1990 Cherokee XJ Build

this is some next level star trek **** that is so cool. love love it. and i have both a 4.0 tj in a 2006, 1997 tj 4 cyl and a 96 fj80 with the 1fz so i need to get bussy and figure it out. super awesome.

so i just went to the web page, clicked 4.0 and it filled in all the info and now all i have to do is source a bearing witch i found in less than a minute and hit print. you were using ASA i think. i have ABS loaded now and may try one tomorrow night for kicks. so cool.

but my landcruiser is dual v belt i think. now i need to look.

Hell yeah dude! Thanks for helping to test!

I just got a Bambu P1S like two weeks ago, so that I can print nylon better, and ASA etc. I’ve heard ASA is better for car parts than ABS, but, ABS might be fine.

Let me know if the pulleys seem wrong, Claude (AI) researched and built out all those presets, not me. And I am really only familiar with the 4.0 engine, don’t know **** about other makes or models.

By the way you might already have one of those bearings and just not know it. I found 3 of them just from the alternator rebuilds I recently did, and off of various idler pulley brackets etc. from 4.0 parts. It’s a super common bearing it looks like.

Edit: Marathon Easy Fit 500 lb. cap. Wheel Bearings Steel 2 pk Mfr# 60020 - Ace Hardware

Local ace has them too under hand-truck and wheelbarrow parts.

Ended up solving my issue for now anyway, with a $20 ACDelco pulley and a hacked together bracket welded to the old alternator mount. OEM belt is now like 1” too big, but, pretty close!

Interesting article about AI generating printable models from pictures of hand-drawn stuff.



This is cool for those of who can draw a diagram of what we need no problem, but aren’t good enough with CAD that we can just open up a tool and do a full 3D render from scratch. The 3D printing part of it brings the price down to affordable (couple hundred bucks for a printer, versus tens of thousands for complex milling machine setups) for prototyping.

The geek shall inherit the earth.

Mittnz said:

Ended up solving my issue for now anyway, with a $20 ACDelco pulley and a hacked together bracket welded to the old alternator mount. OEM belt is now like 1” too big, but, pretty close!

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Any wave version 2 could be adjustable similar to the power steering pump? Maybe hit up a junkyard and find the assembly off an old Renix and fabricobble it to work so the stock belt works, or something common like a Chevy 5.3L or Ford Taurus?

RunningProblem said:

Any wave version 2 could be adjustable similar to the power steering pump? Maybe hit up a junkyard and find the assembly off an old Renix and fabricobble it to work so the stock belt works, or something common like a Chevy 5.3L or Ford Taurus?

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Yeah, I could get a larger pulley, or move it out a little bit, but, I instead got a 99” belt and it’s fine.

I didn’t mind getting a custom belt (I had one already because I have an overdrive pulley on my PSC steering pump) but I just didn’t want like custom pulleys and crazy hard-to-find stuff. I think I’ll keep it like this until I eventually go full e-fans.

Also, I bought a ‘91 yesterday. Well, my gf did. It’s hilarious because it was $1,000 and it runs better than my 4.0 ever has. I am stoked for her and I finally have a use for all these boxes of spare parts! She is wanting to do like a 80s/90s resto-mod type of deal, less of a crawler and more of a “old desert jeep” vibe.




The inside is thrashed but I’ve got enough interior parts to build 2 or 3 of these things. I got one of the cheap eBay DIY rear bumpers, so she can weld that up, and then I have heims and DOM ready to go for 1-ton steering. We’ve got to gut it and lay sound deadener and replace the carpet, there is literal grass growing in the passenger floorboards.

Screw the rest mod. Do the 1UZ swap so it has some power. Renix stuff is cool but also old.

If she wants a spare 21 spline transmission I have one sitting next to the house. Only reason I pulled it was to put in doublers.

Ha I just spent months rebuilding mine and it’s still not running right. I can’t take on a project like that lol. I’m thinking oil change together, she learns about spark plug and wires, distributors, and maybe she’ll still be interested in it by the time the new carpet gets here…

The good news is if she decides she is over it, I can swap all my Renix stuff for the HO stuff out of the new donor jeep

Someone ripped the stereo out of it, so first order of business she said, was a cassette player….



