undercoverwalrus

i get 21-30 mpg with my straight stock 2.5 with no roof, 2wd. i can't wait to take it down with some mods, though... once it shocked me by getting 35 mpg going 55mph to jacksonville and back, about 400 miles round trip. i was coming back with a 600 pound industrial oven, too. good gas, i guess.

pics soon, i have spotty internet. it's only half done because it was so tricky. yeah, it's the standard ten point roll cage from s&w, just like 88mjay's, but they didn't bend the bars to the right specifics like 88mjay got them to. i didn't have the cash to send it back, but the bars bent to the cherokee's specs doesn't look half bad. pics soon, i promise.

really really difficult to put together. especially when they don't bend the tubes like you asked them to to fit them in a comanche. but the roll cage is pretty sturdy. anybody done anything interesting roll-cage wise?

Does anybody know what bucket seats will come closest to fitting in the original bench bolts? It's crazy hot here in Florida and I'm feeling lazy. I need a quick bolt-on that I can get from the junkyard out of any truck. thanks!

i found a build sheet when i took off the driver's side door panel. :???: pretty nifty reading material for the bathroom.

i have a whine coming from one of the pulleys under the hood that makes the thing sound like it has a turbo. not a bad sound to have when i first bought the thing but now is it ever annoying. i'm going to have to talk to some people about getting a replacement pully, as the PO thought it was coming from the air conditioner - looking under the hood i count one... two... two appliances: alternator and water pump. no ac. :thwak:

yeah i've got to get up early tomorrow and get to an autozone myself. i turned the truck on this morning and this gawdawful rattling/buzzing answered. got under the truck and there's a flap of metal hanging off the muffler. it's loud, that's for sure.

ooh! ooh! i'll take them off of your hands! :D sense-a-tracs, huh? definitely need to check in on those. my front shocks are so shot, it's not funny. thanks for the inadvertent tip!

not that i know of, at least not on the road. i don't take it on the trail in its' present condition. that would be scary. :eek:

so, this is my mj. picked it up from a volvo mechanic who had it sitting out in front of the garage amid the parts cars. he got it from a guy he was fixing a volvo for who had a tree fall on the mj, took a saws-all to it and drove it for about a year. he got into a fender bender and replaced the driver's side fender panel. i got it as a trade for a volvo with a bum engine (very good trade if i do say so myself). yeah, that's me there. :oops: it's an '86 Custom with a 2.5l, five speed, pretty much everything stock. at this time i had ripped out the carpet, popped some holes in the floor for draining purposes and rustoleumed the $#!+ out of it. some rattle-can truck bed liner and i'm temporarily done. (very poor and very busy. i'm opening a restaurant at the moment) some heavy duty floor mats keep it very quiet, i was surprised. plans! -complete cold air intake -smooth out the lines from initial saws-all session -get a roll cage from s&w like 88mjay -complete the interior with a trip to a rhinoliner shop -custom vinyl top! -super simple exhaust with cherrybomb glasspack (redneck machine!) -stripped dash and interior with steel dash from s&w (climate control? nah) -black dyed seat, maybe vinyl doors -new rims (chrome!) -chrome trim swap - fog lights, search lights, air horns, huge "cb" antenna, work lights, etc i'm keeping the engine mostly stock for now, i don't have the cash to do an engine swap or any major lift project and the only trail-riding that's worth anything in tallahassee is in the mudflats, and mudding is for rich white suburban kids in this town. i like the rat-rod look so i don't think i'm going to clean up the exterior very much, just keep it running until i can lift it and up the horsepower. i'm thinking a rhinoliner paint-job in the future... :brows: i'm quite an amateur so i'm sure i can use all the tips i can get. progress will be slow until the restaurant is open. i think wednesday i'll trim it up and get some better pictures. input is appreciated! dave

sounds like it's time to get new tires anyway. it might help the wobble too.

i've got the exact same problem. without fail when i hit 45 the thing starts shaking. i've looked around and everything's tight. i'm pretty sure i need to get my tires rotated and balanced. just a matter of getting over to the tire place, i don't have tire equipment. so i'd check that. what state are your tires in? has the truck sat for a long while? something to think about.

