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Omelet's Build Thread!

313K views 1K replies 77 participants last post by  PainlessJeep26 
#1 · (Edited)
That's right, I am FINALLY making my build thread! I have been modding this Jeep for three years now so I have a lot of catching up to do. Just bare with me, because this is going to take some time to get through. I will start from the beginning and try not to miss anything. :thumbsup:


It all started in 2004 when I saw the beast that AEV and SuperLift made.





Not only did it look awesome, but it boasted some incredible performance. A Jeep Grand Cherokee with QDII coupled to a HEMI! I had to have it! Unfortunately, being a lowly military man also trying to support a family I could not afford a $45K vehicle, let along the $5K+ for the lift tires and other goodies.

Finally after the market took a crap in late 08 the time had come! I started looking around and pricing the different models and option. By then the CRD had also come out which I wanted more than the Hemi, but I could not find one in Cali :glare: I found a few in other states, but they were too far away and more than I could afford. So I ended up scoring a 2005 Limited with every option available that year and 40K miles for $16K! It seemed no one wanted to buy a big Hemi powered vehicle at that time, so local dealers were pricing them very low. Even a year after I bought it I couldn't find a better deal :thumbsup:

This was the day I brought it home!






Yes it is dirty because I insisted on swinging by a trail on the way home to test out 4lo! I wanted to make sure the t-case and ELSDs were working properly. :D In fast the first mod I made was to remove the front air dam before I hit the trail.


 
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#3 · (Edited)
Well about a month later I got a killer deal on an intake and exhaust from autoanything.com

First to go on was the new Volant CAI.





The Volant was designed for the 6.1L, but fits just fine on the 5.7L. The only thing needed to make it a bolt on instal is a longer .5" hose that I picked up at the auto parts store for a couple bucks. I picked the Volant over the others because of the inclosed filter design. The filter is housed inside the box which completely shields it from the hot engine compartment. The only air entering the intake is from outside!

Later I wrapped the intake tube and box with cool tape to help insulate it from the hot engine during off roading (slow going when there isn't much air passing through).




After the intake was the MBRP exhaust.






I notched the bumper so the tip wasn't so low. I didn't want it getting hung up while off road. It still scrapes sometimes, but it is better than it would be and I don't want to completely hide it.






It had a killer tone to it. A nice deep gargle!


http://youtu.be/-Z98RG8BbqI


After about a year the wife decided the drone from the exhaust was just too much. So I installed a 12" reso towards the tailpipe. That helped but wasn't enough. So I ditched the MBRP muffler in favor of a 3" inlet/outlet Magnaflow. That changed to tune a bit which was good for appeasing the wife, but it no longer had the gargle to it that I loved. However, it still sounded good and the wife was happy! And as any married man can tell you, "A happy wife = A happy life" or "If the wife isn't happy, no one is" :giveup:

After said changes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuodIXbxUIk
 
#4 ·
Looking great so far. Cant wait to read through all of your projects again...never gets old!! ha. You have done some great work!!
 
#9 ·
how are those led reverse bulbs holding up? where did you get them?
 
#10 ·
Ok enough with the fancy stuff! I snagged a set of 5 Rubi wheels and tires off craigslist for $300. One (the spare) was new and the other four were around 60% left.



Test fit :D



They got to sit around for a bit until I got my lift :D



Eventually, I sold my stock chrome clad wheels to a guy with a Commander for $450! He had the Laredo. He needed new tires and these were practically new, plus he wanted chrome wheels. Not a bad way to make $150 :D




In the mean time I installed a set of Aries taillight guards I got off eBay new for $60. I eventually modified the mounting brackets because I didn't like how far they stuck out. These pics are after the modification.









 
#12 ·
Eventually I got all of the Old Man Emu (Medium Duty) lift goodies I ordered from Kolak! Just in time too. I had a trip planned with my dad over the weekend. Thursday came and I was still missing my front struts. I started by doing the rear and the struts ended up coming that afternoon. I finished the install that evening and then set out first thing in the morning to go to my dad's.

Started tearing into the front end at about 1500!



While trying to compress the new MD coils, I snapped one of my cheap spring compressors. So don't cheap out on those, spend the extra money and get the good ones! Luckily there was a PepBoys down the street that was open until 1900. Besides that the install went fine.

The next morning right before leaving:






This was my initial lift configuration. The Full OME MD lift, 1.25" spacers, Rubi Moab wheels, and Rubi BFG M/T 255/75/17 tires.


*Oh and for those who are afraid to install anything by them self, to date I have successfully done everything to this Jeep solo! And I am no mechanic or anything special. So don't let not having any help stop you from doing anything :thumbsup:
 
#13 ·
Haha its on both forums lol so I guess great job omlet this is going to be an awesome build thread!!
 
#14 ·
So I go the lift done and headed up to my dad's. Once I got there I pulled my front inner fenders out so I could take care of the pinch welds before hitting the trail. It was uneventful other than the fact that the mini sledge my dad bought broke after a couple of hits :eek: So we had to run out and exchange it for a new one! Then it was TRAIL TIME!!!

We headed out to a place called Rock Front in the Los Padres National Forest. My dad brought his new 08 JK 4DR Rubicon. Nothing too exciting, just to test thing out.

















 
#17 ·
I just noticed I skipped my HIDs! Originally I installed 35W 6000K in both the lows and fogs. I also made my own relay harness because I was too cheap to buy one :D Then I swapped the fogs to 3000K. Later I swapped the lows to 5000K and eventually 55W 4300K. Lets just say I now have a stock pile in case I ever decide to change something else.
 
