1983 Jeep Cherokee street fighter project

[SSLance]

Looks like you are still enjoying the Jeep!

[ghinmi]

I'm terrible about updates. Big things coming as I get time to post.

First things first, I loved the response and low end boost of the s366 but 720 whp wasn't enough. S480 enter stage.

https://i.imgur.com/raE3rb6h.jpg

Now, I could never deal with the loss of response just switching to the s480. So I went for the best of both worlds and kept both turbos. It's now a compound setup with the s480 feeding the s366. Lots of naysayers on the internet but I had to see for myself.

Kept the s366 in the same spot and repurposed the existing wastegate as a bypass gate. Added a new atmospheric gate into the turbine housing.

https://i.imgur.com/tPpvEvih.jpg

As you can see, it's a tight squeeze job to fit the 400 frame turbo up top. But I designed the Jeep around it years ago and just never said anything about it.

https://i.imgur.com/9urALcZh.jpg

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And yes, Wu Tang is for the children.

https://i.imgur.com/n8WqaNmh.jpg

[ghinmi]

Because of this covid stuff I wasn't sure when I would be able to test the new combo but luckily I was able to tag along to a track rental.

New tires, 28x13.5

https://i.imgur.com/KIwWreLh.jpg

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I also used this as an opportunity to take a whole different approach to launching it. Leaving off the 2 step on boost and dumping the clutch vs leaving with alllll the rpm and slipping the clutch that I used to do.

https://i.imgur.com/NdH5nMTh.jpg

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Needless to say, it was a ton easier to manage and more consistent. Rain cut the session short before I got the launch where I wanted it. But still managed to pick up 4 mph and a little bit of et from my best pass so huge success for the first time out on a new combo. It literally does everything the same or better than before with the exception of adding a little extra weight.

https://i.imgur.com/qKutR44h.jpg

[ScotI]

Just keeps getting better!

[ghinmi]

They were letting people do burnouts leaving the cars and coffee. I might have overdone it just a hair.

https://i.imgur.com/fKD7dZ5h.jpg

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On account of the covid and all the major events being cancelled, changes were made to attempt no prep racing. It did well.

https://i.imgur.com/X4aLlnTh.jpg

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[WSSix]

That's awesome! Congrats on the changes working out so well for you.

[ghinmi]

That's awesome! Congrats on the changes working out so well for you.
Just getting started on the updates. More good things coming!

Fast forward to June, we decided to take a little cruise down to North Carolina with some friends. But first, a quick once-over before the trip. Had to replace the front suspension bushings, they were destroyed. Shout out to No Limit for the new bushings, great customer service. And I'll tell you what, that lift off front end is a game changer for regular maintenance.

https://i.imgur.com/Z6RsxXIh.jpg

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We met up with Greg and Rachel in Ohio. The Dakota packs a punch. Hellcat swapped with a 6 speed. A great cruising pair.

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At the Tail of the Dragon with a cool group of muscle.

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Both trucks made it there and back no problem. Also, the Jeep got featured picture of the day on both Killboy and 129photo. Super cool!

https://i.imgur.com/Vr1rPxBh.jpg

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[ghinmi]

They cancelled the St. Ignace car show but we just go for a week of vacation and skip the car show so we went as a group anyway and had a great time. It was funny, our hotel looked like the regular car show week, the rest of town was deserted.

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Got a feature in the local paper.

https://i.imgur.com/Is2HojOh.jpg

Found a Super Treasure Hunt Jeepster hot wheels at the local store. SCORE!

https://i.imgur.com/iNL8P1Kh.jpg

And some cool photos from one of the guys there.

https://i.imgur.com/GYKD91Ah.jpg

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And we have a way of leaving our mark on that town, lol.

https://i.imgur.com/cx3uMb9h.jpg

[ghinmi]

They finally opened my local track again for private sessions. Decided to see if it's still got it on street tires. Managed to run a handful of 10s. Not bad.

https://i.imgur.com/6oByzzdh.jpg

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https://i.imgur.com/MM0xhq8h.jpg

Went back again a couple weeks later on slicks. The launch was super soft, kept adding rpm but it just wouldn't 60 foot like it did the other time on slicks. Consequently it only ran 10.50

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However. On the last pass it developed a miss on the way back to the pits. Confirmed a small amount of coolant coming out the exhaust. I drove it to the gas station down the road and then decided to play it safe, buy a beer and some beef jerky while I waited for a wrecker.

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[ghinmi]

Pulled the plugs. That's a problem. Don't have a picture of the bad bad one handy but it melted both plugs in #1 cylinder and dropped the porcelain out of one. The plugs in the other 7 cylinders were intact.

https://i.imgur.com/3s7FHULh.jpg

Leakdown was ugly. Only #5 was healthy. Five cylinders had excessive blowby past the piston. Three had intake valve issues. #1 was leaking everywhere, lol. None of these were a surprise from a high mileage engine that had a piston and ring swap without proper cylinder prep.

https://i.imgur.com/DmF6wvOh.jpg

Time to pull the motor and give it a refresh.

https://i.imgur.com/lNiB7Oyh.jpg

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[ghinmi]

Commence the teardown. I'm going to lay this out so that hopefully people can see what worked and what didn't on a high hp mostly stock engine. I went through it with a fine tooth comb and improved what I could on a budget. The motor got hurt on July 18, it was back together August 1.

