Megadan

You could use the old switch or a toggle switch to trigger a relay for the headlights. Then they will be direct powered by the battery/alt and be a lot brighter, and you won't need super heavy gauge wire for the switch. I actually just did this to my truck with a few ft. of wire, H4 headlight sockets and 4/5 wire relays that I got for free from the local pick a part. Total investment was maybe $20 and a little bit of my Rosin core solder. Works great too.

Actually, it's pretty solid. Body restoration work would be extremely minimal. Almost all of the driveline has been replaced or had major work done in the last 10,000 miles (the gears and limited slip done by last owner) and all of the crap I am doing. The short block is the only thing that hasn't been touched, and it's in excellent shape, especially for only have a hair over 100k on it.

Well, I got the trans installed with my new clutch and flywheel, but I ended up confused. I tapped the holes in the frame and went to put the crossmember in and realized that the mount and trans won't line up. They would in the forward holes, so I experimented and discovered that, while it will work, it sits too high. The 92 Comanche Crossmember I have also doesn't line up right with some of the forward hole positions. I started to do a little digging and discovered that I needed the trans mount bracket. Yay, more money spent.... Anyway, I finally managed to find a place to order one through, because there are no XJ/MJ manuals in any of the yards around here in the right year range. Once that shows up I can finish mounting it up, but for now the trans and transfer case are just resting easy on a 2x4 on said crossmember for now. I was glad I found one, but it's going to take up to 2 weeks to get to me, so I guess I can start buttoning everything else up until then. I can't wait to be done with this truck so I can actually drive it and enjoy my hard work.

With 4 classes and a new job I have been kinda short on time. I did get a little more done on the Jeep this last week or so. I didn't take pics of a lot of the work, but I do have a few to share. I stripped down my new X-member and painted it (and my new windshield trim from the wreckers). Got the holes tapped for it under the chassis, and the flywheel and new clutch installed and torqued to spec. I also ended up replacing the cylinder head after I made a couple of discoveries. One, it was cracked in a couple places, the head gasket was also showing signs of letting go, and somebody tried to drill out the front exhaust stud from, what I am assuming, when they broke it off in the head. They did such a great job drilling it that they actually went THROUGH the head bolt. I am glad I was able to extract that sucker without it breaking off in the block. BTW, I found a great way to deal with that rear drivers side head bolt, although I admittedly don't know how well it would work with the transmission isntalled, but if you tilt that engine forward a bit you get just enough room to slide the bolt in and torque it down. New head installed with a test fit of the Pacesetter. Yes, I know the quality isn't always the greatest, but my test fit so far everything has lined up perfectly, and nothing hits anywhere, so I got one of the good ones. Can you tell which of my old fuel injectors were screwed up? Those valves are even whiter in person than in the picture. cyl 6 is an oily pig from a missing valve seal. The old head gasket was starting to go in a couple of spots as well. Engine does have 131k miles on it, but it does have good compression. Probably better now with the new cylinder head on there. The top end had a bit of sludge buildup on it, but nothing too bad. I have definitely seen worse. The rockers cleaned up fine with some B-12, a tooth brush, and rags, so it wasn't baked on too badly. Once the transmission gets put in I am going to replace the front motor mounts with my polyurethane ones to go with the poly trans mount. I also ordered, and need to install, a Posi-lok setup. I was going to just shim it, but I like the idea of being able to disengage the axle. I went ahead and got the iron shift fork while I was at it since it was pretty cheap. I need to get around to installing the new rear leafs and shocks as well. I just got these in two days ago. Oh, and speaking of the trans and clutch stuff, if anybody wants a Sachs internal slave/TO setup for cheap I have one sitting here. Since I am doing the external system I have this one from my clutch kit that I won't be using for anything. Say $20 shipped and it's yours, or make me an offer.

It is possible on most older gauge clusters, but it can be very delicate and tedious work. I am unfamiliar with these trucks specific cluster setup to give you an actual opinion on it, but I did this same thing on two other vehicles of similar vintage. I was able to remove the needles, face plate, and access the odometer/trip rollers from the front. I had to go buy a set of jewelers screw drivers to do this. Hopefully someone who is more knowledgeable about these clusters chimes in.

I managed to get my hands on a tan one for much less than the one above. It's not perfect (broken tab I guess) but it is very fixable. Thanks for the responses though.

I was wondering what the Fey bumpers looked like installed. Now I know! Definitely ordering a black one here soon. Any fitment trouble with the mount brakets for it?

Except the only actual modifications anybody else has done to this truck was adding a tachometer to it. I am suspicious that a previous owner swapped out from a bench to buckets and console, but the console is all busted up because it was left unsupported.

