Eagle

30 bucks is a lot less than 80 bucks.

That's been around for awhile. Aside from the obvious breakdowns of normal firearm safety on many levels, that guy was a total jerk beyond that. Problems: 1. Loaded gun in a school -- after saying it was unloaded. He didn't know how to check the chamber 2. Poor trigger discipline. Finger should not have been on the trigger 3. He was supposed to be an undercover DEA agent. I can't think of many ways more effective at blowing your cover than giving a lecture at a public school wearing a tee shirt that identifies you as a DEA agent. Total maroon.

My '88 leaks on the driver's side -- but only when it rains. I adjusted the door, tweaked the weatherstripping, and it still leaks. It's coming in through the firewall, near the fuse panel. But I haven't been able to pinpoint the location, so I can't get it stopped. Your problem *MAY* not be the door at all.

Yes, you got it right. Take a look at the radiator cap. On the inside, is there a metal disc under the gasket that's slightly loose? There should be, and that's what allows coolant to flow back from your overflow bottle if you use one. But the overflow bottle has to be set up so the hose either goes into the bottom of the bottle, or extends down to below the fluid level if it goes in through the cap. What happens is this: With the new metal tank filled completely, when the system heats up the coolant expands a little, and any air trapped in the system expands a lot. This forces some of the coolant in the system out through the radiator cap and into the overflow bottle. ALL modern vehicles with "open" systems work that way today. I haven't seen a factory non-recovery system since the 60s or early 70s. If the recovery bottle has the end of the tube below the fluid level, and if the radiator cap has the little flapper disc, once you shut the engine off and it starts to cool down, the coolant (and any air) starts to contract again. That creates a slight vacuum. At this point, the vacuum pulls that little disc open and sucks coolant back from the overflow bottle like a siphon. That's the way they are designed to work. Once the system is fully "burped" it's a constant cycle -- the level of coolant in the overflow rises when hot and drops when cold, but stays in the same range. When you have air trapped, such as after first refilling the radiator, it may take a few cycles. Each cycle will push out more of the entrapped air, and each time that happens the air will be replaced by pulling coolant out of the recovery bottle when it cools down. Keep an eye on the level in the recovery bottle to be sure it is always about 1/3 full when cold, and that the end of the tube from the pressure tank is covered by the fluid level. Here: http://comancheclub.com/forums/viewtopi ... +burp+fill Read post #4, but keep in mind that the reference to half-full was because that describes how to burp the OEM plastic bottle. For the new type (either the Moroso or this nifty, custom-made job) you eventually want the tank to be filled right to the neck, and then have additional coolant in the overflow bottle. Do NOT run that tank with the overflow hose just dripping on the floor. You will lose coolant every time you run the engine.

Can't compare to a yard in upstate NY. A few years ago, my buddy Erich called up all excited because he found a yard with two (count 'em, TWO) XJ Dana 44 rear axles. He needed one, and for the price I was ready to buy the other one. So he called back, confirmed and re-confirmed that they were really dana 44 axles, told them to go ahead and pull them, and we hitched up my trailer and headed off. I don't remember just how many miles or hours it was to get there. It was NOT "next door." Got there, and they wouldn't let us inspect the goods. Had to pay first. "Are you absolutely CERTAIN these are Jeep Cherokee Dana 44 axles?" "Oh, yes, no question about it." So we paid, they gave us the magic piece of paper that would allow us to drive through the gate and back up to the loading dock ... where we found (naturally) two Dana 35 axles. It took us about 45 minutes of arguing before they would acknowledge that they had no clue what the difference was and didn't even know there had ever been an optional axle in a Cherokee. Then it took another half hour to get our money back. Yeah, I just LOVE junkyards.

I stole this photo from the coolant recovery bottle thread. We're talking (I think) about the little cylinder thingie sticking up out of the back of the valve cover. It performs the function of a PCV but I don't know if that's the right name for this one.

