My YJ build "Christine"
12-08-2011, 09:53 PM
#1
Junior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Alberta
Posts: 22
My YJ build "Christine"
Figured I'd post up how my 88 YJ started down the trail to where she is now.
I picked it up from the second owner in Edmonton and it had never been off road before I got it and had no rust/rot at all in the tub or frame.
Laugh at the seat covers if you want...they were one of the first things to go.
It came with a hard/soft top, Bikini cover and the quick cover.
Winter was close so I put the hardtop on and got rid of the cracked and non functioning lights on the front and put some nice 100W ones on.
I had the stereo out of my truck but all the components were not going to fit out of site from thieves when I had the top off. I made a nice little storage area in the back after I took out the rear seat.
Next step was adding communications to it so I got a center console from CT and mounted both a CB and Road Radio in it.
Next step was a set of MT's so I went with 31" Firestone Destinations and love them but they were a tight fit with the flat stock suspension.
I needed to get rid of the stock rear bumper so I could make a club run and become a member so Weldor hooked me up with this nice custom one.
I found out very quickly that with little room flex it's off road capabilities were not very good so I talked with Da_Bear and he ordered me a BDS 2" spring lift with 1/2" ext shackles and JKS discos. Took me the better part of 12 hours with all the frozen bolts I encountered but got on in one day.
Before
After
After my brake light switch crapping out and almost getting hit by a semi I figured it was time to upgrade that too. NAPA ended up ordering the wrong part for it but it was a better style of switch so I fabricated a mounting bracket for it and made it work. I then got rid of the stock tail lights and replaced them with LED flush mounts. While I was at it I did the front marker light to turn signal conversion.
Now that I had played with it a bit I figured it was time to get a winch for it but needed a new bumper to mount it on as well. Had another friend give me a hand fabricating this one and got it installed with the Superwinch 8500.
Next step was installing a mount for the free Hi-lift I got from work. Gave it a quick paint job and lubed up the linkage and it works great.
I needed a place to mount my custom mirrors and windshield lights so I spent a little time at work on the slow day to fab these little mounts up.
Took the factory mirrors off the doors and the new ones stay on with doors on or off.
With all the new lights and winch I made up a custom switch panel for them in the cab.
Some of the last mods I've done to it are an electric fan.
Custom H1 style snorkel
Added Gator Guard ll in the front half of the tub.
So after just about a year later I have a rig that works really good off road and on road as well and looks pretty darn good too.
Now you may be asking yourself why the name Christine? Well she has her personality quite a bit with the exception of the killing part. Some days she will start right up and run like a top and others she will Biotch and complain about doing anything. Oh well I guess it's just a Jeep thing.
She wound up spitting out the TBI 2.5 on the scouting run for the EJC Poker Run trails so out it came and in went a 2.5 MPI motor with new computer and changed from the internal to external clutch slave while I was at it.
Old POS motor that leaked most fluids..
New motor before I got it all hooked up and wired.
I managed to get it done just a few days before the actual Poker Run and christened her on the day before by doing a run to Cardinal Falls.
I got tired of the old fixed bucket seats so I pulled them out and gave them to a buddy for his boat..told him just because the seats say Jeep on them don't think that it can go anywhere :lol:
I replaced them with these from an 02 Sunfire. Were supposed to be a direct bolt in.....yeah right. Needed to make up an extender plate for the rear bolts but was a quick mod.
Working on my new sliders now and should have them installed in the next day or two :D
Finished my Sliders up
Painted them up with some rocker guard and got them on.
Got sick of the stock heater not working too good and after replacing the core and not getting much of a difference from it I added an axillary heater to it.
Heats up really good now. :D
Took a bit of water and mud in the Jeep a few times and was getting nervous about having my radios in the center console so I built my own overhead console out of aluminum and painted it up with rocker guard as well. I also added a dome light and transferred all my light switches and winch controls to it as well.
My soft top was getting in pretty bad shape so I picked one up from a guy in Calgary. I also needed new tires for the summer since I studded my 31's for the winter. Got a great deal at Kal Tire on a set of 5 X-Caliber rims and 33's for the summer.
Repainted the front bumper with rocker guard, took off the stock winch hawse and put on a roller fairlead. I replaced the 6" lights up front with some aircraft landing lights and added a set of covers to help keep them intact from the rocks...unlike my old lights.
Only other thing on the list for now might be a locker but that's on the back burner for now.
I've added some TJ style 7" extended flares so my tires are fully covered and don't throw nearly as much crap all over the sides as it used to.
My Turdy5 ended up puking the spider gears on a mild run last spring so out it came and in went an 8.8 with disks and Posi :D
Old Superwench motor ended up corroding to hell and disintegrating so I replaced it with a Warn M8000
Threw a Richmond Lock-rite in my D30.
About a week later and not even getting to test everything out off road the POS AX5 decided it had enough.
Next step is putting an AX15 with a SYE and new drive shafts in. Got a smokin deal on a 98 Vortec V6 when I was looking for the AX15 so it's going to be a bit more work but well worth it in the end.
Well I got the old motor and tranny out. Time to finish getting the old harness out and the new combo in :)
New combo going in.
Well it took way too long to get all the bugs out but I think everything is running the way it's supposed to now.
Changed out the tach since the factory one was not compatible with the V6.
Also changed out the plumbing cap to a better pre-filter since this motor is going to be using a bit more air than the 4 banger.
I picked it up from the second owner in Edmonton and it had never been off road before I got it and had no rust/rot at all in the tub or frame.
