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my 2 door chopped build thread...

so i haven't been a total bum the past few weeks... got a bit done.
the shackles are mounted and welded solid. though i'm not happy with the shackle angle, i'll deal with it till later.
all plates are welded in and ready for some tube to make the inner reinforcing cage work for the rear.
bumper ends are trimmed and capped.
i have all the steel to finish up the back except for some tube. as soon as i get that i'll be cruising to seal up this bad boy and start trying to wire up some led tail lights
cage plate for rear mount
cagemountingplaterear.jpg


cage plates for attaching to stock b pillar (that's 1/8 i used to box it in)
cageplateinnerfendertobpillar.jpg

bumper ends trimmed and capped, there will be some more 1/8 used to close up the gap between the bumper and the body. i'm going to try to angle it some to simulate the body lines
bumperendcap.jpg


and one final pic of how he's sitting right now, well until i change the brakes and toss the wheels back on
almostreadyforinnercagework.jpg
 
so i got the jeep back under it's own weight now. i have some more adjusting to do with the shackle hangers. for some reason when they are in the same location on each side, the driver side sits about 1/2 or so lower than the pass. side not to mention a horrible shackle angle.

is it normal to have different shackle angles on different sides?
 
so finally some progress. i got some of the wiring sorted out and a few more braces welded in. the pieces for the tail lights are all cut just need to form them up a bit and i'll be able to weld it all in.

he also saw the light of day for the first time in over 3 months

tail lights and reverse lights, just sitting there i need to grind some so they fit nice

taillights.jpg


here he is breathing in some fresh air, before he was taken to my buddies shop for some cage work

outside3.jpg
 
beautiful work, i usually hate the look of a notch-back, but that last pic is beautiful!
looking forward to seeing your cage build! if it fallows your attention to detail as much as the first 2 pages, it'll be quite nice!

are you planning on keeping that rear shackle hanger exclusively bolt on? or do you plan on welding it later once everythings proven to be in the right spot?
 
thanks.

i'll weld everything up once i figure out what springs i want and where i want to put them.

more than likely i'll get some ballistic joints and weld them to the rear bumper and redrill some 97-03 f150 leaf springs. but nothing is set in stone yet
 
Very nice work man. Although I personally would have continued the soup can floor throughout the Jeep.
 
thanks everyone. i'm still critical of it. but i'm pretty sure it's going to turn out awesome.

hahahaha. i was going to continue with the soup cans but didn't have enough. i can only eat so much soup...
 
Hopefully I'm buying a 2 door XJ tomorrow. My first 2 door, taking the HP44/9in out of the white XJ and continuing with this one. This is the thread I used to guage if the rust is repairable. And if you fixed your rust, mine is repairable :)
 
took some time to get tubing. but finally got some and my buddy took my jeep to his shop for some cage work.

so far just have the inner support with harness bar and some stand offs for the hybrid exo cage to attach to.

cageinnerbhoopweldedin.jpg


notching tubing is alot harder than i thought it would be.
 
got the new rockers all tacked in. i'll be welding them up tomorrow. getting a few pieces of sheet metal in to close up some gaps, then hopefully getting more of the cage in.

rockersinner.jpg


i'll be adding a bar to the outside of the rocker and some stand offs attaching it to the frame before it gets wheeled.

rockersoutter.jpg
 
Im in the process of doing the exact same thing. I sure do find it difficult welding that super thein half rusted sheet metal to 1/4 inch thick steel... I used 2x6 tho.
 
i hear ya on the shitty rusted metal. i think 2x6 would've been better. the 2x4 works but i want to add some tubing for a stand off just to be sure my doors are protected.

thanks for the words of encouragement guys. it was much more involved than i thought it would be and much more difficult. getting close to finishing up the cool stuff. then it's on to the tedious time consuming things.
 
here's what got done today.
rear hatch is somewhat tacked in.
all the misc. floor panels are tacked in.
one rocker is welded.
two main bars for the cage are tacked in.

hatch where it's going to kind of go

hatch2ndfit.jpg



side view of the main bars tacked in

cageside.jpg



rear view of the main bars tacked in. hopefully getting the spreaders bent and cut tomorrow

cageback.jpg
 
man this build is awesome!

with your rocker panel/guards, did you just weld the whole square tubing in cut to length? or did you have to add a part of other tubing out in order for it to fit? i'm looking at doing this soon, and am wondering if i can get just one size of tubing that is able to just weld in with only cutting out the old panel. I dont really want to have to add a chunk out of the tubing like this guy, but will if necessary.

http://www.madxj.com/MADXJ/technical/technicalfiles/SRrockerPanels/RockerPanels.htm
 
booth, yeah all my rockers are made from is some 2x4 x.125 wall rect. tubing. i just measured and cut to length. if the 1/8in starts to dent or bend i'll just plate it up later on. i'm not too worried about it. oh and i'll be adding some stand offs going from the tubing to the "frame" rail later.
 
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