Eagle

Yes, 4.2L. Jeep used to sell (and may still sell) a conversion setup to turn the carbureted 4.2L Wranglers into MPFI fuel injected vehicles. The kit was basically the manifold, engine room wiring harness, and injection setup from a 1994 Wrangler, with a special adapted to mount the CPS to the front of the engine to read off a special harmonic balancer that has trigger teeth on it. The price for this is a bargain -- if you have a 4.2L Wranger. The kit from Chrysler was $1500 or $2000 IIRC.

We'll hope for the former.

If it was originally a manual, then there should be a push button on the right side of the steering column, near the key. I'm describing it badly and I'm sorry, but after 21 years and over 300,000 miles (combined vehicles) the motion of turning off the key and pushing the release button has become so automatic that I honestly don't remember exactly where it is. And it's dark and raining, so I'm not going out there tonight to take a photo of it. If there's no pushbutton, the previous owner must have swapped the steering column. You wrote that it "was" a 2.5L with a manual tranny. Is it now an automatic? If so, he may have swapped in the column from a donor vehicle along with an engine and drive train.

Automatic or manual? With the automatics, there is an interlock to the shifter so the key can't be removed unless the shifter is in Park. If it's a manual, there's a push button on the right side of the column, forward of and below the key, and the key can't be turned all the way Off and removed unless that button is pushed. It's sounding like perhaps the previous owner might have either messed up the interlock, or possibly swapped in a different column and not reconnected the interlock. Check out this current thread: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=18411

It's cheaper to hang out here. Sooner or later, most questions will be asked ... and answered.

Torque. And 200,000 mile reliability. In fact, the 4.0L in my '88 Cherokee is currently at 287,000.

2.8L? He says it's a 2.5L -- that's the 4-cyinder. If it's really an '87 it can't be a 2.8L. Looks like a pile of junk to me. I'd pay $400 or $500 for it if it runs well. At $1800 I'd have to wonder what kind of dope he's been smoking.

You should find the answers to your questions here: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=7658&hilit=hub+bearing+assembly

No, it is NOT the same amount of work. All the parts needed for a 4.0L swap are readily available from junk XJs. You can get most of the parts needed to swap in a Chevy 3.4L V6 from 2.8L XJs, but not all. It sounds like you are thinking more along the lines of a 4.3L V6, which is an entirely different animal. You either need expensive adapters, or you need to do a lot of fabrication. One of the very early members of NAXJA lived a couple of miles from me and had done a 4.3L swap. A group of us used to meet at a local diner on Saturdays for breakfast. We asked him once if he would undertake the 4.3L swap again, now that he had done one. The answer: "No f***ing way!" So, since you asked for opinions, my opinion is ... forget it. But it sounds like your mind is made up, so stand by for opinions that reinforce your decision and proceed accordingly.

The factory surface manual specifically states that the flywheel cannot be resurfaced, it has to be replaced. As noted, it is not flat ... it has a slight taper, and resurfacing eliminates the correct profile. You need a new flywheel.

If you already have gauges, the upgrade to the cluster with the tach is literally plug-n-play. The tach wiring is already there, and since most 88-90 clusters with tach are from vehicles with the 6-cylinder engine, you don't have to worry about recalibrating a tach from 4-cyl to 6-cyl. No need to replace senders if you already have gauges. And if you want your odometer to read correctly, since you already have the trip meter you can just swap speedos in the cluster, or perhaps swap odometers between the two clusters if the font style is different between the two speedos.

That's what I get for typing when I'm tired and unwell. I meant the parking brake peddle assembly. The regular brake peddle is the same as the Cherokee and there will probably be enough in the junkyards to fulfill reasonable needs for the foreseeable future. The parking brake assembly, however, is unique to the MJ and cannot be sourced from wrecked XJs. I would also love to see it made again -- with the 97+ XJ nose and sheet metal, the HO 4.0L engine and NVG3550 transmission, and an extended cab. The only reason I bought a new XJ in 1988 rather than an MJ was the fact that the MJ had no extended cab option.

