Rebuilding a rusty XJ

ed_ · May 9, 2025

So I've got an XJ that's looking pretty sad and in desperate need of rebuilding.

But it didn't always look like that. The XJ started off life as a patriot blue 2000 4.0 4x4 classic and when I first bought it in 2016 it had 140k on it. I fixed it up and drove it through college so it's kinda become sentimental to me. This is how it looked in 2020 before I took it off the road for a winter to fix all the rust in the rear.

Well even after fixing the rust in the rear which included rebuilding the entire rear "frame" / floor in the cargo area I eventually realized I needed to take it off the road again to redo the doors, rockers, passenger floor area and more. So in 2022 I tore it down and started fixing the passenger side.

I made it pretty far and was able to rebuild the entire passenger side.

But eventually I got distracted because I wanted to fix up my EG hatch that had gotten clapped out so the XJ got left behind again.

One year later...

And after finishing up the Civic I couldn't resist buying another XJ that needed some work because I needed a new daily. When I bought the second XJ I figured it wouldn't take more than 3 months to get it on the road.

We'll another year later and way more work than I initially planned on doing I finished up the second XJ.

So here we are in 2025 and my OG XJ has become severely neglected. But now that I've ran out of projects to distract me from it I want to get started back on it.

Even though the passenger side metal work is "done" I still have a lot of work ahead of me. One of the biggest things I need to fix is the roof shifted while I was rebuilding the B pillars due to not enough bracing and now the top of the windshield pillars touch the doors.

To fix that I'll be building a chassis table to attach the XJ to and then separating the B pillars from the rockers because they're welded in the wrong spots so I can push the windshield / roof forward. Then I just need to rebuild everything. Simple!

Current next steps are to pull the motor / trans to get them out of the way and then build the chassis table.

My end goals for the XJ are to paint it white, flat flares, 31s and a 3" lift, 8.25 rear with an LSD, and a 5.3 under the hood. I already have the 5.3 and trans sitting off to the side. I basically want a lightly modded looking XJ with more power than it needs under the hood.

stinkity stoink · May 10, 2025

Keep the updates coming. Looks like an interesting project with lots of good stuff about to be done.

LXCam · May 10, 2025

Count me in for the ride along as well.

Barrows · May 10, 2025

Impressive work so far. Maine tends to be really tough on vehicles.

ed_ · May 11, 2025

Engine is officially out of the XJ. I've never pulled anything other than 4 cylinder Hondas so this was a bit of a learning experiencing.

I need to split the engine, and transmission so I can mount the engine to a stand and put the engine / transfer case on a shelf. That'll prob be tomorrow's job.

The engine has ~185k on it along with an intermittent cylinder 4 misfire so it'll need some work before it can go back in anything. As of right now I don't have plans for it so it'll sit in the corner.

Engine bay looking empty.

The firewall's got some rust that I need to address.

The floor pan / frame is heavily rusted around the LCA / UCA mounts. I'm planning on running the Iron Rock Offroad 3 link setup so I can delete the brackets and make repairing the frame easier.

The inner front fenders need some attention too.

Bonus shot of how the interior.

ed_ · May 12, 2025

Spent the evening gutting the last bits of wiring and lines from the engine bay. Not many salvageable parts are coming off it due to rust.
Both hood latch bolts snapped and the bracket that the cable attaches to is too rusty to reuse.

Found a beach worth of blasting media in the wiper cowl. It looks like a mix of coal slag, play sand, and blasting sand.

Gutted.

Scrubbed down with degreaser to see what I'm working with.

Overall the engine bay isn't terrible. The frame rails are in good shape other than some rust on the welds so I don't need to worry about them other than a quick blasting and welding on stiffeners. The inner fenders and firewall will require some patching followed by blasting.

In terms of paint I plan on leaving the engine bay in black epoxy for simplicity.

