Gojira94

1987, 2WD, 2.5l. Not really sure of much else about it, as it's been swapped and un-swapped and it's a basket case. Making it 4WD with 99 XJ D30/ front brake parts, swap to 4.0 and NP231 from a 93 YJ. Build thread here.

Found at the forward mounting point of the drivers side fender, while pulling the fender for seam sealer work. A numeral 1 punch and 2 diamond punches…

Scored a spacer off a 98 XJ at the local boneyard. Cleaned up pretty nicely. I'm going to hit the closed-cell foam 'gasket' with a light coat of FlexSeal before final installation. Wilwood valve test fit looks good. New lines all flared and attached. About 30ft of line, all bent by hand/ eye. AGS PolyArmor, pretty easy to work with and I prefer it over NiCopp any day. Pulled it all out except the valve to rear line for final floor cutting and engine bay paint prep...

I just used this one to make 100% new lines for my MJ. I'll post up pics of that later today in my 'Basket case MJ' build thread. Nicest thing about it is you can even do it on the vehicle, which I had to do for either end of the rear feed line from the Wilwood valve, after bending and installing a 13 foot line, as well as the passenger side end at the wheel/ hose.... It only works with 3/16" line though. I really don't mess with flaring other tube sizes except GM transmission cooler lines but when stuff goes bad with a GM tranny, replacement of lines for $45 is how I go. Titan 3/16 double flaring tool British guy did a review of this/ a clone and it sold me on it. The Eastwood and clones are great but, again, for when you need to cut and flare an end that's a super-sized PITA to pull back out and flare, this is what will serve you best. Rick's Garage YouTube review of this tool I use a t-handle reamer to clean up the inner diameter after cutting and a medium-sized bastard file to deburr/ square/ slightly bevel the end after reaming.

Brake line to the rear copied from the original, but run over the top of the X-frame with the rear lighting harness and dropped on top of the rear hose mount.

Here's my fuel rail. The guy I bought the engine/trans/xfer case from had some extra parts that came with it. He's going LS swap in his YJ so he threw in the extra stuff he never got around to installing. This rail is everywhere - Ebay, Amazon, etc. about $120, under brand "Fasster." The quick disconnect it had is now cut off and welded shut (the rail is sold for returnless systems, though the vendor does have a regulator/ gauge kit to go with it if you want). The ends are ORB-8 so I opted for quick and dirty, using an Aeromotive 13107 LT1 regulator I have on hand. I swapped out the F-Body LT1-specific fittings and put the inlet at the back of the rail. I could have gone fancy and done -AN stuff but fuel injection hose clamps are fine for 31-39psi. I'll probably swap the regulator out for an Aeromotive 13301 not too far down the road so I can put the 13107 back in the drawer as a spare for my Firebird.

It's been a while since I made brake lines. I made copies of the 2 on the rear axle, which came off ok but the nuts are really crusty. The gravel guard wire came from a US family company in Ohio, through Amazon ("The Stop Shop"). Line is AGS PAC-325 PVF coated with 3/8-24 inverted flare nuts (also AGS). I have them mocked up with an 18" hose for 95 & up XJ (O'Reilly auto BH622067). I deleted the rear valve so the hose will mount in the factory tab next to where that valve used to mount. I just have to make single long line to the Wilwood manual valve going up front. 95-96 brake master arrived yesterday, matching booster coming tomorrow. I can mock that all up and run lines and then yank it back out and sort out the engine bay clean/ paint. I'll be making a bracket for the manual brake bias valve, from one of these 2 SBC plug wire mgmt plates I've got lying around. The mounting studs for the 2.5L bracket location should be a good anchor. A little bending and shaping and I can make it clear the steering shaft and keep it away from the exhaust.

Might be something else up inside the boots, but those are zip-tied around the upper tube body at the moment.

Thanks for the info - this one spent time next to another MJ before I got it ("make one good one from two" situation), so many surprises are here to be found... If I'm shopping for shocks soon I need to have some idea what length I'll need. Edit: just a D35 back there with 3.55 gears.

