Jeep Cherokee XJ - 10 Day Jeep Speed Racer

Day 2: When starting a new day at TMR, our first task was to check out what had been done the night before. LaFortune had two shifts going as insurance against his deadline. "There were 10 guys here working until 10 last night," he said in the morning. Those hours would get later as the week wore on. One of the night jobs was getting a start on the frame to hold the Jaz 32-gallon fuel cell where the Cherokee's rear seat used to be.

Demonteverde and LaFortune installed a set of subframe reinforcements, part of the Skyjacker 6-inch suspension kit that will go under the Jeep. "This is a very popular kit. I'd say 70 percent of the Jeeps out there are running it," LaFortune said.

These are 1/8-inch mild steel reinforcement plates that Krellwitz and Rivera were welding to the front framerails. "This is tedious stuff," Krellwitz said of the job, which would take him several hours. "But if I don't do it, the truck won't last. There'll be cracks all over the place." Why the holes? The OE framerail is so thin, if Krellwitz welded only the outside edge of the plate, the welds wouldn't be strong enough. So he'll weld inside each of those holes. "There's so much tied into the front of the truck it really needs the strength," he said.

When he took a break from the reinforcement plates, Krellwitz moved to the back of the Jeep to weld on his chromoly rollcage attachment points. Here's a close-up look at one of those cage mount points. Note how the frame has been significantly reinforced with additional plates.

Rivera cuts away a portion of the driver-side front framerail that had been damaged previously. In doing so, he also removed the original-and weak-mounts for the steering box. When this part of the frame is replaced, it'll include chromoly plate to support the new steering box.