I figured it was about time I started posting pictures of my build. I'm 8 days into the project right now and have about 60 hours invested. I have a build thread on another forum I'm a part of (a Mustang Forum) that I'll just copy and paste on over here with each update i've given.


"Well, work has begun on the XJ!
I've had exactly two work days so far. My total budget for the Jeep build has been raised from $600-$700. Bringing my total cost for the Jeep itself and the restoration to about $1,000
Here was the Jeep when I first got her:
1990 Jeep Cherokee Laredo - 149,xxx miles, 4.0 I-6, $300









It needs a lot of TLC, but for $1,000 it will be way respectable when i finish.

As I said, I've had two work days on her so far.
Two weeks ago I..
Put on four brand spanking new Goodyear Wranglers
Replaced all the U-Joints
Completed an alignment
Flushed and changed all the fluids
And I also tightened/replaced worn hardware in my loose-*** steering column (it felt like the tilt was broken and the wheel had about three inches of play)
Today I got off of work at Noon and I started doing a bunch of stuff. It get's dark here at 5 right now and I don't have access to a garage till Friday (the dealership I work at charged us to work on our personal vehicles while we're on off-time. Granted...it's only $8 an hour, but I'm a cheapskate. So when the sun goes down, so does my work station.
Here's what I did today:

Replaced the dash trim bezel - $10 on Craigslist

Last quarter wing window was shattered.

Picked up a new one off of Craigslist for $15 out of a rolled '92



Pulled off the worn, ugly plastic paneling on the bottom trim

Sanded all of the door jams to ready them for primer - this took the longest, nearly two and a half hours









The door jams took so long, I only got like 1/5 of the hood done today. Hopefully in 5-7 hours of work tomorrow I can knock out the whole body to get it ready for primer by Thursday night.
Still To Do:
Primer
Wet Sand Primer
Full Paint (Going with 4 coats of Rustoleum Gloss Black)
Clear Coat
Install new exhaust
Pull out all the interior and shampoo and deep-clean the carpets and seats
Install a New Headliner
My budget was $700
I spent $296 on tires, u-joints, fluids, and hardware for the steering column
Paint Prep Supplies so far have run me $24
The window and dash bezel were $25 for the two
Friend letting me takeover their garage for two weeks - $20
So far I have only spent: $365
I should end up being under budget if all goes well "


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Just a quick little photo update, I'm at work till 5 today and won't get back to the Jeep until tonight. I'm about 35 hours into the project now.
Supply Table.

Crap from the Jeep that needs to be cleaned.



Where the plastic panels and 20 year old adhevsive used to be.

Starting to get smooth. Not done yet.

Primered, awaiting wetsanding and first coat.

Same as above, just primered.

First light coat of paint, still needs another coat and a good wetsanding.





I taped off the chrome so i could re-finish the black edges on the emblems.
I still have a TON of work to do, but it's progress I guess. haha
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UPDATE: (December 23rd)

I won't be working on the Jeep for the next 6 days, I have family in town for Christmas that came out to see me and stay at my home, so my goal finish date has been moved from the 30th of December to the 8th of January. I do have the Jeep sanded down to the bare metal and guide coated all the way to the front doors now. Now it's just getting down the rear doors, hatch, and finishing the roof. Then primer and paint and she's good to go!

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Update: (NOW)

I squeezed in about 6 hours of work this morning and will have pictures later. I found some issues I'm going to need help on. Unfortunately however, my project has now been set back even more, due to a crazy snow storm from hell that is leaving me stranded at my house with a Mustang that has summer performance tires, i.e. I've got no way of getting to the garage to work on the Jeep today.

Give me two hours till I get off work and I'll post a couple pictures from today.

 

I'm digging the project thread so far and will be watching for updates..
Nice work and attention to detail..

 

Thanks man! I appreciate it!

Here's some more photo's I didn't get to post from earlier this morning.

UPDATE: The snow is piling up. We're at 5 inches and counting. I'm not going anywhere tomorrow.

Here's what I got done this morning. I finished at like the 56 hour mark this morning, so I'm just calling it 60.










A look at how bad the rear hatch carpet is. This will all be getting replaced, along with the headliner as soon as I have the funds available.

