Eagle

What are you looking for -- torque and gas mileage, or noise and high RPM? My brother talked me into putting a 2-1/2" cat back on my '88 XJ the first time the exhaust rusted out. It sounded nice, my gas mileage went down the toilet, and I could feel the loss of torque off the line and throughout my driving range (it's a 5-speed, so it never sees more than 3,000 RPM and only *very* rarely sees higher than 2,500 RPM). IMHO, the stock 2-1/4" is the preferred setup. That had to be the only time in my long life of playing with with cars that I was actually hoping for an exhaust system to rust out so I could justify replacing it.

MIL? Check engine light ... on an '86? The 49-state models didn't have any check engine light in '86 ... or in '87, '88, '89 or '90. You have a check engine light?

One thing you might try is gelatin. Not "Jello," just plain, powdered gelatin. Some health food stores have it in capsules, and some of the mail order vitamin places also sell gelatin caps. I was turned onto it by an electrical engineer many years ago. His wife had had multiple spinal fusions and then tried the gelatin caps. Apparently (according to him) the gelatin helps to pump up damaged discs, and lets them do what they are supposed to do again. I take two every morning and I think it helps my chronic back problem. Even if it doesn't -- it's also good for your fingernails and your hair.

Why mod a GM? Jeep was using a high-energy ignition for years with their carbureted engine. Just get the ignition out of any 2.4L Wrangler or any AMC car with the 232 or 258 in-line six. All you need is the distributor and coil, I think. I don't remember there being any supplemental "ignition module".

except the gc has OTK steering...which is better for drive angles with lift. Whats WJ's not ZJ's.. They had the same LO-Pinion D30 as the TJ. So the knuckles would be a direct fit as long as you watch the rotor dates as Eagle pointed out. CW Considering ZJs weren't made until 93 I don't think it'll be a problem. It would be a big problem if you tried to use ZJ hubs and/or rotors on an 84-90 XJ or MJ.

?????? Connects with the flywheel teeth? The CPS doesn't connect with the flywheel. It sits right next to it, such that the high spots on the perimeter generate a magnetic pulse when they spin past. The pule is converted to a very low electrical impuls (I think it's 0.5 volts a/c, IIRC). Be careful to route the wire on the new one well clear of the exhaust manifold or the insulation will cook and the wires will short out.

except the gc has OTK steering...which is better for drive angles with lift. You sure you're looking at a 95 ZJ Grand Cherokee? They used exactly the same front axles as XJs of the same year, AFAIK. Except, for some screwball reason, the ZJs were low pinion and the XJs were high pinion.

That's not how you test a Renix CPS. You should test for A/C volts when cranking.

They should be the same parts. The break in the XJ/MJ front knuckles/hubs/rotors was between 89 and 90.

YOU THERE! JTDesigns! Put your hands in the air and step away from the keyboard. NOW! Don't make any sudden moves. Everything's going to be fine -- nobody needs to get hurt. Just keep your hands where we can see them, back away from the computer and tell us what you've been taking ...

The entire tire/wheel thing just baffles me. I looked at the prices on some of those wheels the last time I was at the local tire chain outlet to have a few old tires dismounted from the rims. DANG! A dude can easily drop 5 grand just on a set of wheels! And the cars I mostly see that stuff on aren't worth anywhere near that much. Who in their right mind puts $5,000 worth of tires and wheels on an $800 beater? Never mind -- I think the question sort of answers itself ...

How did you check the CPS? It is EXTREMELY unlikely that the ignition module is bad, and even more unlikely that you got a brand new one that would also go bad within 20 minutes. However, sporadic malfunctions, progressively getting worse, is characteristic of a bad CPS.

I would strongly recommend that you do NOT remove the connector and splice the wires. You'll just be making things more difficult for the next time you replace the CPS. It is intended to be replaceable -- it's a "consumable" part, although the interval is *normally* between 100,000 and 150,000 miles. The problem is that in the models before mid-1990 the main wiring harness that the CPS connects to is too long and too small, so there's a voltage drop between the CPS and the ECU. When the CPS gets old and doesn't generate a strong impulse, the ECU doesn't read it. There is a wiring harness patch to run a pair of wires directly from the CPS weatherpack connector directly to the ECU. I would suggest you get that, install it, and keep the plug-in connector on the CPS.

x4 ==> CPS

^^^ That's a nice manifold, but it doesn't fit the 1990 Renix engine. BTW, whatever you do, do not be tempted to use the carb from a 4.2L Wrangler. It's not only a lousy carb, it's also dangerous. A lot of Wranglers burned up because of that carb. If I were doing it, I'd use a 400 cfm version of the old Carter AFB. Edelbrock now makes that carburetor, although I don't know if they go that small. It's very reliable, easy to tune with replaceable jets and metering rods, and the small primaries generate excellent gas mileage as long as you keep your foot light enough to not open the secondaries.

