Eagle

They are black plastic and the black flares were unpainted. If you want to restore faded ones, go to an auto paint store (or maybe one of the chain auto parts stores) and get a rattle can of spray-on bumper black.

Junkyards in CT can be picky. Some will take it away on a flatbed, others won't touch it. Make some phone calls to the yard(s) near where you're located and ask them. One thing to consider: TITLE. Yards in CT generally will NOT take a vehicle without a title. If you don't have the title, just fire up Dr. Sawzall and make the big pieces into little pieces so you can take it to a dump or transfer station yourself. You might luck out and find one that doesn't demand the title, but I don't know of any.

You will need to use your original 1988 flywheel (or flex plate). Starting in 1991, the Chrysler CPS operates on a different principle than the older RENIX CPS. The spacing and arrangement of the teeth on the flywheel that trigger the CPS are different, so the '96 flywheel is electronically incompatible with the RENIX system in your truck.

Why not? The AW-4 uses a separate TCU so there's no reason you can't use a different ECU, or keep the one that is in your chassis when you put in a different engine. The engine itself is a chunk or iron with 6 aluminum slugs in it -- it doesn't know or care what transmission you bolt to the back end. Just be sure to use all the correct sensors and harness for the year of the ECU and ignition/injection system you'll be running.

I don't have one. I run all OEM replacements from Auto Zone. A few years ago I briefly dated a gal who drove a Wrangler. First time I heard her Jeep start up I thought somebody had stuck a V8 in it. It sounded SCHWEEEET! I asked, and she said her son had put a Gibson cat-back system in it. It was a very deep, throaty, and mellow sound, completely unlike any other exhaust I've ever heard behind an in-line 6. The "problem" with trying to make an in-line 6 sound good is that the power pulses are perfectly evenly distributed as the engine goes around, unlike a V8 or a V6 where the pulses are not spaced in an equal number of degrees around a full revolution. Where the crank spacing interval is uneven, the exhaust gets actual pulses, whereas with the I6 you pretty much just get "flow." I don't know just what Gibson does, but there's nothing that equals their sound. And Gibson systems are tuned to increase torque ... they got started by making exhaust systems for trucks and SUVs that needed maximum torque for towing trailers and hauling campers. The other brands aren't into torque, they're into horsepower ... which means they are tuned for high RPM not crawl RPM.

Could be nice again, some day. It isn't a 1950, though. The first year was 1955. The '55 and '56 had basically the same tail fins. The '57 had taller, thinner fins. Then in 1958 Ford forgot what the T'bird was supposed to be. The '58 and newer were what we used to call "Blunderbirds" back then. I'm going to make a wild guess that the one you have there is a '56.

V8 ZJ springs, especially if they came from a ZJ with the Up Country suspension, are a bit taller and higher rate, so they give about a 1" to maybe 1-1/2" lift when used in an XJ or MJ.

Let's be honest -- we're talking a low-compression, in-line 6 cylinder engine here. It ain't never gonna sound "good." The closest thing to making a 4.0L sound like a real engine is Gibson. All the rest of them just sound like loud crap. IMHO, except for the Gibson I prefer the stock (or OEM replacements) to Flowmaster or any of the "name" mufflers. If you have driveshaft interference, get a Thrush or Cherry Bomb tubular glasspack and call it done.

A friend of mine in the NAXJA NAC and I were blathering about grafting an MJ box onto the back of a 4-door XJ awhile ago, but then he and his wife accepted jobs in Missouri. They moved, and that was as far as the project went. I would still like to do it, some day, but at the moment I have neither the time nor the money nor a place to do the work. (Details, details.)

I had canoes many years ago. I sold a nice fiberglass 15-footer to move into a thermoplastic 17-footer. HUGE mistake. I loved the 15-footer and I hated the 17-footer. Couldn't sell it fast enough, but by then I had already let the old one go. I never bought another one but I was thinking "canoe" on the way home from work just yesterday. Probably just a coincidence ...

The 91 vintage will still have a threaded boss on the block for a knock sensor. I don't think the '01 even has the boss. If it does, it isn't threaded. And the '01 doesn't have a hole in the head for the temperature sender. ALL of the brackets are different, the manifolds are different, there's no EGR valve ... The fuel pump is different (pressure isn't the same), the ignition isn't the same, .... the question was asking about a "drop-in" replacement. The end for that would be 1990. The basic '01 block will bolt in. Beyond that, you're looking at basically rebuilding the entire vehicle.

But he has an '86, and the '86 Selec-Trac used an NP228 or 229 transfer case that did, indeed, use vacuum to accomplish the shift. It's also a big, heavy case that's massively over-sized for an XJ or MJ. And I don't think it had a locked 4WD-Hi range, I think high range was always fully differentiated, and you could only lock in in low range.

