Combat_Gunner

It's just held on with double-sided tape. Get the edge of a blade under one end to start it, then grab the molding with some pliers and puuuullllll. It comes right off. Use a razor to clean off what's left of the tape, then a pinstripe eraser wheel to take it down to the paint.

After pulling mine off, I probably would have left it that way, covered the gold with some semigloss black, and polished the red up...but I discovered 1. The RR door had been repainted, so the molding paint line didn't match up, and 2. There was rust on that door under the molding. This got me started prepping it for paint, with the plan of having MAACO hit it with one of their $799 paint jobs. Then a buddy of mine offered to let me use his paint booth (he owns a restoration shop), so the plan is now to get really serious about making the body right, and spraying it myself on a Friday night, so I can spend the weekend color sanding and polishing it.

In the meantime, I spent the day at the JY yesterday, and picked up the following: Another double-cardan front driveshaft, a set of 6" rear bumpstops and long leaf shackles off an MJ, a power steering pump bracket, adjuster, and vacuum canister (ball style) off a '99 XJ, a set of coil springs off a '78 Ford F150, and a set of rear leaf springs off a '94 Dodge Dakota.

The nose is still too low, and with the springs I plan to add another 2" to the front and another 1.25" to the rear. If I use the MJ shackles, they will give me .75" in the rear, then add the overload springs from the Dakota to give me another .50", plus keep the leaves from inverting without affecting the good ride I have now, and hopefully act against axle-wrap. The stiff front coils will compensate for running without a front sway bar, which is good, because it feels like I'm driving a wet noodle on the street right now.

The SYE will be needed soon after the additional lift, since I know I'll be pushing the limits of vibration-control at that height. Thus, the other front driveshaft. I'll have the rear axle out, installing the gears anyway, so I'll slide in the SYE while the driveshaft is out.

The higher I make it, and the more I modify it for the bigger tires, the goofier it looks with the little 215/70R15s on it. Since I'm still driving it to work, the motivation to get the wheels and tires on it increases with every raised eyebrow and giggle I get from passers-by. Once the gears are in, I'll be screaming at 60 on the highway, so the wheels and tires will need to be next...finally.

leo3000

you want my old wheels?
they look like this:


EDIT: looks like you allready picked up a set-- my bad

Combat_Gunner

I appreciate the offer!

Combat_Gunner

Cut and folded the rear fenders today. An interesting process, gained two inches of clearance for tires. Free. My favorite word.



Sliced and diced, ready for some hammer work. You can see the marker line I drew, so there would be no doubt where to stop with the pie cuts. You can also see the 6" bumpstops, new u-bolts, and the top of the lift block. I'll be trimming down the u-bolts once I've added the overload leaf from the Dakota leaf pack.



Half done, time for a beer break to let my claw unclench from the hammer for a few minutes.



And done. Now the ginormous rear fenderwells look just as empty as the ginormous fronts with the little pizza cutter tires.

jmm0122

Nice job man. Looks really good.

Combat_Gunner

Just a quick update, no fresh pics. Pulled the diff cover on the rear axle to find quite a mess. The pinion bearing and one of the carrier bearings are ruined, so a full rebuild was in order. Scanning Craigslist, as I do every day, I found a guy nearby parting out his '96 XJ to buy a motorcycle. He had both axles listed for $100 each, and specified the rear with an LSD. A call and a visit later, and both axles were mine. No need to upgrade my front axle shafts now, and the rear did, indeed, have a Trac-Lok limited slip carrier. The one bad thing is that they both carry 3.55 gears.

Now I'll have the original axles to build up with lower gears and a real locker, if I decide to go that way. One of my biggest concerns about going to bigger tires is the greater unsprung weight and diameter of the tires bogging the 0-60 times, since this rig will spend most of its time on the street. I mercilessly mock the three-story tall mall crawlers around here, which will probably never see real offroad use, and routinely get smoked at traffic lights by soccer moms in their minivans. I don't expect to compete with Corvettes, but I won't accept 0-60 times measured in minutes, and I won't make lame excuses about how I can use my giant tires to climb over anything (if I really wanted to...). With 3.55 gears, that means I'm limited to 30 inch tires, period. Any taller and I will be constantly cussing my decision to sacrifice street performance for big tires.

