Awesome

I know not. I will take it off tomorrow and see if I can clean it. That will also allow me to do a better job of backprobing it.

I've gone through a lot at this point. Exhaust isn't clogged. Unplugging the MAP sensor vacuum line (and plugging the manifold side) brings the idle to normal and smooths everything out. Stops surging. Which, from what I understand, indicates a big vacuum leak. I have checked all the vacuum connections. I sprayed throttle body cleaner around. I tightened the intake manifold bolts. I have been attempting to get a reading on the TPS but it's very difficult to backprobe. I got an A-B voltage reading of 1.093 volts. The B-C reading jumps around a lot between .33v and 5.8v. It is never steady from second to second. Next I will try pinching off vacuum lines. Other than that I'm out of ideas. EDIT: pinching vacuum lines does nothing, unless I pinch the MAP line. That kills the engine every time. I'm leaning toward the TPS as I don't think a skipped tooth on the timing chain would explain the surging or the bogging under load.

It doesn't work that way. I took a video showing everything. I need to edit it a little bit and then upload it. I should be able to post it tomorrow. I confirmed that my gear is stripped and that's why it's not working. I currently am having problems with it running very poorly. I found a loose vacuum line and reattached it, and now it's running WORSE than it was with the open vacuum leak. The heck? It keeps trying to die while idling and the vacuum is around -10-15inhg. Not enough vacuum. It actually did manage to die a couple of times. When the IAC kicks up, the vacuum climbs into the -20-23 zone and it runs better, but when it goes back to idle the vacuum falls again and it tries to die. Here's what I touched: I replaced the water pump and flushed water through the system. I tightened the sensor on the power steering line, since it seemed to be leaking. I replaced the gauge cluster with the new ('88) cluster. I removed the speedometer cable and replaced it with the new wiring. I installed the speed sensor. I wiggled some wires under the dash when the headlights wouldn't turn on - they started working. I tightened down the ground wire connection to the alternator bracket/block mount, since it was loose. I put a T in the rearmost coolant line coming off the intake and got the water temp gauge sender installed in that T. I have gone through most of that and can't figure out how any of it would be affecting the way it runs now. Unless maybe the fuel pump wire is broken? I can hear the pump running though. It makes a steady whine. I'm getting a lot of blowby (smoke) out of the valve cover ports that I still haven't adapted into the intake system yet. Oil is leaking from the distributor shaft. Could THAT be causing this?

I'll take pictures or video of it tomorrow. It was pretty simple using BoxyJeep's kit and an extra electronic sender I had laying around. I put Super Short SYE's on the YJ and the TJ so I have two extra speed senders laying around. I actually have the tail housings too. And I have an extra couple of output shafts. Could probably just make a hybrid 231/207 and use the more modern speed sensors with the extra parts I have lol.

Yes, but as my edit five seconds ago (while you were posting, lol) states, the gear isn't fully seated into the bullet. I need to mess with it some tomorrow. I'm positive that's why the speedo isn't working right now. No idea where the sudden vacuum leak came from but that's a different problem.

It doesn't appear that way, no. Looks like it's pretty well centered. I'll check it again tomorrow. The gear itself may just be worn down, but I find that rather unlikely. My google-fu is telling me that they used a GM-style gear on the NP207 and finding the correct ratio is more difficult than with the Jeep gears. EDIT: I finally found a video that shows the gear installed properly, and mine isn't seated fully. I'll try again tomorrow.

It sure is. I removed the speed sender and spun the gear by hand with the key in the Run position. Daughter confirmed speedometer needle moves. I reseated it a couple of times and still am not getting a working speedometer. The gear doesn't look damaged but it must be. It's not engaging. I also suddenly have another massive vacuum leak for some reason. It's back to running super rich and bogging down under load. I thought I'd run out of gas, so I put some gas in it and it's still doing it. Is THIS the correct type of sensor gear? I currently have THIS gear installed in my NP207.

Turns out it's really rusty coolant. Replaced the water pump today and flushed the system again. There must have been a bunch of junk inside the heater core, because we had flushed the block really good when I replaced the radiator and freeze plugs. Hooked up the temp gauge finally. @boxyjeep, I got the electronic speedometer hooked up and installed today, but it's not working. I verified I have 12v at the speed sensor across the orange and black wires. What should I check next? I will try reseating the sensor/gear.

