Well after finding so much rust and rot, and just general lack of suitable body, I’m curious to if its even worth finishing.
I have about 1800$ tied up into the project, 1000$ of it is almost a lost cause. Between buying the jeeps, and other parts. 1000$ after I scrap both shells and pocket that money.
I wanted a wrangler before I bought the xjs and after cutting into that rotted mess, and wasting like 60 hrs of my life. I really cant stand unibody junk.
Work left to be done is alot of grinding, painting and welding in of complete new floors, then tons of other misc things. Its comp cut, I dont think I’ll ever be able to sell it if I wanted to after it was done.
half of the built stuff was for wheeling, not because it was rotted. ot have you ever bought a vehicle from down south? its not cheap to truck and trailer something.
I mean I can finish this, sure but I’m unsure if throwing more labor, and money at something that isnt exactly what I wanted to begin with is worth while.
I sit today knowing that to get my XJ to where I eventually want it to be I will spend close to 15k or maybe even a little more. If I could go back to the day I bought it I would have went with the a TJ Rubicon and called it a day. Perhaps a 2in boost. They come all nice and stock with everything I will put into my 2k1 XJ and I’d have to do no labor or perhaps better put in my case pay someone to do the labor for the installs. I say since it’s that rusty start over again with another XJ or cut your losses now and I guess if you make enough bones go get the RUBI. Just my .02… Sorry that you have invested so much in a project that is looking to be on the FAIL path
I would have called it quits a long time ago, but that just me. With the amount of time and money that you have already put into it and what you still have to put into it you could have had a pretty decent XJ.
With that amount of metal cut away on a unibody I wouldn’t be surprised if the doors will not close and it will probably be pretty unsafe when finished (not anything against you), I was worried with just the front floors cut out.
I would try to part them and scrap the rest. Then get something that is cleaner to work on for a DD/Toy and something you actually want.
The u channel is all the structural support along with a few points where the roof mounts, I left them together, everything that has been cut was pure rot. the doors still shut fine.
I have decided that if I can sell the lift, and some of the other parts that I wont need on my YJ, that I’ll be keeping the powertrains and scrapping the rest.
i have a full fabrication shop at my disposal and i wouldnt bother fixing that much rot. in fact, ive repeatedly passed on people offering me $ for rust repair.
the only reason im doing rust repair on the 240 project is because i still have rockers and can therefor mount the car up on pinchweld clamps to keep it straight while the frame is gone, and the frame i will have in the end will be many times stronger then the original