I have contemplated how to start this topic so many different ways; none of them seemproper, so here goes it. Many of you probably already know that MystickfireXJ (Nick Beauchot) is currently serving overseas in Iraq, most of you dont know much more about him than that. Nick and I have been best friends for 13 years, since the 5th grade. He married his wife a year and a half ago and they bought a home in Ft. Wayne Indiana. His wife was closer to getting out of school then Nick so he started to work 2 jobs so she would not have to work while going to school. While working days/weekends at Sears in the Automotive Center, and 2nd shift at Wal-mart Distribution Center he still found time to help whoever needed it.

When I say helping whoever I really mean that. He would drop everything to help people. He was constantly helping my parents, saving all of their vehicles from the junk yard. There was at least 2 times that I can think of off the top of my head where they would drive a car to work and something would break and Nick would have it fixed before they got off work so that they wouldnt have to deal with it. He also helped his neighbor that he doesnt even really know. She was a single mother with two kids, one being a 13-15 year old boy who came over right after they moved in to tell us as we were working on the Jeep that he could help us get food stamps if they ever needed them. Haha . I think that they just knew that he knows his way around a car from the constant influx of different vehicles in his driveway. On a side note I think that her Monte Carlo was the first Chevy to be fixed in his garage, haha. He is the type of person that will help ANYONE in any way that he can.

His dream has always been to become a mechanic and open his own garage. This dream had started to come true just a few months ago. He was reading the books and taking the tests to become ASE certified. He had just picked up a few certifications and was on his way. A few weeks later he called me ecstatic because a friend of his had opened a garage and had offered him a job as a fulltime mechanic, no more Wal-mart! As soon as that candle was lit it was burned out though. No more than a week after he was offered the only job he ever wanted, he got notification that he was getting called up to go overseas to serve our country. He, instead of taking the job and forcing the garage to hold that position for him until he came back from Iraq (they would be legally obligated to do so), declined the position at the garage so that way it could be filled by someone that would be able to work for the next year. It was very sad to watch him finally get what he had wanted for so long, and then forced to give it up, and move away from his family and friends for a year.

One of the other sad parts of the next 2 months was waiting for him to go. In speaking with him he would tell me all the things that he had planned for this year both with his wife and family, his house, and his cars. He missed his only sisters wedding (she is also a member on here), oddly enough she missed his because she was in Iraq too. One of the main things that he was going to rebuild him and his sisters 5.0 Mustang, and fix the major problems with his XJ to make it more road-worthy. Right before he left and I mean within days, he ripped the whole engine out of the XJ apart and replaced the camshaft so that his sister could enjoy the XJ, and use it to get to work/ school in the snow, haul wood, and their boat while he was in Iraq. I found this amazing because it wouldnt affect him one bit if the XJ didnt run the whole time that he was gone, but he knew if he could get it running it would make things a lot easier for her during this winter. So he literally spent his last days here in Indiana, out in the garage to make sure that the XJ was running right.

In this short time between when he found out that he was leaving, and when he actually left, myself and some of the other members of this site thought that it would be neat, and special, if we could take his XJ and rebuild it for him as a thank you for his kindness to everyone else; giving a man a break that could really use it.

So while helping him with the camshaft those last few days, I picked at his brain a little to find out what all he had in store for the XJ that he wouldnt have the chance to do. This is a rough list and is by no means set in stone. I would like to make this a GLXJ community build. Whatever you guys would like to do we can do. This is the list I have so far.

Things the XJ NEEDS:
1. New Steering (I was thinking Cross over steering setup)  Purchased
2. Adj. Trac Bar.    Purchased
3. Exhaust Manifold

Things that Nick had on his I want list:
4. 4.5 of lift (currently has a RC 3.5 lift)  Installed
5. Bumpers
6. Hood Vents (currently has a hood spacer)  Installed
7. Headlight upgrade (he just put some ebay specials on and from what I understand, they should have never been purchased, lol)   Installed
8. Trim fenders  Done, but rears not painted
9. Bumpstop  Drilled holes but haven't added yet
10. Removable Doors (had them off for a month last summer, never made them removable though)
11. Run wires for the off roading lights on the rack (already has the lights just has to run wire)
12. Cut and fold rear quarter panels because of rust.
13. Rhino line the lower portion of the XJ all around.
14. If there is left over money, black rims of some sort.
15. Something with the turn signals is not right, they did work, but now do not.

I would like to say that this build was funded by the kindness of peoples donations. I have some ideas on how to get some money to help. If anyone has any connections to where we can get some of these parts or money for these parts that would be great. Also, I dont know if people want to have a big community build day where everyone comes together, and we try to tackle as much as we can together, or if people just wanted to send parts to help. It doesnt matter to me. I am up for suggestions or any type of help that you can offer.

For those of you who dont know what we are working with, here are some of the pictures of the jeep as it sits. His is the one in front, mine is in the back.



These are the specs for the XJ:
3.5 Rough country AAL lift
Rock Rails
180 thermostat
Aftermarket tach.
4.0 L with the 5 speed manual tranny
Rear hitch
CB
1" hood spacer
31 x 10.5 ReTread Mud terrains
Stock Mustang rims powder coated

Im sure that there are others but that is what I can remember.

Thanks for all the help.
Andy


Edited it so it was easier to read. - Adam

-- Edited by LEAD_NOT_FOLLOW at 14:04, 2008-04-08

-- Edited by aci4369 at 02:27, 2008-10-31