Eagle

The 2.8L V6 doesn't have any ECU. The carburetor (which is a POS) isn't computer controlled, like the one on the 84 & 85 2.5L. Best bet is to just replace the stock V6 carb with an aftermarket. There also isn't any CPS to worry about.

Lean makes hot, not rich. Rich just wastes fuel and fouls plugs.

In a 4-cylinder, both the '86 and the '87 will have the Renix throttle body injection, so mechanically they are about the same. As noted, though, if you think you may want to upgrade to a 4.0L in the future, the '87 or '88 will have the engine compartment properly shaped to accept it. The '86 won't -- and reports of how much "massaging" is necessary range all the way from "not a damn thing" to "I had to cut out the entire firewall and reweld it." I know a guy in Rhode Island who had his '86 converted. He took it to a Jeep shop -- not a dealer, an independent who specializes in Jeeps. After serious consideration, their solution was to chop the two vehicles in half through the front door opening, and weld the '88 front onto the '86 rear half. YMMV

Between 90 and 91, Chrysler even reversed the polarity on the gauges (as well as tinkering slightly with the ohm range within which the gauges operate). Unfortunately, at this point you have no choice. You HAVE to get the wiring diagrams for both years and manually trace each circuit. The other choice (if it isn't too late) would be to completely divorce the engine from the rest of the vehicle. Remember, Chrysler used to sell an EFI conversion for the 4.2L/258 carburetted engine in the early Wranglers. All that conversion was, was the injection, ignition and ECU from a 94 or 95 injected Wrangler packaged with a replacement intake manifold. You can make the engine run stand-alone and not muck around with the chassis wiring.

I don't run TrueTracs front and rear, but I run a TrueTrac in the rear and I live in New England. My MJ with the TrueTrac alternates with my XJ with TracLok for daily driver duty, and the MJ mostly wins weekend duty because in my town we take our own trash to the transfer station unless you can afford a commercial hauler. (I can't) I don't think I ever used 4WD this past winter. The TrueTrac with BFG ATs pulled me through anything I encountered. And the nice thing about a TrueTrac in front is that, if you don't engage 4WD, the TrueTrac never engages so it's completely transparent. I think you could be very happy with a TrueTrac living back there.

Yeah, you need it. The Renix setup is such that the ignition defaults to full advance, and when that sensor "hears" the motor start to ping it retards the timing until it doesn't "hear" ping anymore. Some are more sensitive than others. The one in my '88 XJ is a replacement and I never hear anything from that. The one in my '88 MJ is (I think) the original. It is intact, but I can't put my foot in it going up any kind of a hill or I get constant, light pinging.

You already have the MJ front combo valve. However, it's function is different from that in an XJ. In the XJ the front valve is both the brake system failure warning light switch and the proportioning valve. In the MJ, it's the brake system failure warning light switch and a by-pass to allow full pressure to the rear brakes if the front brakes fail. Under normal conditions, fluid/pressure is sent to the rear brakes through that height-sensing proportioning valve. To by-pass (eliminate) it is easy. First, either run a new brake line from the fitting on the "nose" of your front combo valve body directly to the hose from the chassis to the rear axle, or Trace the line from the nose to the rear, and somewhere near the back cut it and flare it, then run a short section of new line to the rear flex hose. I recommend using all new line from the front because the steel hard line to the rear seems prone to rust, and they eventually pop right about where the run past/over the fuel tank. Having run a single line from the combo valve block to the rear flex hose, you can now either ignore the rear height-sensing valve and whatever tubing is left, or remove it. I'd remove it; why haul excess junk around, and give some mechanic or inspector an excuse to ask why you disabled it? Now, there will be a left-over line or empty outlet at the front bottom of the combo valve body. This outlet was the line that would by-pass the rear height-sensing valve if the front brakes failed. You no longer need a by-pass, because you now have full braking to the rear, all the time. You need to plug that outlet. You can search around for a brass plug to fit it, or ... ... you can go to Lowe's or the auto parts store and buy the shortest 1/2" x 20 bolt you can find, along with a 1/2" O-ring. Bring them home, put the bolt in a vise, and cut it down to 1/4" in length. Slip the O-ring on it, screw it into the blank outlet on the bottom of your combo valve, and tighten it enough to make the O-ring seal. This isn't highly critical, because nothing goes to that port unless the front brakes fail, so normally there won't be any leakage. If it weeps a bit in the unlikely event that it gets triggered, so what? As long as it's tight enough to maintain pressure you'll be okay.

