Actually surprised myself and got a few things done. Got the back seat in and the driver seat. Will definitely be getting some seat covers (not that the seat is anything crucial, just not a red fan at all). Had a piece that broke on the center console that I am gluing tonight and then can that together tomorrow and that and the passenger seat in. May try to get the dash cleaned and taped too, but probably won't paint until it gets less muggy out (looks like 3-4 more days before it will). Hopefully the control arms come in so I can get the lift done. Think my fall semester starts next week too, so I'll have one more thing to contend with for my time. I'm pretty sure I can get this stuff rapped up over a long weekend if things come in though...

 

Dude, that roof rack is awesome. I'm picky about them, but yours looks great and with those lights, too. When you removed your seats, I assume you removed the seat belts also? The torx bolts holding mine in are killing me. I've got most of one drilled out, and notches ground in the other ones that I'm planning to get an air chisel on to finish. Grade 8 standard hex bolts are going in every single one of them to replace the Torx garbage. Ugh! I've broken drill bits and two T50 sockets trying to free them.

 

Thank you. You can give NinjaTinner the credit, he's the guy who made it. I was looking at the Warrior ones and found his listing on Craigslist. Saved me a few hundred bucks and I'm definitely happy. Feels very heavy duty too, I don't suspect I'll have any problems at all.

Yes, I removed everything from the inside. I actually didn't run into any problems on my torx bolts. Before I turned them I gave a good whack on them with a hammer to break them loose, other than that they turned easy. There was zero rust/corrosion/anything on them though, they were pretty spotless. Sucks to hear you ran into that much trouble. Now that you mention replacing with standards I think that would have been a good route for me too, the torx was a pain just because it's not the norm to work with.

 

It's looking awesome, man. We should meet up in Gilbert sometime.

 

Hey Ninja, you still making these racks? How much? I'm totally interested in it. I dig the low profile look of it. I'm a little unsure about gutter mounts, but I'll look more into that.

Aren't you lucky! Haha. I got a good set of cobalt drill bits yesterday and made short work of what I had left of that stupid torx bolt. Only about 5 more to go, haha, not counting the two door bolts...Toasted a dremel stone grinding one of those out yesterday.

 

Thank you. Hopefully it's going to look really awesome this weekend. Should be getting home pretty early tomorrow and will be working on the front lift (brown santa stopped by today and I finally have my control arms in hand ). If all goes well I'll have the lift in, 33's on, and be able to back it out of the garage for the first time since 5/13/13 (damn that's been in there a long time, but then again my motorcycle hasn't even been started this summer so there's all kinds of sacrilege going on at my place).

I'm game for hitting up Gilbert. The dude I bought the XJ from is sure I'll blow the 2.8L if I push her at all, but luckily I have reserves. Got my '75 CJ5 that's ready to go. It'd be street legal to drive there from my place, but I'd prob throw it on a hauler to keep it simple. How's your schedule the next few weeks or so?

 

The gutter mounts seem like they should hold up well. I'd definitely consider them.

The one pain I did have with the torx was just finding the right size. I had jack in my arsenal to start with, couldn't find one at Menards or Home Depot, finally found a small set with the right size at L&M. Damn, sounds like you're having quite the adventure on yours. Hope the rest goes smoother.

 

Lol, check out my build thread to see the madness in detail! The Kobalt T50s at Lowes are complete garbage. I got a Great Neck from my dad and that one held up much better but I still managed to twist it.

 

Made some progress tonight, though not all I wanted. Got both front springs in and one side's lower control arm in. Other control arm is being a bit more of a challenge. Hopefully a good night's sleep (or 2) helps me get the second in with less struggle.

 

I hear that using a ratchet strap helps.

 

I could make roof racks all day long if I could sell them. Probably do it for $300 if you supply your own lights.

 

I used a strap around the axle tied off to a buddy's truck. Threw the XJ in reverse and backed up until things lined up.

 

I'll have to check out what I can do with a ratchet strap or two, thank you for the ideas. I won't be touching it tonight but will only work half a day tomorrow, so I should be home and wrenching at a reasonable time. Hopefully pictures of success tomorrow.

 

I was hoping to post pics of my fully lifted XJ in my yard, but ran a little short. I did make a ton of progress.

I managed to get the lower control arms in using a ratchet strap. I strapped to my front bumper and then put my floor jack under the passenger side (driver side was the one being a *****). didn't have to lift it very far, but things lined up quite nicely. Of course I didn't think of this exact approach for some time playing with the ratchet/etc.

Rest of the front went pretty well. I fought the bar pin in the shocks for a little bit, but saw a post on another forum that said a vise made it easy so I tried that. I'd say it only took a couple minutes each after trying that.

So then I sat with a front lifted rear not, of course I had to take a pic



Next step was to do the transfer case drop. Ran into another couple of missing pieces in the Rusty's kit. These parts are only $28, so even if I eat the cost I can live with it. I never thought after the control arms missing from the kit I'd be stuck missing another thing. On a good note, I've almost got all the parts in now so there isn't too much more to be shorted on.

I decided to proceed with the rear even though the steps list the transfer case drop next. Things went pretty well (minor smashing of a few finger tips, but I'll live even without a transfusion). Got the tires off, shocks, springs u-bolts off and break line relocate in. Got the shims on the springs, new shackles in, and springs bolted back in place. I called it a night at that point since I'm going to need to jack things up higher to get room to work with. I figured I was tired enough and felt like ending on a good note for the weekend. It shouldn't be long to get the new u-bolts and shocks in, then the tires on. Then it just depends when the transfer case drop shows up.

I got a 3.4L out of a '94 Camaro lined up at the local salvage yard. I should be able to pick that up Friday, so that'll be on the list of things to do soon. Nice weather is running out though, hope I can manage enough to get her out for a little playing before the snow flies.

Figured I'd share a pic of why I didn't get as much time on the XJ as I hoped. A buddy of mine re-did an '83 CJ7 and stopped by Saturday and harassed me since I haven't had my '75 CJ5 out yet. Talked me into running around on the local ski trails, logging roads, gravel pits, power lines, etc. We ended up out for probably 3 hours and it was a pretty good time. Think I have a motor mount to fix on the CJ, but I'd like to get the XJ together before I get back to that.

 

So much for my great productivity over the long weekend. I thought I'd get the rear stuff finished up tonight so I'd be waiting on just the transfer case drop. Got the 4 u-bolts in after a healthy struggle and literally as I was tightening the last pair I look down and see I was dumb enough to put the break lines under the springs when I put them in After some swearing (ok, profuse swearing and a screwdriver toss) I start taking things apart. The first u-bolt takes some convincing with a hammer to back out and I nicely mangled a few threads. I'm not sure if I can clean the threads up (they're just the first couple, nothing that will come into play other than starting the nut), but I'll probably have a couple of beers to cool down and then check it out. Guess a replacement is less than $10, just the fact I'd have to wait for it that irritates me. So probably not going to see much for progress from me until the weekend...