$50 on eBay. Aaaand, begin the tally for XJ #2…


Actually, I keep going to buy stuff online and then I go “wait no, I have that already actually.” Had to buy new plugs, but, I already have a new set of wires and two new dizzy caps and rotors from when I recently learned about how that magic works and had to overbuy.

I found a Rusty’s adjustable track bar on eBay for $70, with the mount, so scooped that up. I have enough DOM here that we can fab the drag link and tie rod.

I want to make some front upper and lower control arms, adjustable. I have some Johnny Joints I got for dirt cheap (and only for that reason, cause, I didn’t need them…) so will use those. Man it’s absolutely insane how much **** I have around here. I think if we put maybe $1k, and all the parts that I have here, and a lot of labor into this thing, I could flip it for 5k.

Do it then buy her a 96+cherokee, or something with a frame.

Mittnz said:

Of course I started looking into e-fan conversions...

Thought this was cool though, asked AI about the highest CFM fans you could fit in the XJ radiator, had it fetch the specs, and then asked if it'd generate me a waterjet template to cut the shroud. Here's the file if anyone is interested:

Another one for the "wHaT gOoD iS AI iT gEtS eVeRyThInG wRoNg" crowd here.

(Although, it would probably be cheapest to just buy one of the ****ty eBay shrouds with the chinese fans, and then replace with quality fans.)

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What it didn’t tell you is those would all be massive downgrades from the stock fan at ~2,200 CFM in a single setup

so… AI got it wrong

Mittnz said:

Also, I bought a ‘91 yesterday. Well, my gf did. It’s hilarious because it was $1,000 and it runs better than my 4.0 ever has.

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I’ve had 3 Renix and 1 H.O., I’m a glutton for punishment for some reason so I like the Renix but yes the H.O. ran smooth

Congrats on spreading the addiction

fl0w3n said:

What it didn’t tell you is those would all be massive downgrades from the stock fan at ~2,200 CFM in a single setup

so… AI got it wrong

Electric Cooling Fan CFM Rating Tests - DirtBound Offroad

Alright got some more numbers. Engine on engine off and stock e fan from a 99 cherokee. I was only able to measure amperage draw on my fans as the stock fan blew my meter, this does say something about power usage. Notice that the DirtBound Kit is comparable to two stock 99 s blade fans. I...

naxja.org

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Yeah hang on, because, I had read the same thing for years (mentioned that in my initial post about E Fans) but, Mishimoto and others are claiming different. I can’t really fault AI here because it’s only going on what it has “read”

RunningProblem said:

Do it then buy her a 96+cherokee, or something with a frame.

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She is really into 80’s era Toyota pickups, and I don’t know much about them, so, was thinking that’s what I’d be building her eventually, but it’s now another XJ

Mittnz said:

She is really into 80’s era Toyota pickups, and I don’t know much about them, so, was thinking that’s what I’d be building her eventually, but it’s now another XJ

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Clearly she is smart which makes me wonder why she picked you.

Mittnz said:

Yeah hang on, because, I had read the same thing for years (mentioned that in my initial post about E Fans) but, Mishimoto and others are claiming different. I can’t really fault AI here because it’s only going on what it has “read”

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Where does Mishimoto or others claim different?

fl0w3n said:

Where does Mishimoto or others claim different?

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Here's a link to the same blog post but with working images: Constant Stride - Fan Shroud R&D, Part 1: Production

It's interesting though because the Mishimoto guys never ever mention an actual CFM number. But, they do say: "The test results revealed that our fans flowed 41.9% more air than the stock engine and A/C fans at idle and 22% better than both fans at 2,500 RPM. " I mean 41.9% is a sizeable increase, but it is kind of weird that they just disappeared off the NAXJA thread once people started asking questions.

Idk, in all the research I've done, I also have read that they aren't as good as the OEM mechanical fan, so that's why I never bothered making the switch. But also, I have no A/C condenser so I have a lot of room by the radiator, and I have a Mishimoto 12" high-flow (1850 CFM) fan in front of the radiator, passenger side, on a relay that I can turn on whenever, but, I've never really had to, it doesn't seem to run hot.

