96 Dream Build XJ

[cpolish24]

Well...I figured i would wait till i was pretty much done with my XJ before i posted the entire build from start to finish. Just like any build I had an idea of what i wanted it to preform and function like when i was done, but honesty...things can get a little out of control when your wife doesn't mind how much you spend on the jeep "as long as it has a roof rack and we can go camping some where fun"....lol!

I built another 96 XJ a couple of years ago and was, unfortunately, forced to sell it a little over a year & a half ago....(had an offer we couldn't refuse...at the time)

Here are a few photo's of it day's before my wife and i sold it...

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[cpolish24]

[FONT=&quot]I was content for about a year...it did last to long though...A friend of mine asked me to do some big upgrades to his LJ Rubicon...and of course, after finishing his build, we went out and did a day run through "smasher canyon" (AZ), the itch really hit me again...I'm fairly certain its a diagnosable disease for us Jeep/XJ guys! My wife thinks so too...

So shortly after our trail run i started looking for a fairly good 96 XJ platform to build a simple little wheeler on some 31's...i vowed to my self that i wouldn't build another ridiculously undaily drivable XJ, but something simple and "daily" drivable...at this stage my wife says i'm in denial...I'm pretty sure she was right...their always right...

(game changer) I didn't have any luck for weeks and was getting pretty discouraged about the whole thing...but, of course fate stepped in...another friend of mine was having some car trouble and needed me to help them out; so i traded out some work and fixed up there car for them. They didn't have any money, at the time, to pay me for all the parts & labor...but, they did have a beat up old '76 F-150 with a 351 in it...we agreed it was a fare trade and they signed the title over. I parted out the entire power-train and kept the HP44 & 9" and scraped the rest of the truck...

As soon as I ended up with those axles...my idea of a simple daily driver were mostly out the window...a few weeks later a local user in AZ posted up a 1996 red XJ with a blown motor for a couple hundred bucks...so starts the new beginning for this little red 1996 Cherokee...

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[cpolish24]

[FONT=&quot](-Side Note- This build took me about 4 months to complete...between ordering all the components and finding the time to work on it after work...I think it went fairly quick & smooth...)

Well lets get started with the details then...I bought the XJ just before Thanks Giving, Nov of 2011, I got started on the tear down the following week...placed the XJ on some stands and dug right into her...striped down and gutted the entire XJ exterior, interior, motor, transmission, etc...I kept the axles in for the time being so i could get her on and off the trailer and mover her around the shop until all the body work was done...

Pulling the poor old 4.0L out...making room for something a little more sufficient...

Making some head way on it...New ATK engine sitting in the crate...

Winched her on a trailer and dropped her off at Beal's Auto Body in Prescott, AZ for all the body work and painting the top half...

About ready to tape her off and spray the top half Ferrari red...

On the trailer and back from paint...

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[cpolish24]

Back in the shop for a little extra work before it heads down to inyati...

Picked up a set of ARR XJ hood louvers, making the final cuts to the hood...

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Cut out my rockers and picked up some 6x2 .188 wall square tubing for my rockers, turned out clean...

Dropped the transmission off at Certified Transmission in Prescott, AZ...

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[cpolish24]

Loaded up and dropped the XJ off at inyati in Chandler, AZ to have their special blend military grade kevlar armoring sprayed on the entire bottom half and interior...

Got my TR Beadlocks back from powder coating & mounted up on some 35" mtr kevlars...

[FONT=&quot]Well...Santa brought me a lot of goodies for Christmas...

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[cpolish24]

Unfortunately I some how managed to delete the pics of my grimy axles before i started to rebuild them...Oh well...Here are a few shots of the 9" rear completely finished and the HP44 almost done...my good friend owns S&S Custom Off-Road in Prescott, AZ and was more than willing to help me out with the front and rear setups...only took us a couple of night to get them all cleaned up and put together...I would have never made it to Moab for EJS if it wasn't for Shane helping me cut some time out of the build!

The 9" specs: Superior 5.13 gears, Superior EVO 35 spline shafts, Superior aluminum third member, 35 spline Detroit Locker, F-150 rotors & Chevy calipers...