Nope. I'm an architect and I was a member of the AIA for 30 years. Home builders either have a contract their attorney wrote up (which obviously favors them), or they use one put out by one of the several national or regional home builders' associations. (Which also are heavily tilted in favor of the builder.) AIA contracts come in only when it's a true custom house that was designed by an architect who is working for the owner (not the builder), AND when the architect is in control of the bidding process. It doesn't sound like that's the situation here. Either way ... lawyer up, now.

That would be your knock sensor. Replacing it ASAP would be a good idea. Do you get a lot of PING when driving? I can't imagine how you can even drive it with no knock sensor, unless you keep the radio turned up so you don't hear the engine destroying itself.

The FSM has a rather involved section about adjusting it, and the adjustment involves replacing some small parts that probably aren't available even from a dealer. Most likely you could hook up a rod to it without replacing the small parts, but I think it's wiser to eliminate it. I suggest that because the one in my '88 blew out in a panic stop situation. Having had that happen once, I won't trust another one. It's actually a duplicate hydraulic circuit and there is a way to eliminate it completely. Two ways, actually, one using the MJ front combo valve and one using an XJ (Cherokee) front combo valve. There are advantages and disadvantages to both ways. Let us know if you're interested.

He is in breech of contract, but you WILL need an attorney to be able to force him to make good on it. You can bet he has an attorney, and if you as a rookie go up against his attorney by yourself, you're going to be chopped liver. My first question is why your lender is setting any closing dates with this clown? The contract (as I understand it) is between YOU and the builder, and it is YOU who will be closing. Any negotiations should be between you and the builder (or between your attorney and his attorney). Your lender should stay out of it except to answer any questions you might ask. Second, if you have a contract specifiying a closing date, and delays on the part of the builder have resulted in a higher mortgage rate, you have incurred (or will incur) financial harm as a result of his actions. He is responsible for that. I would think that the amount of extra money this is going to cost you over the life of the mortgage can be calculated, and he should pay you that as damages. But ... you're going to need a lawyer to make that stick.

The stroker uses the AMC 258 (4.2L) crankshaft. You should be able to verify that it's a stroker by probing through any spark plug hole and measuring the top-to-bottom travel, then comparing against a stock 4.0L. You won't get an accurate number, but you will be able to see if it's the same as your 4.0L or greater. I am concerned about the "California" part. The only company I know of in California that's selling stroker Jeep engines is Clifford Performance Research. Back when I was your age and my friends were running Hudson-powered stock cars, Jack Clifford was THE go-to guy for speed parts, and he then went on to offer some fantastic stuff for the AMC engines. But -- Jack was an older guy when I was a younger guy. He sold the business a number of years ago and has since passed away, and I have heard some absolutely horrendous stories on the old Strokers forum about what has come out of that shop under the guise of "professionally-built" strokers, for really big bucks. If the paperwork says Clifford -- I would seriously consider walking away regardless of how attractive the price might seem.

It depends on where you camp. Out west, there's always a chance of a bear wandering into your camp. Of course, guns are illegal in national parks, but they generally ARE legal if you camp in national forests. And in recent years there have been more and more two-legged predator attacks on campers ...

Good start. Now, for a REAL self-defense weapon ... The "50 caliber 45" ... Guncrafters Industries 50GI. It's a 1911 pistol custom manufactured to shoot .50 caliber ammo instead of that sissy .45 caliber stuff. (No, it isn't mine ... but I did get to test it. It is about the sweetest pistol I have ever seen.)

Everything you plan to swap will require customization. The door latches will be different, and at a different height (I think. I'm pretty sure that change was made in '95 or '96). The steering column in the '96 will be a Chrysler, with an airbag. Totally different from your MJ, and will NOT be easily adapted to a clumn shift (if it can be adapted at all, which I sort of doubt). The seats will be completely different, because they redesigned the floor pan and seat mounts in the XJ as of '95. Other than that, you're on a roll ...

The newest Jeeps have gone away from 5 on 4.5. The WJ is 5 on 5, IIRC, and I think the new Patriot is the same.

