You may have seen this on another forum. I am not trying to spam anything- just more recently stumbled across this forum and thought it would be fitting to post a build thread here as well since it is more relevant
My brothers "ole trusty" ford 6.0L powerstroke just blew up and the rocker arms let some needle bearings make their way to the HPOP and LPOP. However since he just got accepted into an engineering PhD program at a good school for it, my dad and I decided we're gonna surprise him with a relatively built jeep to replace his truck. I picked up a 1997 2.5L wrangler 5spd manual with 208k miles on it this weekend for what I feel is a great price! Engine and transmission are in great shape so it may not be the 450hp powerhouse that his 6.0 was but it should give him a lot of fun in new ways.
It looks like the previous owners put a rough country 2.5 inch lift and some moto metal 17" wheels with 29" tires on it
Jeep came home with roaches in it so I set off 2 bug bombs and let it bake in the sun for a few hours.
After the jeep aired out I tore out the interior and got the bedrug carpets soaking in bleach and oxyclean and the soft top soaking in water with simple green. Pressure washed the seats and hit the tub with a wire wheel for some minor rust, then degreased it and sprayed it with gray primer
After that I started with some of the wiring. The previous owner had poorly wired an amp in creating a source of parasitic drain which coupled with the chinesium halo headlights means a dead battery if the jeep sits for more than 3-4 days. So out came the headlights and the amp and wiring for it all. While I was tearing out wires, I tore out the battery connections to the body ground, engine ground, alternator hot, fuse box and starter and remade those. I used 2 AWG for everything except the alternator hot wire which is 8AWG right now but I will be replacing with 4AWG for when it comes in so that we can upgrade to a 150 amp alternator. I also have military spec style battery terminals on the way so these autozone ones will be replaced with those when they are delivered.
My brothers "ole trusty" ford 6.0L powerstroke just blew up and the rocker arms let some needle bearings make their way to the HPOP and LPOP. However since he just got accepted into an engineering PhD program at a good school for it, my dad and I decided we're gonna surprise him with a relatively built jeep to replace his truck. I picked up a 1997 2.5L wrangler 5spd manual with 208k miles on it this weekend for what I feel is a great price! Engine and transmission are in great shape so it may not be the 450hp powerhouse that his 6.0 was but it should give him a lot of fun in new ways.
It looks like the previous owners put a rough country 2.5 inch lift and some moto metal 17" wheels with 29" tires on it
Jeep came home with roaches in it so I set off 2 bug bombs and let it bake in the sun for a few hours.
After the jeep aired out I tore out the interior and got the bedrug carpets soaking in bleach and oxyclean and the soft top soaking in water with simple green. Pressure washed the seats and hit the tub with a wire wheel for some minor rust, then degreased it and sprayed it with gray primer
After that I started with some of the wiring. The previous owner had poorly wired an amp in creating a source of parasitic drain which coupled with the chinesium halo headlights means a dead battery if the jeep sits for more than 3-4 days. So out came the headlights and the amp and wiring for it all. While I was tearing out wires, I tore out the battery connections to the body ground, engine ground, alternator hot, fuse box and starter and remade those. I used 2 AWG for everything except the alternator hot wire which is 8AWG right now but I will be replacing with 4AWG for when it comes in so that we can upgrade to a 150 amp alternator. I also have military spec style battery terminals on the way so these autozone ones will be replaced with those when they are delivered.
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