BeenJaminJames

Wouldn't a larger tire make the speedometer read low, which means you actually traveled more miles than it says? With a 31" tire you'd cover 6% more distance than the tripmeter would show. Which would mean 6% better mileage. What kind of driving were you doing when you got those numbers?

Fill it with water and see where it's pouring out from

So what'd you do to get the feed line to reach the bottom of the tank? The stock feed line only reaches down so far, you'd run out of gas at half a tank, which is why I suggested using the return line

Yes on second look, that truck is definitely higher than I want to go. At first glance I thought they were 31" tires, looked at the wheel gap and thought, "well that's a tad high, but close enough." I'm trying to maximize ground clearance as much as possible, while still keeping it low enough to not look more than slightly awkward on 29" highway tires. I'll be primarily hauling and towing with the truck, and will use either the 235/75/15's I have now, or more likely a 30" tire since I don't think these 15's will fit over the brakes I have in mind. That's a highway-only tread. For offroading, I keep a seperate set of larger m/t's that never get aired up or run on the street, and unlock the swaybars while I'm under there. I currently run 31's as nothing larger is practical at stock height. If possible/practical, I'd like to shoot for a height that can allow me to run a 30" highway tire, and a skinny 34" tire offroad, even if some inner fender clearancing needs to be done. That's a 2" (actually more like 2.5") difference in the radius of the tire, so it seems feasable to have a 34x9 that barely clears without making the 30" highway tires look too out of place. And yes, while I agree that there's nothing particularly WRONG with spring under axle, I just don't like it, and I'm stubborn. And I hate it. I live on the side of a mountain (or hill, if you've been to places where they have real mountains) and often use my truck to go down below the bluff to harvest firewood. I can't count how many times I've had a full load, gotten hung up on that bracket, and had to unload the bed so my puny jack could lift the axle off of whatever stump the u-bolts have dug into. Keeping to the high spots isn't always possible. The lowest point on my 240sx sportscar is about the same height as those brackets, 'nuff said. ;) I've never even seen a grand wagoneer in person. Only heard about them in fairy tales and online forums. Lmao they're pretty rare around here. I did see a J10 once, it was too cool. Perhaps they just weren't that common here, or perhaps their massive weight combined with local scrapmetal prices has contributed to them all dissappearing. I'll be building my own perches, so the springs will sit 3/16" above the top surface of the D44 axle tube.

Those wagoneer springs would be perfect... if only it were within the realm of possibility for me to find a decent set. I doubt anyone sells new replacement leaves, but I'll look around. The truck in that picture is the perfect height, actually maybe a bit higher than I'd like, but not so high I'd complain. Unless I can find a good source for 5 leaf SJ springs, the search continues....

I'm aware they're more than strong enough... but I still rather have soa purely because it makes me feel better. Will I ever break the u bolts? Never. But it won't hurt. And there's still the ground clearance issue of having the bracketry hanging down. Awesome blueprint, thanks! 9.5" is alot of arch. And I always thought the mj springs were 60" instead of 57. Good to know. Also I'm somewhat surprised that the axle isn't centered in the middle of the spring. So this might not work so well, will have to get hold of a set of chevy springs to measure.

So I've been thinking... I can't stand the SUA design of these rear ends. All weight is supported by the U bolts in tension, hanging off the threads. That's definitely something I'd like to eliminate. Plus you've got that big bracket hanging down under the axle, so if a tire slips offroad and the ends of the U bolts stab down into the top of a stump, you're not going anywhere without a jack. So I definitely want to convert to SOA. But I don't want to lift the rear of my truck more than about 2-3" as it will and does see alot of highway/towing use with a smaller set of street tires. Then I had an idea. Our springs are 60" long with quite alot of arch in them. Fullsize chevy springs are 63" with very little arch. There's enough room to relocate the front eye of the spring forward 1.5" easily enough, and something could be done with the shackles to take up the extra length in the rear. What I haven't been able to find, is data. I've searched, but can't seem to track down the amount of arch in the MJ springs compared to fullsize chevy springs. I know it's been discussed here before, as I remember seeing a thread a long time ago where it was mentioned. I also have no idea how the spring rates would compare. I'd like to find a good balance between articulation and cargo capacity. It is my understanding that the chevy springs are less progressive than MJ springs due to having fewer leaves. What are your thoughts, ideas, and suggestions? Mods, feel free to move this thread if it doesn't belong here

