As this build progresses, you'll realize a few things about me:
1. I change my mind a lot
2. I have no clue what I'm doing
So, onto the good stuff.
I acquired this XJ through a bunch of schinanigans. It belonged to a co-worker's girlfriend, and I had made some drunken deal that when she bought a new vehicle I'd buy this pile. Granted I'd never even seen it when I agreed to this. Being a man of my word, when I got the phone call I headed over with cash in hand.
Did I get ripped off? Uhhhhhhhhhh......
Not the worst looking from here.
Swing out spare - doesn't interest me.
Rockers were optional I guess.
The B-pillar took a hit and is dented in, the door frame is twisted, and generally there's dings all over the place.
The good stuff:
4.0L/AX-15/NP231. Not a bad combination. Personally I'm more of an AW4 guy, but whatever.
1990 - it's a renix, I understand it.
2drs, since I'm young and stupid.
The bad:
The rust, dents, dings, ugly paint.
Clutch slave or master is out.
Water pump MIA.
No AC, although I only want it for the pump. It's probably a good thing actually...
10 000 other things. Most of which contribute to the general unreliabilty of the rig.
My 'Plan' (like I really have one)
Build what I consider a 'mild' wheeler for extended camping/expiditions. I no longer live in an area where there is estabilished hard-core wheeling, and you can't do that alone. I'm thinking I will probably run about 2-3" of lift and some 33s, along with some body mods. The back seat and cargo area interior will be axed in favor of making enough space that I can sleep, and some storage. I'm planning dual batteries but haven't entirely sold myself on how they should be done. OBA is needed, and I will run a sanden style compressor out of convenience. I would like F/R winches, but do not have the cash right now, so they'll be a 'later' thing. However, the biggest emphasis of this build will ultimately be the reliability of the rig as a whole (more on this later).
So, the first order of business was to change the water pump and serpentine belt. The old belt got eaten as the water pump had played up to the point that the belt got thrown into the mechanical fan. I changed the lower rad hose while I was at it, the old one looked rough.
Serpentine belt shredded around fan:
Since I need a new belt, I did the idler pulley delete. No sense keeping a useless pulley. Which I've had fail before, not a good thing, as the belt smokes off in about 30 seconds.
Reference picture of belt routing minus the idler:
Part number for the belt (upside down so it's easy to understand)
Started pulling out the interior junk. Found that the roof braces had de-bonded, probably as a result of whatever had hit the B pillar on this thing before. I think I'll just use some 3/16" bolts to re-attach it, and seal them with poly or something. I'm undecided, but definatly not going to bother replacing the roof to fix the dent.
Rust, rust, rust...
At this point I figured it was at least a solid starting point.
1. I change my mind a lot
2. I have no clue what I'm doing
So, onto the good stuff.
I acquired this XJ through a bunch of schinanigans. It belonged to a co-worker's girlfriend, and I had made some drunken deal that when she bought a new vehicle I'd buy this pile. Granted I'd never even seen it when I agreed to this. Being a man of my word, when I got the phone call I headed over with cash in hand.
Did I get ripped off? Uhhhhhhhhhh......
Not the worst looking from here.
Swing out spare - doesn't interest me.
Rockers were optional I guess.
The B-pillar took a hit and is dented in, the door frame is twisted, and generally there's dings all over the place.
The good stuff:
4.0L/AX-15/NP231. Not a bad combination. Personally I'm more of an AW4 guy, but whatever.
1990 - it's a renix, I understand it.
2drs, since I'm young and stupid.
The bad:
The rust, dents, dings, ugly paint.
Clutch slave or master is out.
Water pump MIA.
No AC, although I only want it for the pump. It's probably a good thing actually...
10 000 other things. Most of which contribute to the general unreliabilty of the rig.
My 'Plan' (like I really have one)
Build what I consider a 'mild' wheeler for extended camping/expiditions. I no longer live in an area where there is estabilished hard-core wheeling, and you can't do that alone. I'm thinking I will probably run about 2-3" of lift and some 33s, along with some body mods. The back seat and cargo area interior will be axed in favor of making enough space that I can sleep, and some storage. I'm planning dual batteries but haven't entirely sold myself on how they should be done. OBA is needed, and I will run a sanden style compressor out of convenience. I would like F/R winches, but do not have the cash right now, so they'll be a 'later' thing. However, the biggest emphasis of this build will ultimately be the reliability of the rig as a whole (more on this later).
So, the first order of business was to change the water pump and serpentine belt. The old belt got eaten as the water pump had played up to the point that the belt got thrown into the mechanical fan. I changed the lower rad hose while I was at it, the old one looked rough.
Serpentine belt shredded around fan:
Since I need a new belt, I did the idler pulley delete. No sense keeping a useless pulley. Which I've had fail before, not a good thing, as the belt smokes off in about 30 seconds.
Reference picture of belt routing minus the idler:
Part number for the belt (upside down so it's easy to understand)
Started pulling out the interior junk. Found that the roof braces had de-bonded, probably as a result of whatever had hit the B pillar on this thing before. I think I'll just use some 3/16" bolts to re-attach it, and seal them with poly or something. I'm undecided, but definatly not going to bother replacing the roof to fix the dent.
Rust, rust, rust...
At this point I figured it was at least a solid starting point.
