Sir Sam

Thanks Pete, I also really love the color.

Rolled it out into the sun to help the paint bake in the heat. I had the garage turned up to 80 overnight, but full sun will really get metal hot and help it bake. It looks fukkin amazing out in the sun. Indoors the color looks dark, more like a cardinal red, but out in the sunlight.......main it really pops. Been in love with this color, PR4 - Flame Red, for 20 years. Dennis I think your JK is Flame Red as well IIRC. Time to pressure wash again. I pulled a HP D30 today, 04 WK Akebono calipers and brackets, extended bump stops, and carbon canister and lines. Grabbed the track bar with the axle, mostly because I couldn't find the track bar brackets I've had saved forever, so I needed that. Track bar looks pretty new and in good shape, so I guess I can use that, unless I need to get an adjustable one.

Before it was welded to the cab having that whole section galvanized would meant it would never rust again.

I bought a 160amp alternator with a 20% off, it turns out its the wrong year. All the stuff you see online about this says you can use up to a 2003 Durango 160 amp alternator. This is not correct, 2001 is the last year of the 5.9L 160 amp Durango alternator you can use. Ended up buying one locally from Autozone with a lifetime warranty. No way this one was going to work: This is the paint I am using, Omni Plus basecoat, and Axalta Chromebase "4 to 1" Clear. The base coat gets mixed 1:1 with the base and reducer. The clear gets mixed 4:1 clear coat to "activator" The activator is just basically reducer and hardener mixed together. Correct one: Needs some trimming to fit. I guess I'll work on that tomorrow. Put it on jackstands to lower a bit and get the wheels out of the way of overspray: Basecoat: First full coat of clear: Final coat #4: So the paint turned out decent, more orange peel than I would like, and more runs. Its been something like 8 years since I have painted anything, and this is entirely new paint, so I'm a little out of practice with this. Still, its good enough for the engine bay, and the visible bits would look very smooth with a bit of wetsand as the orange peel is minimal.

I got my paint today, then swung by the junkyard since I saw a 96XJ was just put out and the fuel pump should work in my MJ tank. Turns out that XJ also had a lift. Got drop brackets, lower control arm, swaybar drop bracket, and fuel pump for $65. Then I got home and did a final wipe of the engine bay for dust, then started spraying primer. Started with self etching primer for the areas with bare metal, which is the sort of greenish primer, then sprayed some high fill on areas where the paint was flaky and had imperfections, which is the more white looking primer. Now for the drop bracket, haven't IDed the maker yet on these, but they are fairly pricey to buy. The coils had a PN that a google search shows to be 3" lift springs. https://colorado4wheel.com/images/1988_MJ/build/content/images/large/IMG_6637.jpg/img] The timing of the drop brackets and coils is excellent, Ive been putting off ordering something because I wasn't sure exactly what I wanted to do for suspension, but now that I picked this up I'm going to use it. One bit of good luck that I will happily take right now.

New stainless brake lines finally arrived, There are some for the rear and from the prop valve to the rear that I don't think I will be using, but they came in the kit.....so I guess I use them on something else, or see if they can be adapted at all for my needs with the disk 8.25. ****ty photo, but sanded A pillars, body part of the cowl, firewall, inner fenders, etc. Drying, then spraying primer tomorrow. I have to drive down to Denver to pickup paint, since the local Finishmaster is closed due to covid. Picking up the red base and the clear coat. So I guess that means spraying it saturday morning, then trying to get it curing in the sun ASAP, and then probably waiting a few days to install engine bay stuff. I might spray some sound deadening while the engine bay paint cures. Fresh paint is very easy to scratch and mar, and installing things like wire harnesses will do lots of that. Going with PR4 Flame Red. This is the aesthetic I am going for:

Got the Windshield Washer tank mounted. The 97+ tank is under the fender, but starting in 1995 the metal was punched out for it, so no MJ has it already. Hole saw and then slotted with the grinder. This hole had to be blocked, I realized one of the plugs already in the firewall was a perfect fit, 1-1/4". Just need to get another to replug the firewall. Final scrub of the engine bay before primering: Also pressure washed the inside out:

So I got the spot welder out to crimp back part of the firewall to cowl pinch seam that opened up a little when I modified it to clear the CRD intake. Then I got to seam sealing where I was putting in the newer firewall bits that I cut out for the steering column and C101 plug and bolted those up to cure. Put some new seam sealer in where the old stuff had cracked/shrunk: Mounted on the inside: So firewall is complete. 2 remaining modifications I know of in the engine bay, washer tank filler neck/mounts, and mount for evap solenoid. I will get those done tonight, review anything else by looking at the Yellow Jeep, and then start on primer for the engine bay.

Pressure washed more parts last night, I keep finding parts to pressure wash and cleanup. It's nice to work on not greasy and not dirty stuff all the time, but it does take away from functional work time. That being said, even though I compromised on the diesel part of this project, I don't want to compromise on the rest of it. I really just want to do it once and do it right, whatever that means........though its all a balancing act at this point. I'm really looking forward to having a freshly painted engine bay, with all sorts of super clean new looking parts in it, clean engine, wiring, etc. Replacement bellhousing arrived. The one that came on the trans was cracked, which I couldn't see under the grease. Bellhousing on: So that's it for yesterday. Still need to do a few things in the engine bay, then paint prep starts! Also need to buy paint supplies again.

I take back my previous comment. I stayed spring under so the top of the axle tube should still be at the same height relative to the frame rail. Only difference I will have is my 8.25 axle tube compared to the smaller D35 or D44 tubes, and some googling should show me what the difference in tube size is.

Did some cleaning, getting things ready to install: So nice and clean! Got the fuse box mount figured out after comparing to the Yellow jeep a few times: Thought I was done drilling holes, turns out I needed to drill another for the auto shifter cable. Got the shifter assembly mocked up, looks like its all good to go, just need to screw it down.

Thanks Pete. The only one about height measuring I see is to measure between axle and frame. While not a bad way to go, with the 8.25 and aftermarket spring perches, I'm not sure how much error I will have. I'll check that way and keep trying to search for the flare to hub.

I know I brought this up in the past, but search is failing me. What is an approximate wheel center to fender flare lip for a stock hieght MJ? I unloaded the back of my project Mj and gained about 2" of hieght......and thats with the super heavy wildernest on it. So anyone able to help me with that measurement? TIA

Short console from ZJ, and the mirror is an auto dimming mirror with outside temperature. There are other versions of this that also include courtesy lights and homelink garage door openers, plus a compass and temp, and the autodim, I need to figure out what vehicles to search for for those.

I went down to the junkyard today to start grabbing some random stuff I was missing. When I had my parts car I didn't bother keeping certain things because they would not be needed with the manual trans and diesel. So I had to grab those things. Lots of random little stuff I'm having to track down and grab again. Saw this on the way down while stopped at a gas station to get some drinks: That shed has been some $#!&. Grabbed the dash sound deadening mat, initially I thought I would do some different stuff, but decided I should just stick with the stock mat: Grabbed a master cylinder, ZJ prop valve to work with the KJ rear disk setup. Cruise control actuator, vac lines. Trans kickdown cable that got broken when pulling the engine, auto shifter, shift cables, gas pedal/cable, and power steering pump. Got lucky and scored a short overhead console from a 5.9 ZJ, which is perfect for the MJ since the XJ overhead console is too long for the MJ. New Paint Gun! That engine is just dying to be installed;

New gas tanks and new gas tank straps: Using an eraser wheel to remove the pinstriping that needs to come off for paint. Got the last firewall mod done, cut a 1.5" hole here for the wiring to pass through: Had to spot weld this corner, haven't used the spot welder in at least 5 years, and it sort of refused to work for me....that was annoying, But finally got it. Diesel Chilling with me:

Ok, so it almost looks like I have gone back a step, but not really. I removed the hood, doors, steering box and steering shaft, these were all installed to get them out of the backyard/way, or so I could at least steer the bastard. So with these out of the way I could get back into finishing up the firewall modifications. I found the engine harness, and kinda set it in place to check things out: And I found some other random stuff that I had been saving for this, seatbelts, wiper assembly, etc. So then I got back to the firewall mods. I had cut the section of firewall out of my donor jeep years back, so what I did was use a spot weld cutter to remove the outer thick bit of steel, and leave the thinner inner piece, I'm placing this on the inside and will use the couple of old bolt holes that held the rubber around the steering column, and the brake booster, to hold it in place. I will put some seam sealer around on it before putting it up, get it aligned, bolt it in place, and let it cure. This gives me what I need on the firewall for the newer steering column. I did a similar thing for the C101 plug area. Cut out the bit of metal it sealed to, and bolt it in place on the inside, then the rubber seal just pushes into the old hole with the newer adapter. Round peg in a square hole. It will also be seam sealed and bolted on. Put back in the heater box to check fitment out, everything seems fine with it still. Been years but I did recall getting that part taken care of. I have one more hole I need to cut here. Not sure the size but its just a round ~1.5" hole that needs to be drilled in the upper corner. So I should be done with the firewall mods tomorrow night and have those in place, I have a few more mounting things in the engine bay I want to figure out before paint, like the fusebox/PDC, cruise control actuator, ECU bracket........ Who knows what else, I'll need to take a gander at the yellow XJ and see what else might be bolted down that I need to deal with. Then the engine bay, cowl, and the windshield A pillars will get paint prepped and sprayed at the same time. It's tempting to want to do more at once since once you have paint out its easy to spray, but I need to pull back on the scope right now. Painting the engine bay now was a compromise I was willing to make since I know what color I wanted to paint it, and this way I wouldn't need to pull everything out in the future to paint it. I have a couple of nutserts to put inside the cab for the center dash supports, the transmission tunnel to figure out what I need to modify for the newer console and ebrake setup. I don't think I have anything funky to do for the 4wd shifter, just drill out the dimples where the bolts go through for the bracket...... Seat brackets are already in place, but the rear bolt will need to be marked and drilled. Some electrical stuff will need to happen to get the windows to work without the rear windows plugged in. And something else will need to happen for the rear interior lights since there is no rear door switch. I need to find headliner material so I can recover my headliner in the correct color. Need to pull a D30HP, find my ZJ brake stuff, and get it converted. I need to buy some offset 1 ton TRES and such to get my HD steering going with the higher steer WJ knuckle.....but ruffstuff was out of the TREs for the kit I want, so that will need to wait. So still lots to do. But I'm moving forward.

