I am thinking about buying this XJ, but have questions

[Lonesome7.3]

I have always wanted an older XJ but never found one when the time was right. A friend of mine has this one sitting on his property and wants it gone. Here is the story:
He drove it home and it ran great. However, it kept shutting off on him. He stated he replaced one “brain” but thought the other one might be bad as well. He also removed the entire under hood wiring harness thinking there might be some bad wires. It turns out they are all fine. It also comes with another complete harness in really good shape. Now it has been sitting like you see it for a while. I know the interior will have to be gutted but the photographs make it look worse than it is. I can take everything apart, clean it, and reuse 95% of it. It has a CAD front axle but he has another one that is not. The body is in good shape and I cannot find any rust underneath it. The trim piece over the passenger side fender opening is the only bad spot I can find. I just want to get this thing running and keep it in its stock form for now. What am I looking at over all? The VIN information below is all I can find about it. He wants $600 and it comes with a clear Alabama title.
VIN : IJ4FJ58L3KL634157
This vehicle's data:
Manufacturer
Jeep Corporation
Powertrain
3-speed automatic, column gear shift, Select-Trac/ 4 W/D
Assembly Plant
Toledo South Plant, Ohio, USA
Engine
4.0L
Model Year
1989

 

[daddy]

What are your plans for it?

If you are going to gut it and make it a trail rig, I say offer him $500 and take a shot at it.

If you plan to use it for any real purposes, I'd say avoid it like the plague and go spend 3-5K on one you know runs that won't require every single thing to be cleaned and or replaced.

 

[Zembonez]

Worth 200-300 bucks are a pure project if you ask me. You have a nightmare under the hood.

 

[Lonesome7.3]

I wanted to clean it up and make it a daily driver.

$200 to $300 is what I was thinking as well. But he will not budge from $600.

What does Select-Trac/ 4 W/D mean?

 

[Zembonez]

I'd pass. It's simply not worth more than a couple hundred bucks as a non working 20 plus year old Jeep.

[YT]JJza9fGbCAc[/YT]

 

[daddy]

Just the work getting it out of there isn't worth it.

 

[Lonesome7.3]

Thanks for the video. I did not know Jeeps had stuff like that back then.

So if he wil not take $200 I should leave it alone? That is kind of what i was thinking as well.

 

[Old77]

Definitely don't give more than $300 for that and if you're thinking of turning it into a DD you have got your work cut out for you for sure.

 

[Darkanion]

Definitely don't give more than $300 for that and if you're thinking of turning it into a DD you have got your work cut out for you for sure.

His work and probably a lot of money...

 

[Lonesome7.3]

Oh yeah, there is a ton of work. However, I think that most of it, is just labor. I do not see anything more than the normal costs you would have with any vehicle that has sat for a long time.