Project Chemotherapy

Some history:

I acquired the XJ in the summer of 2007. It was bone stock with 98k on the ticker.


Then I bought 31s and a rear locker
Then I did a 2" budget boost at the club garage with the help of Ned and Eric.



Then I put a real 3" lift in

Then I wheeled it for a long time and had a lot of fun and didn't really brake much.






Then I put in a SYE, 4.5" lift, 4.56 axles, WJ front brakes, a winch, and a bunch of other good stuff.
I wheeled it a quite a bit on 34's but knew that the body was on borrowed time due to rust in critical parts.





this was steep and really loose. not everyone makes it first try, or at all...
http://s90.photobucket.com/albums/k245/sheepsyj/?action=view&current=MOV01497.flv

At the 2009 show:


Now I'm all moved into my new house and the build is underway.

The plan is to run about 104-5" wheelbase, NP 231/300 doubler, 4 link rear, 3 link front, the built dana 44's that I already have, hydro assist, cage, and coilovers/airshocks/ori's. (not sure which one yet...)

No, I won't be wheeling for a good little while.

I'm calling it Project Chemotherapy because I'm removing all of my Northeast Cancer. Hopefully when I'm done removing the rust I have something left to work with...









I made a cart for my 110V mig welder too. The bottle is held vertical by a 231 chain. The paint was still wet, otherwise I'd have had the welder in the cart...

I cleaned up the engine bay a bit


Everything under here is gone too


Well, I guess there's no turning back now... (the lower control arm mount was right there)


Cleaned up the remnants of the factory front crossmember and prepped most of the local unibody for welding


I made 4 block off plates to cap the crossmember openings


Burned in


About that time I decided it would be a good idea to start a notebook and keep track of all my dimensions...


Winch sitting in its recessed mount


6 holes that don't look like much right now but they're all in the right spot.


I'll be working on it a lot more tomorrow too. I should have this piece done by then.

Finish Date: 2014.



Looks good dude!

Ill be watching this one closely, goodluck

Bending the replacement wall



Set in place


One of my welds


Winch in its cradle


I love my vise... it's huge and super sturdy. I tapped the stand off and the 2x6 for 1/2-13 to hold the fairlead.


The front of it (less the fairlead)


Empty cradle


welded to the unibody


Welded in and the header panel sitting in place. I'm going to have to trim 1/2" out of the center of the bottom of the header panel. Oh well. Keen eyes will notice a lack of engine...




It looks a bit prettier painted.


I'll be tying it to the unibody more, don't worry. I just squared it up and welded it in for now.

I took plenty of pictures, did a lot of welding, did way more grinding, and not nearly enough beer consuming.

Looks damn good. Hurry and get to the back!

Thanks! I'm not worried about the back - it's not going anywhere

verrrr nice i like.

asp said:

Thanks! I'm not worried about the back - it's not going anywhere

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Obviously. I plan to chop about the same off of mine when I have a good enough reason to. I just wanna see what you do with it.

asp said:

Welded in and the header panel sitting in place. I'm going to have to trim 1/2" out of the center of the bottom of the header panel. Oh well. Keen eyes will notice a lack of engine...

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just add a body lift, DUH!

Lookin good dude!

asp said:

and not nearly enough beer consuming.

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And not nearly enough pallet burning.

looks real good!

Looks good. I'm getting ready to start my own project. thinking of a name still lol

Can't wait for a couple years from now when me and you can go wheeling. My Honcho will be running great and you'll have already junked this piece of crap and bought a pre-lifted Rubicon or something.

93XJLI said:

verrrr nice i like.

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:thumbup:

ROBZ95Xj said:

just add a body lift, DUH!

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nooo.... I don't want to mess up my COG

MoparManiac said:

Lookin good dude!

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jakeWI said:

looks real good!

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:thumbup:

foxwar71 said:

And not nearly enough pallet burning.

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Then bring MOAR!

decorat-w-mudd said:

Looks good. I'm getting ready to start my own project. thinking of a name still lol

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Awesome. I though of this name quite a while ago...

cmelo said:

Can't wait for a couple years from now when me and you can go wheeling. My Honcho will be running great and you'll have already junked this piece of crap and bought a pre-lifted Rubicon or something.

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:sure: your honcho won't be running well...


I don't have any pics, but last night I was experimenting with making a 6 planetary reducer out of 2 3's. Yes, I know it's been done, but I don't have one of the special ones that has 6 holes already. I drilled out the holes for a new planet and the closest reamer I own is .4980 but the hole is .4960-5. If I seat the planetary shafts well enough I think it will work because the shafts themselves measure .4900

Flame cut plates (cleanly) because grinders are slow, 5 hole saws per side and 3 steering box bolts. I don't know if I'll be runing assist or full hydro, so I wanted to keep my options open. It only took an extra 10 mins. 10 mins now is better than hours some other time. I cheated with the steering box bolt locations... I clamped the undrilled plate onto the unibody and put a 9/16 drill bit in from the engine bay side and spun it till it marked the plate. To bend the plate over, I welded the back of the plate on then heated the bejeezus out of the bend area, bent it with a 15" adjustable while continuing to torch. When it was too bent to use the wrench but not quite done I hit near the bend with a 3 lb sledge (while heating). (Think: blacksmith)

Here's the driver's side (crappy cell phone pic for now). Still need to bend the passenger side but it got too late to be hammering that loudly. Will take better pictures when the task is done


I'm happy with all of my welds except one or two. Not bad for it being late at night, though. The more I do this the more I'm learning to be constantly adjusting my settings for each individual weld.

Looks familiar

.!..!.

Nice job dude

asp said:

The more I do this the more I'm learning to be constantly adjusting my settings for each individual weld.

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When I first got my Miller, I didnt really care about having the fancy new AutoSet feature. Nowadays, I feel spoiled and rarely have to do any playing around with my settings, even then its only a simple turn of the power knob.




Crossmember is looking good so far!!

Finished both sides. Jenn (my ladyfriend) helped me bend the passenger side plate. Took 2 minutes with someone else holding the torch rather than the 15 mins it took me to do it alone.



I guess I missed a few spots with the paint...






My overhead welds aren't beautiful, but they're certainly not as bad as they could be.

Food for thought: I opted not to drill holes in the passenger side plate because it has no crush sleeves...