FIRST TURBO XJ - you'll be shocked

[streetpirate]

TECH= buy restored gnx, put motor in rusty xj.

happy?

 

[ECKSJAY]

TECH= buy restored gnx, put motor in rusty xj.

happy?

Whew, thanks.

 

[urban yan]

Welcome to ... Nice reading... Do you have more on this? Not all the people here are ASSHOLES.. sorry you had to meet so many today....

the only other info I have is what I saved from the ebay listing. The seller was zillerelectric;
despite the fact he sold it July, I'm sure you could email him your questions.

Vehicle Description
1984 Jeep Cherokee 4x4
1986 or 1987 3.8 GN engine
I believe its a 200r4 trans
Select trac t-case
stock jeep axles
Nice gray interior
HORRID body
Long story short. lol
I I happened upon this cherokee for sale, and thought it would make a great donor for my project YJ (1991 jeep wrangler). I didn't know anything about turbo engines, (and I still don't) but the price seemed right, and it ran great, so I bought it.
The jeep had been sitting for a while, and unfortunately the seller was the son of the gentlemen who had built it, and he had since passed away.. The title said 109,000 miles in 1989, and now it has 125,000. So it has had 16,000 miles put on it in the last 18 years. I paid for the jeep, hopped in, and drove 25 miles back to my house. When I got home, I of course called up my buddies to show them the POS jeep I just bought, and I of course didn't show them the engine. One of my friends followed me, and informed me that I had some white smoke coming out of the exhaust. Quick diagnostics showed it was smoking under boost. This was found by looking inside the "downpipe" or maybe its the up pipe, I'm not a turbo guy.
I wanted to get this engine running perfect before I took it out and put it in my YJ. So I took out the turbo, and sent it to "forced inductions" in Alabama for a rebuild. ($430.00). While I had the turbo out, I took out the intercooler, and had it flushed, as well as the radiator. I also did the preventative maint to it. I replaced the water pump, coil pack, air filter, plugs, wires, MAP sensor and oxygen sensor. I had it all ready to pop on the turbo and test out the new engine!
I received the rebuilt turbo back, and hooked it all back up. It started up, and I drove it down my street. It wouldn't boost at all.. The temp gauge started going up, and I turned around, and went back home. I rechecked all my work, but I couldn't find anything wrong. After working on the 3.8, I was nervous that it might not be a good engine to have on the trail, because it isn't very easy to work on. I ended up finding a good deal on a corvette engine, and bought that for the YJ.

Well, the cherokee sat for 6-7 months inside my barn, and I attempted to get it running again. During my testing, the starter went out. Having already dumped a bunch of money into this thing, and knowing that I didn't really have a use for it, I kind of forgot about it. Well, I just picked up a new project, so I put the cherokee behind my barn. Instead of making my neighbors mad, I figured its probably time to sell it. Now for the info I have on this jeep.
It ran fine.
I tried to "fix it"
I'm not very good at fixing turbo engines.
I DID NOT let that engine temp get hot! I just noticed it getting warmer then normal

I did not break any parts between when it ran and didn't.
It only has 2-3 minutes of run time after I "fixed it".

Vehicle history:
Going on the little info I received with the jeep, I'm told it was "built" for a big three exec. The work that went into this swap is pretty amazing. The engine looks like it came out of the factory like this. All the lines are cut perfect, the wiring isn't a hack and chop job, all new harnesses were made. It is unlike any engine transplant I have ever seen. The problem is, the body is a nasty hunk of rust! If the body was in nicer shape, I would probably pay someone to fix the engine for me.
I've never sold a vehicle on ebay, so I'm sure I'm missing some information. Please feel free to ask any question you'd like.
This vehicle is for sale in my local paper, so I reserve the right to end this auction early if someone local buys it!
And one thing I just noticed from uploading the pictures. I have a custom air intake piece that bolts up under the jeep to direct air into the intercooler. I also have the turbo cover. I never put that on while I was testing it.
I also have a TON of drawings and schematics for the wiring. Whoever did this had a lot of time on their hands, and a lot of ink in their pen.

 

[jakec]

Wow ecksjay, what the hell do you have shoved up yer butt. Seriously, go take a pill or something.

Urban Yan, I think that looks pretty awesome and thanks for sharing. Sorry about the asshats.

 

[JJacobs]

Wheelhop is fixable- that's all I have for this thread

 

[Gil BullyKatz]

360hp in an XJ is not that crazy if you have enough disposable income...

For the amount of work and money it sounds they threw at it...

Coulda built a blown stroker for a lot less.

and that...

Is all I can add to this gangbang.

:firedevil

 

[JJacobs]

360 wheel hp, not crank. Haven't seen that from a blown, stroked 4.0 yet- there's probably one somewhere.

 

[urban yan]

agreed. it would take allot more than a stroker/ blower setup to yield those whp-numbers.


.

 

[Gil BullyKatz]

Definately not as UNIQUE as a GNX engine...

But with enough money...

You know it's possible.

Hell...

A flowmaster sticker adds 20hp right?

 

[ddeadserious]

All I asked for was the tech input here. You failed to provide it. You posted some pictures of a redneck hack job and gave another guy a hard time for asking WTF?

WHERE TECH, LEECH?

How the hell is it a redneck hack job? It was(at one time) a very nice, non rusty XJ. So what's so "redneck" about the engine swap? I think the extending front clip looks nice(no, it's not ideal for a rock krawler approach angle, but different strokes for different folks...)

 

[urban yan]

Hell...

A flowmaster sticker adds 20hp right?

at least
it's a well known fact an SRT emblem yields more power than a blower.




.

 

[alex22]

While I was not able to find a date on when Robert Bryce built the first stroker or when the trubo was installed in the cherokee. From the dates given in the stroker article and the info about this trubo cherokee I would say the turbo came first. Therefore the guys who installed a trubo into a cherokee did not know about the stroker possiblity.

~Alex

 

[ECKSJAY]

While I was not able to find a date on when Robert Bryce built the first stroker or when the trubo was installed in the cherokee. From the dates given in the stroker article and the info about this trubo cherokee I would say the turbo came first. Therefore the guys who installed a trubo into a cherokee did not know about the stroker possiblity.

~Alex

Wow...that's 1999, right? Holy crap it seems like so long ago. I remember reading Rob's progress and then seeing the write-up when he was done. I always liked his projects.

 

[Matt S.]

DONE. Phil. You to.