Gjeep

Sure did -- too big. I was at first open to some trimming of the factory seat bracket but the amount that needed to be removed would make the seat no longer safe. Possibly trimming the repop MJ brackets that are a much thicker gauge metal could work, but in the end for my needs these Pioneers sound good especially when running 2 of them tucked under the backside of the seat/floor as in my other MJ. I don't know about the Corbeau brackets and what kind of space is under there. There is an odd but do-able option of running the first gen seats on 2nd gen brackets. I recently saw an adapter online to make that happen. You'd also need to add in the mounting crossmember both driver and passenger side floorboards -- but there would be enough room as I'm running similar sized subs in my kids newer XJ's and they have plenty of room. Again, an odd option. But an option.

Just as I straightened up the driver side wiring, I made a mess passenger side. The under the seat Pioneer sub is installed (140W). It’s nothing crazy but adds decent thump when needed. RediRad is the aux unit I installed in my other Comanche that got me to BlueTooth. Last time I spoke to the owner (husband and wife team, product made in USA) close to 4 years ago they were closing their doors… so I purchased a round of the latest aftermarket BT add-in’s over the past couple weeks, tested them out and they all sounded like crap with the stock head unit. Took a gamble at reaching out to the RediRad mom & pop shop and found out that they reopened due to the demand half time while looking to expand. I wasted no time buying one of their units. Basically, it’s a go-between on the co-ax cable/ FM modulator with ignition-sourced power and ground. That’s it – and you get a 3ft long aux cable to plug in to your phone/ device. From that point I added a USB BT, ground loop noise isolator, splitter and then a hard wire USB/aux run going inside the center console that powers the phone and serves as a hard wire option for music. I have the option of BT or not.

I finished cutting and drilling on the XJ roof rack – it wasn’t nearly as challenging as I thought it would be. Got lucky. It came out well but still need to refinish these parts and nutsert the roof/ run wiring invisibly. This MJ will be running NOS Wrangler TJ rounds in front and up top. I decided also that I want some thump in the MJ. I ran this same Pioneer unit in my other Comanche, but two of them tucked behind the seat track versus under. Unfortunately, the driver side doesn’t have enough room under the seat track thanks to the girthy tunnel. And since this is meant to mostly be a work truck I’m only running one sub this round. It will be disassembled and painted black to match the rest of the interior even though it's tucked away.

Finally got to it – AC is charged; R134a conversion using factory ’95 XJ parts as in my other MJ. Hard to tell how cold it truly blows as it’s at best 50* here currently. If the temperature gun I used was correct, the MJ was blowing 38* yesterday but want to confirm. Will retest. Where’s the sun when you need it... Testing the HVAC wasn’t without its challenges, as I could get the bezel control to open/close any of the doors. Pulled the vacuum lines off the back of the bezel and nothing. Assumed a vacuum leak but couldn’t find any. After walking away for a bit I thought I’d take a double-take at the check valves – one off the intake manifold and the other near HVAC side firewall. What was there I didn’t recognize. I pulled them both and noticed how tiny the port was where vacuum passed. Replaced them both with parts bin factory check valves and all started working again. Curious though for any who own a ’91 MJ if yours has these same check valves from the factory. I don’t recognize them. First pass at drilling holes on the lightbar I’m building out of an XJ roof rack, and everything worked out. I’ll be running wiring through the driver’s side channels near invisibly. You can see the small hole in the end cap it will run through then into the roof. They still need to be cleaned up and painted. Also got to rewiring the IPF headlight harness as it doesn’t play well with the Holley RetroBright headlights I’m going to be running. The IPF harness is great for standard headlights but doesn’t run its power correctly for the MJ to use RetroBrights with it. Kudos to Red Mistress for giving me the heads up on these. All my Jeeps will be getting a set.

Spence at jeep-sticker is the guy. I spoke to him couple months ago and still producing as needed. Here's his email: spencer@mahardesign.com

I got to cutting on an XJ roof rack for the MJ 80’s inspired light bar. Lots still to do around drilling another mounting hole on each rail, strategy around the holes needed for wiring and overall clean-up/ paint. Here she sits – not attached to the roof at all hence the gap between the roof and roof rack rail. I’m feeling good about this light bar, just not looking forward to drilling the hole at an angled surface… Also finally got around to bleeding the brakes after all the new parts were installed months back. Had a heck of a time with the front passenger line not bleeding/ getting any fluid. Zip. Nada. Never had something like that happen before so I took to Googling — the answer and fix — stomp on the brake pedal repeatedly. It resets the proportion valve to all open. Like I said, first time I experienced an issue like that. Brake booster (’95 XJ) and proportioning valve (’88 XJ) were NOS. Plug for the Motive Bleeder. I’ve been using mine for at least 20 years and it’s great. They sell different auto manufacturer caps to work with their main canister.

Those look amazing. Nice work.

Not from the factory. Its a me add on via an old Viper brand alarm. Jeep did have a problematic security system in 91/92 for the higher end XJs but the MJ never got it. And majority of XJ owners I understand uninstalled it because it was leaving them stranded. I wanted all the lock/unlock features of a ‘modern’ truck since I took the time to add power windows and door locks. There are a couple ways can wire a kill switch solo though.

I have this hard wired on both my MJs. Found it on Amazon. Also have an Airtag as backup.

These are only present HO years in this location -- 2 are factory (dash illumination & horn) and 2 are from me (starter kill & dome light supervision when doors unlocked). 4 relays fit there perfectly without hitting metal support structure of main dash.

Got the dash wiring back to near ship-shape. Took the better part of a day as I had the fuse box pulled apart, having added all sorts of things to the MJ’s electrical over the past many months. I’m aiming to tackle HVAC charging/ testing this week so I can move forward on the interior assembly. High hopes!

That would be neat. I'll look into it. Even at 18ga, would probably only be able to get one wire down per bolt. Currently I trust a wire grommet best (again, hidden under the roof rack rails). I found this one on Summit:

The roof rails...which aren't cut or placed yet. Will nutsert roof like the factory XJ's. Right now it's just mocked up.

I wanted lights up top, so decided to go with a fixed MJ light bar using XJ roof rack. There will only be 1” of rail showing either side of crossbar slide. Rails still need to be trimmed down. All wiring will be run inside the crossbar and out drivers side corner under rail. Will hardly see it. Nice and pretty. This MJ is my beater/ runner and will sport a camper shell when needed, so I opted away from the factory rollbar. The graphics sported are not for this truck — this one will be a ‘Comanche Chief’ clone. 90’s repop Ford 3rd brake/ cargo light combo in place but not screwed into place just yet.

The new tilt steering column was ever so painfully set into place. Plethora of grease was used to ease the process onto the shaft, but not much luck making the going good. Long live the telescoping shaft of the ‘97+ XJ’s. I know there’s an aftermarket vendor that supplies telescoping shafts for the XJ, and I have one, but wanted to keep this truck original-ish. After much battle, that included walking away from it several times, I finally got it into place with retaining bolts through both ends. Time to recover the sun visors and get to charging the HVAC.

The Warn emblem on my solenoid box hazed over few months after I installed it and it drove me nuts. I removed it soon after but always nagged at me that there was no emblem. I had been looking on/off for a vendor replacement without luck. Recently I stumbled across an Etsy site that would make a Warn emblem whatever size you want in a variety of colors. I was hopeful the quality would be good—and was surprised once I received it that is was. This is the vendor, great transaction: https://www.etsy.com/listing/1770588575/warn-winch-front-logo-plate

Those look to be factory hooks. And these are the brackets that are missing. Uni-body tie-ins to tow hooks.

I always though it was crazy how that thing released. Needed to be paying attention or fingers paid the consequences. Before deciding to switch to XJ hand brake in both MJ's I considered a correct tension spring off the pedal to the mounting bracket somewhere. Would need some trial and error.

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/1781029069208293?ref=search&referral_code=null&referral_story_type=post&tracking=browse_serp%3A3b3e02f9-e531-4649-98e7-52133b7506f5 Haven't seen one like this before.

I used these to polish out the instrument cluster lens --

First pass of the graphic is spot-on. Trimmed a small portion of this pre-production vinyl and applied to the only clean side of my ’91 MJ test-case truck. I’m using my ’91 as the proving ground before the ’92 MJ gets its final stripes. Next week I’ll have a portion of the hood stripe to lay.

Polished the instrument cluster lens and painted the gauge cluster surround black. I’ve never been a fan of the charcoal, especially in a black interior. Cleaned and re-glued the light panel to the left as the double-sided tape was shot. The original owner had swapped out the instrument cluster for one with a full gauge (originally this was a column shift MJ) and selected a ’96 XJ donor as it has a ‘GEN’ light that no other first gen truck did. I tossed that overlay and put the true to the year OBD1 lens on.

Amazing how much you can bleed from upholstery installation. The passenger seat is done… Final details to do was to add the soft side of sticky-back Velcro to line the inner portions of the tumble bezel. The Velcro hides the ugly yellow foam, vinyl threading, etc. Looks more finished. I need to pause a day on the driver side seat assembly as I forgot to re-affix the plastic clips that are glued from the factory to the foam inner backside wings. Glue takes 24hrs to dry. These clips attach the seatback foam to the seat frame on the lower backside. I’m sure with would be fine without but prefer to have it as the factory did.

Passenger seat is 98% done – just need to install the tumble and recline trim. I’ll Zymol vinyl condition these as it will be a couple months before I’m ready to install them. I forgot how much fun this style seat is when it comes to installing upholstery. I used .7 ml plastic help with the slide, but it wasn’t much help. The bigger bolster Laredo/Limited seats are much easier to navigate the install. Got the seat bottom flap into place then cut so it is centered and neat. The only way to go. Driver seat is up next.

Got some little things done – The exterior B-pillar vents got new weatherstrip backside, my original single key glovebox lock is in place, and the ’86 dashboard headlight icon bezel has been replaced (fog light-like design) to the ’87-’96 style light icon. Headliner overhead console related cuts made, and test fit looks good. The cab carpet board was ready, so I cut a paper template off the original and transferred it over to the black roll and laid it out. This is a new board without holes as I’ve moved all spare jack-related equipment under the hood. DEI Spray Adhesive has become my go-to over 3M, as it doesn’t come out as ‘wet’. The board is currently drying, then I will wrap all material around as needed and call it done. Next up is re-installing the factory Mesa bucket seat upholstery…