I've also been working on finalizing the parts I want for the LS swap and I think I've settled on going with OEM GM parts instead of aftermarket whenever possible to save money. For the ECU I plan on using a stock GM computer and splicing it into the XJ body harness, and for the transfer case I think I have a lead on a 27 spline NP241C with VSS that should bolt right up instead of buying a $$$ adapter plate for my NP231.

I already have the LM7 (minus an intake manifold / throttle body) and 4L60E.

The Cobbler · May 12, 2025

I have to say; I admire guys with this level of expertise & dedication.

ScepterToad · May 12, 2025

Looks like a super cool project! I’m in!

ed_ · May 13, 2025

The Cobbler said:
I have to say; I admire guys with this level of expertise & dedication.

I can't promise I have the expertise but I've definitely got the dedication lol.

For tonight's progress I was able to split the transfer case and transmission from the engine. This went slower than expected because I gave the transmission and transfer case a scrub down with degreaser and brake clean because they had a ton of sludge on them.

The transfer case is a NP242 and it'll eventually be swapped into my daily XJ because that one has a NP231 and I want the 242 for snow.

I found out the paint on the azzy design works linkage doesn't hold up to brake cleaner. How any I suppose to flex on knock off linkage owners now?

No plans for the AW4 but I'll keep it handy for my daily.

The engine has a bunch of grime on it as well so once it's on a stand I'll give it a good scrubbing too before storing away.

Storage is becoming a problem. I need to reorganize my shelves to fit 2 more bins of XJ parts. That's the AW4 and 242 on the bottom shelf.

It's kinda chaotic right now.

I ordered a red blue GM ECM / harness off Ebay last night so that's another item off the checklist. I definitely won't be doing wiring anytime soon but I'm trying to sort out all the details now so I know what'll be need to be ran through the firewall when I begin repairs.

ed_ · May 15, 2025

Got the 4.0 on a stand and put the engine hoist away.

Stored away in the corner with the 5.3

I also bought a NP241C transfer case today.

One of the reasons I went this route was because I thought it'd save me money compared to adapting a jeep transfer case but after crunching the numbers for the total cost of the 241c and a sye, front yoke, and custom linkage I'll be at the same cost as were I to adapt a 231 and a sye. At least I don't have to pull the 231 out of my daily now.

ed_ · May 16, 2025

Starting building the chassis table tonight. I was able to get both sides welded up.

Rough idea of what I'm envisioning.

The table is 12' long and 48" wide. 48" is narrower than most chassis tables but it'll reach from inner rocker to inner rocker on the XJ. Eventually when the XJ is done I'll turn the chassis table into a massive work island with longer legs and cover it with some thick steel so I didn't want to go wider than 48" for that reason.

There's no casters on the middle legs because the casters are only going to be used for moving the table around. Each of the 6 legs will have a 1" threaded rod that'll let me adjust the height of the legs so I can level the table against my uneven floor.

The top of the table will be about ~23" off the ground so it won't be too difficult to get the XJ up and on it.

I'm thinking I'll buy a hand winch from HF like this one and attach it to the front of the table and then pull the XJ up onto it with ramps.

Chipm · May 17, 2025

ed_ said:
... rebuilding the entire rear "frame" / floor in the cargo area ...redo the doors, rockers, passenger floor area and more.

What are you using for body parts? Factory sheetmetal? Donor cars? Scratch built?

ed_ · May 17, 2025

Chipm said:
What are you using for body parts? Factory sheetmetal? Donor cars? Scratch built?

A mix of all three. All four doors and hatch were sourced from different XJs. Floor pans, rockers, and quarter panel skins are factory replicas, and anything else is going to be scratch built.

Old pic of the parts pile for reference:

ed_ · May 17, 2025

Got the chassis table mostly welded up. I don't have a flat surface to work on so I cut a spare 12' cut of 3x4 tube in half and shimmed it level on the ground using household door shims.

I bought the square and clamps just for this project. I'm trying to be more proper lol.

Once I had both outer cross members tacked in place I lifted the table up on it's side so I could weld the cross members in and then flipped it on it's other side to repeat the process.

