JZLAJeep

We are thinking of doing our nearly annual sequestration in the bro-in-laws shop over Christmas break and taking on our latest "biggest project we've ever done." We think we have lifter issues. At low RPM there is an audible tick. The tick goes away when accelerating and elevated RPMs. The tick is worse when the engine is cold, but is still noticeable when the engine is warm and idling. Are we correctly diagnosing a lifter tick? Plan to at least take off the valve cover and check the rocker arms and will keep digging if we don't like what we see. Are we on the right track? Parts list: Valve cover gasket (Fel-Pro VS50522T) Head Gasket (Fel-Pro 530SD) Manifold Gasket (Fel-Pro MS93680) Valve Lifters (Qty 12) (Enginetech L2011) recommend better? Anything you'd add to this list without blowing the budget?

Unless you can be as cool as this guy I'll never sell my '95 2 door, 5-speed XJ. Owned it since 2001.

The struggle is real!

235/75/R15 is what I've run on stock height XJ/MJ for almost 2 decades now. 235/75 does seem to be the upper limit for what fits and we've noticed that even in the same size there is variation between tire styles and brands. The 235/75 that we currently have on the MJ and one of the XJs do rub if turning hard to the left. Turning right doesn't cause rubbing. On the aforementioned XJ, I'd never had the rubbing issue until this current set of tires that is a different brand than I had been running before so pretty easy to conclude that it was the tires. Also concluded that it's a left turn issue since we've now seen the same issue on multiple vehicles. In each case we are running stock XJ/MJ wheels although they may not be the wheels that were on the vehicle when it rolled off the assembly line. We aren't replacing the tires until they need to be replaced so for now, just remembering not to turn left too hard and will wait to see if the rubbing lessens or goes away once the tires wear some more.

Sorry to hear that.

Wow, lots of work!! I will say we are spoiled in Idaho - no inspection (other than VIN inspection on out-of-state titles) and emissions testing was eliminated last year. Questions: What was the "great deal" on the latest XJ that you couldn't refuse? What about it made you decide to part it?

Not too late to switch to Civil Engineering.

Nice work troubleshooting!

Awesome MJ. Congrats!

An amazing trip!

Too bad that wasn't a factory option!

Or three more...

Looks good!

Replaced the clutch and the rear main seal. Gotta brag on my son who took on the task of straightening the taco'd transmission crossmember. Should do the trick! A little extra steel never hurt anything... Before (supposed to be straight in the middle) After

I was in Washington D.C. earlier this week. Preparations are being made for the Presidential Inauguration already.

Looking good!

What the?!? Having owned an XJ for the last 23+ years, changing motor mounts has become routine maintenance after that time one motor mount failed completely and the shifter was over in the passenger seat...

Not sure if I'm more impressed with your haul or the job you did raising your kids to have good friends!

Good thought. However, we cut the flooring out around the transfer case shift gate, so there is no flooring in between. Difficult to tell from the photos due to our tight tolerances and excellent craftsmanship.

And if you are like me, get it all put back together, get in to drive it and wonder why it doesn't move... The fact that we didn't have to lower the vehicle to tighten the lug nuts should have been the red flag, but at the time it seemed awfully convenient. That was the experience we had last winter putting free from a co-worker snow tires and "universal" wheels on one of our vehicles last year. Fortunately we didn't have the same problem on the rear (driven) wheels and two snow tires was better than no snow tires.

We've done several headliners with a can of headliner adhesive and a couple yards of fleece from the fabric store. We documented the Comanche headliner to some extent here:

I guess my answer is both. There is a schematic, but there is still some figuring out on your own.

Yes, very timely! Hopefully there is still no additional (you'll have enough) heat when Phoenix summer swings around again.