Carl'sMJ

Well... I think I am going to stick with a stock style tailpipe. Mostly because I think it will fit my truck the best. That being said I am now considering what to do with my muffler since it needs to be replaced too. I've priced both a stock replacement and an off the shelf performance muffler, both being about the same price. Which route should I go? I've heard and read before that the 4.0 can react badly to having performance muffler attached... usually having to do with losing its low end torque. Any suggestions?

I made a little bit of progress today. First, I changed my differential fluid and then I made a couple more patch pieces for the floor. I've got a couple more pieces to make and some slight modifications to the floor pans to do. Then everything will be ready to be welded in... can't wait!

Sounds good... Here's what I've got going. You can see why I'm asking. Driver Side: Passenger Side: For a more complete look check out my project thread... viewtopic.php?f=7&t=26205

Sounds like you're gonna be busy :eek:

You could look into updating to the newer style valve cover. I believe this is dependent on year of your truck and if it has the H.O 4.0L

The XJ's actually had horrible crash test ratings due to the rocker in the middle caving up. Unfortinately I don't have the crash test video anymore, but it crumpled in the middle of the rocker and in the roof right above the driver in a drivers side front corner crash. The metal above the floor that was used for reinforcements is a lot thicker than the floor pan itself, two or three times as thick. If you look inside the hole, you'll actually see the stock floor pan in there with the reinforcements welded on top. These hav all been pinch welded together in many spots to create as close to a solid piece as they can. The floor pan, itself, on top will not net you any real gain of structual integretiy of the rail as it's so thin, that will just create the weak point in your frame in an accident. But yea, at this point, anything that you add will be a massive gain over what you have now. I am unfamiliar with the crash test ratings for the XJ, however, I see where you are coming from about removing the top of the frame rail. I just compared my replacement pans with a piece of the old top of the frame that I cut out, and you are right it is about twice as thick. Do you have any pictures of how you addressed this problem on yours when you welded your pans back in?... I'd be curious to see.

This sounds like an interesting build... I'll be watching this one.

Also was able to make a few of the additional patch pieces I am going to need to supplement my floor pans where I had to cut out rust the floor pans wouldn't cover. I used my new air punch/flange combination tool I recently bought on sale at Harbor Freight to help fab the patch pieces. It worked well on both the 16 ga. and 22 ga. sheet metal I used. ... Still got a couple more patch pieces to make. More updates to come.

Got a couple things done today... First, I got the exhaust system from the catalytic converter and back pulled off the truck. The cat is preety much shot, and the muffler and tailpipe have seen better days. I figured since the floors are cut out it would be a good time to deal with the exhaust. The flange where the front exhaist pipe and cat meet up was rusted all to hell and deteriorated. I was able to knock off what was left of the bolts holding it together and separate the flanges. Then I dtached the hangers from the truck and pulled the whole thing over the axle and right out the back of the truck. I'm not sure what I'm going to do yet, but I'm leaning towards keeping a fairly stock exhaust set-up. I am going to have to make a couple mods to make the new cat fit on the front exhaust pipe... probably by eliminating the flange.

Those look almost identical to the new ones being carried by Quadratec with their name badge on it... Seems one or the other might be a knock off. Quadratec lists them for $60... Check them out. http://www.quadratec.com/products/14254_7001_07.htm Regradless, I like the looks/functionality of those. I originally was going to go with the Husky lliners when I got my floors done, but now I'm real tempted to go with this style from Quadratec.

I've been debating this same issue on mine... The top of my frame rail was rusted away too so I cut it all out. I have not been planning on putting anything back in its place after the new floor pans are in for a couple reasons. (1) The replacement floor pans span completely accross the cab from the inside of the rocker to the trans tunnel thus regaining some of the strength lost from the removal of the top of the frame rail. The factory set up just has floor pan on either side of the frame rail and then the boxed in top over the frame. (2) The boxed in top portion of the frame rail may be thicker metal than the 16 ga. floor pan, but it sure isn't by much if it is. (3) To my knowledge, the XJ does not have the boxed in top portion of the frame and just has floor pan straight across. If the MJ would smash like an accordian in an accident without the top boxed in frame rail, wouldn't we be seeing this problem with cracked up XJ's. (4) Anything that is done couldn't be any worse than the rotted out frame rail that is there. ...I could be off on some of this, so if there is someone out there with more experience, please fell free to enlighten me.

