Rymanrph

I stopped by the body shop today. There is another soft spot in the driver side rocker that neither of us caught before, so he's going to hang on to it and fix it too (hopefully next week some time). The good thing is that the passenger side and tail gate are done. Here is a shot of the tailgate all painted: I have a set of black Jeep stickers to put on it when I get it back to my house. Here is a shot of the front to show the lower springs:

Did a little work on the overhead console wiring tonight. I couldn't test it out because the '97 splits the wires into two different plugs and the newer wiring has it all in one plug, so I need to swap to the different style pin that I don't have any of at the house for three wires. My concern is this: the old ('97) keyless entry has two blue wires and one gray wire; the newer wiring only has one blue wire (slightly different blue) and no gray wire. Am I going to be able to use my old keyless entry board with the new wiring so my remote still works? If the board needs those two wires to work, then how do I program my current remote to the new board? Its not like I have a VIN or anything to give the dealership (I have a VIN for the '97, but not for the XJ the new overhead console came out of). I'm going to pick up the pins tomorrow and plug everything in to see if it all works; if it doesn't, I'm not sure what to do next.

How do you unpin the leads? My problem is that I'm not sure what year my donor was; I think it was a 2000 or a 2001, but I'm not sure.

I registered and titled the truck today. I went by the shop this morning to put the tags on it and check out the springs. They look a lot lower than before which I'm OK with. The body work looks good on the truck and I should be getting it back any day now (supposed to be today, but I haven't heard from him). Pictures soon!

Finally got my 242 today! I got a call about 8:30 this morning saying, "your case is ready to pick up." I about lost it; it was supposed to be delivered last Friday. Then the manager had the nerve to ask me if I could come pick it up (about an hour from my house). I told him in a few more words no and they sent one of the office guys out to my house with it. I got everything back together and it works just fine. I need to adjust the linkage just a bit so I can get into 4 low, but the other selections work great. The other thing I figured out today is a couple things on the over head console. I was afraid that I would have to run new wires for the ambient temperature sensor, but then I remembered there was a mystery plug near the front of the XJ that I never used. Ta da! That was easy. The only bad part is the harness I pulled that leads to the console is a newer year than my '97 and they used a different style plug with different color wires, so now I have to figure out which wire is which and splice them all together. Then of course I have to cut the console down so that it will fit in my truck.

Of course it didn't come today. Apparently the driver got behind on his deliveries. Supposed to see it Monday morning now.

The interior on that truck looks a whole lot better than the outside. Other than the rust, it looks like you got a pretty good deal. Is the MazdaSpeed 6 the same motor as the 3? I was close to buying a 3 several years back and was really impressed with the car.

That Eliminator looks phenomenal! The paint transformation is pretty remarkable. I'd like to give that '88 a test drive.

Got a call today from the manager. They found one in a truck and it should come in Thursday night. They will be delivering it to my house on Friday, but I probably won't get a chance to install it until Sunday or Monday.

Today I swapped out the front springs and shocks. I was running very behind so I wasn't able to get a good impression of the height difference or the ride quality, but I should be able to get some pictures this weekend. The body work is done on the rockers and they should be painted along with the tail gate this week. Hopefully I can get some pictures of those as well this weekend. If I can get home in time Friday, I'm going to register it and get a tag for it.

That's a good question. I'm not sure I actually have yet. I have my carpet cut pretty high right now (because that's how it worked with the original dash). I know the carpet is actually up to high to let anything escape. There are vents that aren't directed under the console, otherwise the front seats wouldn't get any heat, so I don't think that having the ones into the console open will be that big of a deal. I just need to trim my carpet back some. I got those from Spencer at JeepSticker.com. Awesome guy and awesome product. Definitely check out his site. Thanks for the support and good luck on your build. Shoot me a PM if you have any questions.

