Reminds me so much of my youth in the late sixties. Fridays at a 1/5th outlaw track was more of a social gathering than true racing. I had to save up for weeks to buy a hurst shifter for my 67 mustang, because the ford stock shifter sucked big time. For me it meant I could finally shift hard. Just a little thing like that made me happy and made for a good time. More friends getting together, having a good time, and staying out of trouble.
I'm not watching this because I don't think you can do it, or because I do think you can do it, I'm watching for the fun of the challenge. Nobody knows exactly how you may or may not get there, but there will be a lot to discover, and fun had. That's really what I think the heart of this challenge is.
If I have the numbers right and I think I do, the new program that Doc writes will do most of the leg work. I'm not throwing shade I just know how much can be done with a good tune. But of course you need a person in the seat that knows how to drive it. It'll be an interesting project
I'm honestly surprised they didn't just do the ecm whatever, delete some of the extras, swap a deeper gear LSD rear in it and spray a 100 shit at it and call it budget. That's been the recipe for the magazines since ... Well... 1996.
Little bit of a cool suggestion. Once this car reaches it s final form. Since it is a RockAuto source build. Can you do a cool little magnet like they have?
@@jseal21the tune will do most if not all of the leg work power gain wise for sure but that wheel spin and less than ideal suspension is... A really big deal. Add 50 HP without addressing the traction and weight transfer I bet the et would be worse lol... a limited slip, slight leaf spring mods, a couple well placed bad shocks and 200lbs off the weight has potential to drop at least a full sec in the eighth... Any gained power will only really help if its put to the ground so id wager that the chassis setup is far more important
THIS is the channel I signed up for. I build fast modern euro cars, and have for 30 years. Believe it or not, I learn MORE from these ‘getting the most from stock stuff’ videos.. It makes you think and get creative
TIRES: Used snow tires will give you 3 bangs for your buck...all the traction that 4.0 needs (they have a softer compound rubber), will save 5-10 # per tire AND will be cheap. WEIGHT can be reduced in the rear leaf springs by cutting the back halves off all but the main spring, and that will also help with weight transfer. Great project Tony we're all having fun with this one!
Love this series on the XJ Tony. It takes me back to the late 80's with my fox body mustang when like you I had very little money to spend on speed equipment. So I spent time working on the suspension. I removed the sway bars, removed the front lower control arms, ground the serrations on the inner bushing sleeve add a thin shim washer each side of the control arm and added a small amount of grease. You could rise the control all the to the top of it's travel with one finger and when you let go of it, it fell like a stone to the bottom of it's travel. I did the same with the rear suspension link bars and straight away there was an improvement in the 60 foot times. I can't wait to see the final results.
Good comfort call on the A/C, Tony. Save the delete kit for another car, but liberate the spare tire, roof rubber, wheel fairings, bumper ends and side door rubbers to compensate. A rubber plug will replace the rear deck lid wiper and sans tunes, ostensibly a radio and speaker delete, too. Rock on.
"Anyone playing along at home..." I like that :) This is the complete opposite of those cable TV shows where you come back from commercial and they've bolted on $4,500 worth of cylinder heads, installed a new $9,500 supercharger and put in their new custom rear end they had built for them. I hate that. Totally unrelatable. I'm more impressed by what a poor mechanic can do than a rich one.
You don't like the "garage shows" with the 250million pro-shop, Mopar backed heavy sponsorship, product endorsements, throwing 50k at a clapped out car in 20 minutes and a behind the scenes crew of 20+ mechanics that does the actual work, as the hosts drink beer and call out small RUclips channels??? Well, Sir. I guess. 🤣😂🤣😂
That exactly why this thing needs an explorer 8.8 it’s a less than $200 upgrade, way stronger axle, adds disc brakes and posi and can be found in the junkyards with 3:55 3:73 and 4:10 gears. Same wheel bolt pattern
Best thing about this whole project, is that all 3 of you are just having fun doing it! People get to wrapped up in the numbers & forget that this stuff is supposed to be fun.
Empty that windshield washer fluid resevoir for the track. nearly 8lbs to a gallon. Pull the back seat, I seem to recall it being less than 4 bolts and 5min. It could be back in the Jeep in less time than loading a week of groceries. May be useful..my 92 4.0L loved cheapo Autolite plugs that I side gapped. Had noticeably better throttle response. Port and port match the intake manifold. I made a scoop from aluminum window flashing to go inside the first bay of the grille on the driver side that funnelled up into the factory airbox. It seemed to really like that too.
@@georgewetzel4380Washer fluid is not all water and is less dense than pure water, It is in the 7.5-7.8 pounds per gallon range depending on brand if i remember correctly.
What sense does it make to remove petty sway bars, while keeping the air heavy conditioner? Wouldn't it make more sense to remove the horse from a living room than being busy chasing out the flies that the horse attracted, through its droppings, in the first place? If you can't take the heat, why not wait until autumn and then do your stuff?
If the AC works on something I pick up, I keep it on and working. I've only had a handful of vehicles where it worked, usually its trashed, but when its not, it stays.
yep, "4/50 air conditioning" isn't really that amazing. After 2 hrs on the highway at 75mph, it just beats you up. or maybe it's my age :) but Tony once pointed out that when 4/50 was common, few were cruising at 80 mph on the interstates.
Understand the concept - but removal of the EVAP system will throw a code on ‘96 and later (EBD II). Removal of the sway bars will of course result in sloppier handling. If the goal is to make a cheap faster car that can be still driven on the street, yes, accomplished. But no, I don’t like the CEL on and I want to be able to go around corners at speed with excessive lean.
I know I've said this a lot, but geez, welcome back, Tony! This is the distilled essence I love and the reason I remembered your name from the 80s car magazines.
The 96 up 8.25 sure grips are 29 spline trac-lok no cones. TONS of them in pull a part. Find a V6 dakota or Liberty with one. It will be tight as a drum.
I love these type of builds! I have a 9 second 2014 Mustang but im currently having a blast with my 97 Ranger that has a 96 Explorer 302 swap. Truck retains EFI, 4r70w trans, A/C, and power everything. Engine is all oem ford parts and so far has been a best of 13.38@103 on the street on my Dragy in good air!
@UncleTonysGarage That XJ has been asspacked. Put the hitch back on it, hook the hitch to big tree and bump the back end back into place. That should "fix" the hatch latch. It'll also pull the rear quarters straight.
