[rugsucka]

Checked the oil and wiped down the filthy filter area as I believe my adapter is leaking.
Also put a 2' length of rope above my drivers side door seal to encourage a better fit and less wind noise. It's ghetto and held with a dab of silicone but hey can't beat cheap.

I would love to take the drivers door apart to find the source of the mysterious crapping out speaker, but even in the insulated garage it's below freezing.

 

[rugsucka]

I checked fluids - coolant's next - and really cleaned the windows after fixing the crooked wiper.

 

[rugsucka]

replaced my hatch shocks - was getting tired of the vice grips. It was easier on my '88 - no little sliding clips that wanted to bend etc.

 

[rugsucka]

Popped my drivers door panel to troubleshoot the intermittent speaker shorting in (meaning it's usually shorted out) Found the connector loose - pried up the two male ends to contact the female end better.

Ghetto fix, will work for now. Will be able to pop the panel quicker when I upgrade to 6 1/2" speakers soon. The linkage for the door handle and lock was the hardest part.


All my window switches still work too!

 

[rugsucka]

In the last week or so I have cut and folded the rear quarters, bedlined the lower rockers and quarters, lifted the rear (back up_) a couple of inches, put a hole in the side wall of one of my new tires and patched the floor on the drivers side foot well. Oh yeah - also fixed rust where roof meets windshield - corners and middle.

Next week - finish the front fender flare removal, rust prevention, rubber coat the front flares and interior floor.

Following week - order front coils, shocks all around, hack n tap yoke
Every week - suck up to the wife in order to keep getting new stuff for the jeep

IF the humidity drops down again - nothing dries in this sticky weather.

 

[rugsucka]

Pics? Did you do anything about the holes in the fenders from the flares?

I'll post pics when I finish the front flares lower front fender.

The holes from the OEM brackets for the fender flares are what I used to bolt the flares back on using 2" 1/4 20 bolts

 

[rugsucka]

Just got through priming the driver side and finished sanding the passenger side... Just gotta buy some bed liner and I will be ready to go.

You see somewhat horny to get this bedliner going, so I snapped some shots to show you my progress so far and how I mounted the flares.

I will complete the rest of the bottom of the fender and front flare this week sometime (off til the 16th) and of course the entire underside and interior floor. Kind of project rubber our the rust.

I am considering an allen head button type bolt, so I only made shot the bolts with a little stencil. I will rubberline them to match a bit better - it's only noticeable with the flash, not so much during the day. plus my road is pretty dusty right now.

What do you think so far?

 

[rugsucka]

Oh yeah, I also gave my XJ a new classy sibling to park with in the driveway.

I need to update my sig - wifey is driving 3 rows of jeep awesomeness now!

Now I'm the fuel efficient one!

I know - it's nite, I only was out there for the XJ bedliner pics.

 

[rugsucka]

Time slipped away last nite in the garage...

Worked 'til 4:15 last nite in the garage.

-removed front bumper endcaps and air dam, then cut off the bottom of the caps to gain clearance - they will go back on tomorrow.
-removed front fender flares and mounting brackets - I will be reattaching in stock location using 1/4 20 fasteners after bedlining them to match the lower doors and rear quarter/flares.
-I've had the interior carpet and trim out for 3 wks - now the seats are back out
-prepped the floorpans to be rubbercoated - rustkiller after drill wire brushing - very humid waiting for it to set up so I puttered around - that's when the bumper and flare work started
-lightly sanded then rattle canned the front seat lower frames where some light surface rust was
-sanded flares in preparation of bedlining
-removed fender liners - now I can troubleshoot/replace the rear washer pump - been out for a year now and living on a gravel road sucks this way. Probably the pump, I'll switch the wire leads to verify.
-finally after hours of waiting, I cut in the bedliner from under the door trim inside (outside's done) to below the wire harness.
-went to bed - laid awake probably a bit buzzed on varsol, acetone, rattle can flat black, and rubberized undercoat.
-slept until 9 - sun's out, humidity has dropped and I need to drive by early evening - I need to get bedlining asap.

PICS WILL FOLLOW!!

I hope Scampy appreciates the love I'm trying to give and the extended life I'm adding to it's chassis.

Poll - Is your XJ a girl or a boy?

I decided to name mine Scampy after a pony my grandparents had when I was younger. It would go all over the place and was whitish - kind of like my XJ. I think it's a girl, but it's kind of a boyish name.
Whatever - I did get a bit affected by VOC's last nite by this last part in my post.

