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Making more progress on wiring and so forth. Got the battery tray in and the two batteries in place. I'm going to build my own isolator switch system. That's up next.

I found one of the oil leaks. Pulled the drain plug, which the last person had way over tightened. Drained the oil, went to put the Fumoto valve in and it was too small. That's when I noticed the rivnut in the pan. Someone had probably stripped out the threads on the original so they drilled it out and put in the rivnut, which had a slow drip. Every time I work on this Jeep I find another thing the DSPO had messed up. Fortunately, I'm running out of things I haven't touched.

Planning it when I get to my Truggy build. I've been looking at Vanco for their kit to drive the brakes on my 1 ton axles. It uses a booster and master cylinder from a 1 ton pickup. And the PSC pump that will drive my ram assist will be set up to also drive that booster as well. Their kit is overkill for stock axles. There are some other options out there that use a smaller booster like one from a Chevy Astro van.

Generally. It takes a bit to move everything out of the way and some of the bolts in the back can be challenging to get to. But it's not terribly hard.

I would ask them to recheck it. Specifically mention that it no longer returns to center. Even reputable shops make mistakes from time to time. They should be willing to make it right.

Yep. Would be nice to get away from that but the jobs that pay very well are here. And that funds my habit, er, hobby...

I specifically needed the CARB E.O. number to get through emissions. Not sure if they have that as part of their kit.

Nice. I've seen people put a 42 gallon tank from a late 90s Suburban back there. It just fits with inches to spare. An XJ tank seems to be a reasonable option too.

Nice part about the Howell kit is that it will run so much better than the original carburetor ever did. In every way. And it'll have better emissions than it ever did from the factory. The only down side is the cost. But it's worth it.

Getting the wires to reach while you are putting the dash together can be a challenge. Some all thread makes it easy to hold the dash up while you do the work...

I'm guessing some people learned about electricity and water from that experience...

The speed sensor is in the tailshaft of the transmission in 2WD trucks and in the transfer case in 4wd trucks. That moves is back a foot or two. The cable has to be longer to reach. But a 4wd cable will work with a 2wd transmission. It just needs to have the excess tied up.

Good point. You can add fuel injection easily to any small or big block chevy V8. There are tons of TBI and multiport options. You can even be smog legal with the Atomic TBI sold by Holley if you needed that.

Yep. Look at the back of that carburetor and you'll see the altitude compensation circuit. Compare it to pictures of a standard 2150 to see the difference. When it's working correctly, it does really well at adjusting the air and fuel flow as you go up in altitude so you don't have to rejet the carburetor. If I were running a carburetor on a small block V8 in a Jeep, that's the one I'd run. But even the most basic GM TBI runs so much better overall.

Yep. It's stupid simple to fix if anything goes wrong. Parts are everywhere. And, if you're ever dealing with going through the mountains, it self tunes as you make big altitude changes. Almost no carburetor can do that (beyond the MC 2150 in the 360 equipped full size Jeeps from 1980-1991).

In every way that matters for driveability. Carburetors are cool and all but they are temperamental at best. I'm in the middle of swapping GM TBI from a 4.3 V6 into my 4.2 equipped CJ.

Caught this guy yesterday in Castle Rock, CO. By the outlet mall. I was in my daily driver and didn't get a chance to compliment his truck.

There's a definite order to getting all the pieces on the manifold lined up right. But it's in.

The header the PO installed wrapped around the engine mount. Try as I might, I couldn't find an angle that let me take it out. So the sawzall solved that problem. The new exhaust manifold is much more compact and easier to deal with. It has the port for the EGR and a port for an O2 sensor. The computer controlled carburetor used one. The TBI kit puts one in that same spot in the manifold. Once I get the intake cleaned up I'll get it back on and the rebuild will really start to happen. Though I will be replacing the motor mounts with MORE bombproof mounts as long as everything is out of the way anyway.

I had to get the intake manifold out to get the header out. And, mostly because there is a coolant passage going through the manifold on its way to the heater, I decided on a full cooling system refresh. First to go was the small fixed fan in favor of a real CJ fan and clutch. The smaller red fan may have worked OK but a full size 7 blade fan will move more air when the clutch locks up. With the cooling system out to give me access for other things, it's time for a new thermostat and water pump and all new hoses. The alternator there is new, with a higher output for the added radios and other electronics I'll be running. Trouble is, the DSPO (Dip Stick Previous Owner) had cut and bent the bracket to fit a different size case alternator. At least he welded in a reinforcement plate. But the stock size alternator wouldn't fit. Ebay to the rescue and I got a factory replacement unit. I'll be customizing the battery section of the Painless kit to handle the extra output from the alternator, along with a dual battery setup.

Ever have one of those projects where you think "just a couple of tweaks and it'll be great?" Yeah, at my age I should know better. Core problem is that it would never pass emissions and I don't have the option to move. So I started trying to accumulate parts to fix it. The 80s CJs has a computer controlled carburetor. Well, I should say had a computer controlled carburetor. Got to taking it apart to find a Motorcraft 2150 on it. A good upgrade all around but no way could it ever pass emissions. The long tube headers and no cat would also prove impossible to get through. Also, while I was going through the wiring, I came across a rats nest of hacks and boogered up crap. I decided to punt on all of it. I need to rewire the thing anyway. And there's an option I was going to do later. Well, overtime and a month with an extra paycheck is here so I splurged. The Painless wiring kit and Howell TBI kit have arrived. The Painless kit is specific to the CJ and will save me the hassle of trying to fix butchered up 43 year old wiring. The Howell TBI kit uses the throttle body from a 4.3 chevy and is a complete kit with a CARB EO number so it lets me ditch the AIR injection and computer controlled carburetor. It will run smoother and start easier than any carburetor can, and it will handle the altitude changes going over the mountain passes around here. I'm doing some radio installs inside as well. And taking advantage of the opportunity to do some other things along the way.

The 1996 has a ton of variations in one year and was the first year for OBD2. If it's reliable, it's fine. But getting the right parts can be a guessing game. 2000 and 2001 with the 4.0 have the 0331 head that is prone to cracking. The TUPY update to the 0331 the the later TJs and WJs got is a decent upgrade but that involves a head swap. Also, those got the coil pack swap. They scrapped the distributor and went with fully computer controlled coil packs. Diagnosing those can be a pain. Beyond that, find one that has been well maintained and be happy with it.

I have some emissions stuff on my CJ with the 258. I'm removing a lot of it as I swap a Howell TBI kit on that deletes a lot of the emissions stuff. I was accumulating parts so I have a lot of new and good condition AIR injection parts I'd bundle up and send to you.

Agreed. You can get a jig that you bolt in place on the transmission and use it to drill out holes in the right place. Transfer cases between MJ/TJ/YJ/XJ/ZJ/WJ at least all have the same clocking. Same with the full size Jeeps from 80-91. Though spline counts will vary.