nope i got it dirt cheap. basically for free

Nice! Didn't mean to be rude btw if it came off that way.
How new are those all terrains cause they look good!

Good deal!

As someone posted change all the fluids starting with the rear differential. Remove all the bolts except the top one leave it loose and drain into a pan. Check the gear lube for chunks of metal just kidding, once drained remove cover and wipe out what you can then clean everything with carb or brake cleaner. Make sure you scrape the sealer off the housing and diff so they are clean for sealant. Inspect ring gear and pinion for unusal ware refill and move too the front when finished. Then transmission, transfer case (check chain on it also) that might be your noise problem.









Then move to the engine and do a complete tune-up with plug wires and dist cap, change oil and filters including fuel filter check fuel pressure and air cleaner most need to be replaced.

Then start checking all steering, shocks, u-joints and lube everything. Just basic things you start with on any car. I have bought and sold hundreds over the years plus owning quite a few and these are done to any I buy for myself used. In fact all I buy anymore are used cars, trucks and SUV's I will let the first owner absorb all the losses and high tax's incurred with buying new.

Fred/N0AZZ

well they are new to me lol but they are about half to 3/4 i just degreased and pressure washed them

Lurk around on CherokeeForum and NAXJA for about a year. Read, observe and retain the facts that become obvious through cumulative thought.

Seriously.

thanks for the input. i will deffinetly keep looking around on here. and naxja. looks like my first mod is going to be putting in a new radiator and convert the old steel fan into a 16" electric fan. went around a corner yesterday and somehow the fan caught the radiator, bent the fan and kept spinning until it shredded the radiator. hopefully with the new electric fan i should free up one or two horse power and save a mile per gallon lol.

Don't do anything till you find out why that happened to begin with. It could point to several problems as to why the engine/fan/radiator moved to have caused with from a broken motor mount, simple to fix, water pump to radiator core supports, damage to front end just find it first.

Not doing so could end up costing you even more money and maybe even your new radiator. Good luck with finding it and I hope it's simple.

Fred

ok so i found that the old radiator was poorly mounted in the brackets missing some of the bushings and a broken weld on the top mount. so i guess it was doomed to begin with. also after i arched the battery to the alternator and not having any power, i looked up a wiring schematic and discovered that there is suppose to be a wire leading to the starter relay. so somehow i lost a wire haha. but i got it wired up and now it starts every time. i got the new radiator in with the electric fan with electric thermostat switch. i threw a bottle of sea foam into the crank case and half a bottle into the gas tank... i also pulled the plugs and poured a bottle of mystery oil into the cylinders in hope that i can lubricate and free up the rings a little. so yeah a few minor set backs but still excited to go take it wheeling in the hills, when its reliable enough haha

Drive it first see what doesn't work for you work from there

i have ran it a little bit. drove it around for about a day. but i did notice that one spark plug was oil fouled. so i hope the mystery oil helps. if not any other suggestions besides rebuilding it?

From what I read about the early XJ's (I own one) the firewall is different than later models. An engine swap to a V8 or I6 might not be an easy undertaking. The Chevy 3.1L V6 is just the same as the 2.8L only bigger. Yes your XJ has a Chevy engine. Best guess is your V6 has ~200k on it. My 2.5L 4 had that. A junkyard special out of a Chevy S10 that was wrecked might be the ticket. You might still need to use the carb as I think most later V6s had fuel injection.

As a side thought, I own a 95 Mustang with a 3.8L V6. It is a short engine - think 5.0L V8 (302) missing 2 cylinders - runs very smooth and seems to have plenty of power without being excessive. The transmission / transfer case are not heavy duty items on a Cherokee. Too much power would end with something broken. I have been entertaining an engine swap using this 3.8L as the basis for it.