mills350

Here's my new project, 1988 XJ Limited. I began the project about 6 months ago when I found the neglected XJ a couple hours from me on craigslist. It ran good enough to get it on the trailer and haul it home.
First thing was to pull and replace the motor that smoked really bad, and upon dissambly .060 was what it would have to be bored to. Rebuilding it myself would have not been much cheaper than buying the reman with a warranty. As of now, the new motor is in and almost ready to fire up. Next is to put on the lift thats sitting on the floor (RC 4.5), and wheels and tires are in the ups truck right now! Black Rock soft 8 style, and 32x11.50R15's Pro Comp M/T's. I'll update as I progress, going to build front and rear bumpers and roof rack. 4.56 gears will go in soon too.

Hommersimpson

Kewl... lota work :}

c_kdna

wow good luck man

mills350

Yea, lots of work, but worth every minute and dollar to end up with such a capable vehicle. I really enjoyed your build thread C kdna!

projectmayhem

Good luck with the build I'm gonna be watchin this thread

mills350

I'll take some better pics this evening hopefully, got some parts in to finish hooking up the motor....the quick connects for the trans. cooler lines were appearently dealer parts, and yes they were expensive. $20 for a couple o-rings, and i needed 3 kits...

mills350

Another couple of pics...glad you can't see the whole shop, needs to be cleaned up.

Meat9834

good luck

mills350

Well the motor is in, waiting on a few more parts so I can get it running, always some small things that are overlooked, and of course the parts stores have nothing you need; quote of the day "we can order it for you".....why have a store if you you don't stock an O2 sensor for a jeep cherokee?? I will order online and have it shipped to my house...I went to 5 different local parts stores and the response was the same...wow, is this the same for everybody? Anyway, while waiting on parts I installed the RC 4.5 lift with full leafs, 22 year old leaf spring bolts had to be encouraged with a 2 foot cheater pipe, but the rest went smoothly. Going to probably need the drop pitman arm, and also I have an issue with the tie rod..goes from one spindle all the way across and connects exactly where the steering damper connects, and the bolts for each are binding on each other, makes for clunky steering...don't know if something is bent or what? If anybody has run across this problem and has a solution let me know. Here is a cell phone pic for your viewing pleasure.

jusper88

HAHAHA Don't you love the "we can order it" bit? I had to go to 3 different parts stores to do a complete distributor change out to find and build a complete distributor! BTW what tranny is that?

mills350

The tranny is an AW4.

Here is the tie rod end hitting the steering damper mount...looks like I need to relocate the damper. I may get aftermarket tie rod and drag link, can't decide if i should do the over knuckle or not, since i'll have it apart and cutting on it anyway. Any alternatives for the steering issue?? I've looked all over for a simple solution....

And here's some more pics -->

mills350

Here is the culprit I think....Its the drag link (from the pitman to the tie rod), looks bent to me but want to know if it looks bent to anybody else. I've got nothing to compare it to, unless i buy a new one, but still wanting to upgrade the steering parts if I have to get a new one anyway.

Oh and look what was waiting on the porch for me when I got home today! Maybe tires tomorrow I hope.

mills350

Whoo Hoo! New tires on the front porch!..pics later. Pro Comp M/T's 32x11.50R15's...they look sweet!

Brad M.

Drag link is definitely bent. Lots of steering upgrade options, from store bought bolt-on to DIY parts swapping WJ knuckle setup. How much you wanna spend on steering?

Btw, nice job on the build so far.

mills350

thanks..and its just the beginning!
As far as cost, i'm all about doing it right the first time, but also don't need the price to be a direct reflection of the "brand" name. So without much plan on doing serious rock crawling, I don't think i'll need to go that route, but yet want something sturdy enough to take more abuse than the stock stuff can handle.