The Challenge Build

[xj-jake]

I spent part of the day yesterday with the winch trying to get the front straight to disassemble some of the mess. Pretty much everything on the right side of the motor was junk except the AC Compressor. The bracket that holds the compressor was broken and unfortunately cracked the head. I'm not sure how far the crack goes but I may pull it just to see. The more I think about this I may have a good candidate for a stroker.

[xj-jake]

Moar. See last photo for "crack." I don't think it's a deal killer but not sure yet. Heads are easy enough to come by. By the way the odometer reads 364,xxx. All original. The previous owner put in a starter, alternator, and an ac condenser and drove it.

[bluedragon436]

That stinks to see.. But at least you'll ultimately be able to save two different Jeeps from getting the crusher.... And heck, parting out the 99 XJ might even save multiple XJ's from going to the scraper!! You plan on fixing the WJ up and then flipping it, or having a WJ in the stable??

[xj-jake]

In my mind I have plans and in reality I have others as usual. For right now I'd like to drive it so I can take care of some issues on my Xj. I may cut the rear quarters out of the gold one and transplant them into big blue. Mine is getting the under the rear window rust. I'm going to take the doors off goldie and put them on mine. And I still have not replace the floor pans in big blue so it'll be nice to have an extra runner around while she's under the knife.

[xj-jake]

Wow 3 months without an update. I'm ashamed. Well a lot has changed. Goldie found a new home with a deserving new owner. He's a long time friend that I grew up with. I was able to part out a few things and sold the rest of the Jeep to him. He's got quite a monster of an XJ that he's building.

Anyways, for those of you that don't know, I'm a new homeowner and getting married on October 15th. So needless to say our plates have been a little full. Here's a few pics of the new digs.

[xj-jake]

Notice in the front yard the Hustler vertical and the Mosely TA-33MW beam laying on the ground . Those should be going up before the snowflakes fly. I hesitate to say that at times because this is Minnesota and hell, that could be next week.

After the move we ordered carpet and are in the middle of doing some other remodeling, more just updates than anything but it needs to be done. The house was built in 1980 and it shows on the inside. My project for Sunday was reclaimed barn siding on a wall in the basement. If you're thinking about doing it because it'll be easy think again. It's a royal PITA! I'm fairly certain reinventing the wheel is easier than working with this stuff! I'm fairly certain that this stack of lumber came straight from Washington DC because there isn't one straight piece in it.

So this is the pile that I started with.

[xj-jake]

You can see the lovely carpet that's going to be removed with authority. Uck! Anyways you can also see what I'm covering up and how its turning out. Not too bad so far. Another 6 or so hours left and I should have that wall licked!

[zombiedog29]

Nice job bro. I love to see stuff being re-purposed. What a great patina on those boards.


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[bluedragon436]

The reclaimed wood, looks awesome... and definitely far better then what it is covering... And yeah, agreed on the carpet needing to be removed... quickly!!!

[xj-jake]

Thanks guys! The wood came of my soon to be wife's grandma's barn. It's all redwood tongue and groove around 80-90 years old. Hopefully by this weekend I can have that whole wall finished.

[Pinkyman]

Looking good Jake!!

[abebehrmann]

That wall looks really nice with that old weathered barn wood. Very cool that it's re-purposed and staying in the family.

Congrats on the wedding! Hopefully she doesn't come to her senses before 10/15...

[xj-jake]

No kidding Abe. I keep my fingers crossed!

[xj-jake]

Finally got it all finished up!

[Pinkyman]

Looks great Jake!