2002 X Build

Tigger09

TJ Enthusiast
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Dec 19, 2018
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Location
Chicago, IL
I’m not sure what kind of thread this will become but I figured someone might want to go along for the ride.

My normal day consists of dropping the kids off at school, working from home and then picking the kids up after school. Any other driving is optional or can be done in the wife’s Kia. This meant my “new” car could be a toy. I narrowed my choices to a newer Camaro or a Jeep. At the end of the day I wanted something I could wrench on and the Jeep won. So 2 years ago I bought a 2002 X, I6, A/T with full doors, a soft top and 75k miles on it. (A/C & cruise too) It is awesome and has been for 2 years.

Now I find that I’m struggling with the wrenching. While I don’t drive much I do drive everyday which means projects need to be started and finished between 8pm and 8am or over a free weekend which don’t seem to exist with kids in youth sports. A few weeks ago when astjp2 posted about the idea of salvage jeeps I was interested. I always knew salvage auctions existed but being in Illinois I couldn’t bid on them till astjp2 pointed out that there was an entire industry of brokers to get around these laws.

Brokers opened up the possibility of getting a cheap salvage vehicle, building a rolling chassis and then spending the summer taking the two jeeps and turning them to a single solid rig. My current Jeep is starting to lose the rust belt war. The plan was simple, make a list of features I wanted, figure out what I could spend while still getting out from under the project by parting it out and then wait till the right Jeep surfaced. Since I’ve never done salvage auctions before the first purchase needed to be local so I could control as much as possible.

My unicorn would be a 2002 (or close) I6 mated to a A/T with a hard top and half doors. I cared more about the 32rh than I did the year. She would have A/C, cruise control, a rust-free frame, as little body rust & damage as possible with a grey interior. A running motor was a “nice to have” and I just assumed I’d be dealing with a salvage title. The hope was to find something close to me by the fall of 2019 so it could be a winter 2019 and all of 2020 project.

6 weeks later this Jeep popped up at local salvage auction. 2002 I6 with an A/T, hard top and half doors. Rust free body minus one spot so far, what appears to be a serviceable frame with little rust, no real body damage minus a dent in the grill that an angry bird grill was covering. Grey interior, a running motor which sounded great and best of all a clean title. I ended up with everything but the A/C and cruise. Due to waiting on the title and the weather I haven’t driven it other than into the driveway and then to the far end of the garage.

I don’t know what to do with it. Do I flip it? Do I do a frame off restore? Do I part it out? Do I still combine the two jeeps to get a single solid jeep? I’m half tempted to look for a 3rd salvage Wrangler to use and restore both Jeeps. Someone tell me that having a Jeep as a DD and a 2nd Jeep to restore is perfectly normal. My wife doesn’t seem up to the task.

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While I don’t drive much I do drive everyday which means projects need to be started and finished between 8pm and 8am or over a free weekend which don’t seem to exist with kids in youth sports.

I have the exact same problem, literally. All projects need to take place during those hours. Yet during those hours, I find myself wanting to relax, lay in bed, and watch a movie, then sleep, haha.

Having a Jeep as a DD with another Jeep to restore is perfectly normal.

If it was me, I would clean it up, put a 2.5" lift on it with some 31s, and enjoy the hell out of it.
 
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DD has 5000xs with a 2" BB to be upgraded to OME springs in the spring and 31" BFG MTs. This might be a candidate for 33"s

First step is to figure out why this Jeep was at a salvage auction and not sold a more traditional way.
 
It’s been a slow couple of weeks, something about a polar vortex and -50 wind chills. I’ve finally had a chance to get in the garage for a few hours and here is what I know so far.

The engine sounds great, runs well other than a small issue with keeping it at idle when it first starts. It gets up to running temp and stays where it should. The oil level was good, the color was good, and it had an oil change sticker on the windshield that was not yet past it’s due date.

The compression was 120 +/-10 and there are no exhaust gasses in the coolant. There is oil build up between the engine and valve cover and along the passenger side of the engine. It starts around the sending unit/oil filter and moves rearward from there.

The Jeep won’t always start in park. When it won’t start the CEL flashes but If you put the Jeep in neutral she’ll start every time. The shifting feels sloppy and I believe I needed to give it a little extra gas to get the jeep going in reverse. I pulled it out of the garage. It could have been my imagination or any number of other things. It hasn’t been driven in 6 weeks.

There is now a large puddle on the floor where the engine mates to the trans and I heard a “noise” from what sounded like it was from somewhere "around" the transfer case while letting the jeep run the other day. This was while the car was parked.

So my list looks like:
Oil sending unit
Neutral safety switch or shift cable
Rear main seal & valve cover gasket

I still don't know why it was up for auction so I'm hesitant to drive it till the weather breaks. Last thing I want to do is be pushing or towing a car in the ice storm we currently dealing with.
 
