Huge pain in the ***. I had to get the jack out and climbing in the back seat is a pain. I'm like ~100 pounds and 5'6" and it's even a pain for me.

Plus, I can't paint my rear quarters...

http://carphotos.cardomain.com/ride_...0001_large.jpg

https://www.cherokeeforum.com/attach...3917242465.jpg

I mean, I guess I could... but it would look stupid as hell on a 2 door...

OH, and the doors are heavy as hell so whenever I want to take them off... well, they weigh about as much as I do.

Honestly, I think it looks stupid as hell on any Jeep. Why just paint that one section? I don't really get it

Good to hear you share that opinion, your XJ looks like its still in pretty solid condition and it would be a crime to cover up that beautiful blue paint. I like the gray/silver on both of mine but that blue color is what I really want.

It's called Gunmetal Pearl :) I love it, and going to do my best to keep it in good condition. Got a few little spots to touch up, I think I might let the pros do that part.

Im definitely interested in seeing how yours looks with the Bushwacker flares. I've only found a couple pictures of XJs that are close to stock with them and Im still on the fence on whether I want to go that route or not. What's the next step after the rust repair/prevention?

After the rust repair and prevention comes the Monstaliner, for the interior and the rocker panels/bottom part of the doors. I'll touch lightly on some areas underneath, but the bulk of the undercoating with Chassis Saver will happen after I lift it, so I have room to drop the tranny and t-case. I want to cover every square inch that I can, and those gotta come down for it. So, after this step is done, I'll be lifting it as soon as I find some adjustable lower control arms. I'll restore the axles with Chassis Saver as well during the lift process. It's tough getting all my ducks in a row on paper, but I'm confident I have a good plan.

Some updates, ya'll...

This showed up at my doorstep today :)

Attachment 337484

Over the weekend, my lovely girlfriend helped me rip out the interior and all of the carpet in the Jeep. With her help, it only took about 2 hours.

https://i1286.photobucket.com/albums...ps00b01b9a.jpg

Attachment 337485

I found it interesting that there seemed to be a sort of bedliner "patch" there in the back, and it seems like it would be very difficult to remove. I decided that I'm going to leave it and Monstaline over it. The rear was perfect, no rust at all in the back seat / cargo areas (minus the quarter panels).

However, in the front, there are isolated areas that are covered with this foil stuff that is held on by some kind of tarry adhesive. It's pretty easy to scrape off with a putty knife, but the foil can cut you (ask me how I know)!

Drivers side:
Attachment 337486

Passenger side:
https://i1286.photobucket.com/albums...ps261c9c4b.jpg

The passenger side wire-wheeled off quite nicely. Still lots of prep work to do, I've only wire-wheeled the bad sections. I need to obtain a Torx set so I can remove the seat belts and rear trim panels. It will still be a while until I'm ready to roll the Monstaliner as I also plan to remove the body trim to prepare the exterior for Monstaliner as well. Before I lay it down however, I'm going to address the rusty areas with Chassis Saver. The aluminum kind is supposed to help fill in pits and work as a better primer. Also using that stuff underneath, eventually! But that's for a later post.

Love your Jeep! Stoked to see how the Monstaliner comes out!

Thanks, me too! A lot needs to happen before I get to roll it on though. The Monstaliner only has a pot life of 8-10 hours, once mixed. That means I need to be ready to cover everything with it within that time period.

Since I want to do the inside of my fender wells too, it makes sense to install the Bushwacker Flat Flares--well make the cuts for them anyway--so that all bare metal resulting from that will be addressed with rust preventative and durability measures. Tomorrow after work I plan to get the jeep up on the stands, remove the wheels for extra room, and removing the stock flares to prepare for that. :D

Patiently waiting to see this. :)

So, I've had some time to pick away at the immense amount of prepwork I need to do to the interior before I'm ready to roll on the Monstaliner...and as another thread I posted mentions...I HATE TORX BOLTS. I may replace them all with standard grade 8 bolts...I just got a new T50 socket head, and this happened when slowly wrenching out the rear seatbelt bolts. The front ones are rusty, so I'll probably just end up drilling and grinding them out. :cursing:

Attachment 337328

Same deal for these two guys, when trying to remove my rear drivers door for the door jamb rust repair.

Attachment 337329

F*** TORX!!!!

Some planning updates to the CHIOBA's future...I know I change my mind on this every other day, but I'm pretty set on this idea now. I'm going to go with Rock Krawler adjustable short arms, and the Bomb-Proof Track Bar w/ Bracket. My style of wheeling/offroading really doesn't require long arms, and I'm not so anxious to drill into the frame and what not for the long arm install. Plus chopping the original control arm mounts. And, they are used, and I really want to put new stuff on. So currently, it looks like this...

