Rymanrph

Here is my MJ couple:

The '90 had over 200k on it when I got it, but the "new" '97 motor and cluster is just a couple hundred miles away from 200k.

I dropped off the bench top at the upholstery place to fix the ripped seam across the top and swap it onto my old '90 bench back with headrests. I should have it back next week. I really don't want to, but I think I'm going to have to sell this truck. Unless I can find another job, money is going to get real tight pretty soon.

I dropped off the bench top at the upholstery place to fix the ripped seam across the top and swap it onto my old '90 bench back with headrests. I should have it back next week.

I don't even see the cross member and it looks like the transfer case is separated from the transmission. I wonder if someone started to take this thing apart and changed their mind or something.

Since I've had this truck, the speedometer hasn't worked. I had turned the housing for the speedo gear, but couldn't get anything, so I decided to tackle it today. I tried all three positions for the speedo housing and nothing, so it had to be at the other end behind the gauge cluster. Turns out that was it, but as I was trying to pull it forward to attach it, I broke it. Thankfully I had a spare cable from the '90 and all is well. Now I just have to make sure that I have the correct gear in there now.

Just curious, but why didn't you like the Rubicon?

You could always run another switch on the left side of the steering wheel if you didn't want them running off of the same switch.

I painted the rear bumper today as well as the tailgate handle. I think it looks a lot better.

I got the truck back from the shop today and promptly gave it a bath. The camera makes the whole truck look way better than it is, but you can see the drop in the front a lot better in this shot: And since I got the tail gate painted, I went ahead and added the www.jeepsticker.com (plug for Spencer) Jeep decals:

I thought buying wasn't too bad; its selling that's got me stressed out. I'm the only house on the market in my neighborhood right now, but I made the mistake of telling one of my neighbors that I had a showing coming up. He tried unsuccessfully to sell his house about two years ago (he wanted too much and he didn't have to move). So my neighbor, knowing that I need to sell my house because I lost my job, went and found the agent showing my house and got them to come look at his house too. He's retired and just wants to move to Florida. So, this older couple has looked at my house three times and has narrowed it down to mine and my neighbor's. I'm going to be ticked if they end up buying my neighbor's house instead of mine. My agent is a nice guy, but I really can't tell what they actually do to get that huge commission.

Glad you finally got over there. Looks like it was worth the trip.

Sorry to hear that. They are so easy to get attached to.

Any updates on this or any other or your projects?

I'm off tomorrow. If you'd cover the cost of my gas, I'll come get you and haul it back for you.

I think those wheels look 10x better on the MJ than they ever did on any Wrangler.

You've owned 29 in seven years? Wow. What did you do with them all?

That Inca Gold color would probably look pretty sharp on the MJ. My advice is to definately figure out where you want the final project to end up and then plan from there. I wasted some money doing several things twice.

Its a nice Jeep for sure and not a small project to convert it to a Hemi, but I'd just assume buy a high mileage JK for a lot cheaper, source my own engine and transmission and buy their conversion kit. You could save many thousands of $ that way.

If you are going to swap everything, then you'll want to read this: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=32505

I finished the console today. You'll notice that I've got the keyless entry board in the garage door opener spot. I still need the cover. Also, there is a gap between the console and the headliner. The headliner curves while the console does not. I'll have to do a little work to make it match (I may just end up using some velcro strips). I did a write up for everything here: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=32556

