Project $300 XJ

scarface

scarface

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 22, 2005
Location
Cornelius
Bought a '91 XJ 4.0 last night with 3 other guys for $300. Runs fine, needs exhaust. That makes my investment $75

we are going to run 33's on a 1 3/4" Budget boost left over from another Jeep with a massive amount of fender trime.


Pics will be posted starting tommorrow morning. It will be at URE Sat. for a test run.

Total budget $600. Spent so far $300 Remaining $300.

Suggestions....
 
scarface said:
Bought a '91 XJ 4.0 last night with 3 others for $300. Runs fine, needs exhaust. That makes my investment $75

we are going to run 33's on a 1 3/4" Budget boost left over from another Jeep with a massive amount of fender trime.


Pics will be posted starting tommorrow morning. It will be at URE Sat. for a test run.

Total budget $600. Spent so far $300 Remaining $300.

Suggestions....
Click to expand...

Weld both ends. Spend the remaining 300 on fuzzy dice..
 
remove doors, chop top, basic cage

i second the welded approach.

maybe throw in a ff rear. you could get a 60 or 14 for ~100 usually
 
Torch will be used for major chop. Sawzall for finese. I need stock TJ or WJ front springs for 1" lift.

Not worried about spares, like the stuff i carry in my rig. Will carry only spares absolutey sure will break.

Def goin to weld it up.
No doors or glass, save wind sheild.

Nasty rattlecan paint job a must :D :flipoff2:
 
Need to have a "paint party" to finish her off!

Are you going to reinforce the unibody after the chopping?

Doc
 
I have 2 complete sets of stock TJ springs if you or anyone else wants them for free.
 
scarface said:
Suggestions....
Click to expand...

Lemme know what trail you're on so i can be elsewhere.

Nothing personal at all, there's just a reason why a true "trail rig" costs money to build and operate. Keeping the systems operating properly and reliably costs money and time.

Just my opinion, nothing more.
 
Not sure if it was mentioned yet but a LARGE percentage of the roof strength is in the glass! My brother in law installs glass for a living and was telling me/showed me a picture of a vehicle dropped on its roof WITH glass vs without. The one missing glass the roof was flattened down to the level of the dash, etc.

So...if you are gonna remove the glass, spend a few bucks on some tube and weld ya in a basic cage, protect that noggin! Otherwise sounds like an ultra sweet deal!

Sam..likes my noggin round, not flat...Hinton
 
The idea is make this thing as low as possible and take the XJ unibody to levels not often ventured to. An exo is in the works. I will be able to explain witht the pics tommorrow.

One of the ideas behind this whole thing is how far can a unibody be pushed. Cutting and removal of body pieces will followed with pieses of cage.

This is going to be thought out not hasty. I have my wife lined up for driving alot so saftey will be important.

Pirate has a ton of XJ's to model after. And i hope to get up with Mac, Ben, and Sam to look at what was done to their XJ's.

Greg will hopfully chime in since his Commanche is sans rearend and now sans roof. :D

Shane (thinking this possible death trap through) ;)
 
SHINTON said:
spend a few bucks on some tube and weld ya in a basic cage
Click to expand...


And you can burn up $300 in tube alone in a heart-beat. That's the first thing I'd be spending money on if you are chopping the top.
 
ManglerYJ said:
And you can burn up $300 in tube alone in a heart-beat. That's the first thing I'd be spending money on if you are chopping the top.
Click to expand...

That's $300 if you use pipe... :lol:
 
I tried this whole thing last year. Right now, I'm about $1200 into it, and it still needs probably $1000 to make it reliable/fully functioning, not to mention street legal. Good luck, I wanna see how this turns out.
 
Rich said:
That's $300 if you use pipe... :lol:
Click to expand...

this was made of pipe. and it looked pretty unsafe.
100_0449.sized.jpg
 
Wolfpack OffRoad said:
And the tires looked pretty bald! :lol:
Click to expand...

Bald? They look like they are plastic.... :lol:
 
got4-lo said:
this was made of pipe. and it looked pretty unsafe.
Click to expand...

I was only referring to the price of tubing... I'm not about to start the tubing vs. pipe thing again.. ;)
 
its a long discussion between a lot of diffent people on many different boards. some say its okay and that using DOM is overkill, others say better to have overkill than not enough. Brook Green, goes by AK Fabshop on CK5 and Bgreen on pirate says that he uses 1.5in Sch 40 (1.9in OD) on his cages and his friends cages. he beats his shit to hell to. also Asartin on this board i think built the cage on his scout out of pipe. the other big issue aside from stregnth is weight. pipe weighs a lot more than tube for equivalant(sp) stregnth. i dont know if they have a cherokee aplication, but Jegs sells a 8pt roll cage kit for a lot of diffent applications and its about 300 shipped.
 
Yes, you can make a pipe cage as strong as a tube cage, it just needs to be alot thicker, and therefore heavier, and with those axles you have, lighter would be better.

Both of the AK guys never see rocks, either, and I don't think either one has rolled AFAIK. Heck, I could build a PVC cage that would work fine while I beat the hell out of my rig... until it comes time to be used.

As has been discussed - More of a cage's strength comes from the design rather than the material used (to a point), but when you're doing an exo, the chance of being able to utilize a really good design is limited by the constraints of the body, so the design is typically marginal at best... so you need good material.

Personally, I used DOM because I didn't want it to dent/bend as easily, and therefore need to be replaced, after a roll. HREW is almost as strong, and usually about 1/2 the price of DOM.

Also - tube/pipe is weakest at the bends, and that people typically bend pipe with a kink-o-matic pipe bender, further weakening the material. Weld-in 90's? I wouldn't do it! That stuff is cast.

Yes, JD2 sells pipe dies for the JD2 benders, but how many people buy them? Thought so.

Damnit, I said I wasn't gonna get into this. grr.

It's your rig, your head, your life, your decision. Just try not to put anyone else who might not fully understand the risks in danger.
 
rich pipe and HREW are the same thing, but pipe is measured by ID not OD and is available in less wall thicknesses than HREW and DOM. Bgreen has rolled his rig before and he does see rocks, look on his website and you will see some pics. here is a ck5 thread on the subject http://coloradok5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=119976. i agree with you though rich, exo's dont allow the proper bracing for using pipe, he should build an internal cage :thefinger:
 
Back
Top