New XJ, Have a few issues!

[HamishW96]

Originally Posted by awg

yep thats a cool looking car for a young guy

mine is black too, but has many dented panels, a broken DS mirror, scratched all over, ass sags down, stock steel wheels.

I live in a knobby area where everyone drives fancy-pants new 4wds

a dude was laughing at me recently, but I mentioned my unit would go way further off-road than his 70k POS

he demurred...so I kicked mine hard, and observed to him that I believed he would be in tears when his front plastic shit got broken, logs thumped his panels, rocks bent his stupid sidestep, and his paintwork got marred, causing 10k damage + depreciation...but I would just keep charging forward

when i pimp it up, think i might stick a Mercedes star on the front to piss them off

Hahaha cheers mate my matching blue babies shine very well in the sun...

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA classic. Mate, a lot of blokes don't get it. I like having my cars look good. But if my XJ gets scratched or bumped out bush, it doesn't pain me. They're cheap. Parts are everywhere and it's NOT a brand new car.

My dad taught me this one. He bought a brand new 06' patrol back in the day, didn't wheel it as he didn't wanna stuff up his new baby. But had owned old 4bys he didn't care about years before.. and went off-road heaps! Because you just don't care!!

Ie use it for its intended purpose!

But all my cars have to be treated well. I'll add some more photos for entertainment purposes below are pics of my Clio, washed properly and detailed frequently with sealants etc and polished when necessary. Jeep gets similar treatment

[LuluBelle]

A clean well maintained car is a happy car it doesn't matter how old they are I have had my PT Cruiser 10 years this year as good as the day I bought it yeah it might have a couple of scratches but ageing gracefully
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_.(o)_)__(o)_)--o-)_)

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[HamishW96]

New diff went in today. I'll get some pics up soon. Quiet as a mouse. LSD isn't as grabby as the other diff but I think the other was broken into being locked basically...

[HamishW96]

Owned my XJ one year today! Since the last post, I have replaced all 4 tyres, done wheel bearings, driveshaft unis, lifted it 2" with an OME kit, done a steering stabiliser and had its first oil change! 10000km on it, clocking upto 150000km. Thanks to everyone on here for all the help on the car, wouldnt have been able to do it without you all. It has come a long way and still needs some bits and pieces, but nothing overly urgent (welsh plugs, extractors, rear drums and a front end refresh with new shocks) but majority can wait! Going vic high country with a few mates in a week, should be fun!

[LuluBelle]

congrats on 1 year ownership like you over the years I have had to spend a few $ on my 96 the paint isn't great flat black spray cans in some places a few scratches but everything mechanically is newish I know just about every nut and bolt on it they are keepers I say easy to fix pretty built proof basic electronics you cant go wrong have fun in the high country
_____ooooo
/__l_l_,\____\,___
l_---l_l__l---[ ]llllll[ ]
_.(o)_)__(o)_)--o-)_)

[HamishW96]

Originally Posted by LuluBelle

congrats on 1 year ownership like you over the years I have had to spend a few $ on my 96 the paint isn't great flat black spray cans in some places a few scratches but everything mechanically is newish I know just about every nut and bolt on it they are keepers I say easy to fix pretty built proof basic electronics you cant go wrong have fun in the high country
_____ooooo
/__l_l_,\____\,___
l_---l_l__l---[ ]llllll[ ]
_.(o)_)__(o)_)--o-)_)

Thanks mate, definitely a love hate relationship with the XJ. Mine is similar, bad paint on the roof but I plan to sort that sometime. Need to get my headliner sorted out too.... but its pretty darned reliable and if I wasnt picky itd keep on going and going and going without much maintenance.
Installed my adjustable trackbar today and greased everything back up today to ensure its all happy under there!

Want to pull the rear wheels and drums off and check for run out in the flanges. I want to 110% do my rear drums as theyre proper stuffed, but I will get to this sometime this week. If I find theyre stuffed a new set will be ordered along with brakes..... otherwise brakes and a roadforce balance will be in need.

[Gam817]

Howdy y'all,
I just wanted to introduce myself. I am the new owner of Jeff the Jeepy as our family calls him.
Hamish has looked after the car really well and now i am the third custodian of Jeff.
He has done so much to the car to bring it up to top condition and he sadly had to part ways in the end. I made a promise to look after the car and i guess i'll share my updates, trials and tribulations with you all.

Got off to a great start with a camping road trip straight off the bat. Family absolutely loved it and so happy with it. Car ran like a dream.



I first started with a full interior detail of the car so this meant carpets out and steam clean with a wet vacuum and dry out in the hot sun, did three passes to get it to a stage that i was happy with.
Here is a photo of me midway through taking the carpet out:





Once out i noticed some surface rust!



I ended up using a Meguiers leather cleaner to wipe down all the seats front and rear, all the internal trims and also popped the trims off and cleaned behind them as there was lots of dust. The paint here was immaculate.


Went back to the rust and used a wire brush on a drill and ground out as much surface rust as i could and then sprayed with Zinc primer anti corrosive and then a coat of primer, ready for some new Montego blue paint when i get some made up.





Whilst all the carpet and console was out i decided to clean up all the many years of wiring:
This is before

This is some of it removed:

and this is after:


Soaped and brush with a fine horse hair brush all the interior trim and then resprayed the centre black trim with black acrylic and then a clear coat on top:


Replaced the centre auto shifter surround which was cut out for switches for an untouched version:

Also replaced the centre lid with another one in better condition:


Don't have a picture of it but i installed a K-suspension upgraded headlight harness to up the power to the lights. I also installed their EV6 4 hole injectors and EV6 pigtail harness, which required soldering in.
This is the before:


and this is after, where i focused on clean connections, and then wrap in electrical tape and then wrap in fabric electrical tape to ensure a clean presentation:


I have many grand plans for a 'Restoration-mod' approach to the project with lots of ideas. Essentially my own interpretation of an OE mint fresh version of what it is now