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Hey guys, hope all is well. I decided to make a post to share ongoing repairs for the little jeep. It has been a long journey and thought to share some. The project started when my original XJ was stolen a year ago.
It was spotted by the police up in Waco about an hours drive away. The police went after the guy and he took off in the jeep for a pursuit. While the chase was going he went threw a intersection with a red light and
the Cherokee was T boned. I received a call it was found and all i was told is that it was in poor condition not drivable and to pick it up. I had it towed to my job and when looking out the window saw it on the flatbed.
I jumped for joy because the side i saw it on was untouched but when it pulled into the shop it was to far gone. Their are a few things i couldn't fix and this type of hit was to much. I will try to gather and post pictures to
show for, one from before and ones after impact. Sherman my daily driver before the impact towed into work 10 outta 10 recommend engine Damage MY FEET HURT! lil jeep got rocked so hard the drive shaft popped off
When all this happened i was going threw a very rough patch in life. My dad who taught me all i knew about cars and how to fix them, was a pillar in my life and had just passed suddenly of cancer. My job was super demanding at the time and incredibly stressful and taxing on my mind and body.The relationship i was in was in shambles, paying all the bills, when i made it home from twelve hour work days it was cold pans, no love, and no support. My batteries where completely depleted at this point and i cannot put into words the pit this left me in. I do know the only reason i made it threw was from my coworkers who supported me. When i first found the blue xj it was a total loss but very fixable and so i bought it from the original owner and with my dads help worked to fix. So many memories had been made with the xj and i was further destroyed. i had liability on the jeep and couldn't make a claim to total it out so i was stuck. i love jeeps and just to pass time i decided to look in the area for ones for sale. i was astonished to find a cherokee that was exactly what i needed. It was very badly neglected. The engine was seized up and covered in leaking oil, transmission was shot and has rust underneath and in the quarters from colorado roads but so much potential and i thought of my dad. Always of my dad and how hard he worked in his trade as a bodyman. He was thorough, organized and didn't skip steps. His nickname was diesel for how hard working and tough he was. I knew his body was gone, the physical but from lessons and patience he showed me i still leaned on him for guidance. It was a parallel situation to the cherokee, the body was gone but a solid engine, transmission and all these parts and features of a limited edition xj. I decided i wanted to take the heart and soul of my jeep and put it to this one i found neglected and without. I would work to do what dads last words where to me and be strong son.
some new items the car jacker had diabetes?? Funny fact, i always left my airbag module unplugged so when the jeep was hit the guys head got rocked my feet hurt New Jeepie side by side action The uni-side was buckled from the roof to the floor, bombed out and depleted like afghanistan was able to drag the jeep off death row worked to position for disassembly
Before i moved forward with anything i went to start the engine to be sure it still ran smooth. I looked over the engine bay and cranked up the 4.0, she was purring and talking smooth.
It was like she woke from a coma and i had to let her know some major surgery was going to be needed to get her back up to snuff. Staging the jeep for the lift wasn't to bad, all i needed
to do was get it into position with the car jack to the pumpkin and move it around. Lots of pushing and shoving to get it set up. Once lifted made sure it was safe by rocking it a little on the
lift arms to be sure it was secure. This was my first time to remove a engine or transmission from a vehicle.
Looking over the engine Here we go line up with lift bombed out and depleted like afghanistan Front in position i was super excited but wanted to be sure and do this right Found some safe places to lift up on once i was in the air i lifted up on the ends and rocked the jeep some to be sure it was safely in place the rear dana 35axle was kicked back pretty bad Front dana 30 was good I wanted to take the time and work as smoothly as i could, so lowered with the wheels off to make the engine removal easy as i could
Once i shifted gears over to the new Jeepie i began to write down a list to gather my thoughts and remain as focused and productive as i could.
Its just the more i looked over this jeep, the list quickly turned into several pages. It became very daunting right away because of all the rust
Overview
from colorado roads. The jeep was neglected for a long time and just sat once it made it to Texas.
Some more photos for the engine out of the new jeep. i kept my list close by and kept adding to it for all the problems that stood out and wanting to address.
lots of rust over the whole jeep caught my attention, i couldn't stand to just install the running engine and transmission into the this jeep and knew i would need
to work on cleaning up the engine bay now while i had the space and working room to do so. Removed the engine and looked it over dusty and crusty All this rust had me think to clean up the engine bay
and gathering thoughts on how to push forward.
I took some time to think for how i should disassemble what i needed and to keep things organized. I Realized most everything i wanted to keep from the axles to the harnesses
to swap over. Once i took a step back from my original jeep i realized it was just the uni body left and everything was off and put away to work on as i made progress, a part at a
time swapping into the new cherokee. I found out nobody at the junkyards wanted a vehicle for metal with no parts to sell off of it but i had to get it off the lot. i decided to have a
final moment and put her down for the metal bin. This was just as it sounds an emotional moment that was conflicting, it was the last goodbye and when i really had to let go.
