Wildman's TJ is getting a face lift

Here's the engine thermostat... Nasty rust...

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If I was to put a stock steering wheel back on that has cruise control the wiring harness has it.

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Body side of the wiring harness. Including the PDC.

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You need to plug into the brake light switch with two wires.

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And then the dash wiring which changes it from a CCD to a PCI signal. And yes I'm taking tons of pictures for when I cut into my harness.

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Wildman said:
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This is what it looked like right before it was parked 8 years ago. The 5.2 Dodge magnum V-8 I had swapped into it was having overheating issues. So I had planned to either rebuilt the current engine or find another to rebuild. Well I came across a 5.9 from a Durango for cheap and bought it. I was almost done doing a cheap rebuild when I came across a fellow Ram owner who wanted to trade a stroked 5.9 for a stock 5.9. So after a little haggling we came to a deal. We traded short blocks. His engine had about 10K miles on it so I decided to tare the engine down and clean it up and reseal it. Of course things always happen you do things like that. I dropped the number 2 piston and broke a skirt off it.

About this time I was going thru a divorce so funds dried up for any Jeep repairs. Once I got back on my feet, so to speak I was having health issues that was limiting my ability to work out in my garage. So this past spring I took measures to make myself better. I had been wounded in Iraq back in 2004 when I was shot in the right thigh. The avatar is my femur. In May 2018 I had my lower right leg amputated to try and get rid of the sever pain I was in. Most doctors wouldn't do this surgery because there isn't any guaranty it will help.

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My current socket that I designed the wrap for.


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So plans for this facelift is to remove the Nth Degree longarm suspension, stretch the rear 5-10" and the front 2". To do the amount of stretch in the rear I am wanting to do I am thinking about lengthening my tub by about 5-6". I currently have a GenRight 24 gal fuel tank so that has to go and I'll be getting one of their stretch tanks. I'm going to 3 link the front and 4 link the rear while doing all this.
Then I'm going to install aluminum front highline fenders and rear corners. All my old parts will be handed down to my daughters 2002 TJ Sport. So no parts will be wasted or neglected.

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Don't expect anything right away as I have to wait for the weather to warm up and the snow to melt. But as it gets warmer and funds permit I will be ordering parts.
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Sorry to hear that dude! My dad was in the air force and was in Iraq in the early 90s. Glad you are getting back into it! Hopefully none of the bolts in the jeep are too rusty haha!
 
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03FreedomEdition said:
Sorry to hear that dude! My dad was in the air force and was in Iraq in the early 90s. Glad you are getting back into it! Hopefully none of the bolts in the jeep are too rusty haha!
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Wow just getting started on his build thread. Buckle up and hold on. It's a WILD(man) RIDE!!!🤣🤣



Fresh meat on your build thread
@Wildman
 
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All this talk of engine swaps. I still think the HO 4.7 with the 545RFE would be a sweet swap for the TJ. My grandma had an 02 Grand Cherokee with that combo and the engine/trans combo powerband was perfect. It was in rough shape so she was going to give it to me specifically for an engine swap but unfortunately my brother fell on some hard times and needed a car ASAP. We decided it should go to him instead but when he upgrades I’m supposed to be getting it back.
 
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Jamison C said:
All this talk of engine swaps. I still think the HO 4.7 with the 545RFE would be a sweet swap for the TJ. My grandma had an 02 Grand Cherokee with that combo and the engine/trans combo powerband was perfect. It was in rough shape so she was going to give it to me specifically for an engine swap but unfortunately my brother fell on some hard times and needed a car ASAP. We decided it should go to him instead but when he upgrades I’m supposed to be getting it back.
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There was a person who did the 4.7 into a TJ/LJ over on JeepForum a while ago. The problem with the 4.7 was the head gaskets which could cause other problems with that engine. If you overheat one you're pretty much written in stone that you'll be working on it.
I had a 2002 GC also and liked it a lot.
 
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03FreedomEdition said:
Hey I just joined haha
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Welcome to the forum.

03FreedomEdition said:
Sorry to hear that dude! My dad was in the air force and was in Iraq in the early 90s. Glad you are getting back into it! Hopefully none of the bolts in the jeep are too rusty haha!
Click to expand...

Thanks and thank your dad for his service. I was in Korea during the first Gulf War.
It's been a long haul trying to get this rig finished....
And if you can't tell the peanut gallery likes to heckel me just a little bit.
 
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So more fuck ups by the shop that did the install.

They'd done a body lift but didn't raise the steering shaft.

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This is the hose for the NVLD system off the fuel tank. Hose clamp isn't doing anything 😒

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Then they just stuck the NVLD system off in the corner.

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This fitting wasn't connected to anything.

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And then the charcoal canister was just stuffed up under the wheelwell liner so would have rattled around.

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The fuel tank is a 05-06 tank so I'll have to make some modifications to the fuel pump to fit my GR tank.
From what I've read I can trim the ring down to fit my tank.

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The GOOD thing is it's a actual Delphi fuel pump.

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Last bit of the wiring harness is removed.

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