We have a 4 banger '88 MJ and a 4 banger '89 XJ sitting here and both have that coolant bottle... I know you based that statement on the photo above, but just stating that they were used in several years/models. Hmmm ... maybe they used that air box through 1990, then, and standardized when they switched over to the Chysler ignition/injection in '91. My bad. Nonetheless, that hood prop pegs the vehicle in the photo as an 86 or 87.

Also, as I hope you are aware, the spring perches on an XJ rear axle don't match up to the MJ chassis. The MJ is spring-under-axle, the XJ is spring over. Even if you plan to lift by doing a spring-over conversion, the spacing on the XJ percehes isn't right and will have to be adjusted.

That one is fuel injected, so it's probably an '86 or maybe an '87. Can't be an '88 with that hood prop.

I don't know about recently, but in the past Rusty's was also famous for providing tracking numbers without shipping the product.

Motion is correct. That's from an EARLY 4-cylinder, which has a narrower air box than the 4.0L. That bottle will NOT fir a 4.0L unless you have removed the stock air box and are running a cone intake.

It's a misconception to think that a lower temperature thermostat will make an overheating vehicle magically run cool. The purpose of the thermostat is to keep the temperature UP, not down. Assuming a stock 195-degree thermostat, if your radiator is not capable of keeping the temperature down to 195 degrees, there is no reason to think it would be capable of keeping the temperature down to 180 degrees. The bottom line is, when it's time for a radiator, it's time for a radiator ... anything else is a Band-Aid.

Jeep Wrangler Unlimited. If it were up to me, I'd go looking for one of the original, stretched 2-door Unlimiteds from the first year they were offered, when they still had the 4.0L engine. Either that, or graft the back of an MJ to the frint of a 4-door XJ. But that's a lot of work if you're taking care of a rug rat.

Sounds a bit like what's been happening with mine recently. Something is getting "heat soaked," and doesn't like to run hot. Possibilities include the ignition module, the coil (which mounts on top of the ignition module), and maybe the fuel pump ballast resistor. Most folks tell me the ballast resistor isn't a candidate, that they either work or they don't work, but the symptomes with mine when it dies are like running out of gas. Problem is, since I started carrying a jumper wire for the next time as a test ... it hasn't happened. With yours, next time it dies check your fuel rail to see if you have fuel pressure. If not, jumper the two wires on the ballast resistor and see if it'll run. If that doesn't work, look at the coil and ignition module.

Okay, it's after the end of the business day on Monday. Have we been notified? Did "we" officially win?

That's absolute crap Eagle. How can you generalize like that - it's not like you. It's not a generalization. It's a flat statement, based on my experience owning both types of XJ. You said it yourself. The overwhelming consensus on NAXJA when I was active there was that the Renix vehicles got better gas mileage than the HOs. In my own mini-fleet, the very best mileage the HOs have produced has been around 21 MPG. When it was new, the '88 got mid-20s highway and had a high of 28 MPG, heavily loaded, on a trip from Connecticut to Vermont. This is true. But who's to say this isn't good depending on what you rig is used for? Personally I'd rather have a higher peak power band for max efficiency AND the resulting better gas mileage. Having the peak torque and HP readings at lower RPMs is only good for tractors and/or off-road purposes. The ratio of on-road vs. off-road on 99% of our MJs is probably 10 to 1, if that. Who wants to peak out at 2300 RPM or so cruising down the interstate? Peak efficiency comes from operating the engine at the torque peak. The torque peak on the original HO engine was 3,950 RPM, and they later dropped it to 3,000 RPM in 1996, with the change to ODB-II. By contrast, the '87 had a torque peak at 2,000 RPM and the '88 - '90 had a torque peak at 2,400 RPM. Considering that at legal highway speeds the 5-speed with stock gears cruises at less than 2,000 RPM and an automatic on stock tires only turns 2260 RPM at 70 MPH, there's no justification using your efficiency argument for raising the torque peak in the HO engines. This is why the Renix engines typically produce better gas mileage -- they are operating near their torque peak at highway speeds.

