'97 Jeep Cherokee XJ 4x4 overland rig

[mannydantyla]

A note about the open ended kammback: You will notice that the upper half has a screen with a half-circular cutout on the bottom edge. This is a perforated base plate, halfway between open and boxed.

Yeah I noticed that too, I was going to ask about that. Is it related to this? http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...ngs-32508.html Probably not

BTW, do you have a build thread or anything for your super beetle? I've always wanted a bw bug..

[freebeard]

I'm all talk and no action, There is an album here with various VWs, but most of the designs I've contemplated haven't reached fruition. Some examples:





If the money shows up the 58 Baja could have either a 1776 stroker Mileage Motor or an EV conversion with a Lexus rear axle. I have both.

The porous covering link is relevant.

[mannydantyla]

I tested the open-ended kammback. I saw a 1 MPG increase from 19.6mpg to 20.6mpg and that's good for about 5% better.

I wrote big thread on it hear: http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...tml#post561305





5%/1mpg was actually more then I thought it would be so I'm pretty sure I'm going to do this - at the very least make a less permanent one that can be attached before my road trips and then removed when done. We'll see.

[mannydantyla]

This is going to be a long and personal post, so TL/DR: I'm not quite sure what the future of this Jeep is at the moment.

My father past away several weeks ago and my brother and I are scattering is ashes at his favorite fishing hole in the New Mexico mountains. That means the next overland adventure is locked and loaded.

I'm also inheriting a dozen grand and his 2009 GMC Sierra 4.3L-V6 2wd reg cab long bed w/ 30k. It's in good condition and could be worth $12-16k. 14/20 city/highway mpg.

So I've started thinking about trading it in and getting a new truck/jeep that already gets good MPG and just as capable offroad. The Chevy Colorado diesel get's 30 mpg highway! The 2018 Jeep Wrangler was supposed to have a turbo diesel option but now they're saying that's only for non-US markets. And I've always wanted a Toyota Tacoma, those are amazing trucks, but the new ones are really big and heavy. Actually, it's as heavy as my old 1983 K10 full size! Which I've decided to sell... I think.

So I don't know if I want to keep putting money into the Jeep, or if I should keep it and get another daily driver and then the Jeep could be a dedicated offroader that doesn't to worry about daily driving. But I would still need to drive it to the mountains, or trailer it. And I don't think the V6 truck could pull it, I don't know. Maybe.

I actually have no idea what I want to do.

Yesterday I looked at 60s VW bugs and 70s super beetles, nice ones that could be a daily driver. At the time I was 100% serious about buying one. In fact I saw one I wanted so much that I ran home from work to get my old K10 ready to be sold so I could buy it asap. Now I'm not so sure. Not practical as it has no heater or AC, so I wouldn't really want to drive them in winter. And in the summer I already have a cool daily driver: my 1974 Honda CL200 motorcycle.

Maybe I should just invest the money.

Maybe I could wait to trade in the GMC until VW's new electric Bus comes out... !!

Also, I have a wedding to pay for, a honey moon to pay for, and I'm in the middle of paying for a kitchen remodel. All new appliances, cabinets, countertops, floor...

Yesterday I was working on the Jeep - I was using Evapo-Rust brand radiator rust remover to remove rust out of the cooling system. The stuff works awesome. But when I was putting the new coolant, I filled up the radiator and then closed the cap and waited for the thermostat to open. Once it did, I popped the rad cap off and sure enough it needed more coolant added, but I noticed a little bit of smoke came out of the radiator! Exhaust smoke maybe? Maybe I do have a blown head gasket. Makes sense.

Mo money mo prolems

[freebeard]

sorry for your loss, but you could buy mine:



I don't recommend it. Even a late Superbeetle is too old and fragile for a weekly driver. Mid-book jumped $800 in a year, but it's been stuck at $8600 for six months. I need to un-cocoon it and sell. This year's swap-meet season starts with the NW Bug Run.

