Morg's XJ 2.0
 

I sold my truck a couple of weeks ago and picked up another XJ. Two owners ago it belonged to my local buddy that took good care of it for a few years, and then he sold it to younger brother in law. It’s a 2000 Cherokee Sport with about 130K on the clock. It had a 4.0, Chrysler 8.25 rear, fair paint/body, and very minimal rust... and it was the right price. The only down side was that it needed a fair bit of general maintenance and TLC.

Not that anyone cares, but here is the abbreviated list:

-Lube, oil, and filters
-Service tranny
-New water pump, hoses, thermostat, coolant flush, rad cap, etc
-New belt
-Tune-up
-Needs some air conditioning work
-Needs front and rear brakes
-Tires have about 3 more months on them
-New windshield
-Headlight bezel
-Oil pan gasket
-Pinion Seals
-Valve cover gasket
-Get both front windows working
-Half of the speakers don’t work and the head unit is only about 50% functional
-Misc interior panel repair/replacement
-Passenger seat back is just about broke in half
-Front door pins
-Front end bushings are seriously lacking
-Steering/ u-joints/ ball joints/ unit bearings need checked
-Some of the weather stripping is destroyed

Those are just the highlights :(

A lot of the above items have been or will be grabbed from salvage yards. I’ve already grabbed a few small items, a used 31 inch spare, and a steel wheel for a spare.

Up and coming “fun” modifications in the next week or two include:

-31 x 10.50 BFG All Terrains on stock wheels
-Correct Speedometer gear
-Find/Make front disconnects
-Install budget boost (need to find shocks)
-Install front recovery points
-Find a receiver with clevis
-Bed line interior
-Floor Mats ;)
-New stereo so I can have some *&$% tunes on my commute!!
-New Corbeau seats

The Beast:

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Unnecessary crap that shouldn’t be in any jeep:

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My 45 dolla spare:

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I’ve got the 1” die in the bender ready to rock on the roof rack I’ve got designed… just waiting on some tubing.

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New shoes came the other day for the right price. Nothing fancy for now, but they should last over the road and aid in camp spot finding in some places.

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My alarm is set for 6 hours from now to start laying bed liner. I’ve got a Hurculincer Kit left over from a couple other Jeeps, but I bought some new stuff on sale. Going to see if I like it.

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I started doing some prepping and found this. This is the better side hidden by exterior molding. Someone could steal my cubby space subwoofer from the outside! (Yes, I’m putting a baby woofer in. 14+ hours a week on the road on the Iowa plains a week can be murder!)

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A few sourced items from friends. Front and rear budget suspension lift, and front recovery hooks.

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Got a few small things done in the last few days…

Put a new front windshield in.

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My little subwoofer enclosure I built. I just used spray on bed liner on it to see what it would look like. I’m going to go with the more aggressive roll on type later.

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Also go some 5.25” and 6” JL Audio speakers. They told me the 5.25” ones would work in the rear… they didn’t. I sent them back and threw 6 inchers in the rear. They don’t sound too shabby.

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I had to do some fixing of the stock wiring harness. It had been hacked into for the stereo and who knows what else… That blew almost an entire day. I finally got my head unit installed, made a mount for my GPS, and bought a mount for my phone. There will be no getting lost out in the back country while with me! HAHA

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With a little luck I will get to dive into the fun stuff very soon. I remember progress happening faster my last build. I didn’t really think it was possible for me to go any slower…. Evidently it is!

Today’s goodness involved some fun progress… but wound up turning some sod and other activities that resulted in cursing. Haha

I got the 31’s mounted and balanced…. Maybe do some self-clearancing for a day or so till the sawlzall and the budget boost come into play...

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I also spent about an hour or so cursing the fact that I spent a portion of my tuition money on school instead of that sweet new plasma cutter…. At least I’m making sparks finaly!! :)

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Judging by the amount of sense the above post makes today I’d say the new IPA from the local brewery was stronger than anticipated. 10% ABV can evidently sneak up on you.

New seats showed up from Frontier 4x4 today. Sweet!

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Today I wondered over to my friends shop and grabbed his out of date seatbelts and his spare from the Pro Mod. It’s like a jungle gym up in here with all of these bars!
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6 point fire retardant nomex covered belts may be just a tad overkill! Lol
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Getting ready to make sure the sawzall and whizzy wheel still work.
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Just got the opening roughed out. I will make it pretty later. It’s a little on the big side for the little 31s… more motivation to upsize I guess.
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Nice. I love my Corbeau's and 5 pt's.

Thanks. I really like the seats also, but it's been a while since I've been in harnesses on a daily basis. I will probably be cursing them for a while!

Try and keep the stock seatbelt since it is a DD. Mine worked for a while even with it being tight for space. That would be a pain, IMO. I don't think I would like the seats near as much if I had to DD my Jeep. They have the high sides that would make getting in and out multiple times a slight PITA if you were running errands or something.

The "daily driver" status is only for six months or so. It will then hit "toy" status because of the downtime during up and coming modifications. At least that's the plan!

In between mowing rounds I started tearing into the rear section. I knew there was some rust problems, but it actually turned out a little worse than I had thought.
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Haha. This was the old “mock up tire” I made years ago for my TJ. It unfortunately saw the light of day for some reason this Sunday…. I was kinda surprised I still had this in the shed still.
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I decided to cut out 95% of the Jeep’s rust in one blow. I’m not sure what this is technically called on XJs… cut & tuck, rear boat sides, etc? I have an idea…. I just need to find some .023 wire for the MIG welder tomorrow or some baby fill rod for the TIG… Not sure what the plan is yet, but it seems lighter! ;)
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If you decide to leave a newly cut hole open and commute in the rain once you’ll be surprised by how much water actually accumulates on the floorboards… Kinda like owning a TJ again!
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Here is one of the 18 gauge patch panels I made. The stock quarter panel looks like it’s about 22 gauge or so.
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Everything Plug welded then stitched together. Not spectacular, but it’s good and stuck together.
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Seam sealer, primed, and painted inside.
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Body filler and rust neutralizer.
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Primed and shot with el-cheapo bed liner… It didn’t turn out the best, but it will get redone soon anyways. She’s a 50 footer!
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No lift and not as bad as I thought. Needs wheel spacers though.
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I’ve got some more junk done, I just haven’t uploaded pictures yet.