Project Navajo Cherokee

[cherokeewrecker]

Ok, many of you may wonder what the title means, I decided to look up what the color of my XJ was, navajo turquoise met... Anyways.... Sorry its been so long but a lot has been going on within the past couple months so I havent been able to get on much. Recently I took my baby off the road to fix her up over winter so it'll be like new come spring time. The game-plan is to pull the motor, clean up the engine bay, put my header on, put some Brown Dog Offroad motor mounts in, paint the undercarrage and do a few other things that you guys will just have to wait and see!

Anyways here it goes: Here is a pic when I got it in the garage...



Here are some along the way...































My new Hesco Throttle body spacer



Got the freakin' thing out!



Nice crack(theres a huge hole on the other side)





Broken DR. side motor mount :/



My fairly new Rugged Ridge drop pitman arm



Starting to get her in primer...



My Rugged Ridge header painted with "cast Iron" ceramic paint



Decided to drop the driveshafts to clean them and put new u-joints in them...



In primer...



Thats all I have uploaded at the moment, Hopefully I will have some more pics and progress up by the weekend for you guys....

[BlueXJ]

Great progress!!

[4.3LXJ]

Good work. It is going to drive like new when you are done

[cherokeewrecker]

Thanks guys! I've taken a little break from it for a little while since I gotta finish Christmas shopping and get a few other things done, so the week after christmas I will get my motor mounts ordered. But in the mean time I'm getting some work done to the "heavy Chevy."

And 4.3LXJ: I sure as heck hope so. It'll look like new too. I decided to drop the tranny/transfercase too so I can finish cleaning the floor and paint that. But hopefully soon she'll be as good as new. I've got my "cold air" intake coming as soon as its off backorder(prolly by christmas) , the TBS, new waterpump, header, and motormounts. Then its off to new leaf springs, extended front brake lines, new u joints in the driveshafts, and get the rest of the cat. converter out so I can straight pipe the exhaust. But this coming week the engine will get teared down and I will start sandblasting all the aluminum parts, and paint the brackets. So at least some progress will hopefully be made. Stay tuned!

[XJ Wheeler]

Cool project. I like the resto-custom idea.

[jdougn]

Nice work! My XJ would like to come visit your garage for awhile....lol. The crack in the the oem exhaust manifold must be a pretty common thing but your XJ is getting a good fix. Keep posting picts!
dn

[cherokeewrecker]

Haha, well the door would be open but theres no room! lol And yea its a very common thing but you're right, shes getting a little more oompf after the overhaul too! So I think she'll be very happy once all is said and done.

[cherokeewrecker]

Hey guys. Well I started to make some progress on the jeep in the last week or so, between working on my truck while I'm still waiting for parts to come in for the jeeep! So here are some more pics of the progress...

So most of these engine pictures are just so I remember where everything goes....you know just a reminder...





And the nice hole in my exhaust manifold :/









So....when I got the rear bearing cap off to pull out the rear main seal, there is a nice scratch on the bearing so I gotta pull the rest of them out and check them, so I gotta order some new bearings...













And I took a little time off the jeep to start cleaning up a little bit of the mess up in the garage... and work on my chevy. This is why I had to take a break hahah

















And here are a few new pictures of my other project: 1970 Chevy c-20 4x4...











And a bed full of goodies for the truck, new heater ducts(300), new inner fenders(650), and a bunch of other small stuff...





And now back to the jeep!



sandblasted some of the brackets...













ANd getting my valve cover powdercoated, probably lime green



And got it painted, gotta touch up a few places but mostly done and everything else is cleaned up...











And I cut some slots in the grill because I added some lights inside the header panel...







I got a sweet deal on this toolbox work cart from a relative that was moving over the summer time and paid 60 for it full of tools( sold all the tools i didnt want and stocked it up with my good stuff )



Someone is impatient! haha



Thats all for now, tomorrow Im finally gonna get the intake and exhaust manifold off. And my new true roller timing chain and new gasket should be shipping out tomorrow Yeah, my timing chain was junk too so it was good I pulled the motor out since the main bearings are too... So hopefully in the next few days Ill have some more pics up! Hope you guys are enjoying the tear down and build so far!!

[bluedragon436]

Progress is looking good, I wish I could tear down my XJ like that just to take care of a few small items that bother me.. maybe one day.. Are you just restoring the C20 to stock or building it up??

[cherokeewrecker]

Thanks man, and its deffinatly nice since we found a few more things that needed attention. And as for the truck, its gonna be pretty close to stock, the height you see in the pictures is bone stock, and that truck is sitting on 33x12.50-16.5's right now, and it barely fits into the garage. But its getting painted back to stock colors, white and the copper mettallic like the inside of the cab, its got a stock 4 speed tranny with granny first, and a SB350 out of a '74 Blazer, and its got a few mods, but other than mainly the drivetrain its gonna be fairly stock. I got a '67 C-10 shortbed parts truck I might have some fun with if I decide to keep it around...

[cherokeewrecker]

Ok, I am finally back. Sorry I haven't been on to update this for a few months. Between working and my best friends dad who is also our landlord passing away and helping my buddy with problems hes having I haven't had the time to keep with it, but hopefully I'll be back now that things are finally looking up. Now for my jeep... Shes running now and all back together for the most part. SO most of these pictures are ones that I havent put up yet... Enjoy!

Here are some of the pictures of the rest of the motor all stripped down, getting cleaned, freezeplugs replaced, painted, and getting put together...

















Here comes the fun stuff! Powder Coated valve cover, more new parts!







New Brown Dog Offroad motor mounts!!

[cherokeewrecker]

THe tranny got a new seal and the brackets removed cleaned up and painted







All clean!!



Back to the motor now...



















And with a lot of aggrivation the motor is finally in!!





Now to button up the wiring and cooling system!









And here are some pics of the driveshaft painted up put in, the floor painted and the patch I had to do over the summer...



New gas tank, straps, bolts I did last summer

















And this is how it looked a few weeks ago!





As of right now my custom front bumper my buddy is building is almost done so I will have pics up as soon as I get my jeep back. But in the mean time we picked up this little jem...'68 Chevy c30 Ramp truck









Thats it for now, cant wait to see the finished product with the bumper! Have seen a few pics he took so far and saw it last week but I should have her back in the next day or so!!!