Now I have been having here on the forum for a while, so I thought it was time to start a build thread of my own!
I am not a top mechanic, not even super handy for anything, except that I work with, finance / admin.

We can start with some history:
In December 2010, my car broke down, it's a 1987 Subaru Leone 1800 with over 300k (talking kilometres here) on it. Not a bad car, it ran flawlessly for nearly 2 years before the head gasket blew for me. Panic in the bitterly cold winter, I began to seek a new one.
4wd was granted, will probably never have 2wd again. Wanted a higher car, but not a real SUV because of fuel consumption. Never managed to find something that fit my need, so I began to investigate the Jeep side.
Searched of course on the Swedish craigslist all the time, but it's slim pickings living up here in the Arctic

Found a nice GC, called the seller but it was sold before lunch, so I never made it to see it.
Later that day, when I got on my computer I happened to find an XJ! Low miles (kilometres), cheap, and a good owner (old man of nearly 80!)
So I called like crazy, got hold of him and we talked. It proved to be the dad of a colleague who lived 200 kilometres away, which is just a stone's throw away for us up here. This was on a Friday.

We agreed that he would not sell it to someone else until I come down on Saturday. Then the old man asked: - But there is a bus now in the evening, why not jump on it so I meet you at the bus stop and we invite you to dinner and a night with us?
Talked with my girlfriend if she was eager to hang on, so we took the bus! Took us 3 hours or something to come down to him. That said, he met us in the XJ's and we had a nice evening at home with two cozy retirees! An incredibly delicious dinner consisting of steaks with potato!

When we woke up in the morning and came down to the kitchen, this is what we saw:

Sorry, but we and the rest of the world uses Celsius

After a test drive we decided to buy the car. We agreed on the price, he got his money and we got permission to come by anytime! Has not driven past there yet... This is what the beauty looked like when we had come home without any problems, although we drove past IKEA "on the road" (a detour of 200 kilometres...)


A little saggy in the back:


It did not happen as much during the spring, changed oil + filter and everything went very smoothly. In May when the sun began to warm, I started to look closer at the car, tested to take out the seat to see what is below. No rust anyway!



The carpet was soaking wet and smelled reach diabolical. Up with it as much as I could and in a cabin heater overnight:

Later during the month I made my sweet little box thingy for the back:


It's just a piece of rattle canned plastic...


But the screws are hot


A few months passed. Purchased a pair of used leafs but never installed them. Made the Bendix ABS brake switch. No pictures, got help from a proper mechanic so... But the result is incredible and it works like a charm! Now it's getting serious. My plan is not a big XJ build since I rarely drive offroad and it's also my Daily Driver. I'm mostly trying to get everything working and make it better in all kinds of ways. Being a loser in the garage kinda hinders me... Maybe the knowledge and skill will come....

November 2011:
Ordered a new pair of leafs plus shocks front and rear, from England. Ended up with a good deal with some Heavy Duty leafs and some cheap shocks. Met a fellow Jeeper at a forum who happened to live in town! In my eyes he's the ***** with Jeeps! He helped me so much with the install of the new stuff! Couldn't have made it on my own. Took us a Sunday, took a bit longer because of a stubborn bolt! After we finished this, we went wheelin a bit! No pics though... Might post some later of that..

Got a hold of some steel materials from work, plus that my Grandpa had left some scraps that I used, and I tried to weld a roof rack! It ended up a little crooked and ugly, but hey, second time I use a weld in my life! Also the materials were of different dimensions and my working area was a concrete floor that's crooked...


As you can see, protective gear is everything for a redneck like me... You can see the Jeep peeking...


Got something together!


The day after I got it up on the Jeep:


Gonna get some help to straighten it out and then some paint and it should be fine! It holds up for a snowmobile seat!


Bought a grillguard as well, in chrome! Thinking about painting it black, just to match the roof rack, but we'll see. Going to wait til I got it on but I'll need some help with that too... Bah, I'm like a child...

Got bored last week. Made this in the basement, not to recommend! Fell asleep high of the fumes...


Primer


Cleaning the tiny areas with Qtips...



Results are great though!


This is my summerwheels so only about 4 months left of the winter and I can put them on! Accidently bought a cabin:


Called up an old buddy of mine last night and he came by with a real nice little welder! Came to help me with the roof rack, turned out real good! Now it's straight and much nicer welds. Doesn't have a good picture of it, but I do have one of us in the dark of winter, outside the garage! Notice my Dolly and the cold, poor Subaru...


