I thought I would share my restoration of an XJ that was left for dead.

To start things off I found this '89 pioneer sitting in a field near Denver, CO in June of 2014. It was not running. No brakes. An interior overran with anything that wanted to get into its broken window for at least 2 years.

The only thing that this had going for it was very minimal rust, a rebuilt 5 speed with about 10k on it, rebuilt transfer case and every seal on it replaced. It did turn over as well but suffered a fuel problem.

 

 

I got this thing home and I realized what I was in for. I started by spending a few days just vacuuming it out and steam cleaning it to get it to a bearable level.

 

I got it running the same day I brought it home. Fuel pump was just clogged and all injector seals were shot. After replacing a few fuses and cleaning some terminals for relays, it fired right up. I realized I needed to gut the interior..It stunk.



I then started to go through the mechanical side and it was just as bad. The cooling system was pure mud for some time, coolant bottle had a hole in it and the drain plug for the radiator leaked and the lower radiator hose was beyond mushy.



Brakes were metal on metal and the rear passenger drum wheel cylinder was bad.
I also found a nest in the air filter box. Power steering bearing was going out and my '00xj blew its resovoir apart, so I combined the two to replace the bad pump.

[ATTACH][/ATTACH]

 

When I pulled out the carpet and entire interior I found many spots where furry creatures had made this jeep their home. A lot of disinfectant and protective masks later I had it out and found some rust, but mostly cosmetic.

 

I removed the rust and found that there was only a couple of small pin holes through the sheet metal. I used some sealant and continued to the rear.



I decided to use rustoleums spray on bed liner after it had been primed and found it to be a decent and inexpensive product.

 

I finished the rear and removed a lot more surface rust. Again the rustoleum bed liner.

 

I decided to keep this a fairly cheap build, so I went to the local junkyard and came across this beauty. It had a mint interior and body. I wanted to buy it outright. But with mine, I knew the drivetrain was good to go.

 

I was able to get almost the entire interior from this donor along with the replacement door and fender I needed.

 

Back to my jeep. I took everything out of the vehicle and scrubbed every trim piece, door panel and cleaned every inch of that thing with as much detergent as I could. I power washed the donor jeeps carpet and got it in.







I also replaced the fender and door. The passenger door had been smashed by the previous owner. I guess jeep doors and fenders dont hold up well smashing into bales of hay. They also told me that it only sat for a year. After going through everything, there was no way, at least a couple years. DMV wouldnt tell me exactly, but told me a few years.

 

I then got the replacement headliner from the donor XJ in.



It was starting to look like a vehicle again. From there bit by bit I got the replacement interior in.

 

Seats in...

 

My next big focus was to get it not only safe, but legal. It had a bad catalytic converter and a muffler that looked like swiss cheese. This walker cat and dynomax catback setup put me back only $175 shipped.

 

Nice work man. Keep up the updates.

 

While I was waiting for funds, I thought I would go ahead and get my rims and tires taken care of. First I decided that I wanted this jeep to be original, (Daily Driver). It happened to have the original rims and hubs caps for them and for about $50 and a couple days I cleaned out all surface rust and imperfections and primed and painted them gloss black.

All of the tired were dry rotted, and by the dirt on one, you can tell it sat flat for some time.