Its a Rustoleum product, it’s their brush-on “rust reformer” product. I get it on Amazon in 8oz bottles, brush it on with a cheap paint brush. It takes a couple days to cure before you can paint over it, but it creates a nice clean surface, and converts all the rust under it. I don’t expect the truck will last forever, but really like the idea of treating and sealing/protecting it as much as possible.

 

Baaaaaaack at it.....it’s starting to look like a vehicle again!

Got the wheel well area (both sides) painted up with bed liner. Came out great, gonna make the truck look great when it’s all together! Also got the new braided brake lines on. I would have loved to start getting the lift kit in up front, but I have to let the paint dry...lol




Got the leaf springs in!! Boy was I happy to get that done! It was a hell of a job to get the leafs into the rear shackles, but I got it done with some strategic prying and manipulation. Also got the charcoal filter box in (with the new bracket), as well as the new braided brake line for the rear. Got the shocks in (on top mounts), the rear is just about ready for the axle to go back in.







The rear axle rust treatment came out great, have to wait another day before painting it.




Getting damn close to having it back on it’s own wheels....love it!

 

Dude that rust converter stuff is awesome. Im going to pick up some from Amazon and see what mess I can make in the garage! The under carraige of your jeep looks great.

 

The biggest thing to remember with this process was the prep. All the loose/flaking rust and debris has to be gone, all oil/grease has to be cleaned thoroughly, then rust converter applied. Let that cure for 2 solid days, then top coat with your choice of paint/covering (mine is done with Duplicolor bed liner in black).

I very pleased with the result on my rig, can’t wait to see it sitting on its own wheels again!

Taking the night off...back at it tomorrow though.

 

Put a few hours in today. Got started with the front suspension. Boy oh boy was that a real job, made worse due to no engine/transmission to use for weight to compress the suspension to get the control arms bolted up. Got pretty hairy for a bit using ratchet straps to get things lined up, but I got it done.










Gonna get the rear axle back in this weekend, front brakes back together, then get all the brakes bled and new ebrake cables in so it’s officially a rolling chassis again.

 

Mid weekend update....had some help for a while, got the axle back in the rear.















Got the new calipers in, front brakes all put together. I ran out of brake fluid for bleeding the brakes, I’ll get them bled tomorrow. Had to order the new ebrake cables, those are due in next week.




Not sure what happened, the pic uploaded is a quirky deal....a couple are out of order, and it wouldn’t let me fix it....oh well.

I’ll be grabbing new lower shock mount hardware and getting those in tomorrow as well. I’ll have the chassis work complete this weekend, ready for the motor swap!

Once the Jeep is rolling on complete brakes I will be rolling it out so I can clean the damn shop...it’s a mess and I hate it.

Next on the “to do” list is the hack and tap SYE while the tcase is on the bench.

 

Only limited progress over the last couple days. Ran out of brake fluid, got more but didn’t have a second person to help bleed (plus the driver seat isn’t in, so bleeding like that isn’t very convenient). So bleeding the brakes isn’t done yet, but they’re all together.

Got all new ebrake cables in. Nice surprise, found rear brakes are brand new! Shoes, hardware, adjusters...all new. Got the rears all back together, new ebrake cables all the way to the handle. New adjuster assembly due here tomorrow. Got the adjuster housing relocated 3” towards the rear to give the driver side rear a little extra slack, it was more taut than I was comfortable with.

Got the wheels back on, it was great to have it rolling on it’s own again! Adjusted the steering link a bit, wheels are way off after the lift. With no engine it’s sitting waaaaay high, so I am not going to worry about getting it lined up yet.

Got the driver side interior floor section painted with the undercoating like the other side, came out good. A day after the paint I got the floor put back together with carpet and whatnot.

One unfortunate issue is one (15 wire) connector on the driver side kick panel got damaged during the use of a wire wheel on my grinder. The connector got busted up, and 4 wires got ripped right out of the connector. I have ordered a set of 8 pin connectors to make up 2 connectors to replace the 1.

I’m headed out on a upland bird trip next week, so I probably won’t be doing much more on the Jeep this week....got to start getting things ready for that trip. Really, I was hoping to have the XJ ready for it....but that won’t be happening

 

This has got to make the Guinness Book of Records as one of the fastest refurbs ever! ! !

Looking GOOD.

 

I don’t know, I think I’ve seen some guys blow right through an XJ before. Though, they usually have big cake to pay to have most of it done...not the case here...lol.

Well, tonight the XJ kicked my ***. I’ve been wrenching all my life, and I am having the worst time getting the brakes bled. I had the wife help me on two occasions today.

