2wd drag Cherokee build thread

[Ghinmi]

Was invited back to be on display during the Autocraft Custom Collision open house. Showed up a little early to swap out the radiator that had sprung an un-fixable leak. That removable front clip sure is convenient.

[Ghinmi]

Made a trip to Chicago and on the way back stopped at US12 Speed and Custom for some quick dyno pulls. Just made two at slightly different boost levels and called it good. 720 whp and 840 ft-lbs. Way more than expected.

https://youtu.be/Wm_1p0WZxbk

Night before. Good camping spot.




Without a doubt, my favorite car (truck) at US12.












Strapped down.












And my cruising buddy Eric.

[rang-a-stang]

How are things goin these days? Any shows? Any updates?

[Ghinmi]

Time to dust this off again. Got some big changes in process. But need to bring this up to date first. Somewhat off topic but my brother finally finished his '78 Trans Am. Turned out great! Awesome to have a cruising buddy now.

[Ghinmi]

Next up is Metro Cruise in Grand Rapids. I started the event off by going to a track rental by Berger Chevy. The plan was to wheel a friend's 6 speed 2014 Camaro, which I did. But I also talked them into letting a non-chevy run. I ended up running 10s again on street tires but this time with a passenger.













It's always been tradition for people to do burnouts at the after cruise party but I have never done one there. Decided to remedy that situation. I think I did ok. Language warning.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-uV-02t1TU

[Ghinmi]

Longest trip so far. Michigan to Texas and back.


Packed up and ready to go.







Beautiful drive




Ummm. That's not on the way to Texas.




An hour south of Denver I started having issues. First was my bluetooth headphones that were charging tried to light the Jeep on fire.




Second, I got a bad tank of gasoline and was having fuel delivery issues. I carry spare filters. Replaced the filter in a gas station parking lot, still no beans. The Hydramat pickup in the tank must be clogged.




Luckily I know some awesome people. Adam Dorey and crew were able to point me in the direction of a new Hydramat in stock, only had to backtrack an hour. Plus they helped me drop the tank and change it in their air conditioned shop. Talk about awesome people!

[Ghinmi]

North pole, huh?





There's what I was after. This is the ticket booth for Pikes Peak. Always wanted to drive up to the top with a hot rod.




Unfortunately they were not letting the public drive to the summit due to construction. HOWEVER. I was able to convince the lady to pull some strings and give me a Summit Pass. Would've been a major bummer to drive all that way just to come up a few miles short.













These two were very nice but absolutely insane. They made the summit of over 14,000 feet on bicycles unassisted.







No breathtaking views up at the summit because of the construction but I bribed my way into getting a picture in front of the sign.

[Ghinmi]

Got the sticker to prove I was there.






Look at that barometric pressure!




The descent.

[Ghinmi]

Made it to Mexico.... er.... Texas.

[Ghinmi]

We managed to get a little cruising in this Spring before they locked Michigan down because some idiots in China wouldn't quit eating bats.

[78 WIDETRAC]

Awesome pics. Whats up with the seabee sticker? I must say it fits in perfect with the color of your Jeep.

[rang-a-stang]

Wow! I really enjoyed catching up on this! Thanks for all the pics and stories! SOOOOoooo epic!!!

I notice in TX you had full slicks and pizza cutters.... how much do they help?

[Ghinmi]

Awesome pics. Whats up with the seabee sticker? I must say it fits in perfect with the color of your Jeep.

The side glass came out of my red Cherokee that was wrecked. The Seabees sticker as well as the Aero Club Ancona come from when it was bought new and brought to Italy by a service member. They were too cool to peel off, even when I transplanted the windows to this '75. Kind of keeps a little bit of the history of the old '83.

Wow! I really enjoyed catching up on this! Thanks for all the pics and stories! SOOOOoooo epic!!!

I notice in TX you had full slicks and pizza cutters.... how much do they help?

The slicks help a bunch in a straight line. With the regular street tires it is extremely traction limited. I have to do a LOT of tomfoolery with power management and driver input to get it to run high 10s at the track with the street tires. If I put all the power in, it has enough grunt to smoke the tires from basically any legal speed limit in the country, haha.

[bwwhaler]

Awesome trip, enjoyed the pics... your brothers TA is perfect, I always wanted a Bandit TA.

[rockosocko]

Greg. Picking up a 70 panel van from a bud who just got it for the front cap.
Should be picking it up in a couple weeks 😉
Must've lost your email address. Sorry.

A gazillion things going on and constant changes it seems.

I'll get back with you on the "Z-ing" the frame..

Thanks again for your help.
E