Hello from sofla
 

Just got my first yeep! Been eyeing an xj for a while and finally found one I like. This is going to be my daily driver so I can stop sharing one car with the wife. Its an 88 2 door pioneer model 4x4 two door which I thought was cool. Only 95k miles! It has been sitting for some time, I bought it from the original owner. He was going to fix it up for his kid and about there quarters of the way through they decided they didnt want it. Needless to say $1700 later and im the proud owner. The interior was immaculate and he already replaced everything that needed to be replaced from sitting(or so I thought) only thing I had to get was tires. Day three of driving it started to over heat. Found out it needed a head gasket. A friend of mine is doing it all except the machine work(valves, milling etc) I am converting the closed cooling system to open(92 Cherokee parts and an electric fan) anyways its going to end up costing me around $750 for all that.

So after everything I've spent 2800.. Is it a good deal? My wife thinks I got ripped... Curious that her car was 15k lol

Welcome to our forum!

welcome to the site... i though your title said sofa at 1st lol... any pictures of your Jeep? and you have a Renix 4.0 :) i think you got a good deal if the body is as clean as you say it is...

I haven't taken any yet, hopefully get it back from my buddys shop on Monday. What's a renix? Good or bad?

Renix is the style of motor you have... it was the AMC 4.0 before Chrysler brought Jeep.. No its good they run 4ever it is the only era of Jeep i will own you can do search on here for more info

welcome to the forum from southern florida also and to us renix owners there great

Thanks! Sorry for the dumb question but I'm new to the heeps. What are some things I should do? I have never been off roading but its something I would like to do. What modifications do I need in order to start some light off roading?

lift and bigger tire come after making sure the xjs trail worthy, where you live down here

Port St Lucie... What's a budget friendly lift? This is going to my daily driver as well

id stay 4 and under

Is there anything I should stay away from? Is it diy? I'm pretty handy.... What would be a recommendation?

Before you get a lift I would start smaller..I would get skid plates, front tow hooks and a tow hitch as a rear recovery point. Did you get any pictures of your Jeep yet?

Pioneers are sweet.

I wouldn't go higher than 3" After that you need a trackbar and control arms.31" tire on 15x8 wheels shouldn't rub. (much)

Armor is smart, rock rails, tank skid and a T case plate is probably smart but you're not in Moab. If there aren't a lot of rocks I'd just do the lift and some recovery points. There are not many safe places to hook to an XJ w/o tearing sheetmetal or bending things

Still in the shop hope to have it back by Thursday. Had the head sent to the machine shop... Skid plate and tow hooks? There is a hitch on the back already. You really think ill need a winch?