my 2 door chopped build thread...

[aintright]

so i figured i'd drop some pictures and start a build thread here... it's going to be slow... i only have time to work on it in the winter... and being a po boy doesn't help.... so anyway here's what i'm starting with...

93 2dr 4.0 aw4 np231

when i brought it home a few months ago... yeah the shitty s10 visor is long gone...

on to the plans...

1. fix rust
2. cut gratuitus amounts of sheet metal
3. make some bumpers
4. make some mini boatsides
5. chop the top
6. add full cage
7. add 231/300 doubler
8. full width hp44/9in combo
9. lift
10. run 37's

so with all the trimming, i'm hoping to only need about 4in of lift to clear the 37's and still be able to have about 5in of up travel... i won't know for sure until i get it all cut and sitting back on level ground to take some measurements...

 

[aintright]

onto some pictures...
first i had to fix the rust inside. pretty much the whole floor front to back needed replaced...

the front seats were so bad i decided to pull the trigger on some empi race trim seats... so far i'm a big fan...

so i didn't really need to cut much of the corrugated tin held together with spray foam insulation... it kinda just fell out...

no pics of the seats going in but i used some tj seat brackets so i could still get to the back... probably won't work when i do the mini boat sides.

and here's the back... sorry about the dark photo's but little light and a cell phone aren't the best...

cut all that out to redo the floor...


whoops! i guess i got carried away...

here is how far up i cut for the new wheel wells... i used a trimmed up rear tj flare for my template...

this is what i'm thinking for the floor since i'm going to be chopping the top... i wanted a little extra room for running the exhaust... so i just plated the top of the frame rail and added in some supports to brace the floor... this is just a shitty ms paint idea but i do have half the bracing in... just need to see where the bulkhead will be to see where the other bracing goes. the plan is to stick my battery behind the driver seat between the frame rail and the new floor...

about 9 cut off wheels later and lots of screwing up cardboard templates and trimming of pieces...

still working on the driver side... hopefully i'll get that mostly done in the next few days... well untill i run out of steel anyway...

a few other things going on as well... some hd offroad frame stiffeners... so far i have the rear and mids... only the pass side rear is installed... install was pretty smooth....

oh yeah almost forgot, once i have the top chopped and the whole floor buttoned up i'm going to sink the gas tank into the floor and redo the fuel filler neck.

thanks for looking, i'm hoping to have all the body work done this winter and start on the cage in the spring/summer... just going to depend on money

 

[beakie]

gotta say it looked like dung, but that last pic shows some good progress.
good luck, things are looking up already.

 

[livinthedream]

Awesome man! That is soooo much work! I had to do the same with mine.... Good luck with the build

 

[aintright]

not much progress today... just got the driver side rear frame stiffener on and a few misc. pieces to fix my terrible cuts...

also got a few panals cut out for the driver wheel well, and now i have to wait on some steel to finish... so in the mean time i'll finish putting in the 97+ center console so i can get some cupholders...

 

[aintright]

metal is coming in tomorrow, so hopefully i'll have an update for tomorrow night.

goal is to finish the inner wheel wells, weld them up solid and get the top chopped so i can start on the fitment...

i'll get some pics up as soon as there is something worth taking pictures of...

 

[dopod]

Nice start!

I know how much fun rust removal is too :banghead: but looks likes you have it under control.

 

[Gravesdiggerxj]

so with all the trimming, i'm hoping to only need about 4in of lift to clear the 37's and still be able to have about 5in of up travel... i won't know for sure until i get it all cut and sitting back on level ground to take some measurements...

plan on tubing the front inner fenders or scooting the axle forward to get those uptravel numbers with that lift.

Sound cool. Keep working

 

[aintright]

thanks man... yeah i plan on moving the axle forwar an inch or two... we'll see about the up travel for the front once i get that all cut as well...

i'm kind of thinking some ford shock towers sunk into the wheel well with some bracing will give me enough room... but that's all pipe dreams now. well at least until i get closer to an axle install anyway...

on to the updates...

