Figured I'd start a build thread.

Picked up Xylene, rollers, and a small roller at Ace today. Wiped down the soon to be painted area, made sure everything was sanded well.











That is the first coat. I was a bit worried, it looked awful with one coat. A buddy reassured me that the bed he did looked the same way, and the second coat would even everything out. I gave it ~45 minutes to get nice and tacky, didn't take long with the hot and relatively humid weather.







Second coat went on much thicker and did indeed smooth everything out. A big sigh of relief.









I let the second coat sit for ~1hr and 15 minutes, until the paint didn't come off by touch. I didn't want it to harden too much and have problems pulling the tape off, so I pulled it then.



Mocked up the wheels and rock rails, and I ended up getting one rock rail mounted before dark.

what is going to become of the tire carrier?

It's going back on. I snapped some of the mounting bolts and need to weld some new nuts on to mount it all back up.

oh nifty. good build!

looks good, is the finish a s glossy as it looks? got my tire carrier mounted and working good, thnaks for the pics, helped a lot

MMM wheels finally mounted.





Some photochop considerations. I think the holes will be circular instead of oval. Also turned the amber taillight red.

Also picked up a 32" spare to match the tires and some LCAs today.

dinorl007 said:

looks good, is the finish a s glossy as it looks? got my tire carrier mounted and working good, thnaks for the pics, helped a lot

Click to expand...

Welcome! The bedliner is pretty glossy right now, I think some of that will wear off though.

Well I finally started working on the XJ again. Haven't gotten any pictures yet but so far I have:

-Got another TC from the JY, nice and clean feels solid. It was from a YJ, and I had to swap sensors and yoke over. Installed it, and found out the main shaft is longer, and my driveshaft won't fit now. Going to call The Driveshaft Shop in the morning to get a quote on shortening.

-Got a spare throttle body. Started grinding with the Rotozip, but killed the bit tonight. I only bought one because I wasn't sure if it would work. Buy more bits and finish that tomorrow.

-Acquired the Ford yellow/orange tops from the JY. Also pulled some hatch struts. Also got a ZJ V8 tierod.

-Got 3.55 gears for my D30. Need to find someone around here to help me set those up.

Tomorrow's to-do list:
Call The Driveshaft Shop.
Replace valve cover gasket.
Finish throttle body.
Call about 99+ intake manifold.
Hopefully install throttle body/manifold/injectors tomorrow.
Install tierod and LCAs.

Hey man...LOVE the diff cover! Very original!!!

The XJ is looking good. Nice touch on the wheels.

BruceB83 said:

Hey man...LOVE the diff cover! Very original!!!

The XJ is looking good. Nice touch on the wheels.

Click to expand...

Thanks! It's good for some laughs.

Some work done today, nothing special.



Replaced the valve cover gasket.



Nutzert FAIL.


New grade 8 bolts installed instead of nutzerts. I'm going to drill out those two extra mounting holes and bolt in there as well.

So I scored at the JY. Picked up all the black leather seats out of a 96 country. Also pulled the carpet because it was in great shape, just the average stains, and the overhead console/lighted visors.


We hit the carpet with the powerwasher and made quick work of the stains. I pulled the interior and discovered what I was fearing:




So we started taking care of the corrosion. Grind most away with the wire wheel (started in the previous picture).


Cover with this Jasco prep and primer:



and let that dry overnight. Hit the spots with undercoating the next day, and fiberglassed 1 of two areas that have completely corroded through.



Still need to do the passenger floor board, and a second coat of resin there in the jack area. I have also built a harness for the driver side seat and made sure the motor works, and gave the XJ a wash/wax, including all the door jambs and whatnot since it's all so accessible.

Now is also a great time to rewire my trailer lights, rerun coax cable, and I'm thinking I might go get an amp power cable and run that as well, so everything is hidden and clean.

Nice Project man! keep us updated!

Some more work done.




Finished fiberglassing the holes.


Something little, but needed to be done. Soldered all the trailer wiring connections, and ran it out the rubber stopper, instead of the fender where it had been. Ran my CB coax cable on the other side in the same way.



Stripped my "new" overhead console. I'm going to mount my CB in the console where the IR sensor is, and probably cover it so that only the front display/controls show.

Now for a quick poll (Alpha, go to town making one if you wish). I need to decide on a color scheme for my headliner. The stock looks like this:


Should I (remembering seats will be black leather):
A- Redo everything in grey.
B- Headliner in grey, and do the console, visors, and speaker bar in black.
C- Mossy Oak everything.
D- Mossy Oak with black console/visor/speaker bar.

I vote (B) I think that will look cool. I'm redoing my headliner in Black and I have a grey interior!

A few things done, and the headliner.

To install my leather seats out of a 96 country, I had to deal with different brackets.
Mine:


96:


My solution was this up front, and drop new holes in the back:


and a picture of the rear seat mounted:


Nice Black leather

I painted my taillights awhile back, following FitchVa's write-up http://fitchva.com/jeep/?p=40

Now for the headliner. Pretty straightforward. Pull out the headliner, then I took a hard bristled brush to clean the remaining foam off the backer. I also used some of the insulation from where I cut a new hole for the overhead console bracket to fill a hole in my backer.


Then I used an entire can of 3M 77 to coat the backer. That equated to about 4 coats. The material I chose is a acrylic or polyester, I can't remember. Ill find the receipt for the exact fabric name if anyone is interested. I bought 4 yards. Pretty self explanatory for laying the fabric down and smoothing the wrinkles.


Covered the overhead console, speaker bar, and visors.


Then I let the glue set for about an hour, flipped the pieces over, sprayed adhesive on the edges, and tucked the extra fabric down and trimmed.

The overhead console put together:


Installing the overhead console was a little bit of a pain for me. I got the front bracket, but didn't pull the rear. I ended up sending a screw through the console to the threaded holes where the studs are for the original overhead light. Since I have manual locks/windows, I don't have the harness connections for the overhead. The power for the lights I was able to use the old connector for my overhead light and plug into that existing harness. I ran the power and dimming wires to a switchable (key on) spot in the fuse box. The ground and headlight switch wires I grounded on the firewall. In/out wires for the temperature sensor were run to it, which I located next to the passenger side horn.

Overhead console and nice new visors with mirrors and lights! I didn't even have the mirrors before.


This is where I located my speaker bar. I wanted it there to still have decent music volume when I take the front doors off, and I like the close surround sound . Pioneer 6.5"s sitting in it.


That is where I unfortunately screwed up, I cut the speaker bar with too much of a gap on the drivers side. As a result, it will hang a bit right there (stuck up momentarily in the picture). It's minor, but annoys me.

Nice job! I don't have the patience for that.

HELL YA MAN!!

Man looks great!!!!!!!

looks really nice!
great job

mark