Officially Back!

So today I drove up to Connecticut with a friend of mine and bought myself this '99 XJ!

It needs some work before I think I have any chance at passing inspection. It needs new brakes, new tires, new rims, possibly fender flares, and I need to figure out how to hook up the E-Brake (It's got a Ford 8.8 in the rear w/disc brakes). Any suggestions about which DMV to go to / stay away from / bribe would be appreciated. Bumper height isn't even close to 22" Engine runs well though, and I don't think I have any exhaust leaks.

I'm (possibly unrealistically) hoping to have it registered and ready by the next DeJA run. Any advice is appreciated.

Thanks go out to Jerry for helping me do a remote inspection by phone while he was at work!

-Tom

thats cool bro.. i got a 89 xj laredo im parting out if you need anything.. flares ect...
Rob
nice jeep

Nice XJ

Thats awesome, can't wait to see you beat that thing up on the trail.

My suggestion for inspecting it, find someone in Pa, register it here and drive it to a friendly mechanic to get it passed ;D

Quote from whatevah

I highly doubt that it'll pass PA inspection, I looked over it earlier and there's no chance of that happening. 35x12.5" tires and no flares, bumper height... he should be ok for a DE inspection though, we'll just have to adjust a thingy or two

PA is all done by private mechanics. You find the right guy and everything passes. I've seen cars pass with no bumpers at all. ???

it all depends on what he is planing on doing with it.. is this a DD or a trail only street leagal rig

Quote from blueyedevil

it all depends on what he is planing on doing with it.. is this a DD or a trail only street leagal rig

Mainly a street-legal trail / camping rig.

Update
Last night I began replacing the oil, and the rotors/brakes with the help of my friend Dave & Jerry. Thanks to the not-so-knowledgeable people at Auto-Zone on rt40, I had the wrong rotors for the front. Wasted an extra hour or 2 because of that. Finished up this morning, thanks to some good advice from Andrew.

Still to do: The rear tires are rubbing the leaf springs very badly when I turn. It looks like the leaf springs are seperating / sliding sideways. Jerry suggested I need to hammer them back in line and get C-Clips on them to keep them tight. I think I'll probably also need wheel spacers as there are none, and the tires will still be very close to the springs. Anyone know where to get these C-Clips? I've not had any luck at pep-boys/AZ/Parts Plus.

I also need to see if I can get the windshield chips fixed up by a glass place like Safe-Lite. I'm going to try to pass inspection with the tires I have on there, because I have other work to do that's higher priority.

Can anyone confirm that the Del DMV does not make you test your e-brake?

I got my spring clamps at advanced auto they are just straight bolts that bolt 3/8 in plate steel together one on top one on bottom sandwiching the spring. pretty easy to make if you have access to a drill press and the spring

Quote from surfrider

they will not test the e-brake at dmv
nor will they test the reverse lights

for as long as i have had the need to go to dmv
and sitting waiting in line they have
never tested either of the two things

same here, except they looked at my reverse lights, but they didnt check my OBD II ???

Quote from Zeke

Mainly a street-legal trail / camping rig.

Update
Last night I began replacing the oil, and the rotors/brakes with the help of my friend Dave & Jerry. Thanks to the not-so-knowledgeable people at Auto-Zone on rt40, I had the wrong rotors for the front. Wasted an extra hour or 2 because of that. Finished up this morning, thanks to some good advice from Andrew.

Still to do: The rear tires are rubbing the leaf springs very badly when I turn. It looks like the leaf springs are seperating / sliding sideways. Jerry suggested I need to hammer them back in line and get C-Clips on them to keep them tight. I think I'll probably also need wheel spacers as there are none, and the tires will still be very close to the springs. Anyone know where to get these C-Clips? I've not had any luck at pep-boys/AZ/Parts Plus.

I also need to see if I can get the windshield chips fixed up by a glass place like Safe-Lite. I'm going to try to pass inspection with the tires I have on there, because I have other work to do that's higher priority.

Can anyone confirm that the Del DMV does not make you test your e-brake?

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tom... I had similar issues with my 90 xj with the rear springs hitting.. what rims do you have it now.. I have a set of rims with three good tires and one with a sidewall thing.. they have the correct backspacing as to not rub.. spacers or better rims will solve that.. the clips on the springs might solve it .. but will also reduce flex..
as for the brake thing.. i had the same problem with callipers i bought from brandywine auto up in chadds ford.. they ran alot of changes on what parts they were using on the grands and cherokees.. its hard for aftermarket suppliers to keep up with what is on your vehicle.. although with vin's it shouldnt be too hard.. best bet for future reference would be to go to a dealer to get parts.. sometimes thats expensive .. but sometimes like the power steering lines on my zj its cheaper than aftermarket.. anyway.. good luck getting it on the road..
Rob

Quote from blueyedevil

tom... I had similar issues with my 90 xj with the rear springs hitting.. what rims do you have it now.. I have a set of rims with three good tires and one with a sidewall thing.. they have the correct backspacing as to not rub.. spacers or better rims will solve that.. the clips on the springs might solve it .. but will also reduce flex..
as for the brake thing.. i had the same problem with callipers i bought from brandywine auto up in chadds ford.. they ran alot of changes on what parts they were using on the grands and cherokees.. its hard for aftermarket suppliers to keep up with what is on your vehicle.. although with vin's it shouldnt be too hard.. best bet for future reference would be to go to a dealer to get parts.. sometimes thats expensive .. but sometimes like the power steering lines on my zj its cheaper than aftermarket.. anyway.. good luck getting it on the road..
Rob

I picked up wheel spacers at Q-tec today and put them on this evening before I went and bought tires off of RaceShop. They fixed like 60-70% of the rubbing. I think the rest is the minispool in the rear axle, but it's definitely good enough to drive now. I'm getting a new windshield tomorrow from safelite, and throwing the new rubber on Wednesday. Going to give inspection a try Wednesday night.

Quote from Lookin2Mud

I think I saw that thing online before. Dunno if it was ebay or what. Was one kinda like on vwvortex.com and I think Pirate 4x4. I though took a hike and going to D.C to get mine. Looks good, just needs a fresh coat of mud...

The guy who had it posted on vwvortex.com is probably who I bought it off of. He had it for about a month and a half. The guy who probably had it in Pirate 4x4 was the 'real' previous owner who did all the lift work and brought it from Oregon to NJ.