redriverhugh
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- winnipeg, manitoba
OK, I know I,m gonna get flamed for this but bear with me. Forget mileage, that,s been beat to death and everyone pretty much agrees you can,t do much about it. I just sold my CJ7 on 35,s and am halfway thru a build of a 98 Cherokee auto with a long arm and 35,s. So far it,s got a 6 1/2 lift,home made frame stiffeners, SYE, 35 bfgs. The 4.56,s and rear detroit should be going in this weekend. I love this thing, the old 7 had a 304 V8 and worked well but the XJ with the 4 liter can run down the highway at 60 or 70 mph all day while delivering better mileage than the old V8. With the extra wheelbase ir climbs better than the CJ too. I have a friend who ran a samuri until the body rusted away, it was so light he was almost unstopable in certain situations. Now the question. How much weight do you think you drop off an XJ by doing things like replacing the seats with those lightweight ones from say Summit. And stripping all the interior out from the back of the front seats to the very rear. Maybe losing the rear hatch and just framing it in with tube and skinning it over with thin steel and only having rear access from the rear doors which would also be stripped of all plastic,etc. Losing the rear side glass and replacing it with light gauge steel. One of those rear view cameras would mean no rear glass would be necessary. I think 2 or 3 hundred pounds loss might help the off road performance and even city driving.