Rymanrph

Don't mind at all. Actually I believe that color is citron green, not rescue green (mine is rescue green). It was a factory color in '96 and '97 for the XJs and '97 for the TJs. I think rescue green is a little brighter. The color code for citron is JV/SJV and rescue green is PJR.

Selling already? http://charlotte.craigslist.org/boa/2570975902.html

Having power windows (and locks) is totally worth it to me. Keyless entry was just an added bonus. Good luck figuring out your power locks.

Looks good man. I liked your light bar before though too.

You going to put some kind of stickers on the Jeep logo?

I'm not really sure. I've got 3.55 gearing in it now, so I think anything bigger (tires) would just make it annoying to drive. If I did go with 33s or so, I'd want to regear, but I haven't really thought all of that through.

Sometimes I wish I would have swapped in the newer model seats, but I really would have missed the tilt forward feature. Looks like you're making some good progress. Keep us updated.

If you're visiting your connections in FL, stop half way in NC. I've got one.

I swapped out the half-working fog lights for my Hella driving lights that I had on the '90. The covers are white and black so they look better on this truck. I haven't upgraded the head lights on the '88 like I did on the '90, so I think having driving lights will be better than the fogs.

Where in Charlotte is your training?

I've seen that XJ in person before. It looks a little odd, but there is some nice work done to it.

I diagnosed the rust issue today. I haven't seen any evidence of problems on the passenger side, but here is what I found on the driver side: More than I thought, but certainly not as bad as it could have been.

The donor is gone now. I also made a trip to the dump today to get rid of a bunch of left over parts. I loaded up a bunch of scrap metal to take on Monday, but I can't believe how much I still have in my garage. The XJ was a great storage locker while I had it.

I'm thinking about swapping the lift and tires over to '88 and going a little bigger on this one, but that's a while down the road. As far as other upgrades go, I'd like to do a spray in bed liner, clear turn signals, fog lights and I still need to modify my Dakota roll bar to fit. Eventually, I'd like to put a stroker in it, but I need this engine to last me for long time.

I made some more room for it in the garage. I had the XJ donor hauled away and I loaded up the bed with all the left over parts I couldn't sell. Some of it went to the dump, the rest will go to the scrap yard on Monday.

When I did the swap, I pulled out what to me seemed like a bearing and replaced it with what I would call a bushing.

It looks a little more raked than it is because its on a slope, but I'm going to leave it how it is. I like a little rake.

I worked out a deal last night. For some parts for trade, I will be getting the rocker rust taken care of and the tail gate painted. Not exactly sure when this will happen, but hopefully soon. I asked my painter about the ghost stripes. He said most likely, the stripes were put on before the paint had completely cured, so it just left the impression in the paint. Not sure how I'm going to fix that now.

I have black '97 style Comanche decals that I'm waiting to put on the doors. The painter is taking the truck back next week to correct a couple things, so I'll put them on after that. I have several MJ decals too that I'm not sure what I'm going to do with yet.

Good luck on the swap. Let me know if you have any questions. There are several on here that have done the swap that can help.

I'm going to be using this truck as a test jig for mocking up the roll bar in the '97, mostly so I don't scratch the new paint. Until that project can start, it will just have to sit tight in the back of the '88. I'm not sure it looks as good in this truck.

I've been doing some little things here and there on the MJ (free things). Today, I painted my drip rails and installed them. Then I decided it needed a bath, so then I had to take some pictures.

Funny story: I went to move the '88 today. I have three sets of keys for this truck and when I went to start the truck, the key wouldn't even go in the ignition. Two sets of keys, I have never used and I just grabbed the set of keys in the bin (separate from the other two). I couldn't figure it out. There wasn't anything stuck in the ignition; I was using the GM key and not the AMC key, but nothing. Then it dawned on me; I was trying to use the keys that originally came with my '90. When I switch to the '97 column, I didn't get rid of the original keys. I have three sets of keys for this truck and I still grabbed the wrong ones.

After I got the truck back from paint, the driver window didn't work anymore. Since I had some trouble with the switch panel in the past (passenger window and door locks) I decided to bite the bullet and go buy another one. I already tried fixing the one I had and I only made it worse. So I made a trip to the next town over and brought back a new panel to only have it do the exact same thing. Turns out when the truck was painted they unplugged the window motors and forgot to plug the driver side back in. So what should have been a really easy fix took me way too long to figure out. I also shortened my headliner. I sat probably 2 inches too low in the back. You could see that much of it with the slider open. I could probably trim a little more, but its not worth the effort to take it all out again. Man, I can't wait to get this job thing done with so I can get back to work on it. If I have to sell my Mustang and don't replace it right away after getting a new job, I'm contemplating putting the 3" lift and 31s on the '88 and then going bigger for the '97. We'll see.

I always thought mine would end up looking like yours. Well, it kinda did for a while, but then I painted it. That's quite a project you got going on. Good luck finishing it.