Which pipe, and which engine? The pipe size of the 4.0L has stayed the same, but the pipe size for the 2.5L depends on the year. For the 4.0L, the exhaust pipe (the one from the manifold to the catalytic converter) is 2-1/2", and the tailpipe (from the muffler back) is 2-1/4". On the 2.5L, I don't know what size the exhaust pipe is, but I do know that some years the tailpipe was 2" and other years it was 2-1/4"

I hope it doesn't come to this, at least for awhile, but I will mention that: Whoever said real men don't cry ... lied. Any man who can't or won't cry when he loses a loyal buddy isn't much of a man in my book.

DID YOU GET A TITLE? Please tell me you got a title ...

As you might guess from my signature, I am more concerned with restoring MJs than I am with modifying them. I would also like to see cab corners, but there are no taillights in the cab. And I'm not interested in armor. I'm thinking of replacement sheet metal for repairing the lower, rear corners of the cab (behind the doors) when they rust out. Also: * Reproductions of the factory rear bumper (in both black and chrome) * OEM repro rear bumper brackets * Quarter panels (long bed and short bed) * Gas tank skid plates (OEM configuration) (Long bed and short bed) * Foot brake peddle assemblies * Tailgates (or repair panels for same) * Tailgate bumper pads (the wedge shaped thingies that interlock when you close the gate) * Decal sets

"Muscular look"? ROFLMAO What those sail panels DO is make the vestigial bed of the stupid vehicle inaccessible to anyone shorter than 7'-6" tall. Don't automotive designers understand that we don't always open the tailgate when what we really want to do is drop a 5-gallon bucket or an old tire up at the front of the bed area? The Ridgeline is just a station wagon from which they omitted the rear section of the roof. What do you do if you want to bring home a bunch of 10-foot and 12-foot 2x4s from Home Depot -- and it's pouring rain?

Back to ground zero, Grasshopper. The size hex wrench (or socket) that fits on the head of a bolt is NOT the size of the bolt. The bolt size is the diameter of the bolt shank ... the outside diameter of the threaded portion, or the diameter of the smooth portion if there is one (which there will be for a head bolt). Just take one of your old head bolts to the store and let them match it.

Dunno what to say. Been there more than once, and it gets harder -- not easier -- every time. God speed.

10-4 Chrysler blew it. What they should have done was add the extended "Super Cherokee" body from Beijing Jeep to the Cherokee lineup, and introduce the XJ with the common rail diesel from Europe. (While keeping the 4.0L engine as the gasoline offering). I'm like you. I currently have four Cherokees that could be driveable (three are), and five MJs in similar condition. That's not counting "parts" heaps. I'm also 65 years old. If Chrysler thinks I'm going to buy one of their new junks because they discontinued the real Jeeps, they are sadly mistaken. Unless I find something that I WANT to buy, I doubt that I'll need to buy a new vehicle before I get too old to drive. My wife will no doubt want something other than her XJ within the next year or three, but I don't think it'll be a Jeep (or any Chrysler product).

I don't understand your question. The ONLY bolt size you can use is the bolt size that screws into your block. And if the only two options are 7/16" and 1/2", and 1/2" is too big -- how did we get to 5/8" being "just right"?

First things first: How far are you filling the coolant bottle, and did you get the system fully bled when you installed the new bottle? The bottle on the closed system is an expansion/surge tank. With the system cold, it should be filled halfway ... NOT full. You have to allow for expansion of the coolant when it gets hot. If you have any residual air trapped in the system, there will be hot pockets where the coolant doesn't remove heat and that can cause overheating. Lastly, if the system was properly "burped" and the bottle is only half filled when cold -- a bad fan clutch causes overheating at idle. The symptom is overheating when stopped, but as soon as the vehicle starts moving the temperature goes back to normal (because the vehicle motion pushes more air through the radiator).

Oh, goody. More weight to help rip the upper hinge off the door post. Sign me up!

No, the solenoid is mounted on the starter motor. The relay is up near the battery.

The bellhousing needs to come from a 2.5L 4-cylinder Dakota. Dunno on the flywheel. I was going to say it definitely wouldn't work, then I remembered that the 2.8L doesn't use a CPS. So ... maybe.