Outer cross members all welded up.

Flipped the table over because once I weld in the inner cross members it'll be too heavy for me to reasonably flip anymore. I also took some measurements to check my work and the table is almost perfectly square. Measuring diagonally across the top from corner to corner it's 151 3/4" on one side and 151 13/16" on the other side. That should be more than good enough for my use.

When I tried to install the center cross member I found it wouldn't fit anymore and noticed that the outer beams had bowed inwards so the table was only 47 7/8" wide in the center compared to the edges where it measured out at 48 1/16". I'm not sure if this was due to me welding the table together, or if the beams just had some bend to them but I used my hydraulic ram to push them apart.

Middle 3 cross members positioned and tacked.

I ran out of energy for the day so I'll finish welding them in tomorrow.

larry4406 · May 18, 2025

Nice fab on the frame table and smart of you to think on how to repurpose it into a welding table when done!

Keyblazer · May 18, 2025

Nice work!

ed_ · May 18, 2025

My biggest level is 4' long and just a cheap plastic thing so I went out and bought a nicer 8' one to see how flat the table was. Side to side is nice and flat but the center of the table bows upwards a hair due the 4x4 tubes having some bend in them. At least I don't think it was my welding that caused it.

Note the small gap between the level and table.

The end of the level sits about 1/8" off the table. So maybe about 3/16" of a bow total since the table extends 2' past each end of the level.

I'm not worried about the bow and plan on working around it since both sides are about symmetrical . Maybe I'll get lucky and the weight of the XJ will level out the beams lol.

I also made some prototypes for the brackets to attach the casters to the table legs. The goal is to allow the casters to removed later on and leg extensions that'll bolt on to turn the chassis table into a work table when the XJ is done.

I'm going to try something new and have SendCutSend make them so the prototypes are just to make sure my designs actually work instead of waiting a week to find out I goofed a measurement.

The casters will attach to matching brackets on the legs via 4 m10 bolts.

larry4406 · May 19, 2025

Seems like a complicated way to mount the swivel using 8 bolts.

I think I would use a single plate, drill and tap to match the bolt pattern, or use nuts and bolts and weld the nut to backside of the thru drilled plate.

ed_ · May 23, 2025

larry4406 said:
Seems like a complicated way to mount the swivel using 8 bolts.

I think I would use a single plate, drill and tap to match the bolt pattern, or use nuts and bolts and weld the nut to backside of the thru drilled plate.

I know it's more complicated but I need the mounting bolts to be on the edges of the legs instead of inside so I can repurpose the table later on with leg extensions. If I wasn't doing that then yeah I'd definitely do what you mentioned.

Finally made some progress on the table and got all the pieces I need. (Ignore the bead roller I just don't have anywhere to store it)

Wheels mounted to their plates.

Everything welded up and installed.

I rushed some of the welds but thankfully this isn't a show piece.

The wheels brought the table up to 22.5" which is pretty much perfect. There's enough space that I'll be able to crawl underneath it if I need to and at the same time it's not too high so it won't be bad to pull the XJ up on it.

Width of the table compared to the XJ.

ed_ · May 25, 2025

Cut up the 1" threaded rod and some 3x4 tube to build the leveling legs.

Welded some nuts onto the ends of the threaded rod so I can adjust them via a ratchet. I call these new inventions "bolts".

Legs all prepped.

When making the holes for the rods to pass through I forgot I didn't have any drill bits larger than 1/2" so I had to use my die grinder with a carbide burr to open them up to 1". The holes are sorta round at best.

Some welding later and I had one side of legs done.

The wheels still have enough space that they can fully rotate without hitting the feet which is nice. I also purposely put the feet on the outside edge to add some width to the table.

All done.

All that's left for the table now is to make a mounting plate for the hand winch and also some paint. I'm hoping to have the XJ on the table by the end of next week so I can get into the fun stuff.

tarbellb · May 26, 2025

Nice progress, the table looks very functional

Do yourself a favor and grab any step bits you want, even the super cheap HF 3 pc set

Drilling thin wall tube is what they are designed for! 1" holes are no problem

ed_ · May 26, 2025

tarbellb said:
Nice progress, the table looks very functional

Do yourself a favor and grab any step bits you want, even the super cheap HF 3 pc set

Drilling thin wall tube is what they are designed for! 1" holes are no problem

Thanks! I went out and bought some step bits today. I got the 2 pc Bauer set that's on sale right now and used them for drilling the hand winch mount holes. They worked nicely.

Several years ago I used to have step bits that could do up to 3/4" but I smoked them after just a couple holes from abusing them and was bummed that I wasted $75 that fast. I try to be more careful with bits now and use tap magic so hopefully the new set lasts longer.

ed_ · May 28, 2025

Decided to put the XJ on the table tonight.

Started off by cutting off the LCA mounts because they were going to get in the way.

Then I jacked up the XJ as much as I reasonably could and slid the table underneath it.

Pulling the XJ up the table with the hand winch wasn't too bad but the frame would get stuck on the transmission cross member studs so I'd have to pause and jack up the XJ enough to get the stud over each cross member of the table.

Eventually it got to the point where I was ready to remove the leaf springs / rear axle. The front leaf spring bolts were so stuck I cracked one of my sockets by hand with my breaker bar. Thankfully both bolts came out.

The rear bolts on the leaf springs weren't nearly as bad. The bolts themselves were covered in a mixture of fluid film / dust so everything underneath was still perfect from when I rebuilt the rear a few years ago.

I was able to loosen it with my long ratchet by hand without much trouble.

Axle removed. No clue what I'm gonna do with it. I may save it as a spare for my other XJ.

Some more pulling with the hand winch and eventually the XJ was on the table.

The XJ slides around pretty easy so I put some straps on it until I make the proper jigs.

I like the width of the table. There's still enough space for me to weld up the driver rocker.

All in all, it wasn't too bad to pull the XJ onto the table but if I were to do it again I'd redesign the table to have edges that prevent it from sliding off to the left or right. I had to pause a a lot and push the rear of the XJ back to the center of the table while pulling it.

I also decided against painting the table for now because I realized I'll likely weld my jigs to the top of it and that the table is missing features (like hooks for straps).

ed_ · May 31, 2025

I pushed the XJ to the back wall temporarily because I need it out of the way to do some maintenance on my daily XJ. (steering box swap)

In the meantime I started tearing into the NP241C to install the SYE and new front yoke / output shaft.

Removing the front yoke was a pain. The nut came right off but the yoke itself was stuck and I had to repurpose my harmonic balancer puller on it. I torqued down the puller and hammered the backside of the yoke until I got a nice satisfying pop and the yoke was free.

Front output shaft is kinda rusty for some reason.

The back came apart much easier. The OEM output shaft is silly long.

Case was then split apart and internals were set aside.

I ran into some serious trouble trying to remove the front output shaft though. From every teardown video I've watched they just fall right out but mine was stuck good. I tried hammering on it over and over to no avail.

Eventually I broke out the die grinder with a carbide burr and cut a notch in the inner / outer bearing race so I could hammer out some of the ball bearings with a punch. Once I removed 4 of them the shaft fell right out. Old shaft on bottom with the race stuck lol and new shaft on top.

Old outer race removed. It was held in by a c clip and somewhat pressed in.

No damage to the case.

I'm like 80% certain that bearing wasn't pressed onto the output shaft since I haven't read about anyone else having to press it off but maybe I goofed and it actually was. Oh well. I wasn't planning on replacing any bearings so I'll have to order one but that's not the end of the world.

ed_ · Jun 1, 2025

I think I just figured out why the bearing was stuck. The surface that it slides over is rusted to the point where you can't even tell it was machined.

