Rapid Renix Jeep

[RapidRabbit]

So I'm stuck at home for the next month and bored, so I thought I would start a thread to keep track of my Jeep build.

This is NOT a hard core restoration or a crazy custom build. Most likely will be slow and boring.

This is my 9th Jeep I've owned, and my second Cherokee. At one point I had 3 three Jeeps in my driveway and my neighbors called me the Jeep guy when they saw me.

Ok, so here's the details.

It's an 87 Jeep Cherokee pioneer. Straight six 4.0L engine. 4wd of course.

It was originally burgundy, but the PO I bought it from painted it with white primer because the clear coat was bad and paint faded. But it's mostly solid and I love the classic look of these things.

It was just supposed to be a winter beater to keep the convertibles out the snow. Well of course I couldn't leave it alone.

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[RapidRabbit]

Interior was decent but 2 different colors.
The dash, console, seats and rear carpet are burgundy. The front carpet, door panels and trim are black. No idea why.

Electrical issues in the dash ended up turning into rewiring almost everything.

The radio was wired to the cigarette lighter for power. The dash lights blew every time I turned on the headlights. No working interior lights. Etc.

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[RapidRabbit]

Some interior shots.

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[RapidRabbit]

So once I got the dash sorted out and mostly back together. I decided I hated the black door panels with the burgundy seats. So I found a very nice used set on eBay and swapped them all out. Fixed all the window regulators, replaced all the chrome Handles, and tossed some sound deadening inside the doors.

I started pulling and painting the trim panels as well. I must have bought half a dozen vinyl paints trying to match the color before I found one that was close enough.

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[RapidRabbit]

Moving on to mechanicals. I had to replace the water pump and belt. Changed the thermostat, spark plugs, cap and rotor.

Put in a new fuel regulator and fuel filter.

Someone had cut the hoses to the heater core and bypassed it. So I replaced all the hoses and coolant overflow tank.

The PO also put in a new battery that was to tall. So he too out the battery tray, put it on a block of wood and zip tied it in.

I bought a new battery, pick up all the original parts from a junk yard and reinstalled the battery properly.

I don't have an updated pic of the engine compartment because I am still rewrapping all the wiring.

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[RapidRabbit]

Next was steering. I replaced all tie rods, steering components and steering stabilizer. They were shot.

I still need to go through the drivetrain and check over brakes, axles, u joints, etc.

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[Horseplay]

Nothing worse than a northern car's underbelly. Now that I've had the joy of a couple southern cars for projects I will NEVER even think about something that has lived in the rust belt.

 

[Fst Blk]

Your giving that poor thing a 2nd life. That body style is hot around here. All the high school boys are driving them.


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[RapidRabbit]

Nothing worse than a northern car's underbelly. Now that I've had the joy of a couple southern cars for projects I will NEVER even think about something that has lived in the rust belt.

Believe it or not this was from California and then Nevada before it came here. Not sure when exactly it came here, It doesn't take long for Wisconsin Winters to eat through a car.

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[RapidRabbit]

Yesterday I started on the rear cargo area.

I pulled the rear seats, and trim out. Removed the carpet and all padding.

The carpet is in good shape and will be reused. All the padding was very wet and disintegrated as I scraped it up.

Scraped all the residual crap with a putty knife, then started in with a wire wheel but only got started on the driver side.

The passenger side will need a patch made, but I knew about this hole before hand. So not a surprise. The rest of the floor is actually solid. Just surface rust and a few pinholes From the wet carpet.

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[RapidRabbit]

Picked up some missing trim from a guy off Craigslist yesterday.

Entire roof rack assembly plus luggage rack strips. $20.

None of these pieces are available new anymore so it's really hard to find. 3 hours in the car, but worth it.

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[RapidRabbit]

Started on the passenger rust. This is slow going.

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[tarafied1]

I like those. I had a Grand Cherokee with that engine. Put over 300K miles on it with no mechanical problems


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[RapidRabbit]

I still need to cut out the passenger side and get a patch welded on, but for now I applied a rust reformer and primer on the rest to protect the bare metal.

For a winter beater, I think it's good enough.

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[Horseplay]

Removing and chemically keeping the rust in check while preventing any future water penetration is the goal. Good job. Are you going to be making and welding in the patch(es)? I don't recall if you took the plunge and bought a welder and such. I hope you did. That kind of thing is a great place to start learning that stuff. It doesn't have to be pretty just effective.

 

[tarafied1]

big improvement

 

[RapidRabbit]

I don't have a welder yet. I had one picked out and in my cart before the whole Corona crap put me out of work. I'll pick one up once things get back to normal.

I figured this would be a good vehicle to learn welding on as it's not a high end build.

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[Horseplay]

Patrol Craigslist. You can find all sorts of welders there from time to time. Lots of guys buy a Harbor Freight unit to learn and then sell them off as they upgrade. Same for entry level Lincolns and such. Most of the stuff you will be doing either won't show or you'll grind smooth anyway so you don't need anything amazing to start. Same goes for helmets and all kinds of accessory stuff. Be smart. Be cheap!

 

[janschutz]

Looks tons better!

 

[RapidRabbit]

Started looking at cutting out the passenger side of the rear floor. I pulled up the carpet that's glued to the inner wheel well. Found a lot more cancer. Ugh

Also picked a different steering wheel. I hate the one in there now.

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