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Stuka wrote:Yeah, at least its not a DOHC V8 with 32 of them!

Absolutely!

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The water test went well this evening with the springs in! No leaks so I must have done a decent job lapping these valves! Now I can fully finish putting it all back together.

The Cherokee is finally out of blasting and priming!

Oooo nice!

Looks like diesel isn't TOO bad for price where you're at either...

sierrablue wrote: ↑Sat Jun 10, 2023 8:47 pm Oooo nice!

Looks like diesel isn't TOO bad for price where you're at either...

Yeah SETX fuel prices are regularly lower than most other places thanks to being so close to the refineries. I typically see a 30 -35 cent difference between Dallas and SETX prices.

Interesting.

You using the LS-swapped J20 for towing that?

sierrablue wrote:Interesting.

You using the LS-swapped J20 for towing that?

I towed it out there with the J20 back in March then found the engine issues so it has been out of service getting a new long block. It's currently at the tuner waiting for a spot on the dyno. I'm also preparing to move to Houston so my dad towed the Cherokee back to his place in SETX. As my dad likes to often tell me, I have too many irons in the fire hahahaha!

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Lol you certainly have a lot of iron, owning steel Jeeps

Can you add some more pics after blasting. Love the project!

Waggy82 wrote: ↑Fri Jul 14, 2023 7:10 am Can you add some more pics after blasting. Love the project!

Sorry for the delay, will do next time I'm down South where the body currently is.

The J20 has been taking up most of my time the past few months but I just picked up the next piece of the puzzle - the rear axle. I was able to find a crown vic interceptor 8.8 with limited slip and disc brakes locally this weekend! Now I need to figure out how to build a rear suspension hahaha. Any tips, videos, threads would be appreciated!

Seth, give me a shout when you’re ready to dig into that. There are some tools that will toy with an engineers mind that I can share. I’ve been playing building suspensions since the late 90’s. Happy to help you come up with something that rocks.

Yeller wrote:Seth, give me a shout when you’re ready to dig into that. There are some tools that will toy with an engineers mind that I can share. I’ve been playing building suspensions since the late 90’s. Happy to help you come up with something that rocks.

Awesome! I absolutely will!

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SJohn wrote: ↑Sun Aug 06, 2023 7:03 pm

Yeller wrote:Seth, give me a shout when you’re ready to dig into that. There are some tools that will toy with an engineers mind that I can share. I’ve been playing building suspensions since the late 90’s. Happy to help you come up with something that rocks.

Awesome! I absolutely will!

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This has been my test bed for a few decades

One thing I’ve learned is what works properly in the dirt works on the street. If it works well on the street it works even better in the dirt. Street builds are just smaller lol. I cut my teeth in the early 90’s sub framing street rods.

With the J20 just about back to 100% its time to get going again on the Cherokee, so its time to unwrap the 2J and man up! I finally took the dive and pulled the crank and finished stripping the block. I've been reluctant to do this as there's nothing wrong with the crank or main bearings and I knew pulling the crank means a ton more work going back together but will also guarantee I'm starting with a brand new motor. I made the decision to have a shop clean and hone it rather than a ball hone myself so it had to be done.




I also started mocking up the frame and rear end to start on the rear suspension. With the axle sitting at wheel height and the frame sitting right on top its evident I will need to notch the frame. The front end is setup at ride height and a level sits on the center straight section of the frame so I'm able to see the rear of the frame is sitting too high right now with it resting on the axle. Next I need to cut all the brackets off the 8.8 and figure out how much to notch the frame.

Its a lot more work to tear it down all the way. But its also going to be good to know that when you inevitably crank up the boost, that everything down here is fresh and ready to go.

Stuka wrote:Its a lot more work to tear it down all the way. But its also going to be good to know that when you inevitably crank up the boost, that everything down here is fresh and ready to go.

Absolutely, I'll feel much better knowing it's all been rebuilt.

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I made a little bit of progress this weekend on the rear axle and prepping for rear suspension. With the plasma torch I whacked off the original link brackets and coil supports then got most of the welds ground down. Then I mocked the axle back under the frame and got it level with the frame sitting directly on the axle. Obviously still need to notch but it looks like I can get 4-5 inches of up travel with the bottom of the notch sitting directly where the top of the frame was.







I started drawing up the notch with a poor cell phone app 3d scan and a bunch of measurements i took on the frame and its looking pretty good so far.

Looking great! Sure wish I physically had the time to help with this.

Yeller wrote:Looking great! Sure wish I physically had the time to help with this.

It's all good, like Johnny Cash said, "I'll get it one piece at a time." One question though, will 4-5" be enough up travel?

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