YFZsandrider

Hey guys, been looking at XJs for a little while now, recently bought one, and thought I should probably start a thread with all the questions and input I'll need along the way.

I bought a pretty clean '98 Classic. The previous owner had it since 2000, and with only 145k on the clock, it was one of the nicer ones I could find. Besides the Old Man Emu lift, which has been on the rig for the last decade or so, it is otherwise stock, straight, and pretty clean.

I'm not entirely sure what all has been done to it, in terms of the lift. Part of me wants to go 4.5" long arm and 33s... part of me wants to keep it lower, amybe trim the fenders a little and put new 31s on, then see what it can do. Not sure yet where this thing will end up. But... thats why I'm here.

Here's how it looked after picking it up...



First order of business was to ditch the gawdy brush guards.



Ah! Much better.



Seems the previous owner had been pretty meticulous about maintenance, taking it in at recommended intervals, and keeping all receipts for work done. All the drivetrain fluids were pretty fresh, but I changed them anyhow- differentials, engine oil, and tranny fluid.

That is, I should say, with the exception of the coolant. It was pretty bad. In the last 15 years of the Cherokee's life, I don't think it was ever changed. So... after thoroughly flushing the coolant once, and refilling, I noticed after a week or so that some of the brown muddy build up was coming free and floating around in the coolant again. So I repeated the flush, and refill process, removing the thermostat first, and flushing from the heater core back, while running. After about 30 minutes, it was very clean and I called it a day.

Then, I noticed the heater box leaking coolant, and knew what I was about to dive into.

So... I did this.



And it sucked. A lot. But, on the bright side, now that I have a brand new radiator core and heater core, with a fresh charge on the AC system... I figure I should think about replacing the readiator with a brand new unit, rather than risk washing contaminants into my new heater core. So thats the next order of business before winter strikes and I need to plumb the lines back to the heater core. Right now, I have them bypassing it altogether.

Prior to buying the Jeep, I couldn't find any floor pan rust... or should I say, a significant amount of it. Here is what I found after removing the carpet for a deep cleaning, a la pressure washer and Purple Power in my driveway.



The rust is almost completely confined to the passenger side. The previous owner took an little initiative in preventative maintenance and addressed a leak near the blower motor, which I'm fairly certain stopped the water. While I have the carpet out, I'm going to remove the surface rust, possibly POR-15 the areas affected, then coat the entire floor with rubberized undercoating. I'm thinking that will more or less waterproof it for the future, and maybe offer some sound deadening affect?

Tony_SS

POR15 right over that surface rust and you wont have a problem. I love that stuff.