neohic

Those little 4 bangers packed a punch after they had been "massaged". They had a laundry list of things they'd do with them off the radar to make sure they'd rev like a dirt bike. Most of the time, they wouldn't have much space to really open them up. Some tracks even had an average speed of 70 mph! Were they made up their time was spooling up fast and cornering. Weight limits too. If you were "X" amount of pounds heavier than the rest of your competitors, you had to pack on a few. Archers got creative with it though putting weight down low to lower the center of gravity and some races they even had a tube in the bed tucked up behind the cab that contained weight that would shift back and forth to better help plant tires in tight corners. ... and for all those who haven't seen it yet, here's a good little video to get your blood pumping...

All the race trucks where 2.5s. With the 2.5s were custom spun coils pared with mono fiberglass leaf springs, rear sway bars, and a host of questionable to SCCA spec modifications.

Everybody (Archers) knows where it is and that it's still available. Dean (seller) uses it and isn't afraid to throw it around the auto cross. Anyhow... someday it'll be mine... just sayin'.

Quit bragging ya dork........ :D Yeah what he said! Hahaha ... still in the original packaging. :peek: :D

^I've got two of those straight from the source.

Can't believe I haven't checked in on this until now. Looks great so far! Big fan of well documented '97+ swaps.

Got the truck loaded up with the Comansion in tow. Closing... leaving... driving... Big day tomorrow.

Right? Oh, the tangled webs we weave... :roll:

Oof... Three more days of work, pick up the truck and load on Thursday, Friday is closing, Saturday is move in.

Actually, 'Nests were made ridiculously universal between make/models. They went off of bed size and that's about it. They had the huge mounting flanges on the inside of them just for that reason. Looks good on there!... now get it done. :smart:

I've got a couple irons in the fire yet. On the return trip last week, we stopped at TNT Customs in Cheyenne, WY. Obviously this is a bit far away to really consider, but that's not to say that they don't have any local friends. :peek:

Excellent choice! Excellent member! Congratulations on your month. Very well deserved, sir. :thumbsup:

Edit: "... fully staffed..." The job I was told I had isn't currently available.

Well, moving the vehicles went well enough. Yesterday I get word that 4 Wheel Parts is "fully staffed at this point" though. Ugh... panic mode.

Seems only fitting that I updated this thread during the last trip to Colorado... I'm on the road again Austin and I took off last night with the buggy, XJ, and the Eliminator in tow. Yup, that's right... moving has officially started!

Well folks, that's it for now. This car, the Eliminator, and the Ape are all making their way out to Colorado this week. Had I had my ducks in a row a little better and had more ambition when it counted, then I probably would be driving it onto a trailer instead of pulling it. Ran into a huge roadblock with the engine in the form of cracks and sloppy dowel pin holes. I've got everything for a full rebuilt minus a good, rebuildable engine. In the future, there'll be minimal wiring to do along with whatever happens with an engine. ... until next time, little guy.

Side note for those interested... :smart: I ran into this too. I did the inside of the box along with the rockers up to the lower belt line. I just kind of accepted it until this year... just couldn't take it anymore. I recently put some new tires on and after mounting they had some goofy spots on them. Figured a can of tire shine would help. Tried a little along the rockers too. Now the Herculiner looks like new!

I was wondering where you've been! Good to see you still poking around. :waving:

Yep... I went and joined the JNJ facebook group. Went looking through some pictures. Liked what I saw. :thumbsup:

This looks interesting! I'll definitely look into this once we get out there. Looks like monthly event, yes?

New thrust washer came in the mail today. One hour later and the Ape was back on the road. ... poser shot, I know. In the past, the Jeep wouldn't climb up on those parking lot rocks. Didn't hardly have to give it any throttle this time! Too bad I probably won't have any time to enjoy it this year.

Been driving the truck a little bit lately... 'tis the season, anyhow. I've also been working on it and cleaning up a few more things on it. Went through the sensors and did a few more fixes, along with one very important Colorado compliant piece of emissions equipment. ... it's also bath day. :D

:wavey:

I would assume they were overlooked when transferring them to the 4.56 carrier. In any case, they're not there now.

Big weekend for the ol' Ape... sort of. Things started off with wanting to loosen up the leaf springs. I took them apart again with the intent of slightly lowering the rear and to soften them up some. Got them apart... took out one leaf... reassembled... then it sat with the nose way high. Okay... :shake: Got them apart again... put that leaf back in and removed another... reassembled... then it sat even worse. Ugh... :fs2: Got them apart one last time... broke a couple bolts in the process... put all the leafs back where they were... now it sits exactly how it sat before after three hours of fiddling around only to accomplish nothing but a couple broken bolts. :wall: How about moving on to the front? The valve cover came off to investigate the top end ticking. Couple rockers are were loose so that wasn't all that big of a deal. Everything got torqued to spec and a fancy new valve cover gasket went on. It sounds a whole lot better now!... albeit still has that same tired old engine feel to it, but the knock is just about gone. I'm going to call that one a win. :roll: Then there's the front axle. The open diff has really been the difference in this Jeep between being an amazing trail rig to a pretty good one. I found a brand new in the box Aussie on a local forum for a real swell price that the guy was nice enough to deliver to my door. Everything got taken apart while I waited for him to show which gave me time to replace a couple of torn tie rod end boots and to clean up the axle which was still wearing last season's caked on mud and other such nature debris. Turns out that the guy ended up running later than originally planned so the install got tabled until this morning... so I planned, anyhow. The differential was sitting on my bench with the spider gears still in it as I didn't want to have anything out of place. The pin came out just fine as did the spider gears... but, wait... something is missing here... ONLY ONE THRUST WASHER?!?! :rant: Obviously someone has been in this axle in the past as the long side has been sleeved, the seals look fairly new, and (again, obviously) the 4.56 gears. Why in the hell wouldn't they put all of the thrust washers back in?! None under the internal spiders?... fine. Only one washer on the outside spiders?... that's just a slap in the face this morning. Nope... no locker install today. As it sits... Now I'm dead in the water over a $2 thrust washer. The one that was there looked to be in fine shape. I should have the replacement sometime this week. In the mean time, at least I've got a fancy new sticker on the window. :doh: