A 2-door XJ for 1.7s.

[rampage]

I thought I was done with scalers after my unfinishd H3 build like..jeeze..10 years ago? Well, some guys I fly with pulled me back in. Get a crawler, they said! It'll be fun, they said!

They were right, of course!

I still have the H3 but I was never really happy with not being able to find wheels and tires I liked for it. So I wanted to try something new. So, searching around for bodies, I found this 2-door XJ.

Sure, it's not 100% accurate proportion-wise. But it's close enough!

Since I needed a 275mm wheelbase chassis I went with a Gelande II. And after a bunch of orders from a bunch of places and waiting patiently for parts to come in, I got started.

And these are the results so far.

I used a Boom Racing D90 rear suspension up front to give that scale XJ coil spring/strut arrangement. Leaf springs in the back. Since I'm going for that stock look I used 60mm shocks front and rear since at 1/9th scale that's about as close to the stock strut size I could get. I've got 'scale' shocks on the way, those on there now are temporary for mock-up purposes. Also need much softer springs for the front end.

Also got a set of 1.7" 10-oval stamped steelies on the way. At 1/9th scale those are +-15", and I'll be using 1.7" semi tires, which are equal to +-29" tires.

So far so good! I'm actually surprised how little work it's taken to get things that were never meant to fit together to fit together. The only problem I've run into so far is that with the lower 'stock' ride height the front driveshafts don't clear the transmission at full up-travel, but I'll fight that fight when I get to it.

 

[rampage]

She's a runner.

Titan 21t 550 out of a 1st gen EMaxx should provide plenty of torque. XL-5 ESC and a HS-985mg

Half-way decent articulation even with the small 60mm shocks. I also replaced the front coil springs with much softer springs. I think they're old Tamiya springs from their friction shocks, but I'm not 100% sure. They were in one of my parts bins.

And a test-fit of the flares. The body came with wide flares but Club 5 Racing offers a set of OEM XJ flares that fit pretty good. I'll have to figure out how I want to mount them and I'll have to fill the holes for the flares the body came with.

Anyone have any suggestions on what kind of filler to use on this plastic?

Anyway, coming along good. Can't wait to get the wheels and tires.

 

[Desmo]

Nice build. MEK might be the best filler for the holes in the fender.

 

[Stretch911]

Great starts, I am excited to see the progress. I am working on a Comanche ("Jeep Cherokee Pickup") so we have the same exact cab section.

 

[rampage]

Some updates.

Front bumper, inner fenders and roof rack.

Wheels and tires, though I don't think these are going to stay. The positive offset has the spacing way off and RC4WD doesn't make a hex adapter set for these wheels. Even if they did I'd have to push them out so far that there wouldn't be any threads left on the axle shaft. Looking at other options, even though I really like these wheels. Also the semi tires don't fit the normal 1.7s. The inner diameter of the semi wheels is fractionally larger and doesn't fit the beadlock ring. But that wheel/tire size is pretty close to the scale look I'm going for. I might have to pull the trigger on the CCHand XJ wheels. They'er 1.9s but they're actually moer like 1.8s and I can live with that.

Getting there slowly but surely.

 

[SteveReject]

I'm a huge fan of the XJ platform, so I look forward to seeing your build progress!!

 

[rampage]

Finally got the wheels in. Tires got lost in the mail so I'm waiting for another set directly from RC4WD.

They look so damn good. These wheels have a slight positive offset but it's not much. They also don't have a lot of axle shaft to play with as far as using thicker hexes so I'm counting on the tires being a few mm wider than the wheels, which they should be.

I should be laying down primer in the next day or so. The body's just sitting on the chassis, not properly mounted since I took the mounts off to prep it for paint.

 

[JatoTheRipper]

I like those new wheels much better on this truck.

 

[rampage]

Tires are on and body's primered. Going to give the body +-24 hours to let the primer set then going to mask off the windows and paint the inside of the body black. Then I can start laying down the red.

Coming along nicely I think.

 

[LJ802]

dude this is sick! i had 1:1 2 door, was just a beater but i love it. where did you find this 2 door hardbodied beast at? can't wait to see some more progress in this build, doin awesome so far!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[rampage]

You can find the body on eBay. There's 3 different versions of it that all share a 'cab' section. There's the standard 4-door for 313mm wheelbase, the 2-door for 275mm wheelbase and a Comanche (and a Comanche truggy) for those who prefer the truck life.

