1983 Jeep Cherokee street fighter project

[ghinmi]

Been working on a lot of small details and wiring. I hate wiring. Starting from scratch, hope everything works the way I planned! The 5" gauges in the dash were a huge deal but worth it I think. Many hours in that one.






Modified shifter handle and knob off of my buddy's old Dart. Lots of good memories in that car. I carved the other gears and reverse into it, fast & furious shifter now.

[ghinmi]

Almost finished under the dash.


This is the piece that's needed to get the speedometer to work since the TR6060 has no vss output. It's a GM VSS buffer, part number 25071437. The purple/yellow 2-pin connector goes to a magnetic pickup, I'm using a Rostra 250-4165, not sure if I'm going to pick up from a wheel or the driveshaft. Black wire is ground, pink is 12 volt switched power, and green is to the Autometer speedometer. Excuse the small wiring mess, I haven't cleaned up that portion yet.
25071437
25071437
25071437


A few wires have made it through the firewall.

[Tig]

Wow, amazing build.
You've got everything down, handling, power and style.
I'd love to hear that bad boy, the exhaust is very cool. Do you have more detailed shots of it? <aybe a little info on how you made it?

Thanks

[ghinmi]

Thank you! I can't wait to hear the exhaust either, I hope it sounds decent but have no idea what to expect. It's made out of stainless flat stock that I bent up and welded, kind of like furnace duct work. In essence it makes a transition from a round tube to a rectangle, then makes a turn and out the side. When I get home later in the week I'll take some more pictures for you and it'll make a lot more sense.


Got a little more done here and there. Radiator and fan are mounted, wiring is pretty much finished up except the lights. Doors have been rebuilt with new weatherstrip and such. Most of the holes I cut in the floor have been patched. And the stereo works! It's got CDT 5 1/4s in the door and a ID8V.3 8" sub in a ported box behind the driver's seat driven by a vintage Alphasonik amp. Next on the list is fuel system and brakes.



1 gallon surge tank up front.


Fuse block behind the passenger seat. You can also see the main power shutoff, I made the arm an old wrench. Going to have a push/pull cable going out the back of the truck for the outside shutoff.


The Holley stuff under the passenger seat.


Front air dam cut and installed.

[ghinmi]

Next minor issue. I had a tailgate off of my '77 Wagoneer that I was planning to use. Firecracker red instead of Sebring red but whatever. Beat up like the rest of the truck, would've looked ok. Got it mounted and lined up, went to install the latches and no luck. They changed in 1979, I thought two out of three bolt holes lined up but they don't. So on to plan B. Had a later model tailgate with some truly terrible paint so I stripped it down and bombed it with Sebring red. No filler, the dings and waves will match the rest of the truck. I actually kind of enjoy paint and bodywork on this truck since the intent is to NOT be perfect.

[Spiffav8]

I want to ride in this thing when it's done.

[ghinmi]

Me too! I don't think I've ever denied anyone a ride in one of the hotrods either.

[syborg tt]

Originally Posted by Spiffav8

I want to ride in this thing when it's done.

Ditto

[ghinmi]

Just a bunch of little things I've been working on. Got the front fenders glued to the structure and painted, tailgate lined up, etc. Decided to go with an electric tailgate window instead of a manual crank and I'm re-engineering the control system because I don't like how the factory did it. The manual window is cooler because of the chrome crank on the outside of the tailgate but I'm planning on camping in this thing so I need to be able to open/close the window from inside. Next on the list is finishing the wiring for the lights/window, retrofitting power mirrors, etc. Then the motor comes out to lock out and degree the cam, address the oil pan design, etc.

[ghinmi]

Tinkering with more stuff. The dash area is more or less done aside from a speaker hole blockoff plate.


Door panels are on and cut for the speakers. Also adapted a power window switch from a F150. Better than paying $200 for used Grand Wagoneer switches off ebay. The switch is a snap-in panel mount so it worked perfect in the ABS panel. I think I'm getting too fancy, not only door panels but power mirrors! lol



I hated how the factory did the power rear window. No limit switches and full power running through the switches with no relays. Then the double whammy of both front and rear switches being spliced together (if one is up and the other is down, direct short). My other gripe is that the switches are on the dash and the outside of the tailgate. No way to put the window up if you're camping inside unless you want to crawl through the roll cage to the dash. So I gutted everything except the dash switch. Second switch is now in the cargo area. Relays for up/down. And a thermal reset circuit breaker. That wasn't so hard was it, Jeep?


Windshield is in. I hate farming stuff out but this was some of the best money I spent. Took all day and three different guys but it's in and they stuck to their quote. Got to give it to Safelite, they got the job done.


And the tailgate window in the up position. Once the roof rack is on, the interior will be all sealed up.