Mine:

How it should look:

mikegt4 · Jun 5, 2025

ED, it looks like you are off to a good start on an ambitious project. First rule: measure 3 times and cut once or it may end up like this.

You would probably like his YouTube channel "low buck garage", he does a lot with Jeeps and use to sell pedal kits for manual trans conversions for V8 XJ's. In fact most GJ's would like his channel, lots of fun projects.

Low-Buck Garage

Its amazing how much fun you can have with motorized stuff for very little money. I piece together all sorts of vehicles from whatever parts I can get my hands on, spending as little money as possible!

www.youtube.com

ed_ · Jun 6, 2025

mikegt4 said:
ED, it looks like you are off to a good start on an ambitious project. First rule: measure 3 times and cut once or it may end up like this.

You would probably like his YouTube channel "low buck garage", he does a lot with Jeeps and use to sell pedal kits for manual trans conversions for V8 XJ's. In fact most GJ's would like his channel, lots of fun projects.

Low-Buck Garage

Its amazing how much fun you can have with motorized stuff for very little money. I piece together all sorts of vehicles from whatever parts I can get my hands on, spending as little money as possible!

www.youtube.com

Lol I'm pretty certain I've heard that name before but I've never seen his videos before. I'll check some out tonight.

I was out of town for the past week so not much progress was made but I did paint the transfer case before I left so the paint is cured and I can start reassembly.

(I painted them for corrosion protection)

The new output shaft bearing arrived so I popped that in.

Along with a new output seal.

Test fit of the front output shaft confirms it fits with no issue and drops right in. It's a short shaft from a NP243 so I can run a CV yoke.

New main shaft was prepped by removing the gears from the old one and pressing the bearings out of the gear so it'd fit on the new shaft. The size difference is kind of funny.

I was aiming to have the case assembled by EOD today but while getting ready to plop the guts back in I noticed one of the shift fork pads was cracked so I ordered some replacements as a precaution. Unfortunately this means assembly will be delayed by a week or so.

See bottom right pad. The metal fork isn't cracked that's just a casting mark / shadow.

I also ordered a input shaft seal to swap but that can be done post assembly. I want to get back into metal work but I'm trying to hold off from producing any dust in the shop while the case is split apart.

ed_ · Jun 7, 2025

Looks like I spoke a little too soon! The new shift fork pads arrived today. The seller was only 1 state away and shipped them surprisingly fast.

Internals back in the case.

Outer casing closed up.

I goofed and accidentally broke one of the tabs off the oil pump. What happened was I tried to reassemble the case with the pump on the inside of the housing and there wasn't enough space so it snapped a tab while trying to join the halves. I'm likely gonna run it as is. I figure 3 tabs is enough to prevent it from spinning.

Case closed up and yokes installed.

Finished product.

Once the new input seal arrives I'll install it and then wrap up the t-case and put it back on the shelf where it'll sit until the XJ is ready for it.

I also had to do some maintenance on my bandsaw. The blade got jammed up in one of the guides when it slipped past the rear bearing. I was able to get the blade back into position but after that it couldn't cut straight. When the blade bound up it ruined the teeth on one side causing it to cut all funny so I had to get a new one.

Example of how it was cutting:

My bandsaw is a 4x6 HF special so I don't expect a lot but it seems silly to have so much slop.

I added a washer on each side to keep the bearing centered. A bit of tuning and a new blade and it cuts straight again.

In terms of the XJ I'm still trying to figure out what the jigs should look like to hold it on the table. I'm hoping to avoid welding the jigs to the XJ but there isn't any good existing holes on the frame that I could bolt them to.

jjeffries · Jun 12, 2025

Most excellent project and very impressive tooling you’re building. My F-I-L is on his second XJ, a ‘90 and it’s been really depressing to see how it’s rusted, even though garaged all these years. Chrysler didn’t do owners any favors with how they protected these unibodies during manufacturing.