Rubicon Express 4.5" Coils
Rubicon Express Twin-Tube Shocks
Rock Krawler Adj. Control Arms
Rock Krawler Bomb-Proof Adjustable Track Bar
Rock Krawler HD Tie Rod
Zone Offroad Steering Stabilizer
Rusty's 4.5 Leaf Packs (used as part of the old kit, but still seem in good shape)
Cragar Soft 8 Steelies (CHEAP)
Dick Cepek Mud Country (still torn on 33s or 35s...I think I'll decide after trying on a buddy's 35s. The price difference really isn't that much)

Quite a mixed bag! I'll probably need a SYE after all this, so I'll be getting the IRO Hack-n-Tap for that job when the time comes. I really have no interest in dropping the T-case.

Look for all that stuff to be installed 20 years from now. LOL. Sponsors welcome! :lol:

That's going to be fantastic :)
Looks like you got to those floors just in time, what rest preventer will you use? I've just bought a big tub of Bilt Hamber Hydrate 80, but that might not be available/good value in the US because it's made here in the UK. I've had success with POR-15 before, but it can react when painted over so I don't know how it would go with Monstaliner.

I'm pretty sure that patch is sound deadening material. It can be a real ***** to get off so I'd leave it well alone :D

Best of luck!

Thanks! And yes, I definitely did get to them in time. The foil insulation stuff is now mostly off, and what a pain it was, indeed. Still some messes to clean up from the sticky tar holding it on. The good thing about that was that it's rust-free underneath where those patches were. I'm using the Chassis Saver that I got with the Monstaliner kit for free as part of a promotion they have going on. I figured since they make it and their instructions are tailored to Monstalining over it, it would be the best bet. I haven't heard of the stuff you mentioned. Is it similar to POR15?

Some visual updates for ya'll...

So, this is the mess I'm currently at, no thanks to Torx bolts and crummy tar adhesive-backed insulation.

Attachment 336900

Here you can see some of the gunmetal blue "caulk" tape that surrounds the edges of the interior and along the backseat area. What a huge pain in the *** to remove. Taking the angle grinder wire wheel to it makes a huge mess, and scraping it up by hand is way too tedious. No-win situation, but that's gonna have to come off of there. I've never seen this before on other jeeps. Go figure! :cursing:

Attachment 336901

I did finally get one of the back seatbelt Torx bolts drilled out. What a difference the right bits makes! Here's where I'm at with the other one...... :cursing:

Attachment 336902

And, here's where I'm at with the bolts holding the rear driver's door on....:cursing::cursing:

Attachment 336903

Ideally I'd have a die grinder, but I must tediously toil away with a Dremel and grinding stone on those two bastards.

Also, after getting tired and frustrated with those, I decided to switch gears and start my Bushwacker Flat Flare installation. This side is soon ready for cutting. Try to ignore those rusty original shocks...:lol:

Attachment 336904

So, all those factors combined are making this a very long and drawn-out process. I'm hoping to at least be ready to start rolling the Monsta on before it starts getting cold out since summer is basically over already. Also, I ordered a 10" LED Light Bar from White's 4x4 that's due to arrive tomorrow. Pretty excited about that one.

My mess of a garage...lol
Attachment 336905

Soooo this showed up a day early, today--my 10" LED light bar :)

https://i1286.photobucket.com/albums...ps67b02736.jpg

I couldn't resist installing it, so I got to work immediately. A trip to Ace and a few stainless steel nuts & bolts later...

Attachment 336891

I'm really happy with how it turned out. It's right up against the bull bar, and back in enough that it's well protected by it without blocking the beam.

Attachment 336892
Attachment 336893

I decided not to mess with the factory original switch for now, and threw in this temporary switch.

Attachment 336894

I know that's ugly, but I'll "switch" that up at a later time. Sorry, no action shots as of yet since it's still garaged for a while as I'm tackling three big projects at once...Bedliner, rust repair, and Bushwacker flares. More to come soon.

Nice thread and very nice project. Now I'm subscribed to one more thread to ensure my "cheap" project continues to eat up all of my beer money as I see more ideas. Ok... let's be serious, I'll always find a way to cover essentials.

I see you liked that seal/caulk/tape/goop/**** as much as me. Whoever came up with that is probably laughing his *** off at all of the people bedlining their interior since he knows they have to deal with it. What a sick, sick joke.

Keep up the nice work!

Thanks buddy! So you mean to tell me that your Jeep had that stuff, too? Any tips on removing it? I'll probably be picking pieces of it out of my Jeep for the rest of it's life!

Ya, mine had plenty of that crap too. I wish I had good advice for ya on it, but it was just a pain and nothing worked out too great. I used the 3" wire brushes on my drill for most of the stuff and it worked "best", but took a lot of time, made a hell of a mess, and ate up the brushes like mad. Sometimes I was able to hit it in strips and peel chunks off, but not always. Definitely not a fun time.

I think I'm going to try to cut it some with a putty knife, and see if that makes it easier on the wire brush. Also, before working on it any more, I'm going to completely cover my dash from the mess it makes. UGH!

If you are getting the RE 4.5" coils I suggest buying them from amazon they are the cheapest reputable seller I could find.


I bought my 5.5" from them for cheap, that price is for the pair :D

yep, that's exactly where I got them. About the same price. I ordered them months ago. Hopefully I'll have my lift installed before winter! :) Time and money...