 

[aintright]

so finally got some steel today to finish up the wheel wells... yeah they look like shit, but what are ya gonna do... they'll work and i'm not a pro with a 4 1/2in angle grinder as a precision cutting instrument yet...

holy shit... i was totally blown away at the strength of the safety glass in the rear... three pretty hard whacks with a 3lb sledge to the outside didn't even crack them. glad i didn't try to punch them.... haahaha.. but one little swing from the inside and they just shattered, well into all the tape anyway...

i didn't take any pics before i took the remaining glass out... so here is one sitting on the pile of shit i cut out of the jeep. minus the top, that's behind me...

with that and some wiring out of the way the sawzall wanted some dinner... so this is just me being waaaay too excited over cutting the top off... i'll square it all up and test fit the rear hatch to graft in tomorrow.

can't wait to get this guy back together so i can start on the cage...


plans for the next few days are going to be squaring up the cut and figuring the final placement of the rear hatch to seal off the cab. supporting and filling any gaps in the floor of the "bed" then sinking the gas tank into the floor, making a frame for it and routing the filler neck, then making some type of housing to go around it so some asshole can't cut my fuel lines...

 

[aintright]

oh yeah i forgot i have to patch that rust hole in the top rear as well...

the plan is to cut out the stock rear cross member and fully weld in a new bumper/xmember, it'll be made out of 2x4x1/4 rect tube

right now i'm just debating on how far into the frame my sleeves should go for the rear bumper. i have some 8in pieces cut. i'm thinking of just using those and using some 3x3x1/4 angle i have laying around to kind of gusset the inside of the frame rail to the bumper.

there will be some more of the same rect tubing on the sides to protect the bottom of the rear quarters which will be tied into the frame via some 2in hrew tube i have sitting around

 

[aintright]

i think i'll just plate it all up and leave it this way... you know for a wing. help me pick up a tenth or so on the 1/4 mile time...

here's my scribble of where i think i want to trim it so i can seat it flush, need some more measurements first so i don't go and slice it all to hell... this was too hard to find up here...

 

[jeeperjohn]

I think those wheelwells look awesome! Give yourself some credit.

 

[seth15210]

i like your ideas, always wanted to chop mine up but dont got the stones too do it.

 

[aintright]

thanks man, but if you saw them up close your opinion would change, but anywho they work for their intended purpose so i'm happy...

seth15210 it actually feels really good to cut it up. i've never cut any vehicle up this much before, and well, i'm hooked

 

[austinaubinoe]

I think those wheelwells look awesome! Give yourself some credit.

X2 they look good to me!

And I have the same seats in tan. There awesome for the price!

 

[aintright]

worked on the bed rails tonight.

look ma no rust

i just need to get some angle iron to weld to the top, probably toss a few braces underneath to the body, just because....
then i'll measure to see what i need to cut off the hatch so i can start grafting that in...

 

[aintright]

yeah so i had to have them form the metal because i guess they only make angle iron that's 3 1/2 x 4 in 1/4 thick and up... and being the procrastinator i am i didn't call till late in the afternoon, so waiting till monday to pick that up

not a whole lot done today cut up the angle i did have to make the frame for my gas tank, and of course i cut the sides too short

i ended up just grinding the wheel wells

so here is the measurment from the ground to the top of the wheel well on some saggy ass bent stock springs

and here is what a stock 235 looks like in the wheel well

 

[aintright]

got the hole cut for the gas tank tonight. damn was that a pain in the ass. every measurement i took and laid out was different when i went back to double check. i ended up putting the tank kind of centered and traced it, then trimmer from there

here is the tank just sitting in there after i trimmed it all up for the frame to go in, just to give it some rigidity and a place to mount tabs for some tank straps

the frame for the gas tank will be made from some 1x1x1/8 angle. i'll weld that to the floor and the frame rails where it meets. then toss on something to attach some straps to for some support.

i'll just make a top for it for the time being, but eventually the whole back end will have a false floor with a bunch of locking storage compartments

 

[aintright]

well got i got the floors re welded after all the trimming and the frame for the gas tank welded in...

then i started to see what i could do with the filler neck. i didn't want to cut another hole in the side to mount another one high, so i opted for door number too...

intial cut and mock up...

this was a no go. i couldn't bend it enough to get a good angle to the tank.

soooo.... i cut some more out...

i've got a few pieces mocked up to fit it back together but nothing to take a pic of. it sucks when your garage is really close to your old neighbors house. they don't appreciate lots of grinding when they are trying to watch murder she wrote...

so i'll just wait till tomorrow to attempt to make this puzzle and put it together, maybe i'll cut another hole for the fuel lines and such too