Aussie 97 TJ Wrangler Build

Jamin

New Member
Joined
Apr 23, 2016
Messages
24
Location
Geraldton, Western Australia
Hey guys im Jay from Western Australia. Jeeps arent really popular down here at all but ive owned two now. Love them. Except a few things: soft top noise, gutless performance, air con suxks, terrible fuel economy and fucking ax15's!

This build will try and rectify all of these problems. My goal is to turn it into a capable tourer that can handle the harshness of australian adventures.

So to start. This is how i bought it:
1997 model
2 inch lift
MT rims and tyres
A soft top and a hard top
No air con

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The first thing that happened was i snapped the out put shaft on my np231 transfer case taking off heavily from the beach. Undid the rear tailshaft and babied it home in 4wd. Thought it would be the perfect time to put in an SYE and a tom woods drive shaft

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This is where it snapped

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With a few youtube videos it was easy to install

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Next i had the front seats redone in black vinyl. Didnt bother with the back seats because i need all the room i can get for touring

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And painted up the door cards... which as of now actually looks shithouse and needs repainting. Ill actually be looking at buying black cards in the future instead

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Then the problems started.
First one:
Took ages to wind over and start
Solution: replaced fuel pressure regulator thing that sits in the fuel tank and fixed it

Second one:
Sometimes would start, sometimes just wound over till the battery died.
Solution: replaced alternator and still did it. Replaced cam shaft sensor underneath the dizzy cap and never had a problem since.

Third one:
Always aounds like the battery is flat when winding over
Solition: havent done it yet but i will be replacing the starter motor.

Fourth one:
At the beach after sitting for a while. Turned it over and caught fire.
Solution: the earth strap between the bonet and chasis got hot from a bad earth. Burnt through my hard hydraulic clutch line and caught fire. Wasted a good beer on it pitting it out. Replaced master to slave and put a new solid earth strap to the chasis and fixed that problem

Now the major pita problem. The ax15.

Was at the beach wheeling pretty hard. Put it in reverse and got the dreaded clunk. Got home. Pulled the gearbox out. Cracked her open and mossing a tooth on reverse idler gear. Ordered a new one put it back together and away i went. Two weeks later at the same spot did the exact same thing again. So ive replaced it again and havent taken it hard wheeling anywhere till i secide what i want to do.

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Tried a roof basket and racks. Looked shit so took it off and sold it

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Put a flat floor in the back and carpeted it

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Now ive started the repair job on a hardtop.
Plan is to paint it up. Felt line the inside black. Perspex windows made up and all new latches. Bolt on some roof racks and a full length basket and pit a light in. Its the two piece hardtop that came with the car when i bought it

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And thats where im up to currently. My next jobs are:
Finish hard top
Turn aircompressor into onboard air
Fit a stand alone 12v dc under dash airconditioner
Change gear ratios to 4.56

This is the air con system i want to get: http://www.cruisencomfortusa.com/hot-rod/

And i have 3.09 geara in a rear dana 44 and front dana 30. Ive found thick cut gears for the rear which use the original carrier but am having trouble finding thick cut gears for the front so might bite the bullet and put a locker carrier in the front with the new gears.

Its a slow and steady process. I have a list a mile long that i want to do to it but time and money is always an issue.

If you have any feedback or ideas id love to hear it.

A couple more poser shots for you all

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Cheers. Still got a long way to go but making some progress.

A couple of little things:
Pit the black onserts in the grill and painted the headlight surrounds
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And made a switch panel up

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Also put new speakers in the dash and wired up aome crossovers up to the top to put in tweeters eventually
 
Thanks mate. I live in a town called geraldton. Its basically a fishing town. There is beaches 10min from anywhere. All those photos are not far from my house. Thank goodness. Because long distance travel is not comfortable yet!
 
Diff breathers.... I remember my M38... everything routed to air cleaner which routed to the snorkel. It ran fully submerged and you never needed to change fluids.