I'll be very interested to see what they use for a final count. It's now 1:07 a.m. on Monday and the voting mechanism is still functioning. SHEESH!

Congratulations ... I guess. What a messed up contest. Setting it up to allow "stacking" the voting is dumb enough, but then to allow the voting to continue after the cut-off? What a bunch of maroons (to borrow a pjrase from Bugs Bunny).

Are you looking for a fender, or a bumper? Any place selling Certi-Fit body parts can sell you a fender. Try Quadratec, Keystone, or Sherman. Rusty's and Custom 4x4 (a.k.a. C4x4) have front tow hook kits that fairly closely replicate the old factory tow hook setup. In fact, if you search hard enough I believe Keystone also offers the brackets, and you can use any hook. The C4x4 kit is a good start. Motion Off-Road may also have something. However, if you're also thinking "winch," rather than spend money on tow hook brackets it would make better sense to just invest in a good winch bumper that also includes mounting points for either tow hooks or (better) D-rings.

UM, if I may.... Get a 1991 Comanche or newer. That way you get away from the Renix motor. The renix is a GREAT motor, but the 91+ 4.0L is just a weeee bit better! I absolutely disagree. The Renix is easier to work on and they get better gas mileage. The HO puts out a few more horsepower, but the torque peak is MUCH higher in the RPM band. The Renix engines drive like a Jeep/truck engine should. The HO engines drive like "car" engines. (Which, of course, is what DaimlerChrysler wanted.)

My Pioneer had a bench. The buckets were optional. And the 10-spoke turbine wheels were the "standard option" alloy wheels. I think the Eliminators came with an alloy rim featuring circular punchouts. Not the "Gambler" rim, but something similar.

I'm watching it, and I'll start throwing votes at Steph if the other team puts on a surge. Meanwhile, I'd still like to push Cynthia Davidson ahead of the complainer (Kelly Homavitch), so if anyone has a couple of votes to spare, throw 'em at Cynthia.

You could tell him my reliability story. At the end of 1998, my '88 XJ was (IIRC) around 175,000 miles and I was concerned about reliability, so I bought a new 1999 Grand Cherokee. Once it arrived, I put the XJ up for sale at what I felt was a decent, fair price. Nobody even called to look at it or make a counter offer. Not even after I reduced the price twice. Meanwhile, the new "reliable" Grand Cherokee was spending more time in the shop than it was in my garage. At one point the factory flew in a special trouble-shooter, who spent an entire WEEK at the dealership doing things to my Grand Cherokee. And every single thing he touched was worse when he finished than it had been before he started. Finally, at about 14,000 miles, the Grand Cherokee simply died, right in the middle of a state road. I had it towed to the dealership, where they determined that they knew what was wrong with it, but they couldn't fix it because the part wasn't in the supply chain yet for the '99 models. At that point, Chrysler bought the Grand back from me to stop me from going lemon law with it. I replaced it with a 2000 XJ, which my wife drives. I still have the original '88 XJ (the one I was worried about when I bought the Grand, remember). It is now at 275,000 miles, still gets better gas mileage than the 2000, and doesn't burn any oil. The head has never been off it. I replaced the clutch at 200,000 miles, and every three years or so I replace the exhaust from the cat back. That's it. Regular oil changes, and it runs like the Energizer bunny. IMHO there is no vehicle available that is more reliable than a 1988 Jeep Cherokee. If your father is concerned about reliability, he should be begging you NOT to sell that XJ.

Yeah, but look how much paint you saved by not having doors ... :D

Using a sprayer, you would probably need 5 to 6 quarts. A number of years ago a friend of a friend (an unemployed professional body man) painted my full-size Cherokee. He didn't do the roof -- only from the beltline down. He used a full gallon of urethane. I had Colorado Red mixed up in the large size spray cans when I repleced the fenders on the '88. I used 2-1/2 cans (the size of the Duplicolor truck paint cans) to do two front fenders.