99 Sport - Going for stealthy and capable

thuddles

TJ Enthusiast
Joined
Apr 24, 2020
Messages
162
Location
CA
Starting my build thread here. I purchased a 99 tj in 2007 as a with the front drive shaft in the back seat, and the headlights wired through a switch in the dash. Had the rear end rebuilt, as well as the transfer case (PO had it on 30's up front and 33's in the back) also had a new head gasket put in it. Later on i pieced together my own 3.5 inch lift, semi budget build with metal cloak control arms, rancho shocks and BDS springs. went to 31's and an offset rim to clear my sway bar.

Then came the big boy job, and my jeep has been sitting for around for about 4 years. Now i'm in the middle of getting everything tip top. Upgrading battery cables as well as a full stereo upgrade. For starters, a picture of my jeep from back in 2010

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after having my transmission rebuilt, i stay out of the mud.... I can still find some splatters of this same kind of mud splatter though haha
 
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My planned and bough a stereo upgrade about 3 years ago and its just coming to fruition.
Receiver: Kenwood KDC-BT768HD
Amp: Kenwood KAC-M8005 - 1600 watt marine 5 channel amp

Speakers: Polk DB+ DB522 5-1/4" 2-way Speakers & Polk DB+ DB462 4" x 6" 2-way Speakers
Bass:Tang Band W601139SI - 6.5 inch subwoofer that will push as much air as an 8 inch speaker. Trying to put this in center console.

So begins this complicated upgrade!

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Sub box nearly finished and amp is finally in place after many failed attempts. I positioned it with the gain controls were i can actually access them. I ended up just using 2 L brackets, had to bend them nearly flat, get the amp in place and then bend them back up to get it to work. Also took a heat gun to the vent tubes to give a little more wiggle room. Went with a 100 amp breaker rather than a fuse cause its about the same price anyway.

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Went to replace battery cables and the tray was looking a little warn. I removed the tray and painted everything with some Rustoleum hammered black. came out pretty decent, much better then all the rust. Even painted the vacuum box with some extra plastic paint I had. I'll get some after pics later.

Also while i was under my hood i took some plumbers strap and screwed it to the bottom casing of my PDC. My clips were broken off and this holds it securely in place where it should be!! No more bouncing electronics yaaayyy

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IMy problem Im running into with my bass is that the speakers stick out a little wider than the original enclosure, My clearance on the passenger side woofer to the emergency brake is barely enough. And there is already not enough space between the seats and i'm making it a bit tighter. I bought some metal speaker screen and was trying to mount it to the outside of the center console. 1 day of velcro and it melted off. I found some rubber mounts for a fan that seemed to work perfectly and used those.

When i put my seat back into position, it rubs on the screen and even put a line in it (on driver side) but it didn't touch the speaker and thats why its there so its success to me.

Also was able to get my OE air filter set up from the garage rafters at my pop's house and installed that. $5 bucks worth of bolts, washers, nuts, and a hose clamp and I'm ready to go.

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Tried my hand at soldering today, fixed 13 different wires that were clipped or damaged in some way. Replaced a 3-5" section, soldered and heat-shrink on each wire. The repair i had to do for the larger wire did not go as smoothly, i might have to get a bigger gun that can heat up the wire fast enough to melt the solder as well. In total I probably have over 20 different repair on various wires, I wish i knew what the PO was trying to do cause he sure made a freakn' mess. of course 18 yo me could have gone a little easier on the damn thing as well but I'm fixing it now and thats what matters

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Changed my PCU fluid today :rolleyes:

Washing out with alcohol and going to let dry out in the sun.

I'm hoping when I plug everything back together its still going to work. The jeep hasn't had a battery in it basically all of quarantine.

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Upgraded battery cables, and got a pic of my painted battery tray.

I bought a set with 25ft of 2AWG wire, 10 aluminum coated copper lugs and some heat shrink, and then i bought reg copper lugs. I used the copper plugs on my (+) and the aluminum lugs on the (-) cables. Really liked the way this all came out.

Wired my amp with the same 2awg cable and ran my ground to the body ground of the battery. I also ran a ground from my stereo to this same location to prevent future loop in the sound.

Went through the open grommet behind the engine since i have a standard.

Hopefully i'll be able to hook up my battery soon!!

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A finally got around to painting my dash pieces, after much research i ended up going with the LVP rattle cans. I wanted to do it right so i got the “adhesion promoter” as well as the “permanent protectant, washed with soap and water, then baking soda and water, dried, & wiped with acetone before painting. i was going to do a two tone but i didn’t like the way anyone else’s turned out. I ended up doing an overspray of red, in some light it looks black, in some light it looks purple, in the sun the red shines pretty nice.

a few pointers for anyone attempting this.

1. prep work is everything. make sure it’s clean!
2. Work station. make sure it is well lit and clean! i tried using my patio but it was a little too breezey out, and too dim. dust settled and i had to sand it and repaint 🙄🙄
3. work on one item at a time. I tried to set all of my pieces out and paint them at once, but covering and working on one piece at a time proved better coating and less down time between drying cycles.
4. Be weary of finger placement when spraying, numerous times, my finger would be a little too far over the nozzle, it would hit my finger and end up gunky on my dash, I had to wipe and sand a few times do to this issue.

5. don’t go with LVP. in order to get the shiny durable coat your looking for you have to buy a bunch of the permanent protectant at $20+ a can and it doesn’t go a long way... have found that rustoleum hammered ( NOT the universal) worked 5x better with just one coat. the hammered texture works into the grains of the dash and the paint is hard yet flexible. just finished painting my dodge 2500 interior this way and i am much happier than i was with my jeep. just one can of rustoleum no primer no protectant, quick and easy. ( noticed that the “universal” rustoleum would give too much hammered textured i used the one for metal and the texture didn’t lay down so thick. it worked perfectly! Now my truck door panels are shinny and don’t scratch. .

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