I don't blame you for wanting to wait until the weather breaks. No way I'd be driving that thing in a "questionable" running state during that ice storm. Imagine having it break down in that weather?

Sounds like it's got a lot of little stuff going on. Hopefully it's easy to diagnose and fix!
 
Time to resurrect this build.

#2 ended up being a dirty trans filter and low fluid. $50 and the rig was driving. The torque converter "clicks" (& everything still leaks like crazy) but I'm sure that was from the abuse of the PO. I'll get the converter replaced at some point. #2 looks like a great candidate for tub off winter restore project but is lacking some options I want soooo...#3 (center one) was bought as a parts car.

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#3 is was "totaled" by the insurance company. It's another 2002 (manual Sport) and came with brand new 31" BFG A/Ts and a Dana 44 (3.73) in the rear. (tires and Dana 44 cover about the cost of the entire Jeep) The Jeep was hit on the passenger side and the front of the frame was bent about two inches.

#3 is now stripped and ready for the tub to come off and engine to be pulled. Once that is done I'll figure out what frame I'm going to use for the build and then start cleaning up and rebuilding the axles.

The goal is a solid, simple TJ with a 2.5" lift (Rancho 5000/OME) and 31" tires. My long term goal is to get two solid TJs out of the 3 as my son starts driving in two years.

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Busy weekend. I got the BGF ATs off #3 and on to the DD. I over them, they don't have the road vibration the BFG MT have and there is almost no road noise compared to the MTs. By far the best "upgrade" I've done to the DD so far. The rest of the weekend was filled with some more ups and a big down.

My daughter scrubbed the blue off the letters. I didn't have the heart to tell her bleach water was easier but I wasn't going to let her play with bleach. I threw a couple bucks for the hard work to make up for it.

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Friday/Saturday I found that the drivers side motor mount bolts had been ripped from the engine bosses. By the end of the day Saturday the forum had helped with a solution. Thread Here I'm going to create a plate and bolt it to the engine with the 4 remaining bosses and then weld on studs on to the plate for the OEM mount. Cheap, easy & safe.

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I also found that the frame was bent in the accident. It was pushed towards the passenger side about 2 inches. Here you can kind of see that the front motor mount doesn't line up with the fan. I measured it and it's less than 2 inches off. I figured it would be an easy (cheap) fix for a local frame shop since I was just bringing in a frame to throw in their jig.

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I went to bed on Saturday in a really good mood and should have stayed in bed all of Sunday.

Sunday I took the skid plate off. Two driver side bolts came right out, the third was missing. The 3 passenger side bolts all spun. Not a big deal. I cut them out and when the skid plate dropped I realized that the frame had rotted through. Getting the frame straighten AND then adding SafeTCaps is something I'm not so sure about. I also noticed that the frame had a small twist in it too. The search for a rust free donor frame has already started so we'll have to see where that takes us.

I think next up is a refresh of the Dana 44/30 combo.
 
My wife's only rule with Jeeps, cars and the garage is that she gets to put her car in the garage when it snows. Knowing that I'm trying to keep the project mobile till spring so I spent the better part of the week looking for stands to rebuild the axles on. It's funny how sometimes the small things derail progress but it turned out some "cheap" Home Depot shelves are exactly what I needed.

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Today was a push. I worked on both diffs. No surprises with the rear Dana 44, it came apart as expected. On the front I found the front drivers side rotor was "fused" to the hub. Not a big deal, both will be replaced. The drivers side lower control arm bracket was bent. Again not a big deal, I knew that when I bought the rig. Finally the yoke doesn't spin freely, I'm hoping it's only a bearing issue.

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It’s amazing how fast they multiply. Good luck with the project(s) and stay warm. I’ve been to a couple bears games in late November / December and wow, I’ll pass on the next one lol
 
It’s amazing how fast they multiply. Good luck with the project(s) and stay warm. I’ve been to a couple bears games in late November / December and wow, I’ll pass on the next one lol

Thanks. Last winter was brutal which is why none of this started till this.
 
Not a lot of fun movement over the past few days. The axle have all the bearings and races removed.

I picked up a parts washer that was delivered today. It came with no packing and dented which I should have expected from a cheap China product. Not the end of the world, it was on sale (Amazon) so I'll deal with it.
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I also played with the idea of electrolysis. The rotors are the anode and there is a drive shaft and both Steering knuckles in there. This was a quick $25 experiment to see if the idea was worth investing any time in. < 24 hours in and it's looking good.
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Not a ton of progress this weekend but I did get solvent for the cleaner, got the blasting cabinet going and got the lower control arm brackets cut off. New ones come tomorrow.

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Next up is to buy a new, bigger compressor, build an air dryer, get the axle cleaned up and install the new brackets.

I've been spending some time looking in to paint and powder coating and I think I'm going to go with Eastwood rust encapsulator platinum and a top coat. Anyone have thoughts on a top coat or the Eastwood Platinum?