I’ll be following along.
John

cpttuna · Jun 13, 2025

keep up the good work. I have owned 9 xj"s. I still have three. I have worked on rust problems but not to the extent you have.

ed_ · Jun 18, 2025

I had to pause on the XJ for a bit due to other obligations (dryer broke, other car maintenance) but I was finally able to spend some time on it tonight.

I started off by moving it back to the front of the shop and leveled out the table using the adjustable feet. Then I started making some jigs to hold the XJ to the table.

My goofy looking material stands coming in clutch.

I wasn't sure of the best way to lift the XJ up so I could get the jigs underneath but the engine hoist did alright. I should probably get some heavier duty straps for next time.

Repeated the process on the back. I wasn't 100% sure of what to treat as "level" on the chassis so I ended up leveling it out relative to the rockers. I'll use them as my true north.

The front jig lines up with factory holes in the frame so I could use them as alignment points.

I modified some 3/4" bolts to use as pins.

They were custom made on my lathe hence the high tolerances.

Bracket made.

All done.

The back jigs are made out of 2" tube and some 2x5" tube cut in half. Each jig sits 7 1/8" tall and this was nice confirmation to see that the custom rear frame rails I made a few years back are level with each other.

XJ officially attached to the table.

Now I can finally get back to work on the XJ itself!

ed_ · Jun 19, 2025

Of all the work the XJ needs, I'm most nervous about pushing the roof forward to fix how it shifted towards the rear so I figured I should address that first. I don't believe I'll need to separate the B pillars from the rockers anymore but I may need to separate them from the roof since they were positioned incorrectly and also may need to cut/re-weld the rear door hinges since they'll be in the wrong spots once the roof is pushed.

The red arrow is how I plan on pushing the roof with my portapower.

All of the bracing inside the XJ was welded in after the roof shifted so I need to cut it all out.

I didn't want the rockers to potentially shift inwards without the bracing so I braced them to the frame rails to be safe.

Cutting out all the bracing took nearly 3 hours. It was slow going because I had to be careful not to damage the chassis and some of the welds were in tough spots to cut out.

Once the roof is pushed forward back to where it should be I'll weld in some diagonal bracing to ensure it doesn't move again until the unibody is fully rebuilt.

I need to make some jigs for the portapower now. The inner bracing above the windshield isn't strong enough to push against. I'll probably do that later tonight if I get a second wind.

Ohmthis · Jun 19, 2025

I’m very impressed with how you are being very thoughtful about each move and its potential consequences.

LXCam · Jun 19, 2025

You’re kicking *** on all this.

I would suggest one change before you get any deeper into it thought. Leveling it off the rockers could come back to bite you. There’s plenty of factory information on all the key frame locators and measurements that are simple enough to find. If anything double check all you diagonals one last time even if you select those datum points.

Keep up the great work, I’m enjoying the show.

ed_ · Jun 19, 2025

LXCam said:
You’re kicking *** on all this.

I would suggest one change before you get any deeper into it thought. Leveling it off the rockers could come back to bite you. There’s plenty of factory information on all the key frame locators and measurements that are simple enough to find. If anything double check all you diagonals one last time even if you select those datum points.

Keep up the great work, I’m enjoying the show.

Good call! I hadn't consider leveling off the frame but that does like the better option. I know the factory service manual has some measurements so I'll see if I can work something out. I won't be able to rely on any factory measurements in the rear since my frame is not original but there's probably still enough I can work with.

Pic for ref of where the OEM frame stops.

I've also got good news to report that the roof has been pushed forward without much trouble! I welded a bar across the pinch welds by the top of the windshield and made a jig that rested on the back rockers to use as pushing points.

The rear bar ended up being a bad idea because one of the pinch welds started crumpling when I began using the portapower so I changed up the approach and welded some angle to the floor directly above the frame rails. (The floor is coming out anyways)

Some pushing later and I was able to get the driver door / windshield gap to a reasonably even 1/4".

The top corner still seems a little close but I think that's just how the doors are made because my other XJ looks the same.

Here's a 50/50 of the driver door. The door hinges were not touched.

