- Location
- Bakersfield, CA
I spent the day Saturday at the Oceano Dunes, and that stroker is sure nice. 
I drove the Jeep over there to get a good test on the new motor before the Fordyce/Rubicon trip, and everything works fine. What a difference the motor makes on the highway. Probably the best example is a situation on the way home. I was on Hwy 166 near Cuyama and came up on a line of about 10 vehicles behind a semi truck. This was the last stretch of straight road before an uphill curvy section and I couldn't figure out why none of the morons where passing the truck. I had room to pass so I passed half of the cars, then when nobody would pass the truck I went ahead and passed all the rest of them and the truck. There's NO WAY I could have done that with the old motor.
Out in the dunes it was a blast. Other than real tall dunes with a very sharp dip at the bottom I could climb everything. Later in the day I was making one last cruise through the dunes before heading home and I meet another guy I knew from Bakersfield with a nice 'Cruiser, which he had just put an LT1 into. He, like me at the time, was just cruising around having fun in 2wd. So, we started playing follow the leader climbing dunes in 2wd. That XJ with the 4.6L climbed everything in 2wd that the hot V8 powered 'Cruiser did........we had a blast, and I was surprised at how well the XJ climbed in 2wd. The stroker never bogged down, it just revved and pulled, and I only used high range. I used low range one time when pulling a stuck Toy truck out of a big hole because I didn't want to overheat the tranny. The motor got a good workout, with lots of full throttle/high rev action.
I wouldn't go to the dunes real often, but once in a while is a lot of fun. We'd have a real good time with a bunch of XJ's over there for a weekend. Any one interested in a Pismo XJ run sometime?
I drove the Jeep over there to get a good test on the new motor before the Fordyce/Rubicon trip, and everything works fine. What a difference the motor makes on the highway. Probably the best example is a situation on the way home. I was on Hwy 166 near Cuyama and came up on a line of about 10 vehicles behind a semi truck. This was the last stretch of straight road before an uphill curvy section and I couldn't figure out why none of the morons where passing the truck. I had room to pass so I passed half of the cars, then when nobody would pass the truck I went ahead and passed all the rest of them and the truck. There's NO WAY I could have done that with the old motor.
Out in the dunes it was a blast. Other than real tall dunes with a very sharp dip at the bottom I could climb everything. Later in the day I was making one last cruise through the dunes before heading home and I meet another guy I knew from Bakersfield with a nice 'Cruiser, which he had just put an LT1 into. He, like me at the time, was just cruising around having fun in 2wd. So, we started playing follow the leader climbing dunes in 2wd. That XJ with the 4.6L climbed everything in 2wd that the hot V8 powered 'Cruiser did........we had a blast, and I was surprised at how well the XJ climbed in 2wd. The stroker never bogged down, it just revved and pulled, and I only used high range. I used low range one time when pulling a stuck Toy truck out of a big hole because I didn't want to overheat the tranny. The motor got a good workout, with lots of full throttle/high rev action.
I wouldn't go to the dunes real often, but once in a while is a lot of fun. We'd have a real good time with a bunch of XJ's over there for a weekend. Any one interested in a Pismo XJ run sometime?
run. I am going to run up to fordyce with a friends club and help on one of the Sierra Trek winch hills this week. If felt soooooo good wheeling again and all my new-found torque reduction gave me major wood.
