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beater!

I got the bumpers, fender flares, tow bar, and other trim items off and I hope to start the body work pretty soon. I had sent the thing to an HVAC shop to get the cooling system fixed and the heater core swapped, and just got it back a couple of days ago.

stripped-front.jpg


stripped-rear.jpg
 
lowrange2 said:
Holy crap you managed to get a picture of a rat in that last shot.
:D, that's great.
 
Finished debadging the Jeep, got the trim stripe removed, and got the replacement bumpers installed today.

new-bumpers-rear.JPG


new-bumpers-front.JPG


The bumpers are OMIX-ADA and the end-caps and protectors are from Crown. They mostly fit together alright, with just a little bit of attitude adjustment being required.

I've got the flares and some other stuff ready to go in too, but am going to finish the body work and install a 3" OME lift before I put that stuff back on.

I used a rattle can of flat black Rustoleum to cover scratches and pit marks--I am about tempted to paint the whole thing in that stuff.
 
It looks like you're in serious need of new wiper bushings. You should cut the two metal tabs off that the front apron (under the bumper) mounted to and trim the flairs to match.
 
wow that looks a lot better! its starting to look like the 87 i had last year which went from my uncle's beater to my DD, and back to someone elses beater.
 
Looks great man!
 
I did a bunch of work on it the last two days. Nothing to show with pictures really. Last accomplishments:

Replaced all door and hatch weatherstrips with junkyard pieces (ZJ doors work, had to use XJ for the hatch)

Replaced electric antenna w/ new from Team Cherokee

Fabricated a bracket and installed one of the S-10 seats, although it is too far forward and too high, so I have to redo the bracket

Replaced the wiper bushings, front and rear wiper arms and blades, and swapped in a junkyard replacement for the hatch nozzle sprayer--it all works like it's supposed to now

Replaced the door and hatch speakers with new ones that work

Bought a pair of Hella 500 yellow fogs and got them wired into factory fog switch and wires (have to remove bumper to install). Also bought Hella E-Code headlights and 50/60 bulbs, clear signal and parking light covers and chromed amber bulbs

Bought new grille and headlight surrounds, but will install these with all of the lighting after I sand and paint

Replaced the IAC valve

Bought a third brake light from a 94, but I don't have the wiring back there for it. I will install this when I do the wiring for the hatch lights and secondary backup lights

Bought four cargo tie-down brackets from a Chevy Tahoe. Those things are huge, I mean over-the-top with massive rings and huge torx bolts

Got some small parts I needed, like a jack handle, spare tire stand and bolt, and some other small pieces

I'm going to start sanding and priming soon but my Cadillac is getting engine work and I need to have one running vehicle
 
Well I found out why the axle is different from the build sheet...

Notice the trim paint along the lower panels. On the front door, the silver paint is on the rocker line while the rest is factory blue, but on the back door and quarter panel the silver paint is along the top line while the rest is black. REPLACEMENTS...

body-strip-left.JPG


I asked my dad if they had any body work done and he was like "oh yeah, I tried to turn left across a highway and there was a concrete median and while I was trying to get straight somebody hit me and crushed the whole rear" ... the axle was folded over along with the rest of the rear quarters, and so it was all replaced. Sheesh.

After I got the panels cleaned I put some test paint on the right side. This is the blue metallic Rustoleum rattle-can, about five coats. It's like electric blue lol--way too bright although it looks good for what it is

paint-test-metal-blue.JPG


Also noticed while poking at headlights and grille that the header was destroyed. The little square clips that act as screw anchors were half missing, because the fiberglass holes had been torn. So I bought another header panel. Good news is that I discovered three radiators--I know that one is the factory tranny cooler, and I guess the other is a factory oil cooler but I don't know for sure.

hd-cooling.JPG


I need to think about next steps some more. The doors need to be replaced because of excess damage (left front is warped along leading edge and has major rust at the rocker), and the hatch has some cracks in the fiberglass, and I need to remove that stuff for full prime and paint anyway so I may just replace with new-to-me parts (especially a set of 97+ doors with the old 91 chrome trim swapped on).

I need to test a few more colors too. I am 90% sure that I will do rattle-can Rustoleum, about 7 coats with wet-sanding in between since it will allow the easiest touch-up.
 
Lookin good!

You're three radiators are probably the main radiator (duh), the factory tranny cooler like you said, and the other is probably the A/C condensor.
 
I did some more paint tests

I liked the metallic so I tried the Dark Bronze, but the flake is not very visible and it looks like beat Olive Drab. Might be good retro color but not what I'm going for, and it would be very hard to polish into a gloss

paint-test-anodized.JPG


I thought the hammered finish stuff might look interesting, although as I expected the texturing makes it look a bad paint job more than an interesting paint job. It has a mild gloss to it and fantastic coverage so I might use it on the rockers instead of herculiner.

paint-test-hammered-black.JPG


I actually like the midnight blue that the heep already has on it, so I tried the Navy Blue (Rustoleum American Accents). It's more of a Royal Blue, and while it looks good and would be easy to polish, it's not the color I'm looking for. It also wanted to run, as you can see.

paint-test-navy-2.JPG


Finally I had a can of Sunburst Yellow laying around from a previous project so I tried it. Coverage was great, gloss was great, no runs... It would be really easy to polish this up, and touch-up would be easy too. I like yellow Jeeps fine too, but for some reason yellow XJs just don't look right to me.

paint-test-yellow.JPG


At this point I think I am going with the Sunburst Yellow. It looks great and will be easy to maintain.
 
The problem with yellow is that chrome does not work at all. You have to use black trim, and if you want "metal" then you have to use an aluminum paint. It works best when the car is monotone with very little trim.

I think I am leaning towards the blue. I will grab a can of burgundy and try that but as of this moment I think the blue will work the best with the chrome and black trim.
 
I like the bronze color a lot
 
Yeller...
 
ehall said:
After I got the panels cleaned I put some test paint on the right side. This is the blue metallic Rustoleum rattle-can, about five coats. It's like electric blue lol--way too bright although it looks good for what it is

paint-test-metal-blue.JPG


.

I like this color best. FWIW.
 
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