Passenger side 50/50. Same 1/4" gap now.

This was only my second time adjusting a unibody so I was kinda nervous but it was interesting seeing the portapower push a little over 2 tons of force and hearing the small creaks from the body as it adjusted and seeing the changes. I was also glad to see the body adjusted back to normal without having to cut into the b pillars.

The rear door hinges definitely need to be cut and re-welded though. The driver rear door needs to be tilted to the right and the rear pass door needs to be tilted to the left a hair. I want to get the driver quarter panel skin welded back on and rocker too before making any door adjustments so I can make sure gaps are good though.

And just to be safe so the roof doesn't move until the body is complete I welded in some bracing.

larry4406 · Jun 20, 2025

Are your doors fully weighted with all of the glass, regulators, tracks, etc?

The mopar forums I am on, they add chains of a specific weight to the interior of the door shell to simulate the weight of these removed components when doing door and body gap alignments.

mike93lx · Jun 20, 2025

May have missed it... What caused the roof to push back like that?

stinkity stoink · Jun 20, 2025

This is a really interesting project with some great work you are doing

ed_ · Jun 20, 2025

larry4406 said:
Are your doors fully weighted with all of the glass, regulators, tracks, etc?

The mopar forums I am on, they add chains of a specific weight to the interior of the door shell to simulate the weight of these removed components when doing door and body gap alignments.

They're empty right now but I'll try adding some weight to them and see if that changes anything. My guess is since the XJ doors are short they may be less sensitive to that but I think it's a good idea regardless.

mike93lx said:
May have missed it... What caused the roof to push back like that?

The roof shifted when I cut out the drip rails to weld new ones in because I didn't use any bracing on the roof. I did one side at a time so I thought I'd be safe but the unibody didn't like it.

After cutting that out the door gap got all messed up but I didn't notice at the time.

ed_ · Jun 21, 2025

Popped a set of tail lights onto the XJ so I could check how the quarters line up with them. It's basically road legal now.

Passenger side looks pretty good.

And on the driver side I trimmed about 3/8" off the remaining quarter panel so the new skin would sit where it needs to.

I kinda have a dilemna with the driver side right now. I want to weld in the 2x6 rocker but I need to know how far forward / back to position it but I can't position it until I trim the rear wheel arch for the fender flares I plan on running but I can't do that until the skin is welded onto the body.

It's not really that big of a deal but I think before I get into that whole mess I'm gonna finalize the passenger side since it's like 95% done and just needs some finessing.

On the pass side I started off by working the door gaps a bit and made sure to add some weight to the front door for better accuracy.

Nobody tell my wife I borrowed those. The weight did shift the door downwards by a little under a 1/16" so that was a good call (thank you Larry)

The body lines look pretty good on this side. I'm not going for show car level but I don't want it to be noticeable that the chassis has been worked on.

One of the downsides to the 2x6 rocker mod is you have to cut the bottom of the fenders off to clear them but that also means you no longer have any way to secure the fender.

I've seem some other Jeepers weld the fender to the rocker but that feels too permanent so I made some brackets that I can weld to the fender and then secure with a bolt to the rocker.

Plug welded to fender.

Drilled and tapped a hole for a bolt.

All I need to do now to finish up the fender is repair some rust in the front lower corner and replace a snapped stud. While investigating the rust I found a lot more filler on the fender than I anticipated but that doesn't really bother me.

You could always tell that the fenders had been resprayed but I find the filler kinda funny because it looks excessive relative to the size of the dent on the fender. I suspect the Jeep had a minor hit in the front that pushed the fender upwards in the corner. There's no signs of anything on the frame rails and this would explain why the factory fog lights / tow hooks were missing when I bought it off the PO.

Rebuilding a rusty XJ

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Well-known member

Attachments

Super Moderator

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member

ALLIANCE MEMBER

Well-known member

Well-known member

ALLIANCE MEMBER

Well-known member

Well-known member

Well-known member