Front shocks: Rear: Rear leafs have 5, shackle at the back looks stock: Rear wheel well opening sits at 34" and about 5.75" clearance to the 235/75R15 tire it sits on. Pic from the day it showed up, just after a wash. Does this look lifted or is it just me?

Also, finally got the engine bay clear the other day- went to a father/ daughter project XJ not too far from here in NC, so I can finally start the clean and prep for engine bay paint and floor repair, and then get the Dana 30 under it. Interior can then go back in and engine work can begin. I'm also in the process of sourcing good quality but cost effective parts for brakes (pretty much all new parts from 87 rear brake stuff, 95-96 booster/ master, calipers, pads, rotors, hoses). Saw Big_Mark's build thread and MTS Company still is around and has the JPSU-6P4.0 sending unit/ pump assy available. Once brakes and fuel are squared away I can get down to final mechanical details, including Renix flywheel and clutch kit and new internal (for now) clutch slave. I don't know what's up with my supplier of the trans case reclock jig, ordered in July. I still haven't seen it, haven't gotten any responses from calls. I may just bite the bullet and take the trans to my machinist in Raleigh and have him do it.

Air box, continued - the seal to keep air from bypassing the route to the heater core/ evaporator for A/C equipped vehicles is going to be no good after so many years, I got some simple window air conditioner foam and coated it with 3 light coats of flex-seal, with custom trimming around the heater core in/out:

Glad those boxes went to good use! By the way I'm also a huge fan of tan/saddle/camel/taupe interiors with forest green metallic bodies. My 94 Firebird has that combo and I love it. Also prefer it for red and black vehicles.

Firewall side of things. This 2.5l has become the albatross around my neck. I'd let it go for free (now $100 with AX-5 on Craigslist) but I don't want to attract the meth head scrappers in my area, to scope out my place while they're picking stuff up. PLEASE come get this thing for FREE if you're within range lol. Duplicolor only makes Colorado Red in a 2oz. touch up bottle/ pen/ whatever. However, Rustoleum's Colonial Red is close enough for spraying the floor and engine bay after I get them cleaned and prepped. This first pic under scotch tape against the cap on the can turned out as bad as I thought, looks better through a plastic bag on top of the cap. This chip came from the floor pan so it's never seen the light of day since March, 1987 (I was a junior in high school). For the engine bay I'll follow it with at least one coat of a ceramic clear for durability.

Brakes plans... The rear parking brake cables are missing but being the only real rust in this thing is in the floor, all the brackets are there and good to go. I'm going 95-96 booster/ master, 97-01 calipers/ pads/ soft lines. Leaving the rears drum for now, probably won't convert to disc anytime soon, if at all. The rear load sensing proportioning valve is there but the rod is gone, so it's getting deleted and the front valve will be a Wilwood 260-11179. I've read of issues getting the brake switch to work reliably with grinding the rod on the 95-96 booster so I'm trying something different. Make a bracket that mounts on the 84-90 manual pedal assembly upper bolt for a traditional adjustable 2-pin brake switch. This is a pic of my 87 pedals. There are holes on either side, 2 inboard, 1 outboard that can be used to mount a support brace for the longer piece of the switch bracket. Just an idea, the pedal assemblies on Ebay used, for a 95-96 are just under $300, so nope.

Now I'm ready for the floor pan work and subsequent re-spray of the interior metal on the floor. Extensive cutting needed on the driver's side. The upper brace on top of the floor pan is too far gone to save. Passenger side cleaned up ok, not nearly as bad. Passenger side will get a patch of the outboard half, cleanly against the door sill. There should be enough left from the back part of the driver's side replacement pan to make a patch for the firewall behind the pedals.

