[behzad]

I haven't got a Jeep of my own yet but I am helping a friend out with her jeep.
Its a 2 wheel drive and according to the owner, its a commander chassis which has been shortened and runs a wheelbase of 81 inches. The motor is one of those refurbished jobs form a Bolero and it runs a 5 speed box.
Tyres are Maxxis Mudzillas on 15 inch rims n they look awesome... (performance killers tho)

We just took her out for her first out of town ride. A short hop to Lonavala and back over the weekend.
My only other jeep experience was an Armada, a bit of offroading and highway driving in a Scorpio M-hawk. So really don't know what to benchmark this one with.

The moment I took her out, the engine felt rough and unrefined. The jeep behaved well till 3rd gear but 4th and 5th felt over geared. Infact even on straight roads the 5th gear could not pull the jeep. The speed would drop the moment I engaged 5th.

Could be one of 3 things. Mismatched final ratio, underpowered engine, huge tires. Top speed as measured on a phone GPS was 98kmph. (speedo needle was stuck on 70) There was also a lot of valve clatter. Is this normal?

The handling was all over the place at any thing above 30kmph. The suspension also was terrible and while I imagined jeeps to have superior bump absorbing capabilities, this one drove worse than a Premier Padmini.


Now I need some help to sort this baby out. me and my friend both are quite sentimental about her and would love to do her up. Looks wise shes a killer, I would just like her to perform better.

Is there anyway to improve a NA, non computer controlled diesel engine?

Posting here as I am looking for advice.
Could anyone help us out?

[GTO]

Originally Posted by behzad

its a commander chassis which has been shortened and runs a wheelbase of 81 inches.

The motor is one of those refurbished jobs form a Bolero

and it runs a 5 speed box.

Is it any wonder that the Jeep's on-road behaviour is shoddy? The vehicle has so obviously been prepared only to "look cool", with an utter disregard for the under-the-hood stuff. In all probability, the chassis has been cut by a corner garage, an old engine way past its prime brought back to working condition using el cheapo parts and the guy who mated the gearbox doesn't know anything about mating ratios.

There's plenty of such Jeeps on the market. Your friend has two options:

a) Get rid of this Jeep and buy one in proper mechanical condition. Ideally, one that's as stock as possible.

b) Spend $$$, fix whatever needs to be fixed and get her back to good shape.

Good news is, its easy to fix anything on a Jeep (given the time, $$$ and right mechanic, of course).