Swank Force One wrote: I'm told it's unheard of in the later years. Every Jeep guy so far has reacted with "WTF?!?!"
My friend recently sold his '98. Had that very combo. Gotta be pretty rare though.
Swank Force One wrote: I'm told it's unheard of in the later years. Every Jeep guy so far has reacted with "WTF?!?!"
My friend recently sold his '98. Had that very combo. Gotta be pretty rare though.
EvanB wrote: that's too many red vehicles for one driveway.
There's two more red vehicles in the garage. 
HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE
Very cool. I like that rig a lot. I have a 99 2 door sport, but it has the auto trans. Interestingly mine has the one piece side glass, without the vents. I thought they had made the change earlier than 99, but I guess not.
The vents are awesome. I don't know that they do anything worth talking about, but i've just always loved vehicles with them.
The Escort rear windows are pop-out as well, and they're HUGE. SO much airflow.
I'm probably going to go pick up some junkyard hop-ups this weekend. 00-01 intake manifold and some neon injectors to start. This motor feels REALLY weird compared to the PowerTech in the blue one. Really ballsy right off idle, falls on its face at 3000rpms, which is where the Powertech starts to take off.
I think i can add some power and get a 1-2mpg improvement, so i'm cool with that.
About the only thing this needs is a CD player (wish i had kept the factory headunit out of the blue one) and some motor/trans mounts.
I'll start a build thread. 
In reply to Swank Force One:
Wait, when did they quit making that rear hatch out of fiberglass?
yamaha wrote: In reply to Swank Force One: Wait, when did they quit making that rear hatch out of fiberglass?
I didn't even know they did such a thing?
Swank Force One wrote:yamaha wrote: In reply to Swank Force One: Wait, when did they quit making that rear hatch out of fiberglass?I didn't even know they did such a thing?
The AMC in the barn has a fiberglass hatch....I just figured they all did.
Looks decent. What did you end up paying?
Swank Force One wrote:EvanB wrote: that's too many red vehicles for one driveway.There's two more red vehicles in the garage.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbBQsbd6R6o
I paid asking price, $2500. It's not quite as clean as I remember, but it has a ton of new parts on it and everything works as it should except for the passenger door lock motor. Wasn't worth trying to beat him up over a couple hundred.
So, blew budget by $500, but ended up with a rust free holy grail of XJs. I'll call it even. 
http://youtu.be/yqFW0rBFzQk
berkeley! 
Swank Force One wrote:yamaha wrote: In reply to Swank Force One: Wait, when did they quit making that rear hatch out of fiberglass?I didn't even know they did such a thing?
They all had fiberglass hatches prior to the '97 refresh.
I've always kind of liked the 2 door XJs, friend's dad had an early 2.8l V6 auto 2 door, no rear seat just a big rubber mat for the entire rear cargo area. I loved that thing. You always hear the offroad guys wanting the 2 doors, but there's a few that have been on the local craigslist for months now at reasonable/cheap prices, not sure what gives. The manual option rarely comes up on searches, even for 4 doors, and I seem to be looking for XJs pretty regularly these days. Two door, manual, 4x4, is a rare bird indeed, nice find.
There seems to be a bunch of cheap manuals in Miami area, actually...
(Not all 4x4)
http://miami.craigslist.org/mdc/cto/4731865026.html
http://miami.craigslist.org/mdc/cto/4724933314.html
http://miami.craigslist.org/brw/cto/4704519238.html
http://miami.craigslist.org/mdc/cto/4730861061.html
http://miami.craigslist.org/pbc/cto/4725913158.html
http://miami.craigslist.org/brw/cto/4691897331.html
http://miami.craigslist.org/mdc/cto/4681152830.html
http://miami.craigslist.org/pbc/cto/4682843218.html
http://fortmyers.craigslist.org/lee/cto/4723780045.html
http://fortmyers.craigslist.org/lee/cto/4700665102.html
Is the fiberglass rear hatch any lighter?
In reply to Swank Force One:
Only one of those is 97 and up, which is what I found so surprising about yours. I'd never seen a manual in the later ones.
In reply to Swank Force One:
I'm sure it's lighter, but it won't swap onto a '97+ XJ. The fiberglass hatches had exterior hinges, while the later model steel hatches had internal hinges. I think the tail lights would be in the way too. Not sure how/if the latches differ. I know there's enough physical differences that it won't be a simple unbolt new style, bolt old style in place of it.
Cotton wrote: In reply to Swank Force One: Only one of those is 97 and up, which is what I found so surprising about yours. I'd never seen a manual in the later ones.
I've seen a couple late manuals locally, even a white 2000 a few months ago. But they're almost all 2wd and 4dr. I've only seen one late 5spd 2dr, but it was also 2wd.
bigdaddylee82 wrote: In reply to Swank Force One: I'm sure it's lighter, but it won't swap onto a '97+ XJ. The fiberglass hatches had exterior hinges, while the later model steel hatches had internal hinges. I think the tail lights would be in the way too. Not sure how/if the latches differ. I know there's enough physical differences that it won't be a simple unbolt new style, bolt old style in place of it.
Ah gotcha. Thanks!
Swank Force One wrote: http://youtu.be/yqFW0rBFzQk berkeley!
They aren't even horribly priced. http://rickrimmer.com/Page_2.html
I'll bet you could come up with something cheaper. 
Powar wrote:Swank Force One wrote: http://youtu.be/yqFW0rBFzQk berkeley!They aren't even horribly priced. http://rickrimmer.com/Page_2.html I'll bet you could come up with something cheaper.
That's awesome. I do not need another project, but.....maybe I do.
Oh yeah I found that site quick. Pretty sure I could do that all for $2k or less all in.
Does it have 4.10s like the 2.5 5 speeds did? I drove a early 90s 2.5 5 speed mpfi one the other day bedding the brakes, most fun I've had in a car since the Yugo was on the road. It'd even go sideways in the rain.
I tried finding a 2 door 4wd 5 speed and they are pretty rare but they do exist. I ended up settling for a 1991 2wd for $1300.
Since the doors are a lot longer than the 4 door, they tend to sag. Check where the hinges attach to the body. Chrysler used industrial adhesive to "glue" the hinges on.
Also, the window regulators are made from spun glass. Both of them were toast in mine.
Check for rust in the footwells and right in front of the rear seat under the carpet. Mine had a leaky windshield and rear window.
The 2 doors are pretty light. I could light up the rear tires even with the 3.55 rear end. I wanted to swap in the axle from a 4 cyl with the 4.10s for more hooliganism
I'm guessing it probably has a 3.55. It appears to do about... 95mph at 2400rpm in 5th.
There's zero rust on the floors, doors have no sag. Window regulators are good.
On axle ratios: Back in 1999 I was in the market for a new mid-sized SUV, and the 4WD Cherokee was high on my list. Got all the brochures, and what sent me to Isuzu was the axle ratios: a V6 Suzie came with (IIRC) 4.10 or 4.30 in a Dana 44, while the Cherokee had 3.55 IFF you bought it with an automatic (did you math guys catch that obscure term?). All 5-speed manuals were supposed to be 3.05s. Since I was towing a small camping trailer, and would be using it in the high mountains of Colorado, I went with the Amigo mostly because of the steeper gears, and it was a good choice, a great and trouble-free vehicle. Anyhow, there's a good chance your Cherokee has 3.05s.
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