Basically, build it as if it's your only vehicle. If you have to daily drive your racecar, it needs to be comfortable, reliable and road legal. As someone who only has their daily driver to play with. I know that you have to be careful about how and what you modify. Especially when you're working with a shoestring budget. Most times it's hard just to keep it on the road. Let alone try to make it faster
Hey Tony, open that diff , most 2wd Cherokee had a posi , may need to shim it tighter if it's not worn out ,And a better set of tires. The injector thing is gonna be issue and here's why , the single hole has its limits, in my experience, the Ford tan top injector is a direct swap and noticable change in torque, the 12 hole is double the torque improvement of the 4 hole .
On the drag car I'm building right now I cleaned a 5 gallon bucket of mouse litter and dirt out of the inside of the frame rails, maybe 4 or 5 pounds bur as you say ,"it adds up". What I'm doing is pretty drastic weight reduction but I took 1500 lbs of 59 Ford to the scrap yard following the advice from you over the years.
I absolutely love this series! I'm with many others on a couple points. Snow tires or wore out mud tires for traction, keep the a/c and LONG LIVE HATCH SLAMMER
Groceries up over 48% gas up over 95% in the last three years, insurance has gone up. On a fixed retirement income. Yes pennies matter. I've fixed up some vehicles to sell, profit is minimal, by the time I get tires & brakes, belts & hoses I'm in around $2,000 add in any paint & cleaners. Its expensive just to keep them stock
UT, You remember the magazine article challenge 12.99 for $1299? That was a good one! It was so long ago, the cheap car they started with was a 383/4 spd Road Runner! I think, living in TN, keeping the AC is required. I think that you set your budget a bit low to include the basic vehicle. 3k added to the vehicle is a more real number for vehicle specific parts. I know you came up when ordering headers got you a box with two flanges, 2 collectors and a bench of primary tube diameter, bent pieces of steel tubing. You bolted the flange to the motor and then cut and tacked pieces of tube until you got to the collector. Repeat 7 more times and you were ready to take them out to weld them up! I know that a lot of young people may not be willing to do that to have a set of headers. I do believe that if we did do that, that substituting plexiglass cut to replace the big side and rear windows, should be fair game. I didn't look for 1600 ounces to lose. I went with 100 places to lose a pound at a time! I won't tell how that mag article turned out right now. How about cutting parts off the Cadillac until it would outrun the VW Bug? That was pretty cool, too! I'll be watching, I always love these builds! Ya'll Take Care, John
TONY!!! Explorer axles, pick your ratio, lightens rotational weight with disc brakes. WMS to WMS is close enough. My daily is a 4 door 2wd 5 speed with the exploder axle in it. thing scoots way better than with the stock 3.08s
My daughter is taking her Jetta to our local 1/4 next weekend. It will be her first time down the track. We are both watching these videos for entertainment and to learn a few things. Can't wait to see how it does.
this is a fun little experiment can't wait to see where this goes and yeah on the throw the keys to anyone thing working ac in the summer and working defrost in the winter is a kind of nice thing was fun watching that hatch swing open on the shifts but yeah broken glass is not a fun time and probably less so at a track love the idea of for those playing along at home
I'm not sure how readily snow/ice tires are in your area but here in Canada it's what is needed for winter. But back in the day when I used to run my daily driver and I was cheap then, I'd run winter tires for traction.. softer compound and that. Only problem is driving around with winter tires in hot summer days, they'll wear out really fast.
@@tribble1 Living up here in the snow belt, i can tell you AC really helps quicken the defrost, which can come into play when you do a spring coffee & car show or a "halloween special" cruise night. My 1969 GTO had 1968 side doors since the prior owner was a smoker, and my 68 442 has 'em stock, so i know about those vent windows...they really don't do much if the windows are up and the day is warmer than say, 70 degrees. well, your left hand feels nice, but rest of you on the vinyl seat's getting a little moist if ya know what i mean :) but you're right, it's an aerodymanic issue. the engineers figured it costs less gas to run modern AC and keep the windows up than run 4/70mph.
@@1marcelfilmsright, but you still have the weight in the car. tho today's AC is smaller than the units from the 1970's, if you've ever seen those Hi-C / V8 juice cans :)
In Walton County in GA., emissions inspection is something we chuckle about as we pull all the emissions crap off the car. Move to another county, you'll hope you saved the parts but here, we're hot rod heaven. 😀
Have you pulled the spare tire out of it? That will save you 35 mounds or so. Will still keep it stock as well. You can remove yhe jack and tire when you get to the track just like you might take your toolbox or whatever else you brought with you out so that you can make the pass.
Tony the internet says 1996 Laredo had the Sure grip so it was an option in that year. Too bad you cant SWAP rear ends with your Jeep which has the sure grip in it to save money and both Jeeps would still be usable (I know that is not possible with your "Exercise" guidelines... Love your approach and hopefully you will be able to shed the excess weight without ditching the AC (it would be an easy way to lose 60# so your treading the hard road less traveled). Keep up the good fun, we all need a laugh and something to root for... GO UTG! Its good to see you collaborate with others too to dispel the notion your a lone wolf.
Remove the cat. You’ll be shocked at how much that improves things. Did it on 5 of them, worked on each one. Actually on 4 of them I hollowed them because in PA it needs to be there for the visual inspection. On my ‘94 I cut the pipe off, expanded the ends of the case, slid a 2.5 pipe through and re-welded it. A cherry bomb and a custom bent 2.5 tail completed the exhaust. A piece of schoolbus tailpipe and a used eBay K&N filter was my cold air induction. High quality cap and rotor ( brass terminals inside), HP wires ( can’t remember accel, msd etc) accell plugs. This was 20 years ago on a ‘94 Cherokee Sport 2-door 4.0 5-speed. Do not do not do not ruin that AC. If the frame and floors aren’t all rotted that thing will bring 5k easy here in PA, so don’t ruin it.
Lived in middle TN pretty much all my life... Call me a wus, but AC is an absolute necessity, so I understand your decision there. Cars without AC will just sit for most of the summer, except for those rare 80* low humidity days.
The spirit of the vehicle you would save a few extra bucks for tires. Toyo proxes, mastercraft avenger, bfg T/A, cooper cobra, M/T Sportsman... All reasonably priced tires and generally were available in 96.
You should try letting the tires down. It's not a forgone conclusion that the tyres will behave the way you believe. Tires designed for a 4x4 all terrain will give enough side wall give to give you a longer tread pattern without losing contact in the centre because that's what works in off road terrain.
One thing about the cost. What would Dr Art's services cost for people that don't have a computer guru down the road? I think that should also be calculated into the cost.
When you said you were going to pick up mission improbable it was gonna be something we didn't expect. Before I found out an xj was definitely my guess. I sure love xjs. I've got one just like that except it's emerald green pearl.
If you can't find a sure grip, if you know someone with a metal lathe get bronze thrust plates machined up to fit between the spider/ planetary gears and the crown gear housing, it will behave as like a LS diff under full power.