This thing really isn’t in bad shape. There’s no rust on it at all (except for where a battery must have leaked, which also destroyed the line that runs to the vacuum res ball under the front bumper) and all the bolts are coming right out nicely, I’m used to having to fight seized bolts and break **** off and spend hours trying to get one bolt off of what should have been a 30 minute task.



The front driver side fender was all crunched, got a new one. The rest of the body panels are straight enough. There is a big dent in the passenger side front door, but I’ve got a set of doors I bought a year ago for cheap, so can swap that one out no problem.

It’s got power door locks, power windows etc.



Definitely needs new motor mounts lol.

I’m gonna do the thermostat, water pump, put a new radiator in it (old ones fins are all beat up. The power steering was ****y, the guy said one of the hoses leaked, it basically didn’t work, but I did see a “remanufactured” sticker on the steering box that was still pretty new looking, so I think the box is fine. I have a V8 WJ pump coming from eBay to swap in, and the WJ high pressure line.

My white XJ has never had AC as long as I have owned it, and I’m trying to keep the AC in this one, but some of the lines are pretty jacked. Corroded/rusted/brittle. I wanted to check if there was any refrigerant in the system, but it’s bone dry, so there must be a leak somewhere. The condenser doesn’t look like it’s in terrible shape, but maybe I can just replace all the lines, and go from there.

I have a bunch of small vacuum line so I’m gonna just run all new vac lines, and then I have a lot of leftover silicone heater hose so I’ll run as many new hoses as I can.

I wanted to get brown dog mounts like I have in the white XJ, but couldn’t justify spending that much on a bushing basically, so I’m going to try to fab my own mounts from a Brown Dog rebuild kit, and some DOM and plate, seems pretty simple.



I was gonna spray it as close to OEM grey/silver as I could find, but she sent me this and really likes the color, and I gotta say I agree, so looking for a close match there. May go with this “Glacier Blue” but it’s almost TOO blue.

I have the brown dog mounts. They're worth it. Took some good effort to get the driver side on for me but I'm not great at wrenching. I paid $85 in 2020 for them. Just checked the receipt.

Cant remember if we are facebook friends




Do those power windows work? My driver one does, but the other 3 are varying degrees of 'don't roll down past this point' level of stuck. I think it's the grease in the window gears all hardened up. I tried spraying a bunch of stuff down the black tube to loosen it up but nothing seems to work to make it better. If you figure something out post it up.

RunningProblem said:

I have the brown dog mounts. They're worth it. Took some good effort to get the driver side on for me but I'm not great at wrenching. I paid $85 in 2020 for them. Just checked the receipt.

Cant remember if we are facebook friends




Do those power windows work? My driver one does, but the other 3 are varying degrees of 'don't roll down past this point' level of stuck. I think it's the grease in the window gears all hardened up. I tried spraying a bunch of stuff down the black tube to loosen it up but nothing seems to work to make it better. If you figure something out post it up.

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Yeah, I have the brown dog mounts on my white XJ, they are nice. I don't think we are FB friends, I hardly use it other than to occasionally browse marketplace. Add me: Facebook

For the motor mounts, I bought a Brown Dog rebuild kit ($35) and these offset bushing mounts from Offroad Anonymous ($10)



They seem close enough that they'll be a good starting point, and then since I have the bushing rebuild kit, I know the width that the bushings need to be (I measured on my other XJ the other day and one is about 2.5 the other is 3.5, even though I think that the OEM mounts are the same width). I can powder coat them real quick in my little EasyBake oven lol. Total cost would be ~$20 per mount, if I can make it work.

RE the power windows, I think I posted about it in this thread last year, I actually did a manual to power window conversion on my 1990 white XJ. I did a lot of manual fab and ****ing around, frankensteining the window regulators together, but, dude just buy new power window regulators honestly.

Both sides for less than $100. Go back a few pages and I did a write-up about adopting the 97-01 regulators to work with pre-97 doors. All the wiring remains the same (positive and negative to the motor simply reverse polarity to change it up/down, which is how the stock ones work.). You can also buy those and just take the motor off and put it on your OEM regulators. I didn't have OEM regulators because mine was manual windows, but, that should work just fine. The 88-96 power window regulators are harder to find, so that's why I just scooped up some of the newer ones on Amazon and made them work, and they work great, as good as any brand new car's power windows.