The cutoff for a true drop-in would be 1990 -- that was the last year for the Renix system that would be the same as an '88. Chylser made a lot of changes to the wiring, injection and ignition in 1991. Then they made a bunch more changes around 1997. Physically, of course, a 2001 4.0L will bolt in, but pretty much everything outside of the block is different (and that means the head and flywheel, too). Your signature says you have an 88 and a 91 -- just look under the hoods and see how different they are. Then multiply that by a factor of about 3 for a 2001.

I don't suppose you checked (or replaced?) the freeze plugs before dropping in the "new" engine?

The problem is that 2-door XJ quarters have smaller wheel well openings. Also, if you measure carefully, you'll find that the height from the lower edge of the panel to the first crease line is different. I haven't tried it but I suspect you could make an MJ work okay using the XJ flares and wheel opening, but it might look slightly out of proportion and won't clear large tires. Of course, if you plan to trim anyway, that's a non-issue.

That's what I was trying to say when I said "tone ring". I was just about on my way to work and typing too fast! I knew that but I wasn't sure if everyone could translate so I thought I'd just tack on a layer of redundancy :)

Somebody makes them -- or used to. JC Whitney used to sell MJ quarter panels, and I'm pretty sure somebody on this forum said one of the Internet body parts places (Sherman?) had them.

The '91 and later flywheels are different because the flywheel incorporates the teeth that trigger the CPS, and the pattern is very different for the Chrysler injection system than for the Renix system. That's why if you drop an HO engine into a Renix chassis, unless you swap out the complete computer and wiring harness you have to use the original Renix flywheel ... so it'll trigger the CPS.

You can do it. The question is if you should do it. I've towed farther than that, flat towing an MJ behind and MJ and again towing an XJ on a lightweight (yeah, right!) aluminum trailer behind an MJ. I survived, but it was painful. I would not flat tow again, because you don't have enough brakes. At least with a trailer you can run electric or surge brakes and have a slim chance of stopping in the same county as where you first stepped on the brake peddle ... but then you're towing the added weight of the trailer, so the towed rig significantly outweighs the tow vehicle. That's never a good combination, and it's pretty hard on the tow vehicle.

Early 2.5Ls w/o air conditioning used vee belts and conventional rotation for the water pump. The ones with a/c used the same water pump as the 4.0L ("reverse" rotation).

Do not sandblast alloy wheels. "Aircraft" stripper from the auto parts store will do it for you. It'll probably require two applications, maybe three. I usually take the rims to a coin-op car wash on a slow day. Set the rims out of the floor, paint on the stripper using a cheap chip brush from Lowe's or Home Depot (or Wal-Mart, sometimes), let it sit for just a couple of minutes, then blast it off with the power wand. The first application usually gets about 75% of the coating off. The next one might do it if you're anal about getting into the small crevices. I'm often rushed, which ends up costing me time and quarters because I have to go back for a third round. You can do it at home, especially if you have a power washer, but who wants a bunch of acid and paint slag on their driveway or lawn?

Agreed. If it starts, it isn't the CPS, and probably not the IAC or TPS. As noted, the START circuit bypasses the fuel pump resistor. Once you release the key to the RUN position, the power is routed through the resistor. Either the resistor is bad, or there's another problem in that part of the fuel pump circuit. You could also try running a hot wire directly to the fuel pump. If it starts and stays running, do NOT leave it that way, because you won't have a pressure switch to shut the pump off when there's sufficient pressure in the fuel rail. Hot wire it only as a diagnostic aid.

Stock height in the front, center of hub to bottom edge of flare, was 17-1/2" You cannot assess amount of lift based on the free length of the coils. The spring rate is a mathematical function that depends on the free length, the number of coils, the outside diameter of the coils, and the diameter of the wire itself. Change any one of those variables, and you change the entire spring.

Year-for-year, the MJ did NOT have a different firewall from the XJ. As to a difference between the '84-'86 vehicles and the '87+ vehicles, reports are inconsistent. Some who have swapped in a 4.0L into an earlier vehicle saw they had to cut out a section of the firewall and weld in a new section. Others say they just reshaped it with a big hammer. And at least one person claims he dropped in a 4.0L with no firewall mods. On the extreme other end of the spectrum. I have a friend with an '86 XJ who wanted a 4.0L conversion. He took it to a shop that specializes in Cherokees, and they decided the easiest route was (are you ready?) to cut the two vehicles in half just behind the 'A' pillar and weld the new front half to the rear section of his original chassis. IMHO, the logical upgrade for a 2.8L in an XJ or an MJ is the GM 3.4L V6.

Check the Summit Racing catalog or web site. Someobody makes such a critter, but I don't remember who. Might even be B&M (or Hurst).