I've never understood Chrysler's reasoning for not wanting the two comparable pickups (Comanche vs. Dakota) competing against eachother... Chrysler would have benefitted from a purchase of either truck and may have even snagged a few extra customers that were inclined to buy a Jeep just beacause it's a Jeep in the process... Terrible marketing in IMHO.

After I get the floors welded in, I plan to POR the whole cab floor and then topcoat it with Herculiner. My carpet will go back in over that. The Herculiner is probably overkill, but I want to seal things up good and if anything it should act as sort of a sound deadener. I pulled out all of the insulation material from under the carpet and will not be replacing it... All it does is act like a sponge! I was planning on using weld-thru primer on the tops of the flange too. What brand did you use and how did it work? I've heard mixed reviews on weld-thru primer.

For the money I like the Central Pneumatic Earthquake I bought at Harbor Freight. 625 ft. lbs. for under $100. I think this gun is a knockoff of the IR Thunder Gun. http://www.harborfreight.com/air-tools/ ... -2623.html

Yeah... The top of the frame rail pieces were completely rusted through and destroyed :( ... Didn't have much choice except to cut them out and remove them. The tops of the side braces are fine though and will be going back on after the pans are welded in.

With the floor pans removed, I took the opportunity to POR-15 the inside of the frame rails. I cleaned them up as best I could with a wire wheel before applying the POR. I used the full three step process advertised by POR-15 consisting of the Marine Clean degreaser, Metal Ready, and rust preventive paint. This was the first time I've used POR-15. A little bit of this stuff goes a long way. I put two coats on each side and only used half of the 1 pint can that I bought. The Lineup: The Results: Driver Side: Passenger Side:

I like that idea... What did you use as hangers to help stabilize the tailpipe and what did you attach them to?

I'm looking for any suggestions or ideas on repalcing my exhaust tailpipe. Mine is rotted and in need of replacement. After doing some research, it seems that there aren't too many manufacturers of replacement tailpipes for our trucks... I'm guessing that there are some creative set ups out there and I'm curious to see them. Thanks.

Here's the replacement floor pans that I bought. They were from Sherman Parts located near me in Washington Twp., Mich. http://www.shermanparts.com Part #: 075-40 L/R Floor Pan Front Section 075-45 L/R Floor Pan Rear Section Sherman's lists these pans as replacements for our Comanches. During my initial fitting, the front sections match up well, but the rear sections are a bit long and need to be trimmed down in order to fit our cab. I believe they are designed for the Cherokee, but once the rear section is shortened the pans seem to fit well. My only real gripe with these floor pans is that there are no pre-cut or marked holes for the seat mounting studs... Not a game ender, but it took some careful measuring to get the holes right.

It took some time, but I've got most of the bad sheet metal out. The champs of the day are the hammer, chisel, air hammer/chisel, angle grinder, drill, and spot weld cutter. I bought three of these spot weld cutters at Harbor Freight for $5 each. Not a bad price! I'm sure the quality is not up to the standard of some of the higher end cutters like Blair, but I have to say they did the job and held up alright. I only ended up using two of them and those two are pretty wore out. I broke teeth on all but one side of one blade. Looks like I'm gonna have to do a bit more sheet metal work than just the floor pans I bought. The rust damage was pretty extensive so I'm going to have to make some patch panels to supplement the floor pans. Driver side front: Driver side rear: Passenger side front: Passenger side rear:

:dunno: Well, I'm not sure that it really matters, but I just wanted to start a project thread. I've done work on the truck before this thread and just wanted to start documenting it. The updates are on stuff that I'm currently doing

:???: Am I missing something?

Well, the interior is out, and it's time to check out the floors. I knew they were in need of repair because I could see the holes from underneath the truck. Removing the carpet revealed everything I expected and more. The cab floor is completely rotted out and will need almost total replacement... ... Time to break out the angle grinder!

So this is what I started with in the cab. I like the gray interior, but it is old and dirty... A little clean up and it should look like new again. The dash cluster has the big fuel guage and idiot lights. I added my own tach on the steering column, and will be adding guages for oil pressure, water temp, and voltage. Not sure, but I'm leaning toward mounting some aftermarket guages rather than swapping out the instrument cluster. I started gutting the interior and one of the first steps was to clean up the 20 years of filth thta has accumulated on the seats. I used a write-up in the DIY by mfpdm as a guideline and it turned out pretty well. I still might put a nice set of seat covers on, but I was glad to get the seats clean.

I got a kick out of this... Check it out. :USAflag: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ezk0e1VL80o