My fiance's new daily driver. 97 XJ.

[jeepjerry]

It was about time to get the girlfriend something newer for a daily driver. She was driving a 89' Cherokee pioneer with a 6.5" lift and 35"s. I put a reman engine in it with pacesetter header and some other goodies so it ran nice and even drove good.

 

 

Came across this '97 from Pat (jeepcomj) and she bought it.

 

 

First thing i did to it was replace the little 2" lift with a 5.5" one with rough country super flex upper and lowers.

 

 

Needed some brake work and other stuff and i took care of it slowly. Got it all ready to go into DD duty and had the pleasant suprise of a knock when the engine warmed up. Never was able to drive it around long enough from when we got it till it was ready to drive to notice the knock. It only got moved around the yard and into and out of the garage. Never knocked at idle. Tore the bottom end apart and found 3 spun main bearings!!... :eek: And a new oil pump... :rotf:

 

I had a good short block in the garage so i tore the head off the knocker to go through and use on the new engine.

 

 

 

 

Completely rebuilt the other engine to stock specs, got it ready and did the swap. Added a 99-up intake manifold in the process as well.

 

 

After that, bought brand new 285/75r16" bfgoodrich all-terrains and mounted them on Cragar v-5s. This is how it turned out. Have less than $2000 in the entire jeep as it sits. Runs and drives great.

 

[JeepcoMJ]

you should pull the bumper out of the back of the 87 and swap end caps lol.

 

I'm glad you got it together. sorry about the motor, but at least you spent under $800 on the thing in the first place.

 

did you fix the driver's floor yet?