Project: #becauseracecar

[bpas328xi]

Moving this build thread off of my off road Jeep build and onto here... Enjoy!! :wave1:

Looking to do something similarish to this.

The weather is being annoying today, it keeps raining on and off... So no real progress on Jeep stuff.. :wallbash: I did manage to find a gap in the rain to take some pictures of a new project that CobraMarty and I are working on. :grin: The plan is to lower it as much as possible. We're going to try a fiberglass monoleaf in the back and if that doesn't get it low enough, we're going to do a spring under conversion. And then just cut coils in the front.

rims 18x10 cobra replicas with 265 35 tires.

I remember someone posted on this thread about a top mounted supercharger... So... What's better than one top mounted M62? TWO TOP MOUNTED M62s!!!!!!!!! :devil2: Just gotta find time to start fabbing... Lol. Probably going to install these during the summer. Planning on mounting them here and cutting a whole in the hood so they stick through it. :headbang: They will probably be sitting about 3-4 inches higher than they are here.

Rugged Ridge seats.

High flow 2.5" cat.

Straight through 2.5" muffler. This thing is going to be so loud! :devil2:

 

[bpas328xi]

Racecar updates... Put the rims and spacers on. Starting to look good!!! I honestly can't wait to lower this thing another 3-4"..

Idk. It kinda reminds me of a GMC Typhoon just a little bit.. :yes:

I'm honestly thinking of some sort of body kit for this thing... The Typhoon one looks sick. I wonder if I could get the cladding and front bumper for a decent price and mod them slightly to fit a Cherokee... Just thinking out loud. Lol. :001_huh:

Btw, the reasoning behind the sudden interest in GMC Syclones/Typhoons is because my dad used to have a 1991 GMC Syclone with 500ish horsepower. That thing was a monster even by today's standards. Lol. :devil2:

Took the racecar jeep out to get some food and saw this..... Awkward......... :blink:

And I'm thinking about trying the projector thing again since racecar jeep needs better headlights... The plan is to use five 3w LEDs in the projector housing since I have a habit of killing HID bulbs...... That white stuff that was on the reflector couldn't have been a good thing. Lol.

 

[gradon]

The Grassroot Motorsport's Jeep is a nicely executed setup for auto-x. I auto-x'ed my Jeep twice this past summer and it beat more than half the field. I need for the Bridgestones to hurry up and wear so I can justify buying a low-pro setup like the one you just put on(a buddy has some takeoff 275/35-15 Hoosiers that'd be good for a couple rounds if I buy some 15x10"s).

 

[bpas328xi]

The Grassroot Motorsport's Jeep is a nicely executed setup for auto-x. I auto-x'ed my Jeep twice this past summer and it beat more than half the field. I need for the Bridgestones to hurry up and wear so I can justify buying a low-pro setup like the one you just put on(buddy has some takeoff 275/35-15 Hoosiers that'd be good for a couple rounds if I buy some 15x10"s).

Yeah, these Nexen tires seem decent enough... Just have some maintenance things to do (motor and trans mounts) and then I should be able to start diving into the mods and beating on this thing. Lol

It would be fun to take it to an auto-x one day when the build is complete though.

 

[yossarian19]

Do yourself a favor & upgrade to WJ brakes before / as you fab the twin blowers.
Also.
Please, please, please post pics & videos along the way. looks siiick

 

[bpas328xi]

Do yourself a favor & upgrade to WJ brakes before / as you fab the twin blowers.
Also.
Please, please, please post pics & videos along the way. looks siiick

I believe the plan is to upgrade the front brakes to Brakemotive drilled rotors since the brakes on this thing are pretty much shot.

If my build log over on CF is anything to go by, this thread is going to be FLOODED with pics and vids once I start modding. :shhh:
http://www.cherokeeforum.com/f46/project-keepin-clean-127621/

 

[Power73]

if you swap to wj knuckles and brakes tho you get dual piston calipers and bigger rotors. and you could still get the drilled rotors but bigger

 

[bpas328xi]

if you swap to wj knuckles and brakes tho you get dual piston calipers and bigger rotors. and you could still get the drilled rotors but bigger

I'll have to look into that. I'm going to the junkyard in the morning, so I might have to snag some WJ parts. Thanks for the info!! :cheers:

 

[CobraMarty]

The Grassroot Motorsport's Jeep is a nicely executed setup for auto-x.

Here is the link-
http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/2010-race-jeep-cherokee-build/27247/page1/

 

[CobraMarty]

Why you ask,
well after building the one XJ lifted, modded and with the supercharger and buying one already lifted- off road ready as a pair to go off road together, We have collected a bunch of parts, knowledge and like the I6 engine.
I had a '00 Land Rover Discovery with 158k and a badly rusted frame which was basically worthless but good parts car and I needed to get rid of it. I found this Jeep and traded for it. 2 birds with one stone- got rid of the rusted death trap land rover and got a jeep in return.
It is a 1999 2door 2WD auto 4.0 with 141k and NO rust. It has been used and worn a bit and the body is in decent shape with no rust but a few pushed in panels here and there.
I guess 4WD- lift it and 2WD drop it. So looking for a different street toy, the jeep is it. Sure could have gotten a Mustang etc but wanted to do it with the jeep.
Thanks for all the inspiration from my past Syclone, Gradon's ride, Grassroot Motorsport's white 'race' jeep and IXNAYXJ's blue race jeep and of course the originator's the Archer Bros.
We want to keep this street legal but have it surprise the hell out of some street cars.
So there it is.

