Project: BaeTheWJ

[Mr.Shrek]

Howdy Fam!

Mr.Shrek here and back in action with a new build thread. Man oh man was I pleased to find a new (to me) Grand Cherokee section just sitting here waiting for a build thread. I've been in XJ's for a while, but in the last year moved over to WJ's.

Now for those who haven't seen here are the jeeps I've built up until now.

The first was a 91 xj that I bought with tan interior and 2wd. Drove it till I blew the motor. Found a 4wd parts jeep with no title and a good drivetrain with black interior. Soon the two became one and here she with her first lift and 31's.

Then she got a front tube bumper, 4 more inches of lift, trimmed finders, cut and folded quarters, 8.8 rear and a rattle can paint job.

Drove her until I got a smoking deal on a 99 I couldn't turn down.
I stole all the good stuff I could from the 91 and added a few more goodies before I was done with her.

My WJ journey started with this blue 99 that met it's untimely demise thanks to a Mazda that ran a red light. All I really had time to do to her was start a power inverter install and a roof basket.

That road now brings us to my current jeep that I affectionately call BaeTheWJ (She even has her own IG accounthoto

 

[PacificEd]

Good to see you back. It looks like the new WJ has a lift.

 

[Alaskan89XJ]

Recently also obtained a WJ, same color as yours.

Yours is year what?

I think I understand that all WJ's have parts that are inter-changeable only to other WJ's.., correct?

4.0, or 4.7?

Purchased the WJ since it was available, as my XJ is down for a bit. Lots of bells, and whistles with the WJ which has taken me some time to get used to. Have not driven an automatic with a floor shift since 1964, a Ford Galaxy XL500. NOW with this new to me WJ.., I've tried a couple of times to find the clutch pedal.., sheesh...


Had to get a 3M kit in order to polish the headlight lenses. Did not want to use tooth paste, etc., blah, bah. Aimed the lights along a one lane road which proved to be just perfect for that purpose.

I must now get a trailer hitch in order to minimize the Ford Pinto thing though.

 

[Cottontail]

Hey Shrek!!! Welcome back! Good to see you on here again. My XJ still has that 4.10 geared D30 of yours under it.

We had an '04 WJ for about 10 years and really liked it.

 

[Mr.Shrek]

Thanks guys!

Yup Ed, it sure does.

Here are a few of the details from when I bought it.

4.7l HO V8
Rebuild transmission
Transfer case was swapped from the selectrac to the 242
4" Rough Country X series lift with adjustable LCA's, Drop pitman arm and steering stabilizer.
275/65r18's on JK take offs.
Tinted windows (5% rear, 20% front doors and 50% windshield) Not a big fan of the windshield tint.
Interior lights switched over to LED's.
4 LED pods in the grill.
Sony Radio installed in center console (Previous owner planned on doing a tablet in the factory radio location.
JBL speakers all the way around.
JL 360w 4 channel amp.


Here are a few shots before doing anything to her.

Now all that is out of the way, on to the adventure!

First stop emissions testing.

Hot dog she passed!

 

[Mr.Shrek]

Next up was to cannibalize all the goodies from ol Blue that I'd like to throw on to Bae.

A few of the items I pulled were:
Husky floor liners (Front, rear and cargo)
JVC MVH-X560BT head unit
Center console
Battery
Serpentine belt (Good emergency spare)
Power inverter with 4ga wiring
Roof rack (Which along with the Husky liners were the first items to be installed)

Now to say the previous owner did not know much about wiring or cleanliness is an understatement. I went through the jeep and found random wires running to the roof, in the engine compartment, to the dash and even to the cargo area that went to nothing at all. The wiring for the radio, amp and speakers were just as bad. He used speaker wire that was meant for tweeters at best. Spent an afternoon pulling all of the random wiring and improving the amp install. I ran Kicker XW16 gauge speaker wire from the amp location into the doors directly to each speaker. The 4 channel now runs the front JBL GX963 three-ways and the rear channels are bridged to run one Rockford fogate 12 in a sealed enclosure. The rear JBL GX602 Coaxials run off of the rear output from the JVC radio. In the future I plan on adding a mono block amp for the sub and will move the rears over to channels 3 and 4 of the amp. Parts from the old center console was used to return Bae's console to factory specs and integrity, as well as returning the radio to the factory location.

Just some of the sad wiring I pulled out.

 

[Mr.Shrek]

Last moves for Ol Blue was to part it out for all I could before it went off to be Chinese wrenches. Sold the seats, front axle, engine (Which later you'll see why I hadn't...) and transfer case.

Coming to a Harbor Freight near you!

Also found a brother from the same mother...just a little shorter. Love how a simple lift takes away the mom van look.

On the way home though I got some glamor shots of Bae at a big ol barn near the house.

 

[Mr.Shrek]

The wind diffusor was looking a little boring so to pay homage to my favorite football team and the great state of TN, I put a little spin on the state flag. First step was to remove it from the rack, tape it off and spray down some white.

Then I masked off the white stripe and laid down the orange.

Now I cheated on the tri stars logo in the middle as it is a sticker I picked up from a local sports memorabilia shop. Here she is all done and then installed.

Rack works well too. Plans to modify it here in the near future though.

 

[Xenica]

Thanks for this information!
Cheers,Diceus