10 degrees north american! XJ Build in Costa Rica

so, it's about time to start this saga. i've been in costa rica for a total of about 7 months and just purchased a 1994 XJ 4 door automatic with 4x4. already, the building begins. the first thing on the agenda is a total replacement of the roof. for a few reasons...



today, we went to a house where a guy had an 89 XJ that had been in a front ender- and cut off our doner roof.





cool thing about this one is that it has an (i believe) OEM sunroof! or as they call it in spanish, a camacoca.
*anyone had experience wiring up or repairing one of these?



also on the repair adjenda is the transfer case- i bought it before i realized there were some bad pinions in the H-4 gearing, so i may be in trouble when i start looking for the parts here to fix that.

Keep following, this job should be pretty, quick- everything's gotta be done by December 23'rd when the shop closes for christmas!
that's it for now
Pura Vida!

looks good scott

So, it's been a while and there is a fair bit of progress to report. the removal of my factory roof was an easy process after cutting off the doaner- especially since there were fewer wires going to the roof on mine (without the sunroof)

as we gutted the interior, a few things came to light. one- the floor pan was boasting far more rust than i had hoped. gotta fix that too now that the carpet is all pulled up. also, the seal at the top of my old windshield was totally rusted, it seemed to be a strange place for water to sit long enough to rust it out, but it'll all be gone when the new roof is in place. thankfully the sides and bottom seats for the windshield were fine.



unfortunately i missed getting pictures of MY jeep without a roof, but we got the old roof cuts cleaned up and lined up, and now we're welding the two together.


as was mentioned on another forum, it's probably not 100% structurally sound to just butt weld all the pillars together... (but the fact that i didn't just leave the jeep without a roof makes it better than many here in central america) i do however plan to weld in some re-enforcement plates to the inside of the pillars where thankfully it won't show.



Also on the horizon is Transplanting the factory roof rack from my roof (the more modern rack system)- to the older roof (which will also help me get rid of all that chrome plastic)

not to say that i'm not planning a sweet custom welded roof rack, but i want to have the factory rack in place at least until i make something better.

Can't wait till January 1 when i get a whole BOX of OEM junkyard finds brought to me from the US!
.. oh yeah, and the girlfriend is coming too!
More Later
Pura Vida!

The sunroof was usually a dealer installed option, or at least that is what I was told. They are made by ASC. My sunroof has a tilt up and slide back, not sure on the wiring.

Wiring on the sunroof is easy. On mine, the gear was worn out so I had to safety wire the whole thing in the locked position. They aren't very robust.

Very nice work! I figured you'd reweld along the pinch seam under the drip rails, never thought of cutting and resplicing the pillars. Can't wait to see how it comes out once you paint it (if you're going to)

It's definitely going to get painted. the roof will match the white of the rest of the car and the new hood cowell vent that's being brought to me (mine was all kinds of broken) is a lovely shade of purple from what i hear- so it'll either be white or black once i get it on the 1st!

any idea if there are aftermarket, like- radio shack parts that could be used to replace the motor or gearing if mine does prove to be busted? the guy who had the roof before said it hadn't worked when he had it but who knows why that might have been. i know i'd love to have this one functional!

looks damn good,the rust would have just smashed my hopes and dreams with it,but keep going shes lookin good.

So here's another thing. the last owner did some low-budget modifications to the suspension. i'm not really sure what they accomplish exactly. in the front- there are some machined blocks between the spring mounts and the top of the spring they seem to just lift the front end up about 3 inches. they also seem to make the body heel over a little more in turns than my jeep back in the states with stock suspension.



anyone seen this method before? i don't know if it's actually doing any good or if it makes more sense for me to take them out. i likely won't have enough cash while i'm here to look into a legit lift kit but aftermarket bumpers or a custom roof rack would be cheap thanks to welding costs here.
also worth mentioning- there are pieces of rubber tied around the tips of the leaf springs in the back... anyone heard anything about what that's supposed to do?
Pura Vida!

That's a "block lift" or a "budget lift" - it increases the height of the vehicle and the body ground clearance but doesn't increase the flexibility of the suspension at all. Check if you have blocks between the rear leaf springs and the rear axle, if you do, you probably want to get rid of those and accomplish the same amount of lift using a combination of lift springs (or a "bastard pack") and longer shackles instead, as it will function better and won't wear the springs out as fast (blocks result in axle torque twisting the leaf springs a lot more, so they wear out faster.)

you didn't tell me it came with a lift, that's nice (unless the P.O. used blocks in the back)
did you get the hood release handle or do i need to go back to the junk yard?

i haven't gotten one yet, don't know which would be easier to be honest. if you have time, let me know! thanks!

don't think ill have time but i can try if i truly need to

Um didnt many XJ's in South America have front and rear D44's?? Man, south america really got the best jeeps!

-Rubicon XJ
-Extended YJ
-The CJ8 with that expedition hardtop

interesting take a look and let us know

They might have, but this jeep was from florida i believe. it was imported about a year ago.
i just checked a picture i have, the front has a D30, i'm assuming that they are same in front and rear.

you know what they say about assuming things.
no jeep came with a D30 in the back. yours probably has either a D35 or a C8.25 but most likely a D35.

oh wow, imagine a south american junkyard...we cant find D44's, they have them front AND rear!

Blue 97 XJ said:

you know what they say about assuming things.
no jeep came with a D30 in the back. yours probably has either a D35 or a C8.25 but most likely a D35.

Click to expand...

Blue beat me to it, what he said.