Hjkjohn

So I thought I would so a writeup about my XJ.

Being 16, a junior in high school and not having a license sucked so I finally decided to get a permit and got my license that summer. My grandpa was nice enough to give me his 1994 4runner, driving it sucked, it could barely get up inclines, guzzled gas and had no power, I had some money saved up and I could have fixed it up, but have never been a huge fan of toyotas or any foreign car for that matter.

So at this point I had about 800$ saved up. After a lot of research I decided the XJ was what I wanted. I finally found one in my budget, it was a 1997 4-Door 2wd automatic with 287,XXX. I wanted a 2-door manual 4x4 but quickly realized how rare those are and settled for this.

The guy wanted 1000 and he said it ran but was shakey and only needed a head gasket.

When I got there and saw it, it ran so terribly, it felt like an earthquake sitting inside it, however the interior was insanely clean. It did have a lot of coolant I the oil which supported the head gasket being bad.

Not knowing much more than basic engine knowledge and not having my dad who was a ford technician who died a few months before In a motorcycle accident to help me out I bought it for 600$ thinking all it would need was a head gasket.

Luckily it ran good enough to get onto my uncles trailer haha

I got it home and immediately ordered a gasket kit. 2 days later working after school I had the cylinder head removed, another 2 and my gaskets had come. I did notice one of the pistons had a messed up edge. Having no money and being impatient I blew it off thinking id be ok. I spent Saturday cleaning everything and Sunday putting it back together. I start it up and it smoked a ton and was still JUST as shakey.

I drove it to school the next day and almost immediately regretted my decision. There I compression tested it in auto and found that messed up looking piston had 0 compression haha, might that be why it ran so terribly?

I told my uncle about it and he suprised me that week with 150$ which I used to order some brand new pistons and bearings.

Luckily I had a cherry picker and engine stand. I started on Thursday and finally had the engine out sometime Saturday after wresting with the two star bolts at the top of the transmission.

I honed out the cylinders and replaced the pistons, I pressed out the piston pins at school and had the new ones pressed on at a machine shop for 35$

Got everything back together and the engine back in with my uncles help on Sunday. Even replaced the motor mounts. Only to find out my starter was toast, perfect timing haha.

I got a starter for it the next day and was sure it would be ready to go. I started it up and it was STILL SHAKEY. Granted now it was a lot less shakey. I drove it for about a month and finally compression tested it and the readings were all over the map, 175
172 165 90 60 165. I did a leak test and air was leaking from the top end. I assumed I probably had some burnt valves.

I called the machine shop and they wanted 275 + parts. When a friend of mine said he knows a guy in Mexico who would do it for 60 with the valves included. I jumped I that and took the head off in a few hours and sent it on it's way. The next day I get a call saying it's cracked and he didn't have time to fix it that weekend. He got my money and head back and found a guy down there selling a used head for 60$ so he got me that. However it was a renix 2682 non high output head from a pre 90s XJ. Mine was 7120 high output head.

I was sure it wasn't going to fit as all the forums and websites I found, no one had ever tried it or thought it would work. My friend got back around 830pm Sunday and we got it on before 11pm. To my complete and utter amazement the head fit.

I started it up and finally!!! My jeep ran great

At this point I was into it about 1550$ with a new distributor and spark plugs and wires and oil and coolant costs.

Still I has the worlds worst and baldest 29" bf Goodrich all terrains. I had some pretty new bf Goodrich all terrains on some better rims in my garage my dad had taken off a trade In at work. They are 32's. So I put those on.

The 32's did not like my stock xj and made the car immobile haha.
The next day I took off the gender flares and trimmed the fenders with an angle grinder and they fit a lot better. As long as I didn't have more than two people In there they wouldn't rub on sharp turns.

I haven't had any problems with my jeep since and have loved it a lot. I have gotten a 3 inch lift on it now and took off the sway bars and it is a ton of fun. Even put in some racing seats haha. Recently I cut off the CAT and muffler and straight piped it with a new flow master muffler which sounds really good. It handles anything I ask it to do and gets pretty decent gas mileage around 20, way better that the 4runner.

My future plans are
-custom bumpers
-long arm kit
-roll cage
- possibly 4x4 conversion? I don't know if I want to go crawler or jeepspeed yet.
-aftermarket flares
-LED bar
- long travel in the back?

I'm trying to keep the interior clean and it tact through all this but it probably won't happen haha

Any questions, comments, or suggestions would be great! Hope this helps someone.

The XJ is truly a great truck and perfect for someone looking to learn to work on their own vehicles.

Hjkjohn

I can't figure out how to post pics

XJwonders

Welcome to the forum

KC SCOTT

Welcome. I use Photobucket.com to host photos.

jeeptian

Welcome

bullettooth2008

Hi and welcome along, great reading that well done.

Glad your pleased with the outcome and good luck for the future, keep us posted with updates mate.