great build and great write ups
real nice work

Thanks for the comments everyone. It's good motivation!

The recent trip to Bundy Hill has made me aware of a few issues that need addressed with the XJ:

Fenders
I actually didn't expect the fenders to be as troublesome as they were, but they definitely need some attention. I had read about going off road and having to deal with the wheels "rubbing" the fenders, this was total buckling! It sounded horrible. Had I been more aggressive, my fenders would've been annhilated. They're a definite hindrance on the off road capability of the Jeep. Needless to say, I'm going to be trimming the fenders THIS WEEKEND as long as work permits. Guess I won't need those stock flares I painted.

Heat Soak
I've recently developed some heat soak issues which became even more prevalent on the trail with all the stop and go low speed driving. The Jeep is exhibiting some misfiring and hesitation on startup after sitting a while with the engine warm. A little research revealed a technical service bulletin (TSB) that addresses the issue. Apparently, when the engine is turned off from operating temperature the fuel in injector #3 vaporizes causing a misfire in that cyliner upon startup. The engine has about 155K miles on it, so I'm planning to do a fuel injector swap and reinsulate the fuel system with some heat resistant wrap and see if the problem persists. I'm kind of using the issue as an excuse to also have a little fun and swap out the injectors. One thing that seemed to help was popping the hood when we stopped for a while, this allowed the heat to vent and prevented the misfiring on startups.

Rocker guards/sliders
Although we didn't get to try our luck on the rock pit, there were still plenty of "obstacles" that I nearly bottomed out on. I can defnitely see the usefulness in some good rock sliders. Got some research to do here though. But next time I go out, I'm definitely going to tackle some rock.

Yea , its the only way to learn about the capabilities, or lack of about the XJ...hey !

dont know if this helps but have a look at this Austalian web site, its one mans XJ , and all the things hes done to it it a awesome read/tech info... either type in gojeep.com.au or try this url http://jeep-xj.info/HowtoBonnetVents.htm this section deals with all the issues around under bonnet heat... I personally have installed a bonnet scoop and I tell ya, the heat that comes out of it when im stationary is amazing also pushes air into the engine bay when running... apart form my complete cooling overhaul the jeep runs at the correct operating temp, have been out on the trails twice now and I have have no probs....

Im currently having my rock sliders built by a good mate ...

cheers

Thanks for the info. I'll check out the links. I saw your hood scoop in your build thread, it looks great! I especially like that fact that it's color matched to the rest of the paint. I also like the idea of a cowl hood, but they're pretty expensive so hood vents seems more practical.

Started working on the fenders tonight. First thing I did was to remove the fender flares and brackets and inner fender well liner. Here's what I started with on the passenger side:





I reviewed quite a few threads/pictures to get some ideas on how I wanted to cut my fenders. It seemed like some people preferred to cut the fender flare mounting surface in such a way that would leave behind an edge with a lip. That looked nice, but I decided to go ahead and completely remove the flare mounting portion of the fender and leave behind no lines or contours in the fender for a nice clean look. Also, after nearly destroying my fender on the trail, I wanted to be a little on the aggressive side of trimming so as to not run into that problem again. Here's where I ended up taping off the fender:

looking good. nice solid line. just need pics of the after

So now that I've got the fender all taped up, it's time to cut. There's lots of options here, sawzall, jig saw, snips, angle grinder, cutting torches, etc. Well, unfortunately I don't own any of those tools. I had to make do with what I had:



Nothing like 35000 rpms to get the job done! I used a 1.5'' reinforced cut-off wheel. Now, the Dremel might not be the fastest tool for the job but I felt like it did pretty darn well. It made for a nice smooth cut.

Ask and ye shall receive

After the passenger side was complete I moved onto the driver side. There's no point in showing all the same pictures so I'll just show a before and after shot:

Before...


After...


So that's where I'm at for tonight. Tomorrow, I'm going to clean up the edges, grind 'em down and smooth them out a bit. Then remove the tape and try to find something to apply over the raw edge of the fender, i.e. door trim/molding. Once everything is finished I'll take a couple pictures of the final product.

looks great. going to paint the edges or just keep it clean?

also looks very clean with the front bumper, flush, i like it

build looks great. can i ask tho why you didnt do the cut and fold method on the fender trim to eliminate having a sharp edge

Looks really good. Are you going to remount you flares?

just read your build from pg 1 and im totally impressed and blown away by the work and the fully explained build thread thus far

Not sure yet. I'm going to figure that out tomorrow, after the tape is removed to see how the paint/edge looks.

Thanks! I didn't feel the cut-n-fold method was necessary on the front fenders. There's no pinch welds to worry about there so trimming them is the simplest way to get the job done. Trimming the front and cut-n-fold the rear is generally the most common approach to handling the wheel well openings. Additionally, I plan to smooth/grind the fender's edge and also install some type of modling/trim to help reduce the sharpness.

Haven't decided on this yet either. Leaning towards just going flareless. It's just easier and I don't mind the aggressive flareless look. Tomorrow I'm going to play around with the stock flares and see how hard it might be to modify them. Otherwise, I'll just sell 'em.

Doing my best to record everything, thanks for the comments! I'm glad to see people appreciate the documentation.