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Jade Pearl Update/Build Log

Well as usual, things get delayed, especially due to girlfriend also having some more major car issues than my current situation, shouldn't be long after Christmas when most everything gets finished!
But in the meantime, finally got most, if not all, the christmas stuff on! Enjoy!
 



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Merry Christmas everyone!! Finally happy with the decor, added some more lights up front, along with bows and such, came out really good! Been a great day so far, even got me some new tools, hope everyone else is having a great day!
Video of all the decor in action:


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Finally done! Gotta do some more trimming and had to take the running boards off too till I can make relocation brackets to put them a lil' further back. But shes finally setup and looks pretty dang good! Last two pictures without the boards, suckers got some height!

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@DemonMudder She's a gnarly monster! Looks good, when's a 4x4 swap going on the to-do list?
 






@DemonMudder She's a gnarly monster! Looks good, when's a 4x4 swap going on the to-do list?
Whenever I can afford and find some decent axles. Gotta find a 14 bolt for the rear and a good 05+ superduty axle for the front, just cause I want the coils if I can vs leafs up front, and being as I already have coils it works actually almost perfect, the one big advantage to using a 2wd for a solid axle swap lol
Hopefully by this summer I will have found one and started rebuilding it to swap in, but we'll see
 






Actually had this for a good lil' while now, but its been stuck in the bed of the truck till tonight. Never again am I moving that dann thing alone, especially from a tailgate about 3 and a half feet off the ground!! Definitely a mistake but oh well, it's done and time to start working on rebuilding the 14 bolt! Already has a 3.73 G80 locker, but I do think I want to keep my 4.10 or lower though, so rather than bearings and brakes, I may do the whole thing...

Also, got something else, that rear tube bumper never really grew on me, looks tiny and meh...so, found one way down south off one of these that's WAY heavier duty, legit I thought my front one was heavy and heavy duty, but this rear one dwarfs it's in weight alone, not to mention the rear supports it has. But it also comes with a swingout tire carrier, which supposedly the guy before that guy had built it for some big tires but he not exactly sure, and based in the bumper itself I'd believe it, so I got a heavy bumper and got a spare carrier all in one just like i wanted from the beginning anyway! So soon to start sanding the rusty bits away and just doing a basic paint over like I did the front for now, eventually I'll do them both more professionally. expect some updates, especially on the bumper. But soon to be doing my brake mods and tranny cooler (whenever I break down and buy the damn tool to cut the metal tubes).

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They can be a PITA, but a cherry picker does wonders with moving a 14 bolt by yourself.
Oh I am getting one, gotta do an engine pull on my other rig later on anyway, so that should help next time once its built and finally on the last couple things before going in!
 


















Small update, side markers fixed again! Gotta get used to that again

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Record time on installing a new project! Got my 6" lights in and installed! Suckers work pretty darn good too! Probably the best wiring I've done so far too, especially since I got some proper wire sleeves for it. So happy with 'em, now I gotta hit the trails again, especially now that I think I finished all my trimming up front. Got some mud flaps to install too, but that'll be a few days, few other things, but next is the full rebuild: tranny fluid and filter, engine oil and filter, rear diff fluid, oil pan gasket, tranny pan gasket (need to get the rear tranny seal for the driveshaft too), and valve cover gaskets. One of these days I gotta go to a shop though, damn o2 sensor is like welded to the exhaust, I've tried doing it while it was hot, I've tried sockets and wrenches, I've even tried a damn pipe wrench and it still was just slipping on it, so a shop can enjoy getting that sucker out lol

Enjoy some pictures of the lights, and showcasing my wiring route some. I'll add some video links to some of the tests I've already done to see them in action



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Record time on installing a new project! Got my 6" lights in and installed! Suckers work pretty darn good too! Probably the best wiring I've done so far too, especially since I got some proper wire sleeves for it. So happy with 'em, now I gotta hit the trails again, especially now that I think I finished all my trimming up front. Got some mud flaps to install too, but that'll be a few days, few other things, but next is the full rebuild: tranny fluid and filter, engine oil and filter, rear diff fluid, oil pan gasket, tranny pan gasket (need to get the rear tranny seal for the driveshaft too), and valve cover gaskets. One of these days I gotta go to a shop though, damn o2 sensor is like welded to the exhaust, I've tried doing it while it was hot, I've tried sockets and wrenches, I've even tried a damn pipe wrench and it still was just slipping on it, so a shop can enjoy getting that sucker out lol

Enjoy some pictures of the lights, and showcasing my wiring route some. I'll add some video links to some of the tests I've already done to see them in action



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looks great!
 






I don't want to see another o2 sensor for at least a year..! After several months of trying different methods, some multiple times, I got this damn o2 sensor out, found out I destroyed a thread getting it out too, though I destroyed the whole thing anyway lol

Anywho, oil change is done, new valve cover gaskets, new oil filter, haven't bothered with the oil pan gasket yet, but sometime layer this week or next week I'll be doing all my tranny rebuilding: new fluid, filter, gasket, temp sensor, temp gauge, and 40k cooler, should be great! And just in time for my first time doing some towing soon too!
Also finished up (almost, like 99%) my fender and bumper trimming for the tires, almost a full radius again, still ever so slightly rub the frame on the driver side, and the fender well some on the passenger, but going to try some front 1" spacers and then match it with my old 2" spacers on the rear to see if that's good enough, if not I'll just go back to my 2" spacers all around. Still so much to do but making good progress with the lil' time I get right now!

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And finally, still just barely leaky from the adapter, I'll try some, I think it's Teflon tape? But I have a flare tool now and I plan to try and get a new and proper connector so it doesn't need the adapter. But finally bench bled it and man does it work pretty darn good, definitely better and stiffer than before!

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And the leak is fixed, waited longer than I would have liked and got a lot of cleaning up underneath to do now, but gosh dang do those brakes work! That master cylinder was leaking bad and felt better than my old one, but now?? The sucker stops like a new car can! Definitely one of the best upgrades so far. Still gotta throw the proper flare nut on and re-flare the line, but for now the Teflon tape works good!
 






Progress on the tranny temp gauge, mounted over a crack so it can help keep the dash together too, but looks good so far! Next is just running wires!

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Fuse panel finally in, time to shorten some wires and finally get the battery terminals free

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