Try Vitour Galaxy tires there supposed to be 400 treadwear and grip good that's what I'm planning on for my cutlass with 509 to the crank. Cooper Cobra's bite good on my 97 silverado with open diff, slightly bigger comp cam and modified heads and black bear performance tune
17:25 UTG, consider the cool rule that the Grassroots Motorsport $2000 challenge of recouping $$$ by selling parts off the car and allow that to go back into your budget Example: buy a set of stock *lightweight* wheels for $100, sell the aftermarkets for $250, then you get $150 back to use for tires!
Find some used M/T tires. They are inexpensive. The compound is much softer than an A/t. And the ground contact at the correct pressure is equivalent to an a/t. The softer compound will help with the traction. Best option you seem to have with a budget in mind.
Tony, I would swap all rear and side glass for tinted lexan, remove the rear seat, remove carpeting. Also, put spacers in the hood hinges. Cherokees have terrible underhood aerodynamics. You could also swap to manual steering of course and also run on battery only at the track (no alternator drag). I would also gut the rear hatch as they are heavy. Removing the exterior waistline trim would shed a few pounds. Too bad you are limiting engine mods, the '99 and newer intake and exhaust breathes a lot better. Have fun!!
Using some LED bulbs instead of the incandescent bulbs should reduce the parasitic draw on the alternator. Possibly Reduce the amount of oil in the sump by one quart. HalfShaft the throttle body. (Which is a mod similar to what to do if it vizard it to the two barrel carb) Get rid of the accordion section of the clean air tube coming from the filter box to the throttlebody.(using another one from a junkyard, and a silicone Coupler) Port match the exhaust manifold. Possibly replace the fuel filter, i’m sure there’s some restrictions after all these years. Painters tape over panel gaps. (Like eco modders) Reduce airflow into the grille. (that plastic cardboard used for signs is lightweight and works well ) Sound dampening and extra fluids inner fender (and possibly fender flares) need to go. Add weight to the rear bumper and spare tire (by filling with water) Get the correct tires and suregrip for the 96 XJ.
Remove the bumpers , roof lining front hood doesn’t need its framing does it so what if you have to pin it down . Grill is just weight. Remove all sound deadening.
Whatever you do, don’t break that rear window in the hatch. The glass companies cannot get a replacement. At least that was the situation a couple years ago and I doubt anybody has made any more since.
Hatch latch is super easy .. bungee cord to a seat bracket from inside. Easy peasy. I got a question about xj's...do they run a pinion snubber? If so you already know where im going with this even if it's officially just a bump stop...block it out with longer bolts and some 2x2 box tubing and bam...axle wrap eliminated. Check and fix pinon angle while at it. Preload the rh side spring somehow, maybe even old school air shocks. Correct pinion angle, limit axle wrap up and preload rh side spring at those 180ish hp at the wheels will launch straight and true and you know it will stick! Love this stuff Tony you know the deal
You have asked what is half welding of the diff. Everyone calls it differently. Welding between a couple of gear teeth on each side gear. So the diff still has some freedom but locks if one side spins significantly more than the other.
That would still act like a welded diff. The spider gears need to rotate around for it to act like a diff. Welding just a couple of teeth would basically just turn it into an unpredictable welded diff. Sometimes would lock when you turn and sometimes might not depending on where the welded teeth end up. Not exactly friendly if the idea is unfamiliar people could drive it in the rain.
My vote for tires is some sort of used, ice focused, non-studded winter tire. Just need them worn down enough that they don't have too much tread block flex.
Was a full sized spare tire an option back then? A donut spare would be a savings. Ditch the fender flares any trim/logos. Pull any light bulbs not needed. Remove any insulation under carpet, etc. Remove hitch if it has 1. Install a relay to turn off alterntor when making a pass. Remove air filter. Run premium gas,advance ignition. Remove back seat. Pull the plastics inside and holesaw the shit out of everything, replace plastic. Remove wiring for courtesy lighting. Gut glovebox and optional compartments. Remove dash vent tubing, not defrost. Gut the radio. Remove speakers. Remove rear wiper insert. Remove rear wiper wash tank and wiring Remove center caps on wheels.
Tony, a suggestion for tires, I recently had to buy 2 sets of tries for of course 2 different cars. The late model SUV got B F Goodrich Assurance4 and they hit the wallet pretty good. The second car (08 chevy w/3.9 multi port, strong, very strong) I bought Kelly's and I am really impressed with them, for a budgets tire I wish I had bought them for the SUV too now.
those axles are everywhere but watch the ratio you want to have cuz the carrier is different! i ended up with a trac-lok from a dakota the exact right gear that i already bought
Google fozzy locker ....it's like a auto locker in the fact that it still allows it to turn in parking lots and stuff but will lock when it spins so you can still drive in the rain and acts normal until it slips some. Basically just weld every other web on the side spider gears with them out of the diff. Then reinstall and if you ever wanna go back stock or add spool or locker you have that option. I ran one for a good year on and off road never had a prob
Get yourself an inexpensive durometer (tool) for use while trying to find suitable tires. Useful for other jobs too. HUGE differences in rubber compounds.
i was going to say sense you can tune the ecu/pcm/engine control module. id be very tempted to get a ecotec m90 gen 3 pefereable supercharger and maybe the injectors from a wrecking yard .maybe map sensor to and just plumb it up to jeep.it would be a good experiment for the tow XJ. build the hybrid kit on this car and converter it over to the tow car. run standard boost
Jeep must of had the ac figured out back then. My 05 wrangler had never been recharged or had any ac work done to it for 300k miles and still blew ice cold for 18 years
Torsion style mechanical limited slip is the best of both worlds. Drives just like an open diff rain or shine but will stayed locked up on launches. Not a true locker but better than the clutch and frictions style limited slips by far.
Lose the front sway bar like you was saying mabey some air shocks in the back and clamp the rear leafs. Mabey a little lower tire pressure in the rear. Stuff im sure youve thought of. Love your channel!
Good stuff Unk!!! So better weight transfer, fresh rubber (max option size ), a bit more tire pressure to handle the extra weight, and maybe some worn shocks....I'd try a run without the posi just to see
Tony look into an Explorer rear…it’s a 8.8 31 spline and come in ratios from low 3`s to 411`s and I was told they are bolt in…I bought one for my sons car 373 posi 31 spline rear disc brakes we did the left tube shorten for $200. the older ones have drum
Assuming that the Jeep came with the stock 15" Wheels you should be able to get couple of 255/60/R15 up to 275/60/R15 on the back to get good grip on decent tires hopefully it wont penalize the top speed that much but at least get the best reaction and launch time with minimal to no spin at launch, the front should do fine with 225/60/R15 or less for daily driving. As for the AC keep it, back in the 90's my dad got a used 84 Cherokee Wagoneer and that thing came with a broken AC and was annoying sitting on the back of this thing on long trips specially on hot summer, I wont deny it was fun driving the jeep on the sandy beach and mountain in Mexico and California, man I miss those days. Ironically that's when I appreciated having working AC on cars from there on.