Pulled the dash and the heater box. This MJ doesn't have A/C so it's pretty simple, but damn, so. many. pieces. 2 large mouse houses in it and the heater core is original so out it comes. Once I got it apart and the heater core out, the smell of mouse piss was overwhelming. Glad I got in here. First I cleaned the surface grime from the dash, front and back and inside the air passages in the lower half. The heater box is getting full wash by hand. The defrost and floor door surface foam is fragile but not trashed under the surface so those thankfully won't have to be re-coated with (I don't know what would be suitable). The blend door foam is a more sturdy sealed foam design so it's fine. The box liner foam areas are stained but intact and now clean. Cut and capped the pink vacuum line for the heater valve (long gone anyway). Just need to finish up the blower motor and temp blend door in the last pic. The rest was the delicate part.

The more I dig into this thing, everything and I mean everything needs fixing or replacing... Wiper transmission and motor rebuilt with new bushings. Motor works but I'm not 100% sure on the park function. Resealed with RTV, then hosed down the top with Flex Seal rubber in a can. The original cover was completely rotted. Duplicolor DE1634 on the trans parts. Small thing, but pedal pads are nice. The parking brake pad is the same as any GM GMT400 truck.

Thanks for the heads-up. I ended up finding a HP D30 locally with zero rust on it, from a 99XJ, with 5-297x stub shaft u-joints.No more hub-style rotors lol.

Thread necro... Pioneer CA-3068 advertises as 94" for vehicles w/out cc. I've read elsewhere someone measured one from an 87 4.0 4WD Cherokee and got 77". I'm going to assume guess that that would be the back half cable's length for an 87 XJ 4.0 4WD with cc and NP231. My 87 MJ is on the way to 4.0/4WD with AX-15/NP231, never had cc. CA-3068 also is a match for an 89 MJ 4.0/4WD manual or auto, so I'm going to believe it's the right choice. Yes?

Didn't catch it on first read, you said "same spline." So you did answer both parts of my question. Thanks, and my bad...

Oh man, I didn't notice you're in CA. Yeah, pretty much all Aeromotive products carry this line in their instructions: "Aeromotive system components are not legal for sale or use on emission controlled motor vehicles." So not even 48-state compliant... Maybe you best bet is to use a stealth adjustable regulator that looks factory and verify the pressure 39psi KOEO and 31-32 at idle with a test gauge. Fancy as it may look, that's all I'm trying to do, really. Verify my old Renix ECM is being given the fuel it expects with the rudimentary injector characterization it understands for accurate fueling/ best economy/ performance.

Better performance or reliability was what I was thinking might be possible.The 'stud' I was referring to is the peg on the wiper transmission that the wiper arm anchors to. If they'd changed the diameter of that, the later arm wouldn't fit, was my concern. This answers the arm mount diameter same/ different question. I would prefer a lower visual profile of the early arms but the attachment point fails more easily with the early design. I got the whole assembly out pretty easily, without climbing onto the hood or wrestling it. the cowl panel bracket that sits against the wiper motor can be slid out with some wiggling. Tilt the whole thing backwards about 30*, slide it all to the right side recess, rotate back forward and pull out toward the left side at the same time and it's out. Standing at the left side. I have bushings for the assembly, everything else has little to zero play in it and I have an original wiper motor with torn cover. I'm going to open it and clean/ lube test and see if it's any good on the bench. Meanwhile give it the cheek poker, stop rust and a final coat of undercoating to protect the main surfaces and fashion some sort of moisture shield for the motor. If all that's good to go, I just might try a pair of 97-01 XJ arms and see if I can live with the visibility. Thanks to you both for the info!

Well, damn. I'm jealous of your project already! She's a beaut, Clark.

There are links to copies of the 87, 88 electrical manuals and some other stuff on this forum. FiatSlug87 has links, and I think Cruiser54 does too. In the 88 electrical manual, p.91 ("instrument panel harness heater/air conditioning harness 2.5L/4L") and p.93 ("front lighting, underbody and cruise control harnesses") both diagrams illustrate there is a brake switch (C249) and cruise control interrupt/ dump valve switch (C250) but no NSS. If you're manual without cruise and they see C250 tucked up or dangling (light blue with black stripe wire, and black wire) they may think the NSS has been removed. Shown in 2nd pic of 1st post in this thread, though connector numbers are slightly different for the 87 MJ in question there. But same thing, 100%: here