2 door XJ cherokee build ( birdman)

[Burnsy01]

Back story: at the beginning of summer me and my best friend decided to take a bone stock 01 Silverado that sat behind my building for years and turn it into a mud bogger for Yankee lake . After many trips there and seeing so many cherokees I decided I needed one . Next time I went my buddy brang his 01 4 door . That sealed the deal. So I began looking around , and I wanted a 4 door but no one would respond to my messages . But this 2 door popped up and I had a feeling this guy was going to get back to me since it was a 2 door not a 4 door like I wanted . Sure enough he did . Next thing I knew I was driving to the south hills of Pittsburgh to look at it . He was asking 1,000, and I talked him down to 800. Next weekend I went and picked it up, and now it sits . Here is the original pictures I was sent .

And now that I’ve had time to clean it up a little bit

Story goes that it was used on a pheasant farm all of its life . So it’s incredibly solid since it rarely saw the salt . But since it was used on a pheasant farm and the first time I turned on the heat it blew feathers everywhere , I nick named it birdman. It has the 4.0 with 188k miles , which seems incredibly healthy . More pics to come

 

[Burnsy01]

So yesterday I went to my first pick a part and found a total of 5 xj’s . Also lucked out on the fact it was a half off day.

I got :
-Fender with flare
-Grill
-Sport gauge cluster
-Wiper transmission
-Tail light
-Set of 4 aftermarket wagon wheels
I managed to get it all for $110 bucks with tax.

 

[cherokeecrawler]

Seems like this is going to be a pretty solid build, can't wait to see it progress along! Subed

 

[Burnsy01]

So Sunday i got to installing some parts .

Also did some small stuff , put the grill on and fixed the back wiper . Starting to shape up, also noticed since I have a actual temp gauge now that it’s running kinda hot . I’ve known the coolant is rusty colored and that it needed changed , but it just reinforced that . So that’s the project for tomorrow , and possibly fix the passenger door speaker

 

[Burnsy01]

Alrigty , time to keep moving . Last 2 nights I’ve been working on cleaning up the coolant . It has the typical rusty coolant , so I’ve been filling it with water letting it run for awhile then dumping and refilling .

Also got a new heater resistor so the heat works . Although it doesn’t seem the heat isn’t that hot for the car being at normal operating temps .

 

[Wiser]

Whoa, that’s a lot of cooling system neglect. Run some white vinegar & distilled water at idle for a while (of course flush after) and that should clean up the system.

 

[Burnsy01]

Whoa, that’s a lot of cooling system neglect. Run some white vinegar & distilled water at idle for a while (of course flush after) and that should clean up the system.

Water by itself seems to have cleaned a lot of it out . Once it goes clear I’m gonna run it for a month to let it loosen up more and hopefully I can truly get it clean. Definitely the nastiest coolant I’ve ever seen

 

[Burnsy01]

Interior is definetly the worst part about this thing . It just smells so bad and is stained from when it was used on the farm .Ive heard of people using tj seats, but I wasn’t sure how it would look. I’d also like to swap the carpet to black . Can’t find it anywhere for less than 250.

 

[Wiser]

Check out this seller on EBay for the carpet
https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mare=https://www.ebay.com/ulk/itm/332415473236

 

[Burnsy01]

Check out this seller on EBay for the carpet
https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mare=https://www.ebay.com/ulk/itm/332415473236

Thanks !


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[Burnsy01]

Mounted and mocked up my new wheels and tires today .

I’m loving the way this thing is turning out , even clears without a lift . Although I’m going to have to get one before I go wheeling in spring . Also found out that the pads on the back are literally non existent . I’ve been working like crazy trying to balance school and work, and all my other free time is going into this thing . I probably should be working on my 68 camaro but ... lol

 

[Burnsy01]

Alright time to catch you guys back up to speed .

So the 2 tires I had I couldn’t buy 2 new matches for so I decided to just keep them as spares . I picked up a set of falken wildpeak a/t 31x10.5x15’s . Also recently replaced the rear gate struts , fixed some battery issues , sand blasted ,painted and mounted my spare tire . But other than that , the biggest thing has been fabricating my rear bumper . My factory one was rusted and I didn’t like that the hitch that was on it hung super low .

I also have my 3” lift coming and some other goodies . It’s close to being street legal , but I still need to :
-Install lift
-Sway bar bushings
-Replace rear brake shoes
-Replace door hinge
-Install new headliner
-Reclamp the exhaust
-Fix the small rust holes
-Bedliner the bottom half
-Finish the battery tray
I’m hoping to knock the battery tray and exhaust this weekend , but we will see

 

[Burnsy01]

Finished the battery tie down

Lift came in Monday and my swaybar bushings just came in today so I’ll be able to get all that stuff done this weekend . But I added this to the fleet last weekend :

78 international scout. It’s been sitting for 30 years . Got it for free from a buddy’s uncle . 304v8 with Dana 44’s and front locking hubs . Just a couple small things and it should be running and driving .

 

[Runnin'OnEmpty]

Birdman and Git-Um-Up-Scout.
Or you could name it Tonto.

Good score. I've owned a couple Scouts, but neither
had the V-8. They're tough.

 

[trippled]

Birdman and Git-Um-Up-Scout.
Or you could name it Tonto.

Good score. I've owned a couple Scouts, but neither
had the V-8. They're tough.

There actually used to be a place I co springs called giddum up scout haha. I love those things. My dad has a 79. Rusty but built like farm equipment.

 

[Burnsy01]

Alrighty folks time for another update . I’ve been super busy . I’m pushing hard for it to be street legal soon. It’s been one thing after another with this thing .Within the past week I’ve installed
-rotors
-pads
-brake shoes
-rear brake rebuild kit
-Driver side hard line
-passenger side soft line
-driver side brake cylinder
-sway bar end links
-sway bar bushings
Everything has fought me to hell and back on this thing .

Also when I went to installed the tranny drop kit , 2 of the bolts broke . So I drilled them out to 5/8’s and tapped them.

The rear shackles for the lift fought like a sumbitch . Had to torch the top bolts and shackles off . But now I’m run into the issues that the bolt won’t thread into the nut .Ive tried pretty much everything minus a tap . I’ll update in a couple hours to see if I can find a solution to my issue .

 

[Burnsy01]

Been awhile , but she’s finally street legal !!

no issues , just had to swap map sensors because my old one was causing me to get 7 miles a gallon. Swapped it with one from my parts car and now it runs like a champ getting 17 mpg. Still need to finish the rockers but she’s coming along.


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