gogmorgo

I'm not positive I want to believe anything that guy told me any more. I'm open to the possibility but skeptical. With enough of us here who've used RockAuto regularly, you'd think one of us would've noticed? I've been on CC longer than the four years he claimed to have had the truck, and don't remember it ever having been pointed out. I'm thinking it's more likey he got them on eBay and just forgot, than that he'd have deliberately been lying to me, but you never know. But I do know a couple NOS sets have sold on eBay for about that price during that time frame.

The guy I bought my second MJ from claimed he bought his taillights on RockAuto a few years to the tune of $350/side. They do look pretty good. But you'd think after spending that much on them you'd do better a better job installing them than just two drywall screws into the outer holes...

Took it out with a few members of the Grande Prairie Jeep Club to Tumbler Ridge in BC, to Red Deer Falls. Not a particularly challenging trail, apart from a couple washouts, but I made it everywhere the big boys on 35's did, despite my stock tires and open diffs. They gave one of the JK drivers $#!& cause the ZJ was outflexing it over a few of the obstacles.

So I managed to locate a 2.5L, but it's out of a '90 YJ. I'm not really seeing much info on whether or not block and more importantly head differ between the Renix and HO. I did however encounter references to the engine being detuned in the Wrangler as opposed to the XJ/MJ version... (why?) Looking at RockAuto, there is only one long block available for the '90 YJ. The same part number is listed under the '91 MJ, but there are also a couple others. This tells me that there is a difference, even if things are interchangeable as previously stated?

So it seems to have done the trick?

One of the guys I'm in school with right now is a "dual ticketed aviation mechanic" (never asked what specifically that meant) who had a similar thing happen from the sounds of it. So now he's "upgrading" to heavy equipment tech like the rest of us plebes. Does this newfound free time mean you'd be up for some rocker panel solidification? Lol.

Came to post the above. It's common practise in marine applications to have multiple batteries with that style switch to run either, both, or neither (I.e battery disconnect). A consideration for this switch is that it doesn't really allow for multiple batteries to do separate things, it just hooks up your electrical system to either battery or both of them, one output, two inputs. You can run a separate system (like your inverter) off the second battery, but it won't charge both batteries at the same time unless you're in the 1+2 setting, and you'd have to manually switch it away from that setting to avoid draining both at once. I have hardwired an inverter into a vehicle, although it was a few years ago now. We used a deep-cycle battery to run the inverter, and used a battery isolator as a more automatic form of the above switch. Effectively what the isolator did is hook up both batteries in parallel so they would both charge when it sensed alternator output, but would prevent one from draining the other with no alternator output (IIRC it did this just by reading the system voltage, so above 13v meant the alt was charging, and below meant it wasn't). I don't remember whether or not the isolator we used would allow cross-powering, but I would imagine you could get them with that functionality, although IIRC the one we had was pretty pricey, so you may be better off just going with the marine-style disconnect switch if budget is a consideration. The third option that came to mind is an older-type starter "solenoid", basically a massive relay. We've used them at work to hook up trailer battery charging systems, powering heavy-load systems like emergency lights, radios, etc, that you wouldn't want to have running when you weren't charging batteries. I've also seen them used as switched battery disconnects on vehicles as a lazy solution to a mystery battery drain. You would wire the two batteries in parallel, but one wire (generally the positive) would have the solenoid acting as a disconnect, with an ignition-on voltage source for the signal to connect the two. You could also add a toggle switch off either or both batteries to trigger the solenoid to connect them up if you've depleted one, then once you've self-boosted, switch the toggle back off, cause if you leave it on you'll deplete both batteries. The advantage to hooking up that way is that if you don't totally deplete battery 1, when you hit the ignition switch, it'll probably be enough voltage to trigger the relay, so it'll start off battery 2. The big disadvantage is that if you turn the key on to listen to the radio it'll still deplete both batteries, unless you install a toggle switch to disconnect it, and then you'd need to remember to shut the toggle switch back off (on?) to allow battery 2 to charge. As far as running inverters goes, you're getting pretty high costs for fairly low yield. A 2000W inverter will only run a 15A circuit at 120V. I'll admit you can do a lot of things on that, as it is a regular household outlet's rating, but we discovered after we'd spent over $1000 on the setup (this was a few years ago, I don't know where prices have gone) that the people who asked for it only wanted to be able to plug in the battery chargers for their cordless tools... and we could've just bought them a couple chargers that plug into a cigarette lighter and wired in a couple extra 12v sockets for ~$100, and saved all the hassle of mounting a second battery. Also, it's tough to use words to describe a circuit diagram...

