....

 

Subscribing to this thread! Lots of great ideas and Im only 1/4 of the way through it.

Is there a way to cut a fiberglass hatch without a lot of dust? I only touched it with a cutting wheel or circular saw and had more dust that I wanna mess with. I am about ready to try a jigsaw or saber saw, unless someone has any better ideas.

And no, i cant readily get ahold of a later.model steel hatch. I have an extra fiberglass one to make a tailgaite out of.

 

Tape the 'sucking' part of a shotvac onto your sawzall end. By the blade. Almost no dust. I do that when Im working alone and cutting out fiberglass tubs.

 

wow congrats bro for having one of the best ideas ive heard in a long time.

 

troll hammer as in the band?

 

I did quite a bit of research a year or two ago, and even rendered up what it would look like to convert an XJ to a H1 humvee lookalike. I was suprised to find that the measurements come out very close to proportional: length, width, all come out to about 84.5% scale. The top comes down a bit, and the front axle moves forward about an inch and a half, and the proper tire size is 36" on 16s, but it comes out. I have a render of it side by side with a stock jeep. I was going to do this with my parts jeep after finding out I dont need the engine.

The XJ is a unit body on ladderbox frame, and stronger than some give it credit for. In some ways its actually stiffer that a standard body on frame format, as those frames flex more, but you dont feel it in the body since it is isolated. We notice frame flex in our doors and stuff because all frames flex, but our bodies flex along with our frame. This is why the body fatigues along with the frame in ours. I wheel with toyotas and have seen the frame flex itself apart on one. The whole front cross member snapped off, and the only thing holding it on was the cage.

Of course, i wish our 'frame' was a little thicker metal to be able to weld more securely to it, and Im not saying the frame rails are as strong as a regular framed vehicle, but my experience has shown me just how strong our frames really are:

My DD has been out wheeling and belly flopped on a place called 'funny rocks', ill attach a pic if I can find it. (yes, I got stuck, and no, I dont wheel stock tires anymore. )

I have a parts jeep that was rolled, entire top chopped off. Wheel it around the yard. I have a cliff I can get it up on three wheels and have no sense the thing is going to twist in half or anything. We call it the death jeep and I hope to ressurect it one day with a 4 link in the rear, bobbed completely from about the rear doors back. That might start this next year. I have a vid somewhere Ive been meaning to post.

That works! Thanks for the kick in the head (i should have though of that ). Will be trying it.

Heh, found out about them after I made the name up on a different forum, since I like pounding metal.

 

love the convertible xj... lol

 

Yeah, thats what happens when someone gets carried away with chopping the rear! definatly dont get claustrophobic in it. Have a slight fear of opening my neck on the jagged steel around the edges, though.

 

Haha do I get cake?

 

yeah ill swing it by on my way through OH in a couple weeks.... kidding of course but not about going through OH though.

 

Ah really where ya going through at?

 

i had a 94 4 door i chopped and moved the rear gate forward up to the back of the rear seat, and i loved it, but untill i get another xj im not chopping my 2door xj, lol

 

When I did my chop I lost the upper mounting point that you're refering to. I went out and found the correct size nut that fit the seatbelt bolt and molded it into the vertical bar in my cage right behind the seat. It's almost in the factory location. I'm not sure why since I'm taking it all back out in a week or so to put 5-point harnesses in the back.

It's rather difficult to see in the crappy picture but you can see where the vertical bar comes up almost exactly where the factory mount was.



No, I'm not finished with my chop yet. Still have lots to do. I entend to cut the entire back off of it. Link the back and stretch it a couple inches, then reconstruct the back into a bit of a bobbed, dovetailed, comp cut look. Then bolt on the 37s.

Yes, the guy standing in front of my Jeep is like 7 foot tall.

 

ill be coming from indiana to jeromesville. which is just east of mansfield and pretty close to ashland too. a little up north of you. visit a buddy that was in the Navy with me every year as long as im not deployed.

 

thats what i planned on doing, was just trying to get other ideas... nice build btw