i've got a 2.5 five speed in an '86 and i was thinking about going loud myself. i was thinking about a straight pipe from the manifold (no emissions testing in florida) to a cherrybomb glasspack to a turndown keeping the stock 2". i was hoping to get some more power out of the 2.5 (and it's really cheap too). good idea? :dunno:

y'know? that might be something. when i went to change the crankcase oil i opened the fill plug first to be sure i could get it opened (once burnt twice learnt) and a quart and a half of milky, greenish fluid that smelled like puke poured out. i'm guessing that since the vehicle doesn't have a top and it sat out in a junkyard for six months before i got it some water got into the tranny through the shifter-hole (for lack of better terminology). and i couldn't get the drain plug off anyway because i didn't have a big enough socket. now that i have a big enough socket i couldn't find the time. tomorrow i do, though, and i'm putting some of that oil additive stuff you get at autozone in it, hopefully that will help. a bit of a ramble, sorry :oops: thanks for all the tips!

good deal. ignorance breeds paranoia and dread :roll: i figured that bleeding the clutch would be a several day process. thanks!

huh, never thought a bum heater could be the result of a vacuum leak... very good to know! having no roof on my MJ sucks when it's misting and 35 degrees out and the heater doesn't work. it'll feel like a luxury car now

i just got a call from a friend saying that he was done replacing the clutch master/slave cylinders. i'm pretty excited about all that, it wasn't very expensive thanks to autozone messing up twice and getting me both parts 10% off. :D however, he also said that it still grinds getting into reverse unless you put it into first a couple of times before trying reverse, to which another friend of mine immediately stated that the synchronizer is out. i don't pretend to know very much about automotive mechanics :oops: so i humbly ask any advice as to repairing or replacing the synchronizer on my '86 four cylinder five speed transmission. i could live with the synchro out but i'm sure it'll get old really fast. thanks!

i am thanking my lucky flags i've got an external slave. sucks a lot though that i have no time to do this for myself (opening a restaurant is a lot of work), but i've found a friend of a friend who can do it for me for $90 plus parts. steal! :D other places wanted $600+ to do the job. wahoo!

i'm about to change out the master and slave cylinder for the clutch on my '86 with a five speed. if anyone has any handy tips as i haven't done this before. i knew i needed to change them out, but the clutch worked almost smoothly as long as i kept the clutch fluid level up. and then, of course, one day i forgot to check the level and now i'm stuck pumping the clutch and slamming it into first and grinding it into reverse. :oops: i'm stupid. thanks for the tips!

does anybody have a cold air intake in their 'manche? i'm looking for ideas to put one in mine. i've got a 2.5l, all stock.

dang, since i'm really new to the whole 'manche thing i didn't think about the serious safety implications about the no-top thing. the guy i got it from drove it for about a year with no top. hm. maybe if i got a rollbar and welded a couple of bars from the rollbar to the windshield like a wrangler it might do the trick? that would be a job and a half with my lack of garage.

thanks for the input, that's some good info. i might do something like that but i might take the truck down to ocala and have a friend help build me a custom chopped dash. i'll post pics as soon as i do that, and of the truck as it is now to get some ideas from you guys as to the whole topless thing.

oh, i'm not using it for off-road use, it's a two wheel drive fourbanger. i am actually looking for a rollbar, if you know anyone who has one that might fit. i've got the vinyl for a soft top. i'm checking out the junkyard as soon as i get a day off but i don't have much hope. i'd like to get a rollbar asap because if i roll it i'm toast. no fun there.

dude, i totally did almost exactly what you did to the inside of my MJ. mine came to me with no top (tree fell on it apparently, the previous owner just cut it off) and the interior rug was sopping wet, smelly and full of roaches and frogs. i ripped it out and did the rustoleum heavy duty rust stopper stuff (unlike yours, my floors were about to fall out. no converter or dissolver for me) and used that exact same bedliner-in-a-can. i thought it would be great because it was only $8 a can instead of $15 for a pint of roll-on. disappointment ensued after i wrestled the bench seat back in and tore it all to :mad: . two coats of rustoleum and two coats of bedliner. but at least it's still a lot better than soaked carpet. i knocked out some of the plugged holes in the floor to allow for water draining and was worried about driving noise, but it's pretty quiet. i do think, though, that when i get some more cash i'll take it to a truck paint shop and get it professionally bedlined. i'm not a very patient person. :roll:

i've got an '86 MJ that must have the most basic trim package. the gauge cluster is the one with no tach, the only needles gauges are the speedometer and the fuel gauge. i haven't bothered taking it apart yet (ever since nearly destroying my last daily driver with a diy project i'm kinda hesitant), and i was wondering if i could easily swap the cluster out for a more informative one with a tachometer?