2-door

4-door

Another version of the 4-door

Comanche

Comanche truggy

And there's actually quite a lot of 3D printed parts support for all of them. There's a guy who makes the flares, bumpers and hatch to turn the 2-door and 4-door into a 2000+ model, for example.

Really pretty cool.

The only thing that kinda sucks is that they share a cab, which is cool for the 4-door and Comanche since they shared doors, but the 2-door had longer doors to fit the same wheelbase. Being a shorter wheelbase than the other two, the 2-door's dimensions are off a little bit, but it still looks legit and 99% of people won't notice.

 

[rampage]

Moving right along.

This used a lot of paint. Pretty much the entire can. I've got s'more on the way for the rest of the body's components. Interior is painted black, rocker panels will be painted matte black as well. The body will be coated in a gloss clear and the rocker panels and bumpers in a matte clear.

 

[rampage]

Paint's on and the 3-stage followed. Still have to spray the matte black when it gets here but I really like the way it came out. You can see your reflection in it. That's all I can ask for.

I had the hardest time wetsanding it. I did like 6 coats of red and 4 coats of clear. Every guide said to start with 1,000, then 2,000 for the color and then 1k, 2k, 3k for the clear but the moment anything under 3,000 even thought about touching the paint it was back down to white plastic and I was starting over again. Very frustrating. But in the end I really like the results.It may not be factory-fresh but it looks good for a 30 year-old Jeep.

Also I couldn't help but mock it up on the chassis, which is eagerly awaiting the body's completion.

Matte black paint should be here next week some time for the rocker panels, bumpers, grille and fender flares. Also have rubber XJ mirrors coming.

Coming along!

 

[JatoTheRipper]

Looking good.

 

[rampage]

Thanks! Got quite a bit more done tonight.

Interior's in. It's a lexan interior. I shot it with a couple coats of matte clear to try to take some of the shine off of it. It did a pretty good job I think.

Windows still have to go in, have to do the lights and lenses, have to finalize the front and rear ride height and I'm still waiting on a set of soft Tamiya springs for the front to see if those work out better than what's on there now. Fender flares will probably go on tomorrow and I'll play around with hexes to get the width I want once those are on. Also a buddy's painting the driver figure for me and that's not done yet.

The wheels absolutely make it. I wanted to go with 1.7s since in 1/9th scale that's a proper 15" wheel, but these are 1.9s and they're sick. I couldn't pass them up. Legit OEM XJ wheels..

More to come in the coming days, hopefully.

 

[OCMike]

Looking good brother now let's get it out and put some scratches on it.

 

[rampage]

And she's done. Well, as 'done' as these projects ever get.

She has the full suit of LEDs too. Headlights, running lights, front and rear blinkers, tail lights, brake lights and reverse lights. Only problem is the ESC I'm using doesn't have a dedicated brake. Brake is applied as soon as you let off throttle. 'Crawler ESC', they call it. Ah well.

Also waiting on the driver figure still but I can wait. I know my buddy's doing an awesome job on it.

Lastly, I had used some really nice vinyl decals. That turned out to be kind of crap and flaked off after 24 hours. So I'm going to get ahold of Callie and see about a set of decals for it.

Otherwise, I think that's about it.

 

[rampage]

New shoes.

KillerBody 3.35" tires on 1.9s.

They're designed for the Boom Racing 1.68" wheels.

1.02" X 3.35"

Liking these so far! They're not as soft as the Patagonias but they're significantly stiffer and don't just straight-up deform under the weight of the truck.

 

[rampage]

Out on the 'trail' today.

Disclaimer: 'Trail' in this case is the dirt road behind the pit area of our flying field. It's good ole' lake bed clay that, when it gets wet, does all kinds of fun things, and people tend to go through it on dirtbikes or 4x4s and make a wonderful mess of it, so when it dries it makes for some really neat formations.

I only dragged the bumpers half a dozen times. Honest.

I'm over the moon with this thing. I couldn't be happier.

 

[JatoTheRipper]

That looks excellent out on the trails!

Very nice job. "thumbsup"