I NEED HELP:
I was sanding this morning and discovered this. I've had to do a little filler work on a couple rust holes, can I just use that same filler for this cracking, or do I need a special fiberglass filler?

 

wish i could tell ya man... its pretty minimal thought so you might be able to get away with just filling it but not sure..... looking good otherwise

 

Thanks bud. Yeah, I'm hoping that just some regular filler would take care of it. I can't find out today...I'm presently snowed in at my house with only my Mustang to drive. I've got 8 inches on the ground and without the Jeep, I'm stuck.

 

dang well stap on the boots and put your legs to work

 

You do know you dont have to sand the whole thing down to bare metal? Just enough to take the shine off basically, and any spots that dont feel smooth you can keep sanding as much as you want till they are smooth. Then just primer the few spots that were brought down to bare metal. Other than that, your doing a great job restoring this cherokee with a functional budget!

 

Oh yeah of course! Notice on the doors, I left the old primer in a bunch of spots. The reason I went down to the bare metal is because this Jeep had been sitting for two years and was starting to develop a layer of rust between the old base coat and primer. The roof and hood were FULL of it and places where the old clear coat had faded we're definitely starting to get it, so I just wanted to make sure I was eliminating that issue all together instead of just stopping it's spread. If you have the ability to eliminate any cancer from forming, wouldn't you? lol. But thanks bud! I appreciate the compliments!

And as far as walking to the garage, It's not the distance or snow that's stopping me. It's the fact that it's presently 3 degrees outside with a wind chill of -5, the garage is 4-5 miles away from me, and I would have to carry three ceramic heating towers with me that are about 3' tall each. That's just not smart. hahaha!

 

If you need any parts for her man lmk. I have a 90 thats in Great shape thats a parts rig. I drove it for 3 years.
Keep up the good work~Paul

 

Sorry I haven't given you guys any updates! We've had a ton of snow and because of some body issues I'm 9 days behind schedule. I've been really frustrated and fighting the clock. Anyways, update time!!!

I've moved to a new, INSULATED, and lightly HEATED Garage! THANK GOD. The last place where I was working was a non-insulated, framed only garage. Now, on a day where it was 15 degrees outside and I was able to get it up to 58 degrees in the Garage.

Anyways, I've got this place till the 25th of the month so I'm taking my sweet time now.

Okay so you guys need some good updating since it's been a while:


Here's some of the rust issues I ran into.


Check out all the rusted metal that fell down from sanding!


FINALLY DONE SANDING.




Rustoleum Primer...I learned my lesson with rattle can primer and I'd never use it again. When it comes to primer...spend the money. I sanded it out so it was all alright.



Starting the paint! Front is the first coat, then the rear door is a 320 grit wetsand of the primer, then the rear 1/4 panel is the primer.


More of the first coat.



400 Grit wetsand after two coats of paint.

More 400 wetsand after paint.




3rd and 4th coats!

Starting to get a good reflection on the 4th coat!

Where all the old crappy plastic paneling used to be.


Not bad for Rustoleum! I've only used about 2 quarts of it so far!

Still to go is an 800 grit wetsand, then coats 5 and 6. Then I'll be wetsanding with 1000 and then 2000 grit, then will come the Meguiars Compound to polish it and we'll call it a day!

 

looks pretty good and cheap cheap is always good lol

 

next rockers and underside, truck bedliner, can stuff

 

It's definitely been cheap!! Just time consuming. To anyone thinking of doing the Rustoleum paint job...it's definitely an awesome project to take on! Just be ready to put in A LOT of time and be ready to sand A LOT.

 

Looks awesome! I know nothing about painting but after looking at your build and a few others I'm thinking about doing mine myself. How much do you think you have in the paint itself? Is it rattle can or regular auto (paint gun) paint? What's the process? I think it's sand/body filler, prime, sand, paint, sand, paint, sand,clear, sand.......sound right?

 

SORRY GUYS!

I realized I haven't even explained my paint process!!!

Rustoleum Roller Job. This video is exactly how I am doing it:


Watch that, and then I'll put up my personal "How-To" tonight! I varied slightly from his process and I'm doing 6 coats instead of his 5, I'm not adding a clear coat like he did, and I'm also wetsanding up to 2000 grit instead of 1000.