Finished my last wheels! Only the spare left but I'll do that when it gets above freezing outside, sick of the fumes in the house...

So this is my list so far:
Fix up the roof rack, paint it black.
Install the grillguard, maybe paint black.
Take care of the lights inside the car, plus take care of some electrical issues. The power seats stopped working over the summer, the Cruise control doesn't work. A/C is broke or empty.

When this is finished, we'll see what happens...

Let me hear all you got! Laughter or tears!

 

I feel your pain with the cold brother. I just moved to Norway from California. Im not liking the winter. Ive also just bought a cherokee, 94 model. Six cyl auto. Will post a build thread as soon as ive busted all my rusty bolts off. Your rig is looking good so far keep up the good work. Cheers from a frozen fellow jeeper.

 

Oh damn, look at that!
Where in Norway are you? Probably Oslo I take it...

Got an American gf who lives here now, she's from Utah/Texas, loving some real winters!

 

Im in the south, thank god. Flekkifjord to be exact. Loving real winters? I allways knew Texans were nuts.

 

Love the idea on the storage compartment in back! How did you accidently buy a cabin? Glad we dont have winters like this in Texas.

 

But it doesn't get cold that far south! Plus, you're close to the Gulf Stream. Man you don't know anything about cold huh?

I'm about an hour or so above the Arctic Circle. But it's been a warm winter so far, only a few days below -20 Celsius, not bad at all.

Probably going snowmobiling this weekend, the weather report says -22 Celsius, sweet!

 

It is a good idea, otherwise it's just a hole there and not useful.

Well, it was my grandma's sister's son, my cousin, who sold it and I got a good deal and support, so I bought it. Didn't really plan it, but I have always had a good eye for it. Best view in the village as everybody says!
A village of about max 200 people who lives there year round. It's where I have my hunting property, where we hunt for moose!

 

Must be nice to have access to hunt large game like that. What did you use to build your roof rack and what are the dimensions? Do you have any more pics? I wouldnt mind building one after i started pricing how much it is to buy one new.

 

It's real nice bro. Can also hunt brown bear, small game like fox, ptarmigan and other birds. Beavers, wild hares, you name it!
Not too many deer around here though...

Roof rack materials...
Well, I found some 2x2 (cm) square tube at my grandpa's, got additional 2,5x2,5 (cm) square tube from work. Then I welded it, and later on got help from a buddy to make it straighter and better welds. Second time I used a welding machine...
Dimensions is around 120 cm x 120 cm, but I can measure better tonight. Then it's about 15 cm high. It's still in the workshop (my garage) for now. Gotta get some more materials and then finish the welding, then sand it and paint it! Plans are to get it finished before summer!

 

im liking the build. and I love the cold. its been a warm winter here too in maine. only 3 days less than -15F. and only a couple good snowstorms.... I think we have gotten only 43 inches to date of snow this winter compared to the average 185". but im definitely going to keep my eye out for more updates on the build

 

Great jeep man.

I also love the cold but unfortunately its been hovering around 0 most the year. we keep getting freezing rain or straight rain instead of snow. I like my 2 foot snow falls per snow storm. Most I've seen is maybe 6"

 

Plenty cold enough for me brother, but -22 SWEET? You my friend are twisted! I worked in Alaska in the 80s and saw (or felt) -40 for two weeks in jan-feb and promised myself NEVER again. Have fun snowmowing and dont bust a leg,cheers

 

yeah I have a friend from Maine, never visited him though, too bad...
Last year we had a proper winter, in February we had 2 weeks straight with not a single day above -20 C! It was usually between -25 and -30 for those weeks. That gets old quickly...

Updates are coming! Tomorrow night I'm most likely borrowing a welding machine from work so I can work on my roof rack a bit!
Thanks for checking ole Dolly out!

 

Here it gets cold but not that much snow. Right now we have about 2 feet I'd guess. Might get up towards 4 feet MAX! Pretty pathetic I know...
The cold makes up for it...

 

It is sweet! Don'g give me that attitude! haha..

It's either snowmobiling or going by this old Laplanders Winter Market. It's been running every year for about 407 years and it's always cold that weekend! Haha so strange...
But yes, thank you! And thanks for peeping in!