Did you change the bulbs up front or just the back? What bulbs did you use?

I've had tall trees and bad weather screw up GPS. Driving along the side of rock faces, I've had satellite radio cut out for several miles at a time. Not too long ago we had a rescue attempt fail because someone's spot tracker was indicating a location four miles away from where they were. Maybe it's because I'm further north and satellite signals need to come at more of an angle for me, maybe your mountains aren't all that tall compared to mine... I dunno. But it's definitely not something I'd want to rely on.

Our drawer at work is labelled "speed nuts" but all the mechanics call them something different; threaded clip, clip nut, captive threads...

I really like how you went from "I could build these bumper accessories everyone's always asking about" to "Imma build ALL the things!" Its awesome.

Oh come now. I'm only at 56°N. We don't even have snow on the ground yet this far south. Plus the northern lights play some soothing music. Like space whale songs. Why would you want to block that out?

There are aftermarket controllers that'll do the job fairly easily. Pick your gauge, pick your sender, and the controller sorts it out. Like this one: http://www.dakotadigital.com/index.cfm/page/ptype=product/product_id=126/category_id=287/mode=prod/prd126.htm This is simply the first I pulled up with Google, I can't really give any recommendations for or against it. You'd need to locate an electronic sender that would work with the trans, but that shouldn't be too much of an issue, and after that it shouldn't be that big a deal to hook it up. I would go that route over GPS. It really doesn't take all that much to screw up the GPS signal. I hit satellite dead spots pretty frequently. Plus you don't need to pack your tin-foil hat.

It's based on the wrangler, not one of the "crossovers" is what I meant. It'll be body on frame, not half and half like the MJ. That's what I was referencing, at least.

Yeah we've been over this. But also no it's not. It's 112. You've got a rounding error in there with your calculation (should have come out closer to 111.85), plus you can't assign that degree of precision when your initial data point isn't that precise. In some contexts you wouldn't even be able to call it any better than 110, given that zeros are rarely significant figures. If you're gonna correct me after someone else already has, the least you can do is be accurate about it.

Nah, they're building a new scrambler. It'll be alright, but not quite the same thing.

Lol. My bad. I was thinking about how the HO speedo goes to 200 km/h. I meant to say 180km/h is just shy of 120mph. I had my first MJ up to an indicated 185km/h, and I sure as hell would not want to find myself doing 200mph in it, I'll tell you that.

Canadian-spec metric speedometers in Renix years went to 180km/h which is just shy of 200mph. They may not have mph on them though... Might be able to get stickers made.

You can get throttle-body cleaners. Similar product to brake cleaner; it'll come in an aerosol can, and probably isn't too far away from it in the parts store either. Read the directions on the can, some you spray in while it's running.

I've had burnt-out parking lights cause that, too.

Try cleaning the throttle body, especially the Idle Air Controller (IAC). Throttle position sensor might also do this if it's on it's way out, or maybe if it's not adjusted correctly. Have you gone through Cruiser's tips at www.cruiser54.com? At extremely low idle speeds it'll knock a bit. Not much oil pressure at 300rpm.

Open systems are easier. I see people going to lengths to improve their open systems all the time.

Closed cooling systems are more effective than open, just less tolerant of leaks. Open systems will replenish themselves in the event of a small leak until the drain the overflow, but closed systems just push out the full volume of coolant. The tendency of air to collect at the top of the rad does make the open system with an outlet for air at the top of the rad a bit more effective at self-burping, but not by a huge amount. Newer vehicles are mostly closed systems now, just because they are more effective, when the entire volume of coolant is used as part of the system. They have a higher heat capacity. Leaks are a reality for 30-year-old trucks. People who don't understand how closed systems work will suffer from this, yeah.

