I wanna speed.... xj Build

[Dirtycracker]

*** Hey whats up guys. I started a build thread over on naxja a couple weeks ago and I recently started sifting through the pages over here and thought I might start a thread here. Basically with this build I want to be able to drive across country and down into mexico chasing surf. I am going to build this thing to be reliable and go fast. 37 hours from florida to california and I wanna do it in 30 hours. I am already planning out my trip course for next summer. Going to plan for July/June/August waiting for the perfect swell to chase from california to the tip of baja pennisula.


So I had a jeep cherokee probably 3 years ago and had all the bells + whistles. It was fun but I ended up selling. So 3 years later I've found my self back in love with the cherokee.

Found a jeep cherokee on craigslist for $3,500.00. But it had been on there for a while. I hit up the owner and offered him 2,000 just to see if he would return. He told me to bring him cash that day.




Stats for this jeep as of now are.

1996 Jeep cherokee
4.0L AW4 NP231 4x4
200,000 miles on the engine.
Some sweet head lights ha!
Rough Country 6.5 inch suspension.
Adjustable control arms
RockKrawler High Clearance Steering
15inch rims pretty nice and shiny
35inch goodyear MTR
Tires are like new and suspension is suppose to have less then 2,000 miles

the bads: The interior smells like a garage shop
Previous owner drove it around in some mud holes so its pretty caked in mud
Front fender is bent in-getting fiberglass
front clip is cracked
hood and roof are pretty toasted

What I want to do:
I would like to make a true pre-runner. My ultimate dream has always been to head out to mexico and drive around for a month chasing the swell surfing hard to get to spots.

My plan for the truck in the next couple weeks:
Go through the entire thing checking all the oils and grease everything.
Clean the sand and mud out of every little crack.
Pull the interior carpet and rhino line
Find some nice leather seats at the junk yard to swap in.
Pull the bumpers and stock fender flares.

What do you guys think I should do with the engine? 200,000 miles? Im thinking replace the head gasket and go through everything I can.

Front axle is HP dana 30. Would it be worth it to pull the driveshaft for daily driving? is there any resistance that could be released.

Plans for build:
Replace dana 35 with chrysler 8.8 with 4.56 spool
Truss the hell out of the 30
Front pre-runner bumper
Rear Bumper
Fiberglass
lower control arm drop brackets.
Probably run bilsteins 7100s
Unibody reinforcement everywhere I can.
Probably run 33 all terrains.
Big roof rack and lots of lights.
Exhaust

[Dirtycracker]

[Dirtycracker]

Found a picture of my old chopped/caged cherokee

[Dirtycracker]

Sold the 35s and started tearing this apart.



Started working on the rear fender well.






Man my control arm angles are insanely bad. I removed the 2inch spacer and got it back down to 6inchs and it still really bad. I think my front axle is titled back...

The deathwobble was really bad today.

With the money from the tires. I plan on drop brackets+HD trac bar bracket and traction bar. and any extra money left over will go towards frame stiffening!

[Dirtycracker]

Death Wobble killed my motor mount

[Dirtycracker]

Got motor mount fixed and decided to try to fix the death wobble. Replaced the TRE to pitman arm and fixed it magically.

but it was a bitch getting the TRE out of the pitman arm. It snapped off in there and i had to heat it up and freeze it to knock it out.




took the heep off road in a house development that never got built. the cleared all the land and layed all the dirt out for the pads. what is sweet is the the pads are all raised so can litteraly go for at least 2 miles just going from pad to pad up and down nice little section. Got it up to about 70 in the dirt and it wasnt doing bad. Need to upgrade shocks for sure.

[Dirtycracker]

Bolt on time.


ot out the pressure washer today and hit this thing from top to bottom. I hate working on a dirty rig. Got front and rear bumpers in the works and talking to hanneman about shipping some fenders.

[J20]

should be a cool build............buy why fuck with the short arms? why not go long?

[Dirtycracker]

I bought the truck already lifted on short arms.

Alot of people who run jeep speed have mixed feelings about most radius arm long arms. I don't know all the facts but supposably short arms are better in the fast stuff enless its a legit 4 link long arm i guess. Im new to all this go fast stuff.

Drop brackets should be fine

[WA-HCRC]

bolt on build?

[catatonic]

Originally Posted by Dirtycracker

Found a picture of my old chopped/caged cherokee

Where did you take that picture?

[Dirtycracker]

I didnt take that picture. Thats my old jeep I built and then sold. The owner of the jeep showed me that picture recently.

Bolt on build? I wouldn't say its a total bolt on build. Building bumpers and rear through floor cage soon.

[OlyWaXJ]

Originally Posted by Dirtycracker

I bought the truck already lifted on short arms.

Alot of people who run jeep speed have mixed feelings about most radius arm long arms. I don't know all the facts but supposably short arms are better in the fast stuff enless its a legit 4 link long arm i guess. Im new to all this go fast stuff.

Drop brackets should be fine

I think that LA's will give a better ride. But on the flipside with short it'd be easier to carry spares... something you want to have in mex, spares of everything you can carry/think of.

OlyWa

[Dirtycracker]

Ya thats one of the things I am working on figuring out. Ive gotta have alot of storage room. Room for spares of everything. Room for Camera gear, Surfboards and survival. Spare tires. And then some how keep it light enough to take woops