DONT REMOVE THE AC! For the obvious reasons, its a driver. Cooper makes some great tires made in USA! Put them on our magnum good grip and ride. Concentrate on traction, drag shocks on front 90/10 85/20 good spend of $100, improvement air intake filter see David visatd he just went through this with mustang. bigger exhaust. This works as the start for driver car, 2 sec off 1/4 mile time and gains in top speed, did these on our 95 neon, made it fun to drive. Better milage. Be watching you.😅
Jeep Cherokee will not function properly if you remove the AC. If I understand, the Jeep must function normally as part of the rules. Defrosting system utilizes the AC to blow dry air across the inside of the front windshield. :) Jeep Cherokee IS the Inline 6. Something to think about. A lot of respect should be paid to the reliability of the Jeep Inline 6.
Tony you know how to lighten the machine and that will be necessary to do what you want. I think 13’s with it is possible with a sure grip, some good sticky track tires and some head work. I had no idea those weighed in that heavy since the sheet metal is modern car thin and they are not super overloaded with gadgets and gizmos. I don’t know you but I think you will make your goal. Personally, I would keep the AC if possible like you decided. Not a whole lot of working AC in drag machines running around. You have two choices, reduce weight or increase power that is what you can do. More and more tracks are moving from quarter mile to eighth mile for speed and safety concerns. The problem you may or may not have had yet are that many track cars are now built for one or the other but not necessarily for both distances. You can have an eighth mile car super high powered, geared low that will dominate but on the quarter mile track find it gets run down because the car was not built for that far and it has run out of safe RPM shortly after an eighth mile. It may still run a respectable quarter mile but certainly not dominate like it did on the short track. On something lower powered like a 13 second quarter mile car like you are building that issue probably won’t be a concern but something to be aware of especially if you are revving high at top end on the end of the eighth mile. That is when the eighth mile time formulated in to a quarter mile time can trick a guy into thinking they have a faster quarter mile machine than they really do. Good luck, you can do it.
My 99 xj has 29 spline 8.25 stock early ones are 27 . If you're doing an upgrade why not . I also added rear disk brakes from an 98 grand cherokee cheep up grade if you're cruising the wrecking yard anyway. I know it doesn't make it any faster. I would do it again worth while IMHO
So would a used air shock on the right rear be out of the question ? Battery to the right rear ? Or Li-ion battery up front ? On the electrical side, new ground side wiring. Tie the Bat (-) to the chassis w #4 welding cable crimped and soldered in a Y to the ECU mount and the alternator mount. Both need to see absolute ground w/o years of crevice corrosion. Then start playing with the ECU and the tune 😁 So back in the day, we used Atlas Plycron tires to hook on the street. OK, they don't sell them any more, but I'm thinking there may be a chart of durometer readings for modern tires that will lead to the best hook on street tires ... 😇
On the subject of tires, find a set of P235/75R15 with the lowest UTQG treadwear rating you can find, with a highway tread design with minimal siping. My suggestion is the Atlas Paraller H/T
Tires are consumables, just like gas and oil, and should not be counted in your budget limit. Old hard tires are also a safety issue on a street driven car.
@@UncleTonysGarageFullway performance tires were good on my 01 regal, soft compound and quite grippy, couldn't spin them with the 3800 in the dry. They wore down on the front quick
Some cheap Walmart Douglas tires seem to have a softer compound that you may benefit from. Is alternating the air box, and a basic port and polish on the head and intake within the rules? I’d say leave the spare tire and jack to help with weight on the rear end. Worn out front shocks, but run a single air shock on the rear? I’m trying to think original equipment, and keep wandering back to aftermarket. Ya! This is going to be challenging! Can’t wait to see what come out of your bag of tricks! Where’s Uncle Crystal been? Just dawned on me, we haven’t seen her in a while.
I had some cheap fullway tires off Amazon that were pretty soft and had quite a bit of grip for my Regal. Not much price difference from Douglas. I broke some Douglas tires before
Reminds me so much of my youth in the late sixties. Fridays at a 1/5th outlaw track was more of a social gathering than true racing. I had to save up for weeks to buy a hurst shifter for my 67 mustang, because the ford stock shifter sucked big time. For me it meant I could finally shift hard. Just a little thing like that made me happy and made for a good time. More friends getting together, having a good time, and staying out of trouble.
I'm not watching this because I don't think you can do it, or because I do think you can do it, I'm watching for the fun of the challenge. Nobody knows exactly how you may or may not get there, but there will be a lot to discover, and fun had. That's really what I think the heart of this challenge is.
You nailed it!
If I have the numbers right and I think I do, the new program that Doc writes will do most of the leg work. I'm not throwing shade I just know how much can be done with a good tune. But of course you need a person in the seat that knows how to drive it. It'll be an interesting project
I'm honestly surprised they didn't just do the ecm whatever, delete some of the extras, swap a deeper gear LSD rear in it and spray a 100 shit at it and call it budget. That's been the recipe for the magazines since ... Well... 1996.
Little bit of a cool suggestion. Once this car reaches it s final form. Since it is a RockAuto source build. Can you do a cool little magnet like they have?
@@jseal21the tune will do most if not all of the leg work power gain wise for sure but that wheel spin and less than ideal suspension is... A really big deal. Add 50 HP without addressing the traction and weight transfer I bet the et would be worse lol... a limited slip, slight leaf spring mods, a couple well placed bad shocks and 200lbs off the weight has potential to drop at least a full sec in the eighth... Any gained power will only really help if its put to the ground so id wager that the chassis setup is far more important
Should call that jeep "The Hatch Slammer". It will kinda match up with Slag Hammer lol
Especially considering when he launches it, the hatch pops open swings back and slams back down. Lol
It's a perfect name for the project! Uncle Tony! C'mon, man! Hatch slammer is it! Do it. Do it. Do it.
Hag slammer
THIS is the channel I signed up for. I build fast modern euro cars, and have for 30 years. Believe it or not, I learn MORE from these ‘getting the most from stock stuff’ videos.. It makes you think and get creative
Okay so...
If you need 400lbft and you have oem turbo capacity of moving air worth of 300lbft or torque.
You still need to buy bigger Turbo.
@@yehornaumov5893 and?
