I had been on the search for another Cherokee. And this time, I wanted something that was stock and not trailed. I learned from the last one that I don't want to be undoing someone else's work. I looked at several, but anything that was in the condition that I was looking for was going to cost 8-10k. which was essentially my entire budget. I knew that i had almost everything that I needed to lift the jeep, and get it back to the way my old jeep, but I also knew that I would need some cash to do frame stiffeners, Fenderflares and a rear bumper.
That's when I found this.
Its a 2001 Sport with 230000 on the odometer. Overall, in pretty good condition, ZERO rust. Shes a 2WD cherokee, so you know she's never been off road. I took it for a spin and was happy with the power of a stock XJ with 29" tires on it. haha
I was able to pick this one up for 2500$ Not bad. That leaves me some money to do some upgrades and fix whatever junk I need to.
There are several dents and dings on the doors, and the clear coat is pealing on the roof and on several places around the body, but nothing bad. The only "Major" issue was it needed a new head. When I looked into the oil cap, I could see little tiny green bubbles coming out in the typical place that the 0331 heads crack. But, judging by the way the engine ran, I felt confident with a new head, she'd be good to go.
So that's what I did. I brought her home and immediately ordered a Clearwater head. I also ordered all new gaskets, and seals. I also did a deep dive into all the systems to see if they were up to snuff, and I found that the A/C was leaking, and the PO had capped off the heater core.
So I ordered a new heater core, evap core, All New A/C lines and a Dryer. I was tempted to buy a new compressor and condenser, just so the entire system was new, But I held off incase i needed money elsewhere.
Head replacement went as planned, and after I swapped in the new head, I did a compression test on all the cylinders. All of the cylinders are around 140ish except for cylinder 1 which is down to 125. But according to the FSM, compression range of 120-150 and all cylinders within 30psi of each other. So, if the FSM says its good, I'm going to run it for now. I would have liked to see it closer to 150, but with 230k on the clock, I'm sure those rings aren't what they used to be. haha. All the cylinders looked pretty good, there was still some crosshatch visible on the walls, and I didn't see anything that worried me So I think this will be a good motor for a while longer. While i was in there, I replaced the water pump, Oil filter adapter O-ring and the thermostat and thermostat housing.
I also replaced the fan shroud ( I was able to buy a Mopar one off rock auto
) and replaced the electric fan because the one that was there didn't have the clips that mount it to the radiator, so I got a new one.
I went through all the vacuum lines and replaced anything that was degraded. This jeep had sat in the heat for its entire life. so everything was very brittle.
Engine mounts were looong past their usefulness, so i replaced those as well.
All in all I'm happy with how it came out.
After all that, I vacuumed and charged the a/c, Bled the Radiator and took it for a spin. Engine still has good power, and runs smooth.
And one of the nice things about a stock 2WD Cherokee is the gas milage haha. She averages 19mpg, and gets around 23-24 on the freeway. Not bad at all.
I will say, Drilling the 5/8" hole for the through bolt is a PITA going through the frame stiffeners and the frame. Get a new sharp drill bit, and a good drill.
