Eagle

I have encountered a few small-block Chevy conversions and read about some others, and I can't recall a single one that didn't have cooling problems.

You didn't mention if your MJ is 2WD or 4WD (or else I missed it). Replacing the clutch is several orders of magnitude easier if you have a 2WD.

Thanks, Pete. I'll have my wife e-mail that to her bro' and see if it's the right part.

Yes, there is a special fastener. That's the same type liner and fastener that was on my brother's Nissan. The fasteners are a large, black plastic twist-in thingie that goes into the hole and then turns either 90-degrees or 180-degrees to lock the liner to the rail. My '88 MJ has the same liner, and came w/o the fasteners. I've been driving it for about 8 years and haven't had any problems with the liner trying to blow away.

HESCO can sell you one, but you won't want to pay for it. The point of what I wrote is that the '94 engine harness can be used as a stand-alone, without changing over the entire chassis wiring harness. All Chrysler did with the 4.2L conversions was take the engine harness part and leave out the chassis harness parts. Get a '94 XJ wiring diagram.

Pay close attention to what Geonovast wrote. To expand on that: Over the years Jeep made several changes to the hubs, rotors, calipers, and steering knuckles. If you start to mix and match, you create problems. The '93 front axle will bolt right into your '87, BUT you have to use EVERYTHING from the '93 axle, including the calipers, and down the road you have to remember when buying parts (calipers, pads, hubs) to buy for the '93 axle rather than for the '87 vehicle. I've posted the rundown several times of what changes were made in what years. Gotta leave for work so I don't have time to search for it again.

Friends don't let friends drive on Rusty's parts.

The biggest issue is that the fuel gauge reads backwards on the 91+ models unless you change to a '91+ sender ... or retain the pre-91 gauge cluster. Why? Sure, a D44 would be nice, but my '88 XJ with Dana 35 has been wheeled all over the northeast, currently has 285,000 miles on it, and is my daily driver. All on the original D35. Whaddaya mean speedo cable? If you XJ has a mechanical speedometer with a cable, either it isn't a '94 or it has been monkeyed with. Chrysler changed to using electronic speedometers effective with the 91 model year. Yes, they will. Everything under the hood, but don't go nuts. Remember -- Chrysler sells (or used to sell) through the Performance Catalog a kit to convert the old, carbureted 4.2L Wranglers to MPFI. The kit was essentially the ECU, intake manifold, injection rail and wiring from a '94 Wrangler 4.0L. Which means the engine harness can used as a stand-alone in an older vehicle if you pay attention to what you're doing.

This really belongs in our Classifieds area. Please either post an ad, or don't. There's nothing here to discuss.

I would say that you probably need to discipline yourself to use the parking brake, to make certain that the parking brake is set and holding the vehicle before you put it in PARK, and to keep your foot on the brakes when shifting out of PARK. PARK is a physical pawl inside the transmission. If you are one of the new generation of drivers who grew up after they stopped teaching standard transmissions in drivers' ed, you also probably don't understand how PARK works or how much pressure is on that pawl if you use PARK as a substitute for the parking brake rather than the redundant safety device it is intended to be.

We could tell you ... but then we'd have to kill you. Being a staunch conspiracy theorist, here's another thought that has occurred to me (yes, a thought ... they are rare, but they do occur): I hope all you are aware that the ECUs in new cars function much the same as the "black boxes" in commercial aircraft. If you are involved in a serious accident, the police can query the vehicle's "black box" to find out how fast you were traveling, whether or not the brakes were applied, and a few other tidbits of potentially interesting data. And, of course, the government is pushing to have the next generation of vehicle ECUs store and report even more data. Guess what? These so-called "clunkers" the .GOV is paying so lavishly to get rid of ENTIRELY are all old enough that their ECUs don't store and report that kind of data. That's just one reason why I intend to always keep an extra XJ and/or MJ around, as a replacement for if something happens to one I'm currently driving. Even if I have to keep putting Jasper engines in them, it's cheaper than buying a new car every few years at $30,000 a pop ... and I'll always have a bug-free vehicle to drive. I don't think it's entirely accidental that this program will "just happen" to eliminate thousands of "dumb" cars from the road, to be replaced by new vehicles that can be used to tattle on the driver.

My wife is from Chile. Her brother lives in Santiago. We just heard from him that banditos ripped off all four hubcaps (or wheelcovers, I don't recall what he had) from his pride-and-joy S-10 pickup. I'm not sure if he simply can't buy replacements down there, or if he's hoping the price here might be lower, but he asked if I could get a price for replacements here. He's looking for eight (8), I guess on the theory that it won't add much in shipping and, if they stole them once, they'll probably steal them again so he might as well be ready. I don't have any inside contacts at Chevie dealers. The part number is 15661129. The price I was quoted by the local dealer was $33.68 each. Do any of you have any contacts through whom I could beat that price by enough to offset the shipping charges? And does anyone know what these things look like and if a less expansive copy might be available from an aftermarket source? Your kind assistance will be much appreciated.

