2wd drag Cherokee build thread

[Ghinmi]

A bunch of my friends were going to the track on October 13 so I tagged along and ran. It became apparent that the clutch was starting to go, it wouldn't hit the tire off the line like I wanted it to. Still managed to run a new best of 10.38 @ 132.6 on a soft launch. All of the three passes I made were within a tenth and were quicker than my previous best time. Super happy with the results.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O31FnG9t2y4

[rang-a-stang]

Safe to say the Cherokee was the largest vehicle on course (except the new Challenger).

Probably the best looking and most attention grabbing too!!!

At the end of September, I ran across a pair of my dream cars at a local cruise-in. Two Panteras in the same place is a great photo-op in of itself but I got to drive the yellow one! The hook is set, I have to have one. Someday...

When I was in High School in the mid 90's I had a mid 13 second VW Bug. I thought I was a stud in that car. Rolled up to the starting line at Pomona for the street legal drags and a Pantera rolled up next to me. I had never seen one and didn't know what it was so I thought "Psshh... kit car. I'm gonna smoke this dude. Probably has a Fiero drivetrain." Then to my horror, my tree started first.... by a lot. Then as I was screaming toward the finish, I watched him getting bigger in my rear view mirror, quickly. He flew past me probably doing a 125 as we crossed the line (I was usually about 102 at crossing). I have no idea if he was stock or not but he damn fast. He broke out so I "won" but ever since then, I have admired them. Sweet cars! Totally unique and under rated, too. I see one or two a year at car shows but thats about it. I would love to see you get one. It would look awesome being towed behind your Cherk....

[Ghinmi]

After 3 weeks of rainy weekends, we finally had a nice (but cold) Saturday on the last day of the season at our local track. Was planning on just watching because of the soft clutch but peer pressured myself into running. I was already set up for the autocross the next day and decided to just run it that way on the street tires. First pass on a super soft launch went 11.74 @ 129 which was within a couple tenths of my best on those tires. Second pass I left in second gear, slipped the clutch out, rolled on the power and it actually gripped. Had to pedal in 3rd but pretty uneventful after that, including the 4-5 shift. Figured it was a mid 11 second pass at best, was definitely surprised to see it was a 10.91 @ 130!!!! Went right back out and backed it up with a 10.90 @ 129.5, nearly identical numbers on the whole slip. Keep in mind that this is all on a 275/40zr17 Continental street tire stretched on an 11" wide wheel in a stick shift car. Unbelievable.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoXMCyLfLCI

On my way back from the track I stopped for fuel in the tiny town of Middleville and ran across this 5.3 swapped turbo Marauder. The odds of two turbocharged modern engine swapped boats rolling into that small town gas station has to be waaay up there.

[Ghinmi]

Probably the best looking and most attention grabbing too!!!

When I was in High School in the mid 90's I had a mid 13 second VW Bug. I thought I was a stud in that car. Rolled up to the starting line at Pomona for the street legal drags and a Pantera rolled up next to me. I had never seen one and didn't know what it was so I thought "Psshh... kit car. I'm gonna smoke this dude. Probably has a Fiero drivetrain." Then to my horror, my tree started first.... by a lot. Then as I was screaming toward the finish, I watched him getting bigger in my rear view mirror, quickly. He flew past me probably doing a 125 as we crossed the line (I was usually about 102 at crossing). I have no idea if he was stock or not but he damn fast. He broke out so I "won" but ever since then, I have admired them. Sweet cars! Totally unique and under rated, too. I see one or two a year at car shows but thats about it. I would love to see you get one. It would look awesome being towed behind your Cherk....

At 125 it definitely wasn't anywhere close to stock. But they're still a lot of fun in stock form. I remember when they used to be relatively inexpensive. When my red Cherokee got crashed my first thought was to just buy a Pantera and be done with it. The last time I had looked you could get a pretty nice one for under $30k. Imagine my surprise and disappointment when I realized decent ones are creeping up on 6 figures now. I have a feeling that if I ever make it to the point where I can afford to spend a hundred grand on a car, they'll be a quarter million dollar car. But at least I got to drive one for free. Oh, and if I ever get one it'll never see a trailer, they were meant to be driven.

