Pete M

My guess is the whistling sound is coming from the throttle body plate and your intake system isn't muffling it as well as the stock unit. Mine does the same thing. Annoying as all get out. :mad:

Oh yeah, well, mine is "all natural". :D (that first rusty AMC 20 is under my 86 for anyone that didn't know)

I'm told there were a handful of J-trucks that came with a 5-lug Dana 60, although I've forgotten what the number stamped into the axle was. :( It isn't a narrow axle though.

I think I can answer that one. :D What kind of air intake do you have?

I gotta run out the door, but here are a few quick thoughts, Flex isn't everything. Having said that, I hate, hate, hate the aftermarket poly C-bushings I used at first. They suck at allowing flex. I bought a set based on my original calculations and guesses on what my caster would be with my planned geometry and thank goodness my numbers were off and the stock rubbers worked fine (and allowed more flex). An unexpected advantage of the ford radius arms is that I don't need an anti-sway bar. I drove that hunk of rust to Moab and back and never ever thought, "Gee I wish I fabbed in a sway bar". Trying to tuck the arms mounting points up above the lower edge of the frame seem a bit over-kill, but I guess it depends on what you want and the design you come up with. I used Ford van mounts and welded them to my custom crossmember. They have hit stuff in the past, but never to the point where I might have gotten hung up (essentially it makes a nice ramp). It all depends on the terrain you wheel and how much perfection you want to design in. My truck was built with minimal money and minimal tools. Keep in mind that the higher up your rear mounting point, the steeper the angle of your arms will be. Getting your arms to clear the front of the frame might be tricky.

If you were burning that much oil I'd have to guess that you'd be leaving a huge cloud of smoke behind you. And I'm just throwing this out there, but it took me 5 tries to get my rear main leak-free.

You've got spark, you've got gas. I'm assuming you've got air so that should equal ignition. All I can think of to suggest is to make sure the air flow is unencumbered and to double and triple check the order of the plug wires. :dunno:

I'm guessing that it needs a better ground. Mine was grounded to the tiny screw behind the drivers side tail light. Also, be sure to review rule # 2: :thumbsup: http://comancheclub.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1239

For a while I was moving my 90 around between the garage and parking lot across the street even though I had no use of the clutch (blown line). I just put it into first (or reverse as circumstances required) and cranked. The truck would slowly move forward during cranking and then come to life when the engine fired. Then I could drive it around to the garage. :D I'm sure it's harder on the starter, but it does work in a pinch.

About 4/6ths of that. :D

There are soooooooooooooo many things that can make a perfectly good engine feel like it's dying. What makes you think yours is about to kick the bucket? I'd hate for you to spend a couple grand dropping in a new engine only to find out it's just a bad fuel pump or clogged cat.

89 and 90 should be close enough.

You could always call up a junkyard in a rust-free locale. Try car-part.com and search for MJ specific parts like rear axles or tailgates or such and call to see if they'd ship you a couple brackets.

Np 231s are cheap enough. It'd probably be easier to just get another non-thrashed one. Make sure it has the right spline count.

Depends on if the one I want is available. I'll post up something after he calls me about the hats. Either way they will be a simple thin foam cozie with the club logo on it.

With parts from a donor ig, the 2.8L will bolt in place of the 2.5L so it theoretically could been swapped in.

To use an XJ axle you have to weld on new perches either way.

To install a late model AX-15 into an ex-peugeot truck you would need a pilot bushing from a 70s era CJ. My guess (and this is only a guess) is that the nv3550 would need the same. It's a $2 part (which is important because there were a couple options and the other one was like $10).

The green color isn't offered any more. :(

No problem. I'll go buy a lotto ticket... :D

I talked with the guy today and he'll call up the hat company early next week and get back to me with the official current prices. Once I have those I'll start a new post with a breakdown of the costs and start taking orders with who wants what (hats and can cozies) and everyone can start sending over the monies. I figure once I have about half of the total needed, I'll place the order (I can't afford to cover the entire cost myself). Then when they come in I'll re-box 'em and ship them out to everyone.

My aftermarket slider rattled like a son-of-a-gun just driving down the road. I quieted it down by cutting out little rubber wedges and pushing them into the cracks.

This might be a good time to mention that after that incident I disconnected all of the bars on that side except the inside door handle. The door is always unlocked, but the only way to open that side is the inside door handle. I figured that did a couple things for me; I eliminated 3 of the 4 levers on the latch mechanism that could get stuck, and I can never ever again forget to lock that side of the truck. :D

I was in the mechanical engineering program before I switched to industrial engineering. :D It's been a while since I had those classes and hopefully I got those terms right. :roll:

My truck has no solid metal in the rockers or pinch seam to work with so I made mine independent of the "body" and worked entirely off the "frame". But the frame is just sheetmetal so I didn't want to simply weld or bolt to the outer surface for fear that the rocker protection would simply bend up into my rockers. So I came up with the idea of pushing the bars completely through the frame and welding to both sides. This way there is very little bending moment on the frame, just sheer forces. It's proven itself very strong I just wish I had done it years ago before shmooshing the rockers on the trails. More photos and details are at http://www.picturetrail.com/petermontie in the "protection" folder.