Incommando

I wonder if his "pastor" knows what a thief, liar, and scammer he is? Makes their so-called church look pretty good doesn't it?

I would totally do a 360. They have the exact same external dimensions so you get 54 cubic inches for free. In stock form in any given year a 360 would get you 50-75 more horsepower and up to a 100 more foot pounds of torque than a 304 for the same buy-in cost. For me they are easier to find as well. Everybody does a SBC becuase they are cheap and easy... I hope they don't chose their wimmin by the same criteria.. :D The front distributor engines like the AMC or a SBF are often much easier to install because you can put the engine closer to the firewall. ( The 401 is a great motor and the same external size as the others but they are getting very pricey and you could easily match the stock 401 numbers by bolting performance goodies on the 360 and still be a ton of money ahead) Although the horsepower ratings for the last couple of years of 304 were 130-ish your reasoning that the low HP rating makes it and the 150 equal falls into the age old trap of forgetting both torque numbers and power band. During its worst years the 304 had considerably more torque (220) than your I4's 130 foot pounds. As people only seem to understand horsepower numbers: would you consider a 130hp & a 220hp engine equal? Of course not. So why do you think a 130 ft/# engine is remotely the equal of a 220 ft/# engine? The 304 produced its peak numbers at a lower rpm as well so that it would be a much better engine in the real world. Horsepower is not the be-all and end-all of power ratings and IMHO is best used only for bragging rights. My '93 Dodge CTD only had 160 horsepower...do you really think that a 160 HP I4 could compete with it? Would a 160 HP Accord I4 even MOVE my CTD dually let alone tow a 12K trailer as well? Of course it would, they are both 160 horsepower.... :D The same principal applies to the 150 and even the worst years of 304.

5.3L (327) late model GM.

trust me...it is a CJ7... I swear...

Rust free, too! Nice looking addition to the herd.

Jeep math: $1200 jeep + $5000 in parts = $1800 jeep :D This pretty much applies to any automotive project. :fs1:

It is not at all unusual to get well over 250,000 miles on an AW4. The addition of a dedicated tranny cooler is a great aid to any auto tranny and will also help the AW4. As you are in a cold climate plumbing it so that it bypasses the aux. cooler and just uses the in-radiator cooler in the winter may help it get up to temp faster.

I had Hemorrhagic stroke at 34. With proper care I recovered to about 95% and now some 15 years later I don't even think about it unless the topic comes up. The key there was "with proper care." Get your bum to the Dr. ya big scaredy cat! They ain't going to find nothin' to amputate from the neck up so get going!

That is a great price especially if you don't mind doing some heavy repairs down the road. It is probably worth $250-$300 as scrap

The chief side graphics would be a breeze for any sign shop. Just need measurements and the correct font. The chief hood graphics look awesome but would be a little harder to replicate I'd think.

FOR AXLE SHAFT U JOINTS We're dealing with Jeep so take this with a grain of salt but IIRC for the XJ HP D30 it is: - '95-older non-ABS = 260 = small u joint -'95-older ABS = 297 = large u joint (supposedly) -96-newer all = 297 = Large u joint. But if you looked up drive shaft u joints instead of axle shaft u joints they are the same and are 1310's. If they are listing the axle shaft u joints as all the same I would check a parts place versus a McParts place.

1. Go to a locally owned repair shop with a good rep. Those chain places are glorified quick lubes and the quality of mechanic shows it. Go on recommendations. If someone recommends Pep Boys or the like keep moving. They are the McDonalds of auto repair and the quality of employee is reflected by that. You don't go to McDonalds expecting a wait staff of the same quality as you would find at an upper end restaurant. It is no different with Pep Boys. 2. Never go to a place, usually a national chain like Pep Boys or Firestone, where the mechanics are graded on, and their job depends on, "up-sells." I personally know that Firestone requires you to turn each alignment into "X" amount of suspension work or you are out the door. Thus you need tie rod ends on your 51,000 mile car when they do their free alignment check... Coolant flushes had better turn into radiator hoses sold or they are goners...I have heard the same directly from employees of virtually every place like Pep Boys, Firestone, Goodyear... NTB/Tire Kingdom are the worst offenders that I know of... I would honestly say things are probably much better than in our grand-dads' day. Nearly every place would rip-off travelers shamelessly. There are several books and stories from repair shop owners talking about how much they ripped people off along Route 66 or 25 or any road with more than local traffic.

I thought that that the rear wheel well opening was larger on an MJ than an XJ? Either way $365 plus shipping for a flare that is not a "100% fit" is not a good deal IMHO. From the post: " The actual fit of the fender flares to the Jeep is not 100%" & "It is not MJ specific." $400 (with shipping on sale) flares are probably best left on the mall crawlers, anyway. Try replacing one if you actually do something jeep-ish with your MJ. 4 rear TJ flares look great on an MJ ( don't use the front's) and can be had for about $20 a piece if you damage one. Here is a super quick super cheap TJ flare install by a guy who couldn't cut a straight line if his life depended on it: $50, less than an hour's time, and 31's on a 2wd with no lift....

TJ flares look awesome on an MJ...as long as you use 4 rear flares. TJ front flares...not so much. Just my 2 cents.

They do look decent on an MJ... :D Paid $125 for 4.

What a really neat truck. Most people only know of the post-war Willys "jeep" truck.

As much as the cam terms thing, find a youngster today who knows the difference between a hardtop, coupe, sedan, etc... :D

Usually when lifting the Ranger that far the front axle needs addressed as they are a funky design, too. They are based on the craptastic Dana 35 and are as much of an IFS design as a solid axle. The 5.3 is available in the GMT355 twins, but are pretty rare. That platform has had numerous complaints about other issues such as prevalent ecm & electrical issues , and they are too new to modify cheaply. There are few lift kits available and, due to the IFS front design, you have to spend at least $1K to $2k to get one that doesn't cause more problems than not. Although they share the same platform as the H3, they get a slightly smaller front diff and they are known to blow pretty easily. The are known to dislike anything bigger than a 31-32" tire and also have problems breaking tie rods off-road. Solid front axle swaps are cheaper for the S10 than the Ranger but they are the best way to go for either. Here in the rust belt S10's have at least as big a rust issue as MJ's. My 225,000 mile '91 has less rust than most of the same era S10's and many of the ones about 10 years newer that I see. Unlike the Ranger at least most of the S10 rust is cosmetic where the Ranger rust issues can be deadly. By far the worst ruster around here in this segment are the Toys. For a poser a lifted S10/Ranger/Colorado may be fine. If you actually want to use that lift and tires.... the MJ would be my choice all day long. I am certain to make an S10 or Ranger near to the same specs as the MJ parts you have cited above would cost you much, much more money. You never recover the cost of such modifications either. Rarely is the seller of the modified 4x4 able to get even their $$$ invested back. Spending $5K in modifying a truck does not mean you are going to get $5k more or even $5k total for it at selling time. This is one of the worst investments to ever make and to abandoned the MJ now or even finish it in hopes off recovering your investment is probably going to lead to a financial loss that you should add to the cost of the other truck to get a true idea of your expenditure.

Beautiful! But forgive my ignorance for I was pretty certain the convertible was the DeVille, the 2dr with a fixed roof was the Coupe deVille, and the 4dr the Sedan deville? I know my '70 ragtop was a Deville. There were also Calais, Fleetwood, & Eldorado models. IIRC all of the Calais were hardtop where the Sedan deVille could be a sedan (B-pillar between front & rear door windows) or a hardtop ( no pillar between front & rear door windows).

You may have overpaid.... :D J/K. Good luck on the build.

