[bldeagle10]

thank you sir, that is what I have been thinking.

not sure if I posted this but my dad offered that if I paint his house and garage (with a spray gun...) he will fund the rebuild of my head. So, I'm going to make a parts list and see what he is willing to do, and I will find a way to pay for the rest.