"Low Standards" a wj build brought to you by Ramen noodles

[dubj]

OK, guess it's time to start this being that it should be on the road in a few months.

Named because I'm trying everything I can to keep this rig as low as possible, and being 19 the only way to afford this is by keeping my expenses as low as possible (ie: eating Ramen noodles)

Background:

This is my first build, a 2001 wj limited 4.7, it was given to me by my dad when I turned 16. It has gone through a few stages already, started at a bb and 31's, grabbed sliders, eventually replaced all the control arms and bumped up to 33's and an Aussie in the rear.
Once I bought a daily out of high school I became addicted to trimming and the bumpers and crossmember got cut up and shortened, the tank tucked. Then I swapped in a zj radiator for clearance and had a host of issues with cooling (mostly hydro fan related) and in August 2015 the motor overheated for the last time.

That is where the current stage begins, a lot of this rides on being on time for gsw this year so there are many things that will be thrown together to get on the road and will be improved later down the road.

THE PLANS:

Driveline:

5.3 Chevy, ls6 intake/fuel injectors
Nv4500(why? Because I love rowing through gears, I know it will suck in rocks)
Np241c

The drive line is currently in place and nearly good to go aside from not being mounted/no exaust.

I tucked the engine/trans/tcase up and back as far as reasonably possible, the engine cannot go much closer to the firewall and the trans tunnel was cut out. The bottom of the tcase can sit about 3/4" ABOVE the bottom of the frame rail, giving me a flat belly skid.

Suspension:

Plans is double tri 4 link in the rear with the lowest point being even at the frame rails.

3link front with the upper on the pass side again, no mounts below the frame

I will tie all the suspension into the skid plate that will bolt flush to the frame.

I will eventually go 14" coilovers in the front and my plan is to run less than 4" lift

Axles:

Dana 60 front
14b rear (changed to sterling 10.5)
I don't know exactly what I will come up with before gsw due to time and funds but hopefully an early 2000's 60 with 4:10s and a gear matching 14b, for the meantime the rear will get welded and the front will remain open,

Structural:

The uni will get plates as much as possible and get a cage similar to Agitated pancakes

The front is getting dove nosed by cutting off everything in front of the firewall aside from the frame rails, i will be letting my friend/business partner (tacojake) rebuild most of the front end with tube as he actually cares about how it looks unlike me, and will get it done right.

The front of the jeep will be shortened as much as possible for approach angle, with how far back my engine is I expect this to be significant.

Tires:

Planning on 39-42 down the road

To fit these I have completely cut the wheel arches and fenders off the front and will soon tub the rear. Both axles will be stretched till the tires fit.


I know I'm missing many, many things and will continually update, I'm working out of a dim 1 car garage currently so I have only a few very crapy pics, but soon here it will be pulled outside for welding and more fab, I will take as many pics as possible then.

No real order to these, just teasers.



And what it looked like before

[Ted_Z]

All I can say is "Wow".

[dubj]

All I can say is "Wow".

Yeah, I probably should have waited till I had some pictures of finished parts, nothing I posted was complete so it's deceivingly shitty.

It should really come together soon though

[JohnBoulderCO]

Double wow that's a project!

[egg]

Awesome project! !

I really wish the nv4500's shifter sat about 6" further back. Kudos for getting it in there!

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[dubj]

Awesome project! !

I really wish the nv4500's shifter sat about 6" further back. Kudos for getting it in there!

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

Yeah, ideally it would have but I'll take this, the plan is actually bend the lever till 1/3/5 are right below the radio and then the climate control will sit below 2/4/r. Like this but with a proper shift boot and not a piece of plastic, it looks weird but actually feels quite nice.



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[joshman95zj]

I like the full width grill with the dove nose

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[dubj]

Made some progress over the last week.

Pretty much stole these off craigslist.
$500


Also grabbed these from a local yard for $650,
2009 f350, Dana 60 front, 72" wide it seems, 35 spline, 4:10s. Matching sterling 10.5.
The 4:10s will suck with the 37's but it will get me through a season. The biggest issue I'm seeing is how far over the diff is and putting a lower link mount on the driver's side. I have some ideas that I'll be playing with over the next few weeks.

[ELLLLLIOTTTTT]

Geez man, looks like you really are getting some good deals for this build. Reminds me of Frobot's WJ. Can't wait to see the progress!

[dubj]

Well, no exciting updates, just been putting small parts together.

Since the last update I have:
Installed clutch pedal and master and bent/cut the brake pedal into position

Received all my clutch parts (should be installed this weekend)

Sent my ECU to be re-programed

Completed my wiring to the point that the motor is now turn key

Cut the driver's side quarter panel

Got the axles mostly cleaned up

And figured out that my 60's pumpkin is so far to the driver's side that I will need some significant frame modification.
I'm thinking something along the lines of what ftcollinszj did after his wreck. We'll see what happens once I sling the and under.

Only teaser pic I got
Stock axle at full bump, the tire is above center of the hub so that's technically more than full bump on a 37! The pic is deceiving.

