terrawombat

The wind wasn't nearly as bad as I expected, but the rain came down real good. We never lost power, but my sump pump wasn't able to keep up with the demand and I had 3 inches of water in the basement, but it wasn't enough to get over the housekeeping pads on most of the important stuff - water heater, washer/dryer, and HVAC system. Once the rain died down, the sump pump did it's job. I did find all sorts of spots where the water was coming in that need to be fixed. My Aunt & Uncle 1/4 mile up the road from me somehow lost power around 10am, so I took my generator to their place and got it hooked up to their sump pump to keep the basement dry. Really wasn't all that bad, but I think the coast got hammered pretty good with plenty of flooding. I'm going to head down to the Delaware River to see what that looks like, if I can even get there.

Curiosity got the better of me...again. Hooked the fuel pump up to a spare battery and drained the fuel in the tank into a couple of gas containers (will come in handy for my generator in case the hurricane takes my power out). Kept draining the tank until it started to just trickle out and disconnected the pump so I didn't overheat and burn it out. With the tank damn near empty, the resistance reading on the XJ fuel pump assembly is about 440 Ohms. So, knowing that, it looks like the Dakota fuel level sensor won't quite work with the XJ PCM and cluster. If my theory is correct, the Dakota fuel level sender will never drop the XJ cluster below a half tank. I'm not sure what will happen when the Dakota tank is full, but it would likely just peg the fuel needle to the right on the XJ cluster. I wonder if that sort of variable can be edited in the programming with the SCT tuning software or possibly even a DRB III scanner... Time to do more research... BTW, this was all pretty much a moot point for me since I will be using a ZJ PCM in my 5.9L Magnum build, so there is still hope. Just need to see what the ZJ fuel pump assembly measures...hopefully it's the same as the Dakota!

Well, you got me curious. I crawled underneath my '99XJ donor and decided to measure the resistance of that fuel pump assembly. Below is the last video of the truck before I sold the engine/trans. Basically, what is shown in the video is the last known fuel level: 9yEOfPy4J-s Looks to be a little under a half tank. The measurement I got was 180 Ohms. So, kind of hard to really say if the two fuel pump assemblies read the same. Based on my measurements on the Dakota fuel pump, a half tank should be 120 ohms and as it goes below a half tank, the resistance should increase...so we seem to be going in the right direction. I won't have a good answer until I can drop the tank and remove the XJ fuel pump assembly and move the level arm up and down. Wait a second, didn't you say you had 2 XJ pump assemblies? Measure the resistance across pins 3 and 4 for me.

The only thing I was able to do is measure the resistance in the fuel level sender on my '98 or '99 fuel pump assembly in my 15 or 22 gallon tank (still haven't figured out which it is. Anyway - the range is 20 Ohms (full) to 220 Ohms (empty). When I am able to drop the tanks on my XJ and ZJ donors, I intend to measure the resistance on those, too. This will at least tell us that the fuel level gauge will work properly with a Dakota fuel pump assembly. I'm not worried about the pressure - I know that will work since the 4.0L and all of the Magnum-series engines all use the same rail pressure. Even if they didn't, the fuel pressure regulators look to be swappable. Remember, the fuel pump is not the sole determining factor of how much fuel pressure you get. Fuel pumps are designed to pump out more than you need - it's the regulator that keeps it at the right pressure.

That sounds like a pretty suitable donor, I'd say. Just note that you can't use the rear leafs from the XJ, but Hell Creek Suspensions and Motion Offroad both have some MJ-specific leafs they could fix you up with.

Got a couple of dead branches I'll be cutting down in the morning and I gotta get the carb on the generator back together so I can get that thing running. I'm pretty far west in NJ and we don't expect too much damage, but there will be plenty of rain, which means my basement will likely flood. If the power goes out, I'll need to use the generator to keep the sump pumps going.

I finally got my internet back at my house and shop. Here are a couple of pictures of some progress. Drivers floorpan going in: Undercoat on the front wheel wells: Drivers seat modifications: Gotta get back to work on this thing...

Got back yesterday from MD hoping to find my FiOS services were all back up and running. Nope. Called Verizon again and explained the situation and they were sympathetic in the sense that they pulled a guy off one job to come to my house. He fiddled and futzed with stuff for a while and eventually found the problem in the main hub on my street. He said it looked like a mouse had found its way inside and chewed up some wires - two of which were the ones that went to my distribution box on the pole outside of my house (also the only two). Assured me that the right people would be out the following morning to fix the problem. As of now, I'm typing this from my home computer and keeping an eye on the hurricane situation on TV. Finally back up and running after 18 days. Just in time for Irene to knock it all out...

Thank you. Not only is the job in the same town as where my GF lives, but it's in the same business park. She's literally two buildings away from mine - maybe a two minute walk. Biggest sticking point right now is I need to find a place of my own. Been looking at some of the condo's on the water with their own dock and boat slip. I'll wait and see what this hurricane does, first. Those condos might not be there after this weekend...

