True budget build ZJ buggy

Well I have been working on this for a while and I decided it was time to make a build thread. This is a genuine low budget build. Trying to keep the ghetto fab to a minimum.

It all started with the mother in law's totalled 1993 ZJ.... Only redeeming quality was a good running "5.9".... Yeah right... Turns out 1993's didnt come with 5.9's. So a good running 5.2 it is. Little work with a torch to get here



Then here



Free gas tank out of a boat, $20 worth of seats and some 1-3/4" poop pipe got me here

Re: Re: True budget build ZJ buggy

Would make a badass ecors/dirt riot racer

Next up came a dana 44 / 9" combo... Yeah i know should have gone with a 60. But when you have no money, you have to go with what you can afford. Anyway the 44 is a 79 ford high pinion so that means cast wedges and radius arms are next. I welded the arms to some 2x2x1/4 wall square tube and added johnny joints to the ends. My radius arms are 48" long and 22" apart on the frame side. Hopefully it'll flex.



While i was at it, i built a trackbar mount that mabe wont rip off the frame.



Homemade spring pockets and gheto fabulous shock mounts



Yes there is a steel sleeve running through that shock mount bolt so it could be tightened down enough to hold the radius arm. Crossmember also 2x2x1/4" and I bought a clocking ring to clock the transfer case flat for a perfectly flat belly. Also added some 2x2x1/4" to the bottom of the frame for a solid place to mount the crossmember and rear suspension.



With the transfer case clocked flat I had to cut up some floor for clearance. The "new" $20 seats wouldnt work so out they came and in went some $40 stock seats thanks to the local pull-a-part

On to the rear suspension. Bought some rod ends off the classified section and made some arms out of 2x2x1/4" and made these



Ended up with this



Added shocks into the mix and here we Are. Pretty much up to date





And some crappy picsof the poo pipe cage

Nice budget build, I like watching these.

AllGoNoShow said:

Nice budget build, I like watching these.

Click to expand...

Need more of these on here.

i really like the tube work on ur buggy!!!!!! very nice

Almost ready to ride?

I love it

Good looking rig, mine was way more ghetto fab on a budget than that.

Love this kind of build. Gives me so many ideas about the old zj sitting out in the field.

Its getting closer to hitting the trails everyday. Still gotta pick up the nickel and dime parts that kill budgets everytime. Gotta get some 1/2 ton Chevy brake calipers for my 9" ford disc brake swap. The 9" i got needed brake shoes, wheel cylinders and at least one new drum, and the hard line that goes to the wheel cylinders was missing, I figured by the time I bought all the parts to get te drum brakes functional I could have bought the parts to do a disc swap so I bought a set of front rotors and wheel studs for a 1979 f150 4x4. I slipped the axles out and stid the rotors on the back side of the axle shafts. I then put one washer on each front wheel stud and drove them through the rotor into the axle... Mounting discs to the 9" done. I bought some front brake lines for a S10 to use for flex lines and some caliper brackets. Just waiting on a chance to go junkyarding for calipers to finish up. I work midnight shift so I rarely have time to drive an hour to Birmingham to visit the Pull-a-part to get parts so I jump around working on different things till I have a good list of parts I need before I make a Junkyard run.

I was gonna go this weekend, but I drove my F250 for the first time in a month or so. First time I hit the brakes, I almost took a ride through the ditch. Pulled the front brakes apart to see what was wrong and found this


Yeah its got the Phenolic pisons and no I dont know where the rest of the piston is. So looks like I'll be buyin some brake calipers for the F250 first.

Thanks for all the compliments on the build so far. It helps keep the motivation to get it finished

Today I almost finished putting the front axle back together for the last time, just gotta buy some wheel seals and put the hubs on and its done for good... Till I brake thhe stock axleshafts. No pics, but everyone knows what a Dana 44 looks like

I also got some body armor put on to protect the door jamb / cowl area. Made it out of 3/16 plate. Also makes one hell of a front cage tie in since the door jambs and cowl appear to be the only part of this ZJ that isnt made out of 20ga sheet metal.





I got a few more updates from today I'll put up later.

Nice build man I like the budget friendly builds as I can relate to them, keep up the good work man

I finally got it moving under it's own power. I went on a junkyard run yesterday and picked up some softer springs for the rear and finally got my brake calipers. Pulled it out of the shop and so far i have found these issues. the master cylinder is all wrong, not enough volume for therear calipers. That was to be expected since I went from drum brakes on the back to disc brakes using 1/2 ton chevy calipers. The wheels turn sharper to the right than to the left. Hopefully a tierod adjustment will fix that. Rear coil springs will fall out so Im gonna have to add a rear limit strap. The only other problem is a lack of a front driveshaft making it a 2wd. Here's some pics

When you say poo pipe are you talking black iron or just HREW?

My metal supplier is calling it Structural steel pipe. It looks like hrew, but it's measured in pipe dimensions. I belive it was A500 steel, but I bought it a while ago. It is definately not Home Depot black iron pipe though

Re: Re: True budget build ZJ buggy

Autozone 1/2 ton calipers new are 17 bucks each with the core. That's what I have on my 9" in the zj. Looks cool man, makes me want to chop on mine. Haha

Sent from my garage

THE GUYrock said:

Autozone 1/2 ton calipers new are 17 bucks each with the core. That's what I have on my 9" in the zj. Looks cool man, makes me want to chop on mine. Haha

Click to expand...

What master cylinder are you using?

I was gonna go with the Autozone calipers, but I didnt have anything to turn in for the core. I looked around the junkyard till I found a truck with some freshly remanufactured calipers with clean fluid in them. Ended up costing $20 for both.

Anyone got suggestions for a master cylinder that will fit the ZJ booster and work with 1/2 ton calipers on all four corners

I'm running Monte Carlo front calipers on the rear and fixed the too soft pedal with a Grand Marquis master. I'm also running a proportioning valve for the rear. Just make sure you get the 4w disk master with the 1-1/8 bore if you go that route. Rockauto shows them on the 78 model. It fit my YJ booster with just a small spacer and I had to adjust the rod from the booster a little as well. Not 100% sure on the ZJ but I figure they should be similar.

I might have missed it, but did you swap the t-case? I thought all the 93 v8 models were full time w/ no low range or something like that. Looking bad ass so far.