Rockfrog

So ... my 92 parts XJ (Laredo pkg) has two damn near immaculate front seats with the larger side bolsters. Foam feels like brand new, i mean these seats are mint. Pproblem is, the XJ has a burgundy colored interior, my MJ is grey ... I'm not against a hodge podged interior, and maybe finding some form of seat cover to fit these style seats ... but, if there is a way to convert to a them dark charcoal or even black i figured it wouldn't hurt to try. Only other option I see is to try and fins someone wanting to swap grey stock covers for these burgundy one if that would work. They look like these only in a burgundy/wine (with plaid cloth centers) color.

So to bring this back for a moment ... i wound up getting the one from Campbell River installed a bit back. Actually fits better than what i originally had now. But, given the scarcity of rear windows in Canada, and especially BC, now that I have snagged the only registered spare on the Island here ... I was wondering if someone with a solid rear window would be willing to make a cardboard (or heavy paper) template for me. This way I could have a spare made and use with my old seal. Ready as a just incase my inner idiot breaks loose again? If you can help, shoot me a PM and we can work out compensation for efforts.

Later CJ's and early YJ's also ran a computer controlled carb ... It still required jetting and initial adjustments to get going. Not as auto adjusting as one would think. They were pretty common on most passenger cars early to mid 80's as well. Never did have one that worked well or as intended ... Probably why they had a short life span between basic carbs and the TB systems that replaced them just before MPFI/SEFI became the norm on most vehicles in the 90's. In most cases many computer controlled carbs were "dumbed" down so they ran right again.

Ok, so I have a parts 92 XJ, and that got me to thinking ... Ya, I know ... And since they are an early cable drive, with an electronic output added on ... Does anyone know if the early (91-92) 2 wire speed sensors are direct wired to the speedo? I don't think they route through the PCM and I'm hoping they wire direct to the cluster. I'm thinking if they are I can sort the connector wiring and use the 92 cluster in my 88, and wire in the speedo for the 92. Thereby eliminating the cable and making the swap to 4wd simpler by not needing a new longer cable. I have wire aplenty. I don't want to swap the whole mess over just convert the speedo setup over if possible. I know the guages are the same as I have '92 temp, oil, and volts in my 88 cluster as I type. I imagine I'll have to convert the cluster harness (Guage side) to the 92 pattern but I don't see that being too painful. Possible?

I'm still using a Ryobi drill from the 90's... And just recently upgraded it with another with a Li-ion battery and charger on sale for the cost of a battery. I like that the battery style has always been the same (meaning my old batteries fit the new drill and the new battery fits the old drill). And now all my other Ryobi cordless tools can be upgraded to Li-ion as well.

Skip that just re-read.

This and a LOT of dust. Check out the reviews on the Spectra cowl filters on the XJ forums.The dust issue was more due to the environment it was run in ... dry dusty popcorn fart country would clog any filter. Guaranteed his motor looked the same. As for water, i know three folks running the spectra systems in an 2 XJ and a TJ. No water issues, you need to dunk the whole front end to get water into the cowl. There is more chance if water issues using the stock system. There is lots of internet worry about getting water issues but i have yet to see an actual incident. More issues with hood vents, but even that's easy to solve. I would expect we'd see water issues here if they wrre a problem, it's not uncommon to see over 100mm rainfals in a day here in the fall/winter ... about 4" in a day. last november we had a 165mm day, now that was rain. And pretty much all of our trails have at least 5 or 6 deep water holes 10 months of the year. That said, i wouldn't spend 5 cents on a spectre system ... i would build my own ... which is what I am doing. To relocate the filter to the passenger side and pull from an actual cowl scoop. But that's another story. But as for a cowl intake, just to get the inlet away from the lower end of the grill is a better choice in my books.

If you are using the 00 dash and wiring/pcm ... Use the 00 speed sensor. If you are using the 90 dash/wiring/PCM then use the 90's cable drive .... It will drop right in and index as normal.

To revisit the speedo question .. The earlier speedo setup will swap into the later model case ... The gear shafts may have changed but that was to do with the sensor itself. The actual gears are the same going back into the 60's ... The long shaft gears index the same as the short shaft gears at the output shaft.

I used the prermatex stuff to remove the gasket residduals off the block and pan. Nasty is right, the stuff is basicly yellow top easy off in a different can. Keep some clean water handy if you tend to be clumsy.

My pan hung on like it was part of the block ... obviously it had never been off before. I hammered it with a rubber mallet all over and spent the most time working the drop from the drivers side. Actually put a dent in it before it moved and had to hammer it back out once it was off. I had the front axle and control arms removed at the time so had loads of room to go nuts about it.

I'd skip it, it's similar to the NP249 in the Grands, rear case half is all one piece ... Clutched differential for the AWD ... If you want all wheel drive, look at the 242.

I recently just swapped mine out for an XJ valve the the master, pulled and stored the stock valve (worked fine, but since I was replacing all the hard lines anyway...) eventually I'll just ship it to a new home.

A regular off the shelf Allen head capscrew will be stronger than a typical gr5 bolt... Unless you got them from Chang's Import Hardware ... nothing against Chang though.

Another thing to look at when sourcing steering slop is the intermediate shaft (from firewall to steering box) ... Any play there will be magnified by the steering gear.

I used my old 00 XJ's worn out hatch struts when I did mine. $5 for a set of ball mounts from an RV shop and some generic tech screws I had kicking about. The late model struts have the lower bracket as part of the Assembly. Plan to do the same again with the MJ shortly. Why do it? Why not? I had the struts and being my XJ sits on 35's and a roughly 5.5-6ish inch lift it makes things easier. And I liked the idea, YMMV.

My 88 2wd MJ has a shorter, 70 something inch cable. It has a white plastic clip at the speedometer, and a screw connector at the trans end. From my research I need the 96" cable when I go to 4wd.

The rear shaft in my XJ is a lengthened stock front shaft. Most can get away with shortening or just bolting them in, my junk need to be special. All the ujoints ... XJ or MJ or YJ are all the same series - 1310. Although the last couple years of YJ may have used 1330's in the rear like TJ's were doing.

Yep, it happens, had the same issue our on a Ford 9" on a bronco. Bearing retainer failed and the shaft spit out. That collar is really all that remains the axles in, no less failure prone than a c-clip ... just that the d35 made c-clip failure so common.

I got mine at Canadian Tire, it's a Canadian thing doncha know, eh?

When my TPS was on its way out I had periods of low idle, retardedly high idle (upwards of 3000rpm) and random dead spots. Turns out the TPS was sticking inside, an new tps had me back to an even idle and normal running.

Just saw them when I was picking up some bits, thought it was a neat idea and less hassle when crammed in the footwell.

I replaced all my fuses with those new indicator ones. They light an led on top when they blow, makes life way easier that way. And as for flasher relays, when mine went out the other day it would work like a bulb was out (rapid flashing) then work normally after a bit of that, then rapid again. Swapped it for the hazard to test. The hazard relay is actually the HD signal relay (at least on my 88 it is).

A crossflow head would be a better choice performance wise, especially given the cost ... I can't see a huge gain from a stock layout.

Shoot me a link and I can probably even swap them for ya. May only need to punch them out as the ends are open. I have an old 32t I'll try on. PM me an address and I'll see what shipping will cost.