Dzimm

Welp I guess I won't be getting it put back together this weekend. Cleaned the block off and was cleaning the head and found a crack between cylinder 3 and 4 where the gasket leak was. It runs from the head bolt hole, all the way down to the coolant jacket on the the opposite side. It doesn't actually go into the cylinder area but comes really close. I'm calling a salvage place in MN tomorrow about a used one they have listed for $80 with 105k miles on it and a 90 day warranty. I was hoping to do a reman but the cheapest I could find would be $350 after core return and shipping from Rock Auto. I'm not sure I trust the head from "Famous Brand" given I can't find anything about them online. Price isn't bad but I'd rather use that money to get tires for the red truck.. O'Reilly's was the next cheapest at $400 after core but not tax.

I'd like to see the blooper reel.

Doctor Seuss must have helped with this one

PM sent!

Hmm. This is quite the swap. Are the radio and blower motor in the new dash working off this fuse box?

Haven't been able to find any info on it yet. Hopefully more details will be released in the next few days.

What all is still used in the 90 fusebox? Also is the motor running off the 97+ ecu or the original MJ one?

Very sad. Saw her a lot in all kinds of shows.

Post up more pictures if you could. Would love to see more of the truck and more of what you are working with.

If you just need a place to put everything under there, there is a kind of shelf above the pedals in the 97+ dash. Reach under and feel back towards the dash and you'll feel the big open space. Take that plastic and metal kick panel off and you'll see it. That is if you have enough slack in the wiring.

Oh wow that is going to be a mess to sort out. Usually it's an all or nothing swap. The 97+ fuse box is on the passenger side and the HO is on the driver's side so idk how this would work. I'd say honestly your best bet is to find the wiring diagrams and figure out what all is there currently. Then figure out what all you need and start basically making custom wiring. If you can figure out what all is there for HO and for 97+ wiring then we could help out more. It may even be easier to just get all 97+ wiring and start over on it. All of the 97+ wiring will go right where it would in an XJ except the rear of the body harness. Just need some minor changes for taillights and fuel pump and it's good to go.

First of all, good on you for taking this on. Sounds like your roommate absolutely deserves the help. I'm a little confused, so this is a full 97+ swap except the electrical was left 1990 HO?

That will work for me. I've got a bungee cord already in there.

Not even remotely a small project. Lots of work but not hard. It's called a 97+ swap so look for that in your search. Link in my signature below to my 97+ build.

How broken? I will do broken as long as it would hold a battery

This is pretty sweet!

Well for the last two weeks or so I've been dealing with the rear brakes and think I've finally got it mostly sorted out. It started with new rear parking brake cables. Got them installed but couldn't get them to adjust properly. Also found some of the springs and hardware in the brakes to be very crusty and one of the shoe mounting springs was actually broken so I just ordered a brake kit from Rock Auto (kit had wheel cylinders, drums, shoes, and hardware). Brake kit came and got it installed but then had issues with shoe adjustment. First test drive the rear brakes came back with a little smoke even though the adjuster was backed completely out and the parking brake cables were completely slack. The adjuster was also not holding like it was supposed to so I ran to Napa and got new adjuster kits for both sides. Today I got those installed and the brakes seemed to adjust properly! They are a little hot after a drive but I think that's supposed to happen. Came back and tried setting up the parking brake again. I got it mostly working but my new problem is it's either too tight, or not as tight as I'd hoped they'd be. For now it's tight enough to hold the truck on a hill but not great at stopping it in motion. Not really sure what's going on with them but for now I'm just going to drive it and see what happens. Maybe let the brakes break in a little bit and then try to tighten them up a bit. The bright side of this whole thing is now the ENTIRE brake system is new parts!

Thanks for the info. I'll be buying a new battery for it anyway so I can make sure it fits in whatever I end up with.

Never realized there were multiple sizes. I haven't had any issues with fitment of a battery, usually a lot of extra room. They must have realized the extra size was useless.

Do it! Even if it's massive dumps of pictures and info occasionally it's better than nothing. PM inbound.

You have a build thread? I did a quick search and didn't see anything. Id like to know more about your suspension setup.

I haven't done anything to it since pulling it apart. The head seemed to be fine at first glance so I'll do some degreasing and see what it really looks like. If it doesn't look bad and the valve seats don't leak, ill probably slap it back together and see what happens. The gasket kit, bolts, and exhaust manifold showed up over the last couple days so this weekend I will be working on it and update the thread.

Yeah I'm not a huge fan of it either but I'll run it that way at least for a little bit. Once lowered I will have to modify it anyway so I'll move the mount then.

My rear Addco bar will be here in the next few weeks. I will post my thoughts on it.