I love finding forgotten gems

"sm70- why not Duesenberg?" (sm70-whynotduesenberg) 02/13/2019 at 14:43 • Filed to: None

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Cars that are a little bit special, but that 99.9% of the population would never give a second glance. Cars like this 1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.9 Limited. It was !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , the last year of the first gen Grand Cherokee (ZJ). As the name would imply, it was an even posher version of the top tier Limited Grand Cherokee, and was fitted with a 5.9 Magnum V8 making 245 horsepower and 345 lbft of torque (same engine as the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! ). It hit 60 in 6.8 seconds, and because this was before the era of Cayennes and Urus and AMG/M SUVs, that made it just about !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! you could buy in the U.S. Of the more than 1.6 million ZJ Grand Cherokees ever sold, less that 1% were 5.9 Limiteds. This one seems to be in pretty nice shape with no visible rust or damage. Neat.

MUSASHI66 > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 02/13/2019 at 14:55

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Never knew this model existed. I always thought be TSi models with the blue stripe were the shit for this generation. My old boss had one, and her husband drove an  1994.5 Audi S4. That was a glorious beast. 

Discerning > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 02/13/2019 at 14:57

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I owned one of those! 1998 5.9 limited and all. It was sort of a piece of crap. It liked to suck down fuel, eat wheel bearings, and then there was the constant incorrect messages on the DIC. I also went through one water pump and had a rotted out exhaust at some point. But it was still fun punching it away from toll booths on I90.

Textured Soy Protein > Discerning 02/13/2019 at 15:07

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I had a WJ that was also sort of a piece of crap, but it was endearing. Mostly because the seats were so goddamn comfy. 

Discerning > Textured Soy Protein 02/13/2019 at 15:09

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Very true. The limited had very comfy seats.

mazda616 > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 02/13/2019 at 15:14

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I can only imagine how quick these are. My mom had a ‘94 Limited with the 5.2 and even it would haul ass considering it was an old school 4X4 SUV.

ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com > Discerning 02/13/2019 at 15:17

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We had that engine in the form of a 99 Durango from 2000-2005ish. Can confirm that it was primarily good at sucking down fuel and making nice noises.  It was quick enough, but certainly not impressive in any way in the bigger and heavier Durango.

sm70- why not Duesenberg? > Discerning 02/13/2019 at 15:21

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I can totally believe that it was objectively not a great car.

Dogsatemypants > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 02/13/2019 at 15:26

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No rust? Unless they just drove it to iowa or applied a metric ton of undercoat i am skeptical.

sm70- why not Duesenberg? > Dogsatemypants 02/13/2019 at 15:30

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No *visible* rust.

Spamfeller Loves Nazi Clicks > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 02/13/2019 at 15:40

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Point of order: the 5.9 Limited was not “sort of” the fastest SUV you could buy in America. It was the fastest SUV you could buy in the world, period . Chrysler pulled out all the stops they could on the 5.9 and 100% of the de-tune is for emissions and cooling reasons. Those hood vents aren’t for show - they look like an after-thought because they had to be added at the last minute due to overheating issues.

Some folks have said the original plan was to fit a V10 in there, but let me assure you, completely false. It was always planned to be a V8 for packaging reasons. The V10 simply wouldn’t fit without elongating the front unibody structure significantly. They knew exactly what the unibody and driveline could take, and had actually aim ed for 300HP.

Oh, yeah, did I mention that the 5.9 Limited is only rated at 245HP and 345ft/lbs? And that the official specifications are heavily sandbagged?

Chrysler stated a 0-60 of 7.3 seconds; every publication that tested one was sub-7s. EVERY publication. If you control your wheel spin and ignore the aerodynamics, it will do the standing quarter in under 15 seconds. If you choose NOT to control your wheel spin, it can smoke the rear tires on command.

And not only that, but they pulled out the serious bag of tricks on the interior. It is without question one of the nicest interiors you will find on anything of that era, period. The upholstery is ALL calf nap leather. It has a bespoke Infinity system (which was already the best factory car stereo you could buy.) The seat foam was revised to be even more comfortable than the already comfy Limited, while adding grip.

The engine had to be significantly detuned due to emissions and cooling though. Remember that 300HP goal? Swap the stock manifolds for shorty headers making no changes from the factory catalytic converter back, and you’re spitting distance. Exhaust and intake mods alone will put one below a 15 second quarter mile. Add the DEALER OFFERED Mopar Performance Stage 1 PCM “for off-road use only” and with nothing but intake and exhaust, it will easily hit 325/400. On 91 octane. (Which is why I label all the ‘chips’ as the snake oil they are. The DC/MP PCMs are the only ones that actually do a thing, and just a PCM swap will net you more than double the claims of any ‘chip’ vendor.)

These. Jeeps. Do. Not. Fuck. Around.

AMGtech - now with more recalls! > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 02/13/2019 at 15:58

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I worked on a couple of these back when I first started wrenching professionally. Didn't realize they were so rare! (Not a Jeep guy at all)

sm70- why not Duesenberg? > Spamfeller Loves Nazi Clicks 02/13/2019 at 16:02

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Saracen > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 02/13/2019 at 17:02

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A spoiled friend of mine in high school got a brand new one. I remember it being such a rocket.

gogmorgo - rowing gears in a Grand Cherokee > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 02/13/2019 at 22:31

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My ZJ is cooler. And more rare. Okay it’s not cooler inside, because base model and factory a/c delete. But manual everything. Better that way, the way Jeeps were intended to be.

AR24-7 > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 02/15/2019 at 13:21

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HYPE