Project Deep Creep

[Xtremeyj420]

hey everyone. Im in the process of doing a frame up restomod on my 87 YJ.
bought it a few years back from a guy in Groton CT, had a 4" lift on 35's, carbed 258 with the best 5 speed ever to be put behind a jeep... the indestructible Peugueot BA/10 mated to an np-207... and since i didnt want to mess with the perfection jeep shit forth.... I wheeled the shit out of it for the last few years without breaking much.... suprisingly couple u joints, tie rods, etc. and all this while rockin 35's on the stock 3.07 gears..... lmao.... anyways she isnt a daily driver anymore... so i figured i might as well tear her down and do what ive wanted to do for awhile now. the frame and body when i bought it was pretty much mint, hardly any rust. So i figured i would rip it down to bear frame blast it and work my way up.

So enough of me running my mouth...

Now about my plan....
I originally was going to drop a 75k original drivetrain into my yj including amc 360, TF 727, Np 208, front drivers drop D44, and FF d60 rear.

But after some thought i have decided to go a different way. I have a crate 4.0 Ho out of my 92 XJ that only has about 15k on it.
So im gonna take my intake complete with my MC2100 1.21 V w/#46 jets onto my crate 4.0... swap the dizzy in from the 258 (or find a good HEI) connecting that to a 98 TJ AX-15 which has a solid np 231j on it. Im not 100% sure of what transfer im gonna run. I just had a sweet D300 fall in my lap which would be SWEET!! would definitely help with some extra DS length compared to the 231. im just really tight with $$$$ so every little bit helps if i keep the 231 i need a SYE, and thus a cv driveshaft. with the D300 im gonna need a flip kit to make it drivers drop along with a Twin stick kit... and a rear driveshaft. I'm leaning towards the D&D machine twin stick cable shifters the Duffy makes..but im not 100% positive. I would really like to go the d300 route its just gonna be a question how well the rest of the puzzle fills in.

with the frame i wanna do a front shackle reversal stretching the front forward and 1.5"-2" im still running a front D30 with 4.10's, the axle i have right now is lincoln locked with a homemade posi lok. for a rear im running a 2000 Explorer 31 spline 8.8 with a lock right, and i wanna push the rear back as far as i can without interfering with the stock fuel tank location. eventuall i wanna run a d30 with a powertrax or aussie up front. but for now my welded d30 will do i have a few spare shafts

well thats the basic rundown of what im lookin at... any opinions or advice is most welcome ill be posting some pics very soon...

thanks,
mike...

[WickedXJ]

with the best 5 speed ever to be put behind a jeep... the indestructible Peugueot BA/10

Please tell me this is sarcasm.

Unless of course you mean literally put behind a jeep as in to throw it away and replace it with literally anything.

[Xtremeyj420]

Lmao.... sarcasm....one of the few services I offer free of charge.... Yeah anything that was said about the factory drivetrain was total sarcasm... the only good thing I can say about factory peugeout in my yj is that it grenaded the factory np-207 case for the rear driveshaft output and lived for another 3 years before I pulled it to swap in an ax15.
Thanks,
Mike.

[WickedXJ]

Lmao.... sarcasm....one of the few services I offer free of charge.... Yeah anything that was said about the factory drivetrain was total sarcasm... the only good thing I can say about factory peugeout in my yj is that it grenaded the factory np-207 case for the rear driveshaft output and lived for another 3 years before I pulled it to swap in an ax15.
Thanks,
Mike.

Thank the Jeep gods. As for your build it sounds cool. Though I don't understand why you would want to increase the wheel base. Wouldn't that just decrease the angle of the peaks you can go over? Or are you looking for HMMWV quality wall climbs?

[Xtremeyj420]

I wanna stretch it for a few reasons. One is to correct the shackle angles, well I have to cut off the spring mount and kick an inch or so to get the 45 degrees I'm looking for so why not stretch it at the same time and get close to a 100" wheelbase. Two. I'm doing a home brewed front shackle reversal and frenching the shackle mount iln the frame. 3 longer the rear driveshaft the better... plus I like achallenge if I get bored ill never finish it lol...
Thanks
mike

[wannabejeep]

Thank the Jeep gods. As for your build it sounds cool. Though I don't understand why you would want to increase the wheel base. Wouldn't that just decrease the angle of the peaks you can go over? Or are you looking for HMMWV quality wall climbs?