I like the cool fox body trick with the hatch popping open 😂
TIRES: Used snow tires will give you 3 bangs for your buck...all the traction that 4.0 needs (they have a softer compound rubber), will save 5-10 # per tire AND will be cheap. WEIGHT can be reduced in the rear leaf springs by cutting the back halves off all but the main spring, and that will also help with weight transfer. Great project Tony we're all having fun with this one!
Love this series on the XJ Tony. It takes me back to the late 80's with my fox body mustang when like you I had very little money to spend on speed equipment. So I spent time working on the suspension. I removed the sway bars, removed the front lower control arms, ground the serrations on the inner bushing sleeve add a thin shim washer each side of the control arm and added a small amount of grease. You could rise the control all the to the top of it's travel with one finger and when you let go of it, it fell like a stone to the bottom of it's travel.
I did the same with the rear suspension link bars and straight away there was an improvement in the 60 foot times.
I can't wait to see the final results.
Good comfort call on the A/C, Tony. Save the delete kit for another car, but liberate the spare tire, roof rubber, wheel fairings, bumper ends and side door rubbers to compensate. A rubber plug will replace the rear deck lid wiper and sans tunes, ostensibly a radio and speaker delete, too. Rock on.
"Anyone playing along at home..." I like that :) This is the complete opposite of those cable TV shows where you come back from commercial and they've bolted on $4,500 worth of cylinder heads, installed a new $9,500 supercharger and put in their new custom rear end they had built for them. I hate that. Totally unrelatable. I'm more impressed by what a poor mechanic can do than a rich one.
Exactly. Or any show, renovation$, etc.
Well said!!👍
Always informative and entertaining as usual. Good on ya man.
You don't like the "garage shows" with the 250million pro-shop, Mopar backed heavy sponsorship, product endorsements, throwing 50k at a clapped out car in 20 minutes and a behind the scenes crew of 20+ mechanics that does the actual work, as the hosts drink beer and call out small RUclips channels??? Well, Sir. I guess. 🤣😂🤣😂
That exactly why this thing needs an explorer 8.8 it’s a less than $200 upgrade, way stronger axle, adds disc brakes and posi and can be found in the junkyards with 3:55 3:73 and 4:10 gears. Same wheel bolt pattern
Best thing about this whole project, is that all 3 of you are just having fun doing it!
People get to wrapped up in the numbers & forget that this stuff is supposed to be fun.
Empty that windshield washer fluid resevoir for the track. nearly 8lbs to a gallon. Pull the back seat, I seem to recall it being less than 4 bolts and 5min. It could be back in the Jeep in less time than loading a week of groceries.
May be useful..my 92 4.0L loved cheapo Autolite plugs that I side gapped. Had noticeably better throttle response. Port and port match the intake manifold.
I made a scoop from aluminum window flashing to go inside the first bay of the grille on the driver side that funnelled up into the factory airbox. It seemed to really like that too.
Lots of little things can add up to a big gain
Excellent suggestions! Thank you
Water at standard temperature and pressure is 8.34 lb/gal.
I wouldnt consider consumables to be incuded in the budget (tires, belts, fluids…etc)
@@georgewetzel4380Washer fluid is not all water and is less dense than pure water, It is in the 7.5-7.8 pounds per gallon range depending on brand if i remember correctly.
What sense does it make to remove petty sway bars, while keeping the air heavy conditioner? Wouldn't it make more sense to remove the horse from a living room than being busy chasing out the flies that the horse attracted, through its droppings, in the first place?
If you can't take the heat, why not wait until autumn and then do your stuff?
Keep the AC! 60lbs is worth the comfort.
If the AC works on something I pick up, I keep it on and working. I've only had a handful of vehicles where it worked, usually its trashed, but when its not, it stays.
yep, "4/50 air conditioning" isn't really that amazing. After 2 hrs on the highway at 75mph, it just beats you up. or maybe it's my age :) but Tony once pointed out that when 4/50 was common, few were cruising at 80 mph on the interstates.
I am glad you are keeping the air - it ain't broke...
We don't always see eye to eye, Tony but I am glad you got this project back. Hot rodding like it used to be...
Enough talk. You've said it all ten times. Let's go!!!
I guess if the AC wasn’t working you wouldn’t have a problem removing it. I like how Uncle Tony does these experiments to accomplish specific goals!
Understand the concept - but removal of the EVAP system will throw a code on ‘96 and later (EBD II).
Removal of the sway bars will of course result in sloppier handling.
If the goal is to make a cheap faster car that can be still driven on the street, yes, accomplished. But no, I don’t like the CEL on and I want to be able to go around corners at speed with excessive lean.
Please do a remote at the pick n pull when you got to get that 8-1/4" Sure-Grip!
I know I've said this a lot, but geez, welcome back, Tony! This is the distilled essence I love and the reason I remembered your name from the 80s car magazines.
The 96 up 8.25 sure grips are 29 spline trac-lok no cones. TONS of them in pull a part. Find a V6 dakota or Liberty with one. It will be tight as a drum.
Ya, I thought those were 29 spline... if it were that easy to sure-grip my '71 8 1/4" for cheap, I'd be at PickNPull now 😅
I'm really glad you decided to keep the ac.
I was really sweating that one.
I love these type of builds! I have a 9 second 2014 Mustang but im currently having a blast with my 97 Ranger that has a 96 Explorer 302 swap. Truck retains EFI, 4r70w trans, A/C, and power everything. Engine is all oem ford parts and so far has been a best of 13.38@103 on the street on my Dragy in good air!
@UncleTonysGarage That XJ has been asspacked. Put the hitch back on it, hook the hitch to big tree and bump the back end back into place. That should "fix" the hatch latch. It'll also pull the rear quarters straight.
Basically, build it as if it's your only vehicle. If you have to daily drive your racecar, it needs to be comfortable, reliable and road legal. As someone who only has their daily driver to play with. I know that you have to be careful about how and what you modify. Especially when you're working with a shoestring budget. Most times it's hard just to keep it on the road. Let alone try to make it faster
Exactly
Hey Tony, open that diff , most 2wd Cherokee had a posi , may need to shim it tighter if it's not worn out ,And a better set of tires.
The injector thing is gonna be issue and here's why , the single hole has its limits, in my experience, the Ford tan top injector is a direct swap and noticable change in torque, the 12 hole is double the torque improvement of the 4 hole .
Friction modifier?
You could put a Ford Explorer rear axle in. Cheap. You probably don't want change brands. But 8.8 is tough.
On the drag car I'm building right now I cleaned a 5 gallon bucket of mouse litter and dirt out of the inside of the frame rails, maybe 4 or 5 pounds bur as you say ,"it adds up". What I'm doing is pretty drastic weight reduction but I took 1500 lbs of 59 Ford to the scrap yard following the advice from you over the years.
