My '94 XJ Beater Fix (...maybe build?)

**thakoolaidkid** · 12-08-2009, 10:54 PM

So today the DMV of the great state of Connecticut finished my title check and my Jeep is now registered and home!

I found a 1994 XJ Sport on Craigslist for $1250. It had 164,000 miles on the original 4.0L I6. Some rust along the bottom of the driver door, both driver and passenger rocker panels, and the rear quarter panels. But once I heard it fire up and drove it I knew I was golden. Talked him down to $950 and this is what I have to show for it today:

Call me crazy but I kinda dig the red stripe running along the doors.

The color is black, a lot of people seem to think it's green from the pictures. Also, I think this grille may be from a newer XJ, I'm not sure. Anyone know, or think it looks right?

I originally bought it with the idea of using it as a winter beater that I'd sell in the spring. But I may hang onto it and possibly, possibly build it. I've never done much work on cars outside of fuse changes, oil changes, brakes, audio, etc. Just the basics, so I need to learn as I go if I do it.

For the time being the heep runs great. I went and started her up after work, let it warm up for a good 15-20 minutes while I inspected the engine again and scraped the ice off the windshield with the new license plate.

Issues I know of:

* Rust is too far gone in most spots to sand and paint. It will need complete removal and replacement, or cut outs and welds of new material. I need to find a way to slow the rust in the upcoming winter (and salting) of New England. Any ideas?

* NSS was bad at the time, the guy said he fixed it while we waited for the title. Nice of him I thought, but now the reverse lights only work 50% of the time. A positive is the car starts up perfect now

* Need new front tires, almost bald. Think I'm going to look for some used stockies with some tread for the time being.

* Rough idle in park or while stopped. Anyone know of a possible cause?

* And I want to change the oil and maybe the coolant since the Jeep was sitting for some time.

That's about it for now. I need to address those issues. And the XJ is growing on me quick. So I may invest a little more money as it's possible, but for now this is it.

It's good to be back in a Jeep.

More pics to come of rust damage and the interior.

**jeepkid03** · 12-08-2009, 11:22 PM

That is a great looking XJ! I always liked the '90s sports with the red stripe on the bottom. I agree it looks good with the black. I know what you mean with the CT DMV taking forever to do anything.

As far as rust prevention, take a wire wheel to the current rust, then primer and paint it with some black paint. I also sprayed undercoating on mine to help with the winter salt.

billabongopblue · 12-09-2009, 01:54 PM

The grille is not of a new cherokee, although it could have been replaced. Either way it is the correct one.

I used seafoam and the idle really settled down on mine. Some people like it and some dont, you should look into it.

**thakoolaidkid** · 12-09-2009, 08:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jeepkid03

That is a great looking XJ!

Thanks, man! I like it a lot.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jeepkid03

As far as rust prevention, take a wire wheel to the current rust, then primer and paint it with some black paint. I also sprayed undercoating on mine to help with the winter salt.

I think I may be past this point with most of the rust. I'm not sure what good using a wire wheel would do for these areas. At what point do you write it off to replacement? Cause it's pretty flaky.

Quote:

Originally Posted by billabongopblue

The grille is not of a new cherokee, although it could have been replaced. Either way it is the correct one.

Awesome! Thanks. I'm almost positive its been replaced. I ran a CarFax and it showed a front end accident a few years ago.

Quote:

Originally Posted by billabongopblue

I used seafoam and the idle really settled down on mine. Some people like it and some dont, you should look into it.

I'm gonna have to do a search on this, I have no idea what seafoam is. Thanks for the info though!

**thakoolaidkid** · 12-09-2009, 08:38 PM

The fun:

So I woke up this morning to 6"+ snow and realized I have a Jeep sitting in my driveway. Only had it for 12 hours at that point. So I cleaned it off, fired it up, hit the 4WD and went. It was beautiful! It ran strong even through my stupidity. I got excited having a Jeep again and started hitting every snowbank in front of me.

It was great. The tires definitely need to be addressed. This weekend I'm going to go to a used tire depot. Supposedly they have tires with 75% or more life for ridiculous prices.

