gogmorgo

Fun fact, quick tip, whatever you want to call it, the nuts off the motor mount through bolts (the long horizontal ones) match the head studs, and work great for bolting on a chain to hoist the engine.

Did you rely on a Haynes manual to arrange the wires on the cap? It's wrong. I mean, it gets the firing order correct, but it's rotated by one position on the cap if you look at the screws. http://www.cherokeeforum.com/f2/distributor-cap-rotor-78168/

GoPro footage running the tail of the dragon.

I also try to shoot some down the cable as well, but that fancy bike cable lube would probably work better.

Video from the Tail of the Dragon.

And add to that I'm looking at $4/gallon gas and only average 18mpg on the highway... I've got a 700 mile radius, which I suppose means I'm looking at Saskatchewan, Montana, the Dakotas, Minnesota, Manitoba, and north-west Ontario. Maybe I stand a chance around the Minneapolis area, Winnipeg has a small chance... but really. It's a long, painful drive through most of those places.

Auto correct and a wandering mind I think. Only getting 6 hours of sleep over the last few days (for no reason I can fathom, just insomnia) likely hasn't helped. I meant something along the lines of "I'm pretty confident in the size of the window." I agree with you, I should be able to find a proper Lear cap eventually, but given the low population density in my corner of the world, factoring in the distance required to find another LWB MJ Leer cap may well put me pretty close to that $500 mark just to get another one.

:thumbsup: Anyone else? Although I'm pretty confident in my position now. I still haven't called the guy back, been looking at my budget to see if I can even drop $500 on a new window any time soon and if it's even worth that to me.

I just (today) put a new (not rebuilt) Bosch starter in my MJ, although the decision was based on calling the parts supplier my workplace uses to see if they had anything in stock and could deliver it to my workplace, and that was what they had. It seems to work. I mean, it started the MJ ten times or so. But it's still only been in there seven hours at this point. It cranks over a lot faster than the other one, but that thing was trashed. I'm surprised it didn't give me trouble earlier. There was almost a 1/4" play in the drive shaft, and it struggled to push the drive gear out. When I hit the key yesterday before work it just spun the starter, not the engine. I suppose it didn't help anything it looks like this: One advantage to the Bosch 100% new one is it comes with a lifetime warranty and also roadside assistance (i.e a free tow) within two years of purchase if it ever fails. For whatever that means. I was surprised at that. It also came with install instructions which were so generic to any starter (or any other part for that matter) that it was good for a couple chuckles.

I used a ratcheting breaker bar on my press. Much less unwieldy than a cheater pipe. Also super useful for lug nuts, and just about anything else. Almost couldn't go back to the regular kind.

I got creative with bits of scrap metal. Basically, this: He's got a part 2 and 3 about putting it back together as well.

Spectra started out as a gas tank factory in Quebec. They've acquired a ton of other stuff, including a bunch of gas tank manufacturers out east, and one in Indiana. Also some stuff in Europe. I haven't seen any indications the fuel tanks are being popped in China yet. A couple of their marketing things mention US-sourced coated steel. For low-density items like gas tanks that occupy lots of space in a container, I can't imagine the tiny savings in labour cost to have a kid in china push the button on the press compared to Joey Canuck doing it would make for enough savings to be worth shipping the steel across the pacific and back as a finished product. They're actually the source of OEM tanks for a few GM products.

Three now? Last I checked there was only two.

You can also get new tanks on RockAuto. There are a couple manufacturers out there still popping them out.

Or any other number of things. A couple months after I bought it, the week after it was legal to be on the road, I hit a wash out at the bottom of a coolee way off the grid, and parked in a swamp. Five mile hike back to my friend's place. We dragged it out the next morning. I was going up one side, she was headed up the other, and as I turned around I stalled it. Hit the key and nothing. I look up and watch her truck disappear over the top. Five mile hike later I was less than impressed. I won't ever exclude myself from the line of idiots who owned this Niva, but knowing what it had been equipped with from the factory and that The reason I was walking was one of the idiots before me couldn't keep a handle on his handle... I wasn't the happiest guy in the world. I wasn't hugely inspired to make a handle at the time, but was keeping an eye out. It wasn't long ago I stumbled over the diagram and recommendation to make my own which is when it occurred to me to do such a thing. Needless to say now though mine's staying in the vehicle unless I'm using it.

Yeah, apparently they weren't equipped with the bumpers with holes and the fancy crank nut for much longer after mine was built. At that point it was more of a gimmick than anything else, although back in the 70's (and even today somewhat) it's a hell of a walk out of most of Russia if your starter packs it in, and for the dollar or two it costs at production scale, it's a handy backup. Most crank handles went AWOL like mine did several owners ago though, but people who have them still use them regularly, as it's a great way to turn the engine over while re-tensioning the timing chain, which needs done every oil change.

I made a thing today! For less than an hour's work and under $15 in materials, I'm questioning why I didn't do it long ago. This is a TON of fun. All cars should start like this. Unfortunately I've canceled the rego on the Niva for the time being. The transmission's input shaft seal started leaking, and I lost fifth gear in New York. It made the trip back in 4th, but there are not-so-great sounds coming from my brand-new transmission, and the clutch did not care much at all for the 4000+ mile oil bath, and by the time I made it home was slipping above 1/2 throttle. So it'll be sitting where it's parked until that gets addressed.

I'm not a huge fan of wood as a car building material, even if that cap is pretty sweet.Also Mvusse's cap isn't a Leer and I have zero confidence the door will fit. Plus I was in Ohio three weeks ago and don't really feel like driving back there. Even in the MJ instead of the Niva. My sleep schedule still hasn't recovered... But I do appreciate the suggestions.

My Niva's exhaust is supported at three points. Some zip-ties from the rear bumper supporting the glasspack, a hanger just before the rear axle, and then the manifold itself. But then it's only an 86" wheelbase. Of it's cast iron manifolds, you're probably good. If it's a thin steel manifold like on the 4.0, you'll probably end up stress cracking it, the way every 4.0 eventually does.

That's more or less what the Raider dealer recommended, although he suggested plywood for the frame instead of aluminum. He also suggested not framing it at all, but I went to Home Depot, and none of what they had seemed quite rigid enough for no frame.The issue that comes to mind with storm doors right away is that the upper corners are rounded and I don't think I could get the bend into aluminum without massive creases or cracks or something. In reality though I'm not hugely opposed to that option. In reality my plan for the cap isn't to have it on permanently, but just something for camping and/or road tripping.

Yeah, it only ran pretty well, cause it was a Renix. ;) Tragically this one came off a '92 MJ in a wrecking yard that I've been pulling bits off for a few years now. Same colour as the truck, so I'm pretty sure it's been there since new.

Yeah. That's about what we measured too. That's super awesome and super helpful. Thanks! I haven't seen anything else with a 15° angle, so now I'm going to have to go find a way to measure that before I'm 100% comfortable. What he was looking at ordering, with no guarantee that his guess would be correct (he never measured the angle...) was a 54 23 17, which I'm pretty sure will NOT fit. None of the doors on the custom trucks site (linked early in the topic) match up very well with a 54 19 15, and it's also not listed on Bo's provent site. I'll give the guy a shout back on Monday to see what he can do, but it wouldn't hurt to get a little extra confirmation that it is i fact the correct size. I've got pretty good confidence at this point, but it's likely almost $500 riding on the line for a new one that I won't be able to return. I'm still not positive it's worth quite that much to me yet, either. So has anyone else found 54 19 15' stencilled on their lwb Leer cap's door? Edit: went out with my phone (yes there's an app for this) and measured -17° along the left edge, -13° along the right edge, and 2° all the way across the top edge. So by my math that's a 15° side angle. Right on.

Well I spent yesterday back in the game. I suppose still no success but I did get a couple questions answered. I've discovered the local truck cap guy exists after all. We talked for quite a while and I learned a bit, but nothing conclusive in terms of getting a new door ordered. He did suggest just getting a piece of plexiglass cut to the size of the opening and making my own, but I'm not quite at that stage yet. He took a couple measurements and was able to find a door that might work, but it wasn't enough for me to drop $450 non-refundable on a door that wasn't guaranteed to work. Then he remembered a cap on another '91 LWB Comanche (whether he sold or it or what I'm not sure) and called up a guy, and I drive across the city to go check it out. Turns out it's the classic S10 cap that looks too whack for me, and the door size was all wrong. But does anyone with a Leer cap have a number like this stamped on the door? This is off the other MJ's cap. It's the 531717 number I'm interested in. Per what the truck cap guy said, that's 53 (width of door at base in inches) 17 (height of door in inches) 17 (angle of side of opening). There's a chance there might also be decimals or fractions after the numbers. We could take some measurements of my door, but he wasn't positive whether the measurement was supposed to be the door, the opening in the frame, or the hole in the fibreglass, so it was tough to get something accurate.

I guess I did. My bad. You could consider changing the wording to something like "This is a Comanche visor and will not fit a Cherokee. Cherokee visors do not fit Comanches." to reduce confusion. I'm sure there are other people mentally adding that comma as well.It looks like a great product, and I'm glad there's someone out there making them. I'm just still on the fence about whether or not I want a visor on my truck though, so I'm not in the market right now.

Another option for those with caps permanently installed: Saw this on another MJ yesterday, viewed from below. It's got the brake light on the window, and a cargo light just inside the cap pointing forward into the bed. Seems pretty cool to me.