Laugh at the seat covers if you want...they were one of the first things to go.
It came with a hard/soft top, Bikini cover and the quick cover.
Winter was close so I put the hardtop on and got rid of the cracked and non functioning lights on the front and put some nice 100W ones on.
I had the stereo out of my truck but all the components were not going to fit out of site from thieves when I had the top off. I made a nice little storage area in the back after I took out the rear seat.
Next step was adding communications to it so I got a center console from CT and mounted both a CB and Road Radio in it.
Next step was a set of MT's so I went with 31" Firestone Destinations and love them but they were a tight fit with the flat stock suspension.
I needed to get rid of the stock rear bumper so I could make a club run and become a member so Weldor hooked me up with this nice custom one.
I found out very quickly that with little room flex it's off road capabilities were not very good so I talked with Da_Bear and he ordered me a BDS 2" spring lift with 1/2" ext shackles and JKS discos. Took me the better part of 12 hours with all the frozen bolts I encountered but got on in one day.
Before
After
After my brake light switch crapping out and almost getting hit by a semi I figured it was time to upgrade that too. NAPA ended up ordering the wrong part for it but it was a better style of switch so I fabricated a mounting bracket for it and made it work. I then got rid of the stock tail lights and replaced them with LED flush mounts. While I was at it I did the front marker light to turn signal conversion.
Now that I had played with it a bit I figured it was time to get a winch for it but needed a new bumper to mount it on as well. Had another friend give me a hand fabricating this one and got it installed with the Superwinch 8500.
Next step was installing a mount for the free Hi-lift I got from work. Gave it a quick paint job and lubed up the linkage and it works great.
I needed a place to mount my custom mirrors and windshield lights so I spent a little time at work on the slow day to fab these little mounts up.
Took the factory mirrors off the doors and the new ones stay on with doors on or off.
With all the new lights and winch I made up a custom switch panel for them in the cab.
Some of the last mods I've done to it are an electric fan.
Custom H1 style snorkel
Added Gator Guard ll in the front half of the tub.
So after just about a year later I have a rig that works really good off road and on road as well and looks pretty darn good too.
Now you may be asking yourself why the name Christine? Well she has her personality quite a bit with the exception of the killing part. Some days she will start right up and run like a top and others she will Biotch and complain about doing anything. Oh well I guess it's just a Jeep thing.
She wound up spitting out the TBI 2.5 on the scouting run for the EJC Poker Run trails so out it came and in went a 2.5 MPI motor with new computer and changed from the internal to external clutch slave while I was at it.
Old POS motor that leaked most fluids..
New motor before I got it all hooked up and wired.
I managed to get it done just a few days before the actual Poker Run and christened her on the day before by doing a run to Cardinal Falls.
I got tired of the old fixed bucket seats so I pulled them out and gave them to a buddy for his boat..told him just because the seats say Jeep on them don't think that it can go anywhere :lol:
I replaced them with these from an 02 Sunfire. Were supposed to be a direct bolt in.....yeah right. Needed to make up an extender plate for the rear bolts but was a quick mod.
Working on my new sliders now and should have them installed in the next day or two :D
Finished my Sliders up
Painted them up with some rocker guard and got them on.
Got sick of the stock heater not working too good and after replacing the core and not getting much of a difference from it I added an axillary heater to it.
Heats up really good now. :D
Took a bit of water and mud in the Jeep a few times and was getting nervous about having my radios in the center console so I built my own overhead console out of aluminum and painted it up with rocker guard as well. I also added a dome light and transferred all my light switches and winch controls to it as well.
My soft top was getting in pretty bad shape so I picked one up from a guy in Calgary. I also needed new tires for the summer since I studded my 31's for the winter. Got a great deal at Kal Tire on a set of 5 X-Caliber rims and 33's for the summer.
Repainted the front bumper with rocker guard, took off the stock winch hawse and put on a roller fairlead. I replaced the 6" lights up front with some aircraft landing lights and added a set of covers to help keep them intact from the rocks...unlike my old lights.
Only other thing on the list for now might be a locker but that's on the back burner for now.
I've added some TJ style 7" extended flares so my tires are fully covered and don't throw nearly as much crap all over the sides as it used to.
My Turdy5 ended up puking the spider gears on a mild run last spring so out it came and in went an 8.8 with disks and Posi :D
Old Superwench motor ended up corroding to hell and disintegrating so I replaced it with a Warn M8000
Threw a Richmond Lock-rite in my D30.
About a week later and not even getting to test everything out off road the POS AX5 decided it had enough.
Next step is putting an AX15 with a SYE and new drive shafts in. Got a smokin deal on a 98 Vortec V6 when I was looking for the AX15 so it's going to be a bit more work but well worth it in the end.
Well I got the old motor and tranny out. Time to finish getting the old harness out and the new combo in :)
New combo going in.
Well it took way too long to get all the bugs out but I think everything is running the way it's supposed to now.
Changed out the tach since the factory one was not compatible with the V6.
Also changed out the plumbing cap to a better pre-filter since this motor is going to be using a bit more air than the 4 banger.
08-31-2012, 11:53 PM
#8
Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Fort McMurray, Alberta
Posts: 172
Re: My YJ build "Christine"
Man ive said it on here a pile of times, i LOVE YJs.. by far my favorite wrangler if not my favorite all around jeep. Jealous you have one to plug away at and i love the way its going. Looks great and im sure its a blast to ride around in.