Thank you! I did a lot of 3D modeling in college with SolidWorks, but then my previous job was all 2D modeling, but it really should be been done in 3D as we would have saved a lot of time and headaches. I'm kind of excited to get back into the 3D stuff and designing parts/assemblies. This company seems to have a pretty quick turn-around time when they do their prototyping so I'll be able to see my designs come to life within weeks.

Well even though I was technically a part-time employee for the months of June and July, I was still working full-time hours, and then some. My company compensated me for it, though and those two months were my biggest payday months of my 2.5 year career with them. Understandably, they stopped giving me new work and hired two new employees that took over the bulk of other projects I had on my plate. So, towards the end of July, the work was getting pretty slow and I felt it was a waste of my time and company resources for me to come in and sit behind a computer for 8 hours a day and only doing a half hour of work. Told them to give me a call when they needed me, but never received a call all through the month of August. Eventually just announced that my last day was July 31 for record/tax purposes. Started looking for jobs in Maryland around where my girlfriend works. I knew I wasn't going to get anything that close, but was hoping for Annapolis or something nearby. Then I see an ad on Craigslist for a job that's in the same town my GF lives/works in. Took a look at it and it actually sounded like something I would enjoy - mechanical design and product development. Sent off my resume to them, but didn't expect them to take me seriously with an NJ address. Talked to my GFs mother and asked if I could use her address on my resume so they'd take me as a legit candidate. She said sure, so I sent them a follow-up e-mail with the new address. A couple of weeks went by and then I received a call from someone at the company. Talked to him for about 30 minutes and he invited me down for an interview. Interview went alright, but they tested me in a bunch of different areas - specifically Solidworks - which I haven't used in a few years. Didn't think I did too well, but they called me a couple of days later and asked me to come back for a second interview to meet with their director of engineering. Came back down for it and met with the mechanical engineering supervisor and the director of engineering. These two guys absolutely drilled me in the interview asking me a bunch of fundamental engineering questions and asking me to walk them through how to solve real world problems - almost like I was taking an oral exam. I absolutely flubbed it and felt like such an idiot since I was stumbling on basic engineering principals and was very unsure of myself. After their oral exam, they talked to me for a bit more, but all I could think about were the other job opportunities I had received over the weeks and which ones I should pursue. So the director of engineering has to leave, but the mechanical engineering supervisor invited me out to lunch. Figured it was to thank me for coming down twice, but I wasn't really what they were looking for. Ate a nice lunch, made small talk, and then after the check came, I was offered a position that matched my previous salary. I've got five days to figure out if I want to take it, but I'm leaning towards yes.

In order to get the factory undercoating and paint off of the rear frame rails, I used a $7 can of aircraft stripper. A sander and wire wheel wouldn't take off the factory undercoating with much ease, plus it was flinging pieces of it everywhere. About 10 minutes of the aircraft stripper plus another 5 minutes scraping off the now gooped up paint/undercoating and I was down to bare metal, which is kind of hard to see in the pic because I had already applied the POR-15 Prep & Ready and the zinc phosphate coating was beginning to form. Factory Paint/Undercoating: Aircraft Stripper: Paint: The cost/time ratio of aircraft stripper versus sanding is ridiculous.

I literally accepted a job offer in Maryland and was signing some paperwork and then the whole building shook. I promised my future employer that it had nothing to do with me. Lasted about 20 seconds and on my way back home to my GFs place, everyone was out of their house in the neighborhood trying to figure out what the heck was going on. I had to laugh though...I'm sure the people on the West coast are shaking their heads at our puny quake. But it's kind of like when some of the southeastern states get a substantial amount of snow - no one knows what to do and the area basically shuts down.

I do know a recently retired Verizon worker... I'll be down in Maryland for the next three days so I'm not really too concerned about it. Verizon told me they would be back tomorrow. They told my father they'd be back Thursday. Who knows? My home desktop computer is connected to an online remote desktop sharing program so if/when the internets come back - it'll show up on my list of clients. I'll keep checking it periodically throughout the next few days.

Well they're gone and still no FiOS. Parents are still out and I think my aunts house wen out too (she is about a half mile down the road). Looks like they awoke a sleeping giant with this central hub. May have been on the fritz but now it's completely toast. My father has already placed an angry phone call. His business uses the phone lines for credit card transactions. I think BMS would be reason enough to have the entire regional workforce on this but apparently not. They won't be back until tomorrow.

So I get an automated text message from Verizon that says my service request has been closed. To me closing a service request means it has been taken care of. So, an hour of holding on the customer support hotline and I explain the issue. Maybe because the strike is over they actually have people working now because they sent another crew out who is here right now. They tested the central hub and said it's bad. But that hub feeds my parents house and their FiOS works. So they swap some wires around. Then I get a text message from my sister in law who is at my parents house - their FiOS went out. Then the service tech gets a call from HQ - Bristol myer squibb's FiOS went out (they have a facility behind our property). Now it's a big deal... Looks like they'll be out here until it's fixed....I hope...

