Philosoraptor's Canadian JP#90 Build

Showcase your Jurassic Park vehicle, or build progress.
User avatar
philosoraptor
Posts: 43
Joined: April 13th, 2016, 9:06 pm
Location: Vancouver, BC, Canada
Contact:

Re: Philosoraptor's Canadian JP#90 Build

Post by philosoraptor » May 30th, 2017, 11:47 pm

Vic, I love the seats, just so damn comfy and look great. Sadly I had to pay money for that work, but I justified it. And no worries, every JP build that isn't lucky enough to start out with original pouches needs to get some of yours!

Leethallee, I don't think I could sell the alloys at the moment, haha, honestly depending on what airline you fly you'll be paying for baggage anyways haha. And by all means come on up, we have plenty of mountains! Some still have snow and we are starting our summer season strangely.

Anyways, yet another long overdue update on the Jeep things... Randomly I decided to GoPro video my driveshaft to see how much axle wrap and movement was going on. It wasn't all too bad, but I did discover a slight wobble from my passenger rear wheel, which was weird because I had no vibrations while driving. Ended up being the brake rotor not seating properly on the axle shaft hub. So instead of trying to salvage the used rotors they got replaced.

Image

Next up I finally had some time and courage mustered to tackle to front axle spring over axle swap. Which meant I had to rip the entire thing out. Over the course of grinding the amount of metal that I was working with I caught a flake in the eye despite wearing a full face visor. Quick trip to the Emergency Room and the doc picking it out with a needle I was back working on the Jeep the next day. Lesson learnt; double up on eye protection. A good protractor, digital in my case, was paramount for lining things up with the new spring pads. It isn't too difficult, just line it up laterally then mirror the bottom mounts so you don't screw up your castor (at the sacrifice of a perfect pinion angle though). Tack things in, check many times, then go nuts with the welder. Also with the mounting pads which have multiple spring centre pins holes I choose to go with a modest 1" wheelbase stretch. New Synergy ball joints were added, my old ones were sloppy enough, investing on a proper ball joint tool made the job much easier than expected. However there were some hiccups, like trying to loosen the ball joint nuts and having them just spin the entire joint because the nut was rusted on. I didn't have to get the sawzall, but a neat trick I saw on YouTube where you jack up the axle under the knuckle to add tension was just enough to help loosen the nut.

Image
Image
Image
Image
Image

So all in all it was a solid 3-4 days of work, doing everything as a one person crew. So it was rolling again. As you'll see in the pic below it looks super funny being super tall and only on 33 inch tires. Also compounding the funny look was the fact that I had to add a 1/2" leaf spring spacer as the new crossover steering tie rod was contacting the leafs. Had to use larger boomerangs in the rear and go back to a stock length shackle for the front to try and level things out. Also because this a what I believed would be a temporary ride height I am still running the stock front driveshaft, and so far it has held up and not exploded with the minimal spline engagement. And also because I didn't want to spend money on longer shocks at the moment I fabbed up some spacers for those as well, and those haven't exploded either under city and trail driving! Longer brake lines also required, so some hard lines were added to the stock and already extended soft lines. A new track bar axle side mount was also required to help clear my new steering setup, so I chose to simply make it out of beefy 3/8" flat bar and then weld. Jeep mods are a never ending process of changing one aspect and having to address many others.

Image
Image
Image
Image
Image

Other random housekeeping items, had a weird vibration or rattle coming from what I thought was the dash. Wasted a lot of time digging around there to no avail, but then hit the google machine and people had commented that a worn hood stay rod would transfer vibes all the way to the cabin. After taking a look at the old original bracket and pivot and jiggling it around this confirmed that it did make noises. So I replaced the first quarter of the hood stay rod with a rod end spherical bearing and retained factory geometry. Why, because overkill! So far the vibes have disappeared, but I am sure more will surface on this 23 year old Jeep.

Image

Image

So then this happened. Was hanging out with my father talking shop and having a beer when he was insistent on checking Craigslist for some proper sized tires. Found a fresh ad locally posted a few hours earlier. The next day I had a set of 5 Goodyear MTRs with Kevlar in my possession for the price of what 2 would have cost new. The tread life was about 75% remaining which is unheard of, what a deal. 37x12.5x17 tires are damn big but I had to now reevaluate long term plans. I had a big Jeep camping/wheeling trip coming up and just had to get these mounted. So I got some steel rims and got them mounted. Some flex tests and light fender trimming for the rear had me good to go! The extra backspacing on the wheels (4.25" BS on a 17x9 rim) gave me some much needed stability as well. For a real mud terrain they ride quite civilized on the road and highway, they are louder but the traction gained is huge especially in the muck.

Image
Image

So next up came the big long weekend Jeepapalooza event which was a blast, tons of bbq, wheeling, sunshine, new friends, beer, and just an all around good time. Lots of cool Jeeps built in many different ways. On the last night after the big bbq, awards were handed out for most carnage, most modifications, and then all the attendees voted on their favourite Jeep. Lets just say the Jurassic love was strong, from the adults down to their children, to some of the more hardcore wheelers, everyone had a smile seeing the dinosaur mobile, so I got a trophy ;)

Image
Image
Image
Image
Image

So this is where JP90 is at now. Taking a look back, I managed to cross off some big goals. There are still many more to go and I have to think about where I wanna take things.

Image

Oh and then I went to Portland and brought home a souvenir...

Image

So now I have 2 Jeeps, I must be crazy :roll: 2006 Wrangler Unlimited, rolled over 100,000 miles on the way home, 6 speed manual with the venerable 4 litre powerplant (one that isn't burning or leaking oil too!), comfy marshmellowy coil springs, extra cargo space, longer more stable wheelbase, it was a no-brainer. As you can see, the original Sahara alloys made their way onto the LJ. Fitting 33s on stock suspension, with only some minor rubbing at full lock :lol: I can work with that for city mode.

