Decided to cut up the XJ .. lots of pics

[lancey3]

wow by far my favorite chop top.

 

[mikeNtucson]

What are you going to do with the tail lights. You going to do quarter panel guard? And holy crap that is awesome. Keeping the lift gate and using it instead of just closing it off. I want to do same with my 2 door and us an MJ tailgate to creat a bed.

 

[M21]

Do the gas struts still operate on the lift gate?

Never mind.....I see that they do. Do they launch you window pretty hard without the additional weight of the lower gate?

 

[xjcoupe]

from what i can see, bruiser reconfigured the mounts on the hatch, and still used 2 gas struts, nice job, wished i did it that way, cause my half hatch that i mounted in the original places, with 2 struts, launched and took your head off if you werent holding on to it, also had to stand in the back and push down with all ya got, to get it to go back down . i ended up removing 1 gas strut, was easy to handle then .

 

[tayman]

I'm not usually a fan of the chopped rear, but that looks really good!

 

[Lowrange2]

Do the gas struts still operate on the lift gate?

Never mind.....I see that they do. Do they launch you window pretty hard without the additional weight of the lower gate?

Watcht the vid. It shoots up there pretty fast... I kinda like that...

 

[BRUISER]

wow by far my favorite chop top.

Thanks man.. I appreciate that

 

[BRUISER]

What are you going to do with the tail lights. You going to do quarter panel guard? And holy crap that is awesome. Keeping the lift gate and using it instead of just closing it off. I want to do same with my 2 door and us an MJ tailgate to creat a bed.

I am gonna build some steel taillghts, then I am also going to be building an d exo/internal cage..

 

[BRUISER]

from what i can see, bruiser reconfigured the mounts on the hatch, and still used 2 gas struts, nice job, wished i did it that way, cause my half hatch that i mounted in the original places, with 2 struts, launched and took your head off if you werent holding on to it, also had to stand in the back and push down with all ya got, to get it to go back down . i ended up removing 1 gas strut, was easy to handle then .

correct I do use the original struts..

they work well now because they were very worn out.. when I had them on the rear full hatch they would not hold it open, but now they work great with a half hatch

 

[cftj xj]

Its a great looking chop:guitar: , but what did you do with the rear seat belts? I bought my XJ so I could buckle the kids up when I go wheeling and wouldn't want to lose the rear shoulder belts...

 

[Chad29860]

Bruiser how much you charge to do that to my 89'. That is one of the best chops I have seen. Looks Awesome!!

 

[BRUISER]

Well I am back at it..

I spent 3 hrs thursday, and then today spent about 9 hrs and got almost my entire exo cage done..

we need to finish weld the top cross bars in, the bottom windshield bar, and then make a bar for windshield from top to bottom.. then after I get some new suspension seats I will be adding the B pillar support inside the cab.

I will get better pics once I get my camera over there.. but here are a few from my cell phone.

 

[mucovich]

Dude, that's lookin good!

 

[XJfire75]

Great build man. I like the exo so far too.

Not a huge fan of the beadlocks but thats the only thing I have any problem with...

 

[userbmx1315]

love the exo. one day i'll build one of my own. how much did the tubing cost you?

 

[BRUISER]

Well today we got everything welded up and then painted it.. no pics of it without plastic, as it got to dark

here are a few pics:

me welding on hood

before paint

 

[BRUISER]

we wrapped the jeep in plastic and then painted it.. I still need to do a little touch up in a few areas..

next is to get some suspension seats and make a "B" pillar support bar inside the cab

 

[BRUISER]

love the exo. one day i'll build one of my own. how much did the tubing cost you?

the funny part is I bought this tube 4 years ago..

I paid $2.50 a foot..
The tube I used is 1.5" .120 wall DOM

 

[Ewen91]

Props man, I must say that is a great looking chop, and cage. I wish i had the knowlege skill and tools to do that kind of build. Def is a nice mod. If only the glass was able to roll down in the back... like a blazer or something.

 

[BRUISER]

Props man, I must say that is a great looking chop, and cage. I wish i had the knowlege skill and tools to do that kind of build. Def is a nice mod. If only the glass was able to roll down in the back... like a blazer or something.

Thanks.. it was a lot of work .. but very much worth it.