 

[rugsucka]

Another jeep loving day and late night in the garage. I worked with the door open yesterday for a while and now I have a hundred flies - I freaking hate flies! Landing on the same spot over and over. I have got the clap to kill method up to a reliability of 90% though - but the ceiling has many reinforcements.

Finished up at 2:00 am - this list is not in order and I did have the kids all day with soccer practice for the boy and all that other good stuff - dinner duties etc.

-re-installed carpet
-re-installed console and trim with NEW stainless self tappers. It was SOOOOOO much easier with the shifter handle off - I just manhandled the removal
-rattle canned the timmed front end caps x3 coats then re-installed with 1/4-20 fasteners - stainless
-finished rubber coating front fender, trim, and flare x3 coats (sunny - drying quick)
-reattached front flares in stock location with 1/4 20 fasteners - drilled hole way out of place on passenger side so I filled it with a fender liner plastic retainer thingy.
-rattle canned the bolts, exposed hub in rims - being cheap and not buying hub covers.
-left donut spare floor bracket out and I can mount my FS spare.

That's it. I'm done for a bit - the grass is long, the outside trim of the house needs paint too.

I do have a set of factory steering and gas tank skids on the way and some old style rear bumper caps to buy some bumper build time.

Here's the final look and a close up of the front flares

 

[rugsucka]

Oil change and full chassis lube, mounted subframe for winch behind stock bumper, broke off copper lead for winch solenoid lead to motor, ordered replacement (under warranty)

Started to consider putting fender liners back in - winter's due, but I need to replace the rear washer pump first.

 

[rugsucka]

Stayed up WAY late to finish and install my rear quarter guards with quick disconnect mud flaps.

Here's the link to the thread I started with complete build up shots etc.

Here's a quick peek to wet your appetite.

I guess it could technically fit in the I did this for 100 bucks or less thread as well if you don't consider welding supplies and the auto darkening helmet I bought so I could see my crappy welds.

 

[rugsucka]

^^^

how exactly is that winch mounted in the first place?

and whose suburban needs a new front bumper? Holy flying projectile batman!

 

[rugsucka]

Looks like it's time for more metal and welding.

You must have had some pucker factor when the bumper started to move/bend.

 

[rugsucka]

-cleaned garage and changed it over to winter mode - mostly to have the jeep in the garage and work and cut/grind/weld in other spot.

-attempted to continue front bumper - cutting metal plate etc. and pooched my angle grinder.

-angle grinder has 3 year warranty and I exchanged it for one on sale picked up some cut off wheels and another drill bit.

 

[rugsucka]

I finished welding my front bumper outer 'wings' to the subframe today.

I'll keep the middle section looking stock with a section of the OEM bumper until I have time to mount the winch, and fab up a storage box to hold my d-rings beside the winch in the subframe itself.

 

[rugsucka]

deja vu
HF winch plate?

Winch plate came with a cheap winch I bought on Ebay - probably from the same Chinese Factory though!

Did you plate the top to finish, or keep it simple and stay with the 2x2 side protectors only?

 

[rugsucka]

sorry if i missed it but what bumper is that?! i think i may have just fallen in love.

This bumper was a labour of love - I made the subframe with a friend who welds well, then I finished it with my craptacular stick welding skills.

I need another couple hundred hours of practice before I'd even consider making one for someone else. I pretty much knew what I wanted look wise and then started with cereal box templates. Every section is cut and welded in separately - and not even exactly the same from side to side. That's what you get for building a bumper with an angle grinder and an old buzz box.

I posted a brief build thread with some more pictures yesterday.

 

[rugsucka]

1/8" plate all the way around

Nice!!! I like it.

 

[rugsucka]

Just finished a valve cover job. Used RTV instead of a rubber gasket. I'm a bit concerned I didn't lay a good enough bead, but at least I know what combination of ratchets and extensions will reach which bolts if I need to have a redo.

Found a nick in a heater coil hose while I was climbing around. Might as well do a Tstat, Flush, and the rest of the hoses while I'm at it.

Now that I'm pretty much done all my 'cosmetic' type upgrades I'm a little leery of running a proposed 3 month maintenance plan by my wife. I've pushed it with parts and parts store spending lately, but now I need to focus on some actual needed preventative maintenance - I have a failing muffler and a torn boot on a tie rod end. The tie rod itself isn't exactly straight as an arrow anymore either, but I want to do a full upgrade and am hoping to collect enough mad money before the tie rod begins to get crusty.