Automan2164

Like this? Surprisingly, I bought this one already made up off CL. Guy had it hanging on the wall in his son's room as a school/work desk. Drove 3 hours to get it, paid $50. I just haven't gotten around to hanging it on the wall on the lower level. Rob

Uses AX5 with special input shaft. Rob

The Renault designation for the 2.1L in our trucks and the Winnie is the J8S . Add that to your eBay search to bring up parts without going through 600 ads. Rob

Don't have to wait to hear one run, just stroll through my youtube channel. T-case should be a NP207, which is Command trac. I don't think Selectrac was ever offered in an MJ. I still have an extra turbo diesel badge sitting here, as well as I know where a gold one is (not mine). I can verify on the 2.5 with grunt. I drive mine all over during the summer and take it to shows. Usually getting 30+ MPG. Most people don't give it a second look, but it's fun messing with the Jeep guys. They will usually walk past, and almost break their necks doing a double take once they get a glimpse of the engine bay. I'm curious how the diesel would act with a taller tire and some more rolling resistance. I would like a taller tire to make up for those 4.10 gears... The thing screams at 60 MPH. Be nice to take some revs out on the top end. Rob

In IL, if you have a vehicle registered as an 'Antique' (25+ YO) you can run a plate from the year of the car as long as you have the correct plates and papers in the car. I have an '86 Illinois dealer plate for the diesel MJ, but the vanity plate I have on is much better. Other plates on other Jeeps have been: 1 JP MJ (First and third trucks) 1 TON MJ ('87 Metric Ton and '92 Elim as a transfer) JP XJ ('97 XJ DD) Rob

I really... Really, really, reeeallly like the stance on your truck. The pics just didn't look the same though the email, but that height... Perfect... Do you know anything about the lift? Super interested in more. Let me know how it does on the highway with the oversized tires once you get it running tip top... I'm curious how the diesel would deal. As you know, I'm here to help in anyway I can... Rob :cheers:

Contour console. Took this pic while I was taking this Vic out of service. Rob

I think he's going for a folk art/rustic look. Fits my style though. Rob

He sent me a pic the other day of one he has almost done: Rob :D

Little something showed up in the mail on Monday. After getting it, I searched for a locksmith that would cut the keys. The key blanks came with a card reassuring that they were genuine ILCO and JMA blanks, but all of the locksmiths seemed weary about it over the phone. By all, I mean the only one that would call me back. Undeterred, I ended up just visiting the local ACE hardware and found the old guy behind the key counter. He took a look at the blanks, read the card, and had nothing other to day than "Can't guarantee them, not my blanks." I knew this going in, so no big deal. The keys were $1 a cut, so I had to pay $2 for the later model double sided. Not bad. I put it all together at the counter with the keys I wanted, and he started asking about it. He was pretty interested by it, and said he'd never seen anything like it. Only problem I ran across is the Chrysler ignition with the full wing. With the full across wing, the keyport can't sit down inside the ignition like it should. Pictured is the '92 ignition cylinder. My '97 Cherokee has a similar wing. I pulled the ignition out, and it turns out the wing just pops off and is made of plastic. I left it off, but it's not exactly appealing for the time being. The older '92 is pot metal, nothing a little dremel would care much about. As for the '97+ ignitions, I knew that the later styles just had a dished ignition. I did some parts store searching, and the dished style ('98+ XJ) looked close enough to swap in. Deterred by the $70 tag for a Dorman ignition cylinder, I just figured I would hit up the JY and see if I could get lucky. I did. I found a '98 with a key, and pulled the cylinder. I played around with it for a bit, the tumblers were shot. You could pull the key out with the ignition on. Not a big deal, as I will end up buying a new set of tumblers to re-key it to my original '97 XJ key. Anyway... I slid the new style ignition into mine, and everything worked as it should. I also took the opportunity to take a mock picture of the new setup with the keyport in the JY cylinder. All that is left to do is rekey the JY cylinder. Maybe over the weekend, I will check to see if the tumblers from the '97 will work with the '98, and I can just do a direct swap. Rob :cheers:

As long as it was still on the stick, I doubt a couple quarts low would cause anything too drastic. Rob

I put an order in for one yesterday. Have a black one coming with 6 blades, flashlight, 32GB USB, and the locking clip. I was a little shy about spending the money at first, but out of all the reviews I read and tech toy segments, all the reviewers are wowed by how such a simple gadget streamlines and simplifies things. I'll post up when it comes in. Rob

Why does everything look cooler in Australia?

