FrankGRUN

As a new owner of a '96 Cherokee XJ Country, I have indulged in some customization, expanding on the Previous Owner's efforts. As he passed it on to me, it had been treated to a 4.5 inch Rubicon Express lift, Nates4x4 front and rear bumpers, 33" tires, Dana 44 rear differential with limited slip, alloy axles, Dana 30 front differential with Aussie Locker, KC distance lights, new cat, new powertrain computer and K&N filter. I added a new Insignia NS-HD5113 head unit, Cobra CB, Rear swing-away spare tire carrier, Hi-lift Jack, River Raider Interior Hi-Lift Mount, Auto-dimming Compass Map light mirror, Viper RF keyless Entry and various cup holders.

More specifically for this thread, I modified the instrument panel situation with three additions:

First, I added the LCD clock from earlier XJ's by a junkyard addition. I modified the face of the clock to hold an iPhone mount. The iphone connects to the Insignia head unit which fully supports the ipod functions of the iphone and charges the unit as well. This gives me an integrated hands-off cell phone capability along with sophisticated gps navigation capability along with full access to my music and audiobook library.

Second, I switched out the speedometer drive gear exchanging the stock red for the 30-tooth yellow gear and brought my speedometer to a +/- 1% accuracy at 60 mph according to my GPS calibration. Cheap, simple easy.

Third, I added an Ultragauge monitor (www.ultra-gauge.com). My '96 XJ is OBD II compliant and I wanted the advantage of a real time MPG, average MPG and Distance to Empty monitor. The Ultragauge is similar to the Scangauge II unit, but far superior in my opinion. For about $60 (!), I have a gauge that gives me the mpg values I wanted, but also displays a total of 6 gauges on its display simultaneously. I have the six gauges set to give me the instantaneous MPG, average MPG, Distance to Empty, Fuel Gallons Remaining, Percent Engine Load, and the Absolute Throttle Position Percentage. In addition the gauge monitors in the background, the engine coolant temperature, the actual MPH, the fuel remaining and the distance to empty and sounds an alarm when any of these values approach a danger position. It also accumulates a log of the engine's volumetric efficiency, and monitors oil and service distances.

For an engineering buff, these are exciting additions! YMMV.

Redman42

Hey can that also monitor other things, like could you hook up a transmission temp sender to it?

FrankGRUN

I don't know the status of the OBD II implementation for the 1997-2001 XJ's, but for the 1996 version, transmission temperature is not monitored by the Cherokee ECU. The Ultragauge can only report the sensors monitored by the ECU or Powertrain Control Module in Chrysler speak! No external sensor inputs are supported. While I'm not certain, I believe the same is true of the Scangauge II unit.

Cowboyformhell

ok thats pretty sick