It makes it way more stable and gives you a better departure angle.

[Xtremeyj420]

It makes it way more stable and gives you a better departure angle.

Yessir! !!

[Xtremeyj420]

ok so i finally got some pictures to post for the build... its been kinda slow the last week or so, but ive got it stripped down to bare frame with the exception of the 4.2 still sitting between the frame rails..

there's some pics of the frame its in pretty good shape considering she's an old girl at 24. a little surface rust but the only area that has me concerned is the rear frame crossmember just forward of the gas tank its pretty thin after over 20 yrs of rust had its way with it. I'm gonna cut that out and rehad the cab mounts with some 2x2" 0,25 wall box tube.... and for the rear im gonna cut the rear bumper/ cross member of and replace it with some 4x4" 0.25 wall box tube.
in the process this will hopefully let stretch the gas to the rear 3 or more inches. the 4x4 tube will be welded directly to the ends of the frame rails. so in theory ill be able to slide the tanks back. im doing the same 4x4 tube for the front will be stretching the front and rear wheelbase also. not sure on the total stretch yet but i want to get over 100" wheelbase when in done i would like to do 3-4" front and 3-4" rear but we'll see.

anyways from the pics you can see, i cleaned up my 8.8.... God bless the needle scaler... It makes life so much easier. Ill be installing my Lock right today along with new axle seals.... ill be taking some pics of it all tonight hopefully today will be a productive day...

thanks,
mike...

[clean4drxj]

needle scalers are a great tool but.. they kind of "smoothe" the surface instead of making it slightly rough so the paint will have nothing to stick to. You'd be better off sandblastin them.

[Xtremeyj420]

Yeah I plan on blasting everything just let the scaler do its job. I got some 20/40 got that'll take care of the rest

[Xtremeyj420]

Ok so i hit a little snag in my build plan...

well i started off today cutting the rear bumper off my yj frame in preparation to weld up my new 4x4 1/4" wall bumpers front and rear. After finishing the prep work, I switched gears and started working on my 8.8 rear. I bought this rear a few months ago from a scrap yard, was told it was a 31 spline open Diff, and came out of a 2000 explorer. I drained it and started disassembly. After pulling the the spider gears something didnt quite seem right... and i thought i was just over reacting. yeah well long story short I have a trac lok not an open diff so the lock right i purchased is now useless to me... and yes i turned the wheel to check it prior and only one wheel spun... so now im at a stale mate im really not to keen on running a trac lok rear in my yj... the clutch discs are wasted.... so i need to rebuild it or find an open carrier and then i have to reset the gears im really aggravated right now. I gotta figure out what my next move is gonna be.

[clean4drxj]

you might get lucky and they'll make a locker yo go in the LSD carrier.

[Xtremeyj420]

power trax makes one for the lsd carrier... but its over a hundred dollars more than a locker for a open carrier..... grrrr.... i just wouldnt have bought this lock right if i had known. i bought this 8.8 specifically because it was "open".... now im not sure what to do..... anyone run extra clutch packs in the trac lok and get good lockup offroad?.... i dont know what i should do.... i would prefer to run an auto locker , but this might force my hand to rebuild the lsd for now and hope for the best...

[OWEN]

Sell it and get one with an open diff so you can run a Powertrax. I ran a Trac lock in a front axle ages ago, it might as well have been an open diff. Never heard of using extra clutch packs maybe its worth a try.

[Xtremeyj420]

Well Its been a long time since ive posted any updates on my yj build....its been slow and stubborn like a good jeep should be....

Anyways i finally got my 8.8 setup and eventually got the hookup up on a factory open carrier from a 2BNDRT on pirate... he really hooked me up and almost gave it to me for free.... good guy so swapped the ring gear off of my trac lok to the new open carrier new timken's throughout.... flopped in the carrier and i got lucky. Went together perfect pattern looked great didn't have to adjust anything..... new brakes throughout... and painted it all up nice from the wms in about 10 inches. so im waiting to get the rest of my drivetrain together so i can figure out my perches and burn them in...

thanks,
mike....