KR KESSEL RUNTHE XJ PROJECTTUCSON, AZ ↗
Kessel Run, the original dark blue 2000 Jeep Cherokee SportFIELD NOTES / AUGUST 2026 · THE STARTING POINT

2000 CHEROKEE SPORT 4×4

Old Jeep.
New chapter.

Keeping a 2000 Cherokee alive,
one bolt at a time.

A $2,000 XJ, 244,266 miles, and a plan to keep it going for another five years. The repairs, the upgrades, and the questionable financial decisions—all documented here.

Open the build journal ↗

4.0L INLINE SIX / AW4 AUTOMATIC / BUILT TO KEEP

THE BUY-IN$2,000Purchased August 21, 2026
WHERE WE STARTED244,266 miOdometer at purchase
THE DESTINATION~300,000 miFive-year ownership goal
CURRENT CHAPTERReliability firstMaintenance before modifications

01 / THE BUILD JOURNAL

Notes from the driveway.

What changed. What worked.
What’s still on the list.

“Make it reliable, capable, comfortable,
and cool enough to keep.”

THE KESSEL RUN MISSION

02 / THE BUILD SHEET

A rolling work in progress.

Installed parts and completed repairs.
The future build lives in the roadmap.

Side profile of the Cherokee at the start of the project
August 2026 / Original baseline photo

03 / THE OWNERSHIP LEDGER

Every dollar has a story.

RECORDED VEHICLE SPENDPurchase + confirmed vehicle costs
TOOLS, KEPT SEPARATEUseful beyond this Jeep
STILL TO RECONCILEVehicle entries awaiting actual costs

This is a partial ledger, not the full investment. Unknown costs are marked “To confirm” and excluded from totals. Planned purchases are excluded. Tool purchases are tracked separately.

Date / periodItemCategoryAmount

04 / THE ROAD AHEAD

One paycheck at a time.

A staged build.
Reliability gets first dibs.