Project: Rusty Nail

So this is what I got. She's a 91 I picked up for free 4.0L with an AW4 and 89k on the odometer and that's about as far as the good goes this thing sat for a LONG time. it's really rotted but hey I got enough sheet metal and other goodies lying around to give this XJ another chance at life.

Well the plans...

2.5" Junkyard lift, on 33's that I had lying around, also a D44 I had here as well. For other goodies I'm going to be swapping in a set of mid 90's Saab 9000 leather heated seats and doing a high clearance rocker conversion just like on my trail XJ. Other little things like redtop battery with 0g wiring, Taurus fan, bumpers and all new hard lines for brakes along with anything else I come across. Here's my pics....










and the nice little surprise I found underneath the carpet







and next started really gutting it out.





another look at this terrible rot...



So like I said I have alot of sheetmetal on hand so my investment in this project in reality I would like to be at about a grand all said and done with rear locker and gears..... what does think?

I like. It's a lot of fun to see a rig rescued and given a second chance.

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I think I like living in SoCal after seeing all that rust. I've found 40 year old cars sitting in fields out here that had less rust damage. Good luck.

my opinion is that's too much rot, it will take a ton of time and money to fix and you'd be further ahead to spend $2k on something that was more or less intact

I thought that to at first. but I have almost all the steel needed to rebuild her already just collecting dust in the garage. So I just went for it.. wait for tomorrow I'll show you my second installment of photos of progress I made

Looks like fun, hope you have your tetanus shot up to date though.

Not economically viable, but neither is putting 35s and a 5 inch lift on something that only gets driven for fun. It's called a hobby... :dunno:

Some updates.

Finished the Driver side rocker mod, I cut up pretty far so I have ALOT of clearance compared to what was there... also cut alot of the floor out that was bad, and replaced it with 14g sheet.



here you can see the driver side floor pretty much done. Don't mind the surface rust. I've used 2x2x3/16 stock to tie in my new rockers to the Uni-body.

here's the bottom side... kinda like boatsides but not as extreme. what do you guys think?


A closer shot of where the supports come through the floor. I hope they wont bother my feet when braking and accelerating.


Also a closer look of actually how high I cut up on the rockers


While doing this I decides to rework my leafspring mounts, I'm not to sure how this design will work but I feel it is pretty solid. all 1/4 plate and more 2x2x3/16.


Also paid some attention to the front of the jeep too, put a plate of 5x3/16 plate to strengthen the front rad support future plans will include a hidden winch like Vetteboy's design and others.


Cut free the bad sheet in the rear of the jeep at this point as well too. I plan to make some set in cross bracing with some 2x2 to stiffen things out back as well.


Thank god I have spare doors! after taking off the adhesive strips they revealed a complete mess of the passenger doors.


amazing what 50 bucks and some good friends can hook you up with


Also test fit my tires, for this project I'm doing 2.5 inch bastard lift on a set of 33/12.50 truxxus MT's I'm not a fan but I got the deal of the century on a set of 5 with two being brand new I couldn't say no.


An overall shot of what i got done so far



advice and comments are really welcome!

it's a big improvement good work

Thanks! gotta do routing for all the new hardlines for the fuel and brake lines now

Wow quite a project! I hate rust... got to have balls to battle that stuff! Nice job on the rebuild so far!

Man, I thought my floors on the new beater were bad, Looks like you have it under control. I like the rocker replacements, May do that to the beater myself!

Nice work so far. Glad I don't have to deal with that in California.

Justpunchit said:

Also test fit my tires, for this project I'm doing 2.5 inch bastard lift on a set of 33/12.50 truxxus MT's I'm not a fan but I got the deal of the century on a set of 5 with two being brand new I couldn't say no.

An overall shot of what i got done so far

advice and comments are really welcome!

Click to expand...

i dont know why you arent a fan of those tires... they are probably some of the most underrated tires out there. they are actually damn good tires

Love that rocker mod...nice work.

nice work! I'd have givin up when I saw the rust in the back

Just looked at this thread for the first time...JESUS!! that had to be the rustiest XJ Ive ever seen!! So far youve made a Huge improvement man, good job

Yup thats one holey/rotted XJ. I have eatn swiss cheese that had less holes than that. Good luck bro.

That's some good work dude! I wouldn't have started such an extensive project.

Looks good, that's about how I got mine too...rusty and free, except it had a blown motor too. I'm diggin' the rocker replacement too. The Trxus MT's are a good tire, I had them in 31's for my last tire. They did awesome in snow/rain and on the trail too. Only problem I had with them was that it was hell to keep them balanced.

Well I'm trying to stay optimistic about these tires but I'm just not a super swamper guy at all, I'm more of a BFG man myself haha