Unfortunately our sport is rife with people trying to rip us off and who provide crappy customer service. This is far worse in the 4x world than in the drag racing world, for example. Before I do business with anyone anymore I google their rep. "XXXXXX reviews" or "xxxxxx sucks" searches often turn up interesting info. Rocky Road has a pretty spotty history with far too many reports of rip-off's and really crappy customer service if anything goes wrong for me to do business with them. I know one person who has been in a nearly $1K dispute with them for years and have talked to others burnt by them. Hellcreek is a upstanding company. I like them. But they only make rear springs. The rest of their kits are drop shipped from Rough Country and, if they are messed up, guess who you have to deal with? Ask me how I know this.... Rough Country has such poor customer service that the best thing their cheerleaders can say is that they give you free stuff to make up for their mess ups. Not in my case. I ordered one of their kits through Hellcreek and parts were missing. They would not deal with Hellcreek when they tried to help me on this and I had to do it direct. They said they no longer include those parts despite the ad saying they were included. I think that is BS but apparently I did it wrong because I got no free stuff to make up for them being, to me, liars in their ad. Many people joke that their springs are aptly named for their ride : "Rough". That was true of the 4.5" MJ kit I got from them Old Man Emu products have a fantastic rep but you have to be careful who you order your stuff through...see above stories. Did not use Performance Off Road Center/PORC/ Cheap off road parts /discount offroad parts. They are all the same guy and mainly they do business on Ebay. Tens of thousands of $$$ in reported thefts from them and they got thrown off of Pirate for it. They make Motion look upstanding. Ballistic Fabrication is another group who promises everything and deliver almost nothing. These people http://www.trailquest.com have treated me very well over the years and I try to use them whenever I can. Morris4x4 has also been good to me. Yes, they REALLY messed up an order one time but they bent over backwards to make it right including free expedited shipping on the correct items and paying to ship the wrong stuff back. http://www.ok4wd.com has many satisfied customers on some boards I frequent but I have never used them myself. 4wd.com, 4wdhardware, 4wd parts,etc... are all the same company ( Transamerican Auto Parts) and they specialize in buying established brands and then replacing the quality parts with cheap chinese knock-offs. Customer service reports are spotty. Don't forget to check larger non-4x4 specific sites Jegs and Summit Racing as they carry some off-road items and universal performance parts and they are generally cheaper along with cheap shipping. They both seem pretty good for rims, for example. 31's are not hard to fit on an MJ. Rear shackles and front puck spacers will get it done for cheap while retaining whatever ride you have now.

I know next to nothing about that diesel but for engines in general: Can the engine handle the bigger tires/change in RPM range? The factory used 4.10's for a reason and putting taller tires on effectively lowers the gears numerically. Generally lower powered vehicles need higher numerical gears & 85hp/130tq are not overly high numbers. Heck that makes the early 2.5's/2.8's look powerful. :D

The D44 rear is much more valuable than any of the others. Example: viewtopic.php?f=24&t=35801 . You are hard pressed to give away a D35. I would be surprised to find one with 4.11 gears as most I have seen were under 4.0 MJ's/XJ's and had the 3.55 rear gears.

The 4.7 Toy has a reputation for being a real turd. 4.0/AW4's routinely hit 300,000 miles. I run the crap out of mine with 225,000 on the odo.

42RLE... very problematic. It was originally a FWD transaxle in the Caravan that they converted for RWD use. Your indicator light is a common issue. The sensor starts acting weird if dunked in water or corroded. The one in my 241 started lighting the 4wd indicator in 2-hi so I ignored it and it eventually started working right again. Water seems to be a common denominator. Methinks this jeep may have been in some deep water ( it appears it was higher than the top of the tranny...a real no-no in any vehicle without relocated breathers) and sucked it through the breathers. If so I would check your diffs, too. Unless relocated the vents/breathers for them aren't any higher than the tranny breather. It may be too late for the more sensitive tranny but if the diff lubes have water in them you may be able to still save them.