The not so fun:

Outside of that the honeymoon hit a rocky point today. I went to pump gas, and accidentally left the lights on. So I went to start the car and nothing. No click, no noise at all, key went straight forward with no resistance. The dash lights all turn on just fine. I hooked it to a battery charger and nothing happened, no click, no noise. Although the battery gauge on the dash was showing about 10V.

The mechanic comes out cause Im blocking the fuel lane and he takes off the cover of the relays. He swaps a few relay around, nothing. He takes a piece of wire and connects it to the two prongs of the starter relay and nothing. So we search around don't find anything loose or unconnected. At this point he's telling me it's time to push it out of the way. Right before we do I try one more time and it fires right up.

So my question is starter, starter relay, dirty battery connections, battery, ignition switch or NSS? I know the NSS was an issue with the vehicle but I didn't think to try it in Neutral during this whole thing. Would the NSS keep the XJ from making any noise on startup? I need some advice here before I start tearing it apart. Even if you can just rule out one of the above it would help.

New to do list:

* Tires ASAP

* New battery

* Possibly new battery connectors (anyone have a tutorial on this? Pix? I'm just not sure where the connectors end in an XJ)

* Air filter

Other Questions:

I kind of want to go a little bigger than stock, which is 225/75-15. I'm just not sure what size will fit the stock XJ without rubbing.

I filled up on gas and it only went to 14.7 gallons. The XJ only has a 15 gallon tank?

josh94xj · 12-09-2009, 09:01 PM

im supprislingly jelous lol thats a sweet xj. i have a 94 two door and love it. great find. good luck.

**thakoolaidkid** · 12-09-2009, 09:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by josh94xj

im supprislingly jelous lol thats a sweet xj. i have a 94 two door and love it. great find. good luck.

Thanks man!

**thakoolaidkid** · 12-12-2009, 03:12 PM

So today on my way to get tires I had the same issue with starting my Jeep. I'd turn the key and nothing would happen. So I put it in neutral immediately and tried again and it fired right up! So it's my NSS and not my starter which is definitely cheaper to fix. I think for the time being I'm just going to remove my NSS and trust myself to remember its not there. Has anyone had an issue with not having an NSS? Doesn't damage the vehicle right?

I also checked the battery and the cables and they are good to go. So little by little I'm weening out problems. I picked up an oil filter and tomorrow I'll be changing that. I was looking at it today, how the hell do you guys get to the oil filter without dripping oil all over? There's some kind of rod right underneath the filter.

I posted this in another thread, but I went to a used tire depot today. I wanted 30X9.5 but they only had two. So I went with 4 245/75R15 Goodyear Wranglers with 85% tread and it ended up costing me $250 total. I'm pretty happy with that.

I still have a rough idle while in park or at a full stop so I'm considering Seafoam. I also need to get a new air filter.

Total investment so far: $1200.

green89yj · 12-12-2009, 03:21 PM

Nice. Seems like a pretty popular thing to do. I'm lookin for a used XJ to play with. Almost had one lined up for 450.

**thakoolaidkid** · 12-15-2009, 09:46 PM

Got home from work too late to do much. I did minor maintenance, cleaned the battery terminals, changed the oil (man that filter fought me, it was old as sh*t), topped off all other fluids, changed the wiper blades since my last ones disconnected mid-rainstorm, and attempted to change the air filter but had some issues.

For the air filter, I undid the three clips holding the lid on. I went to lift it out and saw that it appears to be there are hinges on the right side of the box. I don't get how this could be since the hose and a pipe are running straight out of the lid. I was already cold and tired so after a minute of messing with it I gave up until tomorrow. I really need a heated garage. So does anyone know a trick to getting the lid off without snapping the pipe leading to it? Or am I just a retard?

I picked up some Rust Reformer and some Rustoleum Black Gloss paint. I'm going to scrape the most prone rust spots this weekend with a wire brush. Hopefully it will stay warm enough for me to paint. This is only a temporary fix for the winter. In the spring I plan on cutting out the bad parts.

I went under my car while changing the oil and saw a few more rusty spots than I wanted to see. Hopefully I can stop it in time.