Yup. :laughin: :rotf: :rotfl2:

I used a sock i had laying around from an old rx7, that just slips over the end of the tube. 84 rx7 with the 1.1/1.2 engine used an inline pump from factory, with the same size tube going into the tank. If you can find a sock for one of those, it'll go right on. Otherwise you may have to do what I did on a few nissans. Cut a couple inches off the end of the return line inside the tank, clamp on a 1" piece of rubber hose, and cut the bottom end off a standard clear plastic fuel filter so it sits down at the bottom of the tank. Cut along this red line, adjust the hose clamps till it's just not quite touching the bottom of the tank.... As far as there being a rubber bushing, I have no idea. Mine simply had a hard metal line going to the bottom of the tank, with no bushing on the end and no bracket inside the tank. Works great. If yours has those, you'll have to remove them. The only rubber bushings in mine, were on the other line, the supply line, for mounting the pump without transferring noisy vibrations into the cab

I'm currently running an inline pump with no issues at all. Here's the best tip I can offer to make it simple. First off, you'll need an inline pump that can handle 50psi. Any gpm rating will likely be fine, pretty much any inline injecton pump will flow enough fuel for a stock 4.0. When you plumb it in, set the pump up to pull from the return line on the tank, and return to the supply line on the tank. This way you can just remove the stock pump, and put a sock on the bottom of the return line as it reaches to the bottom of the tank and no other modification is required there. Other than that it's just a matter of rerouting the wires and picking a spot to mount the pump

I'm still learning the idiosynchracies of the renix electronics.... So in the absence of a signal from the stator, doe the ecu signal the icm from the cps signal? Other engines I have experience with all relied on the stator alone to directly fire the ignitor, independent of any signal from the ecu. Unplugging the stator on these vehicles would simply disable the entire ignition system

In most (not all) cases, backfires into the intake are caused by a lean condition, and backfires out the exhaust are caused by a rich or intermittent-spark condition. Cutting out at random, and then backfiring out the exhaust is a classic sign of ignition issues. Step #4 in Cruisers renix tips shows how to clean the coil/ICM contacts. If you haven't done so already, I'd make that the next thing on the list to take care of. Another issue could be the stator putting out a weak signal. You can find a good write-up on how to test it here. Be sure to use an analog meter when you do the test.

Awesome! Cruiser every time I turn around you're right there with good information, right on point. It's guys like you (and a few others) who are willing to put in the time and effort to contribute, that make this forum what it is. :thumbsup:

If I had a camera, I'd post pics, but I don't. :roll: The only difference between them is the trigger wheel. One has 12 slots, arranged in groups of four evenly spaced around the wheel. The other has 60 slots, 3 of which are much wider than the rest and are evenly spaced around the wheel. Neither one seems to have any "missing teeth" or any way to locate tdc.

So after several months of procrastination I'm finally getting around to finishing the HO swap I started a while back. Unfortunately the flexplate got moved around a few times, and I have no idea which is the old '88 renix flexplate and which one came off the HO motor. How can I tell the difference?