Dunno. Seems like its some sort of chemical reaction that occured with the paint or got on the paint, its not something that can be cleaned off. So the engine bay is getting painted.

Got the CRD engine out last night: I have the NV3550, I keep tossing around the idea of using it in the MJ..........but right now I'm more interested in getting this thing running and sticking with the AW4 is the fastest and easiest way to do that for now. So then I pressure washed the engine bay, it got heavily degreased and cleaned years back, but there was a fair bit of accumulated dirt in the engine bay.

I've had one of my CRDs since it was near new. Those of us that had them since new and treated them correctly have had good service out of them. People who did things wrong from the get go had issues. One of the most common issues was owners trusting Jeep and using the oil they spec'd out. Jeep recommended 0W10 Mobile one oil in them, a good oil for sure, but they wanted a thin oil to get the fuel economy numbers up there. It wasn't even a diesel rated oil. In europe they spec'd a diesel oil. There are a number of problems here in the US with worn rockers, in Europe that failure is almost non existent. Since new I've run 15W40 Delo Diesel oil in mine. At 150k(when my water pump failed), the rockers had zero wear on them. I've worked on engines with half as many miles that the rockers were shot. All from running the wrong oil in them. You see issues, but lots of ignorance causes them. At the end of the day it was not a soccer mom vehicle, it was a vehicle for a person who understands what their are driving. A few cheap modifications made a world of difference. Again, the wrong oil was issue #1. I can't say I blame owners who followed what the manual said. But I had people arguing with me vehemently in the past about how my 15W40 Delo Diesel oil was the wrong oil and "its not even synthetic!". 14 years later and I'm still right, and those people probably don't own the vehicle anymore, likely because they had an oil related issue occur. At nearly 200k my turbo is still tight, rockers, good, and it pulls strong. And I have not used it lightly. Every stop light is a 1/4 mile drag for me. I've towed 5000lbs coast to coast, including the last tow my KJ CRD will ever do which was my Land Rover Defender back from Tacoma to Colorado with hardly breaking a sweat. I use vehicles hard, but I don't abuse them.

Take an MJ, install all the stuff from a 97XJ, and make a 97MJ. Then call it a 97MJ so you don't have to explain that its a 91MJ with all the stuff from a 97XJ each time you refer to it. Just like how I'm building a 01MJ.

My friends 97 MJ has the 97 XJ tank where the spare tire was. It sits a little low but it fits.

Little harsh. No, I decided it was much quicker to stick with a 4L/AW4 if I wanted to get a running truck. The CRD swap has lots of electrical harness work, instead of spending lots of time on that, and then lots of time on all the other fabrication like intercooler piping, AC lines, etc etc. There is so much other stuff that needs to be done on this truck, that is independent of the engine type, that I have decided to first get it running as a "stock" setup. I can still do all the harness work I need to on a tabletop, like I was doing. But for now I'm going to push on ahead with the other work I need to get this thing running and use it.

Pulled the gas tank and put about 7 gallons of 12 year old gas into the yellow Jeep to burn it up........ stinky stuff.

Cracked bellhousing from my AW4: So to get this project going I decided my dads garage would be a good place to work, since his garage is fukkin YUGE! So I spend quite a bit of time shoveling snow so we could move it, with the help of freerider we got it moved on Saturday. And then into my Dads garage: