Just another LCG XJ on 35's...

[Chili Palmer]

Thanks all. Today I think I'm going to start working on the bumpers, probably start with the front one first.

Originally Posted by 87xjco

Nice creative work on the wheel wells, boatsides and chop!!

Maybe you can modify the stock doors to work?

It didn't come with any doors...

A while back I saw a pretty good thread somewhere about soft doors for an XJ, somehwere in MI, MN, WI area? Anyways, that's probably the route I'll take when the time comes...

[Chili Palmer]

And I'm not sure if I already put this in here but below is a link to the entire gallery on my site...no words, just pictures...

1984 XJ

[Chili Palmer]

Spent a little time in the garage tonight; didn't get much done but it's progress I guess.

When I was cleaning up the wiring under the hood I had put an "engine bump" switch by the battery which is basically a starter button under the hood...long story short - my ignition switch doesn't work anymore (on purpose) and I got tired of getting under the hood when I wanted to start it up so I bent up this piece of sheet metal and put a couple of switches on it. Switch on the left is the ignition, the light in the middle is for the alternator and switch on the right is the starter.



With the ignition switch on...


FYI - not sure about newer cars but on older ones the Alt. light is an integral part of the wiring. When you turn on the ignition it supplies power to the alt. through the light (the 2 leads on the light go to 12V+ and the alt.) to excite the alternator so it puts out power, once the car is running the alt. then pushes 12V back at the light and when you push 12V+ against 12V+ nothing happens so the light goes out. If your alt. goes bad the light comes on. Most cars also have a 15ohm resister wired parallel to the light so if the light burns out the alternator will still get excited and function properly.

I also started the bumper brackets. I have all the holes drilled and tomorrow I will cut them to fit and start on the bumper. The brackets are 3/8" because I didn't have any 1/4" laying around and 3/16" is too thin IMHO. I drilled all the holes in the PS first then clamped them together and drilled 2 holes on the DS then bolted them together and finished the holes...

After the first few holes...


Both of them with all the holes drilled.

[Justheman80]

Nice looking build you have going, I like the chopped top look. Is the bumper your going to build going to be plate or a tube bumper? Also you still on stock arms?

[Chili Palmer]

Originally Posted by Justheman80

Nice looking build you have going, I like the chopped top look. Is the bumper your going to build going to be plate or a tube bumper? Also you still on stock arms?

What's up dude - glad you made it over here!

The front bumper is going to be a 2" x 4" x 3/16" wall tube bent to fit the contour of the front end. I didn't get crap done today but I'll be at it again tomorrow night and should have the front bumper done...

EDIT: I'll give you a call when I head to the garage and you're welcome to come on over and check it out.

[pitbulld45]

Your rig is coming along nice. You did an awsome job on the boat side.

[Chili Palmer]

Originally Posted by pitbulld45

Your rig is coming along nice. You did an awsome job on the boat side.

Gracias...

I didn't get anything done yesterday, I ended up getting a flat on my F250 so I had to deal with that and some other things. With any luck I'll get some work done on the front bumper tonight.

[Chili Palmer]

Finished up the bumper brackets the other day.



Test fitting to make sure they'll fit inside the bumper...


Installed...





Also started on the bumper. I ended up cutting it in 5 spots to get the bend that I wanted. It's actually a little bit sharper bend than the front of the XJ because I wanted the outside corners to be tucked in some more. Tonight I'm going to try finishing up the bumper - d-ring tabs (1" A to Z tabs/welded front and back), 2" receiver in the middle and angle/cap the ends of the bumper along with cutting the ends to length. I left them a little long because I'm not sure how I'm going to terminate the ends yet?

During the cutting...


Test fitting...




Installed...actually the spot weld on this end broke loose when I was messing with it so this corner will actually be tucked back about another 1/2" or so...


You can also see there's a bit of a gap at the top of the bumper. Since I was using 2" x 4" as opposed to 2" x 5" or 6" I dropped it more than I wanted to so there's more coverage on the bottom. I've also thought about getting a piece of rubber and screwing it to the bottom of the grill to cover up that gap I'm actually going to be putting a piece of plate (probably 3/16") going from the bottom of the bumper back to the crossmember; or just cut the crossmember out and build a different one that sits higher and protects the radiator - I haven't really decided yet...

[WJCraig]

That's a Bad-Ass build you've got going on there man!

P.S. What's with the busted skate decks you got over garage door?

Later.

[Chili Palmer]

Thanks for the props and the boards are from my sons. As they break them we just throw them in a corner and one day I said why not put them on the wall?

Originally Posted by WJCraig

That's a Bad-Ass build you've got going on there man!

P.S. What's with the busted skate decks you got over garage door?

Later.

[Chili Palmer]

Almost finished the bumper tonight! I'm almost out of gas for the MIG and since it's the weekend and I might do some more stuff tomorrow I only tacked it together for now. All the fab work is done now all I have to do is weld it up...

Starting the cut for the receiver...


Outside cut out...


Both sides done and mocking up the tube. I actually put it in backwards because if I put it in from the front the hole was blocked off and I don't have a 5/8" drill bit and didn't want to deal with it. Either way I had to cut about 1 1/2" off the back and doing it this way allowed me to line up the hole in back with perfect spacing up front...


Top view after cutting to length...


Starting the d-ring mounts...


One side done...


Both sides done; tacking them in place...


Top view...in this picture you can also see the 1/2" hole I drilled on the top, I'm going to use those to plug weld the bumper to the brackets - each side will have 1 on top, 1 on bottom and 2 in front - should stay on pretty good.


All tacked up and sitting on the brackets...


Here you can see the clearance between the receiver tube and front crossmember...

[Chili Palmer]

For the ends I wanted to do something a little different but I also needed them to be 2" tall from top to bottom; I'm going to tie the fender flares into the back of the bumper so I needed the space.

Beginning cuts...




Sitting on the Jeep to see if I like it...(I do...)


Capped...


Capped and on the Jeep...




DS done also...


Front view with both sides done...




I suck at MSPaint but here you go...the red is where the fender flare tube will be. It will follow the contour of the fender though and then tie into the boatside behind the tire...


Next up is the rear. I'm going to pull the gas tank and move it up about 12" by cutting a hole in the floor and setting the tank in it then build a frame of some kind around it. That will probably be after I get the roll cage in and the rear bumper - or all at the same time...

[Carl]

Wow man, that is some good looking fab work. Next time I am up in Meridian, gonna have to get together to check it out.

[Chili Palmer]

Originally Posted by Carl

Wow man, that is some good looking fab work. Next time I am up in Meridian, gonna have to get together to check it out.

Thanks and you're welcome anytime. I'll PM you my number.

[dayid]

Everything looks good -- but what receiver do you have that will fit with (what appears to be) less than 1-2" past the pin-point?