This is getting ridiculous. Here is the timeline of events with my transfer case: 9/26 -Monday: Find out transfer case is wrong, called JY and they told me it would be Tuesday or Wednesday 9/27 -Tuesday: Called to see if it would be ready, won't be until Wednesday. Told them I couldn't get on Wednesday, but would come after work on Friday. 9/30 -Friday: Called Friday morning just to make sure it was ready to pick up (this place is an hour from my house and work). Told me that the two they had on the shelf and the one they had in a truck were all labeled incorrectly - all 231s, so they'll have to order me one. Told me to call on Sunday to check to see if it came in. Went ahead and dropped off my 231 so I wouldn't have to drive around with it in the trunk of my Mustang all weekend. 10/2 -Sunday: Called and he said he checked online, but wasn't able to tell if it came in. Told me to call in the morning. I have Monday and Wednesday off this week and need to work on the truck on those days. 10/3 -Monday: Called and he said that it hadn't come in and it would come in late that night. 10/4 -Tuesday: Went ahead and drove to the place to pick it up. It had actually come in, so I drove around back for them to put it in my car. Before they did, I told them I wanted to check it. Sure enough, its another 231! So, they're going to order another one, ship it to me and give me a $50 credit towards a future purchase. So, in this whole process so far, they have had 5 incorrectly labeled transfer cases (the original, the two in their inventory on the shelf, one in a truck and the one they ordered). Their inventory guy should be fired. Who wants to take bets that they actually get the next one right? The manager said he saw it come in this morning, but didn't even think to check to make sure it was the right one............ He shouldn't have said that. I am a very patient guy; more so than I should be, but nothing riles me up more than when someone gives me a deadline and then drags it out for 2 and 3 times what they initially stated. Do what you say you're going to do and then do it right. Ok, rant/venting over.

2.4L, 4 Cyl 4-speed automatic, column gear shift, 2WD, 6.0 foot bed It's at Don's Save More U-Pull It in Monroe, NC.

The outside looks like its in great shape. I have the same wheels on my '88, but I don't think they're quite that shiny. What are you swapping over from the Cherokee?

Ok, you'll be hearing from me!

My 242 should be coming in tonight, so hopefully I can have it back in the truck and running by Wednesday afternoon (if I can't, then it will be next Sunday before I can work on it again). I picked up a XJ overhead console at the U-pull it this weekend. Its missing the cover for the garage door opener cubby, so that may be where I cut it down. I got the harness for it, but got a little confused when trying to pull the temperature sensor. It looks as if it connects to the main harness and I couldn't (didn't want to) pull that. How am I supposed the wire it up? I just clipped the sensor off the main harness because I was running out of time. I guess I need to check Backdraft's page again.

I'm going to a u-pull it on Monday to get some other parts, but I need new regulators anyway. Do you have a part list of everything I should grab while I'm there? I'd love to add the power functions to my '88.

http://charlotte.craigslist.org/ctd/2604514570.html

I was thinking this and I sure hope it doesn't have a 35 in the rear.

What's the reason?

I was surprised they're going to swap it out too. I've bought my axles and my previous transfer case and transmission there and I have all the invoices for them, but for some reason, I don't have the invoice for this case, but he was able to look up my invoice number from January and confirm that I ordered a 242. They aren't the closest yard to me, but I will definitely buy from them again.

Just realized the NP242 I bought and installed months ago, is actually a NP231. :doh: I feel like an idiot. Details in my build thread.

Little update: I kept randomly getting a CEL and overdrive would stop working. Most people seemed to agree that the NSS is the problem. So, I disassembled it, cleaned and re-install and all is well. I've been trying to figure out the linkage issue with my 242 transfer case for a while. I just wasn't able to get it to go into all gears correctly. I knew the linkage and the shifter came from a 242 XJ, so that wasn't the issue. After checking everything over, I learned a valuable life lesson. Just because the tag says one thing, doesn't make it true. I got my AW4 and tc from the junkyard and the label they put on the tc said 242, but just as clear as day the tag on the case itself said 231. I bought it back in January, but fortunately, the junkyard has another and will swap it out for me. I've gotten the 231 out and will pick up the 242 on Wednesday. Kind of a pain, but at least it hasn't cost me anything.

Converting to the hand brake from my '97 donor wasn't too bad, but I don't know what the previous generations looked like.

The gears themselves are the same, but the shafts are a different length (long for the cable and short for electric). I've swapped the shafts out multiple times if I haven't been able to find the right one. Heat the shaft up just enough so that the plastic is just warm. Then you can punch the shaft out from the top (some gears don't have the hole on the top of the plastic, but it can be drilled out). Then just hammer in the new shaft. The long shafts are sometimes cheaper and easier to come by depending on how many teeth you need.