Dirt Road is happy to welcome a new-to-us 1997 XJ into our project line-up. Our only current project powered by the legendary AMC 4.0l straight 6 engine. Equipped with 4WD, this mostly stock XJ is already very capable on and offroad, and has been a ton of fun in the past few weeks since it joined us. Despite being well built from factory, our list of wanted upgrades continues to grow, so rest assured you'll get to follow along with us as we tear into it and build it back up. Overall, it's a very welcomed addition to our fleet, and we're excited to share its journey with you. Be sure to check out the XJ's Project Page for updates.

The new Jeep is not our only exciting news recently, and we are very happy to announce that Stubby's windshield wiper woes are over. After nearly a year and a half of trying to find a compatible wiper motor and transmission, we were unable to locate an aftermarket transmission that was a direct fit in our TJ. We ended up having to drill entirely new holes in one to mount the motor to it (after failing once before). But, after countless wiper motors, transmissions, and part store visits, Stubby has functional wipers. To sum up, our recomendation is that you closely inspect any wiper linkage you buy if you aren't willing to drill one out, or simply look for an OEM part. Stubby still needs a bit of maintenance, old systems caught up on and replaced, but the good news is that Stubby is finally up and driving around, and we're very excited. We haven't taken it out for pictures yet, but that will be coming very soon.

The news is not as fantastic for PJ, despite being mechanically sound, it needs a new battery and more importantly, new door seals and a de-molding. Cleanup work is proceeding, but unfortunately slowly. Luckily however, since Stubby needs a little less attention now, PJ is our current full time project and we can give it some well deserved attention.

That's all the news so far, though there is a little bit more on the way in the future. Thanks for following along with us, we look forward to giving you more updates, and hopefully soon some more variety of content.

Thanks for readin' -Dirt Road Magazine.

Enjoy some extra pictures of the XJ: