AZJeff

If the OP is in the Atlanta area as his sig line says, a quick internet search will show plenty of shops that cater to the auto body repair industry that sell custom paint and similar supplies in the metro area.

If you have erratic idle, I assume the throttle plate shaft is loose in the bores of the throttle body housing. This causes the throttle plates to have varying degrees of clearance around the Venturi each time the throttle plates ope/close. I had this happen on Weber carb on a 2.0L Ford engine back in the 1970’s. There are only two ways to fix this: get a new throttle body assy or get a machine ship to bore out and install brass bushings into the wallowed out holes in the existing throttle body. neither way is terribly cheap, unfortunately 🥴

The fix there is a new (used, good condition) wiper arm shaft assy. from a junkyard

If the bushings are new, then the only other possible source of slop is the arm shaft itself being loose inside its body mount. On an 87 vehicle, that quite feasible.

Yup. Although it’s not a critical measurement, as long as it’s above MIN and below MAX

Why not just make a hard line from some pieces of copper plumbing soldered together, and the use regular pieces of heater hose and clamps to join it to the existing fittings? that’s what I did with my wife’s Liberty

I have broken several fan shrouds on the 4.0 mechanical fan over the years, trying to wrestle them out with the fan still bolted to its pulley. Then I got smart: I studied where the shroud interferes with the viscous clutch hub and used a Dremel tool to grind a clearance cut in the lower parts of the shroud, and sanded the corners of the cut to prevent cracking from sharp corners. Now I can remove the shroud by taking out the two top bolts and carefully working the shroud up around the blades and past the clutch. It’s a snug fit, as I wanted to keep the shroud as functional as possible, but I have not broken one since I did this mod. (Something Jeep should have done to begin with🙄)

That sounds about right, but to be honest, I never torque “non-critical” fasteners like that. I use my “calibrated wrist” acquired from 50+ years of wrenching on stuff. The t’stat bolts need to tight enough to keep the parts sealed, and to keep the bolts from loosening. Beyond that, there are no critical factors. Stuff like head bolts is another issue, so because the gasket must be compressed a certain amount to achieve a seal against the pressures and temperature of combustion. Likewise, lug nuts must be tight enough to create sufficient friction between the wheel surface and the brake rotor (or drum). THOSE types of fasteners I always torque.

RTV gasket sealer can compensate for “some” roughness on the gasket mating surfaces, but if the T’stat housing is really pitted, I would just get a new one. in fact, in my experience, I have yet to see a t’stat that is over 10 years of age that does wind up having some nasty corroded surfaces on either the gasket areas or the neck where the hoses clamp. That usually drives me to replace them under those conditions.

If you can remove the gasket from the surface of the t’stat housing or the head, it might be able to be reused. However, it would be best to use a new one, given the fact they only cost a couple of bucks. I assume you used a sharp/smooth scraper to clean the gasket surface on the head to insure it is free of all old gasket and other crap. If necessary, use some emery cloth to make it nice and clean. The cast iron head won’t be hurt by hand sanding with 120 grit cloth. The thermostat housin, being aluminum, must be treated more carefully. I don’t recommend using any scrapers or other aggressive tools to clean that surface. A wire brush, or better yet, a wire wheel on a drill, will clean the surface quite nicely. When I do a t’stat, I coat both sides of the gasket with the appropriate RTV and then assemble it all together and wait a few hours for the RTV to set up before I fill the engine with coolant. I know some guys recommend to never use gasket sealer in conjunction with a conventional gasket, but a t’stat gasket is one place where I think it helps and does no harm. One other tip I learned the hard way doing the thermostat on my dads 1968 Ford when I was 17 years old: be sure that the flange on the actual thermostat sits into the counterbore in the cylinder head. If you don’t, then the gasket can’t seal properly, and when you tighten down the bolts, you can crack the housing flange by the bolt holes😡

You should not have to dismount the compressor to R&R the water pump.

That is exactly how I do it. I have a long thin screwdriver (about the same diameter as the studs on the fan) that I place between two of the nuts to hold the pulley from turning. Then I put a wrench to another one of the four nuts. Do this working your way around the pulley.

Interesting. Those are different than the ones from my old XJ and my current MJ with a 2001 XJ head.

Yeah, I mentioned in my post that I used adjustable upper BJ to fixed my camber issue that was trashing my fairly new tires. Ever since I did the measurements to determine how much of an angle change was needed, and then installed the proper Moog offset BJ's, my steering has been wonderful, and the tires no longer have funky wear on the insides.

clean up the machined surfaces around the outside flange of the upper ball joint with a wire brush or the like to get dirt, rust, crud off. Then a 2" dia. (I think) pipe piece will slide over the surface perfectly.

I think that might be within manufacturing tolerances. the real trick is what is your camber angle on each ball joint. My above post sort of explains how I measured it on my axle. If you need a detailed sketch on my method, I can whip one up in a day for you.

The machined surfaces on the "C" (I call it a "yoke") are the only ones that can provide any reliable measuring surface, as the others are forged (?) surfaces that are not terribly precise. I think @Boilermaker provided a pretty accurate measurement. For the yoke to be bent (on both upper and lower flanges), the axle would have to be subjected to "Dukes of Hazzard" type stuff, with the vehicle being jumped. And even then, I think the whole vertical part of the yoke would show distortion and would be pretty obvious. The axle i installed in my MJ to replace the one screwed up by the poor ball joint replacement technique had camber angles that were out of spec. on the yokes, and that axle came from an XJ of unknown provenance, so it might have been abused a bit. What I did was to remove the upper knuckles, and then make a tubular fixture from a piece of PVC pipe that slid over the outside of the ball joint body, and contacted the machined surface on the upper flange of the yoke. The top and bottom surfaces were exactly parallel, as they had been cut/machined on a lathe. This gave me a flat surface to measure the camber angle using a cheap gauge I bought on Amazon. I then used my carpenter level to figure out how flat the floor between the jack stands holding the axle was, with the aid of some trigonometry, I figured out the difference is between the floor measurement and the ball joint flange was my camber angle. It was out of factory spec., as i had presumed. Offset ball joints from Moog fixed it.

My axle on my MJ was bent on the “kingpin” yoke on one side. It was cause bt some previous owner not using a correct ball joint installation tool on the upper BJ, which cause that flange to pushed up out of parallel with the lower flange. It was off by about 1/4” is that the sort of bend you are worried about?

The conical washers sold by McMaster are “Belleville washers” and are slightly different than what AMC used on the Jeep engines. Belleville washers are actually conical springs and can deflect, whereas the OEM washers are rigid. that said, the Belleville washers should work just fine, if thick enough. If they are too flexible, they can be stacked for more strength.

I hope he still makes them, as the existing one is gonna be removed during painting. Thanks!!

Yeah, I think he might be the source. The MJ in his photo on his forum page has that sand graphic on the door. I sent him a PM. Let’s see if he responds

A years ago, there was a member on this forum who made custom graphics that are intended to be applied to the exterior of the body of an XJ or an MJ. I got some graphics from this person that had the word "Comanche" in a modern style of font like that used on later XJ's and other newer Jeeps. I need a replacement graphic for my driver's door, as it is getting repainted at a body shop. My problem is that I cannot remember who they came from, and if he is still offering those graphics. Can anyone help me out with the name of this person, and some contact information? Thanks.

All the bolts on the old four and six cylinder engines in Jeeps are SAE/imperial sizes and threads. They are also only Grade Five, meaning that any decent hardware store should have replacements. The only tough thing to get are the conical washers for the connections that span between the intake and exhaust ports on the head, but they can be cleaned up with a wire wheel and some files (and painted with header paint to limit further corrosion. for the bolts that hold the exhaust pipe to the header/manifold, I ditch the OEM stuff and use stainless steel bolts and brass nuts. (Stainless washers as needed also helps). This makes removal later on a snap.

All the fasteners on the bottom side of the manifold should be changed to studs and nuts. It is FAR easier to line up a nut on to a stud than it is to try and start a bolt into a blind hole in the head.

The need for chafe protection depends on exactly how the PS hydraulic lines are routed. In some cases, the lower hose can rub on the metal lines near the steering gear. A piece of anti-chafe can be made from the old hose, cut to length and slit to be placed over the new hose in the appropriate area.