New from Newmarket, Ontario
 

Hi everyone. I'm new to this forum and am impressed with what I have seen. I purchased my third Jeep earlier this year. It's a 1995 XJ 2 door. It has over 300,000 km on it runs great but I need to replace the floor boards. I have restored several cars over the years and it looks like a pretty straight forward job. My previous Jeeps were a 1969 CJ back in the 70's and a 1990 XJ 4 door that I purchased new. I used to race off road cars in the 70's and am looking forward to doing some "mild" off-roading with my Jeep. Attached are a few pictures of my XJ and the utility trailer I just finished building for it.

Re: New from Newmarket, Ontario
 

Cool.Alot of people would say you have guts for buying something with over 300 ks on it.What's the secret.

Re: New from Newmarket, Ontario
 

The secret is the 4L goes well over 500 000km before it has issues. I bought my last XJ with 306 000km and wheeled the **** out of it for a year and it still ran perfect when i had to sell it.

Re: New from Newmarket, Ontario
 

That's a fair question but I really don't let the mileage of a vehicle bother me. First, it's the model I wanted - a 2 dr. with no options. The 1990 XJ I bought new had about 280,000 km on it and it ran great when I sold it. It was fully loaded and it was the "stupid" things that broke down on it. I've restored several cars with a lot less mileage on them that were in terrible condition when I got them (mostly 50's to 70's MG's). Like any restored car, they're basically like new when you're done. I expect to have some mechanical problems along the way with this one but I'm quite happy to rebuild things as I go. Right now it's a second vehicle for me and I have no intention of selling it so it's worth putting some money into.

Re: New from Newmarket, Ontario
 

Once you fix the normal rust stuff the only thing on the drivetrain I would suggest doing is swap out the Dana 35 rear and put in a 44 or C8.25 or maybe a ford 8.8.

Re: New from Newmarket, Ontario
 

Welcome glad you picked us. 95 XJ a very good jeep, cannot say anything bad about them had a used 89 for a few years until the fire, but except for changing the axles for 3.73 from 3.07 did only the normal changed starter, alternator (twice) was mounted in bad place got filled with clay and did a floor job with sheet metal from an old filing cabinet. Ran real well, solid machine, great for offroading too

Re: New from Newmarket, Ontario
 

Good mod for the XJ now that white brings it up is to relocate the Alternator to where the AC compressor is.

Re: New from Newmarket, Ontario
 

I have lots to do before I get in to axle swaps but it's good to plan ahead. I'm sort of familiar with the Dana 44 and the Ford 8.8 (... at least I know where to look!) but not with the C8.25. What are those found in? Has this been discussed in the "Tech Talk" section? ... I'll do a search.

Re: New from Newmarket, Ontario
 

I'm not sure what I will be doing yet re the axles but I'll probably want something that's good for road and mild off road use. I have already purchased the replacement floor boards and will be welding them in soon. They came in 4 peices and it's strange that I'll have to cut few inches off the rear end of the front ones, weld the cut off peices to the front of the rear floors then weld them in to place. I have a sheet metal brake and a beed roller and could have fabricated them myself but to be honest, this will be less work.