The auction doesn't scrap it. It isn't theirs to scrap. The dealer/owner scraps it, because he doesn't want to be bother repairing it. I have been to auctions where there's a corner for non-running vehicles. I have never herd of a vehicle that won't start and can't be driven through the lane described as "drivable."

Sam, I have attended real car auctions where they process 1000 vehicles in an afternoon. I have never heard of or seen any idiocy such as "Drive through does not necessarily mean the vehicle can be driven, or even that it will start." At the real auctions, if it doesn't start and can't be driven to the auction lane ... it doesn't get auctioned, it gets sold as scrap. IMHO 5 grand is a lot to pay for scrap. "Minor damage"? Look at the photos of the right rear corner.

What a bunch of maroons. Primary damage listed as left side, but the right side is completely destroyed. Translation: We'll tell you it drives, but we might be lying, and it's your problem if we lie to you not ours. Title status: Good title Except: Translation: See above

Yes, the front bumper, subframe, and brackets for an MJ are identical to an XJ.

Random thought: Would this truck have a column shift? If so, the linkage to the transmission is rather, ah ... "indirect." Don't recall if PARK has a brake interlock. Is it possible that nothing moved except the lever, and that the tranny was in PARK the whole time? When you shut it off, you may have somehow reset an interlock, so the next time you tried it the lever actually moved the linkage. As I said ... random thought.

Around here, they all generally need to have the wobbly head repaired so a JY mirror doesn't really solve anything. Most yards won't sell a mirror off a good door, anyway, so that narrows the availability considerably. Finding an XJ or MJ with a smashed door but a good mirror ain't easy.

If the stock bumper is solid, and if you attach the tow bar as close to the bumber mounts as possible, and if you drive gently (especially when accelerating), you MIGHT be able to do it. A friend and I towed an MJ from Massachusetts to Connecticut that way. But the MJ had no engine, so it was a bit lighter than stock. I have seen a few where attempts to tow with bolt-on tow bars ripped the front bumper apart. It would not be my first choice for how to tow an MJ.

Yes, you can block one of them off. There are probably half a dozen threads on this site discussing which one to block off and how to do it.

Sooner or later many of you will have need of a first aid kit. If you're a former Boy Scout, like me, you practice "Be Prepared!" If you participate in organized trail rides, the sponsoring club may (like NAXJA) require a first aid kit in your vehicle. If you head out on your own to see where that dirt roads leads beyond the horizon, it only makes sense to have a first aid kit. What brings this to mind is that, in cleaning up some piles of old papers in my home office, I stumbled across printouts from the web site I found when I was organizing NACFest events for our chapter of NAXJA. That web site is no longer functional but I got curious and went surfing. Finally found another site that sells the same kits. There's a wide variety on here, with a good range of prices. You can find everything from a $3 or $4 pocket/glovebox kit with a couple of Bandaids and some disinfectant to professional-grade "First Responder" kits suitable for equipping an ambulance or rescue truck. So, before I lose the info again, here's the link. I suggest you bookmark this page: http://www.first-aid-kit-company.com/consumer.htm After a lot of comparing what comes in the various kits, I settled on the FA-134, which I supplement with a couple of CPR face shields and exam gloves. Happy (and safe) wheeling P.S. I see they offer a discount for multiple kits. If enough people are interested and can agree on which kit suits their needs, perhaps a group buy might be appropriate. (Although the saving of a couple of $$ per kit may not be enough to cover postage for reshipping from wherever the bulk shipment goes.)

One line provides proportioned rear braking under normal conditions. The second line is a bypass, so if the front brakes fail the rear brakes get full pressure with no proportioning. It's a common misconception that the second line is a "return" line. I don't know where that came from, but it's what I was told and I believed that for several years ... right up until I actually investigated how the front metering block and rear height-sensing valve work.

A '98? Cheapest I've seen any new-style XJ for around here was $2,975, and I just spotted that one this evening when we went out for dinner.

Looks great. Keep us posted on progress. Your daughter is a lucky gal, I hope she realizes that.

Normally. Lots of them are bloody loud. With the door open you should be able to for sure. But "listen fast." If the system is working, the pump stops once the rail comes up to pressure. That may take from two to five or six seconds, depending on how long the vehicle sat before you activated the fuel pump. When the pressure gets to where it should be the pump shuts off.