Project "Scrooloose"

[FlyHiawatha]

I bought an '88 short bed a year ago.  As it was originally intended to be my son's first vehicle, I hadn't planned on doing much with it beyond adding a bumper and a lift.  However, much like peeling an onion, every time we worked on it we found something one of the previous owners had done that no longer made sense.

 

The 4.0L I6 wasn't the original engine.  At some point, someone pulled the 4 banger and dropped 4.0 Renix.  However, the kept the transmission and Peugeot transfer case.  The decision was made to pull the drivetrain, rebuild the 4.0, while updating the electricals to OBD1 and replace the transmission and transfer case with an AX15 and NP 231.  When we looked inside the block, we saw that one of the pistons had etched grooves inside the cylinder.  The hunt for a new engine began.

 

I happened upon a 4.6 stroker engine by luck.  At that point, the build became my ride and my son received a beater XJ that will be his alone.  Since the MJ will now be mine, I made the executive decision to convert from standard transmission to automatic.

 

I mentioned earlier that we decided to make this build OBD1.  The wiring in this vehicle was 25+ years of owner installed wiring, relays, and inline fuses--none of which had any rhyme or reason!  We will be pulling out all wiring, and replacing it with new wiring harnesses and a 1994 ECM.

 

As far as axles went, the segmented D30 front axle had to be made a one-piece, and the rear D35 had to go completely.  I bought the kit to modify the D30, then happened upon a Dana 70U axle (4.11 ratio) on Craigslist at good price so I jumped on it.  I have since acquired a Ford Dana 60 kingpin high pinion axle (4.10 ratio) for the front.  Due to this, the planned 4.5" lift has now become a triangulated 4-link in the front with a 4-link in the rear and coilover all around.

 

More to come!  Pictures later.