1997 Jeep Cherokee Xj Rebuild - power Cables - Photo 28554104

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16. Over time, the power cables had worn, frayed, and been eaten by battery acid, leaving us with some starting issues after all the engine work was done and put back together. Jeepers and Creepers has replacement cable kits that put monstrous power cables under the hood. My only complaint is that it was a pain in the butt to try to route a couple of them through the engine bay (since they were so big).

1. The owner claimed the non-running issue was a head gasket, and the orange coolant residue all over certainly seemed characteristic of that, but there was a strong possibility the head was junk-and that could be a good reason the owner jumped on the offer of $400 for a '97 XJ in generally good condition with 98,000 miles on the odometer.

2. Upon our editor's recommendation, I took the Cherokee down to Jeeps R Us in Laguna Beach, California, and we started in on the engine to see what was wrong. Part of the reason we didn't care about the condition of the head was because I had found a used Hesco aluminum head to replace it with.

3. As we had suspected, it was more than a head gasket-there was a big crack between the intake and exhaust valve on the number five cylinder.

What's more is that it is pretty apparent that the previous owner knew it since the head bolts had clearly been loosened and retightened, meaning someone had already discovered the crack. No biggie since we knew what we were buying. And since we had a replacement head, I was glad to find out that's all that it was.

4. We got some new Fel-Pro gaskets to stick the 4.0L engine back together.

5. With almost 100,000 miles on the odometer, I decided to replace a few other things that should probably be addressed after that many miles-especially after having head issues and mixing oil with coolant. And since we had already pulled much of the engine apart, it was easy to add replacement parts like a new radiator from 1-800-Radiator.

6. Like I mentioned earlier, I had gotten a hold of a used Hesco aluminum head. Not to discourage you, but there is probably no way you'll ever find one of these used, and you'll need to buy new. The Hesco head is that precious type of engine mod that people will remove and keep after they sell their Jeep. In fact, that's how I got this one-from a good friend who had pulled it off his Jeep before it was sold. I did me some serious horsetrading to get this aluminum gem.

7. The crew at Jeeps R Us cleaned up the Hesco head and made sure that it wasn't warped.

It has a 5/8-inch deck to resist warping, but it never hurts to check a used part. There's a 30-pound weight reduction when using the head, and I've heard power increases of anywhere from 25 to 40 hp.

8. The Hesco head actually does have its own EO number and is registered with the California Air Resource Board to be smog-legal on both the Jeep 4.0L engine and the older 4.2L engine. The valves are all stock-sized, and the head actually greatly improves emissions when adapted to the 4.2L engine. It comes with high-performance springs, hardened seats and silicone bronze guides. You can use either stock rockers or put roller rockers on the Hesco head.

9. Torque specs are not the same on this aluminum head as they would be on the standard iron head. Always make sure you refer to any given instructions when setting torque on engine bolts.

10. After the head was on, Jeeps R Us also installed a new water pump onto the front of the engine. I had stopped by a local parts shop and gotten a generic replacement pump for $60.

11. I also spent some extra $270 on a new '99-to-'06 intake manifold. The newer manifold design has improved air passages to the head and improves the efficacy of the mixture. It has been rumored to give between 10 and 20 hp to a 1998-or-older 4.0L engine.

12. With the new intake manifold came new a new throttle body gasket and O-rings for each fuel injector.

13. There is no other modification needed when putting the '99 intake manifold onto a '98-or-older engine.

14. In every instance of 4.0L building that I've seen, there has been excellent success with Airaid throttle body spacers on the '98-and-older intake manifolds. They give noticeable throttle response improvement and do actually increase fuel economy a bit. But the entire staff wondered if it made the same differences on a '99-and-newer intake manifold. And I'll save you the suspense: it didn't. 'Seems the Airaid spacer is an excellent option for anyone with the earlier intake, but the newer manifold improves airflow enough to make the spacer unnecessary.

15. I also installed an Airaid QuickFit air intake filtration system. It took all of 20 minutes to install and it fit perfectly into the engine bay.

16. Over time, the power cables had worn, frayed, and been eaten by battery acid, leaving us with some starting issues after all the engine work was done and put back together.

Jeepers and Creepers has replacement cable kits that put monstrous power cables under the hood. My only complaint is that it was a pain in the butt to try to route a couple of them through the engine bay (since they were so big).

17. The last thing needed to get my Bargain Betty running again was a battery. And I wanted to make sure to get a dry cell battery since this Jeep and I would be dong a fair amount of bouncing around. My only choice under the hood of this Jeep: An Odyssey PC1200, of course. It's smaller than the factory battery, yet has a better reserve capacity and many more cranking amps (1,200) than the stock spillable battery. I went directly over to West Coast Batteries in Corona, California, to get mine-they're the biggest distributor of Odyssey batteries on the West Coast.

18. For now, I'm done with the engine mods. Thanks to Jeeps R Us, I've got an extremely reliable 4.0L engine pushing out more power than stock, yet still getting better fuel economy than a stock engine would.

One last widget I might try will be this Jeepers and Creepers throttle body. To keep costs down, they give you the basic body and bearings of the billet throttle body, but you'll need to cut and reuse parts off your stock throttle body to make it work. I haven't gotten brave enough to try it yet, but I'll let you know how it goes.