Painted rear bumper ends, lower doors halves, and rocker panels with about 7 coats of rattle can truck bed armor after sanding some small rust spots and treating with Eastwood rust reformer.
Took the kayaks out the other day for some 40 degree kayaking. Water was choppy, so that sucked. However, while removing the kayaks, I climbed up to look at a spot on the roof of my XJ and noticed I'm getting rust spots all over the top. I'm going to do the headliner soon so I'll inspect the inside. Hopefully I can just sand the top and paint it and that'll solve that.
The last couple of nights were spent replacing the sheetmetal screws on my Napier flares with similar button-head machine screws and lock nuts--stronger and less risk of poking something that shouldn't be jammed with a sharp tip. Two on each door couldn't be replaced because of the fold in the sheet metal, so for those I covered them with nylon vacuum caps.
Tonight I added some button-head screws to the Rugged Ridge hood vents. The vents are made for TJ and JK hoods, and do not lie exactly flat on the XJ hood (close but not quite). A 1/8" drill bit fits through the holes and allowed a #6 screw to thread into the sheetmetal, then I added blue loctite and a flange nut to the bottom. They sit flush now and are on there firmer. Plus they have a similar look as the Napier flares now too.
What size screws did you use for the flares? I want to do the same to mine. The screws they supply are a bit too long. a few would hit the door frame on the rears, so I ground them down. Nut & bolt just seem more secure also.
I really focused length (1") and the torx head size (T27 for the security screws). The ones I found that were long enough had a T30 head (which worked with the security bit) were 1/4" thread
I found the source of my INCREDIBLY loud and annoying cabin squeak! It was bugging the hell out of me. I put some grease on the rear seat hinges and catches. Seems to have cured it.
I found the source of my INCREDIBLY loud and annoying cabin squeak! It was bugging the hell out of me. I put some grease on the rear seat hinges and catches. Seems to have cured it.
Oh and back on subject. I received this today, it is normally is the most expensive part of a diesel swap but thanks to a good friend i got it for free, as he just put a 6cyl diesel in his benz. It's a 1985 OM617 Mercedes 5cyl Turbo Diesel 125hp @4350rpm, 185ftlbs @2400rpm(with a stock turbo) i will be rebuilding this before swapping it into my cherokee. it will get a bigger than stock turbo but not by much as i want to keep the torque curve near stock, stock trim turbo size is a .42A/R and i'll be getting a .48A/R also known as a 50trim. i am not looking to make a ton of power but something fun to drive and have a ton of torque in a usable RPM range. idealy i am shooting for 180hp and ~250-300ftlbs.
