I am guessing most people viewing this are interested in the TJ grill conversion. First off, I'm not interested in hearing any flames about square vs. round headlights. It's my vehicle... so shhhhh.. :) There are more important things in the world to gripe about. :)

Here's the latest picture of the thing.

With that said, I will post as many pictures of the grill as possible and describe the process in the event that you are interested in doing it yourself. I hope to debunk a lot of myths on how much money or time it takes. Bottom line... it's a lot easier and cheaper than you've read. It cost me about 4 hours and the price of a junk yard TJ grill.

OK, Here we go...

TJ Grill Installation

Now... I am only posting this as a guidline and just sharing the info for anyone who is interested. If you dont feel up to the task... don't read on. I'm not responsible for any problems you may encounter. :)

Here are a couple of pictures to start everything off...

Not too shabby!! The TJ grill does not fit half bad in the YJ. There are a couple of small gaps at the top corners as the YJ hood is a bit more square. I was planning on fabbing a couple of pieces of sheet metal to reshape the area around the headlights to fit the hood perfectly but didn't want to spend the time right now. The gap is there...but I can live with it.

OK, the first thing you need to do is remove the YJ grill by...

1) removing the fan shroud
2) removing the radiator
3) unbolting the 4 inner fender well bolts
4) loosening the upper rod supports
5) removing the body mount bolt from below.
6) removing the wiring harness from the firewall

Now that the YJ grill is gone... Slide the TJ grill in to place.

You may notice your fenders may bow out at this point. This is due to the fact the TJ grill is wider at the bottom. Not a big deal. I took a body hammer and pounded the fenders back along the grill line until everything was square. I measured the width of the truck with the original grill and tried to pound back the fenders until the front end with was back to stock. You don't need to worry about being too exact at this point. The fenders will pull back nice and tight when the inner fender bolts are back in place.

Now bolt the lower body mount to the bottom of the grill

The body mount should line right up. The bolt hole on the TJ grill seems to be in the same location as the YJ's.

Now you will need to remove the upper rod support brackets from the YJ grill

To do this, just drill out the 2 spot welds and use an angle grinder to cut the other welds. You should be able to break them off with a hammer after that.

Now you need to take the upper support brakets and weld them to the TJ grill.

Just center the brackets on the existing bolt holes on the YJ grill and weld away. Here is a picture with the upper mounts in place.

At This point you will need to move the adjusting nuts in or out until the top of the grill is in the desired location. I set mine so the top of the grill sticks out a touch like on a stock TJ. This makes the gap look a little less noticable as well.

OK, Now we need to drill new holes for the inner fender bolts

This may take a couple of tries to get the holes in the proper location. There will be 3 bolt holes on each side of the TJ grill you will need to drill for. I won't post any measurements or procedures on this part. You can figure it out for yourself... or do what I did.. Just eyeball the holes until you get it right :)

Now that you have your inner fender bolt holes drilled you should be able to put in the bolts. The fenders that are spread out and dented from hammering will now suck in really nicely after you snug the bolts.

At this point, you can take the wiring harness off the YJ grill and pop it on the TJ grill.

That's about all there is to it

Of course you will need to do a little hammering and bending here and there, but hey.... It's a jeep. That's what it's for.

Here is one last picture with the new grill installed.

What about parking lights?

The last thing I need is parking lights and blinkers. I am planning on getting a 2" round led 3 wire light from a trailer or something to that effect and place them below the headlights. I will post pictures when I have them in place

Here are a couple of pictures after priming. I will post more in the next couple weeks when I lay the paint down.

1st weekend in May

Well I got the thing painted this weekend and got a good start putting everything back together. Here are the latest pictures.

Painting the smaller parts

We're getting close... Here is one last pic for now. I just have the hood sitting on it. I can't seem to find the latches :) I'm sure they're buried in a box somewhere....