xuv-this
bondo afficianado
- Location
- southwest VA.
yeah, my ole 95' fiberglass hatch is starting to go downhill. so naturally, i am considering trying to run a 97+
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anybody <97 tried adapting to metal hatch?
- Thread starter xuv-this
- Start date
From what little experiance I have, the different years tail lights are different shapes and the tail gate itself is a different shape so you'd have to get new tail lights while you were at it. You could get it to work with enough fabbing, but you could also try and find a very early model XJ b/c I believe that they came with steel tailgates-- I could very easily be wrong though.
For the cost though, I'd just get another fiberglass one and call it a day.
For the cost though, I'd just get another fiberglass one and call it a day.
xuv-this
bondo afficianado
- Location
- southwest VA.
i figured on that, but i was thinking: surely someone has tried it?
- Location
- Terra Firma
Park an old style XJ next to a new style and pop open the hatches. Competely aside from the hinge problem, the opening in the body is different. Look at them side-by-side and you'll see why it won't work.
xuv-this
bondo afficianado
- Location
- southwest VA.
ooohhh. thanks.
ArcticXJ
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Anchorage AK
It could be done...
If you were willing to hack your xj off at the C pillar, and replace the entire portion with that of the newer XJ.
So, as Eagle stated, in a word: No.
If you were willing to hack your xj off at the C pillar, and replace the entire portion with that of the newer XJ.
So, as Eagle stated, in a word: No.
- Location
- Terra Firma
It might be a bit less drastic than all that, but it would be work. Remove the taillights and compare a 97+ against a 96- and you'll see that the sheet metal supporting the taillights is different, because the 97+ taillights are narrower. I suppose an energetic young man with a welder could do some creative hybridizing, but I spent some quality time looking at this at the u-pull one day and decided it just isn't worth my while to play with it.
xuv-this
bondo afficianado
- Location
- southwest VA.
thanks. mine either, then.
xtrememtbiker85
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Manchester, NH
did we all forget that the hinges on the out side of the 96 xj were moved to inside the door jamb and the strut mounts are moved and the locking mechanism is completely different. plus the stated tail lights etc.
- Location
- Terra Firma
No.xtrememtbiker85 said:
The hinges were mentioned in posts number 4 and 5.