Awesome advice from both of these guys! Especially concerning safety equipment and recovery gear. You WILL get stuck, make sure you have good solid points to hook to so someone can pull you out. Things like axles, swaybars, and the stock bumper mounts are not good places to attach a strap. Also, use a properly rated nylon recovery strap, not a chain. Chains will break, or worse, rip the shackle off your truck. When that happens, you've got a 20 pound forged steel projectile travelling through the air towards you at 50mph. I've seen it happen. You will also break things. Keep a decent set of tools on the truck, as well as spare u-joints at a minimum. Hopefully you won't have a medical emergency or fire, but do you want to take the chance of being stranded in the middle of the wilderness without a first aid kit and fire extinguisher? Once you've gotten everything prepared and you're ready to head to the trail, you're going to need some driving skills. Rule #1, skinny pedal gets you stuck, and speed breaks your truck. The slower you can go, the more control you'll have, meaning you'll be less likely to get stuck and alot less likely to break something. Slow and smooth driving makes all the difference in the world. Rule #2, pay attention to your spotter, and don't make him have to stand there and tell you the same thing 5 times because you feel sure you can make it if you do it your way. He can see what's going on under your truck, and you can't. Plus it's frustrating, as he's trying to help you, and eventually he'll get tired and quit helping. #3, when you get home, take time to wash all the mud off the underside of your truck, and out of all the nooks and crannies. Mud will destroy everything on a truck. It would be a really good idea to invest in a grease gun, and regularly lube up everything that has a zerk fitting. As far as driving techniques, there's a really good video I suggest you watch, that covers all sorts of really good information. It's an hour and a half, so grab some popcorn and click on:

That bar in the middle doesn't keep the doors from hitting the fender, the hinges have stops builtin for that. The middle bar just provides a bit of tension so the door will stay either fully open or half open on a slight grade. The reason my doors seal well, is because when I reattached the hinges to the doors, I spent time and effort to adjust them properly, as they bolt into slotted holes that allow the hinges to be moved around and adjusted as needed to get the door to line up. This means putting the door on, checking how it fits, taking it back off and loosening/adjusting the hinges, tighten them back up and re-hang the door, check the fit again... eventually if you keep at it you'll get it spot-on. Keep in mind when you're checking the door that the striker will pull it up or down if you shut it all the way, so you may want to remove the striker while you adjust the hinges, then you'll have to adjust the striker when you put it back on.

That middle bar is what regulates the detents when you open your door, and keeps the door from slamming shut on you constantly. I couldn't figure out a good way to keep it when I modified my hinges, and honestly didn't care, so I tossed it out. If the truck is facing uphill even *slightly* the doors close as soon as you let go of them. Facing slightly downhill in a parking lot? Don't let go of the door, it will fall all the way open and bang the shiny car next to you. That may be an issue for some people, personally I like not having it, makes things simpler and the hinges feel smoother.

Honestly it makes no difference if you modify the hinges or not. Taking them off and putting them back on as-is will cause door sealing issues, unless you do as you're supposed to and take the time to adjust them properly. If you just bolt them on and hang the doors, you likely won't even be able to get the pins to line up. My removable doors shut with a 'chink' and have no leaks at highway speed. It's all a matter of whether you plan to do the job right, or half-arsed. Yxmj, are those dorman replacement pins solid, or hollow like the stock roll pins? Got a part number? I've been looking for some good solid pins that I can chamfer so they will slide in a tad easier. Also I haven't seen it mentioned in any writeups, but it helps if you chamfer the top of the hole in the body-half of the hinge, bevel the bottom of the tab on the door-half (the tab that keeps you from opening the door too far) and cut the upper pin a bit shorter while leaving the lower pin full length. Makes it much easier to install the doors that way. Line up the bottom pin first, drop it straight in and the chamfer guides it home, then line up the top pin and drop the door down into position. 2 seconds to hang the doors with no fumbling. I might get around to uploading a couple pics of my hinges later after dark, I'm busy swapping in an HO at the moment :brows:

What you have sounds just like classic bad ground issues. These renix 4.0's are notorious for wiring problems. You've got a few grounds that are common failure points and can cause erratic issues including intermittent no-starts, poor idle, and all sorts of general driveability issues, especially the one on the passenger side of the block at the dipstick mounting stud. The big C101 connector above the brake booster is also a very common failure point and can cause all sorts of driveability issues and intermittent no-starts. Another common failure point is the CPS on the bellhousing. Sometimes they'll go bad completely, sometimes they'll test good when measuring impedance but won't produce a strong enough signal to run the ECU. Unplug it, probe the connector on the sensor side, set your meter to ACVolts, and crank the truck over. You want at least a .5V signal. There are detailed instructions and pictures on how to locate and clean the grounds, C101, and test/adjust the CPS in the thread I linked above. I dealt with every kind of mysterious issue imaginable on my truck, and had to figure it all out myself, before I found that page of Cruiser's tips. Every single electronic issue I've had with my truck so far, is covered on that page, they are very common failure points that rear their heads on every single renix 4.0 soner or later. If I'd just gone down that list and taken care of everything when I first got the truck I would've never had any of the issues in the first place. I highly reccommend you start there. As far as your no-crank issue, it's likely a seperate issue not related. Test the solenoid mounted on the side of the starter, and test the solenoid under the hood by the battery.

