This 87 XJ has been in my extended family for a while and now she is finally mine. My mom sold her to me for $500 with 220k miles on her. She was relatively bone stock aside from the odd paint job. I have had her for about 6 months and have now decided to do some work on her. She started out red but my mother, an artist, decided to paint her with chalkboard paint and use the car as a social experiment. She would write a question on the window with window paint and leave colored chalk on the Jeep and let people write whatever they like, then photograph the results. It was a lot of fun actually. The kick is, she sanded the whole car, but never painted the roof, hence the two tone paint job. Her name, Jenny, was inherited from my mom, and the 'ghetto transformer' title was given to her one day when I was giving him a ride home from work.

Here is what she looks like today:






In case you couldn't tell by the stickers on her, I am an avid rock climber.

I am not intending to use her as a heavy off road mobile. As my daily driver, it would worry me a bit to do this, but also, I am not the biggest rock crawler/mud kind of guy. Living in West MI, I use the 4 wheel a bit in the snow, but the worst of my offroading is heading to climbing sites or camping, and the occasional off road trail fun.

Modification-wise, I am not going to go crazy, just fun. Here is a list of what I am intending to do:

-replace the trunk lift shocks (should be arriving tomorrow)
-replace the drivers side seat belt mechanism
-2" budget lift (should be happening in the next week or so)
-fix my 4 wheel drive (I think it is just the vacuum actuator)
-roof rack
-light bar
-heavier duty bumper w/ brush guard and lights
-steel rear bumper
-soft 8 black wheels or something like them
-30 or 31" AT tires
-painting the roof black to match.

I am probably going to keep the primer black look, mainly because it is already started and I like it. I will most likely do the accents in gloss black because I think it looks cool. So many of the builds here have been an inspiration because I have never done my own work on any car I have owned. Both of my parents are engineers, and it has rubbed off on my, I just have never actually done it.

Because of this inspiration, I actually did my first work this morning. The drivers side seat belt has been having problem retracting and locking when braking. I took it apart this morning and it looks like someone installed a passenger side retractor in the drivers side, and installed it backwards. I got it turned around the 'correct' way so it would retract. I cut a part of the trim away so it would work correctly. I have a buddy who has a junk yard and he is going to bring me a replacement drivers side belt tomorrow. Until then, I am at least safe driving down the road, even if the belt is twisted at my waist.

Here is a pic of my interior taken apart.


Thanks for looking at my build. I will try to update whenever I change anything.

 

I got really tired of the ghetto stick I have been using to keep the trunk open on my XJ. The gas lift shocks haven't worked since I got her, so I ordered some replacements from JC Whitney.

I don't have a pic of the trunk open on it's own power, but here is my trusty, ghetto stick.



Next up, hopefully, is going to be my lift. I am planning on getting a pair of Old Man Emu 2" leaf spring packs, a pair of Teraflex spring spacers, and some new shocks.

I am also looking into a roof rack right now. I am thinking one of the ones from discountramp.com.

 

Looks like you got a good project and a great plan...Welcome to the build area............

 

Thank you. I have really enjoyed reading and watching the builds here on the site and appreciate all the information that they have given me.

 

It's been a long while since I updated this build. I have been busy with work and haven't had much time to do much to the Jeep. I haven't done the lift yet, and am not sure if I am going to because I am a little strapped for cash and don't have much time to go off-road.

I did, however, do some work on her this week. I decided to tackle the four wheel drive problem. The whole time I thought that the vacuum actuator was bad, but my future father in law said I should check the vacuum lines first because that is a lot easier of a fix. Sure enough, two of them were broken. I got those fixed and now the four wheel drive works great.

I also tackled some body work yesterday. There was a little bit of rust and cracking paint on the rear drivers side quarter panel, so I dug out the sander and some putty.

The pics are of the two areas I fixed. I sanded everything down and repainted the areas with some black primer and everything looks good.

Maybe next week I'll go after some other parts that need some sanding and painting.

 

My jeep has been without a headliner since I got her and it has been a little rough during the summers in West MI. I was debating on getting a replacement head liner, but then I decided that I could get an insulation kit that would help keep the heat out as well as the sound from the road. I am not too worried about it looking great, just being a little more comfortable.

I just ordered a roll of the insulation and a can of adhesive from JC Whitney. It should be here in a week or so, so we will see how it goes.

I also am going to have to take her in for some work on the brakes. I am not sure if I have some air in the lines of if one of the calipers is bad. I guess I'll find out next week.

 

I've got a ghetto transformer look going on right now too half-primer, half-glossy black. I'm in the middle of painting it haha.

I'll keep an eye on this build. Seems like you're starting out from a similar spot as me.

 

I plan on going around and redoing the paint on all the panels, but it will be a slow process because I can only do the sanding when I am at my fiance's parents house. Her dad has all the tools. I plan on keeping it primer black and then clear coating over it. I also want to bedliner the bottom third of the body and paint the top to match. I'll probably do that after I put the insulation in.

 

So, my brakes had gotten a bit worse. I took her into the shop and it looks like most of the front brake system was shot. New rotors, new pads, new calipers, new brake lines, complete flush of the brake system. I am waiting for them to call me and tell me it is done. My bank account isn't too happy about it, but I will be happy to have a car that actually can stop in a decent amount of time.