Th HP44 specs: Superior 5.13 gears, Superior 30 spline shafts, ARB Air Locker, modified t&t truss, REID Racing flat top knuckles, ARTEC Industries high steer arms, GM TRE's, Nitro HD aluminum diff cover, S&S Custom's steering and PSC hydro assist...

[FONT=&quot]Managed to get all my engine parts back from the hot tankers; so i started to assemble the ATK long block engine slowly...

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[cpolish24]

Finished assembling the ATK, grabbed a forklift and dropped it in...not all that fun trying to get it in with out a second body, but overall it went pretty smooth...

Time to pull out the axles and get down to the dirty work...

Prepped the frame for some Ruff Stuff Specialties XJ chassis stiffeners...

Cleaned and undercoated the entire undercarriage...

 

[cpolish24]

Transmissions back and ready to go in...

2 spd. Atlas 3.8 also showed up right in time to join the party...

Started assembling the rear suspension and axles...

Managed to get the front done to and down on all fours...

 

[cpolish24]

Finished assembling the steering linkage, sway-bar, shocks and track bar...

Since going to the disk brake conversion, i had to figure out something for the parking brake...I used Parts Mike parking brake disk on the back of my Atlas...

Finished reassembling the interior with a pair of Corbeau Baja XRS seats...decided to power wash the carpets and put it back in too...really wanted to keep the noise down as much as possible...

I had the XJ on the rack over at S&S Custom Off-Road for the exhaust system. New pipes from the manifold back...

They decided they wanted to bring it back to my shop in proper form...S&S wanted to "move" there tow rig around a little bit...

 

[cpolish24]

Well...here is the end result after about 4 months of work...finished up with all the OR-Fab bumpers and armor, Gobi USA roof rack and all the Rigid Industries LED light bars...it's about 95% done at this point...brought it into the paint booth for some photos after getting everything mostly done...

 

[cpolish24]

Just to lay the record straight...I didn't come up with the name, a friend of mine did as a joke while i was finishing it up and it kind of stuck with it for some reason....SO! as a small tribute to FIAT (who owns Ferrari...and of course Chrysler/Jeep since '09) we dubbed this XJ "Ferrar Jeep"....that...and the paint that Beal's auto body used really was Ferrari red (they had a wrecked F550 in the shop, that was getting some work done, and had extra left over...go figure)...all i need now is to find one of those V12's laying around....

 

[Original_MudButt]

..all i need now is to find one of those V12's laying around....

 

[Vanimal]

Holy sweet black baby jesus!

 

[Vanimal]

build looks good man! real clean.

 

[?Blue?sdriver]

stellar build thread man! VERY well put together rig. Now, take that puppy out on th trail an beat it up a bit! its TOO CLEAN!
By the way, WHO put the airplane engine in that Waggoneer?

 

[Original_MudButt]

By the way, WHO put the airplane engine in that Waggoneer?

Not airplane..... Ferrari..... Bill Harrah of Harrah's Casino fame. Seems it was taking too long to get from Reno to Tahoe in his stock Wagoneer....

http://www.jpmagazine.com/featuredvehicles/154_0909_1977_jeep_wagoneer_the_jerrari/index.html

 

[etatum21]

So which magazine gets to shoot it first? Seriously, well done.

 

[MG2000XJ]

Soooo sick! One of the nicest XJs ever.

 

[BlueGerbil]

One of the cleanest XJ builds I´ve ever seen. I bow my head!

Would it be my rig, what would I change?
- after 97 body style (just like it better)
- cowl hood (custom or reflexxion)
- dual DIN conversion w/ Kenwood Double DIN navigation/stereo
- heated Recaro seats
- J.W.Speaker LED headlights

 

[ROBZ95Xj]

One of the cleanest XJ builds I´ve ever seen. I bow my head!

Would it be my rig, what would I change?
- after 97 body style (just like it better)
- cowl hood (custom or reflexxion)
- dual DIN conversion w/ Kenwood Double DIN navigation/stereo
- heated Recaro seats
- J.W.Speaker LED headlights

What about not paying 40k to build a xj that's on 1/2 ton axles and 35's. But to each his own