1983 Jeep Cherokee street fighter project

[waynieZ]

Congrats! Nice to see you out cruising in it.

[SSLance]

Love the pictures next to the lifted J10!

Looks great, congrats on the successful mileage, keep it up.

[ghinmi]

Originally Posted by Centerforce

Our new favorite build thread for sure! It looks really mean lowered with those meaty tires! We're glad theres still unique builds out there keeping the forum fresh.

You know, it'd look a lot better with a Centerforce clutch, lol. If this stocker ever gives out you guys are first on my list.

Originally Posted by SSLance

Love the pictures next to the lifted J10!

Looks great, congrats on the successful mileage, keep it up.

You know how it goes, the fun is just beginning. I need to get a couple autocrosses under it's belt now and start finding what it likes. I'd like to at least have some idea what it does before I have Mr. Sutton work his magic.

[ghinmi]

2300 miles on it now.

Got stripes made for the fenders and tailgate (Thanks Frank!!!), looks a ton better now.




Then convoyed with Frank and his wife down to Toledo for Jeep Fest. Over 1000 Jeeps and tens of thousands of people showed up even though it was a rainy day.




There's an event I want to do that requires drag radials so I bolted on a pair and went to the 1/4 mile. Found a few things to iron out the first trip, only managed a 12.3 @ 109 but it was having a wastegate issue. Went again this past Friday and ran 11.4 @ 120 on only 6 psi. Pretty thrilled with that.

[WSSix]

Nice times! Glad you've been able to get out and enjoy the jeep.

[ghinmi]

Finally getting around to documenting my Drag Week experience. For those that don't know, Hot Rod Magazine puts on a week long event with 5 days of drag racing and road tripping between tracks each day driving your race car over 1000 miles. I've wanted to do it for years and while this isn't an ideal drag car, you can drag race anything.

Friday 9/9/16:
Finished packing. That's 4 wheels/tires, a floor jack, stands, every tool I could think of, spare parts, welder, cooler, and clothes for a week.



Saturday 9/10/16:
Loaded up with my buddy T-bird Mike and drove 6 hours through the pouring rain to National Trails near Columbus. Surely nobody thought I was going to trailer it down, lol. Found a couple water leaks but that was the only issue for the first 360 mile leg leading up to the official week.

Safe and sound outside the first hotel. We were within walking distance of a Texas Roadhouse so we got some decent food and crashed for the night.



Sunday 9/11/16:
Got to the track at around 9am for registration day. Did I forget to mention that I was only on the waiting list and not even officially in yet? Got some wrong information from an official and almost didn't get in but thanks to the nice lady at the registration booth I finally got in the tech line at 4pm.

Ran into the man himself, he'd helped me out the week before when I was testing.


Still waiting in line.


9pm after being at the track for 12 hours, I finally got through tech, paid up, and registered for Drag Week and got the sticker to prove it! Back to the hotel to meet up with our other buddy JP who was spectating and splitting rooms with us. By the time we were at the hotel, everything was closed so we had to order in pizza and just about passed out in the lobby waiting for it. Hanging out in the sun at the track for 12 hours is no joke.



Monday 9/12/16:
Get up early and head to the track, unpack, switch tires, head to the drivers meeting.


At the drivers meeting we found out that our class would run 2 hours after the start of the other classes. This turned out to be a blessing because we could sleep in most days. This particular day started late because the ambulance didn't show up on time. Finally got called to the lanes, made a 11.54 pass and called it good, packed up and hit the road, success!


Stopped to fuel up outside the track and a guy with a Grand Wagoneer stopped and took our picture. Someone on Facebook recognized me and tagged me, small world. Also met a really nice couple with an early Mustang towing a trailer that we ran into several times throughout the week.


First checkpoint, Benders Food & Spirits in Massillon, OH.


Second checkpoint, Fountain Inn Park in Mansfield, OH.


Pulled into the track in Norwalk late, found these guys changing a starter at the gate. They'd shut the car off to take a photo and broke the snout off the starter trying to start it. They had the situation handled so we grabbed some crappy fast food and met back up with JP around midnight at the hotel for the night.

[ghinmi]

Tuesday 9/13/16:
Slept in because we knew our class wouldn't be running until later. Almost didn't seem fair, lol. Rolled into Norwalk, unpacked, waited for an hour, made an 11.55 pass, repacked and hit the road. Most efficient day at the track of the week.