PLAN-
-clean up and fix the little things
-sport seats
-tint
-265 35 18 tires and Saleen replica 10" wheels
-Lowered- cut 3"lift springs b/c they are heavier than stock and composite monosprings for the rear (really don't want to dy a SUA conversion). Plan to lower basically to the stock bumpstops, and then shorten the bumpstops to have about 1.5" travel. what ever the rear monosprings bring it and cut the fronts to match, ?shorter shocks
-shorter straight IronMan trackbar (thanks Gradon)
-2.5" front exhaust crossover to 2.5" high flow cat, 14" straight thru muffler and 2.5" put the back with like a 3" chrome tip.
-3/8" flat plate for the trans crossmember to gain a little ground clearance
-new front and rear brakes, wheel bearings and ball joints
-built upper and lower control arms with poly bushings
-Autopals and stock fog lights with upgraded bulbs
-CAI, larger TB, ecu tune by christuned, supercharger down the road
-upgrade stereo FM/CD/cassette instead of the am/fm only unit.
-ADDCO sway bar front
-RaDesign Rail II shifter for manual control of the auto
-Upgraded valve body
-Detroit Trutrac Helical LSD

 

[IXNAYXJ]

I believe the plan is to upgrade the front brakes to Brakemotive drilled rotors since the brakes on this thing are pretty much shot.

Skip the drilled rotors, it's a waste of time and they just crack easier in this budget range. What you need is a larger rotor, not holes.

The Vanco big brake kit loaded with Black Magic pads is what we use on our race car, and they're awesome. Since you've already upgraded wheel diameter they'll fit. I'm not sure I understand the point of the dual s/c set up (beyond the undeniable awesome factor), but good luck.

Where are you getting composite monoleafs for an XJ?

-Matt

 

[NW-ZJ-SCOTT]

Skip the drilled rotors, it's a waste of time and they just crack easier in this budget range. What you need is a larger rotor, not holes.

-Matt

x2 I've done both, I put 20k miles on Brake motive Drilled and slotted rotors, with Hawk HPS pads.. I noticed the brakes took a smidge longer to fade over stock, But nothing to write home about.. But felt a little screwed after spending $300..

After doing a WJ swap, with akebono calipers and Sportrac rotors, and Hawk HPS pads.. It's a whole different animal. Brake fade is non existent, even under heavy braking from 100-0 with 35s..


Bigger.. is better:fuse:

 

[IXNAYXJ]

If you want the thing to turn you'll need to get some camber into the front wheels, too. There are basically two options; cutting and notching the front axle like the XJ-R guys (they did 2.5 degrees on each side), or adding offset balljoints like we did (netting us 2 degrees per side). Depending on how much mileage you expect to see, you'll need to take that into consideration too.

The other biggest thing you can do to improve handling is tires. The XJ-R runs non-DOT sticky race tires, we run a DOT approved race tire, the Falken Azenis RT-615K. The Falkens have a treadwear rating of 190 for reference sake. The tires you show are a 340TW tire, so significantly less grippy. Just an FYI.

-Matt

 

[CobraMarty]

Flex-form.com for the monoleafs. He says that they are pretty flat and should lower 4-5 inches from stock. I really hope they work, I want them to be a bolt on solution.

I have to look into the WJ knuckle swap and the Vanco big brakes kit.
the Brakemotive discs and pads are under $100.

 

[CobraMarty]

The offset ball joints sound like a winner. Do you put them on just the lower or upper or both?

 

[XJLI]

those nexans are terrible tires in my experience. but otherwise, listen to the guys who've been doing this a while (ixnayxj, gradon). i'll be watching this one!

 

[CobraMarty]

Acceptable cheap street tires and track tires are two different animals.

The twin superchargers is my son's humor. It'll most likely have a single eaton 62 mounted to an adapter plate to the stock intake manifold. 5-6 pounds boost. It will have to have a hole cut in the hood and barely be poking thru. He thought a pair poking thru the hood on each side would cool and symmetrical looking. I would do it for looks and not hook up the second one or make it a dummy and do nothing just spin the pulley. That is further down on the list.

 

[Outlander560]

The offset ball joints sound like a winner. Do you put them on just the lower or upper or both?

just the upper...i have them on my xj from napa$76 IIRC increments of .5* all the way to 2.0* of offset

 

[CobraMarty]

Here is the Vanco front big brake kit.
http://www.vancopbs.com/category_s/121.htm

 

[IXNAYXJ]

Flex-form.com for the monoleafs. He says that they are pretty flat and should lower 4-5 inches from stock.

But how stiff will they be? Do they make an XJ specific leaf, or just made to order? Why not just do a SUA conversion...it's not hard and you can swap in an 8.8 at the same time giving you LSD, 4.10 (or 3.73) gears and disc brakes.

the Brakemotive discs and pads are under $100.

There's a reason for that, they're probably garbage. Don't cheap out on brakes.

The offset ball joints sound like a winner. Do you put them on just the lower or upper or both?

You just do the uppers, and can dial in as much as 2* of camber. We started at 1.5, but found the Jeep was happy with all we could get out of the joints with no significant tire wear issues.

http://www.spcalignment.com/index.php?option=com_spc&task=details

Acceptable cheap street tires and track tires are two different animals.

Not really. I run the Falkens on multiple street cars and they're durable, wear well, stick like glue and are even great in the rain. Not very expensive, either.

Here is the Vanco front big brake kit.
http://www.vancopbs.com/category_s/121.htm

That's not the BIG brake kit. We run the one that requires 17" wheels to clear the rotors/calipers.

Also note the offset balljoint:

So, a lot of these questions and suggestions really depend on what you're going to do with it. In the title of the thread the term "racecar" is used...what kind of racing? Cone-dodging, drag racing, track days, endurance racing, SCCA, NASA, etc? The level at which you want to compete or play will inform the quality of products you need.

-Matt