strych9

OK, well last week the wife got me a 1993 Jeep Cherokee Sport 4.0L High Output with a five speed manual for a project vehicle (apparently I need a hobby). Nice. Now it's time to make it what it should be and post that tortured process here for your enjoyment and my embarrassment. Let's see what I'm dealing with here.





Engine right after putting her in the garage.

Driver's seat isn't from a XJ.

Someone wanted a sub.

Oh, Lord.





The front fender flares are missing and the brackets for them are rusty. The front flare on the passenger's side (shown).

Engine compartment initial inspection.

Both windows are topped with electrical tape and the glass seals are shot. But... they still roll up and down.

The headliner needs to be replaced and that seat isn't OEM.

Filthy. Some of the weatherstripping is OK though! (It's not on the bottom, that's getting taken out.)

Underside of the driver's side front floor pan. Looks like rusty metal but that's actually carpet.

Rear differential. The differential itself has the shape of a Dana 44 but the cover has the shape of a 35. I'll clean it and inspect it to see what's actually what here.

Step 1: Basic maintenance (Few Pictures). The first step I'm taking here is to change out the fluids. Oil, transmission gear oil, coolant, differentials, brakes and steering. All of this is being done with the cheapest stuff AutoZone has because this car won't see more than a couple hundred miles until it's pretty well done. At that point I'll have run it enough to move that stuff around as a "rinse" and I'll change it out for better quality fluids. Also, there's no point in putting in a bunch of expensive stuff I might/probably will lose as I rebuild this thing but for now I feel the flushing is important. I figure the brakes can get done along the way since this thing's not gonna move much for now. Also, whether or not it had ABS when it was built is still a mystery which I'll explain below and will endeavor to figure out as I go forward.

Step 2: So far the "deepest" thing I've found is that massive hole in the driver's side front floor pan. So I'm going to strip the car's interior to replace that pan and see what else I find that might need work as well as to remove Bubba's subwoofer wiring.

Pulled the battery first for safety.

Front driver's seat removed. It's from a different vehicle, I think probably a Blazer.

That hack-job front seat required a different mount setup and whoever install it just punched through the floorpan with a drill. This pan's a goner anyway so whatever.


Removed the battery to start removing the wiring running throughout the vehicle. I'm not sure why the negative terminal was grounded like this.

The previous owner noted that the rear seat wouldn't latch. I wonder why...

Loads of this stuff everywhere. Note the deck screw. That's what's holding these things down via those cable clamps.


Removing the interior trim starting at the back.

More of this wiring. Now, as I move forward of the rear seat it's secured to the rocker panel with duct tape. Bubba must be stepping up his game.

The dome light appears to be secured with rivets. Is that standard? Suggestions on removal without risking drilling through the roof?

Rear seat and seatbelt anchors removed.

Down to the seat belt on the driver's side. Rocker cover wasn't properly secured so this was easier to get at. The sunflower seed shells are not mine, they came with the vehicle at no extra charge.

The passenger side cover for the seatbelt keeper was (unexpectedly) properly installed. But the passenger seat is not, so that will have to come out so I can get to the trim covering the passenger rocker panel to remove the final screw. That will happen tomorrow.

And that ends day one. Later this week I'll get that other front seat out, remove the rest of the trim, strip out the carpet/pad and remove the dash. Then I'll have a decent idea of what I'm actually dealing with past the known and cosmetic issues.

Recap on known issues:
1) Driver's side front floor pan rusted through.
2) Heater/AC don't blow much.
3) Radio randomly turns on and off and takes what passes for AC/heat blower with it.
4) Numerous cosmetic issues, like the entire interior.
5) Front wipers not aligned and arms rusted to heck
6) Rear wiper arm requires replacement.
7) Car may or may not have ABS. It's missing the relays but has a fuse in the correct slot though it's the wrong fuse. Front wheels don't seem to have ABS sensors but the rear ones do.
8) Differentials need to be identified, drained, inspected and resealed. (Holdover from previous normal maintainance until I had the car in a spot it didn't need to be moved if it becomes a longer process than expected.)

Ralph77

Your wife bought you a Jeep?
That is one hell of a wife. LOL.
You have an 8.25 rear best I can tell.
Thinking you would have an ABS pump by the master cylinder if it did.
Don't think I have ever seen an 8.25 with ABS.
But what I do know, or think I know (LOL), leans more towards '97 and up then '96 and down.
That driver's seat looks like it is out of a '97 and up XJ from what I can see.
From the color going with '97 or '98.
That short negative battery cable is usually grounded to the inner fender.
In my '00 there is a big square hole and to the right of it, think that is where, there would be some threads.
It is a little block that is kinda tacked and has a habit of coming loose leaving a little open square in it place.
Assuming yours is set up the same.
Thinking the rivets in the light is securing the part that holds the bulb to the rest.
Spin off the speed nuts and thinking it will drop out.
All I got at the moment besides thinking it is in half decent shape.

DustyWagoneer

Looks like a good ""project"".
What Ralph said, but all you need to do is put a pair of vice grips on the stud of the dome lights, and the stud will unscrew from the hole. You don't need to take the speed nuts off.
That is not an ABS brake system. If it was ABS it would have a different master cyl.

Keep your rear carpet, don't get rid of it. Front you can find in JY's.
Two door interior parts are getting harder to find, so repair, what ever you can, and be careful pulling it out to redo the headliner.
Also try to be gentle with the headliner if you plan to recover it.

strych9

Clutch. Thanks guys.