1990 Rebirth ('97 Conversion)

I've owned three wranglers, but decided to start another Jeep project. I call it a rebirth because if I hadn't decided to buy it and fix it, I'm sure it wouldn't have lasted long. The PO had no idea it had a hole in the floor, even after looking for holes.

I haven't decided if this will be a fix to keep or fix to sell Jeep yet, but here's what I've got:

Its a 1990 2wd 4.0 5 spd. It has 212k miles, but only about 50k on the rebuilt 4.0. It has some rust on the driver side floor board and the rear dana 35 is pretty much shot. The paint is pretty rough, but the body is in great shape overall.

Here are some pictures of when I picked it up:

(notice the mismatched mirrors)

I don't know if that headliner can be saved, but we'll see.

I got a quote yesterday on a transmission and transfer case out of a 92 Cherokee, front dana 30 and rear 8.25, drive shafts and all for $1k. Oh and free delivery. It seems like a good deal to me. Any thoughts? I might see if I can find a newer 95+ to get the external slave. Is that worth holding out for?

I also took a trip to the pull a part. I got bucket seats out of a '92 cherokee, a full instrument cluster, front fender liners, digital clock, and tilt steering column out of an auto (not sure if I can make this work), a full front clip (mine is cracked at the top) and the ash tray just to fill the blank in the dash. Not a bad day's work for $127. Pictures coming soon.

I got the bench seat out and the carpet pulled and got to working on the floor a little bit today. I got the broken e-brake cable out only to realize that the new one I bought is not the right one.

The passenger floor board really isn't that bad, just some surface rust and a small pin hole. The driver side is worse than I thought. I found a small hole on the side near the rocker panel toward the back of the door and another hole on the left side under the parking brake pedal. There is surface rust all down the firewall on the inside. So I have to figure out what's leaking down.

Passenger side:

Driver side (most of the bright orange is the padding from the carpet that stuck to the floor):

Back driver side:

I obviously want to keep all this from happening again. What's the best way to find leaks? Also, does anyone know how to get the firewall padding off without taking everything off the firewall? I need to get behind it to address the surface rust on the driver side.

That's a huge chunk o' dough. for under a grand you could buy a whole XJ and part out all the unnecessary stuff. :thumbsup: Or buy the XJ, swap the 4wd stuff for your 2wd stuff and re-sell the XJ. :D

cluster won't work, you need an 87-90 era.

the baby powder trick can help you out with the leak detection.

and welcome to the club! :waving:

I've owned three wranglers, but decided to start another Jeep project. I call it a rebirth because if I hadn't decided to buy it and fix it, I'm sure it wouldn't have lasted long. The PO had no idea it had a hole in the floor, even after looking for holes.

 

 

 

 

do i see a srt4 in the garage? if so i just had a 04 stage 2 but i sold it like a dumbass, but I'm planning on buying another, great car. and nice mj btw.

My gauge cluster I bought is from the same year (1990), the tilt was out of a 92. What's the baby powder trick?

Yeah, that's my SRT-4 and I'm selling it. I have a guy coming to pick it up this weekend. Its been a great car, even after it was totaled and rebuilt, but I'm really tired of fwd and I wanted to sell it while it was still worth something.

Sprinkle baby powder all over the suspect area. as the water seeps in, it'll make trails through the powder, leading you right to the source. :D Then let it dry out and vacuum it up. :thumbsup: It's helped me find 2 leaks so far that I never would have found otherwise.

Sounds like a good idea, but I still need to get the firewall padding off. Do I have to take the dash off to get it out?

Also your idea about buying a whole Cherokee might be a great option. I found a same model year 5spd 4x4 locally asking $1300, so I should be able to talk him down and get a whole vehicle for roughly the same price. No word yet on if it has a dana 35 in the rear or not though.

chances are very good it'll have a Dana 35. And 3.07 gearing, which sucks.

Dunno how that padding comes out. I always cut the thing out. Better ask the guys :thumbsup: (tech questions should really go in the tech forum anyway)

great start man fix that rust quick I'm so glad i found a cheap rust free mj :cheers:

Well, I have made some progress. The passenger side is pretty close to being ready for paint. Just a little more wire brushing and fill in the the small pin hole. The driver side has been a little more problematic. I've been trying to work around the firewall padding and its been rather annoying. I found the source of my leak. Its a leaky clutch master. The fluid dripped down and seeped in around the fuse panel. My floor boards have seam sealer everywhere. The whole firewall is covered in it. The fluid dripped down behind the seam sealer, so a lot of the rust was covered up.

