Of Jeeps, cutting, and...

If you don't strive to make any car or bike look stock while being modified, it's a travesty. Well, that may be an overstatement for most without OCD. That wish/want/clinically defined disorder can lead you to do things that make no sense.

The start


If you have a rock crawler Jeep XJ the common mod is the  2x6 rocker to keep the factory rockers from being bashed in while climbing large rocks. If you have a pre-bashed Jeep you do it to get it to look somewhat normal or at least that's my thought process.





Just a little damage


And after judicious application on a cut-off wheel



First mock-up of the overkill rocker replacements



Better but not close so let's break out the spot weld cutter


And after a little massaging we get......





Certainly moving in the right direction?

Fin.

Despite 80* temps yesterday, both days were spent putting the finishing touches on the Road King eternal project. The last piece of the puzzle showed up Wednesday, the fender tie bar, apparently one-off to the CVO Road King fender.

Yesterday it was mounted up and the rear end is complete.





Also what is not seen is the new 2" Fulsac baffles that were installed in the CVO cans. Install was easy and effortless but my original fiberglass mat was shot so I picked up new FMF mat from the local Cycle Gear for $20.

I say complete, it's as complete as it needs to be to ride, I'm still on the search for a chrome turn signal bar to complete the transformation.





And that fat 170/17 rear tire, so much better than a stock 130/15




Other than a few parts and pieces I think this may be the end of the Road King project. Now to finish the Jeep so I can get back to the Malibu extreme long term project.

More Jeep, even taller

After lifting it with new 2" springs and the added lift I received free with what I thought would be only 2" in the rear I was off to Amazon for 2" spacers for the front to even it out a bit, even with 300lbs of deer corn in the hatch it was still ass high.

Before
 

After
 


Also seen in the after is the dentless replacement door picked up at Pik N Pul along with a replacement header panel. 



Of course once you have spray painted a car you get other ideas




But on to more important things, with a new Dirtbound OffRoad front bumper on the way I need to fix the front frame rails from the prior accident. The passenger side just needed a little tweak to the mount, the driver's side though....ouch.




And after some cutting and massaging



After some metal replacement and welding it'll be good as new and ready for a much stronger bumper.

Other things that keep me awake at night

Are the other projects I place upon myself. After last year's awesome ride to Pennsylvania in September I tore the bike apart one "last" time to finish the 170 rear tire project. This started when I needed a new back tire and found the 17x4.5/170 combo on ebay for cheap.  



Back on the jack again....

.

Last time for this fender



And the new



And it looks like it dropped right in



Which was far from the truth. The fender spacer/mounts all needed trimmed 1/2' then lots of blue tape and cursing later I shoehorned it into the frame, it's tight!






With that on the side supports dropped right on, whew, don't need the bike specific pricey ones. Buuuuuttt, the frame covers weren't even close so more cutting. You can just make out the black line marking the initial trimming.



Better seen after trimming with a cut off wheel




Both sides installed



Plus I installed the sexy updated rear Brembo brakes with a custom spacer



After that I decided I wanted a chrome rear turn signal....without the high cost of a new one. Not happening, looks like mine is a CVO style that I had powdercoated earlier which works for this fender and I already own it so it's going on for now after a quick swap to Deutsch connectors to match the new harness. On to the last piece of the puzzle, the fender support, yep the current one won't work, not even close. 

Defeat on the last piece

Screw it, off to Ronnie's Harley online to order the right one, I'm ready to be riding again, $100 and it's on the way. With that final piece and a bleeding of the new brakes I'm sure the warm Texas weather we have been having will disappear for a month or two but I'm riding anyway.

Of course I could order some Fulsac baffles while it's apart.......and those rear shocks have 60K on them.....

The torments off A.D.D. or how I purchased another project(or two)

I now interrupt the abnormally scheduled revisiting of my languishing project Malibu to introduce the latest acquisitions, two Jeep Cherokee's. Bought as a package deal from a friend's sister with the idea of selling one then keeping one for a hunting lease vehicle, I begin yet another journey into learning everything I can about another vehicle brand, style, and have purchased the first 4x4 vehicle in my entire existence.

The ugly as seen on site before purchase




Very few pics of the "Wagoneer" as it was already slated to be sold in my mind.

Oh no, this sweetheart captured my eye as the best idea for a project.



That was the "good" side





Yep, this would be my blank canvas to start with......anyone could start with a clean car, real men take the challenge. Surprisingly it was clean inside.




The deal was struck and they both made their way to my house, one to sell, the other to fix, and by fix I mean awaken from a 5 year slumber. A quick clean up and degreasing then....




Yet the one quarter was too far gone to save so both were treated to a cut and fold







As seen in the last picture the tank was dropped after replacing the old battery, then the starter, then to find out the fuel pump had also given up the ghost. Thankfully Autozone had all the replacement parts in stock, yet the last piece of the puzzle was two injectors that had also died while sitting. Then it fired right up and purred almost like a kitten. 

Well hell, it runs, let's start to modify. Order up a modest 2" lift that can use stock shocks plus a new track bar bushing that will get rid of the clunk from the worn out one currently in use. 

Then we get this 



Which looks level but is 2" lower in the front because the rear ended up with 3.5" of lift with a full length add a lift leaf. Insert smiley banging head. Well, let's move past that and look at the fender and door that look like Walmart was giving away free 55g drums of Bondo.







Trust me when I say the amount of Bondo applied far exceeded any that would be needed for any sane car let alone this dented up mess. Some of the Bondo had water behind it, all of it was applied over the original gloss paint, and I'm pretty sure there might have been wall spackle used.  After removal, sanding, and a quick dusting with flat black I was left with this.

 

Sooooo much better, not sure what they though they were doing, the front fender was almost an inch thinner and certainly weighed less. Another unfortunate happenstance was the tires were shot while being wholly inadequate for muddy terrain so off to Craigslist to pick up a set of these.



Set of 5 with four tires, 30x10.5x15 BFG All terrain's



Almost looks good.