Figured I would show you guys some of what goes on on the other side of the world from you:
2000 XJ 148k, $1400 purchase, after fees taxes tow, parts etc I'm in at $2100, need to buy paint but otherwise done spending money. Should be able to get 3500 out of it on the low end. Just bought it for a quick money maker, gotta get it all finished and up for sale.
Got the fender support on and test fitting the fenders and header panel, looks good from that, but I will still need to see what all the alignment is like with the hood on and tweak that alignment to get the gaps correct.
the spot welds are easy, but I cannot get the spot welder in everywhere, so I had to use my arc welder. 1/16" rods at 40amps with an arc welder!!!!! tricky. Managed to get some beads all along where I couldn't get the spot welder in, so thats all done.
Gonna go back out and work on getting the PS pump pulley replaced, get the new radiator in, then airbox ecu etc untill its back to driveable condition. Then move onto the cosmetic bodywork.
Ok got some work done today, but hit a snag with the radiator which is going to cause problems for a little thing.
Otherwise got it pretty far.
Copper colored weld through primer:
These are the sticks I use when I have to weld sheet, they work aright, but its still way too easy to burn through, generally I try to start the beads on the thicker material, then let the puddle pull down into the thinner stuff, the spot welder is WAY better for joining sheet, I just need some larger tongs.
Test fit, alignment and everything looks good, fits up like it should, will need to testfit first with the hood to get the fender gaps dialed in, hopefully it wont require much tweaking and will lineup well.
Radiator snag: you can see the upper photo is the more common stock type of AN fitting for the upper trans line. Below seems to be more the newer type of fitting, some AN fitting screws into the transcooler. I'm not sure if this is a newer type(as many replacement radiators I've seen are this style) or if its something for the dual core vs single. In any case I gotta find the fitting one way or another.
More work done today, nickle and diming me right now, and running into the unexpected.
First off I found out the old airbox didn't have an air filter in it. I never checked it just removed the whole thing(the bottom was broken so I replaced it). So another $9 out of pocket. Then after getting coolant in the system I find out the overflow line is leaking and spitting coolant onto the fan which then gets flung in my face.
Then I find out that the ac system which I thought was fine actually had no charge(just enough that my quicky test for pressure at the schrader valve didn't show that it was basically empty). Pulled a vacuum and it held, filled it with a partially used can of r134a, compressor kicked on and off a few times then nothing.
Turns out the compressor clutch is bad, I guess I'll pull the one off of the parts Jeep here and use it(48k mile engine I had wanted to keep complete).
Plus I still need to do all the front end bodywork still(as in paint and such).
Taking longer than I wanted, wasted a day with the various snags, though thats actually to be expected, seems to always happen.
Pics:
Another project:
1984 Jeep CJ8 Overlander
TheKlansman
Titan
