TangMo, a '97 TJ Project

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Hi all
I'm a new member to the SJC, I joined after attending the Jambo and after constant gentle prodding from Dave at Wooders every time I was up there with a new "problem" needing a fix, thank you Dave for being so generous with your knowledge, time and patience.

I have bought/rescued this 97 TJ about 18 months ago from what appears to have been prolonged abuse and neglect by it's owner with the purpose of realizing my dream of that great Australian trip, building a capable off road unit as well as a long range (dare I say it) touring and camping 4WD.

After a very busy year when the TJ had more hoist time than on the road and one fabled trip to Cape Tribulation, cross to Mt. Isa then down back through Northern N.S.W (back in May), it is finally starting to take shape and nearing completion (you can all stop laughing hysterically now).

This is what it looked like shortly after I got it, ripped front bumper bar, leaking like a sieve from every conceivable orifice, engine that sounded like a medieval sword fight and those were the good points.




First casualty was the rear seat which had to go and replace that dinky front bar with an ARB bar, a winch and a pair of spotties.



A set of 32" X 10.5" X 15" Procomp AT tyres completed the first stage.

More to come......

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Next came the the injectors system LPG conversion with a 80Ltr tank on the floor behind the front seats, a 50Ltr upright water tank between the LPG and the seats, and then it was off for a custom cabinet making to encase it all and build a storage drawer.



The shiny blingy body armour on the corners was painted black shortly after (the black ones were from plastic so I got the only metal ones available)

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Around March it was time for a complete engine rebuild with new extra thick valve seats, Borla stainless steel extractor, new copper/brass heavy duty radiator, both diffs overhauled, front & rear seals, new EFS 9000 shocks and coils 2" lift, coil spacers (to a total 3.5"), new tail shaft & SYE, adj. rear control arms and all new other control arms etc etc

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Once that was all done I was ready for more pain......

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Around March it was time for a complete engine rebuild with new extra thick valve seats, Borla stainless steel extractor, new copper/brass heavy duty radiator, both diffs overhauled, front & rear seals, new EFS 9000 shocks and coils 2" lift, coil spacers (to a total 3.5"), new tail shaft & SYE, adj. rear control arms and all new other control arms etc etc

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Once that was all done I was ready for more pain......

Dam............thats lots

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I can now admit to having no idea at the beginning what I got my self into, once I was knee deep it was just being too stubborn to back out and not compromising on what I wanted, so it became a case of "don't struggle and just slide blissfully into the abyss"
Having completed that, I was under time pressure for my road trip in May. I still needed extra range (fuel) and carrying capacity so in came the Rhyno roof cage and the Body Armour rear bumper and swing arm tyre carrier with 2 Jerry cans and a high lift jack.

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Completing my road trip setup was installing Cruise control, extra wide black mirror with reverse/independent rear camera, rear Narva LED's, upgrade the headlights and spotties to HID, install a scangauge and fitting cabin and rear window LED light strips and a 40 ch UHF.

Took it out for a test run and to run the engine in on Easter to Mt. Tambourine.

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The Gtreat Road chapter 1.
In every respect it was the trip from hell, it started with the transfer case being jammed so for the entire trip I was stuck in 2H without much ability to go on the sand or any serious track whats more, trying to do more than 50kmh on those gravel highways out the back of Queensland and it was fish tailing.
The only good to have come out of those 3 weeks and aprox 10,000km was realizing exactly what didn't work in that setup.
Everything else was great......

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Setting camp for the night north of Cairns and those great outback sunsets.

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Since my return in June, the first cab off the rank was the Rubicon Express Extreme Duty 4.5" Long Arm lift Kit install to address the shocking handling.
This included coil bucket relocation brackets rear coils and 30mm spacers at the front , drop the rear panhard, replace the steering box, , Bilstein shocks, new steering dampner etc etc......

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The roof cage came off, no more weight up high. This TJ has finally got the handling I wanted on the road and got so much better off the road.

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The next step was getting a 50" LED light bar and two 6" ones for the top (operated on a 3way toggle switch) and fabricating a custom heavy gauge steel frame to mount those and the shovel at the base of the windscreen.

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I was now ready for Jambo.

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Jambo showed me that AT tires are OK in the dry but as soon as it got a bit greasy, well.....
So on came the 15 X 8 steel rims and a set of 33" BFG KM2's, no I couldn't go 35" cause I only have a few mm clearance before I knock the fire sprinklers in my basement car park (damn).
To pass the time up to Xmas I installed a power window kit, a remote central locking kit, a hood gas lift struts kit and a ARB compressor behind the passenger
seat under the water tank

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The full doors were taken off, 6 cracks were welded and the usual weak points were reinforced with extra metal and then resprayed.
And offcourse there's more to come......

All parts are here, the TJ is booked at wooders early January to have F&R Diff lockers installed (Yukon zip lockers), 4:56 gear ratios and a speedo fix as well as a Novak cable transfer link and a deep transfer case pan.

I think that ought to do for a while..........

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And last but not least, in an effort to change the TJ's fortunes (and my sanity) I have changed the number plate.

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See you all on the tracks.......

Happy Jeeping.