I absolutely love this series! I'm with many others on a couple points. Snow tires or wore out mud tires for traction, keep the a/c and LONG LIVE HATCH SLAMMER
It's a happy little jeep
2:06 just pull the back seat. And maybe the spare tire?
Groceries up over 48% gas up over 95% in the last three years, insurance has gone up. On a fixed retirement income. Yes pennies matter. I've fixed up some vehicles to sell, profit is minimal, by the time I get tires & brakes, belts & hoses I'm in around $2,000 add in any paint & cleaners. Its expensive just to keep them stock
I second the name Hatch Slammer😀
nice!
new rule- you're only allowed to explain the rules ONCE per video from now on 😂
Ditto
Sometimes Uncle Tony's needle gets stuck, over & over & over & over..... LMAO!
No inspections her in Alabama either, thank goodness
UT, You remember the magazine article challenge 12.99 for $1299?
That was a good one! It was so long ago, the cheap car they started with was a 383/4 spd Road Runner!
I think, living in TN, keeping the AC is required. I think that you set your budget a bit low to include the basic vehicle. 3k added to the vehicle is a more real number for vehicle specific parts. I know you came up when ordering headers got you a box with two flanges, 2 collectors and a bench of primary tube diameter, bent pieces of steel tubing. You bolted the flange to the motor and then cut and tacked pieces of tube until you got to the collector. Repeat 7 more times and you were ready to take them out to weld them up!
I know that a lot of young people may not be willing to do that to have a set of headers. I do believe that if we did do that, that substituting plexiglass cut to replace the big side and rear windows, should be fair game. I didn't look for 1600 ounces to lose. I went with 100 places to lose a pound at a time!
I won't tell how that mag article turned out right now. How about cutting parts off the Cadillac until it would outrun the VW Bug? That was pretty cool, too!
I'll be watching, I always love these builds! Ya'll Take Care, John
Try getting a power washer in the the holes in the unibody. How much dirt is packed in there?
That's a good one. Move to the head of the class.
TONY!!! Explorer axles, pick your ratio, lightens rotational weight with disc brakes. WMS to WMS is close enough. My daily is a 4 door 2wd 5 speed with the exploder axle in it. thing scoots way better than with the stock 3.08s
I'm loving this series, I have the grandfather of the xj, an AMC eagle, and seeing what can be done with stock replacement parts it really cool
My daughter is taking her Jetta to our local 1/4 next weekend. It will be her first time down the track. We are both watching these videos for entertainment and to learn a few things. Can't wait to see how it does.
this is a fun little experiment can't wait to see where this goes and yeah on the throw the keys to anyone thing working ac in the summer and working defrost in the winter is a kind of nice thing was fun watching that hatch swing open on the shifts but yeah broken glass is not a fun time and probably less so at a track love the idea of for those playing along at home
I'm not sure how readily snow/ice tires are in your area but here in Canada it's what is needed for winter.
But back in the day when I used to run my daily driver and I was cheap then, I'd run winter tires for traction.. softer compound and that.
Only problem is driving around with winter tires in hot summer days, they'll wear out really fast.
I was thinking the same thing, but bolt them on when he arrives at the strip. Nothing was said about having an extra pair of tires to bring.
@@theclubhouse1209 excatly..
5:52 firestone destination tires are awsome! they last me 79k miles and are great inthe snow!
If you take functioning air conditioning out of that jeep I'll never forgive you.
ain't it funny how as kids, we couldn't imagine losing 20 hp to AC...and now we're glad to not sweat, since its only 15hp price to pay? :)
@@alertgasper when cars lost the A pillar smoker's window AC became mandatory no matter how much HP it costs.
@@tribble1 Living up here in the snow belt, i can tell you AC really helps quicken the defrost, which can come into play when you do a spring coffee & car show or a "halloween special" cruise night. My 1969 GTO had 1968 side doors since the prior owner was a smoker, and my 68 442 has 'em stock, so i know about those vent windows...they really don't do much if the windows are up and the day is warmer than say, 70 degrees. well, your left hand feels nice, but rest of you on the vinyl seat's getting a little moist if ya know what i mean :)
but you're right, it's an aerodymanic issue. the engineers figured it costs less gas to run modern AC and keep the windows up than run 4/70mph.
@@alertgasper just turn it off if you are racing.
@@1marcelfilmsright, but you still have the weight in the car. tho today's AC is smaller than the units from the 1970's, if you've ever seen those Hi-C / V8 juice cans :)
In Walton County in GA., emissions inspection is something we chuckle about as we pull all the emissions crap off the car. Move to another county, you'll hope you saved the parts but here, we're hot rod heaven. 😀
Have you pulled the spare tire out of it? That will save you 35 mounds or so. Will still keep it stock as well. You can remove yhe jack and tire when you get to the track just like you might take your toolbox or whatever else you brought with you out so that you can make the pass.
Rear seat on my XJ pulls out in two pieces for cargo. Just set it up for the tail gate and put it back in when you drive home.
Tony the internet says 1996 Laredo had the Sure grip so it was an option in that year. Too bad you cant SWAP rear ends with your Jeep which has the sure grip in it to save money and both Jeeps would still be usable (I know that is not possible with your "Exercise" guidelines... Love your approach and hopefully you will be able to shed the excess weight without ditching the AC (it would be an easy way to lose 60# so your treading the hard road less traveled). Keep up the good fun, we all need a laugh and something to root for... GO UTG! Its good to see you collaborate with others too to dispel the notion your a lone wolf.
@Uncle Tony's Garage
-Take out the carpet sound padding, put carpet back.
Thanks
COOP
...
Remove the cat. You’ll be shocked at how much that improves things. Did it on 5 of them, worked on each one. Actually on 4 of them I hollowed them because in PA it needs to be there for the visual inspection. On my ‘94 I cut the pipe off, expanded the ends of the case, slid a 2.5 pipe through and re-welded it. A cherry bomb and a custom bent 2.5 tail completed the exhaust. A piece of schoolbus tailpipe and a used eBay K&N filter was my cold air induction. High quality cap and rotor ( brass terminals inside), HP wires ( can’t remember accel, msd etc) accell plugs. This was 20 years ago on a ‘94 Cherokee Sport 2-door 4.0 5-speed. Do not do not do not ruin that AC. If the frame and floors aren’t all rotted that thing will bring 5k easy here in PA, so don’t ruin it.
Lived in middle TN pretty much all my life... Call me a wus, but AC is an absolute necessity, so I understand your decision there. Cars without AC will just sit for most of the summer, except for those rare 80* low humidity days.
The spirit of the vehicle you would save a few extra bucks for tires. Toyo proxes, mastercraft avenger, bfg T/A, cooper cobra, M/T Sportsman... All reasonably priced tires and generally were available in 96.
You should try letting the tires down. It's not a forgone conclusion that the tyres will behave the way you believe. Tires designed for a 4x4 all terrain will give enough side wall give to give you a longer tread pattern without losing contact in the centre because that's what works in off road terrain.
One thing about the cost. What would Dr Art's services cost for people that don't have a computer guru down the road? I think that should also be calculated into the cost.
When you said you were going to pick up mission improbable it was gonna be something we didn't expect. Before I found out an xj was definitely my guess. I sure love xjs. I've got one just like that except it's emerald green pearl.
If you can't find a sure grip, if you know someone with a metal lathe get bronze thrust plates machined up to fit between the spider/ planetary gears and the crown gear housing, it will behave as like a LS diff under full power.
Try Vitour Galaxy tires there supposed to be 400 treadwear and grip good that's what I'm planning on for my cutlass with 509 to the crank. Cooper Cobra's bite good on my 97 silverado with open diff, slightly bigger comp cam and modified heads and black bear performance tune
17:25 UTG, consider the cool rule that the Grassroots Motorsport $2000 challenge of recouping $$$ by selling parts off the car and allow that to go back into your budget
Example: buy a set of stock *lightweight* wheels for $100, sell the aftermarkets for $250, then you get $150 back to use for tires!
Find some used M/T tires. They are inexpensive. The compound is much softer than an A/t. And the ground contact at the correct pressure is equivalent to an a/t. The softer compound will help with the traction. Best option you seem to have with a budget in mind.
I like what your doing with the jeep
I was really hoping you'd keep the A/C. The spirit of the vehicle includes A/C. Thumbs up
Tony, I would swap all rear and side glass for tinted lexan, remove the rear seat, remove carpeting. Also, put spacers in the hood hinges. Cherokees have terrible underhood aerodynamics. You could also swap to manual steering of course and also run on battery only at the track (no alternator drag). I would also gut the rear hatch as they are heavy. Removing the exterior waistline trim would shed a few pounds. Too bad you are limiting engine mods, the '99 and newer intake and exhaust breathes a lot better. Have fun!!
Keep the a/c it's Tennessee its a tight budget tires and rear end will eat up a few bucks
Using some LED bulbs instead of the incandescent bulbs should reduce the parasitic draw on the alternator.
Possibly Reduce the amount of oil in the sump by one quart.
HalfShaft the throttle body. (Which is a mod similar to what to do if it vizard it to the two barrel carb)
Get rid of the accordion section of the clean air tube coming from the filter box to the throttlebody.(using another one from a junkyard, and a silicone Coupler)
Port match the exhaust manifold.
Possibly replace the fuel filter, i’m sure there’s some restrictions after all these years.
Painters tape over panel gaps. (Like eco modders)
Reduce airflow into the grille. (that plastic cardboard used for signs is lightweight and works well )
Sound dampening and extra fluids inner fender (and possibly fender flares) need to go.
Add weight to the rear bumper and spare tire (by filling with water)
Get the correct tires and suregrip for the 96 XJ.
Awesome project Tony!!!❤
Remove the bumpers , roof lining front hood doesn’t need its framing does it so what if you have to pin it down . Grill is just weight. Remove all sound deadening.
Whatever you do, don’t break that rear window in the hatch. The glass companies cannot get a replacement. At least that was the situation a couple years ago and I doubt anybody has made any more since.
Hatch latch is super easy .. bungee cord to a seat bracket from inside. Easy peasy.
I got a question about xj's...do they run a pinion snubber? If so you already know where im going with this even if it's officially just a bump stop...block it out with longer bolts and some 2x2 box tubing and bam...axle wrap eliminated. Check and fix pinon angle while at it. Preload the rh side spring somehow, maybe even old school air shocks. Correct pinion angle, limit axle wrap up and preload rh side spring at those 180ish hp at the wheels will launch straight and true and you know it will stick!
Love this stuff Tony you know the deal
Pure hot rod fun and shiny too!😎
I am going to keep a eye on on this
You have asked what is half welding of the diff. Everyone calls it differently. Welding between a couple of gear teeth on each side gear. So the diff still has some freedom but locks if one side spins significantly more than the other.
That would still act like a welded diff. The spider gears need to rotate around for it to act like a diff. Welding just a couple of teeth would basically just turn it into an unpredictable welded diff. Sometimes would lock when you turn and sometimes might not depending on where the welded teeth end up.
Not exactly friendly if the idea is unfamiliar people could drive it in the rain.
@@NBSV1 I got used to it pretty quickly. Not saying it's the greatest thing but it gets the job done.
My vote for tires is some sort of used, ice focused, non-studded winter tire. Just need them worn down enough that they don't have too much tread block flex.
Was a full sized spare tire an option back then?
A donut spare would be a savings.
Ditch the fender flares any trim/logos.
Pull any light bulbs not needed.
Remove any insulation under carpet, etc.
Remove hitch if it has 1.
Install a relay to turn off alterntor when making a pass.
Remove air filter.
Run premium gas,advance ignition.
Remove back seat.
Pull the plastics inside and holesaw the shit out of everything, replace plastic.
Remove wiring for courtesy lighting.
Gut glovebox and optional compartments.
Remove dash vent tubing, not defrost.
Gut the radio.
Remove speakers.
Remove rear wiper insert.
Remove rear wiper wash tank and wiring
Remove center caps on wheels.
Tony, a suggestion for tires, I recently had to buy 2 sets of tries for of course 2 different cars. The late model SUV got B F Goodrich Assurance4 and they hit the wallet pretty good. The second car (08 chevy w/3.9 multi port, strong, very strong) I bought Kelly's and I am really impressed with them, for a budgets tire I wish I had bought them for the SUV too now.
those axles are everywhere but watch the ratio you want to have cuz the carrier is different! i ended up with a trac-lok from a dakota the exact right gear that i already bought
Google fozzy locker ....it's like a auto locker in the fact that it still allows it to turn in parking lots and stuff but will lock when it spins so you can still drive in the rain and acts normal until it slips some. Basically just weld every other web on the side spider gears with them out of the diff. Then reinstall and if you ever wanna go back stock or add spool or locker you have that option. I ran one for a good year on and off road never had a prob
I agree, keep the A/C!!!
Get yourself an inexpensive durometer (tool) for use while trying to find suitable tires.
Useful for other jobs too.
HUGE differences in rubber compounds.
i was going to say sense you can tune the ecu/pcm/engine control module. id be very tempted to get a ecotec m90 gen 3 pefereable supercharger and maybe the injectors from a wrecking yard .maybe map sensor to and just plumb it up to jeep.it would be a good experiment for the tow XJ. build the hybrid kit on this car and converter it over to the tow car. run standard boost
Jeep must of had the ac figured out back then. My 05 wrangler had never been recharged or had any ac work done to it for 300k miles and still blew ice cold for 18 years
Torsion style mechanical limited slip is the best of both worlds. Drives just like an open diff rain or shine but will stayed locked up on launches. Not a true locker but better than the clutch and frictions style limited slips by far.
There are no inspections in Oklahoma, either. There is a traffic citation for modified exhaust, but they only use it to harass you for something else.
Also cheap as chips thrush welded mufflers sound great on there. A free flowing exhaust really helps
You will be glad you kept the air I had an xj and you can't get those things to ventilate I about lost it every summer in Ohio with no air
Lose the front sway bar like you was saying mabey some air shocks in the back and clamp the rear leafs. Mabey a little lower tire pressure in the rear. Stuff im sure youve thought of. Love your channel!
Good stuff Unk!!! So better weight transfer, fresh rubber (max option size ), a bit more tire pressure to handle the extra weight, and maybe some worn shocks....I'd try a run without the posi just to see
Regarding the cyl head, intake..polish everything. Word..❤
Tony, I understand these 6 cylinder engines come out of the old rambler. Some of the best six cylinders ever made in my opinion.
Keep the A/C. Good plan
Tony look into an Explorer rear…it’s a 8.8 31 spline and come in ratios from low 3`s to 411`s and I was told they are bolt in…I bought one for my sons car 373 posi 31 spline rear disc brakes we did the left tube shorten for $200. the older ones have drum
Assuming that the Jeep came with the stock 15" Wheels you should be able to get couple of 255/60/R15 up to 275/60/R15 on the back to get good grip on decent tires hopefully it wont penalize the top speed that much but at least get the best reaction and launch time with minimal to no spin at launch, the front should do fine with 225/60/R15 or less for daily driving.
As for the AC keep it, back in the 90's my dad got a used 84 Cherokee Wagoneer and that thing came with a broken AC and was annoying sitting on the back of this thing on long trips specially on hot summer, I wont deny it was fun driving the jeep on the sandy beach and mountain in Mexico and California, man I miss those days. Ironically that's when I appreciated having working AC on cars from there on.
Sounds like it is all done, enjoy.
I drove my older sister's WJ, it handled like a boat with a sway bar! I test drove a 1996 Discovery, flat as sports car.
DONT REMOVE THE AC! For the obvious reasons, its a driver. Cooper makes some great tires made in USA! Put them on our magnum good grip and ride. Concentrate on traction, drag shocks on front 90/10 85/20 good spend of $100, improvement air intake filter see David visatd he just went through this with mustang. bigger exhaust. This works as the start for driver car, 2 sec off 1/4 mile time and gains in top speed, did these on our 95 neon, made it fun to drive. Better milage. Be watching you.😅
Jeep Cherokee will not function properly if you remove the AC. If I understand, the Jeep must function normally as part of the rules. Defrosting system utilizes the AC to blow dry air across the inside of the front windshield. :)
Jeep Cherokee IS the Inline 6. Something to think about. A lot of respect should be paid to the reliability of the Jeep Inline 6.
Tony you know how to lighten the machine and that will be necessary to do what you want. I think 13’s with it is possible with a sure grip, some good sticky track tires and some head work. I had no idea those weighed in that heavy since the sheet metal is modern car thin and they are not super overloaded with gadgets and gizmos. I don’t know you but I think you will make your goal. Personally, I would keep the AC if possible like you decided. Not a whole lot of working AC in drag machines running around. You have two choices, reduce weight or increase power that is what you can do. More and more tracks are moving from quarter mile to eighth mile for speed and safety concerns. The problem you may or may not have had yet are that many track cars are now built for one or the other but not necessarily for both distances. You can have an eighth mile car super high powered, geared low that will dominate but on the quarter mile track find it gets run down because the car was not built for that far and it has run out of safe RPM shortly after an eighth mile. It may still run a respectable quarter mile but certainly not dominate like it did on the short track. On something lower powered like a 13 second quarter mile car like you are building that issue probably won’t be a concern but something to be aware of especially if you are revving high at top end on the end of the eighth mile. That is when the eighth mile time formulated in to a quarter mile time can trick a guy into thinking they have a faster quarter mile machine than they really do. Good luck, you can do it.
My 99 xj has 29 spline 8.25 stock early ones are 27 . If you're doing an upgrade why not . I also added rear disk brakes from an 98 grand cherokee cheep up grade if you're cruising the wrecking yard anyway. I know it doesn't make it any faster. I would do it again worth while IMHO
Not year/make/model specific
Gut the radio or find a radio delete panel and use your phone and blue tooth speaker for tunes on the way to the track
So would a used air shock on the right rear be out of the question ? Battery to the right rear ? Or Li-ion battery up front ?
On the electrical side, new ground side wiring. Tie the Bat (-) to the chassis w #4 welding cable crimped and soldered in a Y to the ECU mount and the alternator mount. Both need to see absolute ground w/o years of crevice corrosion. Then start playing with the ECU and the tune 😁
So back in the day, we used Atlas Plycron tires to hook on the street. OK, they don't sell them any more, but I'm thinking there may be a chart of durometer readings for modern tires that will lead to the best hook on street tires ... 😇
On the subject of tires, find a set of P235/75R15 with the lowest UTQG treadwear rating you can find, with a highway tread design with minimal siping. My suggestion is the Atlas Paraller H/T
Or just throw some TOYO R88 on it
Thanks! Do you have a suggestion for a tire that's a little less off-roadie
Tires are consumables, just like gas and oil, and should not be counted in your budget limit.
Old hard tires are also a safety issue on a street driven car.
@@UncleTonysGarageFullway performance tires were good on my 01 regal, soft compound and quite grippy, couldn't spin them with the 3800 in the dry. They wore down on the front quick
Some cheap Walmart Douglas tires seem to have a softer compound that you may benefit from. Is alternating the air box, and a basic port and polish on the head and intake within the rules? I’d say leave the spare tire and jack to help with weight on the rear end. Worn out front shocks, but run a single air shock on the rear? I’m trying to think original equipment, and keep wandering back to aftermarket. Ya! This is going to be challenging! Can’t wait to see what come out of your bag of tricks! Where’s Uncle Crystal been? Just dawned on me, we haven’t seen her in a while.
I had some cheap fullway tires off Amazon that were pretty soft and had quite a bit of grip for my Regal. Not much price difference from Douglas. I broke some Douglas tires before