terrawombat

The Ford 8.8 out of an Exploder is offset to the passenger side a decent amount (looks like about an inch). This will cause the driveshaft to be angled in a way that it was not before. Have you noticed any vibrations because of this? If so, at what speeds? How severe is it?

Unfortunately, no aftermarket suppliers of the cab corners. Best bet is to find someone parting their MJ out and cut them off yourself. Or, go to a pick and pull junkyard with an MJ and grab them. They very rarely pop up for sale on here, like in this thread: viewtopic.php?f=24&t=31447 But if they're in good shape, they generally go pretty quickly.

Sir Sam posted a video of the stuff on his VW van. It was a bit of a pain in the butt to apply and I'm not certain it'll do the trick but time will tell...

That rattle can paintjob may have saved that FC from being even more of a restoration project...

Today was one of those days that makes you start to appreciate all of the hard work and long hours you put into a project. I had to pull the dash back out and drill a new hole in the firewall for the transmission shifter cable, but once that was done, it was off to the races. I began reassembling the interior and got a lot farther than I thought. Just about everything has been bolted in minus the seats and center console. Even got most of the wiring finished on the interior. Had my room mate come down and help me get the passenger door bolted on - first time this truck has had a door since 2008. Relocated the newer style striker, but I can't quite seem to get the door aligned right. There seems to be a pretty massive gap at the rear of the door. The shape of the older style doors versus the newer style are different around the striker area. I'm going to mess with the alignment a bit more tomorrow Also pulled the carpet back out and trimmed it up some. It's from the donor XJ and it fits really nicely up front, but not so well in the back - hoping some more trimming will take care of that. I'll get some pictures tomorrow as I'm dead tired and want to hit the junkyard in the early AM to grab some odds and ends I need to complete the interior.

Cool - hit it with some paint. Looks much better and a lot easier to read. Dug out the original door from this thing and, yep, no barcode. The oldest vehicle I've ever taken through an inspection was my '92MJ and that has the barcode. I need to start looking into getting some historical tags for this thing :D

Another thought - the '99XJ VIN plate was silver and VERY easy to read. The '88MJ VIN plate was painted black and not so easy to read. I have a feeling that when I finally get this truck on the road and need to take it through an inspection, I'm going to run into some issues because they won't be able to just pop open my door and scan the barcode on it. Wondering if I should hit the VIN plate with some paint stripper to take it down to the silver metal finish. You guys ever get any crap for swapping/tampering with VIN plates? I know there are quite a few laws regarding it...

Heck yea - you could probably turn around and sell those for at least $500.

Appreciate it, guys. My truck is now a 1988 MJ again :cheers:

Wow, $200 for all that? What kind of treadlife is left on the tires? I just paid 8 hundred big ones for my set of Moabs, but they came with brand spanking new tires.

Finished some odds and ends on the firewall and then started to put the interior together. It's starting to look like a truck! Dash needs to come back out tomorrow because I forgot to drill a hole for the auto trans shifter cable to go through. Doh. Also spent some time on the main steering column wiring harness because the PO had a remote starter hooked up to it. It was done fairly well so it was pretty easy to clean up and tape up the wires. Hoping to get into fusing the XJ and MJ interior wiring harnesses together and making the large XJ harness fit into the small MJ cab.

For all of the guys who have done the 97+ XJ swap on your MJ - what did you do about the VIN plates? I'm looking to put the original MJ VIN plate on the newer style XJ dash, but they've got those fancy schmancy rivets. I've heard of people just using some regular rivets, but have also heard that is illegal. Thoughts?

I had to cut out about a 16" section on the bottom of each frame rail, right about where the driver and passenger's butt sits. I used 3/16" mild steel plate and I had no problems burning through the existing, good steel on the frame rails. I concentrated the heat on the edge of the 3/16" plate and would drag the weld over to the thinner steel on the frame rails. Worked great and got excellent penetration. Went over it with a flapper sanding disc and contoured it into the frame rail so it looks like it was never touched.

I'm pretty certain that the 42RH was ONLY used on the 4.0L. The 44RH and 46RH were used on the earlier model 5.2L V8 ZJs until they changed over to the RE-series. First and foremost, the 42RH is a weaker transmission than the 44RH and 46RH so you're already at a disadvantage there. Second, I'm not sure if the bellhousings between the V8 Magnum-series engines and the AMC/Chrysler 4.0L are the same, so look into that and you'll likely have your answer. The good thing about the RH-series transmissions is that they're hydraulically controlled (hence the 'H') so you don't have all of the plugs for the shift and TC lockup solenoids to futz with. When I got my '98ZJ with the 46RE, it had no reverse. There was a snap ring on the Overdrive clutch pack that had broken off. It takes out reverse, but leaves all forward gears. It also does a number on some of the components in the OD housing located on the end of the trans. Drop the pan on the transmission and see if there are pieces of a snap ring inside.

