Spidey's old-new school YJ build from BHR

Spidey

Active Member
Location
Lehi,Ut
I have an 87 YJ. It was the car I learned to drive in and my first vehicle. It has never left me. It originally had a 6" stiff lift,bald bfgs,and a four banger. I had basically given up on the old drive train.
A few years back I found a great deal on a motor and tranny, I called novak and they educated me a bit. I spent the next several months on the phone with Street and Performance and Eric at Novak as I installed the LS1 and everything that goes with that. On my second trip to moab in june 07 I rolled it. Luckily I had insured it for alot and Allstate came to the rescue. The pay out was enough for me to get a new body, wrap it in 3/16 aluminium, then haul it off to Ben Hanks Racing for a Rear 4-link and a cage. It's been doing well. But I've been itchin to ditch that Dana 30 front ever since I put in the motor.

Current mess:
2001 Camaro SS LS1
4L60-E
231 with Tera ESS kit
Rear spidertrax with 35 spline currie shafts and true Hi 9 3rd member
Rear is linked by BHR
35 inch toyo mt with 15 inch cragars from the early 90s
99 inch wheel base
23" belly height.
Front is leaf sprung
Dana 30 leadin the pack.

So here we are. I've had a Truspi 609 front from Twisted Customs sitting in my garage for several months an I think its time to get a bit more serious.
I want to make it lower and longer. I dont like floppin. I also want it to have alot of uptravel so I can rally it at speed. I want it to be original in looks and styling. I'm also sick of the body wiring. Its old and crusty and looks ridiculous next to the new engine harness from SNP.

Parts:
Painless Wiring for YJ chassis
Spidertrax True Hi9 with 3"x3/8 wall tubes mosers and Detroit with warn premiums.
Bilstein 14" coilovers
Fox 2.0 bumps for all corners
37' red label krawlers
Walker Evans 17" beadlocks
a rebuilt scout box
Viking 125' by 3/8 rope
Currie anti rock sway bar

Im not too bad with basic mechanical stuff like motor swaps and assembly/dissassembly so I'll throw in the wiring harness. However, I would never trust my safety and the lives of those in my rig to my extremely limited welding skills. Once again I'm leaving the fabbing to the experts at Ben Hanks Racing. In the past they've given me more than what I've asked for in quality and taken pride in their work. They've patiently educated me alot when I've had stupid build ideas and have also brought my good build ideas to life better than I would've expected. Trusting that they will make corrections where i'm off and put a a personal and improved touch on my good requests, lets see what they can come up with.

My request is pretty demanding. I want 6 real inches of straight uptravel but a belly height of 20 inches. I want the front stretched 4 inches to 103. And for the first time ever I want some cool tube fenders that dont look like the same ol same from every shop in the country.
 
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Spidey

Active Member
Location
Lehi,Ut
just a couple of reference pics before the build. BTW, the front end, that is bumper, stinger, winch mount and fenders are all for sale for 300 bucks.
 

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Spidey

Active Member
Location
Lehi,Ut
lots of progress.
Frame is complete. Plenty of up travel.
Casey put on the caliper brackets.
Coilovers in place.
Steering is complete.
Bumps are ready to rock.
 

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Spidey

Active Member
Location
Lehi,Ut
A new look. Had to notch the grill to get that frame high.
Rear bump pads too.
Don't worry we're not leaving the brake line like that.
 

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Spidey

Active Member
Location
Lehi,Ut
Almost done and time for the test run. Did a little on Rusty Nail and a bit more that evening on the Rim.
I'm really happy with the results. Its alot of fun at speed and the faster I go the smoother it gets.
Its also surprsing how many more lines are possible now.
The steering feels a bit slow so we are putting in a higher flow pump.
Kasey really killed it with his fab skills. The thing is stout and I even jumped it a bit.
The anti-rock is on backorder at Currie but the rig is already super stable. It's really fun drifting turns at speed on Gemini Bridges road.
So to put it shortly, I'm very excited.
Final results are 104 wb 20 frame 19 belly with 6.5 straight uptravel.
 

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