I've known a few ladies like this... they're fun... so is this XJ... i think...

i keep finding reasons to come back here...

the XJ waltz.... three steps forward, two steps back.... pick it up fellers!!! and a one two three and....

ye old ride is ridden with the mobile-cancer... the kind that takes out whole chunks of bodies....

I'm WAY deeper into this thing than I ever thought I'd be, but at this point- what the hellz?

I need two more years out of it for the kid, and I may turn it into a toy when she gets her graduation present... that's the game plan now...

so... about this rotting body: what would make the most sense to you fellers? bondo filler, fiberglassing, skins, or new body panels?

that is basically a question between quick fixes and doing it right, i know- make no mistakes, when it becomes my toy the body is the last thing I'd be worried about, but if I don't do something now it likely will be a pile of broken metal flakes in the yard by like next week... so- not a resto mod, either....

for you fellers that have bondo'd and haven't heavily wheeled, how is it holding up?

 

I wish this site had rep points to give out You're a funny dude

 

Would be nice to see the patient.

Not sure I would go with bondo, but depends on where it is used I guess.

I like sheet metal ..... cut away rust until you get to good metal and work from that.

When I needed contour parts, I would go to a junk yard with a sawzall and cut out what I needed. I always cut out MORE than I need, like 2" extra around all sides.

I did rockers, fenders and even roof repairs like that.

Never bought new panels .... everything came from the scrap yard.

 

this child of mine.......

I had to go to her school to get the XJ.. she left the lights on... dubya tee eff.... killin' me, smalls...

I'll be happy to get some pics and demonstrate the stages of rot. I'm thinking about just filling, filing, priming, wet sanding. it's most likely not worth paint. maybe it is... maybe it's something i wanna do- and not to my truck... unless i had to... then i'd pay... i'm losing traction- drewactual, out.

 

If you're thinking about fixing the body, then fix it correctly. Lazy efforts to fix paint and panels ends up looking worse than the rust in some cases. You will end up hating life if you spend hours and hours and end up with a piece of crap job.

 

I already hate life.... I own an XJ.....

but I also gots DIS:





I hate body work... and welding... I may as well use bubble gum... invite the neighborhood kids over, tie a string to the bubble gum- feed it to them, wait thirty five second and yank it out... stick it to intended area...

I'm thinking bondo is out... as is glass.. the cancer is in the crevices and bends- there is no chance in a million I get those right... this includes the procurement of body parts of the metal preshaped variety- and abusing neighborhood kids... well, teasing them, anyway.

 

It is is worth doing, then it is worth doing right!

 

I've been looking into that chassis saver stuff. For areas that aren't completely rotted through its supposed to work great. Cover it with rhino liner or monstaliner and you'd be all set

 

It's game over for any chance of putting a paint finish on the body if you spray bed liner on the painted surfaces. Gotta be sure it's the look you want.

 

bed liner looks like hell IMO. Let's see some pictures of the cancer. I've successfully bondo'd some panels on my ol YJ and it looked awesome but the sections were flat and easy to work on.

No wonder you think the Jeep is so easy to work on after dealing with a 6.4 Powerstroke (looks nice btw)! I'd take the jeep any day over wrestling that bear.

 

These are a few I copped while leaving this morning and after taking the charger off it. It's riddled with these in various places. The undercarriage is worse...

 

I actually have been thinking of painting the entire xj in bedliner and then painting over it in a tan/light green color. Give it that rough exterior with a cool finish. My paint is no where near as clean as drewactual's jeep but it does have less cancer.

This isnt so bad is it?

 

If the undercarriage is really bad then it may not be worth fixing, that will tell the tail if its worth fixing.

 

the undercarriage has what looks like roof sealant for an RV patching holes...

I put a back up camera on this thing for her- and the kind that uses a slip over mirror for the OE rear view mirror... while wiring the camera, I opened the back panel behind the passenger rear wheel- where I found a bag....

I thought "either I'm rich or I'm gonna get HIGH HIGH HIGH" like Jr. in the movie Platoon.... turns out it was ecofiller and it was stuffed in there to mute road noise from the through rust.....

for those, I'm going to foam fill with Great Stuff, and sand out the overfill...... hit it with some black rubber spray underneath- and while I'm at it, I'll fill all the others, too... same thing- fill it, carve chunks off while it's semi-cured, and sand it when it is fully cured- hit it with plasti-dip....

it's the body where it's seen I'd like to do it right- but........... I'm far from a pro when it comes to this stuff, and it might come out looking worse than it does now... the primary intent is to stop the rust.

 

I think you will find that the rust is going to win the battle. If you want to preserve the structural integrity of the body/unibody, you need to go after it surgically to cut and replace the rusted areas. If you just want to beat back the visible rust and not get into heavy body work, you can choose one of your listed methods that will yield the results you can accept.

Neil young said it best..... Rust never sleeps.