JeepaholicNinja

So I figure I might as well start a build thread. I don't have pics of everything yet and please keep in mind that I'm a high school student from Maine, so it's a bit harder to build Jeeps with few tools, no experience, temps below freezing practically half the year, few specialized shops, etc. BUT I'll try to update this thread as regularly as possible (ARAP).

Ok, so sophomore year in high school, my parents were carting me around to jazz band monday nights, karate lessons tuesdays and wednesdays, piano also on Wednesdays, as well as many other things...so we decided to get a vehicle for me to use AS SOON as I got licensed...

My dad and I searched craigslist...I had my heart set on a wrangler, cherokee, Ram, or f150...wranglers were deemed too dangerous. We looked at a like $1500 xj in need of work, and in all honesty we should have bought it as a parts/beater/trail jeep...

Anyways, after school one day, my dad takes me to go "check out a place that supposedly has some cherokees he wants to look at." So we go down and my dad's messing with me, saying things like "whoa this one's nice...hey come look over here." just kind of looking through all the vehicles at the lot. Then as we're done inspecting a particular Cherokee (this place had a lot of Jeeps), he says, "This is your truck." I misunderstood and replied, "you think this is the one?" He repeated himself and said he'd already reserved it! It was literally my truck haha. So we went inside and played and did paperwork and all that...And took her home.

JeepaholicNinja

I loved my new XJ as I'd liked the xjs ever since I found cherokee forum and read some builds. My Jeep is a white cherokee classic, a 2000 with an inline 6, automatic, and part time 4x4. I wasn't sure how I felt about the color at the time...I wanted blue or black, but the color grew on me as I realized how unique the white-on-white "color" scheme was haha. I'll discuss mods and add pics tomorrow after work, as well as tell you a bit more about me. But for now, you must wait, as I need sleep to get up at 5:00 tomorrow for work...Anyone guessed my job based on age, time, and geography?

JeepaholicNinja

Alright, I see I'm already generating tons of buzz on the forum with my awesome build....NOT

FruitSnacks

Hey now, other people have lives too (I think lol), give them a chance to relax after work. Also, welcome to the forum, and you should get some pics up! I wanna see your pretty white xj lol

JeepaholicNinja

Lol thanks haha ive lurked for over a year...you could say I have an addiction...Study hall and homeroom periods last school year consisted of Jeep forums and craigslist...Pics coming soon...gotta get em off my ipod

JeepaholicNinja

The day we brought her home

F1Addict

Lobster boat.

Nice looking rig, looking forward to following your build.

JeepaholicNinja

Lol thanks! How'd you guess haha

JeepaholicNinja

Obviously your computer is not equipped with smell-o-vision

JeepaholicNinja

So she has a few little mods here and there so far. First, she got a steering wheel cover (now removed) and floor mats. Then a Red Sox magnet haha and we (dad and I) tinted the rear side cargo and quarter glass. We removed the trailer hitch that we originally put on, because I didn't like how low it sat (2" drop hitch and saggy leaf packs). That took a hammer and some rust-eater haha. A tribute to my old dog, a rubber dog-head shaped hitch ball cover, now rides with me in the cab. I'm pretty into music, so I added a Gibson guitars decal, a Jimmy Page ZOSO, and some other decals and stickers: LL Bean outdoor discovery, gopro, Mt. Ararat (my high school), Browning, Wear Grundens (look it up haha), and recently I hung a mini soccer ball from my mirror. I also have a Thule MOAB roof basket and Hella 500 black magics. Dad wired a backup light on the rack for me in preparation for tint. He also wired in some Sony 5.25 door speakers and a Sony head unit, as well as blue LED accent lighting in the footwells.

F1Addict

Was I right?!

I worked on a salmon boat out of Neah Bay, Washington when I was your age. Always hated that the fish got up so freakin' early.

JeepaholicNinja

JeepaholicNinja

Lol can any guitar players figure out my vanity plates?

We also painted the rockers black as rust stains started to show a tiny bit, yellowing my rockers

JeepaholicNinja

We have also fixe some things...door speakers, window lock bypass, pulled the fuse for the locks because they were locking themselves, replaced a washer fluid pump, and one day i was headed to my piano lesson and the jeep started clunking and steaming...long story short, i got new belts, water pump, you name it. i think it was like $300-600 to fix, if i recall correctly. Also, she decided to overheat the day before my license test on december 26...so i took the test in my mom's 2010 kia optima, manual transmission, while it was snowing, tester in training in the back seat, passed by an ambulance, etc...but i passed! Got a new radiator and stuff for the Jeep...this kinda stuff is to be expected though at high mileage. The pic im gonna put here of the optima was not the test day...its the day i got it stuck with noone else home...and yea i got stuck at the top of my own driveway (dirt hill that washes away in rain...doesnt look bad in pics but my jeep could probably almost bottom out if i went up too fast)

JeepaholicNinja

Haha nice. Yeah I dont like getting up that early...Half hour drive or longer to the wharf, and i have to be there and ready to work by 6 am. One other thing is the bait...man, i have to tear pogies in half and squeeze em into bags and poke redfish through one eye and out the other haha.