This also means I can delay any further, unnecessary, suspension lifting. 30s will fit under a stock XJ, so with my 2" lift and the backspacing on the OEM Jeep steel wheels, I should have plenty of room for flex, plus I can re-install my sway bars (with new urethane bushings) without needing extensions. That's one more improvement to street performance.

One other small issue I'm having: since I eliminated the oil filter adapter, the oil filter sits about 3/4" away from the lower body-side engine mount. With my worn-out rubber engine mounts, the engine is rocking enough to make contact between the oil filter and the mount, and over the course of a month or so, it cuts a hole in the oil filter and causes a small oil leak. Between the broken header and the oil filter problem, a set of urethane engine mounts from Brown Dog Offroad have become a top priority. I'll replace the trans mount with a Daystar unit at the same time. Stay tuned.

Hippeh

Subscribed. THIS is my kinda reality show.

Combat_Gunner

Funny, I had all but forgotten about this build thread until Hippeh chimed in. Here's the latest update: I got the use of a buddy's body shop paint booth late one Saturday evening, to spray some custom paint on my Harley's tins. It was 1:30 am when I finished up, packed up everything in the back of the Jeep, and headed home. Less than 2 miles from home it just stopped running. It still turns over, and I know there's gas getting to the engine, so I suspect an ignition problem, probably the coil. Anywho, the wife dragged herself out of bed to meet me with her little Buick, where I hooked up a tow strap and she pulled me back to the house. There it sits...not because I don't care about it, but mostly because I have plenty of daily drivers, and my primary project at this moment is my motorcycle. It's been around 100 degrees for almost two months running here in Nashville, and I won't try to wear leathers on an air-cooled motorcycle in that kind of heat. So this has given me an opportunity to do a bunch of major mods on the bike that I didn't get done over the winter. So, this fall, when the bike's back together and I'm riding it every day, I'll go ahead and tear into the Jeep to prepare for the winter driving season.

Until then, I'll order my tires, motor mounts, header, cat-back exhaust system, roof rack, and bumpers...to have them ready for the fall.

xj_maniac_newb

still lookin for those wheels?

esms06

I really liked the way you showed the trimming on the fenders. Could you show me the inside of the Wheel well. Thanks

Combat_Gunner

I actually bought a set locally from Craigslist. I sandblasted one and painted it semi-gloss black to test how I like the look. It turned out good, so when I get back to the Jeep I'll do the other 4 like that.

I'll try to remember to snap a pic of the inside of the fenderwells sometime this week.

Combat_Gunner

My, how time flies. With my 2" BB and fender trimming, I went ahead and mounted up 31" Pro Comp mudders. I bought a set of 4 with about 25% tread from a used tire dealer, for one simple reason. I wondered how bad the mud tires would be compared to all-terrains. Here's my answer: for the difference in traction between all-terrains and mud tires, I would ALWAYS choose mud tires. The additional noise and vibration isn't bad enough on the street to make me forget their huge advantages offroad. I've also realized that I have plenty of clearance for up to 33" tires if I so choose. I'm thinking there may be a set of BFG 33x10.50/15 MTs on it soon, now that my experiment is done.

I did have a small problem with the 10.50 tires, on stock wheels, rubbing the LCAs at full-lock turn. So today I pulled off the steering stop bolts, which have the jam-nut welded in place to prevent adjustment. Cruised down to the local Ace Hardware, where I discovered the bolts are 3/8x24 fine thread. Bought 1.5" bolts, instead of the stock 1", along with matching jam nuts. After some fiddling, I discovered that 1.5" bolts, turned down snug against the brake backing plates, adjust the turning radius perfectly to set the rear edge of the tires exactly 1" away from the LCAs at full-lock turn. I tested turning radius on my secret offroad test track, and the reduction is nearly imperceptible. Now my LCAs won't be tearing up my tires.

I also re-torqued my U-bolts to 75 ft/lb and found they all needed almost a quarter turn to come back into torque spec. Glad I checked, my axle was probably rocking in the u-bolts. This may explain some of the minor clunking I've noticed recently.

My buddy, who owns Music City Motorworks, is ordering in my special paint for June, when he will be doing a full re-color. No more Red Dawn. I'm keeping the new color a secret until it's done, but trust me, it will be excellent. I also have a roof rack in the garage that I haven't been able to install because it's been too cold, along with a new muffler that will probably get welded in over the next week or two. She's coming along nicely, I guess I need to post some pics soon. I'll snap some off when I install the roof rack.