Ran into our first issue, the studs weren't pressed in all the way on the front wheel adapters. After 3000ish miles they decided to pull out and let the wheels come loose. Caught it before disaster struck and put on the drag front wheels and tires for the trip.

First check point, Stroh Center in Bowling Green, OH.


I had forgotten my gas cap at one of the stations earlier in the day so we were stopping at parts stores along the route looking for one. Ran into an absolutely stunning 1969 Camaro broken down at a NAPA. He thought he had a broken alternator mounting bolt so we stuck around since I had an assortment of spare bolts. Turned out to be a broken alternator mount bracket, a total custom piece. Luckily we had a welder with us so we fixed him up with a flux core caterpillar weld in the back parts room of the NAPA and hit the road. I found out later that the couple had bought the car in the early 80s and it burned down and sat until recently when it was rebuilt. It won it's class at the Detroit Autorama and Chicago World of Wheels this year, just a flawelss car (until my welding). The weld held up and they ended up finishing the week. A real feel good story for that couple. Here's an article I found on the car. http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/p...826aae526.html


Second check point, Phantom Fireworks in Fayette, OH. Got to see some sweet burnouts, particularly the Australians. Peeled out of there and followed the route to US131 Motorsports Park, then HOME! The track is so close to my place that I got to sleep in my own bed. We got in a little before 11pm which I consider a win for sure! It rained overnight but the Jeep was in the garage and never got wet, lol.


At some point on Tuesday, Hotrod Magazine ran an online feature on me and my facebook started blowing up even worse than the previous few days. http://www.hotrod.com/articles/greg-...pr=13601527539

[ghinmi]

Wednesday 9/14/16:
Slept in again and rolled to the track. US131 Motorsports Park is my local track so I got to see all my friends and hang out for a while. Which meant we got tagged in about a billion pictures and videos, pretty cool. Our friend Jerry brought us food which was greatly appreciated. Oh, and we ran an 11.53, putting us at three runs within .02 of a second with a stick shift turbo car. Not bad.








With full bellies we rolled out to the first checkpoint, a restored gas station in Plymouth, IN.


Second check point with a big fat cow in Logansport, IN.


We rolled into the hotel exceptionally early (7:30ish), got some food at the Cracker Barrel, and called it an early night in Indianapolis. Nice view from the hotel window.

[ghinmi]

Thursday 9/15/16:
Slept in again. Headed to the track. Major delays and oildowns. Flubbed my launch, I was kicking myself all the way down the track and missed 4th gear. Straight back to the staging lanes and ran an 11.72 breaking up a little up top. Does that when you hot lap it for whatever reason. Called it good enough, packed up, and headed off again a little later than we had hoped.



First check point, Warm Glow Candle Outlet in Centerville, IN.


Second check point, Foy's Halloween Store in Fairborn, OH.


Mannequins had very nice... uh... personalities.


Mike Hulked out from too many squats.


Made it to our hotel just in time to grab some food before everything closed down for the night which was a win. Last leg of the official Drag Week route done!

Friday 9/16/16
Slept in super late and showed up to National Trail for the final day. Ran a 11.70 on a full tank of gas and not great conditions so I called it good. Ended the week with an 11.61 average.


Parked next to this at the hotel Thursday and Friday night, a legit original paint, original top, original interior HEMI GTX convertible. They drove it 900 miles to drag week, over 1000 during the week, and 900 back home. Nice to see them getting driven.


The awards ceremony ran so long, by the time we got food it was 2am when we got to the hotel.


Saturday 9/17/16:
Headed out towards home but made a detour to the Summit retail store. Cool place. Left to right, Mike, JP, and myself.


You didn't think we were done and going to pack it in early on a beautiful Saturday night, did you? Of course we hit a Sonic on the way back to hang out.


We made it back to my place at a bit after 1am on Sunday morning. Went 2055 miles on the week, averaged 16.49 mpg with all the pit driving, racing, peel-outs, revving at people along the route, and driving to make time. Not bad at all! And huge thanks to Mike for being an outstanding navigator and pit crew, and to JP for the help he provided to us and other drag weekers!

[SSLance]

How cool! Sounds like it was a great week and the Jeep did awesome!

Thanks for posting the recap. I'll have to ask a couple of friends that went on the trip if they saw or remember your Jeep...