Zed_Delta

I wanted my first post to be one about my first Cherokee, Whistler. I rolled it after sliding on some black ice outside Farwell, TX, the weekend before Thanksgiving.

I bought Whistler knowing that it had a blown head gasket. The guy I bought it from didn't have the time or place to work on it, and wanted to get rid of it before he PCS'd. Ended up paying $300 for it.

Anyways, Here is what it looked like when I got it.


There aren't a lot of pics of the fix for the head gasket, but I'm sure you can all figure out what went into it.




Here is the still gross gasket face. D:


And it was alive again!


We ended up going offroading shortly there after.


My buddy ended up having to ride with me because his Suburban is 2wd and can't do much offroad.



Bought a 4.5" RC lift kit, and in hindsight I wish I'd gotten a long-arm, but w/e. I will be upgrading...



Had to go offroad to play with the new suspension.



Bought some new tires for it.


Trimmed and installed.


Offroading again.



After 7 short months, we reach the conclusion of the tale. Here are the pics from the final journey. D: It's too bad I didn't get any of it on it's side.




After I got it back, I had to drive it about 50 miles or so. Everything still works... just the body damage, although the pics don't do it justice, was more money to fix than it was worth.

Zed_Delta

After I wrecked my 95, I brought it home and stuck it in the garage, where it sits today. That was about a month ago. Anyways, I never thought I'd find another super awesome deal for another one, but I did.

I found my new project, this 97 that I have deemed Uruk-Hai. I am going to transfer everything from my 95 over to it.





The engine doesn't run. The previous owner said it had no compression, not that it matters to me since I was already planning to do an engine swap. It will become a side project to rebuild.

He also mentioned his kid kicking through the back drivers side door while drunk... cut his achilles tendon apparently, and wasn't punished. They also at some point decided to dyke random parts in the engine bay.

Zed_Delta

Decided that I needed to clean my garage so I could start working on the Jeeps.


Like a glove!


Went down to Harbor Freight and ended up buying a 1 ton engine hoist, 1/2 ton engine stand, 10-150 ft lb torque wrench, angle grinder, creeper, load leveler, and flash light for $220 this last weekend. Some assembly required.



Then after that was all taken care of, I started pulling stuff out of the engine bay on the 97. It is quite a bit different from the 95, so it's like relearning how to do things.

Pulled the intake box and tube out first, and everything looked good. Even the throttle body looked like it was brand new, clean as a whistle. Then I opened it up and saw the horror inside. (I'll add some pics of the intake manifold side later.)

Here is after the manifold was removed:



Pulled the exhaust manifold off and the story was about the same:


The other cylinder ports all look decent enough, obvious wear and tear from the 140k-ish miles the engine has. Obviously, #1 is the one with the issues. Here's hoping it is a valve.

Also, removed the radiator and battery tray, as well as disco'd the cruise control box and some other minor things. I got splashed in the face with anti-freeze and decided it was time to call it quits for the day. (it also got cold again)

EagleXJ

Sucks about your old XJ man! Glad to see you found another one and are back into it. Subscribed!

Flowpro

You have a knack for finding "slightly" used XJ's.

Good luck with the present build.

Zed_Delta

I unfortunately own a newer Camaro as well as this little hobby... and also some others... so having the ability to find cheap replacements is key.

I keep finding little things that bug me about this newer 97. Today I was looking at the gas tanks and discovered that my skid plate will likely not transfer right, and not sure I can do a swap for that... we'll see as I get to that point.

Over the last few days I've been able to get the 97 up into the garage. It's quite the climb, but I was able to pull it up with my friend's 92.



Started pulling more stuff today, including the hood, and A/C system. My friend is having some issues with his Honda which is a DD, so that sorta took up a portion of the day.



Also... discovered today, as I was draining the oil, that the engine probably has a blown head gasket. When I loosened the drain bolt there was a rush of straight anti-freeze. I have a video of the oil that came out after... but my phone isn't uploading very fast tonight. It was pretty gross.

Zed_Delta

Well, I had to postpone the engine pull for a bit due to some life stuff... but here it goes.

I didn't get pics of it all, but I can explain I suppose. I pulled all the A/C system out, as well as the front clip stuff. Figured it would be best since I couldn't seem to figure out how to get the big metal fan off the engine...




After we figured out where we wanted to put the load leveler, we moved the hoist in place and ran into another problem. The bumper. Had to remove that and then we got the hoist in place.


Removed the motor mounts completely due to them somehow getting in the way. Not sure why they were in the way... but w/e.


Then we discovered a bunch of random **** that we missed. Had to take care of that.



And then we are here! It slid out with barely any issues with transmission included. Turns out those ****ing torx bolts are a ***** to get off while it is in the engine bay. It just seemed easier to pull as one piece.

Zed_Delta

Forgot to post pics last weekend, but I got the goofy 2wd transmission off the engine, as well as the torque converter and flywheel. Then I mounted the engine to my engine stand.






I have some weird follow-up questions that I've been trying to find answers to. If anyone can help with some input, that'd be great.

First, the fuel system is going to be different between my 95 and 97 body's. I've discovered that the setup is completely different, and at first didn't like the fact that the 97 had no fuel return line. I ended up cutting the rubber portion of the fuel line to get the fuel rail out, and figured I'd just replace it with the 95 system. Now I'm curious if there is a performance difference between the two systems? Also... is there a computer change that I need the newer system for over the older one? I have been thinking that I'll just go buy a new rubber hose, they aren't expensive, but was still curious.

My second problem comes with the 2wd to 4x4 swap. I have read there is a difference in connectors between the older body style and the newer style. I haven't gone and looked at it yet, so I'm not really sure. I want to know if I need to worry about a change in the TCU or the PCM for the swap.

chilly

wow you have some serious sweat equity going in. sorry to see a rolled Cherokee!

Zed_Delta

Yea, what can I say? I sat in my 95 the other day to let the engine run up to temp and allow the oil to do its thing, and realized that I really miss driving a Jeep. My Camaro is fun... but not the same. D:

Zed_Delta

So been busy with life and stuff again. Had some free time to work on the Jeeps. Here are some pics.

We prepped the XJ I rolled in November for the engine pull. More of a hassle than I had imagined, but w/e.


Discovered that Discount Tire had over torqued the lug nuts and completely destroyed the threads on this hub. Pissed me off a whole bunch. They are replacing the lugs and nuts for free.




Finally got the engine pulled out on Saturday afternoon. It took a while due to the fact that we got hung up on the 4x4 linkage.


The install sucked since we left the xfer case on. My hoist is definitely not made with Jeep's (especially lifted ones) in mind. I think I might end up investing in a blue bird lift. We had to rock the engine back and forth, lift and lower inch by inch, and even had to support the xfer case with my floor jack to get it up under there.



Today I get to start hooking the 97 harness up. This should be exciting... considering that the engine is out of a 95. Hopefully there won't be too many problems.