Got some work done on the Chero on the Labor Day holiday. Finally got the rear door off after grinding off the heads of the damned Torx bolts holding the bottom hinge. I also finished drilling out the damned seatbelt bolts in the back. Once that happened, I was able to start tackling the rust.

Attachment 336607

After Dremeling and wire-wheeling...this is what I'm left with. I haven't started on the other hole shown in the lower left on my rocker.
Attachment 336608

As typical, what you visually see is always just the tip of the rust-berg. The cancer inside of the rocker is a bit disconcerting as well, so at this point I'm unsure of how to fix this. Ideally, I could cut the whole thing out and weld in 2x6 tubing that doubles as rock sliders, but that is a bit of a daunting project for me at this point.

I'm now looking at welders and trying to figure out what a good option is at this point. I'm still considering somehow filling this with putty to get me by until I'm ready for 2x6. I'm thinking of strategically cutting some holes on the bottom of the rocker so that I can clean and treat the inside of it with the Chassis Saver before puttying it up. More to come once I figure out how to tackle this problem!

Subscribed :)

Made out good yesterday, picked up a MOPAR-rebuilt NP231 transfer case and shifting assembly from a CF member, ehracing67. It's believed to have 20,000 miles since it was rebuilt, out of a jeep with 120k. That will be getting an Advance Adapters SYE kit installed before going in.Also picked up a black center console, as I have the ugly gray interior and am working to black it out. It will match nicely with my black Monstaliner job. I also picked up new drain plugs for my floors from Lowes.

I'll have pics of the goodies later. I'm kicking the Monstaliner job into high gear now, because it's starting to get cooler and it's best to do this stuff while it's still warm out. As for the rust I posted about above, I've decided that I'm going to cut out all I can, treat the insides and all around it with the Chassis Saver, fill it up with the spray insulation in a can, and then bondo it. This will buy me a lot of time so that I can save some coin towards a welding setup. Can't wait for that!

Had to jump on an actual computer to see your sig. Looks good! How do you like that LED bar? Any night shots of it?

I think it was a bit overpriced, but overall I'm very happy with it. It's crazy bright. Unfortunately, no night shots yet, I've only had it out of the garage once since I've installed it, due to this other project going on, haha. My next task with it is to figure out how to wire it to the factory fog switch.

And now my rust repair might be on hold for a little longer as my dad says he's interested in buying a welder. If that happens, I'll wait and fix the rust the right way.

Subscribed

I'll have some more updates this week. Got some more of that crap insulation tape off. That has been taking a ton of time and making a hell of a mess

Stoked to see your Monstaliner job when its done.

SO, as usual I change my mind constantly. I knew that I wouldn't be satisfied with a bondo putty fill fix for this serious rust issue with my rockers and door jamb, so I got lucky on Craigslist today and picked up this brand new, still in box MIG machine. :)

Unfortunately the XJ project won't be getting much done through September as I prepare for my CCNA certification exam on 9/30. That's priority, since that's the money maker! And the welder set me back a bit...still need to get welding supplies, gas, and steel!

Attachment 336112
Attachment 336113

Congratulations on the purchase

Thanks buddy, can't wait to start using it!

This was all that was needed to make this post awesome... and then you threw in the welder :D

Think McFly Think

http://bloguinmedia.com/lightthelamp...cfly_think.jpg

Hit the junkyard over the weekend and picked up a ZJ transmission cooler.

Attachment 335913

I was going to get another front driveshaft, but the yard owner wanted 100 bucks for it. I wasn't about to get "shafted"!

i got the same trans cooler for my xj. works great so far, the only thing i dont like about them is orientations of the tube ends

Did you install a temp gauge as well? I'm trying to figure out that piece. Also how the hoses might mount up. My plan is to put it in front of where my mech fan is. I'll have to check out your build

i havent gotten to a temp gauge yet :/

UPDATE...

So it's been a while, and life quickly gets in the way especially as a 25 year old living 100% on his own, it's tough to get enough $$$ to put into this thing--and also I've had to basically rebuild the front suspension on my daily driver. The Jeep has been stuck in my garage for probably going on 2 months--but things are getting back on track. I've been practicing with the welder by building a cart for it (cart build here) I'm feeling very confident in my ability to weld so far, it's been great.

I'm gearing up for the 2x6 rocker replacement and I'm getting the first 6ft section of it next week! I finally found a steel hookup in my area, a buddy of mine who is getting an offroad shop together a few towns over. 10 bucks a foot for the 2x6.

Within the next few weeks I'll be tackling this rust I unveiled on the passenger lower quarter panel. I want to keep the factory look of the quarter panel so that my Bushwacker flat flares fit appropriately.
Attachment 333643

Also, here's another glimpse of the driver's side rocker that was half-assedly "repaired" by the previous owner.
https://i1286.photobucket.com/albums...pse84eec3c.jpg

I still don't quite understand what they did here, and there are no obvious welds as far as I can tell. Either way, it's all getting cut out--very soon.