Moving forward i knew i had to step back and pace myself. i take a look at the sprawling list of repairs needed. cleaning up the engine and bay is something i knew i wanted to do.
seeing all this potential and i hated to see wasted potential for what could be done. dad was forever on my mind. i used a de greaser over the bay and engine block first, powerwashed
and i wanted to be sure the materials lasted. a lot of rust removal and grinding down the metal , scuffed the bay, transmission tunnel and block down for prep and masked off best i could. Rusty and crusty Motor mount section RT Motor mount section LT Overview Prep and shoot scuffed sides of block taped off POR 15
forever in my mind
had a lot of thoughts floating around in my head about how to tighten up the overall appearance but the priority was drive ability with power, breaks and steering being up to snuff but having the engine out of the cherokee left a lot of opportunity. the engine bay was finished with black
and clear coat set in nice for a decided two tone look. i was steadily working every weekend and nights after work to keep pushing forward on the progress. i wanted to take the time and have things done right but not get so bogged down and overwhelmed from being in the thick of
repair work. With so many parts staged, i needed to reorganize because i had double of most everything so i installed all the sheet metal, odds and ends from the original cherokee. The new jeeps axle housing and brake components where crusty and dusty but with my previous
cherokee i had relatively new rotors calibers and pads so i swapped it over as an assembly. In the rear i kept the chrysler 8.25 over the dana 35 that my old one had. decided to powder coat the intake manifold and surrounding bolt on brackets for pulleys and compressor. found a
thermal wrap kit to prevent heat soak and put in some four hole injectors i found at the junkyard. replaced the exhaust manifold with a banks header because Ive read how often the originals crack and poor quality of other brands don't hold up. the original exhaust was california
standards with six O2 sensors so i swapped harnesses and knew i wanted to simplify. i went with some brown dog motor mounts, from what Ive read they are a solid choice and i love seeing that flag displayed. Its a great accent to the engine bay.
very tired manifold california standards had to go went from six down to two sensors excited for the first wash Lots of traction back in action charging up the ac running smooth powder coated manifold heat shield under injectors brown dog mounts overview rusty and crusty toughest part of the axle swap was busting that nut got creative with 2 x 4 to keep axle rotated upward easy cowboy
i had the jeep towed to a shop a few miles away to tighten up the exhaust from the header back. Ive been cruising around in my dirty diamond for now
shop a few miles away to tighten up the exhaust from the header back. Ive been cruising around in my dirty diamond for now
I received a call from the exhaust shop for the completed work, so i reached out to a buddy who dropped me off. Driving the jeep for the first time back was a rush and had me smiling from ear to ear. when i left the jeep with the exhaust shop i gave them new 02 sensors sensors to install but found the catalytic one needed install and re routed my crankshaft position sensor connector closer to the firewall away from header. i double checked mine and the shops work and with my scan tool cleared the pending codes so at this point the check engine light was staying off.
The jeep had been repaired at some D TOWN kinda shop and with the poor quality work i needed to replace both front and rear LT side doors. Unfortunately, obviously i did not have extra doors and so i went over to the junkyard to pick some up. For me i spend a lot of time to myself and the junkyards have always been a calming place. Big Texas sky. i remember reading as a kid about shinto religion and it stuck with me that an inanimate object can carry something with it so when im in the yards and find these xj's i always greet them and acknowledge them as a old spirit and thank them for what they give. i found a couple diamonds in the rough at the yard and got what we needed.
Once again i had to take a step back and a deep breath to pace myself because at this point i realized this project was taking on a life of its own. I decided i would go over the body to work the metal and repaint the jeep. i sat down with my list to organize my thoughts. I leaned on solitude and my patience a lot at this point for the work needed. I did not get a lot of photos in the thick of repairs at this point, i put a lot of energy to metal work and filler, blocking and feathering out the body for primer. This took some time for me but in the end before i primed the hood, RT side and gate the sky was giving off some trippy colors and maybe this is weird/lame but it had me feeling like dad was watching over me and proud of me for the time it takes to get to this point, that i took the right path when choosing to take on this job. The sky felt full of love.
It was a good checkpoint to see the RT side primered. Got some more work to do on the LT side now, when getting my junkyard doors i did not noticed that behind the key cylinder the fitment was torn up. i thought i could find another door or work with what i had. Decided to cut from the rusted door that orginally came with jeep and make it work.
12-17-2020, 12:25 PM
2000 Cherokee rebuild