That's some nice work on the truck. I wanted to chime in about your LED gauge lighting and the dimmer not working. What you need is a Pulse Width Modulator to create a true dimming effect on LED lights. Since LED's essentially operate in an on and off fashion, you are currently running at a 100% duty cycle, but to make them dim they have to be turned on and off. The lower the duty cycle, the dimmer it appears. Because they flash so fast, your eyes will never pick up the difference. Many factory LED tail lights work on this principle, with low pulse width for running lights, then high for brakes. In any case, nice project and good progress. Sharp looking truck.

After seeing all that rust, it makes me appreciate the fact that my truck has a nearly perfect body on it, even if I am pretty much replacing every mechanical component due to wear, damage, or tom foolery. It also makes me want to rust proof it.... I will definitely follow this progress.

Well, I keep going and keep finding more stuff to replace. I have to pull the cylinder head and try to rescue the two outer most exhaust bolt holes. Once I got the exhaust manifold off I saw that the rear one is broken off flush, and the front one is already drilled out and looks like it was once tapped for a helicoil. There is a local machine company that does head rebuild exchange stuff and has a couple of 2686 casting heads on a shelf and the guy said he would cut me a deal just to get one out the door. I am assuming they have been sitting there for a while lol. $200 out the door with no core exchange - so I think I am going to just go with a rebuilt head anyway. I managed to get the old pilot bearing out with my slide hammer style bearing puller. It only cost me a couple of blood blisters. Got the new bushing pressed in for the AX-15. The only thing I have left to do is tap the holes in the frame for the new crossmember position and my new mount should arrive Monday. I am converting to a cable actuation on the CAD system while I am at it. The only other wiring left to do is for my electric fan conversion, and to do the sensor ground wire mod/improvement to the ECU harness. Now that I have replaced nearly half of the truck, it should be reliable for a little while...

Preferably a Tan one, but I won't be too picky if the price is right.

So while disconnecting the rear U-joint shackles, which weren't even finger tight I noticed I have two broken leafs. Just ordered new leaf springs for the wallet bending price of $366 . At least they had a little discount that nearly covered the shipping. Might as well throw new rear shocks on too. I also discovered that only 3 of the 4 bolts that hold on the transmission crossmember were in place, the other got broken off, but as I understand it, I have to move the new one rearward anyway. I also get to go deaf tonight as I grind and cut off the 4 cat flange bolts that are so corroded you can't get any sort of wrench to work. Otherwise, it's all going rather well. Trans should be out tonight after I get home from work.

Well, now that I have room in the other half of my garage, I can get this stupid transmission taken care of. Weekend Project! BTW, yes I know the shifter has to come off. I just put it on there to keep crap from going into the transmission until I can get it up under the truck, and I couldn't find my roll of duct tape. With a lot of the fab work I am doing for my Isuzu, there is a lot of metal dust and shavings lingering about, even with proper cleanup (also the reason I laid an old shirt over my welding table in that pic). Trying to defrost my truck so it doesn't drip on me tomorrow when I start working on it. Once my new exhaust header shows up I can put my engine bay back together. Aside from the long block and AC compressor, I have damn near replaced everything else. Map Sensor nipple was cracked at the base - I finished it off when I was removing the hose end. Alternator had a bad bearing, PS pump had a leak on the shaft seal. Water pump was leaking through the weep hole. T-stat housing was cracked. Radiator had a few small pinholes, and a crack at the inlet tube. I threw on all new hoses for good measure to kind of just round out my entirely new cooling system... I just need to finish up some of the wiring stuff as well, but once that new trans is in I am pretty much at the tail end of the reliability restoration. Throwing on a new CLT Temp sensor and CAS while I am at it to just round it all off. All new fuel injectors are going in as well. When I pulled the plugs I could see signs of inconsistent fueling in each cylinder, as well as the clear spray pattern from the injectors being way off, especially on 2 cylinders, causing them to be super lean. That and for $96 for all 6 injectors (love some sales) I couldn't refuse. I also replaced the valve cover gasket, because it was leaking from pretty much ever direction imaginable. Makes it hard to tell if I have other leaks. Luckily when I pulled the head I could see that the motor has at least had regular oil changes. Very little build up to be found.

I google searched about 5 different ways to word it and had no luck. I guess I just suck at the google. They might keep them in stock, but it's not likely that they show them in a system anywhere. Our Ace hardwares are fairly crap here, with exception to two stores that have good hardware selection.

What is the length, pitch, size of the studs that mate the transfer case to the transmission? I searched and searched to no avail, and I am in great need of an answer so I can put my transmission together tomorrow.

600rwhp, for now with around 30-34psi of boost on E-85. I debated with going with the 8374 EFR when I bought the 7670. That would have given me everything I need for 700+, but the idea of boost not coming on strong til about 4000-4500rpm isn't very appealing, even with an 8000rpm redline. It's a car built purely because I have always wanted to do it. I may up the power game later if I decide to make it a dedicated drag racer, but I wanted good turbo response and a broad powerband over all out power. Besides, the car may be small, but it's not the lightest thing in the world given it's size. I am looking at a curb weight of 2600lbs dry when I am done, if I am lucky. The more difficult part is traction with an at best rear tire width of 255.

Would it affect the effectiveness of the Air conditioning system? If yes, I would like to figure it out. I know on my Crown Vic, if it's valve stays open, the AC system never blows fully cold. On a different note, since my new trans should be arriving sometime next week, I hope at least, Is there a good source for the studs that mate the transfer case to the transmission? 3 of them were sized up with the nuts, and the others are really corroded and not worth using. I could easily just go get some studs or threaded rod of the same thread type, but I have always liked factory style studs with a shoulder/shank in the middle if I can get them. I plan on replacing all of the hardware with new stuff as I go through this thing, and most of it is fairly simple and straight forward to figure out or find, but I couldn't find any info on those studs in particular. Thanks for the help guys. I have done a lot of searching and digging to find a lot of the info that I need, but I still come up short sometimes. I guess on the upside, I finally get to use all of my torx sockets and drives as well as my rarely used standard wrenches and sockets now lol.

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Thanks. Anybody happen to know if there is a good page/pdf/etc of the Vacuum and EGR systems? Somebody converted this to the newer valvecover and has done some other work. I need to verify that their EGR block off was done properly, as well as figure out this rouge vacuum hose that goes through the firewall with the HVAC system. I am finding more and more half-assed jobs as I dig into this thing, and I want to sort it all out while I am fiddling around under the hood. Like the aftermarket tach that is hose clamped to my steering column, with the backlight wired directly into the underhood fuse block off of the ignition circuit. :doh:

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Even if a t-stat is new, that doesn't mean it functions. Did you test it before installation? pot of water on the stove, a few minutes, and a thermometer can save a lot of headaches down the road. I've tested more than one "new" thermostat rated at 190 that opened anywhere from 165 to 180. Blocking the radiator with cardboard is simply the cheap and easy alternative to higher temp t-stats and such. As mentioned above, the canvas type covers with snaps (I prefer buckles so ice doesn't inhibit function) are a great option. I have run one on my tractor (Freightliner, aka big rig) for a couple of years now when I go through the northern states in the winter time. What makes them nice is that they are easy to adjust, so if I start heading south, I can open it up a bit and let more air in, and it only takes a few minutes. You could try and make something similar to what this guy has done with ABS Plastic sheet. Make individual slot blocks for the grille that you can remove or re-install as you desire. I think he said he simply used double sided tape, but I would probably look for a different solution.

Daystar makes one I believe and it shouldn't matter if its for an XJ or MJ... An AX15 is an AX15. Most of those aftermarket sites usually overlook our MJ models... http://www.quadratec.com/products/76058_831.htm http://www.amazon.com/Daystar-KJ01010BK-Transmission-Mount-Engine/dp/B003EOX83K I figured that's what it was, but I wanted some verification. Thank you. What confuses me is the way they are listed and some information I found. Guys with early 90s XJ's with the 4.0 AX-15 4x4 running this mount, but it being listed as a 2.5L Automatic. So either Daystar is confused itself, or I am... http://www.amazon.com/Daystar-KJ01007BK-Transmission-Automatic-Engine/dp/B003EP13X6/ref=lh_ni_t?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER The UPS and USPS guys are going to love or hate me by the end of next week after they have been to my house every single day lol

Well, I figured out the drive gears finally with a little more searching. I have to switch to a 34 tooth unit. I have also somewhat figured out my own diagram for the headlight relay setup as well. Since I just ordered half of Rock Autos inventory, and a few other goodies form summit I have to play the waiting game now. Another question that I am having the most trouble with getting answered. Is there a polyurethane transmission mount that can be used on my truck with the AX-15 and the AX-15 crossmember I am getting in mentioned above? I would have assumed any XJ mount would work, but every fitment chart says to the contrary, even for an AX15 equipped Comanche. I don't get it.

Well, the Cherokee was a bust. It had the le-trans in it too. The guy did let me take the OEM turn signal housings and one good corner light with surround bezels for free though, so I didn't walk away empty handed. Now I just need one more corner light to get rid of those cheap e-bay ones that have yellowed. First noob question. Any good information on speedo drive gears? My speedo is reading low because of the 3.55 gears and stock tire diameter. At 1600rpm in 4th gear I read 45mph, but GPS (and my friend following me) both said I was doing 39-40, which makes sense since the truck was geared down. I do have another noob question, and I have tried searching for it with little actual results. Is there a diagram or good write-up somewhere on how to do the headlight wiring harness/relay setup to get more voltage to the bulbs? I understand the concept well as I did it to my crown vic a couple of years ago, but the way that car was setup I only had to use one headlight plug to run the relays. I know that IPF makes a harness to do it, and it's not too expensive, but I am not afraid of wiring, and I can get those parts really cheap, so I figure why not do it myself. Thanks for any input you might have.