[zluster]

Ok, did a little bit of teardown and started looking at what it would take to get this 2500 header panel to fit.


So as you can see the 2500 header fits back in a little bit:

I measure 3.25" deep:

And I measure 3.25" back from the leading edge of the hood. So basically the header is supposed to sit back flush against the front face of the "headlight bucket" so it looks like I will be trimming off that whole side piece where the fender bracket ties the fender to the "headlight bucket" with the ~.25" gap between the header panel and the hood I think that will be just about right.

And semi naked:


Ok so this is kinda academic since we should have our fenders and such soon from the groupbuy, but it looks like the 2500 fenders use the newer style upper header mount.

If you note this is a 97+ fender that I threw on for comparison:


So here you can see the upper header mount and the stud on the 2500 header panel line up perfect.


In these last two you can just barely see the stud and the stud hole on the 2500 front end, they do not appear to lineup correctly, though to be fair this fender needs trimming before the header panel will sit flush, and it is a little mangled up.

[zluster]

Originally Posted by RckRdyXJ

Id say go with what you are already planning on doing. Clean it as best you can and then por15 it. I must ask though what is the final color going to be. i cant stand that 80's gold.

Its getting painted Flame Red - PR4:

Originally Posted by MBood82

You seem to have the right idea, get all the loose rust off you can. A flap wheel would be best if you could, a simple wire brush would be a little underwhelming for some of it I think. Good luck, rust sucks.

A wire brush seemed to work well on the test area, which also looked like some of the worst stuff there. I have some flap wheels, but I think the wire brush is going to take it down pretty well. I thought about using some naval jelly, but I feel like I always had to wash the naval jelly off with water, so I'm not sure that would work here.

Ok did some more work, got the steering column, dash, and a few other things out of the way.
You can see where the front of the newer seat sits here:


And so this is about where the front of the new seat will sit in the commanche, that little bit of bracket will be cutoff and the Xj seat bracket welded a little further back than that existing one. Basically the new XJ seat will sit exactly where the XJ seat would sit in a 97+ XJ.

Dash pulled, engine next so I can get the heater box out easier:

My dog helping:

Seat forward:

Seat back:

Still some space to store stuff when the seat is back:

Pulled the windshield trim, need to buy an extractor for the windshield so I can remove it. I will then cut the little studs off that hold on the old style trim so a newer rubber seal can be used. My neighbor works for safelight so I can get him to reinstall it for me for the cost of beer. This will allow me to weld some of the mounts that the newer dash/steering column needs easier with the windshield out

[zluster]

Well I had been wondering about what to do for a radiator, and the 4cyl 2.5 radiator seems like it was perfect match....unfortunatly no one seems to make a good replacement radiator for it, only single core, plastic aluminum setups. There are some all aluminum radiators on ebay, but they are single core.

Well this was all moot, I was just going to wait untill I came to that bridge to burn it. The thinking was that I would wait untill I knew for certain what I needed to use for a radiator to order one....I have a good 2 core OEM radiator here from a 2001 6 cyl, that I could use, and I have the crappy old radiator from my MJ I could use for mockup. The problem was, the more I looked at it and the more I measured the more certain I became that I would need to use it. Which left me with the problem that if I did need to use it, there would not be a good replacement option.

Now anyone can spend the time to custom mount a custom radiator, or an off the shelf radiator for something like a YJ/TJ, but since I am faced with enough fabrication already here I am hoping for something that will bolt in.

Now that being said I came across something at the junkyard that is either a windfall, or a white elephant, here we have a nearly new, single core(but thicker than a double core) OEM style radiator, $50 is a little pricey in my mind, but if it works out will be a good solution. If it doesn't well crap, I just wasted $50.




Got the windshield removed and safely stored in the basement:


Got some tie downs off of a ford exploder sport track(and a 8.8 with 4.10s and LSD- all ready sold :rock on: )


And of course further probing reveals more rust, what ticked me off about this bit was all the rust was below the seam sealer........ya, the metal rusted out below the seam sealer......grrr, oh well, I got a junk hood that I will raid for patch metal. Fun part is going to be welded in the patch panel with an Arc welder......I got some 1/32" sticks that seem to work OK on sheet metal.


I need to spend a hour or so cleaning up before I move on with work, garage is cluttered with a bunch of parts strewn around.


I got these dollys at harbor freight, they actually work really well for rolling the Jeep back and forth in the garage, I would highly recommend them to anyone who thinks they might be useful.

[zluster]

Got the engine out today, pulled the engine and trans together, and of course, what do I realize as soon as I start pulling the engine......i forgot to drain the tranny, ya, it dumped all its gear oil all over my garage floor.

I swear, thats like the 4th time I have forgotten that. Dammit Dammit Dammit.

so I rolled it outside(easy to push with no engine trans, interior, etc etc) and washed out the garage and also scrubbed down the engine bay. Got it pretty clean, normally I wouldn't bother but it needs to be throughly degreased before I can shoot paint.

Still need to do some other cleanup and tear down before I can shoot paint, though I will probably wait to shoot the engine bay untill later, going to try and get most stuff mocked up, then ripped back out for paint.

this weeks major goal is the get the drivetrain in place so I can move on to mocking up the interior, front end body parts, AC, intercooler, etc.

[Dillonzj]

wow looks like an awesome project cant wait to see some more pics. Good luck with the build!

-Dillon

[Lifesgoodhere]

oh this looks cool. something like this I would love to do. Looks like fun, keep the pics coming!

[heinie_21]

that front end is going to SOOOOO SWEET! i'm jealous! want to do it to mine after you're done with yours?

[1996BlackXJ]

Sweet build!

I can't wait to see it when it is flame red!

[4pointOH1998]

Excellent choice on the flame red man (I'm quite biased ). Such a cool build & keep i up!

[Kenbo-Slice]

I'm going to subscribe this..... Quite an interesting build you have going on, looks good so far!

[doublewid3]

Wow im just looking at the pictures. Awesome build! Great use of a MJ. Thing is going to have tons of power. Light/small body with a diesel.

[cheepjeep96]

Can't wait to see more! Don't think I've ever seen anything like this. definitally crawling this thread

[zluster]

These are just a bunch of picture of the side of the engine, I figured I would never have as good of a view of it again once its in, so I took some pictures for reference.












The combination of the extreme height of the engine, and the depth of the oil pan, means that at the very least the front end needs to sit up about 3" and the engine needs to sit back a good ways to clear the front differential. To get good clearance the firewall needs to be persuaded into a different shape.

[zluster]

Its gonna be tight:

[ThelizardKing]

Im really excited to see how this is going to turn out. great work so far, and beautiful Golden's.