The same bolt pattern is also used by a tremendous number of Ford vehicles and many Chrysler vehicles, as well as virtually all AMC vehicles. If you're considering factory rims from other brands, however, be advised that the Jeep rims use a slightly smaller center hole than many and some other brands of rims won't seat because the center hole doesn't fit around the hub ring. Also be aware of backspacing, which is the distance from the mounting surface IN (toward the vehicle centerline) to the inner edge of the rim. The factory backspacing is 5-1/4". There are no known rims, aftermarket or other brands of factory rims, with that much backspacing. Be careful choosing rims. The bolt pattern isn't the only thing you need to match.

You'd better find some other reports to read. Unless this was talking about AR-15 ammo (.223/5.56mm), it's totally off base. Whoever wrote that must have been dining on some VERY powerful mushrooms. In fact, unless you hit just right there's an excellent chance that a .22 to the head will bounce right off rather than penetrate the skull. Unless it's all you've got and all you CAN get, don't even think of a .22 plinking pistol as a self-defense "weapon." It ain't.

A/C from an 87 or 89 is fully compatible with an 88. But I strongly recommend that you replace the evaporator. You have to pull the dashboard to install it. I happened to be at a radiator shop today, getting the second radiator in my '88 XJ diagnosed as DOA, and I saw FOUR Jeeps in the shop (three XJs and one WJ). Naturally I asked. They were ALL in for new evaporators. The guy showed me one of the ones that came out, and he showed me why they get eaten up and fail. Pulling the dashboard is a thankless job. You do NOT want to do it twice. Get a new heater core and a new evaporator, put 'em both in, and be done with it.

Wrong. VERY wrong. I'm not at all opposed to CCW. In fact, I think in today's world it's a wise and almost necessary precaution. But DO NOT THINK that a .22 would even slow down a bad guy, especially if he's high on drugs. Most police departments that went to 9mm for their duty weapons a few years ago have now gone back to .45 or switched to .40 S&W because the 9mm doesn't have enough stopping power to quickly stop assailants. There are innumerable cases of bad guys who have absorbed multiple hits with .45 ACP and still kept on fighting. I can almost guarantee that 10 shots of .22 will not stop an attacker. Plus, you probably won't get off ten shots anyway. Most self-defense shooting take place at a distance of less than 10 feet. A number of years ago a Utah police lieutenant ran some experiments with his officers, and found that a knife-wielding assailant could cover 21 feet in 1.5 seconds -- which was the time it took a uniformed patrol officer to draw his weapon and fire ONE shot. You won't be drawing from an exposed holster, so you won't get the first shot off in 1.5 seconds. And if you need to shoot, most likely your assailant won't be 21 feet or more away. Don't kid yourself. .22s are great for plinking and target shooting, but they are worse than useless for self-defense. I say "worse" because if you don't have a gun you know you have to escape. If you think the .22 gives you a chance to fight rather than escape, that's worse than having nothing because it could cost you your life.

Not so fast, Gonzalez. The 258 is the SAME block as the 4.0L. The length is exactly the same and the motor mounts are exactly the same. However, I agree that trying to drop a 258 in place of a 4.0L is a bit retarded. The only way to make the injection work is to swap the 4.0L head and manifolds onto the 258 and, depending on why the 4.0L engine doesn't run, that may not be a good choice. On the other hand, if the head is in good shape, it's an interesting way to get an injected stroker engine. Just remember that some years of the 258 had a narrower block and head than the 4.0L and if yours is one of those, you'll have to block off a couple of coolant passages on the head to avoid dumping all the coolant.

It could still be anywhere in the wire between the relay and the horn. In fact, if the relay clicks it is more likely NOT the relay itself, but that can be checked by plugging in a different relay.

Taking it apart is easy. Putting it back together correctly, without losing any of those little recirculating balls, is not so easy.

As far as I know, NO 9 inch fits the Cherokee. That doesn't mean that somebody couldn't stuff one under a Cherokee. The track may be different from a stock Cherokee, or they may have used rims with a different offset to keep the tires under the flares. What size tires do you plan to run? I'm going to go against the grain here and suggest that you may be better off swapping in a stock XJ axle. The best choice would be a 97+ Mopar 8-1/4. Easier to find (and cheaper than) a Dana 44, and nearly as strong. I am sorry to see you buying into the myth about lockers being dangerous in winter, though. On ice or in snow, even a Trac-Lok stays locked and I don't hear about thousands of Jeep Cherokees with limited slip axles crashing in January because they are inherently "dangerous." Dang! We get snow in New England, believe it or not, and I couldn't make it through a winter without a traction device of some kind. Open rear in winter? Just shoot me!

I think I would have remembered some other plans right quick, too :chillin: :cheers: