reson46

I always wondered what filtered the incoming air on these types of intakes. :hmm: It looks like nothing? It just sucks in any dirt that is around? Are those the injectors along the top? Does it help with the air/fuel mix having them here instead of next to the head? Willy

A couple of orders arrived yesterday. Got the catalytic converter and a couple of 45/180 degree bend combination tubes in 2.25" and 2.5" sizes. Besides a couple of straight pipes that I can get locally, hopefully I've got enough to finish the exhaust now. I may need to pick up another Flowmaster too. I bent up the inlet pretty well when it fell off. :doh: I'll have to see if I can salvage it. Willy

I am prepared for when the D35 blows up. It came from a '97 Exploder Sport that apparently decided to live up to its name. The wife and I first found this a couple of weekends ago at the pull a part when we were looking for a steering box for her MJ. Last week I was looking at their price list and they only charge $86.50 for a rear axle. I started thinking that it may be best to jump on the deal while I can find one for cheap than end up paying $300 for one when I really need it. Sunday we returned and luckily it was still there. Unfortunately this junk yard likes to make it as hard as possible to remove anything that may be attached to the suspension. They place the jack stands under the leaf springs instead of the frame. Not a big deal for spring over axles, but a big PITA for spring under. We pretty much had the axle free within an hour, but there was nowhere near enough room to slide the axle between the leaf spring and frame. The junk yard wouldn't allow jacks or anything else to lift it. But, if it was on an end where they could get to it they might consider bringing a forklift in for a $25 fee. :roll: The next few hours I spent squatting the Exploder while Deb stuffed tires under the frame. There didn't seem to be much weight on the passenger side as it went fairly easily and we were able to move the jack stand to the frame completely freeing the suspension. The driver side required lots of lifting and creative thinking until we were finally able to get enough weight off the suspension to slide it out the back. Deb told me I have to find another friend to bring with me the next time I decide to pick up an axle. :rotfl2: Of course the calipers and rotors weren't included in the price of the axle so it ended up costing close to $150. Still not a horrible price. Anybody know off the top of their head what gear ratio this probably has? It came from a two door. I didn't think to check if it was 6 or 8 cylinder. I'll eventually pull the cover to check for sure, but for now it will sit off to the side until it is needed. Willy

Not true. GM S trucks had a driver side front output. Even used the NP 231. Willy

This is what I built. Willy

Had a great day wheeling at Elbe Hills Saturday. All the changes worked out pretty well so far...besides the muffler. I didn't get all the parts I had ordered to put the exhaust together so I just tossed the muffler on with some wire to hold it on. It made it through the first couple of trails. Then fell off and got really loud. You could tell exactly where I was the rest of the day. Not too many pictures of the MJ since I was solo this trip. We did have one guy break a D35 axle at the end of the last trail of the day. Considering it was welded with 37" tires it lasted longer than all of us expected. :roll: More pics here. Willy

Where is it located? Hard to tell, but it looks like those might be Missouri plates? I don't know what I would do with it, but if the owner is willing to sell it I may have to consider finding time for a road trip. :yes: Willy I think its an illinois plate with the blue/white fade: Rob L. It looks like it is not just blue, but blue with a little green. And considering it is located in MO I'm going to stick with my guess. :D :thumbsup: Willy

Have you been able to locate the owner or find any other information about it? Willy

Here is a pretty good thread about the WJ booster swap that helped me quite a bit from NAXJA. Willy

My first piece of advice is to not jump to the most expensive, time consuming solution to your issues. Converting to full hydraulic steering to fit a larger radiator? Swapping the engine to fix a cooling problem? Take a deep breath and think this stuff through logically. It is not wise to throw parts at a problem without having a good understanding of what is going on. That is what counter jockeys at chain parts stores do that don't know any better. Now some questions that need to be addressed: What is the history of this engine? Did it run fine in the donor vehicle? How old is it? Has the cooling system ever been flushed? Are you running a high flow water pump? Have you replaced the thermostat? If yes, what did the cooling passages look like that you could see? Was there a lot of build up and crap in there? Was the old coolant rusty? Is the radiator hose collapsing? As previously mentioned, make sure the gauge is correct and check the temperature with a laser thermometer. Good photos of the engine bay and fan/radiator set up will help too. Willy

In my opinion, 4.10 gears are a pretty good match for 31s. But, don't even bother with used gears, get new gears. New gears really aren't that expensive to begin with. The installation is the expensive part. If I were you this is what I would do. Find a '97 - '00 XJ D30 with 4.10 gears on Car-Part.com. You can probably find one for a lot less than what regearing your current D30 would cost. Plus you get a couple of advantages on top of that - you get rid of the CAD and you get larger u-joints in the axle shafts. Then I would regear your rear D44 to 4.10 with new gears. That will give you a great, durable set up for 31s. Willy

:huh???: You want to swap 3.55 gears for 3.73? :hmm: I can't see how that would be worth the effort. You won't even notice a difference. Willy

I was swapping out a 91 2 litre/AW4 for the 98 4 litre/AW4. I had to change the sensor on the tail shaft and the rear electrical plug. That's good to know. I had wondered if it was just as easy as swapping over the wiring and sensors. Willy

:redX: The pic links don't work. Do you have a link to the CraigsList ad? Willy

I hooked the reverse lights up to a switch. Besides that I haven't done much with them either. :thumbsup: Willy

Where is it located? Hard to tell, but it looks like those might be Missouri plates? I don't know what I would do with it, but if the owner is willing to sell it I may have to consider finding time for a road trip. :yes: Willy

The throttle bodies don't necessarily need to be swapped, just a couple of holes tapped for a sensor. I think it was the TPS, but don't remember for sure. He has a manual. It does not have the Renix AW4 TCU. Willy

Are you planning on keeping the wood grain? If so, will you extend it to the bed? Not sure how it would look, but that would definitely be different. :hmm: Willy

What problems did you have with the wiring? Did you end up going with a column shift or something? The biggest problem you will have is that the '98 does not have a separate TCU, it is integrated with the engine computer. The transmission wiring is different from the earlier AW4s so it isn't as easy as finding an earlier TCU and plugging it in. I don't know for sure, but you may be able to swap the transmission wiring from an early AW4 over. Besides that, it is fairly easy. You just need to swap over all the brackets, linkage, transfer case, etc. from the donor. You may want to check with NWPhotog. I sold him an engine and transmission from a '98 that he was able to get to work. I don't know the details, but I don't think he had too many problems. Willy

It's not for sale. Willy

Did the valve cover take care of the blow by? How bad was it with the old valve cover? Willy

:agree: I think it looks pretty good. When you shorten the corner guards you may want to think about running another tube to the frame to help support it. If it were me I would completely get rid of the d-rings and add some shackle tabs. That way you can remove the shackles and toss them in a tool box so they don't clank around. I can't stand d-rings and shackles clanking with every bump in the road. Willy

Read it again. They are both Borla headers. One is an HO the other is for a renix Correct, they are both Borla headers. :thumbsup: Willy plan on selling the one with the erg fitting? No, that is what I just installed on the MJ. Willy

Since the subject of the stock exhaust manifold came up, I took a closer look at it last night. I didn't realize how bad its condition was. There were cracks in three of the tubes as they meet the main tube - cylinders 2, 5, and 6. Cylinder 5 was pretty bad. It had cracked practically half way around the tube. Cylinder 5 Cylinder 2 Cylinder 6 I'm sure that wasn't helping the cooling problems. Also, when I removed the air box to install the headers, the air filter was almost covered in oil. :eek: Looks like the blow by got pretty bad. Every time I had checked it before this there was hardly any oil. After removing the rest of the exhaust I discovered that the honeycomb in the catalytic converter had fallen apart as I had suspected. Hopefully fixing all of these will make it run cooler. :D Willy