Crozet Cheap Truck Challenge Build - The Cheap Jeep

jcoleman said:
I told you guys not to let me spot you over that! I'm stuck in limbo between the methodology of driving my rig w/ full-widths and 40's over it and something w/ narrow axles and 33's...PLUS it seems to me there was a successful run over Bodyshop in that same XJ after the flop.

Oh nevermind, "just a little bit driver", what was I THINKING???
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Yeah it made it up after the flop no problem shoot we even was able to start it after being on its side, even though someone in particular would disagree. Haha but jay I'm sure you could tell we was worried about the body damage :D. We just driving it till it falls apart. "just a little bit driver" for the win :driver:
 
just found this thread, havent been on much. looks like fun to me! glad the tires worked out for ya. looks as if all the work paid off. maybe ill catch ya at ure for the jamboree.
 
Quick update...

Took it to the offroad race at the Uwharrie Stables a few weeks ago and gave it another thrashing. I'll let the pics speak for themselves.

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Haven't looked at it too closely for damage yet. Ran all day though with no serious damage that stopped us from running our 3 laps. What we noticed after we loaded it on the trailer was...
- mystery hole in the oil pan close to the starter (looks like something came from the inside out)
- front axle dented in the oil pan from jumping it with no bumpstops
- transmission hardlines rubbed almost in two from the upper control arm rubbing on it
- hole in the side of a TSL from the flop
- right rear and left front shock are toast
- busted battery tray from lawn darting the double
Gonna patch it back up, find a couple more spare TSL's and get it ready to run in the next Crozet Cheap Truck Challenge coming up in March.
 
Well, time for an update...

It's been sitting in the barn since we unloaded it from the Stables race. I've fired it up and let it run couple times in the barn, just to see if the battery still had some juice. Drove it out of the barn and into the shop today so we could start looking it over more closely for damage and getting it ready for the CCTC in March. I just want to mention again that it started up and ran fine.

Here is how it looked right after I got it pulled in the shop.

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So, here is the hole that we had previously noticed in the oil pan. Clearly looks like something tried to come out of the oil pan.

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Started looking it over a bit more closely and noticed a small "issue". We've managed to install an inspection window into the passenger side of the block, right next to the camshaft, it's approx. a 3" x 2" hole. No clue when or how we managed to trash the block like this but it had to have been done at the Stables race. I bet we've ran the Jeep for 30 mins or more since the race though, between loading/unloading it on the trailer, parking it
in the barn, starting it up and letting it run a few times, driving it into the shop today, etc.

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Current game plan is to patch the hole in the oil pan with some JB Weld. Fix the other small problems (blown shocks, cut trans cooler lines, swap tires, etc, etc). As for the giant hole in the block, we are going to attempt to patch/cover/plug the hole and go balls out for one last shot at glory at the CCTC. Neither Aaron or I want to get into swapping the engine, I don't have a spare 4.0 I want to waste and we honestly don't want to spend the time to swap one in. It only has to survive one last thrashing and we plan to make it memorable.

We've definitely got our money's worth and had a blast with this XJ, it has an incredible will to live and nothing we have done has killed it yet. It's been ran hot enough to boil every drop of water out of the cooling system, it's ran on only 2qts of oil, it's been ran on it's side a couple times, it's been jumped like a trophy truck, wheeled like a buggy and driven like a rental. It is only fitting that it make it back to Crozet to run one more CCTC, even if it means we have to bury it on the mountain. See everyone in March :)
 
Worked on the Jeep some tonight.

Got the busted and blown original 1989 shocks out and replaced them with a good set of used Gabriel Red Ryder shocks from a 99, nothing but the "best" of whatever I can find laying around for this rig.

Also got our radiator protection taken care of. Several rigs were sidelined or almost sidelined at the 1st CCTC due to radiator damage. Luckily our radiator survived even though we rear ended another XJ and destroyed our grill. Cut a "decent" bumper off a wrecked parts XJ a few months ago and dug it out of the scrap pile to see if it would work on the race rig. Cut it up a bit with the torch to remove the damaged parts, removed the trashed stock bumper and welded the new bumper directly to the lower radiator support/crossmember.

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Our stock transmission cooler was in pretty rough shape so we needed another one. This is what we came up with, a good used $5 tranny cooler, a free fan and some free expanded aluminum. Decided not to put it back on the front where it could be damaged and wanted it somewhere it would be protected even if Aaron rolled the Jeep again. Welded a piece of scrap square tube across the back doors since they won't open anymore. Just need to get some rubber hose to plumb it in and a switch and inline fuse to wire up the fan.

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No updates right now, the CCTC was cancelled so we didn't fix the hole in the block yet. Just pulled it back in the barn for now, will start back on it when they update us on the status of the CCTC.
 
Definitely not giving up on it. Just putting it on the back burner for now until we get more details on the next CCTC or if I get some free time/extra space in the shop, I'll pull it back in and get it fixed. I'll update after we work on it again.
 
Bringing this back from the dead. Got some changes coming soon, a "new" longblock that doesn't have a hole in the side of it, remount the gas tank in the stock location, put sway bars back on, add some cheap-o bumpstops front and rear and a few other things. Plan is to get it ready to run AA class at the Flats next month :driver: See how the cheap junk holds up in an endurance race.
 
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