Pete M

a sneak peak of the paint. it's a satin "almond" or some such thing. I wanted a tan, it seems more cream under the florescent lights, but whatever. whatever it is is what it's going to be for this weekend at the PowWow. I'm going to give it another day in the barn before I drag it out into the sunlight. It's just to dang humid outside. at least the barn has a de-humidifier running. then I'll touch up the black areas and start installing the rest of the bits.

wasn't able to buy a lift before the trip up to the PowWow, but I did find some time to fit the baby swampers. they are only 29" so fender clearance is just fine, but the 15" rims require just a bit of grinding on the calipers to work.

you'll need 10 posts in other forums and then the classifieds will open up to you.

my grandparents had a big white boat (96 grand marquis) and all I can think of is its "handling" characteristics. I definitely want to take yours for a test drive some day.

wait, if half the keeper was missing... where did the missing bits... go?

nice! steps for winning a trophy: 1: show up in an MJ 2: nope that was it, just the one step

Gale is an awesome guy. part engineer, part scientist, part car guy (truck guy?) I do my best to get my little nephews to wonder about why things happen the way they do.

swap it all. also, the 4banger trans won't bolt to a 4.0 so that's a moot point.

no pics at the moment, but the sanding is done and she's coated in gray. still struggling with choosing a final color also contemplating making the lower 3rd will be black. just too much damage for a color so I figure black will hide some of it.

the top cap of the frame (above the floor) is frequently discarded and not replaced

I've used baby powder to find a couple sneaky leaks. sprinkle it around and the water will make tracks through it, leading you back in the direction of the source. one turned out to be a leaky windshield that was running down inside the a-pillar and dripping on to the floor way down near the floor. the other was a leak in the engine bay that was following a wire down through a hole. anything that could possibly leak has leaked for someone over the years. there must be 50 ways for water to get in.

oh my, what did I get myself into... turns out some of the red and green paints come right off with the electric power washer... but not all of it. so now I have to break out the sander and it'll need a coat of primer. I hate body work. and not just that, body work on a pile-of-crap dented and rusted body that will never be perfect. there's no way I'm fixing all the problems, so now I get to spend the next few days feeling like I'm halfassing it (even though this level of effort is way more than it deserves). sigh. hooray for hobbies?

eww... and you say that's transmission fluid?

there's always this one. at least... I think that's an XJ under there...

always remember: safety 3rd! and practice, practice, practice!

the gauge clusters have, well, gauges. you will see the needles.

just some different frontends that I came across in searches for other things the last few days.

the brackets that touch the floor are different between the MJ and XJ because the floorpans are different. yes, MJ bench floor brackets are the same as MJ bucket floor brackets.

different transmissions used different crossmembers and different holes. are you using the crossmember from the XJ?

I've flat towed a handful of times and I just don't like it at all. the towed rig fights the tower far more than any trailer of dolly I've experienced. having said that, I've done it successfully. slow way down before every turn. I mean, like a lot. try not to brake at all during the turn if you can help it. a tow dolly will put some weight on the back of the MJ and some of them have brakes it's my preferred method.

I believe the chevy shackles lift about an inch or so. can't remember their actual measurement. they are a good match for a 2" puck lift up front since MJs usually have some rake in them.

as common as it is, welding is actually quite a dangerous hobby. burning hot things fly everywhere. the light is both blinding and (sun) burning. use all the protection, protect all the soft spots. no matter how many times you see someone welding in shorts and sandals on the internet, don't take any shortcuts yourself.

best laid plans... so the power washer was doing a fantastic job of removing the loose paint and then the head split and now it just dribbles water. so I'm off to the store for a wire wheel I guess... also, the hunter green I wanted to use clashes horribly with the Liberty's even darker green. soooo... I'm thinking a dark brown maybe?

you'll need an HO flywheel's tone ring to make the HO CPS work. there should be some HO swap info threads in the link in my sig.