Am I a Debbie downer? I dunno. I don't think so. Would I do it myself? To be fair I've already done similar things. I bought my Lada when the seller couldn't get it to pass a safety inspection and drove it 200 miles home. I did however have an escort for the first 170 or so miles. I already told about my adventure with my XJ in the dead of winter in the middle of one of the worst cold snaps in the last few years, with temperatures and windchill cold enough exposed skin would freeze within five minutes, and I didn't have an escort for that one... or even a functioning heater when I first set out. I did have a pretty good idea the XJ ran pretty well, but really not much more than I'd gleaned on the drive home nearly two years prior. Would I do it myself? Would I drive out with someone and have them drive back with me? Would I hop on a train with only a backpack of basic tools? I've done both of those. It's seemed to work out so far. The deciding factor for me as to whether or not I would do the trip comes down to how much time. With the luxury of a couple weeks, hell yeah. With only a couple days... Not so much. 1000 miles is a 2000 mile weekend. That's gonna be 35 hours of driving round trip. I've done the 2000 mile 3-day weekend... It sucked. I left straight from work and drove all night. Then tried to accomplish things during the day in a semi-functioning sleep deprived state... I'm pretty glad I wasn't wrenching that day. Day two of the weekend was a somewhat relaxed day, but it wouldn't have been if I was worrying about fixing everything on the vehicle I was depending on getting me back home. Day 3 I hit the road early and made it in super late. 1000 miles is a long-@$$ day on the road in a vehicle I know and trust. When I did the run in the XJ, I did it in two days with an extra couple days at the end just in case, and I gave myself two days of wrenching to get it going,which was good cause I caught a nasty flu from my brother... -42°c is not a day you wanna be outside wrenching while recovering from flu, but sometimes ya gotta, and that knocked the wrenching time in half. I alotted one full day to make the 200 mile run to collect the trailer, this being shakedown time. I also ended up requiring my trailer plug in a totally exposed parking lot in -35 windchill, which was zero fun. The second day I alotted to a 150 mile run to collect my parts horde, and do some visiting. More shakedown time and a second return to "home base". The third day I allocated to tackling the first 300 miles of the run. I had a place to stay at the end of 300 miles prearranged. Day four of the run was the remaining 700 miles after a pretty good shakedown of the previous few days' 700 miles. during the course of this leg, I lost the alternator, bummed a warm space to install it, then ended up setting out into the night for the last 500 miles, although I also discovered a nasty vacuum leak, and that got the heater functioning, otherwise I never would've kept going during the night. Day five had me getting in early in the morning and sleeping for a bit, then unloading the trailer. Day six was returning the trailer to UHaul after a solid night's sleep, with a different vehicle that I had full confidence would make it the 70 miles there and then back. Day seven I returned to work. Thats eight days I set aside for the trip, and that was a vehicle I had a fairly good idea ran, with considerable shakedown time before making the whole trip. Whether the trip's a good idea or not? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ up to you. Have you seem the first bunch of Roadkill episodes on YouTube? That's effective what you'll be doing. It ain't gonna be cheap no matter how you do it. Trailering it home just avoids the heartache of reassembling the truck on the side of a lonely highway. One other thing to think of is tires. They don't much care for long days in the sun, not moving.

That's good to hear. I don't have power options to worry over on mine though At the rate I'm going I'll be racking up the miles pretty quick. Going to school is about 300 miles one way, and doing that run and back over a weekend adds up. I came back this weekend to pick up some stuff I neglected to bring the first time around, and facilitate the sale of my least favourite ride. Depending on what I decide about the little MJ I'll be running back and forth to work on that too, and then there's the XJ that needs parting out and scrapping... I don't know that I'm quite as thrilled with the ZJ as a daily driver as I was initially. I definitely enjoy the manual and the feeling I'm driving something pretty rare and know it's unlikely anyone else realizes. But now that I have two MJ's sitting here I can't drive... I'd definitely prefer to be driving them!