[Ghinmi]

The last autocross of the year had also been pushed back due to weather but they finally got a chance to sneak it in. So one day after running 10s on street tires at US131 Motorsports park, I'm back there in the morning to autocross through the pits.

Rainy drive there.


Good variety of vehicles showed up.



Still fairly damp but at least it wasn't raining when the course was hot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkaeodPmGuI

My co-driver Jordan got 18th and I got 23rd out of 75 cars. This course was pretty nice to the big, wide Jeep and the shock adjustments definitely gained us some. I'm learning with every lap, can't wait to do more next year.



And another rainy drive home.

[Cecil14]

The hook is set, I have to have one. Someday...

Have you seen this project yet?

http://www.amx390.com/amx3.html

They were starting to make reproduction bodies for the AMX/3. Not sure where things are at right now, but there was a lot of talk of putting that body on a Pantera or similar chassis.


aa

[Ghinmi]

Have you seen this project yet?

http://www.amx390.com/amx3.html

They were starting to make reproduction bodies for the AMX/3. Not sure where things are at right now, but there was a lot of talk of putting that body on a Pantera or similar chassis.


aa

I've been checking up on that project since the beginning, haven't seen anything recently. I still think I'd rather have a Pantera, that's the one I wanted as a kid. Building an AMX/3 out of a Pantera would be a terribly expensive endeavor. You can hardly find a decent Pantera for less than 6 digits these days.

[babywag]

No fair...you're living my dream lol.
Looks like helluva lotta fun though.
Maybe when/if I get my dad's '79 back in Cali I can make a cool driver out of it?
It sure won't be staying a 258/T18/4wd

[Ghinmi]

Hey, nobody's stopping you! The 258 is a fine engine but there are certainly choices that are more exciting to drive, haha.

[Ghinmi]

One of the Furrin Group members got a bunch of photos from the US131 autocross. Pretty neat to see.

[rockosocko]

Wow! haven't been here in a while.

...Looks like a great time!

My aunt had a Yellow Pantera back in the day (70's) along with a lime green 914. and Brother had a 70's Marauder with a Police interceptor motor. I think 3.73's ??

https://goo.gl/images/AFWBQA

(probably the only ferd that actually ran well in the family) VERY FAST!
But I was only around 7-9yrs old.
I DO remember that my sis-n-law's '70 monte would beat it off the line, but once it got rolling good, it was GONE!

Keep the pics coming! Gives me incentive to get going on stuff.

E

[Ghinmi]

After that last drag day and autocross of last year, the clutch was just about done. Not unexpected since it was pretty rough looking when I got it used. Replaced with a new stock Hellcat clutch.



Dust just from unbolting the bellhousing.




Flywheel still looks the same as when I installed it used.



You can see the thickness difference between the old and new disc.



Major difference in preload between old and new.

[Ghinmi]

Had a small winter project. Finally got my hands on a Majorette 1:64 Cherokee from Bulgaria ebay. Lowered, wheel swap, painted, added weight. I have a hot wheels drag strip with full timing system, it's one of my quicker modified cars.

[Ghinmi]

Winter updates to the Jeep were all electrical. Added a driveshaft speed sensor, electronic boost control, and a line lock. I mounted the switches in an old torched piston from my nitrous days.


Left switch is line lock arm, left button is line lock enable.
Right switch is launch control. If the switch is enabled, vehicle speed below 1 mph, and clutch in, the launch rev limiter is set, boost builder enabled, and line lock set. When either of those three conditions are broken, rev limiter releases, boost vs time starts, and line lock releases.
Right button is rolling antilag.






Excuse the mess.

[Ghinmi]

Went to the first test and tune of the year at US131 at the beginning of April. Quite a learning curve with the new launch strategy. Previously I was leaving at 6300 rpm with no boost and rolling the clutch out. Now I'm leaving at lower rpm on a 2 step on boost and ramping in boost down track. Still have to work on it but did get it to 1.5x sixty and 10.50 @ 133. Pretty pleased for the first time out. The tire is much happier than before.

















Had to call it quits early because it developed a brake shake. Yep, drilled rotors that came with the front end kit failed.