While you are in there working, check to be sure the parking brake cables are clean and slide easily. Nothing kills a fresh brake job faster than parking, then the cables don't let the parking brake release and you wind up frying your new linings and warping the drums from the heat. Plus, the drag doesn't help the gas mileage. But ... it'll only drag until it burns up the linings.

I can think of one very good reason to retro-fit with a carb: being able to limp home if your fuel pump goes out, or the CPS (which, of course, you won't have with a carburetted engine). I have considered this many times, but I can't do it because it won't pass emissions. (Not meaning it would run dirty, just that it's not a legal conversion. I'd fail on a vial equipment check.) If I were building a Jeep specifically for going on long treks into far away places (like Africa, or Patagonia in South America, or the Atacama desert in northern Chile) I would do it for sure. With a carburetor, you only need a couple of psi to deliver fuel to the float bowl. On my old Hudson pickup (yes, Hudson did build pickups, and I've owned three of them) I have limped home using a coffee can suspended under the hood with a rubber hose to act as an intravenous feed to the carb when the fuel pump crapped out. Try THAT with MPFI that needs 39 psi to run. I am also quite certain I could rig a 4.0L with a carb to get better gas mileage than the EFI models get. My old Rambler American used to regularly post 28 MPG highway. I've only gotten that ONCE with the '88 Cherokee, and I've never come close with the MJ. ------------------------------- How to do it: Hit the junkyards and get the manifolds, distributor, coil, etc from any 6-cylinder AMC car, preferably a 258 (4.2L) but a 232 or even a 199 will work. The old 199 only had a single barrel carb, though. The best setup would be an aftermarket intake (probably Clifford offers one) to accept a small 4-barrel carb. Otherwise, just go with the standard 2-bbl that came on the 232 and 258 engines.

The Wrangler Rubicon only came out in 2003. When it was introduced, it used air actuated lockers. I doubt they changed over to electrics after only one year, so I'll guess that your axle still has the air locker. It only needs 5 or 6 psi to operate, so you can set up any small, auxiliary compressor, or maybe even just a pressurized cannister with some sort of regulator.

I belive he means Dirtbike. :nuts: It's a good thing we all speak English ... so we can communicate. I NEVER would have guess that D/B was short for dirt bike.

Isn't it illegal to steal body parts? Oh ... you meant the MJ! Seriously, I sympathize greatly. My back was wrecked in a car accident when I was 14. I'm not 64 -- the accident was 50 years ago this July, and I have spent that 50 years being maintained by chiropractors. I've been very lucky, because I've done a lot of things the docs told me I shouldn't do but, hey ... you gotta have a life. God speed, and best wishes. I hope they'll get you fixed up.

Not all TJ axles have lockers, only the Rubicon. Of course, it's only the Rubicon that has the faux Dana 44.

You might just go to Homeless Depot or Lowe's and get a 3/4" lever-actuated ball valve. Solder a short length of tube into each side and mount it in-line in the hose to the heater core. Then you can turn the heat on or off manually any time you want.

IIRC the original Rubicon lockers were air-operated. They went over to electric after about three or four years.

The vehicles in the first post look like the ambulance/courier version of the Ford M151 MUTT, which was the all-independent suspension utility vehicle that replaced the Willys Jeep in the U.S. military. That's what we had in Vietnam. It was supplanted by the Humvee. The MUTT was so unstable and so prone to turning over that the Department of Defense will not sell them as complete vehicles. They are auctioned as parts only (on the hoof), and if you buy one you have to cut it in half with a torch before you are allowed to remove it from the vehicle depot where it is stored. http://www.chooseyouritem.com/classics/ ... 38628.html http://www.4wdonline.com/Mil/M151/M151.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M151_MUTT

3.8 is probably a typo. It's probably a 2.8L, which means it's an '86, which means it's a longbed AND a turkey of a motor. I'm a lot closer to Boston than he is. What are you looking for and what price range are you shopping?