Ouch. Motor mounts that bad?

A lazy rainy Sunday for me as I was nursing a hangover and waiting for Verizon to come and fix my FiOS. Decided to bring the drivers seat from the '99XJ donor up to my house to take it apart and figure out a thing or two. I think when the XJ was involved in the accident, the drivers head whipped into the headrest and snapped it because it was flopping around. I also think the previous owner was a bit on the heavy side because the side bolster is about shot. I already convinced myself that I'm going to replace it with a nicer seat when I come across one, but in the meantime, I wanted to dissect the seat and fix it. Removed the exterior cloth and threw it in the washing machine. Welded up the headrest so it no longer flops around and I also figured out how to rework the reclining mechanism on the 4-door seats to allow the seat to fold forward for access behind the seat. It works pretty well, but there is a downside - the seatback no longer springs back when you pull up the on the handle. I think I'll make that sacrifice for easier access to behind the seats. I normally just set the recline of the seat to where I like it and never touch it again.

Verizon came around noon today. Replaced my ONT box and no change. They didn't have the equipment for testing the fiber line so went to another nearby truck to get it. Came back and determined that the line is bad, but they couldn't replace the line for me, but they would put a work order in for me to get it replaced. Time frame: unknown. I can't even get mad about this anymore. It's almost laughable.

Looks like the strike is over. I had a work order scheduled for tomorrow, anyway.

The wiring will certainly be a challenge. I have about 50% of the wiring going through the firewall figured out (splicing between the 97+XJ dash and the '98ZJ 5.9L Limited body harness). There's another 25% that I still need to look at more carefully and then the last 25% is going to require a bit of work. The interior wiring will be entirely from the '99XJ donor. That wiring isn't going to be nearly as difficult, but there will be some question marks as to what to do with the rear windshield wiper motor, rear defrost, etc. I'll likely be using those for things like a light bar and bed cargo light. I also intend on splicing the '99XJ wiring for the taillights and fuel pump into the original '88MJ wiring. It should be pretty interesting when I finally get to that point and I'm definitely excited for it. Dozens of people have done the 97+ XJ swap on their trucks, but splicing two different vehicle wiring harnesses together is some pretty uncharted territory. I like being a pioneer.

Welcome to the club! Two weeks tomorrow for me. This club sucks.

Will do. I'm not going to have much to compare it to since I honestly don't remember what this MJ sounded like prior to be tearing it apart. I do have a good idea of the difference in road noise between my '92MJ and my '01XJ and there is a world of difference between the two. I feel like if I can get this truck to be as quiet as the XJ, I'll be happy. I bought the QuietCar based on the video that Sir Sam posted a while back on his VW van. I did some online research for reviews of the product and I found a lot of them that weren't all that great - mostly on Kia and Hyundai forums. I did find a lot of favorable reviews from Subaru WRX and STi owners. I've ridden in half a dozen WRX's and STi's and I always noticed how much road noise there was in those cars and it was somewhat comparable to my '92MJ. So if those guys are happy with the product, I feel like there's a good chance I will be too :D

Any reason why you didn't just use the 22 gallon Dakota fuel pump assembly? You would have to make a pigtail wiring harness to go from the Dakota plug to the XJ plug, but other than that, it should be the same. According to my research, the fuel pressures for the 3.9L/5.2L/5.9L engines in the Dodge Dakotas use the same fuel line pressure at the 4.0L in the 97+ XJs. The fuel pressure regulator for a ZJ Grand Cherokee is the same for all of the engines - 4.0L/5.2L/5.9L (and the 5.2L and 5.9L are the exact same engines used in the Dakota). Also, I was told by a guy who has done a similar swap that the fuel level indicator on the Dakota fuel pump assembly should read correctly on the XJ instrument cluster. Chrysler used the same CCD Bus network on all of their vehicles during this time and I think they kept the resistances of the fuel level senders relatively the same. I plan on verifying this once I have the tanks on my XJ and ZJ dropped. Both of them have 3/4 tank of fuel left in them, though....

Still without internet so no pictures except for the occasional cell phone picture that I snap. Yesterday I had a friend come and help out and we got the top of the passenger side frame rail welded back in, the passenger side front seat mount out of the donor XJ, and we cleaned/sprayed the front wheel wells on the MJ with some anti-chip rock coating. Came out really nice and I'm going to clean up the transmission tunnel area and under the cab and shoot that with the same stuff. Received two gallons of QuietCar sound deadening paint, so once I can get the interior pressure washed and cleaned out, I'll spray lay a couple coats of that down. After that dries, I should be able to completely assemble the interior. Plans for next week are to remove the 5.9L engine/trans out of my ZJ donor and clean that all up and paint it. Got a nice engine painting kit from POR-15 a while back that I've been wanting to use on something.