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time to PO the ricers

2wd or 4wd

  • 2wd

    Votes: 43 13.2%

  • 4wd

    Votes: 282 86.8%
  • Total voters
    325
REDXJ4FUN

REDXJ4FUN

NAXJA Forum User
Location
fredericksburg VA
Ok I'me getting ready for a new daily driver and since i'll have 15 miles of 2 lane back roads everyday I' wanting a sporty car again since all I ahve owned since 96 have been jeeps and full size trucks. I realy want a WRX wagon but I don't want to spend the moeny just to watch it deprciate. As I had talked about before I want a MJ street truck and it will be turbo charged.the big debate I have is 2wd or go for a wheel drive and swap out to a single speed TC.also since I plan on eventualy converting to a IFS what do ya think of either a libby centersection or an AMC eagle bother are dana 30. but the eagle unit is iron and i belive the libby is alum witch I like. what your thoughts any nd all excepted(EXCEPT FOR "DON'T LOVER IT JACK IT UP" I already have a XJ on 35s soon to be 36s and an MJ buggie I'm working on thay will be on atleast 38s.
 
Well, if you have the skills and the time why not move a V8 ZJ drive train into it from a 91 to 98, nice 318cuin or a 360cuin. To me a 2wd pickup is not exactly the best handling, so I'd be prone to a complete 4x4 with a good d44 back there. Then supercharge THAT [not a fan of turbos either. Just some ideas..
 
I 'm stickin with the 4.0 turbo runnin about 13lbs of boost. I like turbos because I can build them and tun thier out put easy and blowers are limited by thier design. I've driven a 2wd MJ and a 4x4 and you could realy feel the wieght. i can tune the suspention to make it handle realy well since I've been playin with suspentions for years I know a bunch of tricks and I an fab pretty much anything I can think of and get a wieght ditribution darn close to 50/50 if i wanted toon a short bed. the 5.9 is a good motor but its not a jeep/amc motor witch I'm hardcore about since I also collect AMXs.
 
go with a 4wheel drive and use an np242 so you have fulltime which=more traction on road. Or do something crazy like using the IFS off a toyota too and getting proformance A arm kits and stuff for it.
 
I was thinking of using a single speed TC instead of the 242 since i woun't need a low range. I can build the A-arms and such. I'm looking at a few center diffs if i go that way but I still like a 2wd but on the street I would make many many "faster cars" look slow when i leave the line at full boost and little smoke from the tires. I may try it with a soild axle first then devlope the IFS later.
 
I think you should go for it. would be nice to see a jeep that was able to smoke the ricers. And later on you could do the 4wheel drive and make it into an awsome rally truck.
 
a chevy astro all wheel drive van would be a place to get a 1 speed TC.
 
Get a 2-door 2WD MJ and swap in a Corvette LS1 with a Tremec 6-speed manual tranny. That should get you 350hp and a 1/4 mile in the low 13's; more than enough to see off those pesky ricers. There's enough bolt-on upgrades to get over 400hp from the LS1. If that's still not enough HP, you can always add NAWSSSSSSS. :D
Swap in a Ford 8.8 rear axle and keep the stock D30 at the front.
 
I flat out refuse to put a chevy motor in any of my jeeps. I plan on using an alum 44 from a ZJ or maybe a wj heck i might use the 30 out of a wj as well. I'll proble end up with a aw4 witch is fine since i can make an auto stick out of it. all that with a 3.6 turbo should be at about 400hp in street trim.
 
AAAAHHHHHHHHHHRRRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAA!
IFS, What is that? Isn't that a bad experiment currently going on by the big three auto makers, soon to go the way of the Edsel?
 
Are you set on an MJ? An XJ would be easier to find, cheaper, and, beleive it or not, actually lighter. A RWD XJ has near 50/50 weight distribution dead stock. An MJ would be sweet though. Whatever you do, it will be awesome. Good luck!
 
JeepSpeed said:
Are you set on an MJ? An XJ would be easier to find, cheaper, and, beleive it or not, actually lighter. A RWD XJ has near 50/50 weight distribution dead stock. An MJ would be sweet though. Whatever you do, it will be awesome. Good luck!
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I'm also curious about this information. I'm not doubting you, I've just never heard before that the 2wd XJ had a good F/R weight ratio. I always assumed that all XJs had a light rear end. I've driven a lot of 2wd XJs and all had serious traction issues in the rain. Once again, I'm not doubting you, I've just never heard this before and would like to know where you got this info so I could do a little research on it.
Thanks :peace:
 
JnJ said:
Where do you get this information?
Click to expand...

Sorry, Autotrader.com curb weights. It's a slight difference, but still a difference.

1992 MJ Pioneer
4.0L Auto 3095lbs

1992 XJ Laredo
4.0L Auto 2900lbs


And about the weight distribution, I don't remember where I read it, I think Motor Trend, but a 4WD XJ has about a 53/47 distribution, so with a couple hundo lbs less almost all upfront, theres no reason not to beleive a RWD doesn't at least have a 51/49 distribution. Sorry though, no sources on that. Thanks for keeping me in check though.
 
I'd get a sports car. Buy something that was built for the purpose you intend to use it. As much as some people would like to believe otherwise, a XJ wasn't built to handle curves at speed.
 
Hmmm... If I had the money I would go with a Volkswagen 5.0TDI V10 with medium mods. Its a tiwn turbo is light weight and will easily produce 450hp and over 700ft-lbs of torque. Engine weighs about the same as the 4.0. Good mileage and power to boot.

(btw, VW has made one VW Golf with this engine in it for testing. and down rated the power. It normally has 313hp and around 553ft-lbs. The mods mentioned above would include a chip (400bucks) and injectors.)
 
Last edited:
I need some help!

Hello all, I just got a 92 Laredo. Its almost flawless. It has 69k miles and is very clean. I am looking to spruce it up a lot but need help. Does anybody know where I should look for custom grilles? I am not finding many 92 aftermarket cherokee grilles. Also, I would like to find the glow gauges. Please send me an email or reply to this as soon as you can. Thanks.


[email protected]
 
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