HighRoller

Figured I'd go ahead and start a build thread.... This past Saturday I went and picked up a '88 XJ Waggy with a 4.5 inch Trailmaster lift and 2 sets of rims with 33's for $600... Bought it mainly for the tires and rims cause I was going to use them on my '93 that I was planning on lifting. Turned out the Waggy was decent shape (Body & interior is kinda rough but drivetrain is sound with only 123,000 ) except it had a broke tooth in the rear end. So I figured WTF I'll just pick up a rear end and throw it in to have a decent trail rig and keep the '93 fairly stock as my DD. Go out searching Monday and come across a '89 XJ Limited with a 3 in superlift sitting on blocks in the back of a car lot... Go in and talk to the guy and turns out he owns an xj and had bought this one about 1.5/2 years ago for the wheels and tires that were on it. It's just been sitting back there since then on blocks and 2 donuts.
When he bought it the motor ran good with no issues but the tranny was slipping bad. Everything else was fine... So I pick it up for $400. Bring it home and decide it's the one to build up with the better body and features I want like all leather interior in good shape, sunroof, carpet ,etc... Just in overall much better shape.

I guess I'll start off with a few pics of the 88 & 89 and then continue on with what's being done...

First pic from my phone of the '88 with the extra wheels and tires.



And a couple quick pics of the '89




Yesterday I managed to get the 2 donut spares that where seized on beat off with a little help from a BFH. Put some 33's on it and pressure washed most of the film off it. Waxed a little section of the door and it looks like she'll clean up ok. Put in a new battery and some gas and tried to crank her up... No luck, started looking around and found the coil wire was loose so I swapped that out but still no start. Pulled the fuel line from the pump and have no fuel being delivered so I guess the pumps bad. I did spray her with some starting fluid though and kept her going that way for about 30 seconds or so and it sounded good.
I had some doubts about the condition of the tank.. It was sitting with the back hatch cracked all that time and I knew the panel over the tank was rusted through (possibly the tank too) and water was standing in the drivers side about an inch deep... So today I pulled the driver side seat and some trim, and then pulled the the carpet up on the drivers side and in the back... Good news is the driver side is rust free and the tank is fine Bad news is the rust in the back is a little more wide spread than I originally thought from my initial inspection via the underside. However, all the support structure is still very sound with no rust, it's just the pan/sheet metal that's shot. Pause for a few pics of the damage

All the weak areas are pretty much out in these.... The rest is good and solid I just need to clean it up some.




I'll finish cleaning it up tomorrow and locate a piece of aluminum big enough to patch/rivet in this weekend. Pics of the process will be posted....

Comments and/or Advice welcome -Chris

john78

Wish I could find those line of deals around here where you from I'm jelouse

HighRoller

I'm from Chadbourn in Southeastern North Carolina. It took me awhile to find the '88. Everything in the paper and on craigs was too high. I searched for a few months and then found it on BooKoo yardsales (lots of good deals on there!) and the guy told me it was his third time putting it up! The '89 I just got lucky

john78

I spent 11 months lookin and still spent a grand

HighRoller

Yesterday I got all the rust beat and scraped off, went over it good with a wire brush and rubbed it down with some jelly. Today I primed it with rust preventive primer and then topped it off with several coats of rust resistant black. Now I'm just trying to get my hands on a piece of aluminum big enough for the fix...


The black trim around the cluster/ac/radio and such was broken from someone snatching out the radio so I took the wood trim from the waggy and put it in. Love the look


Think I'm going to change out the window control panels as well...



What ya think?

Plan to swap out the pump this weekend....

HighRoller

Today was a good day It's Alive!! I dropped the tank today and found it rusted inside and the pump shot, so I pulled the tank and pump from the waggy and put them in the Limited. Changed the fuel filter and turned the key. She fired right up and she runs perfectly Dug through the glove box and found a receipt showing the motor was rebuilt in '99 and has only 50,000 on the rebuild. Didn't try the tranny out yet as it was getting dark and I want to change the oil in it before I run it too long or put it under any strain. Let's hope tomorrow goes as great as today. I'm going to change the oil and change the trans filter & fluid and see if I can get her rolling If not I'll start pulling the tranny from the waggy Wish me luck guys!

projectmayhem

i love the wood grain

HighRoller

Preliminary tranny test doesn't look good I started her up this morning and tried out the tranny but all I get is a whine in all gears... I'm fixing to put in some transX, I'm going to run that in it for a few hours cycling through the gears and hope that cleans it really well. Then I'm draining it and changing the filter and fluid... May even add a little lucas with the fluid and cross my fingers. I have little hope though. I'll probably end up swapping out the tranny this week. Supposedly (from the guy I got it) after it idles for about an hr the tranny works fine.... The guy swears a new filter will fix it but from all my experience I've never seen a filter change fix a tranny.... Anybody out there ever had any luck bringing one back??

98CherokeeLimit4x4

My brothers jeep's tranny will get so hot it will stop pulling when wheeling Changed filter and fluid Now its good to go pulls alot better too.

The White Knight

I agree, that wood grain interior is nice!

The Rooster

I also love the woodgrain inside you should swap it into your new one,,, as far as bring the tranny back I have brought a tranny back with a filter change... the filter was so clogged with junk fluid could barely get through low trans line pressure so i put in atf +4 and lucas tranny stuff and it was good to go... so idk if it was the lucus or the filter change...

HighRoller

Another Great day!!!! I pulled the rear drive shaft, dust cover, and was fixing to disconnect the linkage when I said "Wait a minute, I'm going to change the filter and fluid juuust in case!" It looked clean/fresh on the stick and I didn't think it would help but figured I'd try it before I pulled it.... I really never expected it to work as bad as it was... I was getting nothing but whine and chatter in every gear.... But what do you know I pulled the pan, changed the filter, added fluid and a new can of transx then started her up and threw her into gear. For about 5 seconds I didn't think it was helping at all but then it caught and now shifts and pulls good!! It still has a little hesitation when you first put it in gear but I think the transx will clean it up no problem now!! I'm going to run it some like this to finish cleaning it and then change the fluid & filter again adding a little lucas. I feel good about it I haven't had it on the road as the brakes need a little work before I get too much speed out of her so I'm not sure about shifting between gears.... I may pull the drive shaft again and see how she shifts without a load on her. That may help flush everything out without putting any real strain on it.

The Rooster

thats awesome congrats.... this is good news
What is wrong with the brakes? Is it the ABS?

HighRoller

Well I tracked down the PO on facebook and according to him the jeep has actually been sitting since 2004... So as you can imagine the rotors are really rusted and need replacing... Pads are shot too of course. The ABS light is on but I haven't spent much time on anything but getting it going till now Now I can start getting all the little things taken care of Wouldn't mind ditching the whole ABS system... We'll see....

BTW I ended up carrying it down the road for a mile or so and it shifted fine!

RedZeppelinXJ

great deal for a grand....two XJ's, lift, and 2 sets of 33's on rims!.....i paid $500 for two beat to hell rust bucket stock XJ's!

please tell me you are going to swap the 4 headlight header panel onto the '89! if not you should sell it to me lol

build looks great.....can't wait to see where this goes