I didn't bother putting the "master" switch on the door though. Each window only has one switch, but I put the driver/passenger front window switches down on rockers on the center console, so I can easily hit both of them. For the rear windows, I bought OEM handles with the window switches, and just used those switches straight to the motor. So, I can't control the rear windows from the front seat, but, I couldn't do it when they were manual windows either, so, it's still an upgrade, it's rare I have anyone in the back anyway. I also put in a keyless entry module I bought off of amazon, and swapped in OEM lock solenoids. So a full, true manual to electric conversion.

You'll also need to determine if they are actually mechanically stuck, or if it's just a voltage thing. You mentioned your driver one does and the other ones don't, and that's really common, because if I remember right, ALL of the voltage actually runs through the drivers door, to the other windows (because the driver's switch controls all the windows.). I think, that even if you were to hit the switch on say the back right window, it actually runs all the way to the drivers door, through that switch, and then to the motor. So, with 30 year old wiring running through however many plugs/joints/splices that's a lot of voltage drop. If you hold down the switch and "help" the window up or down with your hand, does it go all the way?

The fix for that, is to use relay(s). I haven't done that myself (because I ran brand new wiring and custom switches since I didn't have the OEM setup) but, there are writeups about this online, here's one: '90 XJ Power Window improvement

Next time you have your rear door panels off, grab some speaker wire and unplug your window regulator, put both ends in the plug for the window motor (polarity doesn't matter) and touch the other ends straight to your battery. If the window goes up, just reverse the polarity and touch them to the battery again, and your window will go down. If it goes all the way down like that, then your problem is voltage and not the actual regulator, and the relay fix should work just fine.

One other thing about the new grey XJ I noticed... no rear shocks.... at all. The mounts have been completely removed? I'll probably just run something like this: Shock Mount Relocation Kit | Jeep Cherokee XJ (84-01) which is nice because the OEM mounts drag like 3" underneath the axle tube.

I don't think mine is the regulator, but maybe it is. I have a set of manual doors for all 4 I've just been too lazy to put effort into swapping stuff to mechanical windows.

Some will go down and won't have power to go up. Passenger rear can very slowly help itself back up if you don't go lower than 1/2 way down. I haven't had passengers until recently so it's sort of an issue.

RunningProblem said:

I don't think mine is the regulator, but maybe it is. I have a set of manual doors for all 4 I've just been too lazy to put effort into swapping stuff to mechanical windows.

Some will go down and won't have power to go up. Passenger rear can very slowly help itself back up if you don't go lower than 1/2 way down. I haven't had passengers until recently so it's sort of an issue.

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Try hooking it straight to the battery, just to test the theory, I think you’ll be surprised at how snappy it suddenly becomes.

Oh also, found out that color code is Jeep PGP (Earl Grey) also called “Minty” on Dodge applications. Seems to be pretty rare. Was available on newer wranglers for a while but it’s very much a “custom color” that is mixed to order. When I painted my white XJ I did a 2k system that was basecoat and then clear, but with this I’m gonna just do single-stage acrylic urethane with a hardener, I think it will be more than enough.

Well ****, I have some Brown Dog mounts that I'm no longer in need of. Want em?

Rockwood said:

Well ****, I have some Brown Dog mounts that I'm no longer in need of. Want em?

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That's okay man, those brackets came last night and they are a dead ringer for the brown dog mounts, I'll weld them up this weekend and show you guys. Appreciate it though!

This isn’t the exact bushing I will use, but, these are the brackets, you can see that bolt almost perfectly lines up with the OEM mount. So, I’m just gonna weld these up, set it on some 1/4” plate to extend it a little bit for that bolt hole, weld that together and be set!

I don't have the balls, or energy to paint my rig in my garage. It would be smart because it has very old stock paint with trim I'm keeping for some reason as if it's valuable half broke.

RunningProblem said:

I don't have the balls, or energy to paint my rig in my garage. It would be smart because it has very old stock paint with trim I'm keeping for some reason as if it's valuable half broke.

