Fixmy59bug

I just bought a bone stock 94 XJ Country in pretty good condition. It is sunfaded and peeling green over gold trim with black leather interior. There are 180k miles on her bones. It has a 4.0 with a blown headgasket (milkshake oil), but it came with another complete 4.0 to install. The replacement motor has 160k miles.

This is going to be a street legal trail rig. I dont plan on doing King of the Hammers, but when my friends go out to Moab, Logandale, or even the Rubicon I would like to accompany them.

First and foremost, I am thinking about rebuilding the good engine so I know it wont be a problem in waiting. I've never had a 4.0 before, so I dont know what they are capable of.

I am stuck between the standard 4.0 rebuild and the 4.6 stroker rebuild.

I am going to Raptor Line the body.

The sagging suspension will be replaced with a 3.5 - 4" lift (Thinking Rustys?) and JK Rubicon Wheels and 32" tires. With 410 gears, an e-locker in the front trussed and gussetted dana 30, and LSD (or TruTrac) in the rear ford 8.8 that should get me about anywhere I want to go, right? On the same line of thinking.... What is better? 3" leaf pack and 1" shackles or 4" leaf pack? And why?

I am also thinking about the unibody chassis stiffeners from Iron Rock Offroad.

There is one immediate issue I think needs to be taken care of. The upper hinge on the drivers front door appears to have been torn away from the body. Is this a common issue?

Would this be fixed with the A-Pillar reinforcements from Hooligan Offroad? Link to A Pillar Hinge reinforcement

Anything else I need to be aware of?

Fixmy59bug

SexyDexy

The two things that caught my attention:

I would stick with a 15" rim with stock 5x4.5 bolt pattern. 15" rims will perform much better offroad with the extra sidewall, and you won't have to mess around with adapter spacers. I guess I am saying 17" rims are a functional downgrade.

Also since you mentioned trails that you would like to go on, I would consider a selectable locker (like ARB) instead of a Limited Slip.

nickfancher1

andrewmp6

The driver side upper hinge is a common fail point.When jeep made these it was faster and cheaper to weld it on vs bolting like most others do.If you fully weld it back on it will take a long time before it will break off again if it does.Like said a stroker can be hit or miss and will shorten the engines life so keep that in mind.And like said skip the jk wheels,For the price of the wheels and adapters you can buy raceline steel beadlocks wither i rather have over any oem rim.

Fixmy59bug

I appreciate your input, but I am pretty stuck on the Rubicon wheels. I just like the way they look on the XJ body. And since I already had them on my JK I know what that tire size is capable of. Plus with the XJ being 700 - 1000 lbs lighter than the JKU, they should be more than capable.

Good info. I had no idea that the XJ's cooling system was subpar in stock form. So stroker is out.

Would a 99+ intake manifold, 4 hole injectors, and a free flowing intake & exhaust, and maybe a jet performance module be worthwhile safe investments for a little more power and torque? I've already got the intake manifold and a header (came with the spare motor)

Good call on the SYE. I have been reading about them and have a couple ideas. Option 1 is the Adams Driveshaft with SYE kit. But those are about $500. But they have a lifetime warranty... Option 2 is an SYE kit and an XJ front driveshaft. Any advice on option 2 is GREATLY appreciated.

Good to know (i guess) the upper hinge is a common fail point. I suppose thats why Hooligan came out with the reinforcement.

I think I'll pass on the raceline beadlocks. They are $250 each. Plus $175 per tire. Thats $2,100 plus shipping. I can get a set of Rubicon wheels and tires from a local craigslist for $500. Adapters are maybe $150.

Martlor13

Cheap to mid range ones may be. But with adapters it's best to not cheap out. Get good ones. Spidertrax is one brand. There is another but I can't think of them at the moment. All you need is to have a tire come flying off because of cheap adapters. I work at a tire shop and we have stopped installing adapters and spacers because of far too many incidents. You need to be careful with them.

andrewmp6

Any adapters under 200 will be a death trap,And im with martlor id never ever run a adapter i have seen when they fail its not pretty or cheap to fix.The reason you want beadlocks is you can air down to 8 psi when you need to.A standard rim you can to maybe 15 or 12 but can risk popping a bead and have to re seat a bead on a tire by hand is hard.With 17s and small side walls you really can't do it by hand.

CCPAJeeper

Well, since you asked, I fully agree with Dex's thoughts on the 17s. When I bought my 2nd XJ, on number 4 now, it had the JK Rubi wheels. I changed them out to 15s with 31 10.50s and the ride was shockingly better. Way less harsh on and especially off road. I was not running excessive pressure either, 28lbs in both sets, for the most part.
Never ran a stoker, have read they are challenging to keep cool and guys who have them do not seem to rave about the increase in power. Would seem to be not worth the return in performance given the cost and cooling challenges.
Hope this helps and good luck with the build.

andrewmp6

A lot of ride quality is how much side wall a tire has.

bad_idea

I went SYE w/ stock XJ front shaft. Has been rolling good for almost 2 years. I don't thrash on mine too hard, so the stock front shaft has held up well. I installed the 8.8 in the back of mine. Was an easy affair, as I can fit and weld. Cheap too.

You want to go with a 3" spring, and a longer shackle. Probably some shackle relocation brackets too. You want a shackle angle around 45 degrees. If you use stock shackles and 45 degree angle, the springs will flatten the shackles out on compression and get stuck. BTDT. Nothing like jacking the jeep up and jamming a crow bar between shackle and frame to pop it loose. It's best to set the springs up correctly the first time. Lessons learned. Get a piece of string the length of the spring straightened out, stretch it from the front mount straight back to the shackle. If the shackle is close to horizontal, fiddle with shackle length and pivot point.

Get the rear suspension sorted before installing the 8.8. You want to install the 8.8 and SYE at the same time, after suspension lift. The rear spring setup will impact pinion angle. Set your pinion angle on the 8.8 when you weld the spring perches on.