I recently purchased a 1992 XJ that the PO had tried to put in a 1998 engine and screwed all the wiring up but it had some good bits on it and I figured I would pick it up. Next I purchased a 1999 Classic that a kid had manage to hit the back of a flatbed trailer with, the damage was not that bad after looking at it, all the steering linkage, driver fender, header panel, headlight/turn signal. bumper and a leaky power steering pump reservoir. The goal for this build is to try to keep it under $2,000.00. I will continue to update my parts price breakdown on this first post. I will be taking off the lift, steering linkage, and front bumper from the 1992 and then selling it with the stock 99 suspension bolted on to it to recoup some money.

1992 XJ $150
1999 XJ $300
Trailer rental $ 40
Fuel $120
PB Blaster $ 3
Engine de-greaser $ 4
Random tools $ 25
Cutoff wheels $ 4
Tire mounting $ 40
1992 XJ sell -$300
New shackles $ 30
Bushings $ 53
U-bolts/nuts $ 55
Battery $ 92
Fuel line tool $ 8
Body Panels $ 265


TOTAL: $889.00 So far

 

Here it is after being pulled from the weeds.


A picture of the damage done..notice the mandatory case of crappy beer


After a quick rinse


Interior needs scrubbed badly..I found mouse poop...lets hope the wires are still ok.


A pleasant surprise!! He thought there was 150k-160k on it...I'll take 110K!


A not so pleasant surprise...Dead battery may be to blame.


Parts XJ..Its much worse than it looks..settle down.


Stock measurement


After the mystery lift. 3" spring and 2" spacer


And a shot of the engine with some cleaner sprayed on it.


I will get some better shots of it a little later, including the bent the heck steering linkages. After swapping in the 92 linkage the wheels both point the same direction and the alignment seems to be normal.

 

Subbed.

 

 

Nice, I like seeing one come back from being grown up in a field.

Good luck.

 

Looks like u are off to a good start. I rescued my xj from a junkyard and it had a front end damage too. Real easy to fix. Don't give up

 

Well I ran into a few hiccups today removing the rear suspension from the xj's. The red one came off great...the silver one was assembled by a retard with a giant impact wrench. In the process of trying to remove the leaf springs I broke the bolt on the passenger rear shackle clean off...don't know how i'm going to fix that yet. I snapped the shock bolt clean off..passenger side. I figured I would give the driver side a shot...VICTORY!! I broke the top shackle bolt loose! The front one managed to snap my breaker bar...SOOOO...I need to find a way to remove the top shackle bolt and the lower bolts holding on the leaf springs on the silver xj. I also swapped hoods. Sorry for the cell phone shots..but there is not a lot of space in my driveway to get a good full shot.

Note the tire is still on the ground.


Hoods swapped out..its hard to tell but the red hood has some bends


Rear suspension all removed! EASY PEASY LEMON SQUEEZY...or something.

 

And I forgot to mention that the the gap on the hood on the passenger side looks great, as for the driver side, there is a half inch gap along it. I see some "frame" pulling in my future. Oh well easy fix. I will try to snap a few pics tomorrow.

 

Nice! I love seeing XJ's that would probably be scrapped by someone being rebuilt. It's always fun, and you can look at it and say "That's all me"

 

So I decided to take the grinder to the silver xj's leaf bolts and grind the cut the mounts so I could pound them flat to slide off the leafs and shackles. The problem seems to be that the bolts are pretty frozen inside the leafs themselves....I supposed a ton of pb blaster and pounding? Maybe as a last resort I can try to drill them out. Any Ideas would be great! Again no real pictures worth posting. This weekend I should make the most progress. The plan is to get it running well, get the lift on, get the tires on and clean the interior...it seems God may have some other plans possibly..Daughter (6mo) has hand foot and mouth, the wife has a fever and I have the start of a sore throat...Oh well we will fight through it...I hope

Aaron

 

Hope you-all feel better! awesome work thus far. (sub'd)

 

I had a disappointing day of working on the Jeeps today..I spent from 11:00am to 5:30PM trying to remove the rear suspension on the silver xj..I failed. I managed to remove the shackle bolts, and u-bolts, but the front leaf bolts are beyond me. I will buy a bigger cutoff wheel tomorrow and hopefully cut them off. All the bolts are seized inside the bushings so I will be ordering all new ones tomorrow. The one redeeming factor of today was. IT RUNS!!! AND REALLY WELL!!!! It managed to fire off on gas from 2009, I added a bottle of heet but other than the random check engine light..it runs amazing! and I got the bumper bolted on..only 2 of the bolts fit without the frame being pulled back into shape. I wish I would have gotten more done but that is life. Sorry to disappoint...

Aaron

 

Alright! Today went much much better. I bought a bigger cutoff wheel and it took all of 5 freakin seconds to remove the rear leafs. The guy who picked up the jeep was awesome too, we just set the silver xj down on the springs...no hardware to attach it, and yanked it up on the trailer. I also got the tires on. I am ordering all new bushings for the rear leafs and u-bolts because all where seized in place. I hope to have the rear done by the end of the week I am just waiting for parts now. I suppose the rest of the week I will clean/ rip out the interior. I also have to figure out my hvac controls, I found that little vacuum ball thing in my back seat. Here are some pics of the progress.

Bye Bye silver XJ! SOLD for $300.00!


Stripped and ready for new rubber.


I love the look of the new tires! I can't wait to get the rears on this week!

 

Good progress!

 

x2!!

I'm watching closely.. Perhaps I can get some ideas for the J10, if I get it.