I finished adding an overhead console from a 2001 XJ in to my 1997 swap. You can probably apply some of the same principles to an older generation, but I've never looked at one, so you'll have to compare yourself. If you are planning to do this, when looking for a junkyard console, look for one that has the same wiring as your year; it makes things so much easier. There are three possible differences (mine had them all). At some point in the years, different wires were moved to different plugs. If you find that your new harness is different, you can disassemble the plugs and move the pins where you need them. That one isn't too bad. Backdraft took these pictures; I hope he doesn't mind me using them for this DIY. To unpin the leads, pop the little plastic retainer clip up from the connector like this... Then pull it completely out like this.... After that just go into the the backside of the plugs to push down the little metal keeper that holds the wire in place. It really helps to have a precision screwdriver set to do this. Another possible problem is the keyless entry. The 2001 wiring has two less wires than the 1997, so I had to remove the overhead console wiring from the 2001 harness and integrate it into my 1997 harness - big pain. The other and final problem is that the lighted vanity mirrors switched from one wire to two wires at some point (which is why I put the overhead console wiring into my '97 harness instead of putting the '97 keyless entry portion into the 2001 harness). The other thing you need to check is to see if there is an available plug for your ambient temperature sensor at the front of your truck. I was lucky and already had it. I'm not sure if all of the vehicles have this or not. So when you figure out your wiring, just loosely plug everything in to make sure it works. Then you can dismantle the console. You have two main pieces that will need to be trimmed down approximately 10" - the main outer frame and the rear portion with the map lights. I suggest you make the frame modifications first and then cut the rear panel down to fit when you're done. I made first cut by removing the rear portion just after the kick up on the panel and then installed it on the roof to get an idea of how much I needed to section out. Here is the breakdown of where I made my cuts. Take note that I kept the tabs on the rear portion to hold the rear maps lights in place. You will also want to remove the cross bracing as well. Once you have your length down you will need to epoxy the rear portion back to the front. The front section is wider than the back so I used some zip ties to hold it to the right width. I used vice grips for the first hour of curing to hold everything in place. I use a two part plastic weld epoxy and then filled the gaps with JB weld. Once it dries you should end up with something like this: You will have to make a lot of little trims here and there to make it fit correctly. Here you can see a little trimming and shaving that I did on the back of the sunglass holder: Here is the trimmed down outer portion with the rear map lights: My epoxy skills are severely lacking, but here is a shot of some relocated mounting holes for extra strength on the bottom of that same piece: At this point you want to make sure that everything fits well together and your sunglass holder will open (because of the tapering). Then you can apply your headliner material. You will need to cut a slot in your headliner for the rear mounting portion and some additional slots for the wiring, but this is what you get: Now you'll notice that 1. I've got the keyless entry board in the garage door opener spot (still need the cover) and 2. there is a gap between the console and the headliner. The headliner curves while the console does not. I'll have to do a little work to make it match (I may just end up using some velcro strips).

I chose to keep two separate harnesses and ran them both down each side of the truck to the tails. I have the connectors on the frame rail so that If I ever need to remove the bed, all I have to do is unplug each harness without having to remove the tail lights. I have a wiring diagram for mine that I've posted, but I'm not sure if the wiring changed between 97 and 99. The easiest way for me to figure it out was to mark which wires went to which light on the XJ as I unplugged them and then just matched them back up to the MJ pigtails. You'll have some common grounds that you'll have to sort out, but its not very difficult.

Everything seemed to be displaying correctly, now whether that is accurate information or not, I don't know, but the outside temperature seemed pretty accurate and the distance to empty was believable given that the XJ had a bigger tank that the MJ. I'll just have to do a little driving with it to see how accurate it really is. Thanks for your help Mike!

Unfortunately, you're right. This morning I went through and merged the two harnesses. I kept the keyless entry portion from my '97 and used the console wiring from (best I can tell '01). I plugged everything up and the only thing I couldn't get to work is the illuminated mirrors on the visors. At some point they switched from one wire to two. I tried wiring it a couple different ways, but nothing worked. All four lights on the console work and they're all getting power from the same pink wire, so I don't know. I still have to tap the wiring for my b-pillar lights, so I may just not worry about the mirror lights. With the 4 lights on the console and the b-pillar lights, I think I'll be OK. I'm taking pictures of my progress and I will try to build a how to when I'm done. Here is a teaser of the progress: I'm hoping my vice grips don't undo the bond when I remove them, but I had to have some way of holding them together while the epoxy sets. Its supposed to sit for 4 hours, but I'm hoping I can take the vice grips off a little sooner so they don't get stuck. On a positive note, I dropped by the upholstery place that did my seats to get some headliner material and he gave me a scrap for free. If the epoxy holds well enough, I hope to get it done today, maybe tomorrow.