Check and clean all your grounds thoroughly and clean the contacts in the big connector at the top driver side of the firewall above the brake booster. If that doesn't help, click over to this page and check everything listed. These renix 4.0's are notorious for electrical issues... http://comancheclub.com/topic/36382-cruisers-renix-tips/

Not all engines can see a worthwhile benefit from increased compression. In many cases they can, and the 4.0 is most certainly one of those engines. Take for example the early Nissan KA24DE. With a polished head, mild intake cam, tri-y header, tune, and a few other bits and bobs, it's capable of around 160-165rwhp with a manual trans, at the stock 9.0:1cr. Using pistons from the sohc variant, it's possible to increase compression to 11.1:1. How much power do you think can be massaged from that? Dozens and dozens of people have tried it, yet there are no known and documented cases of anyone getting more than 170rwhp out of a high compression ka24de, even with extensive headwork and itb's. The same is true with several other engines that have large efficient heads. The more restrictive your cylinder head, the greater the benefit you will see from increased compression. Remember high compression makes more power primarily because it is capable of generating higher vacuum, therefore drawing more air to fill the cylinders. A restrictive 4.0 head will see considerable gains from high compression; a polished miata 1.8 head will see such small gains you won't notice the difference. In cases like this it is preferable to go the other direction, lower compression, and run forced induction. Keep this in mind when considering raising compression, depending on your engine you may just be spitting into the wind....

Oh trust me, I've assembled and tuned a couple megasquirt setups before, and will be doing so again in a few days when the UPS man gets here. (I can't wait!) Believe me when I say I'm a huge fan of fuel injection, and what I have in mind for my truck would be far easier done with efi. But there's no way I'm having anything french on my truck, and my abhorrence for DSM and Chrysler knows no bounds haha. I just want a carb for the simplicity, and because it makes the project more interesting. As far as the PTO, that's an interesting thought, because I do know some of the NP231's had a PTO that could be engaged which could also disengage the front and rear driveshafts. It makes sense now that the transmission would need to be either shifted into first or reverse, and that simply giving the owner the ability to use OD instead could have potentially catastrophic results. Having the PTO shifter built in to the t-case shifter would make it easy to design a Park interlock and then shift into the extra two tranny positions with the t-case linkage. It all makes sense now. Of course, as you said, this is all speculation. But it sure makes good sense, especially given that the topmost position is reverse (without reverse lights) and between that and park moves the truck forward.

Creativity is the spice of life! A rotary powered 2WD MJ would sure make a sweet and very unique autocross/sporty street truck! I would DEFINITELY second the motion for doing a nissan VH45DE swap! Aluminum block, dohc heads, 6 bolt mains, better port angles and chamber design than the revered toyota 1UZ, flatter powerband than the 1UZ, several good transmission options... it's probably my all time favorite v8 engine. Oh, and if that's not enough, they take very well to turbo- and supercharging. :banana: They're every bit as good as any LSx platform engine. [Edit] ...And from what I've seen they tend to run a bit cooler than the LSx platform motors for some reason. Go look at the front of a 240sx drift car with a turbo LS1, keeping in mind that it spends most of it's time travelling sideways, then look at the front of your jeep and tell me about cooling problems ;)

Well if nothing else I'll be doing an ax15 conversion as soon as possible so I can get rid of this massive tangle of french electronics and go carb. Once the aw4 is out I'll open it up and take a peek, maybe get my transmission genius buddy to come over and have a look. It's definitely an extra 2 detents, you can feel the ball-and-spring mechanism inside latching as you rock the lever into those top two positions. Plus ggcnash said he experienced the same thing, so there must be some reason for it?