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And the most exciting update: I had the end result rendered/drawn to give me some motivation! Very pleased with the work and ready to make some serious progress on this thing now!

So hot, glad I saw your FB post. Love this kind of rescue. I'm running a poor man's version of this in my '77 Cherokee S with an EFI 401, lockout front hubs and the front driveshaft pulled on sagged out stock springs. Looks lowered and is a perfect good-weather DD.

Looking forward to following along.

Looks good! Honestly if you left it 4x4, but at that height, you could probably run around with the Subarus

sierrablue wrote:Looks good! Honestly if you left it 4x4, but at that height, you could probably run around with the Subarus

Cherokee Hoonicorn would be awesome hahaha!

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I'd been thinking, it would be really cool to build an all electric, lowered, 2-door FSJ Cherokee, and race it against Lia Block in the Hoonicorn (those who have seen the second round of the Hoonicorn V Everything on YouTube will know exactly what I'm talking about). Or a bone stock looking one. Just, a family wagon, bone stock on the outside, then it keeps up with this wickedly fast custom Mustang.

sierrablue wrote:I'd been thinking, it would be really cool to build an all electric, lowered, 2-door FSJ Cherokee, and race it against Lia Block in the Hoonicorn (those who have seen the second round of the Hoonicorn V Everything on YouTube will know exactly what I'm talking about). Or a bone stock looking one. Just, a family wagon, bone stock on the outside, then it keeps up with this wickedly fast custom Mustang.

That's a tall order to take on a car that's probably worth $1MM of development, especially in an EV. The electrikhana Audi is probably your answer, and that was built by a team of Audi engineers. As an EE myself, I'm all for EVs, but with battery technology and cost where it is currently, It's not worth it to me to attempt building one. But if you've got the time and money, get after it!

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I have neither of those things atm; just the ambition

You could probably take the Mach E 1400 and modify it to do higher speeds, and that'd get you pretty close...

Have you seen the news about a new formula for Li-Ion batteries to increase range, eliminate fires, and improve their behavior in extreme temperatures? Also there are those new iron and air batteries that literally take energy from rusting metal, and then when you recharge them they deoxidize the iron. With those batteries, rusty Jeeps ought to drive for a long time, and then you recharge them and they're perfectly restored!

Oh wait, that's not quite how that works...

sierrablue wrote: ↑Wed Feb 15, 2023 12:28 pm I'd been thinking, it would be really cool to build an all electric, lowered, 2-door FSJ Cherokee, and race it against Lia Block in the Hoonicorn (those who have seen the second round of the Hoonicorn V Everything on YouTube will know exactly what I'm talking about). Or a bone stock looking one. Just, a family wagon, bone stock on the outside, then it keeps up with this wickedly fast custom Mustang.

The Hoonicorn makes ~1800hp when turned up. It would take some good engineering to beat it. But would be pretty awesome to see!

Stuka wrote: ↑Wed Feb 15, 2023 3:31 pm

sierrablue wrote: ↑Wed Feb 15, 2023 12:28 pm I'd been thinking, it would be really cool to build an all electric, lowered, 2-door FSJ Cherokee, and race it against Lia Block in the Hoonicorn (those who have seen the second round of the Hoonicorn V Everything on YouTube will know exactly what I'm talking about). Or a bone stock looking one. Just, a family wagon, bone stock on the outside, then it keeps up with this wickedly fast custom Mustang.

The Hoonicorn makes ~1800hp when turned up. It would take some good engineering to beat it. But would be pretty awesome to see!

Yeah...so you'd probably need 2500 hp or so to deal with the little bit of extra weight (the Hoonicorn is actually fairly heavy for what it races against) and wind resistance...plus you obviously want to win... Plus side, with the electric you would have full torque and everything instantly--as long as you have enough tire and it doesn't stop pulling, the Hoonicorn physically can't keep up with that. Not that it takes it an especially long time to get up to its power RPM range.

Plus side, for that you wouldn't need a ton of range; just enough for whatever you're doing.

Anyway, sorry SJohn--not trying to hijack your build thread.

