Ok so nothing loaded right on this first post. so im just going to split it up into sections.
Hey every one, i picked up this blue 01 XJ 4wd when i turned 17.


It came from a dealership owned by a "friend" of ours, for $7,000. yeah i know its a steep price but even though i was buying it my parents refused to let me get anything from craigslist. I had no mechanical knowledge at this time other than a few oil changes. so after searching this seemed to be in the best shape (or so i thought). I got it in December and drove it around, it ran fine and all was well except for a few minor noises and such. Then the warm weather came and i noticed it wasn't running as nice as it had before. turns out the OP didn't find maintenance necessary and the stealership decided it was easier to just do an extensive cover up job . So now i have began to fix the jeep up since I'm 7 grand deep .

First i did a complete tune-up including a new battery and alternator cause those were shot and the jeep was running really nice. with some spare time and cash i decided to throw a real quick EMT roof rack together to help haul some stuff around for the summer.

 

Holy long post!

 

haha sorry i had a lot to pack in. now i just need to get the pics to work

 

Make sure you leep everythong off your current block. 98 will most likely still have a distributor.

 

haha, i get it, but its still funny

 

as far as photos go... try using photobucket.com they also have an app...

 

Damn, I REALLY fat-fingered that one!

Stupid touch screen phones.

 

With that out of the way and the XJ still running decent i decided to tackle the crappy rims and repaint them silver.






and then remove the ugly and faded side molding



Then the wiring in the engine went ballistic so the jeep sat for a few days while i ran a lot of new wires and fixed the problems.

 

everything was great and i got to take it out for it first time wheeling


She appeared to be running strong so i ordered a nice little 3" rough country aal lift and steering stabilizer.



Got real bored one day so decided to paint the hatch tail light.

 

She was running good but appeared to be loosing coolant but i remembered it did the same thing when we first bought it so not being totally mechanically inclined yet i thought nothing of it and would just top it off from time to time.

Took it wheeling with the new lift with lgnut123 and ended up having to put my tailpipe back on at the end of the day after it got ripped off.

 

lso right around this time my jeep began to have a slight heat soak issue so i put some hood vents in to help it keep cool.


Then my exhaust manifold cracked so i replaced it over february break with some rugged ridge steel headers.


Then my rear wheel cylinder blew so i spent a weekend replacing and cleaning that.



After all this she really started to have some heat soak issues so i replaced the thermostat, thermostat housing, water pump, radiator cap, and the hoses all to no avail.

 

On a positive note i found i set of brand new 15x10 Mickey Thompson classic ii's with 3.75" backspacing for $200!


but back to the sad part. The cooling issues continued and I've officially determined the the infamous 0331 head decided to crack between the 3rd and 4th cylinders . plus all the coolant has done quite a job on the engine internals by this point so I decided it would be best to just swap the engine and found one from a 98 that i will be picking up this weekend with the cash from my lift and tires fund .

Some of its a little out of order, but other than an interior swap, a boat load of oil and other fluid changes, and a few other mods I forgot to mention that's everything up till now. once i pick up the engine I'll start cleaning and prepping it and then swap it as soon as school lets out (June 14th). No one else in my family has any other mechanical knowledge so ill be tackling it on my own. the XJ still runs and drives at this moment so it will get me through the rest of school ad work till that point. ill post more pictures and update again once i pick up the engine.
Future plans include a paint job while the engines being swapped
and once everything is functioning properly again a 4.5" zone lift and some 33's. Overall I'm not really to pissed at it all because I've learned a lot and hey at least there's no rust

 

nice, now we know what ur talking about!!! but those short handled shovels kill ur back...

 

Thanks! haha and yeah they leave you pretty sore for sure

 

Won the battle against the parents and the engine swap is officially a go! Picking up the engine this weekend now so I'll post pics once I get it. In also planning on painting soon especially while the jeeps down for the swap. I'm thinking of doing tan and black because I've always liked that color combo but Im open to suggestions if anyone has any input color wise