#20 ·
Well I bought an XJ right out of high school and started modding it. When my yonger bother bought his first car it was an XJ. Then I bought the WK. A year later my dad couldn't take it any longer and bought a JK while I was gone on deployment, which was exactly what I was telling him he should get. Then just a few months ago guess what my brother got... yep he had to go and get a WK! I have slowly turned my family into a Jeep family. In fact one of my sisters wants a WK, but she has a Mustang right now and is in college so she can't afford to make any changes just yet. She keeps talking about trading it in, but I don't think she will until she finishes.


Here we go! Take me on the ride of how your beast was built!
You had better hold on tight! :D
 
#19 ·
Here we go! Take me on the ride of how your beast was built!


Sent from my iPhone 6 using Tapatalk
 
#23 · (Edited)
Haha! Awesome! :thumbsup:


man, i remember these pics (of you and your dad) from a few years ago on JF or JU (maybe both). lol back then i was like "wow that thing's a beast" and now look at it! crazy how time passes and jeeps get nicer!
Yep! I almost never go to JU anymore, it has really slowed down. I will pop in occasionally to see if anything great is going on. What's funny is I thought my WK was so big back then too (well not in comparison to my XJ). It is a bit bigger now, but still small compared to some. It is fun to be doing this after all this time. I get to reminisce as I dig up old pics!
 
#22 ·
man, i remember these pics (of you and your dad) from a few years ago on JF or JU (maybe both). lol back then i was like "wow that thing's a beast" and now look at it! crazy how time passes and jeeps get nicer!
 
#24 ·
In it to win it :)

Sent from my BlackBerry 9650 using Tapatalk
 
#25 ·
The Next set of mods was the long awaited 4xGuard front guard along with the newly released Matrix! Unfortunately I got the newer (3rd GEN) front guard with the shorter sides. It was a little lighter than the Gen 2, but I didn't like the look of it as much. Oh well what are you going to do right! I was really excited about getting the Matrix. I had seen Russ' first 2 designs and when he finally released the production version I had to have it. I wanted to get the hoop as well, but I couldn't bring myself to spend $150 plus shipping on a 2' piece of pipe. I had planned on making one eventually, but then other mods got in the way (literally :D)







Oh, I also installed some chrome molding in my grill. I thought it looked good at the time :D
 
#27 ·
It was time to figure out the spare tire situation. Until now I had been keeping it in the cargo area. This works but gets annoying since it takes up so much space. On my XJ I had tried strapping my spare to the roof in a basket, and though that got it out of the back I didn't like the extra top weight and increased body role it produced. This time I wasn't going to do the same. I knew I didn't want my spare up there. I know a 32" is lighter than a 35", but I didn't want to increase top weight any more than I needed to. I thought about getting the Saguaro rear bumper and carrier, but for many reasons that wasn't going to happen. All that was left was the stock tire location. So I removed the bumper to see what I was dealing with.





(You can also see my reso in that one)

Since I had the factory hitch I knew that was going to be the big problem.



For now I decided to pull the hitch out and try to get my fully inflated 255/75/17 up in there. Until now all I had seen was a couple of guys fit their 265/70/17 up in there. Knowing that the 255 was only slightly taller than the 265 I figured I could make it work.






I had some plans to modify the hitch, but I didn't have time to do it then.






And in went my inflated spare. This was and still is a brand new Rubi BFG M/T.






I had enough clearance at the exhaust.




And with it pushed all the way to the rear It could hug the rear crossmember with some room to spare against the track bar.






At this time I had also scored a brand new 4xGuard rear guard Gen 2 off eBay for $120! Some guy was selling it and didn't know what he had. He listed it as a front skid for a Commander. I sent him a message telling him what he actually had along with an offer. A few minutes later I received a message back from him that said SOLD!!!






Eventually I got around to modifying the hitch and reinstalling it. I cut off the nuts that were tacked onto the back side and trimmed the hitch flush with the welds. Then I got carriage bolts and passed them through from the inside out. This way the hitch was as smooth and low profile as possible.






With this set up I could have left the spare fully inflated and it would have rubbed the track bar slightly, but I decided to deflate it and get a compressor in case I have to use the spare. :D
 
#1,143 ·
This is awesome! I was trying to figure out how to get one of my SRT reps with 275-55-20 Nitto 420 as a spare . If i remember they are about 31" ,so this will work great!
 
#28 ·
Time to interrupt the mods for a quick outing :D

We took a trip along the border fence. Whenever I need to get out for a quick trip I just head out into the hills southeast of where I live. From my house I can be at the peak in 45min. We always see a lot of border patrol roaming about. The more difficult areas to get to are usually patrolled be Rubicons. I got to talking to one of the guys once and he told me I should take a trip along the border road. He said it wasn't really somewhere I was supposed to be however there was no rule saying I couldn't. So one Sat morning I took the fam out for a joy ride.

Sorry the pics are pretty crappy!






And where the fence ends for a bit...










Then to finding our way back home... in the rain!









 
#29 ·
Now is about the time I got a CB! I bought just a cheap Midland model-1001Z and a magnetic antenna. At the time I just wanted a CB and didn't care about any of the fancy add-ons, so this one was a nice choice. I planned to use the cubby to the left of the steering wheel for the CB's home. I pulled the cubby out and chopped the back of it off. Then fitted the CB inside of it and secured the CB with two bolts.




And once installed.






I kept the mic in the drivers door pocket. I was only going to use the CB while wheeling, so I didn't want it in the way for day to day driving. I also had a PA that I mounted on top of the front guard. Unfortunately I never took a picture of it and it is now destroyed :D I forgot to secure it into place once when I took the guard off and then put it back on (I think for an oil change). So late when I jumped in to go for a drive, the PA fell out and I ran over it :eek:
 
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