terrawombat

Those braces are from a stock 97+ XJ. He put those in so that the 97+ XJ seats would bolt right in, although I think there is still some slight modification to get the rear portion of the brackets to line up with the MJ studs.

Some places can't GIVE wooden pallets away. I've used them to store a couple engines on their side and I have a pallet jack that makes it easy to move them around if need be. Depending on how well the pallet was built, you sometimes have to give them some extra reinforcement. I don't like storing engines on their oil pans, but scrapyards do it ALL the time when they store engines - really irritates me.

Replaced the drag link and pitman arm tie rod end last night since the ball joint on the old tie rod was gone. Figured I'd replace the pitman arm tie rod end while I was in there. Got the adjustment sleeve adjusted fairly decent so that the truck drive straight when the steering wheel is straight, but the toe-in adjustment is all outta whack and the adjuster is frozen on the two tie rod ends. Going to soak them down in PB Blaster for a bit and have another go at it next week. With the new drag link in, no more random death wobble at 50+MPH!

Personally, I think that truck is donezo

They probably use the NADA 'Business' guide, which you have to pay to get access to. NJ makes you pay sales tax on the vehicle each time you transfer the title. Since I purchase all of my cars/trucks for $500 or less, I always arouse suspicion and get a letter from the state treasury asking me for more tax money. My father just 'gifted' me the MJ so I'm DEFINITELY getting a letter for that.

I took a chance and bought a head unit from a company I've never heard of - Dual. I've been very impressed with it thus far. I have an iPhone and iPod Touch and it has an interface that allows you to change the songs via the head unit and browse through them if you wish, although that's a little cumbersome if you're driving. It also charges the iPhone/iPod, which is a HUGE plus since I always forget to charge it before I go to sleep. The unit also has bluetooth wireless for hands-free, although I don't really use it anymore. At speeds over 45MPH people always complained there was too much background noise and couldn't hear me that good. It's a Dual XHD7714 that ran me $139.99 last year - not sure why the price has gone UP on older electronics? http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001OK ... ss_product

This new law has me a little scared because of some of the vehicles I saw go through the inspection station. I will always keep my vehicles in tip-top shape, hence why I just spent $200 on front end components and I'm ready to drop another $250+ on all new brakes. My MJ that I intend on taking through inspection next week always failed because of a bunch of scratches in the windshield, which didn't affect driveability one bit, they just felt like failing me because they could. Neither my father or myself wanted to spend the $$ to get a new windshield so we wound up putting Farm Use plates on the truck that doesn't require an inspection sticker but only allows you to drive from farm to farm on 'farm business.'

They're in pretty rough shape if I remember correctly. I'll have to dig them out of my parent's garage, but I'm pretty sure they had a lot of oxidation and they all need new tires. You can usually find someone on Craigslist selling an entire set of rim with decent/good tires for less than the price of two brand new tires :D

Truck looks good. Did you get rid of the '92?

For the past couple months I've been driving this truck with 'Farm Use' plates on the back and under my father's insurance policy. Can usually get away with doing whatever you want, but technically you're only supposed to be on farm business when you're out on the road. Local cops aren't too familiar with Farm Use plates, which don't require an inspection sticker (farmers do self-inspections), so I've been pulled over once or twice for it. Wanted to be a bit more legal about it and expand my driving radius so I had my Dad sign the title over to me and got regular plates for it yesterday. Need to switch it from his insurance policy to mine and it'll soon be a backup daily driver. To-do list is as follows: Bypass rear brake proportioning valve until I can find a suitable alternative Upper and lower balljoints both sides New draglink and pitman arm tie rod end Weatherstripping on both doors Find and repair water leak on drivers side Rear main seal and oil pan gaskets Valve cover gasket Oil filter adapter o-rings I also want to get the original rims back on this truck so I'll be on the hunt for those. If anyone sees the stock Jeep 5-spoke aluminum rims with good tires, let me know!

The keyless entry module should be under the interior light on the ceiling. If you pop that cover off, there should be a little circuit board in there. Although, I've never had an XJ that didn't have keyless entry so there might still be a little circuit board in there regardless... I just had two key fobs reprogrammed for me on my XJ and the dealer charged me $45 to plug in their DRB-III to my car and spend less than five minutes reprogramming the used key fobs I brought them.

Congrats! Hope to meet you one of these days so that I can park my Pioneer next to #11 and take an identical twin picture!

Old new to us NJ folks, but I am reaping the benefits of this big time. On August 1st, NJ passed a new law that only requires vehicles to pass an emissions test every two years - no more safety inspection or any of the other BS that used to fail all of my vehicles. So far I've gotten my YJ through, which would have failed before because the e-brake isn't currently connected as I need to replace one of the lines. Next on the list is my MJ Pioneer, which just got a new O2 sensor, catalytic converter and gas cap so it should pass with flying colors, even without the seatbelt buckles that attach to the floor installed :D This has got to be one of the few times I can remember NJ passing a new law that actually benefited me...I'm going to use it to my fullest advantage until they change their minds. You should see some of the hoopties that are going through the inspection lines and are getting a valid sticker. What's better is the inspection guy that looks furious as he slaps a sticker on a vehicle with a tailpipe help up with bailing wire and four bald tires, but a perfectly functioning emissions system. We've taken away a lot of the power that these motor vehicle employees once had and damn does it feel good :D

About 0.5 ohm with the engine off. Cold idle:50 ohms Cold rev to 3K RPM: 55 ohms Hot idle: 30 ohms Hot rev to 3K RPM: 50 ohms I'll keep looking for a cluster :D Thanks guys!

I'll second RockAuto...I've probably done close to 2 grand in parts orders from them in the past couple of years. Their prices are always lower than the local shops like Autozone, Advance Auto, Pep Boys, etc, AND their shipping prices are very, very reasonable. Plus you get the added bonus of getting a magnet with a CC member's rig on it ($500MJ)! Rockauto stocks a lot of Fel-Pro products and I have had nothing but good experiences with their products. I replaced the 4.0L in my '01XJ with a JY engine and wound up having to remove the head. Used a Fel-Pro head gasket, valve stem seals, oil pan gasket, rear main seal, valve cover gasket, and oil filter adapter o-ring. It's been roughly 21K miles now and no leaks from any of those gaskets. If I would have replaced the rubber grommets on the top of my valve cover then I'd have a 100% leak-free engine. Possibly the only 4.0L Jeep engine in the country that doesn't leak...

Yea, I was leaning in that direction...I'll probably pick up another cluster when one comes up.

Yes, the enormous oil pressure sending unit is brand new and in place. I bought this one: http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/moreinfo.php?pk=933381 I also swapped the coolant temperature sender to a brand new one intended for gauges, not idiot lights. I also have a spare set from my other MJ that I originally used, but they produced the same results...was hoping new ones would fix the problem.

A while ago I bought a full gauge cluster for my '88MJ Pioneer and swapped in a brand new oil pressure and coolant temp sender. At first, the only gauges that worked were the tach and the volt meter, but after some research on here and some tinkering, I think I've got the coolant temperature gauge to work. I also cleaned up the ground behind the left rear taillight and the fuel gauge seems to be working decently - doesn't seem to quite get to the 'Full' mark, but it also doesn't leave me stranded without fuel so I can't complain too much. Still up in the air is my oil pressure gauge. Here are some things it does: On a cold startup, when the oil is nice and thick, I get a reading on the gauge around 15-20 psi that seems to hold pretty solid regardless of RPMs. Once the engine is nice and hot, the gauge drops to 0 psi with no change in pressure via RPMs. I've plugged a mechanical gauge right into where the sender goes and at a hot idle, I was getting around 15 psi and around 30 psi when I revved the engine. It's obvious the engine doesn't have 0 psi oil pressure since it doesn't knock and I can see the oil pooling up on top of the rockers when I pull the oil fill cap on the valve cover. I do know the engine has less-than-desirable oil pressure (especially for only having 78K miles on the odometer) and I intend to fix that in the near future, but in the meantime, I'd like to get my oil pressure gauge fixed for the peace of mind. Does anyone have any suggestions or recommendations? when I pull the plug to the sender, the oil pressure gauge pegs to the right. When I ground the plug, the gauge pegs to the left. I'm not sure of any other tests I can perform, though...

Traffic circles are fun and easy to navigate. Merge into the circle, take the inside lane and continue to move around the circle until your exit. The problem is with the people that panic and come to a complete HALT until there is no sign of any traffic - might as well make the yield signs a stop sign for those idiots. They don't seem to understand that you can move around the circle when there are others in it! Unless it's those goofy Maryland circles on the Eastern Shore where only one car can fit in it at a time :D

I don't either. I view pretty much every topic so anytime there is a new post in it, an icon shows up alerting me to new posts, but if it's not that interesting to me, I normally don't bother with the topic.

People in NJ aren't the smartest of drivers. I attribute this to the abundance of oblivious soccer Moms in their enormous mini-vans who are more concerned with what their children are doing in the back seats rather than paying attention to the road - these women are dangerous and a road hazard - failure to maintain lane, talking on their cell phones, inconsistent speeds. You really have to be paying close attention to their random and abrupt movements or else you may wind up in their rear bumper. I can't say I've seen too many stop signs at the end of on-ramps unless there was road construction that got rid of the merge lane. If you want to see something REALLY interesting, find one of the many remaining traffic 'circles' in NJ. NO ONE has a clue as to how to navigate through these in the way they were intended (probably also the reason why they're slowly being changed over into something more idiot-proof).

Yikes - been a while since I updated, so here it goes. Picked up some 2-door buckets from a guy in South NJ. He also had two MJs - an '86 and a '92. I think he was doing a V8 conversion on the '86 and I forget what he had in mind for the '92, but it looked beat and had a ton of rust. I installed the buckets I got off of him and I really wasn't too impressed. The foam had lost its comfort and was sagging pretty bad. I thought the covers would clean up pretty nice, but they didn't. I also happened to have a set of 2-door buckets with the rocketship style rockers, but there were a lot of things wrong with them internally (cable on the flip-forward lever was busted and one of the bolster supports had snapped). With the help from these forums, I found out that internally, the two sets of seats were identical so between the two sets, I made one, good set. I also removed the covers and put them in the washing machine and WOW...night and day. I only have before and after's of the passenger side, but I'll get some more soon. In the second pic, you can see the other crummy 2-door seats I bought, which I used the 'guts' for repairing the good, rocketship style seats. The rocketship seats sits a couples inches higher, which took a little bit to get used to, but it's growing on me. I'm 6'-0" and my head is still a few inches from the ceiling. This style seat probably would not be functional if I didn't have a tilt steering column.

I remember watching that show when I was home sick from school, but as the song mentions, I don't remember a single plot from any of the episodes :D

They sure do. Just stay away from any Wrangler from '07 and newer as they went to a different, larger diameter bolt pattern.

You don't need luck - you need have some serious dedication and you need to keep the distractions to a minimum. There is always something much more entertaining to do on (or off) campus than six hours of solving differential equations that have been solved 8 trillion times before by 100 billion different people. Mechanical Engineering isn't easy - I did five years of it and walked away with a bachelor's and if I ever finish my thesis and defend it, I'll have a masters. It was a long and strenuous time, but it's paid off. I live very comfortably and I have a solid education behind me that can take me almost anywhere I want to go. There will always be a shortage of engineers because most will drop out of the program in their first year of college. That's not to say you won't have fun. You just won't have as much fun as the education major down the hall who plays volleyball for three credits and gets to go out every night of the week because his earliest class is at 1PM. I had plenty of fun as a ME student and was very involved in the social scene. Even joined a frat, but didn't like paying monthly dues just to hang out with a bunch of other dudes that had nothing in common with me, so I quit. Oh, be prepared for some all-nighters. By your third year of engineering (if you make it that far), you'll bond and make some lifelong friends with other engineers in your class - you'll have no choice but to.