mountaineerjeff

I Have been messing with these cherokees for a while now, and have found out that it is not very difficult to make a cherokee a very potent vehicle. Everyone know how devastating that they can be offroad, stock, and heavily modified. I dont care if youre wheeling a stock rusty $300 beater on bald tires, or a lifted rig on tons and tractor tires, either way they are hard to touch when compared to other vehicles.

Well I took it upon myself to prove that, that dominance from a tried a true system, reliable power, and cheap aftermarket can take advantage of other motorsports as well.

Enter RACEJEEP.

mountaineerjeff

Now that we are WVDMV approved, we can move on with the back story.

Like many small towns my hometown is full of 'ricers'. Not in the original sense of the word, of imports, but in the better adapted usage of the Fast & Furious fanboy crowd. WE all know what Im talking about.

Well one evening while at a local hangout spot I finally got fed up with the trash talking. "oh my sextuplet turboed triple whipple super charged, ford gt500 motor swapped, civic hatchback is totally the fastest thing ever!" The problem for me is, its coming from people how have know idea what a quick car truly is, and have 90 rice boxes that will get beaten in the 1/4 by mini vans. Normally I just let it slide, but for whatever reason, on this fateful night, I decided to open my big mouth.

"Listen, I bet my 15 yr old box with a tractor motor is faster than your 'RaceCar'...."


Well the biggest problem is the fact that it was....because due to the nature of the type of people Im dealing with, points can never be proven logically with facts. So the build progresses to keep up with the reputation, and now I bring it here for all to witness.

mountaineerjeff

Now this build is only for the open minded, and the true at heart Jeepers, and Rice haters abound.

Lets start with the day I bought her.

I looked long and hard to find the perfect candidate and eventually had to make the day long trek into mid ohio to find the beast.

mountaineerjeff

After finally finding the jeep, "rough" would be a nice way to describe it.

Rusty roof, cracked windshield, worn hinges, and a malnourished interior. Many would be discouraged, In fact all three of my friends that tagged along said I should pass, But they arent Jeepers.

I looked pass the cover. It met the basic requirements I was looking for.
1999, 2 door, auto, 2wd.

then to help sweeten the deal, Its a BARE BONES SE.
NO ABS
NO Roof Rack
NO Trim Panels
Power NOTHING

AND Bonus Round, only 120k miles, none abusive owner, With the 8.25 rear end. Oh and CHEAP.

Paid in cash Loaded it up, pulled the driveshaft and headed for home.

XJwonders

Nice. Sound like a fun project. Gonna be following this

mountaineerjeff

Like most that are forced to follow, not out of interest, or support, but simply because they cant keep up...

First things first, lets knock out the old cracked windshield...NOT nearly as easy as it sounds. Took WAY longer than expected and made a mess of everything.

XJwonders

How did u cut the glass out?

mountaineerjeff

Well I started with various techniques, I even have the proper tools, but I eventually got tired of it, and just straight macho man kicked it out. Aint nobody got time fo dat.

got to get it all cleaned up, and the roofline repaired for the new windshield.

mountaineerjeff

Next day, and $150 later I got my self a brand new windshield.

mountaineerjeff

now these are just temporary fixes to last until it gets to paint.

Heres the 'finished' roof, all the surface rust ground out then repainted.

mountaineerjeff

the striping isnt nearly as bad in person, but the hood has my CRUDE hole for the velocity stack, Along with the shrapnel from the windshield removal, caused the hood to get painted to match the roof.

fappinxj

Hmmm interested how this will turn out!

mountaineerjeff

Ill give you a hint, AWESOME


Threw the skinny tires on the front for mad street cred, and got a plate shot to make it OFFICIAL

96blackxj

haha nice jeeps are not slow haha i raced a audi 1.8t dude cut me off and he floored it so jumped on it right behind him and ran him down lol..

put nitrous on that thing weld the diff and get some slicks

mountaineerjeff

whoa, whoa, whoa. dont jump ahead in the story...this is a progression.


so with the very little bit of work that was done while waiting on the windshield, in place, I took it to the scales to get a baseline reading for the build.

Now remember this is not completely stock. so far we have
skinnies
tow hitch removed
intake/hood mod
no back seat