That's true - cow corn has a much better root system and also has a much thicker stalk since it's also used for silage. More surface area = more silage, which means the farmer doesn't have to plant as much to fill the silos for the winter. In fact, after Irene passed over the cow corn on the farm is still standing tall, while most of the sweet corn is flat on the ground. The problem is that they've genetically altered the sweet corn to grow bigger and fatter ears, which ultimately means they're heavier, but they haven't really taken a good look at improving the root system and stalk thickness, so it tends to blow right over when there is a decent wind. But as for eating it - I wouldn't. But I'm young, dumb, and naive with zero appreciation for how anyone else does anything that may be different from the way I do it.

That came out looking pretty nice! Somewhat reminds me of these powdercoated rims I found for sale on Craigslist:

The wiring is still a ways off. I start my new job in Maryland on September 6th. Unfortunately, the MJ is NOT coming with me...at least not until I can get my own place with a spot to work on it. I'll be coming home some weekends to tinker with it and if I can get the thing rolling, I may consider hauling it down to MD and storing it at a friends place. Now, if Hell Creek would just ship me my rear leafs, we could make that happen... Coated the interior with Valspar Tractor & Implement Paint: Let that dry overnight and started with the QuietCar Sound Deadening: I've used about 2/3 of a gallon on the first coat, but I'm not quite sure how thick it is. QuietCar recommends somewhere around 3-5mm for the optimum sound deadening. If I had to guess, I'd say I'm only at 1-2mm at the moment and looking at the picture, I can tell I'm thinner in some areas. I'm currently waiting 45 minutes until it gets tacky and am going to hit it again, per the instructions. Want to try to use the entire gallon and see what kind of thickness I'm at when it's empty. Here's a shot of one of the Moab wheels I picked up:

Nah, only two months of drought. And then two weeks of rain. Then a hurricane. It's not fun picking when it's flat on the ground like that. But this is pretty much what the field looked like after Isabel in 2003 and we still managed to have uninterrupted sweet corn until Halloween. Picking it off the ground just means you double up on your dose of Advil for the day :D

Picked up a set of Rubicon Moab rims with some brand new Goodyear MT/R's on 'em.

Looks like Southern VT didn't fare too well: Image Not Found Image Not Found Image Not Found Took these from a thread on another Jeep forum. Supposed to be from Rutland and Killington.

Tassel is what's on top of the stalk. You're talking about the silk. I've probably picked close to half a million ears of sweet corn in my lifetime. Regardless, you guys are really missing out if you truly believe that cow corn has good flavor LOL I might be from NJ, but I ain't no city boy. Last time I looked out my window, I couldn't see my neighbors: Unfortunately, it looks a little ragged due to the hurricane knocking down most of the sweet corn.

I wouldn't expect you cow corn-eating weirdos to understand :D One bite of the good stuff, cooked right, and it'll change your mind forever.

That seems to be how the "suthners" cook it. Not for me. Steamed for five minutes so it's still somewhat crisp and has the delicious flavor. Cooked too long and it just tastes like starch - which is why you need to lather it up in butter and all of those other condiments to get it to taste right. I usually just roll it once in butter and that's all you need. Cow corn, field corn - same thing. Although strange that you ate it. It's designed to be ground up for grain and even when the kernels are still soft, it tastes pretty awful :D

My parents have been running a family-owned produce stand for the last 15 years. It has been featured in the New York Times as "The King of Corn" and I've done my fair share of picking over the last decade. Truth be told, I'm a bit of a corn snob now and when I go down to visit people in other states, I will usually pass over the heaping mound of sweet corn because I know it's either yellow and/or bi-color and it wasn't cooked right. Any sweet corn isn't white and is picked by a machine isn't worth eating, in my opinion. Sweet corn picking machines pick EVERY ear and if the farmer isn't diligent in sorting out the corn after he gets it off the wagon, you'll wind up with ears that are too young, too old, or too small. On my parents farm, it's our policy that we only pick the TOP ear on each stalk (each stalk of corn generally produces two ears) as my father has said that the plant produces that one first and they get more flavor. Could be rubbish, but he's been in business for over 15 years and has those "crazies" who pay to get our corn put on dry ice and shipped to each corner of the country. And now you know more than you ever wanted about sweet corn.

Although the rockers weren't cheap, glad it wasn't something worse. Now you still have your spare CRD engine and can get back to work on that CRD MJ. That's going to be my next project after my 5.9L Magnum MJ project :D