JMT’s 91' XJ Build

Yeah, electrical is definitely not my forte, either. It's black magic, I tell ya. The work of the debil, hisself! :devilish: I tell folks that I'm so bad at it, I let my wife change out the batteries in our smoke detectors... ;)

Speaking of my wife, she saw the pic of your XJ, and really liked it. She thought the lift was a little much for the tire size, so I 'splained the plan to her. She approves! (y)
Great wife! She knows her cars. Can’t imagine how. How’s your TJ rollin’?
 
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Great wife! She knows her cars. Can’t imagine how. How’s your TJ rollin’?
It has stalled big-time. Been dealing with other challenges in life that have taken priority over the TJ. But it's all good. Unlike a horse, it won't die from being ignored and tucked away somewhere in the garage. I haven't given up on it, nor have I lost the enthusiasm for the challenge it presents. I just have to remind myself that it's just an inanimate object, and that these other issues come first. In the meantime, I live vicariously through the folks on this forum. :)
 
My daughter hit a parked car in the neighborhood in the XJ a few weeks ago. Some of you know. It was a bad day. The vehicle she hit was an ‘08 Tacoma. It really taco’d the Taco. I spent all day dealing with insurance and avoiding the friend of the owner calling to have the cops come out. The owner is in Qatar, one of our military service men. I talked to him long distance (LOL) and by the end of the day everyone was satisfied. The insurance offered me $2700 (after deductible) if I totaled the XJ and if I wanted to rebuild it it would get a rebuilt title. OR $1771 after deductible and it has a clean title and I rebuild it. I decided to keep a clean title, rebuild it, and see how it goes. My daughter would help along the way. The parts started coming in gradually. They were all here by last Thursday and she got home from a trip on Sunday, so we got after it today.

Here’s the Taco. Didn’t fare so well. I think they totaled it.
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The XJ fared quite a bit better.
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When I got into it, the AC condenser, Radiator, and an Electric Accessory Fan were ruined.
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The frame support was bashed in the middle. I pulled it out with a chain and winch.

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Daughter out doing something. It’s coming together. She stayed with me the full 4 hours today and made two runs to Ace Hardware and O’Reilly’s. We did take it out for a drive. It drives as good or better than it did before. There are some panel gaps by the hood and one door, but it’s satisfactory.
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You can’t see very well in these pictures, but for the first two hours she was barefoot working on the Jeep. Then she upgraded to flip flops. Can’t wait to see what tomorrow holds.,😂
 
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Almost everything is done, gave it an alignment. Still need to center the steering wheel and paint the upper header piece white and snap the JEEP letters in. Drives great. You can see some of the panel gaps in the photos below, but the Jeep is still solid.

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Almost everything is done, gave it an alignment. Still need to center the steering wheel and paint the upper header piece white and snap the JEEP letters in. Drives great. You can see some of the panel gaps in the photos below, but the Jeep is still solid.

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With the tops of the fenders not aligning properly with the header panel, it kind of makes me wonder if the tops of the inner fender panels didn't get pushed outward a bit in the collision. Might see if there's some measurements you can take, or look for any kinks or buckles in the inner fender panels. Or just slot the mounting holes in the fenders, draw the fenders in to line up better, and call it good.
 
Almost everything is done, gave it an alignment. Still need to center the steering wheel and paint the upper header piece white and snap the JEEP letters in. Drives great. You can see some of the panel gaps in the photos below, but the Jeep is still solid.

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Looks great! ... and full marks to your daughter for putting the grill on right side up. A lot of guys don't! 🤣
 
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