Frankenstein XJ fix
 

Ok so i bought this xj a couple of weeks ago. It started its life as a 2wd 5sp sport. somebody went ahead and put 4x4 in there.i bought it with a blown rear end. which was know about from the start. started digging into the xj a little bit. 1st thing was to clean up all the mud on the outside. check. then clean the 2" of mud/carpet out of the interior. so carpet came out, found a little bit of rot on the passenger floor board. i kinda figured there would be, cause the truck leans to the right. no big deal. rocker panels are rust free and so is the uni-body. which is a good thing.
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o...e/ab742586.jpg
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o...e/1c97c017.jpg
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o...e/2ab9cec2.jpg

Sweet .. like the rims just like mine lol.. :} and a 2 door..

So like the title states "FIX". Rear end came out, had to make a new brake line that goes across the axle for the new axel. Went with the Chrysler 8.25. other than that no big deal. it was lifted on 4" blocks and still is. there is a reason trust me. on that later. so the front..... it was really rigged. instead of buying coil's they welded some crap together. pic's tell a thousand words.

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o...e/b5c79996.jpg

wow that's a little scary

So that brings me up to today. i fixed the "lift". i picked up a set of 4.5 rustys springs from a guy going with a bigger lift. Also got some 1.5" sched 40 pipe.

so called lift removed. cut it off and ground down flush.
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o...e/ceb6bbdd.jpg


new bump stop/spring retainer. welded the 1.5" sched 40 pipe(6.5" long about stock size)
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o...e/507de6af.jpg

On to the axle...basically someone lifted it but was to lazy or whatever, and cut/re-welded everything. but then angled everything. coil spring perches were moved back and down.upper control arm brackets were moved inward and back.lower control arm brackets were moved back. went to the junk yard and got a full axle and almost everything that attaches it. once its daylight out ill post pics of them side-by-side. its bad.


so for the next couple of days i will install the new(to me) front end. fix the floor boards. modify and install new seats. fix the rear lift, and install my fender flares from the junk yard.

old front axle
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o...e/ff2cfba4.jpg
new front axle
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o...e/62d00e37.jpg

wow. that was quite the ghetto rig on the front coils there. haha

yeah tell me about it..
UPDATE: i was up late on wednesday and had to take care of a few things with wifey's car. and yesterday just messed around with the seats. just getting a game plan together. Today i got the fender flares on. the PO did a horrible job cutting the fenders so i used the body line as a template of how high to go, and matched the rear.
front axle is just there. nothing is really hooked up. i cant put it on by myself cause my jack keeps wanting to rotate it. ive got a buddy coming by tomorrow to help out. tomorrows game plan: get front installed. finish up the fender flares(put the rest of the bolts in)finish trimming the rear so the flares are the only thing you see in the wheel well. and hopefully get started on the floor boards(if not finish) and seats. alot of fab going on with seats. they are out of a mini-van. i think i got how to install them, but want to be 100% sure before i start cutting.
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o...e/499bc713.jpg

did you do the windows or did they come like that?

Ive seen some redneck engineering but man this takes the cake great to see someone fixing it the right way!

good work on the front so far, and the fenders look much better.

yes and i hate it. any ideas how to remove tint?
with all the veiws ive had and no comments, i didnt think anyone cared that i fixed it right. unfortunately when i was looking for xj's i saw 4 that were done just like that. it must be a florida thing. i guess if all you do is mud and go through high water its not really a big deal. i didnt like it.
thanks, they are just mocked up right now. still got to finish them.

so would this be considered a built not bought project yet?

Man tint is a B**** to remove! A razor and some gubegone, would probably help.