I'm looking at cars to build a drag car out of during the summer. I'm not too worried about extreme times. I used to have a 1979 Jeep Cherokee Chief S, pictured below. I always had a thought of building one for racing, slamming it on the ground, so the slicks are tucked up under it. I know what I need to make one go, but I just want to know what y'all would think of it? Looking at building a 454 for it. Kind of a budget truck in one sense. My other thought is a supercharged comanche straight six. I heard that one would outrun a vette in the quarter. I think I read it in a jeep magazine, it was an article. I'm also looking at a camaro build, but they are spendy out here, and I would have to go 3rd gen. But I don't like that body style much.

 

a 454 is going to be a lot of torque for that chassis. if i remember correctly, the Cherokee Chief S had either an older version of the 4.0L inline 6 or a very small v8 (don't quote me on that.) i know either engine didn't make a huge amount of torque, so stiffening the chassis would be a priority (even if the chassis was meant for a tq engine, 500ft/lbs is WAY over what a stock or near stock jeeb would make)

 

Actually, the chassis is strong, they were designed for offroading. The engines options were eithor the amc 360 v8, or the amc 401 V8. The sixer wasn't available until 80-82, when the last FSJ Cherokees were made. The same basic chassis was used on all the wagoneers and cherokees from the mid 60's all the way until 90 something when they ended the fsj wagoneer. The engines had lotsa torque in the 60's, 80's, and 90's, but not the mid-late 70's. It is very common to run a 454 in them for offroading, all the engine mounts are available, they are heavey duty weld ins. I'd get rid of the th400 tranny with the q-trac on in, so that it could be converted to 2 wheel drive. That gets rid of alot of weight, and the front fender wells would be removed, just skins. I even have an aluminum radiator picked out for it. I plan on lowering the body by channeling it, keeping the frame at stock height for sake of money and suspension mods. This would be a frame-off build, so I would box it if possible. Since I know enough about them, and because I can get a 454 for $150 out of my uncles wrecking yard, this would actually be a relatively cheap build. And yes, while the torque and weight of the 454 is WAY over stock specs, frame strengthening would be a priority, but the stock frame, as I said, is fairly strong. The cherokee frame is actually the strongest, the wagoneer had a slightly stretched version of the cherokee frame.

I'm sort of a walking encyclopedia about these things. I almost completely restored the one I had . Yeah, and I sold it for this camaro....[]

 

boy that was good looking truck, drove it to reno and back for hot august nights, spent $1000 in gas.

here it is before the 35's, and I drove it to reno with the 35's!

 

Man I love those old full size 2dr Cherokee's. I'd love to have one of those someday.

I think one of those built for drag would be pretty cool. It would certainly get peoples attention at the track, haha. If you went the F-body route, you could probably find a late 70's early 80's 2nd gen for cheap;
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1978-...QQcmdZViewItem

According to the ad it has a 383 and just needs the trans rebuilt and a new master cylinder.

 

Very Nice Music man! I think it would be cool to get smoked by somthing like that... go for the build, id like to see the progress...

 

Wow, that's cheap. Wish he was closer...

Yeah, those old jeeps are awesome, but they drink gas. I was luck to pull off 7 mpg!

Looks like I have a truck to build!

 

Dude there is a place down here called Dans Garage he has a crap load of camaros look it up its called Dans Garage.net tell him what you are looking for and he has it.

 

OMG! i want that jeep[]

 

I'll have to check that out, thanks 73. I wish I had the money NOW! But this will be a lengthy summer project, probably won't be done until next year. If I had a lot of money, I could do it real fast, but I'm going to have to do one thing at a time[]