I got the pistons pulled today, no issues. Crank and cylinder walls look good! A new OEM rod is on the way to replace the bent one and I will be replacing the rings and rod bearings so those will be ordered soon. The work bench is a mess but it looks like I just pulled a V12 apart with all these rods and pistons spread out on it





The non VVTI rods & pistons next to the VVTI rods & pistons

Wait, you're telling me you're not going to weld the blocks together and put in a custom crank (and redo the cooling and stuff too)????? I thought you were trying to turn it into a V12 2JZ

sierrablue wrote:Wait, you're telling me you're not going to weld the blocks together and put in a custom crank (and redo the cooling and stuff too)????? I thought you were trying to turn it into a V12 2JZ

Firing up the CNC now. 6L 4JZ coming up

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The parts are piling up! I finally found a good deal on a crown vic front end and jumped on it. Hauled ass to Ft Worth last night and stuffed it into the back of the daily! This one is from a 2010 police cruiser with only 50k miles and everything looks to be in very good condition.

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That's awesome!

I had a crazy thought--you're doing a 2wd swap, and looking to save weight--could a unibody conversion be a good option?

sierrablue wrote:That's awesome!

I had a crazy thought--you're doing a 2wd swap, and looking to save weight--could a unibody conversion be a good option?

Theses Jeeps were never designed for that so I would say no. However, I'm sure a significant amount of weight could be saved by ditching the factory frame for a custom tube chassis integrated into the body. But I'm not a chassis builder so I will make due with the original frame.

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SJohn wrote: ↑Fri Feb 24, 2023 8:18 am

sierrablue wrote:That's awesome!

I had a crazy thought--you're doing a 2wd swap, and looking to save weight--could a unibody conversion be a good option?

Theses Jeeps were never designed for that so I would say no. However, I'm sure a significant amount of weight could be saved by ditching the factory frame for a custom tube chassis integrated into the body. But I'm not a chassis builder so I will make due with the original frame.

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Seth, you are correct about it would need a chassis Intergrated. I know a guy that has done that a time or 2 lol. That’s basically how my Bronco is put together. It’s a complete chassis with the body sandwiched in the middle.

There is a reason old unibody cars get chassis put under them for performance use. They are not up to the task.

I knew it would be a lot of work to get it that way, but I just thought it might be a possibility. It would be a lot of work but I think it would be doable.

Steve that's awesome! If I were to pit in the effort on a custom chassis I would toss the crown vic front end and do a built to fit front suspension too. The vic front end is going to be pushing the limits on the width already but others have proved it will work so I know it can be done. Right now I need to figure out how I'm going to get the ride height right before fabbing all the mounts.

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Thanks! It’s just a high performance chassis wearing a bronco body.

For figuring out ride height figure out how high the cross member needs to be. I’d measure a crown Vic and use that for the height then build the frame to that at the height you want it to come out too.

On the off road stuff I build everything at full bump so you know where everything crashes but suspension has to be designed at ride height. So figure out ride height, then work your sheet metal clearances sitting on the bump stops. I’d be willing to cut th rockers shorter to make it sit lowe, but you’d have to channel the body using the stock frame. I’d be real tempted to make a new frame from box tube, it’s not that complicated and you can make it lower than you’ll ever be able to with the factory frame. But if you can reach your ride height goals no reason to not use the factory piece.

Example, with the bronco chassis I was able to obtain a ride height that has 13” of suspension travel with a stock truck with 37’s bolted on it. Double the stock wheel travel, a stock frame would have never allowed that.

Thanks Steve for the tips! From some research, the crown vics had a ground clearance of 5.2 inches from the ground to the bottom of the front suspension crossmember. The factory tire size was 235/55/R17 - 27.2" diameter vs what I plan to run - 275/40/R17 - 25.7" diameter, so 0.75" difference. I wouldn't expect this to make a huge difference on the final ride height - thoughts?
So right now my plan is to set the crossmember on blocks at 5 - 5.2" off the ground, then get the frame sitting level at the correct height for mounting the crossmember. One thing I forgot to do before removing and selling the front axle was marking the axle center line on the frame, so I need to find that information.

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