Here's an example from a previous year:



A Pinto four in a dune buggy. Cleanest engine install I can imagine, with the muffler hugging the block and the Optima laid on it's side. IIRC they were asking $2-4K. You could add your own extended A-arms and bully bar.

Of course, the honeymoon or the kitchen could eat your whole nest egg and burp.

[mannydantyla]

Long time no update

New parts installed:

• Front end skid plate from Rusty's Offroad
• Lower Control Arm skid plates
• Cold Air Intake, also from Rusty's. Filter is made by AirRaid
• 1" Throttle body spacer, also from Rusty's. Folks say it doesn't do anything for power and fuel economy, but it was free with the air intake kit
• I replaced the cheapo fuel injectors from Ebay with brand new ones from RockAuto. The used ones started crapping out and the #4 one stopped working completely.
• I also cleaned the throttle body and Idle Air Control valve (it was really dirty!) and idle is much smoother now

I'll try and get pics of the new skid plates and engine parts to show you guys

Got some new MPG readings!

High traffic, "inner city" driving: 14 mpg
Normal city driving in the suburbs: 15.5 mpg
Cruising at 60-65 mph: 24 mpg
Cruising at 75-80 mph: 21 mpg

Getting a lot better!!

[mannydantyla]

This is the skid plate, but not my Jeep and not my picture.



It's not the plate with the dimples in it, that's part of the bumper, it's the one below that. 3/16" plate steel, kinda heavy. It's also reaches a lot closer to the ground on mine than on this Jeep in the pic which is probably lifted 6" while mine is only lifted 2". So on mine, the bottom of the skid plate is right at the height of the axle tube. It actually doesn't extend much below the lower extent of the air dam either

[littlecars]

Thanks for Jeep XJ thread on economy! My '95 XJ gets 24MPG regularly. Is that good? - Here's how: Tires @ 44PSI, Synthetic 10-40 hi mileage oil, clean air filter, a light foot! And my XJ is a manual transmission Jeep. I'd say speeds 60 or under are the most helpful, as our XJs are aerodynamic bricks. XJs run hot, so I've deleted my A/C (not much of a sacrifice here in high and dry Colorado) and for off road crawling, I pop my hood and insert 2 large diameter 6 inch long foam noodle sections under each side of hood popped to safety catch, to prevent bouncing. I like the vents but resist cutting my hood! Perhaps I could buy a hood from a salvage yard for that experiment?

[mannydantyla]

Originally Posted by littlecars

Thanks for Jeep XJ thread on economy! My '95 XJ gets 24MPG regularly. Is that good? - Here's how: Tires @ 44PSI, Synthetic 10-40 hi mileage oil, clean air filter, a light foot! And my XJ is a manual transmission Jeep. I'd say speeds 60 or under are the most helpful, as our XJs are aerodynamic bricks. XJs run hot, so I've deleted my A/C (not much of a sacrifice here in high and dry Colorado) and for off road crawling, I pop my hood and insert 2 large diameter 6 inch long foam noodle sections under each side of hood popped to safety catch, to prevent bouncing. I like the vents but resist cutting my hood! Perhaps I could buy a hood from a salvage yard for that experiment?

Yup 24mpg average is pretty good, that's what my goal is honestly, but from what I understand the automatic AW-4 is a power sucker. Swapping to an AX-15 (manual) is a worthy swap, but you need a (rare) manual XJ donor vehicle, too many parts missing from a manual TJ wrangler. Manual XJs that would normally be destined for the scrap yard are instead fetching $1-$2k just because they have the AX-15. You need the shifter linkage, clutch pedal and linkage and everything else, master and slave cylinder stuff, etc.

For low speed crawling, it's better to lift the back of the hood by the windshield (and you accomplish this by using spacers and longer bolts on the hood's hinges). This lets hot air escape the engine compartment, rather then ambient air enter from the front. But at slow enough speeds it doesn't matter as much.

[littlecars]

Lifting the rear of the hood is a great idea! A spare hood from self-serve salvage yard, spaced and lifted a bit in the rear and vented on either side of the front should be ideal for summer crawling.