Ghostrider's Page

My name is Hugh, aka… Ghostrider, Ghosty. I’m an off road enthusiast located in southwestern Manitoba. I have 13 years experience in off road driving with the Canadian Army and over 20 years experience off roading in my own vehicles. So far, most of my off roading has been in muddy trails, sandy hills and snow. I’m looking forward to experiencing rock crawling as soon as my Jeep is ready. I just started tinkering with my Jeep a few years ago, and now I’m hooked. I’m also training to become a Vehicle Technician with the Army. I enjoy making videos of my off road adventures, and I’ve had an article about four wheeling in southern Manitoba published in Trucks Plus, a national magazine.

I bought my XJ stock 3 years ago. I ran it that way for about three months before putting on a modest 3”, homemade budget boost, and swapped in some 3.55 diff’s. I then drove her pretty hard until I blew the original engine. I pulled an identical Renex I6 from a parts Jeep and started to work. I stripped the donor engine down to the block, had it all cleaned, sent out the heads for proper adjustments, and honed the cylinders. The pistons were ceramic coated with molly-coated skirts. The valve cover, as well as the timing chain cover were also ceramic coated, didn’t have time to do the oil pan. I’ve added Pacesetter Performance headers, also ceramic coated, straight piped to a CherryBomb Pro, and a high volume oil pump, had to “custom shape” my oil pan for it.

The next step is to swap in an open loop radiator, which is more efficient. This will free up room on the firewall for my new TrueFlo XDI air intake, which may go to a snorkel someday. Moving the air intake will also free up room for a second battery. The only other thing I want to do to finish up the engine is move the alternator higher, to keep it out of the water. I’ve seen it done, but with no explanations of how.

Then it’s onto the drive-train. I have an AX-15 to replace the old Pugeot piece of crap, and I’m looking for an NP 231 to mate with it. I’m thinking of running 4.10’s inside Dana 44 diff’s. I have a set of 34” TSL Super Swampers to get the old beast going.

My other vehicles include;
91 GMC Sierra, DD/Hauler
08 Jeep Patriot, The Boss’s DD
52 Willys Wagon, Future Project
01 Arctic Cat Pantera