Passenger Side:

Driver Side (I obviously have some more work to do, but at least all the fuzz is gone). I wiped down the passenger side, but not the driver side, so a lot of what you see is rust dust:

Its made itself right at home, pushing my other vehicles into the driveway.

I got started on my XJ bucket seats tonight, but while drilling out the studs on the old XJ mounts, my drill battery died, so no pictures of those till tomorrow.

nice truck, i'm a fan of those wheels to, i may be the only one. but they look cool in restored condition.

Well, I made a little progress. I have the driver seat brackets done. I have to blow it back apart to paint and I'm obviously going to have to clean the seats, but it fits and has to sit a good six inches taller than my worn out bench. I love it so far and I've only sat in it for about 30 seconds.

Instead of trying to patch all my many holes, someone at work suggested just buying a replacement floor pan. Has anyone had any experience with these? I had some Chinese body panels on other vehicles that didn't fit well, but I figured for a floor it doesn't have to be that close to make it work.

http://c2cfabrication.com/store/index.p ... c6c072cfce

They take alittle muscling to fit in there but you also can cut them up and use them for patch panels where you may need em. :thumbsup:

Finally got the passenger seat in:

The seats will be cleaned, and the mounting hardware will be painted, but not until I can get the floor finished. Speaking of... I got a new floor pan. I thought it was going to be Chinese metal, but it says "Made in the USA," so that made me happy.

Its obviously not in welded in. I can't weld, so I'm going to have some friends tackle that for me.

Saturday I will be going to pick up my new axles, drive shafts, transmission and transfer case. More details to come.

Where did you get the usa pans?

Where did you get the usa pans?

From the post above mine. Its not an exact OEM replacement; it will need to be massaged some, but it should work. Plus is was only like $60 to my door.

Yeah they take some improvising to get them to fit in some spots but they worked out great for me :cheers:

Well, my parts run didn't go quite as planned. I got my new 4x4 AX-15 from a '95 Cherokee with the external slave and the NP231 transfer case. Then I went across town to pick up my axles, but they were TJ axles, so obviously they wouldn't work. Now it seems like no one can find any Comanche axles. I was hoping to get Comanche axles instead of Cherokee axles so I wouldn't have to weld on new spring perches and shock mounts, but it looks like I might not have a choice. I wish my current rear end wasn't bad so I could keep it (it makes a noise while on the gas; I'm just glad it made it 4 hours home).

The guy I bought my trans and tc from can get me a front Dana 30 w/out CAD and a rear Chrysler 8.25 with 3.55 gearing for a couple hundred each. Should I be looking at something else or is this about as good as it gets with Cherokee axles?

Also, any suggestions on where to get the new shock mounts and spring perches?

I made some progress on the floor. Got several more spot welds drilled out and hunting for the rest (hard to find with all the pitted/rusted metal). I got some courtesy lights, a grab handle, front ZJ sway bar and a 4th lug nut cover at the Pull-a-Part this weekend. I'll need to order a new clutch master and slave cylinder for the transmission. I can't find transfer case linkage for my AX-15, so I'm still on the hunt for that and I need driveshafts too.

Sorry for the long post with no pictures. Hopefully more coming soon.

MJ shock mounts are bolt on. you've already got them on your truck. :D

don't fear the welding. It's very simple and you can probably get it done at a muffler shop for cheap. :thumbsup: new perches can be found at the dealership for like $15.

Gearing is more important.

MJ shock mounts are bolt on. you've already got them on your truck. :D

 

don't fear the welding. It's very simple and you can probably get it done at a muffler shop for cheap. :thumbsup: new perches can be found at the dealership for like $15.

 

Gearing is more important.

Haha. OK, I didn't know that. Didn't even think about it. I'll look at them when I get home, but all I would need to do is unbolt the shock mounts from one side, bolt them on the other and weld on new spring perches? If so, that's not bad at all. My company has a fab shop that I go over and bug every once in a while for small stuff. I just need to take a welding class and learn myself.

Thanks for the info.

but all I would need to do is unbolt the shock mounts from one side, bolt them on the other and weld on new spring perches?

bolt them on the other side? :hmm:

Yeah, after I posted that I got to thinking about it and yeah, didn't make any sense. I guess I was thinking about my old YJ or something. I don't know what I was thinking :doh: . But I'm on the right track now.

if you're staying spring-under, then they will go on in the same place they are now. :thumbsup:

if you're staying spring-under, then they will go on in the same place they are now. :thumbsup:

Are there any disadvantages of going with the XJ spring over axle? I will stay spring under axle, just curious.

beside the 6" of lift?