[bentwrench]

Nice build! Love the dove nose

[Stealth Crawler ZJ]

Wow! This is going to be an amazing rig when done!



Because Jeep.

[dubj]

ok, been a very long time since i updated this.

life has been busy, Since I tore the motor out of this I have moved twice and am moving again this month (massive driveway and multiple garages including an oversize heated 2 car, should make things nice) In may I bought an "83 toyota PU with tons of issues and fixed some to get me back on the trail, it had so many issues wheeling that I decided I'm done driving to trail heads and bought an 02 f350, super cab, short bed v10 with the 6 speed manual, kinda a POS but it will pull, so I can't complain.

All that has meant slow progress on this build, but since the last update I have

run numbers and test fit the 3 link
built the trans crosmember (minus link mounts)
partially plated the frame horns and built motor mounts,
finished engine wiring/plumbing and actually fired the motor up for a few seconds

the drivers side unibody had to be boxed in a small area to clear the pinion yoke, the floorboard also had to be cut to clear the driveshaft.
overall im happy with how its turning out, the lower link mounts will sit on the top side of my crossmember, so I managed to keep everything above the unibody, I did have to triangulate the lowers more than is probably good for a 3 link, but I think it will be ok. the upper will have to go through the passenger floor board some.

A lot of the fab ive done so far (and all of the flux core the welding) will probably get redone as ive just been trying to get all the pieces in place to make it mobile again, once i can actaully drive it ill start working through a lot of the issues i will inevitably find.

random pics
http://imgur.com/GNj4FMD
http://imgur.com/lEVyXms
http://imgur.com/OMxI892
http://imgur.com/q2oEFOa
http://imgur.com/FFK1dsW
http://imgur.com/98X9HQy

[Ted_Z]

That trans mount scares me, are you sure you don't want to allow for any unibody flex?

[dubj]

That trans mount scares me, are you sure you don't want to allow for any unibody flex?

I'm not too worried as it will be getting quite a bit of bracing + a cage, but i see the concern, the solid mounts I had planned on being temporary anyways, but maybe I should address that sooner than later. Think simply putting a thick rubber pad between the mount and trans would be enough? thats similar to the stock chevy setup.

[Ted_Z]

I would use a solid rubber mount at a minimum. I've seen flex snap the mounting tabs off the aluminum Trans housing. The cast aluminum is rather brittle.

[dubj]

Haven't updated this in a long time.

ive now got the engine and trans fully bolted in place, ended up just putting some rubber between the transmission and its mount.

also ended up copying the factory rear brackets with a crappy truss so that I can reuse my IRO a arm and make a knock off of the critical path kit to get me by for a bit.

i got my 3 link mocked up and should have it all tacked on this weekend, clearance is tight but works, ended up with large sections of floor cut out.

this weekend my goal is to run the motor and get the rear end on its own weight and the front ready for welding.

ill get pictures this weekend.

[dubj]

So, its been 4 months since an update.

as of this moment it sits fully on its own weight and is "mobile". aka it can move under its own power and stop.

thus far everything is working as it should, Today i started adding gauges, it looks like i will be able to replace the factory gauges with mechanical gauges in the stock dash so that i dont have to make my own indicator lights.

i'm in the process of making longer rear lowers so i can push the axle farther back, also need a rear driveshaft as i only have the front right now.

and man, this thing is low, i can see over the roof with it sitting on 37's with 5 and 4" uptravel.

[Ken L]

Looks good!

[Stealth Crawler ZJ]

Have to ask... done and ready by Grand Slam right? Lol lookin great man!


Because Jeep.

[OverkillZJ]

Awesome.

[maxfederle89]

I'm glad I found this because it's absolutely epic! I also like your half life decal

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[dubj]

I havent updated this thread in forever, quite a bit has been done.
heres the front mostly together, still needs some bracing and finishing, the wiring needs to be cleaned up a lot too. (the stacks were just an easy way to exit it temporarily, ill find a real solution)






I got tired of dealing with the nasty cut up carpet and was gonna be cutting more out for the rear 4 link, so i just removed all of it. you can see the just how huge I made the wheel wells too.



a shot of the floor clearancing

just a profile just here, obviously the rear is not in the right spot, ill push it back with the 4 link.

[dubj]

Alright, well since this project started Ive: bought 8 (?) cars, a bus, a house. and had 3 different jobs. But ive still been working on this occasionally. I haven't taken many pictures and probably wont bother going over much. But its finally driving.

Some quick notes on changes since last post. 4 link was built in the rear, wheelbase around 115". cage is mostly built. most of the front floor was cut and rebuilt. some front end work has been done, built a better exhaust.

Shes ran a few trails and does pretty well! I had welded my rear diff but the carrier was a LSD and i did a poor job and broke it, now installing a grizzly. The coil overs are shot and and I hadn't drilled the pit man arm out enough so there was play in the steering hiem, that all resulted in awe full road manners.

Heres some pics from moab in october