First time I just couldn’t get the fronts to push much fluid at all, and the wife said the peddle stayed as soft as can be the whole time (she’s bled plenty of brakes with me, she knows how it should go). Rears bled out fine, got plenty of spits and pops of air, then good clean fluid. But the fronts were both slow flowing, and the peddle never firmed up after 4-5 cycles. Thinking the master cylinder was failing I pulled it from the donor (and the booster, the donor booster was in much better shape). Installed it in the 99, try again bleeding.....NOPE, same thing. Only this time I ran the damn thing out of fluid and pumped a bunch of air in the front section just as I was thinking we were making progress.

Guess what, ordered a power bleeder. Never owned one, but this is ridiculous.

All done for today....pick it back up on Thursday.

 

I like the taste of humble pie. Sometimes I think my subconscious does it to me just to keep me on my toes.

So, the story goes like this. After getting the front knuckles cleaned up and painted I moved on to pulling the brake lines and hoses. Replaced them with the nice braided extended hoses that come with the kit. While disconnected I thought it would be a good idea to clean up the calipers and give them a coat of paint. In the process of cleaning them with my needle scaler I damaged the piston on one of them. Looked them up, found they were cheap, replaced them both at Autozone. To save time I brought both old ones to exchange on the spot so I didn’t have to deal with the core charges. Got back home, new calipers in hand, and installed them.

Now, I detailed above how much trouble I was having getting the brakes bled. Try and try, I just couldn’t get the peddle to firm up. And what’s more, the “flow” of fluid from the front bleeders just didn’t seem right.

Fast forward to tonight. I got my new power bleeder in. Got it set up, 2 fresh quarts of fluid. Fill everything up, pressurize the system. I put the XJ up, open the front/pass bleeder....FLOW STILL SUCKS!!! Now I’m about to rethink my life decisions at this point. I cannot for the life of me figure out what the hell is going on. Then, while staring at the sad flow of fluid flowing from the bleeder, I realize what’s wrong....I finally realize that the bleeder is on the BOTTOM of the piston chamber.....OMFG....MORON......

I never even caught it, and it was the boob move of the century. Swapped calipers, bled the fronts....rock hard peddle.

Got the ebrake adjuster in, and ebrakes back together. All brakes back together.

I love the new power bleeder BTW....speeds up that job, and makes it a one person job to boot!

Got the wheels back on the XJ, cleaned up the shop. Glad to be at this stage. Next I’ll be getting the interior electrical connector replaced, and then get the interior all back together. Just about ready for the motor swap, which makes me very happy!

Done for a couple days....got to get my Tundra on the lift to assess an exhaust leak before my bird trip.

Good evening all.

 

Got the Jeep rolled outside for the first time in weeks. Good to see the sun shining on it!








I’m headed up north for the week for my fall upland bird hunt (can’t wait till the XJ is ready for this trip next year). Hope everyone has a good week! After this trip it’ll be time for the motor swap!

 

Dude your shop is so effing sick #lifegoals. Oh and I dig the progress on the Jeep! I ended up picking some of that rust converter up from amazon. When I was looking at it I didnt realize it was 8oz. In the picture it looks bigger. Amazon package shows up with this little 8oz bottle and Im like WTF. Then I check your thread and you said you used an 8oz bottle. Derp move on my end ha.

 

Lol, yeah I thought the same thing when I got the first bottle. But you’ll see, it goes on water thin and goes a long way! I needed 4 total bottles to do the entire underside (all the rust, didn’t cover every surface in it).

Thanks for the compliments on the shop. I have a lot of fun in there fixing all sorts of stuff. I had a brake job on friends Lexus today, that’s the main reason the XJ got rolled out. Got that done, swept up the shop....place looks great now.

Can’t wait to get the motor swapped and drive this thing under its own power!

 

Hey everybody....just a quick hello to let you know I haven’t died...

Been a crazy busy month, house renovations, fall/cold weather prep, and work gets busy in the fall in the industrial boiler business.

I have actually started prepping the donor XJ for engine removal. It’s on the lift, and I have got the transmission all but ready for the pull. A few more “under side” things and I’ll drop it and get the topside ready for pulling the motor. Can’t wait to get the motor into the 99, see it move under its own power again!

Stay safe everybody....

 

Well....blink and 2 months have gone by!

Progress on the XJ kind of froze, but I have gotten some solid time into it over the holidays.

Got the donor motor out of the 96, separated the tranny and Tcase, put those in storage for future needs. Got the donor motor on a stand and prepped, sensors and whatnot transferred over from the 99’s motor, flex plate transferred, intake and exhaust manifolds swapped, tune up done, valve cover gasket done, oil filter housing orings done.








Pan gasket and RMS comes in tomorrow.

Hope to have the motor and tranny back together by the weekend.

Hope everyone had a nice holiday season!