MD XJ

Bought my Jeep at the end of March, 2012. 1996 two-door, five-speed with 186,000 miles for $1800. She looked like this back then:








The name has a story. First, that is the original color. Factory magenta. It was apparently only available in 1996, and as far as I know, I have the only 2 door, 5 speed magenta Cherokee. I have tried to find others, but have failed. That, I think, makes my Cherokee pretty damn cool. Anyway, I chose Madge because the color is magenta, and it seemed right. The "mistress" part came from when a girl I know asked me if my Jeep was my wife and my Jetta would be my girlfriend, or vice versa. I told her this,
"Well, my Jetta is definitely my wife. My Jeep, well, she's not even a girlfriend. More of a mistress, really, because I never know if I'm going to make it home that night, where she's going to take me, or even if she'll want to take me anywhere."

And, here's the Jetta that is my wife:


Now, at this point, I had gotten a temporary tag that would have gotten me through until the end of May. I had a few little things that I KNEW would fail inspection, such as battery tie-down and the aftermarket shift ****. I wanted to get these done before getting it inspected.

Sometime in April I got some new wheels in and new tires. Annnnnd here they are:




I drove around like this for a bit and planned on getting inspected in May. Well, around May 20th, my throwout bearing literally exploded in the bellhousing. It didn't just lock up or fail, it EXPLODED. Anyway, I parked my Jeep in the garage and started acquiring parts. I got a brand new Luk clutch kit from Pep Boys, got a buddy with an xj to come over and we went to work:


I have a scar on the back of my hand now, due to the fingers there haha


And here's the inside of the bellhousing:


Might be hard to see, but the ***** from the throwout bearing are still in the bellhousing:




The whole clutch change was a real pain in the ***.A lot of bolts refused to move, including both of the ones holding the exhaust manifold to the rest of the exhaust (at the flange, but more on that later). So, we cut the bolts at the flange and got the rest out. Everything went back together pretty nicely.



While it was apart, we decided to pull the carpet (I have plans on bedlining the interior).
Here is what we found:





Just to pass inspection, I decided to screw in some sheet metal and silicone around it. I will weld in patches when my welding skills are good enough (hopefully soon).

By this time it's about August 1st or so, and and I decided to go get it inspected. FAILED.
On the list:
1. exhaust manifold is cracked
2. seats not secured
3. needs new drums out back
4. new pads up front
5. needs a stitch-on steering wheel cover
6. needs a brake pedal pad
7. needs new tie rod end at the pitman arm

Anyway, I did all this in a few days and took it back and SUCCESS! I now have a legal Jeep. Here are some pics from those few days:





Here are those damn bolts from before


There's the intake manifold just hanging out on the floor


Taking that side of the engine out, essentially




So, now that I can drive, what should I do? Well, I didn't have long to ponder this question, because Madge was now overheating at low speeds and idle. So I flushed the system and changed the thermostat to a fail-safe, and that didn't work at all. Then I changed the fan clutch and water pump. Boom! No more overheating.
Pics of that work:



Out with the old...








And that's basically how it went. Now that all of that's over, I can make it more of a "build" thread, and not as much of a "repair" thread. Suffice to say the work to play ratio with Madge is terribly skewed at this point. Hitting up a trail this weekend though, I hope, with this fella:


That's the buddy that helped me out with the clutch.

MD XJ

My to-do list is endless, but on the short-term I'm looking to get new bumpers with recovery points, armor for the underside, and bedline the interior. I got a brand new diff cover from a guy I work with for 50 bucks, so that's going on relatively soon.

Atmos

hey I remember this jeep. so you finally came up with a name for it eh. nice work so far

MD XJ

Yup finally got one. And yeah the work has been relentless. I've basically been alone doing everything.

MD XJ

Went mountain biking today and took the long way home. Found a bunch of dead end roads leading to woods. One road I found went right along side I-95. Found a sweet little trail, but was posted all over with no trespassing signs and such. Since someone saw me come in, I didn't want to risk it.

All the driving bled my clutch some more, so I got stuck in reverse at one point.
That's why I carry around a gallon of brake fluid, though

96xjclassic

Nice job. Keep up the good work.

ColdWarrior

I am so IN LOVE with that color....un-freaking real how cool it is. I picture it limited with privacy windows and black d-windows....soo sexy....

MD XJ

Thanks. Next step is rust repair and bedlining the interior and doing an undercoating.

Haha. Thanks. Like I said, I don't know of ANY other ones in this color. I know it's the original color from pulling up carpet, plus I checked the paint code. It actually is "magenta."
It's very rare considering it's magenta (super rare), two door (slightly rare), and a five speed (rare). Put all three together and it's pretty much the only one, at least that I've located.

I wouldn't mind tinting the windows. It would look damn good. Cosmetic enhancements definitely are not on my short list right now, though. I can do all that later on, one's it's back in good shape and running better.

onlyinajeep726

Very cool build!!

MD XJ

Thanks man!
Yours is too. I like that it was your first vehicle and you had to learn to love it haha

onlyinajeep726

Haha, yea. I'm quite obsessed now lol.

I dig the magenta color. I want to paint mine orange or blue, but may be considering magenta now. Keep up the good work man.

BotakBeng

Damn, that's some serious mechanical work.

Keep up the good work!

MD XJ

Thanks, it wasn't really as much work as it seems like. You've done way more to yours than I've done to mine haha.

alienoutlaw89

Lots of love for purple jeeps although my 89 isn't a factory color but it is a Chrysler color

MD XJ

Got my new diff cover on a few weeks ago and also removed my fender flares. No pics yet, sorry.
Seafoamed her today and didn't get that much smoke (hooray?). I suppose I had a pretty clean intake system.
Tonight I'm going to order a locker for my Dana 30 (Probably an Aussie) and a Novak cable shifting kit for my NP231. Might take it a shop to have the floors welded up so I can bedline it soon. I want it sealed well before the winter.