I still love the Jurassic Jeep and it has a special place in my heart, but the YJ platform as a whole has limitations. I couldn't justify coilovers or a proper stretch and I was running out of room. So at the moment I will be running JP90 hard in the trails this summer as is, and slowly building the LJ to be a Long Arm lift (3-4" ideally), High Clearance fender, low Centre of Gravity build. At that time the built Ford 8.8 will get put on the LJ, then the Dana 44 from the LJ will get converted for leafs on the YJ. Once it is at that stage the 37s will get transferred over and the JP Jeep will get lowered onto the 33s and stock springs SOA to be the cruiser. For now that is the plan, but these are dynamic things.

Thanks for tuning in, happy Jeeping everyone!
1994 YJ Sahara 4L/5sp - JP90 - Jurassic Trail Ready
viewtopic.php?f=20&t=5927

User avatar
philosoraptor
Posts: 43
Joined: April 13th, 2016, 9:06 pm
Location: Vancouver, BC, Canada
Contact:

Re: Philosoraptor's Canadian JP#90 Build

Post by philosoraptor » June 15th, 2017, 11:05 pm

Minor updates. New front driveshaft from Tom Woods arrived. Custom built to spec, so proper length, extended splines, bigger OD plus heavier gauge tubing and greaseable u-joints all at an affordable cost. Also finalized hi-lift mounting on the rear bumper, had to move the spare tire mount an inch rearward (easily done thanks to multiple holes coming in it from the mfg) to create just enough room for the jack. Can't slide it right on, but rather one side at a time, which works for me as I don't want to extend the spare any further and increase the leverage of that big tire on the back. Wingnuts drilled and safety pins on cables inserted to prevent them from backing out and spilling the hi-lift somewhere on the trail. Just need to find a beefy cable lock to prevent theft. Also Cerakoted my shackles in graphite black as the previous red paint had faded to pink!

Image

Image

Image
1994 YJ Sahara 4L/5sp - JP90 - Jurassic Trail Ready
viewtopic.php?f=20&t=5927

User avatar
philosoraptor
Posts: 43
Joined: April 13th, 2016, 9:06 pm
Location: Vancouver, BC, Canada
Contact:

Re: Philosoraptor's Canadian JP#90 Build

Post by philosoraptor » July 31st, 2017, 11:34 pm

Hello again!

Jeep things that have happened since last time... First off since the winter I have had a dent in my driver fender when I hit a snowbank. So with the help of my father, he helped bodywork it out to the original shape and painted to match.

Image
Image

On an offroad trip I managed to invert a front shackle, not good at all, really surprised I didn't break anything. Thankfully I had some flat ground and the hi lift to get it back in the proper position. This led me to switching back to using the proper boomerang orientation to prevent this. However it exacerbated the reverse rake stance, so I ended up making some custom rear shackles to level things out, no pictures yet but finally it is level. Also what helped is that I finally installed a warranty leaf spring for the passenger rear side. Rough Country did not want to give me a pair of rear springs unfortunately. Oh well, can't win them all, however this necessitated the use of a ratchet strap to help things line up on install.

Image
Image

Then of all things while driving in the city and going over a speed bump my turn signal lever sheared off leaving a piece jammed inside the column. So to go digging for that I made a homemade lock ring compressor to tear apart the steering column. This is a job I wouldn't wish upon my worst enemies, very finicky and frustrating!

Image
Image

Most recently since I had finally settled on a ride height for the foreseeable future it was time to install my rear traction bar to limit my axle wrap. Overall the install wasn't too bad, just lots of prep work sanding paint down and lining things up before burning them in. Quite happy with it, definitely helps and does a good job! That is it for now, happy Jeeping!

Image
Image

Image
1994 YJ Sahara 4L/5sp - JP90 - Jurassic Trail Ready
viewtopic.php?f=20&t=5927

User avatar
philosoraptor
Posts: 43
Joined: April 13th, 2016, 9:06 pm
Location: Vancouver, BC, Canada
Contact:

Re: Philosoraptor's Canadian JP#90 Build

Post by philosoraptor » February 22nd, 2019, 3:20 pm

Well, it has been some time since my last update! I have still been lurking the forums but not posting as much. I still have JP90 and it's running like a champ. I have shifted focus on to the LJ though and building it up.

Also unfortunately about a year back the cops gave me a ticket for a vehicle inspection, which was only a matter of time. They cited the large tires, lift height, narrow front bumper, no third brake light, and no mudflaps as non-compliant with our motor vehicle act. I knew it was a matter of time, just was peeved that I got pulled over in a parking lot while minding my own business. This is an ongoing issue for any modified truck where I live, sooner or later everyone gets hit. So I took it off the road and rebuilt some things. Back to stock springs (which solved my rake stance), proper length shocks without extenders, stock front bumper, borrowed the third brake light from my LJ made it work, homemade removable mudflaps carved out of my buddy's old JK plastic fenders, and a swap to my 33" tires to solve the tire poke. Viola, apparently this makes my truck safer; enforcement doesn't realize that enthusiast owned vehicles are typically the ones that are looked after and well kept. It passed the inspection without a hiccup.

Also the big update is that I have reluctantly decided to put JP90 up for sale. I love driving the Jurassic Jeep, there is nothing quite like it. However owning another Jeep plus a commuter car I need to downsize the fleet.

FOR SALE thread to be created soon, stay tuned!!

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image


This is the other Jeep you can blame for stealing the spotlight!

Image
1994 YJ Sahara 4L/5sp - JP90 - Jurassic Trail Ready
viewtopic.php?f=20&t=5927

Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 16 guests