Well that's nice. Porcelain is harder than aluminum for sure.

https://i.imgur.com/89H3DKih.jpg

Obviously got the head too. Might be a little hard to see but it failed the head gasket and you can see where it torched the head into a water passage in the upper part of the photo.

https://i.imgur.com/oOvmR4rh.jpg

Probably not related but intake gasket was funky on that hole as well.

https://i.imgur.com/uHpEQCxh.jpg

The valves were interesting. Evidence everywhere of major valve float. If you look, you can see the valve tips are mushroomed over and I had to file them to remove them from the heads. It also had smashed the valve job basically flat. Live and learn, the stock valve springs were not up to the task of 6400 rpm, haha.

https://i.imgur.com/ejZgY9hh.jpg

Bearings all still looked decent. Reused them.

https://i.imgur.com/nSFmPTEh.jpg

Stock cast crank still mint.

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Now this is wild to me. That's an entire engine's worth of rings. 1mm 1mm 2mm. Hard to believe.

https://i.imgur.com/dO8CxGzh.jpg

Bare block honed and ready for the jet washer and hand wash.

https://i.imgur.com/M1Tuy6zh.jpg

Instead of welding up the one head, I just used a spare I had laying around. Fresh surface on both.

https://i.imgur.com/tq3FHmxh.jpg

Valve job done and in the jet wash. The existing valve job was so ugly from all that valve float.

https://i.imgur.com/PtD8ZJOh.jpg

[ghinmi]

These babies should take care of that valve control issue.

https://i.imgur.com/wyFKF0gh.jpg

Got lucky. The porcelain didn't smash down the ring grooves. Dug the porcelain out, knocked off the high spots, good as new.

https://i.imgur.com/yTGpaHMh.jpg

Short block back together. I swapped the #1 piston to a more conservative cylinder just in case.

https://i.imgur.com/txYSUehh.jpg

Degreeing the cam.

https://i.imgur.com/2y06N0ih.jpg

Ready to drop back in.

https://i.imgur.com/1otfxihh.jpg

[ghinmi]

Back together. Always wanted to drive it around with the front end off so why not?

https://i.imgur.com/VVODi6Gh.jpg

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Unfortunately the driving was short lived. It nearly immediately started dumping coolant out the radiator cap under boost. Thinking it was possibly an air pocket in the engine, I kept trying to bleed it and also found a leak in the radiator that I temporarily patched while waiting for a new one. Turns out the whole radiator got ballooned out when it torched that head.

https://i.imgur.com/5sRnNyph.jpg

On Wednesday the 12th while sitting at work I decided I was going to drive it down to Indy on the 15th to help my friend with his car at the 1/2 mile airstrip event. I would have to quit grasping at straws and tear the engine down, find the problem, fix it, and put it back together in 2 days so I could leave on the 14th. I lucked out and it was a simple blown head gasket. Confirmed to be a defective gasket, $15 unit straight from Mexico. #6 cylinder this time. I was able to get it all apart, fixed, and prepped for reassembly Wednesday night. Cometics and head studs showed up Thursday, got it all back together Thursday night. Drove it to work Friday. Did a quick retorque on the heads after work and drove straight to Indy with my fingers crossed.

https://i.imgur.com/Cm15yeZh.jpg

Got down to Indy late Friday night. Went to spectate. And wouldn't you know it, I've got some great friends. There was a racer ticket waiting for me. Now here's the dilemma. I'm 3 hours from home. I have been WOT with this engine exactly zero times since it's hurt itself twice. And now I'm about to go wide open 1/2 mile at a time. So I pulled a bunch of power and ran it. Made 4 passes the first day. Best mph 155. No carnage. Pretty thrilled.

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On the second day it went 156 on the first pass and I got talked into turning it up just a teeny tiny bit and it went 160 on the second pass. Awesome. Back to the reliable workhorse it has been for the past few years.

-Uid4vmdDEE

[ghinmi]

Got a chance to do one autocross with the Porsche club. It's the only one of the whole season in our area, everything else is cancelled. It was a very tight course which was not good for the Jeep but it still did ok. They never posted the results online and I haven't been able to find any action shots.

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And did some camping.

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[ghinmi]

Now. Back to the fun times. Party tires back on, we're going to the track!

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I had noticed that the injector duty cycle had gone WAY up at the same boost levels. So I had a good idea the freshened up motor made a fair bit more power but I had no idea it was that much. The previous best 10.36 @ 136 was at 24 psi. I ran it at 22 psi all night this time. First pass straight off the street, soft launch, short shifting was a 10.13 @ 139! Wow! Huge gains! I turned the launch up 400 rpm and shifted higher. And was rewarded with............

https://i.imgur.com/tbMW2dKh.png

Heck yes!!!!! Finally in the 9s! And at 140 mph!

Went back around again and another one! 9.97 @ 140 mph!

https://i.imgur.com/7BU9Mash.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/glH4L9jh.jpg

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Best part is that I got to drive it home and didn't work on it the whole time!

[ghinmi]

And what do you do the morning after you run your first 9 second passes? You hook a buddy's turbocharged hyrdo to the back of it and go for a boat ride.

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And another boat on Holley EFI that I got to tinker on.

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[SSLance]

Heck of a summer so far! Thanks for posting the updates here.

I've caught bits and pieces elsewhere but still read all the way thru again here.

[WSSix]

You weren't kidding, lol. 9s are awesome! Congrats on doing such good work.