My XJ Build The "Riverkee"
 

Recently purchased '94 XJ 2 Door. This will be my build thread. Any mods or big repairs I do I will post here. Currently in the repair phase, lol. Looking pretty cheesy here.

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.che...6501081106.jpg

Day I bought my XJ


https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.che...5f621dbd95.jpg

Aside from carpets and seats, interior is in great condition.

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.che...396c71ba11.jpg

Driver's section already cut out. Edges need to be smoothed up.


https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.che...ea2ef9a375.jpg

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.che...a7c0181074.jpg

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.che...2f97f95ddb.jpg

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.che...04fb69be6b.jpg

A bunch of rust...


https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.che...855a421526.jpg

Not too major.


https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.che...a97a00575e.jpg

A little frame work here it looks like


https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.che...c9026e6c0d.jpg

Rusted out all the way around this hump here.


https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.che...232b207a47.jpg

Any input is appreciated!

Looks like you have your work cut out for you.

Are you gonna do the welding yourself? Or hire it out?

Nice pun there. :icon_cool:
Yeah, these floors pans are a pain to remove. I will be doing the welding, just need a new MIG.

So I won't be doing the welding at this point. Met a guy who does it for a living and just found out his fiance has breast cancer. I'm going to be fixing the braking system on his truck and give him some cash on top of it to finish my floor pans. Hopefully will begin the process the beginning of next week. We'll be replacing about 95%.

Good 'ol Cherokee floor pan rust. What gives it the name Riverkee?

Me and the guys go to the river a lot throughout the year, especially summer. We named a pal of mine's Jeep the Cherocreek down there when one night we were camping and trailing he accidentally made a wrong turn and hit a big bog hole (alcohol was involved), but we somehow came out after a few times of rocking her. It's kind of like a tribute to what we do.

Once you get the new floor pans welded in, it looks like you will have a good base to start with.

That's what I'm hoping. We're going to repair and reinforce the frame around where the fuel filler hoses come in, and probably go ahead and do my rocker tubes while we've got the welder running.
Do any of you have some recommendations on suspension? I want to run probably a 4" lift max, but want a good long travel setup. I won't be doing a lot if any crawling around here, but a lot of trail and dirt road riding.

My order of operation is braking, suspension and frame reinforcement (probably stiffiners), and then power/drivetrain with interior cosmetics inbetween it all. I'm going to buy a spare 4.0 off the local shop and want to stroke it out in the future, but for now it's just an idea.

Doing the same to mine, brakes fixed and replacing the floor pans. I want the Metalcloak 3.5 lift. Great flex and still a short arm. $$$ though.

Looks like a good project. For trail riding a 3-4" lift on 31s will be very budget friendly and capable. Looking forward to seeing how this goes. If you want any ideas don't hesitate to check out my build, I'm currently on 4"s of lift with 33s and plenty of flex.

Thanks guys! Now would you do a full roll cage and frame stiffiners? Or should a properlly built cage be enough to not need them on these uni's?

Yeah I was looking at Rough Country's 4-6" lift w/long arm travel kit. It's $1400. I don't want to cheap out, but I don't want to have to spend an arm and a leg either. When I had my Z71 383 stroker build (RIP) one thing I learned was never use the cheapest things and only buy what you can afford to replace in reasonable time.

What brand are you running Unidentifiedbom? I checked your build it it looks awesome!

I would run stiffeners and weld the cage to them, much better penetration with the stiffeners than the thin unibody/uniframe. As far as my setup goes. I'm running RE 3.5" coils, RE upper and lower superflex arms, Rusty's 3.5" leafs with MJ shackles. I'm measured to 4" front 4.25" rear. Works great! Sliders and stiffeners are on my to-do list.

Looks like that's the route I'll be taking!

Well everyone it's coming along quite nicely. Slow, but nicely. Finally have the whole back floor section cut out minus the small drive shaft tunnel where the rear seats bolt. Going to finish grinding the spot welds up front, smooth up some cut edges, and start stripping surface rust/paint along the sides for welding prep. Sand and coat the frame, and then next week, hopefully, should be welding her in.

I have a few spots I need to weld the frame where I accidentally cut too far into the old floor, but it's just some nicks that I don't want to cause stress cracks in future time. And then there is one issue I need to bring up. The spot in the frame where the filler hoses come through, how can I strengthen this up? It looks like the hole is "bored" out a little lol. Would plating it on each side with a mini cross-member on the inside be fine? Don't really want to chop it off and add a new one if I do not have too. It's just the hole looks a little oversized.