Ok so I figure while it is not technically a build in the true sense of the word I have done a few modifications and have a few more to go so I thought I would consolidate it here in one thread and go from start to finish..............or start to moving towards finish
This was how she came off the lot. In fact it was the day she came off the lot.
After a couple of midnight highway trips I soon realized how bad stock JK headlights could be and at the suggestion of one of the members here went with the Hella H4 upgrade from Susquehanna Motorsports
http://www.rallylights.com/detail.aspx?ID=4669 with the help from my favourite helper.
For anyone wanting more out of there lights I recommend this set..........great brightness and ranger, razor sharp cut off on low beam. The only drawback is that for whatever reason the voltage signals for your driving lights cause the hella to turn on hi-beam. Not a huge issue as soon as you turn on your head lights this is corrected and I am going to use a ProCal to reprogram my driving lights to my fogs.
After that I had been on a run or two without a radio and decided that not being able to talk to or hear from the other folks driving was a pain in the rear. So I installed a Uniden 510 CB. The CB went in the armrest storage container and mounted an external speaker up into the corner roll bar beside the drivers head.
Next on the list was onboard air............while I have no issue lending a my stuff or helping out I suck at using other peoples stuff just makes me uncomfortable that I am not prepared to do what is needed for simple trail running. So I picked up the ARB onboard compressor and a custom bracket from Northridge4X4.ca as well as an ARB tire deflator.
I didn't like the idea of running the switch back inside and cutting a hole in the dash............for two reasons the first is I don't use the compressor without the hood up and pumping up tires so I need to get out and open the hood anyway...........that and I just wasn't reading to be carving up my new dash. So I used some epoxy and a couple of rare earth magnets and mounted it against the inside of the motor well just forward of the battery..........good water protection there and handy. I took a little time to waterproof the switch as much as possible so should be ok there.
From there it was lift time. I debated doing it myself with some help from friends of course and in the end decided that it was something I wanted done a little quicker (would have taken me a couple of days at least and the JK is my daily driver) and I wanted some expertise and experience in doing it. So Jay at Chanda Precision Motors took the JK in and installed the 2" OME lift with HD Coils, long travel shocks, Currie lower front control arm, and front and rear adjustable track bars. Spidertrax wheel spacers for the stocker rims to work. When it was all in I ended up with an additional 4"
Now that the lift was in..............well I guess it needed bigger tires (well perhaps need is a stretch). Anyway I have been talking to this guy on and off for about 4 weeks about this set of 5 Tires and Rims he had up on Kijiji.........in his first ad he was looking for 1,500 for them and in the second ad he dropped to 1,400. We had been communicating back and forth for a while and it looked like he wasn't interested in how much I wanted to pay...........no big deal as I wasn't sold on the tires anyway and hadn't had a good look at the rims. The tires were Hankook Dynapro MT's and the Rims are Eagle Alloys Offroads Series 140. After 5 weeks he had contacted me a couple times in the end he agreed to $900 for all five rims and tires........they rims are in perfect shape, not a scratch mark or corrosion on any of them. The tires are probably 80% tread and 100% on the spare. Score
Again I had my favourite helper out turning wrenches getting the new tires on.
So that is where she stands for now.........One order are a Poison Spyder JK Brawler Lite Bumper and a KingOne 9.5i Winch.
I have a few more things in mind I want to do but that will be it for a little bit.
A couple of poser shots in the driveway.