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I had never painted anything with an HVLP gun in my life, before I painted my XJ. I originally was gonna do colored plasti-dip, but it was like $700, and for that price I could buy all the materials and tools to paint it legit, and have leftover stuff for plenty of other cars.

I did it at my dad’s place at the time 😈 (lol, what’s overspray???”) because I didn’t have a big enough garage and I knew it would take multiple days. I just hung up a bunch of 5 mil plastic and rigged a little 12” exhaust fan with a long vent. (Your exhaust fan WILL blow overspray out and get all over whatever it is pointed at. Learned that lesson.)

Like everything else with this jeep, I watched a ton of YouTube videos, went “yeah that makes sense. Seems easy enough,” then spent 2-3x what I planned, and got so deep into it that I couldn’t turn back, and then learned that it’s not as easy as I thought and I am ******ed.

Well, to do it passably? Is not that bad. To do it WELL? Takes years of practice and is a craft for sure. But, that was the whole point of this stupid jeep. I have never paid anyone else to do anything to it. But yeah like they say, it’s 90% prep. Spraying isn’t that hard, and it’s 3 days of sanding and an hour of spraying.

I have a few cheap Harbor Freight guns and two Devilbiss Starting Line guns, which is their “entry level” model. I think I paid $250 for the combo on eBay. They are nicer as far as build quality, but I am not experienced enough to tell you why a $750 Iwata gun is worth it, they all seem the same to me, and I am sure that someone who has been doing it for years could put me to shame with a Harbor Freight gun no matter how fancy the gun I used was.

I ended up with a little bit of orange peel but honestly it’s not noticeable at all unless you’re standing close and looking for it. It turned out way better than I expected, and was totally worth it because Maaco wanted $2000 and that was with no body work and me doing all the prep, just to spray it with single stage.

I wanted to put the 2000 front clip on, and you have to swap fenders to do that. Honestly the biggest bitch was masking and pulling off all the trim and then putting it all back on. I still have 2 of 4 door jambs that are red, as is my engine bay, and underneath hood, and other parts that I regret not doing when I had everything out.

I originally was going to paint it gloss black and I’m glad that I didn’t. When I sprayed a test, it was mirror finish glossy, and there isn’t a straight body panel on that jeep, so it would have looked terrible. White is super forgiving.

If you ever decide that you want to do it, I can send you a whole box of consumables that you have to buy 12 of even though you only need 2 (air line water filters, 20 different grits of sandpaper, mixing cups and hopper cup systems, DA sander attachments, tape and drape, etc. I also have like 6 guns at this point so could give away the HF ones. Basically you’d just have to buy paint. Unless you want to do a single stage gloss black Urethane that I’ll sell you a gallon of for cheap lol)

Project Girl****box update:
Got a dashpad to cover up the badly cracked dashboard, it actually helps a lot.
Replaced this fender.

Pulled the steering box yesterday and swapped in one of the HD steering box brackets (the stock ****ty cast aluminum one is super weak). Pulled the water pump, thermostat, radiator hoses. Besides the coolant being 90% water and rusty, everything actually looks okay. I think this thing sat indoors for a long time, it’s pretty crazy that none of the bolts are seized, and also the external window trim is still soft and in decent shape, rather than all dry and brittle.

She loves the old-school KC Hilites covers so I got a couple of those and we’ll swap the OEM fog lights for round 6” lights. There is absolutely no way I’m spending $250 on actual Daylighters, but there are plenty of clones on Amazon for a way more realistic price. I kind of want to do two long ass CB whips, one on either side of the bumper. I have a late 80s, early 90s CB unit somewhere that I’ll put in here as well.

We ordered carpet, the carpet inside is totally trashed, in the front anyway. There is literal moss/grass growing in the front passenger footwell. Which, I was thinking about last night and realized… the heater core could be leaking… there isn’t really any other reason that it would be that wet right there. There are no noticeable holes in the roof and the weather stripping is in decent shape. So, may have an excuse to replace that dash anyway….

I really want to weld in frame stiffeners but don’t want to drop $600. What’s the cheapest way to do it? I read somewhere you can get 3x4 tube steel and cut it in half? Something like that?