First off, I will admit I have a gadget problem. Anything that solves an issue, or helps address a problem... You have me hook, line, and sinker. I am also a huge fan of simplicity. Now for the meat. I was cruising the interweb tonight when I happened to stumble upon a new gadget. It's simple, it solves a problem, and it is damn sexy if I do say so myself... http://mykeyport.com/ http://the-gadgeteer.com/2013/09/07/keyport-slide-2-0-keychain-review/ I think I am in love. I hate bulky keyrings with litter and garbage hanging off of them. My daily keys have the a key for the Cherokee, the Diesel set, a house key, ma's house key, and my remote for the keyless. No junk. I like the sleek, simple design of this... I'm going to make sure that the keyport will not interfere with the 'ears' of the '97 Cherokee ignition, and if it won't... It should be in the mail. Just had to share this thing... Such a great idea. Rob

The harness itself wasn't bad at all. I could make one myself, but I do it all day on squad cars and I just didn't feel like it. I ended up picking up the Putco harness off of Amazon. It's not the best quality, but it gets the job done. I have heard there are many others out there, IPF, Daniel Stern, heck even JCWhitney from what I hear. For the install, I just couldn't get away from being meticulous. I had to change out the header panel harness in my '97 Cherokee for a fog light equipped harness. While I do believe it is possible to put in the aftermarket harness with the header panel on, I just found it easier to pull it. Only a few screws/bolts and bam... Clean access for a job well done. The yellow is the Putco harness. One end plugs into the factory headlight harness for the 'Switch' side of the relay, to tell the relays to come on. Then it has two headlight plugs that plug into the headlights, taking clean battery power right from the battery and straight into the lights. As for the bulbs and the rest of the lot, I can't speak about those yet, still waiting to start playing with them myself. Rob

Our local drive in was one of the lucky ones that partook in the Honda Drive in contest awarding Digital Projectors to the winners. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LiKS6k6LOvw Our drive in is the McHenry Drive in, in McHenry, IL. Scott Dehn is the owner. I was ecstatic to see that we won the opportunity to save a local icon. Rob

Sounds good. Hella's it is. Quadratec has them for the $86 with free shipping, so I will go that route. Thanks for the input everyone! Pics to come once I have them in. Rob :group beer:

Rob I would go with Cibie then. BTW, I've read quite a few of Stern's write-ups in the past.....if you order from him, let us know how it went. My bad... In the details on quadratec: I want the IPF's for the name, but everyone seems to be leaning Hella. The autopals I have seen enough poor press and disappointment out there that I won't be traveling that road... Most say like Don did, that they are an improvement over stock, but not as good as either of the IPF's or Hellas. Rob

They also put the chrome trim back on the Diesel MJ. The only thing that was a problem was that he didn't bring any additional plastic trim clips to replace the dried out ones that broke upon removal. Rob

Looks like according to the quadratec site the hella's, contrary to the picture and title, only includes one lamp. Rob

Been looking for a light upgrade for my '97 XJ, but I figured it would spill into the same paths as MJ lighting, so I figured I would ask here. I've upgraded the headlight harness with the relay driven one, as well as ran everything direct to battery. Also installed the factory fogs on their own relay, but I'm not here asking about those. With the harness done, the next step is to pick up some H4 conversion housings to get rid of the sealed beam. Seems everyone in the forum community has an opinion on who is best and why. I can't nail down one consensus. I'm considering the Hella e-codes, the IPF (Believed to be e-code), and last in line (Because of price) is the Cibie's. It seems that much is lost with the US DOT approved beam pattern. I have seen a couple pics of the euro code lights, and the sharp cutoff and flooding under is brilliant. Maybe some help from some trusted sources would help sway me to one way. Hella ECE : http://www.quadratec.com/products/97009_6011.htm IPF: http://www.quadratec.com/products/97017_1600.htm Cibie: http://danielsternlighting.com/products/products.html Does anyone here have experience with these or any insight? Maybe even a pic of the beam pattern? Thanks, Rob

Now you have a little, darker red MJ. Rob :thumbsup:

There is a who am I talking to thread, and if you want to post pics of your MJ, you could start a build thread in the build section. Or, just start a new thread in the pub introducing yourself. Rob

$#!&ter's full. -Cousin Eddie.

The most MJ's made were in '88 IIRC. Rob