xjpeter

i bought this heep sight unseen last summer from a buddy who owns a body shop back in Iowa. he was using it for a loaner vehicle but it was such an eyesore that he had to get rid of it. Bought, titled and taxed for $1500 with the guarantee that it would at least survive the trip to chicago. it rattled, it stunk, it leaked and had 240k miles on it but it was a 4.0 with an AW4 and NP231 so i figured i could get my money out of it.

here's what it looked like back in August. completely stock




first thing i did was get busy with the Rustoleum and add a rack to get the spare out of cargo area so i could get some subs in there. looks a lot better


i eventually threw on a 3 inch lift from Motion Offroad after a highly lucrative Xmas. i also got rid of the crappy proline rack and got a surco (big difference, much stronger and secured. no more sliding around).


the last thing i've done was an H4 headlight upgrade and lights up top. this is how she sits today with 246k miles

by far my favorite mod...


i bought this thing with the deliberate purpose of having to work on it. i want to teach myself how to perform the basic mechanical task to keep an engine going. this jeep WILL see over 300k. that's where you guys come in!

future plans:
ordered and waiting for my new TB for xjfiles
703 injector swap
sort out some sort of intake upgrade
valve cover gasket and hunt down leaks
31x10.5 tires
TC drop, new ubolts (i picked up some vibe from the lift)
ball joints and overall front end go through (she's caught a little case of the wobbles
headliner (its just bare metal right now. LOUD)
sub enclosure into the rear cubby
eventually learn how to weld and fab up some bumpers

Aces_Wild

You also plan on painting it or just leaving it primed?
And plans for the headliner?
Looks like a good start though!

xjpeter

the flat black rattle can paint is the best decision i could have made. get a ding or a chip or a scratch, ten seconds with a 2 dollar can and you're as good as new. you can blast though the woods and not think twice about what's hitting and scrapping you. totally carefree!

i've picked up fabric for the headliner but when i pulled the old fiberboard (or whatever you call it) out, it just disintegrated. i finish up my masters this may so i'll move back to Iowa and have a lot more time to fiddle around with stuff like that. bare metal will have to do for the next month or so

Aces_Wild

Ahaha yeah, fairly easy it would be. Wasn't sure if you were going to just Herculine the whole thing like some others have.

Ahh. Yeah school/work tends to get in the way.

xjpeter

i really like the whole bedliner idea but lack the funds. i tried to do my moldings with the duplicolor can, but it all flaked off this winter. if i ever do decide to pull the trigger on a bedliner paint job i'll probably get a pro to spray it.

xjpeter

quick little update. got new axle u-joints and it smoothed out the shimmy in the corners immensely. i got a bored out throttle body from xjfiles and popped it in easy peasy. i got a cone filter and am currently devising some sort of cowl snorkel application. i also got a ton of stickers from SignWorx.

you may have noticed that this post is lacking pictures of any kind. the reason being that i'm moving back to iowa in about a week so i traded my mom for her f150. i got a call from her the other day and she told me that i'm not getting the jeep back. i don't blame her, i'd take my old busted up jeep over this crappy truck any day of the week. the fords got less than half the miles and a third the years and i'm just miserable in it. i think it came in a white box with black lettering "truck". it has not character, no appeal, no soul. blugh

on a side note, my exhaust fell off the other day. rusted straight of at the cat. i'm leaning toward a flowmaster 40 or super 44 or something like that. does anyone have any opinions?

lolwtfomgbbq

I've heard good things about flowmaster from a few of the other guys here but I honestly couldn't tell you. I'm looking to rattle can my xj flat black sometime soon and the way yours turned out makes me want to do it more, could you tell me how you did it and around how many cans you used?

xjpeter

the best thing you can do is spend as much time as you can prepping. sand well and take your time taping. after that, spray a good wet coat, you can always sand drips. i sprayed the hood a little too thin and now you can see rough spots that i need to hit again. if i remember right i think i used about 15 cans of rusto's (40 or 50 bucks) flat black in three coats with a round of golf and some four wheeling in between (crucial step). doesn't look too bad for a day's work

lolwtfomgbbq

doesnt look bad at all. my paint is getting scratched to hell and back whenever I go wheeling. thanks for the info and good luck with the xj!

Gee oh Dee

I went the semi gloss route with no clear, but same concept. I love it, nothing at all to worry about.