QUESTIONS: Why would I have a pretty bad oil leak from this area: And where inside the cowl would water be getting into the truck from? If I pour water into the cowl, half of it ends up on the driver's side floor. If I pour water on the blower motor, water ends up on the passenger side floor. I don't know if there's a cowl drain on these trucks (could be clogged?) and I am not sure how the blower motor is sealed.

Thanks guys. I'll post more updates in the next few days. I fixed some stuff today and got a front bumper installed, but found a new fluid leak. LOL. This thing is like playing whack-a-mole.

Right, I just don't know which is which. I'll use a multimeter to verify. I wouldn't have used the idiot light cluster if I'd been able to find one with actual gauges. Very few early XJs in my area and all of them had the idiot light clusters. The only one I found with gauges was the '92 cluster.

Got battery cables made and almost installed (daughter was on her own with the install and got confused) while I worked on the speedometer. @boxyjeep, as you can see, I have the oddball cluster without the three screws on the left. Can you tell me which of the screws on the fuel gauge are which? If you can't, I'll find out tomorrow when I put a meter on them.

Started on the new battery cables and the electronic speedometer swap today. I realized pretty quickly that I had made a few mistakes. I was really hoping I could use a few of the gauges from the '92 cluster, but I obviously can't. Also discovered the fuel gauge is different between the '88 and the '86, so I'm going to have to use the '88 gauge with the PRNDL cutout on it. Really wish I didn't have to cut up my cluster from the '88 but the '86 is a bigger priority. Anyway, we're getting stuff done.

Not much of an update yet this week. Daughter got her permit this morning. She drove the TJ around town for about half an hour, then in the afternoon we took her MJ out to the pasture and she practiced shifting and hill starts. She did pretty good. A couple more sessions and I think she'll be ready to take her truck on the street. I have a bunch of new stuff for her truck coming in the mail this week. Will post up as we get stuff finished up. Oh, we did put the MJ into 4wd for a while in the pasture and it wasn't making any unusual sounds. No idea why I thought the transfer case was bad. Maybe the vacuum leaks were causing oddities with the CAD? Regardless, I need to check the CAD then install the front driveshaft.

Just placed my order. My '86 came from Corona. Not far from you I guess. Nice.

Friday we spent the evening getting the truck ready for a car show that my daughter wanted to enter. She washed it. More paint came off. It leaked in a few spots. It leaked from two places under the dash - one up in the passenger footwell, and one on top of the transmission tunnel, which I assume means a heater box leak. I don't know how water accesses these areas from outside the truck. Well, we needed to take stuff apart and paint it anyway, so I guess it's time for dash disassembly. Saturday we took part in the car show. Daughter had a lot of fun. She can't wait for Wednesday - she gets her learners permit.

Spent all evening installing new door and window seals, repairing the seat slider mechanism and painting the cab corners. They don't match but it's good enough until we can repaint the truck. The new seals fit great. Also installed some speakers I already had since I was in the doors anyway. Found a build sheet taped to the inside of one of the door skins. That was interesting.

I won't post all the pictures as they are boring, but here's an example of the progress. One corner wasn't cracked on the inside, but all the others were cracked both inside and outside. I sanded the paint off, cut a slit in the cracks then welded them out. Sanded them back down, then hit them with primer.

Not enough time to post pictures right now, but I got the corner cracks welded up this evening and hit them with primer. Started to wet sand and made a mess as the primer wasn't quite dry enough yet. Wait for it to dry and I'll sand it properly tomorrow.

A few things happened today. I took the MJ to work and had them align it. Caster and camber are off by two degrees, toe was off by about half a degree. They adjusted the toe. I had them check the vacuum system for leaks. My friend immediately noticed that I'm missing a PCV valve because the TJ valve cover doesn't have one. So that was a leak and was the cause of my high idle. They also found this INSIDE the throttle body. Huh, wonder why it wouldn't rev very high. I put that inside the intake hose six months ago to keep wasps out while we were working on the throttle body. Guess I forgot it. I also went to the glass shop and they took the rear window out for me. Now I need to clean up the corners and prep them for welding. The lube locker didn't like being reused and leaked really badly. I trashed it and reinstalled the diff cover with gasket maker. The truck drives great. Still very slow. Idles fine now.

I wouldn't use it, but that's just me. I had to put synchros in my AX-15 years ago and haven't had to do it since I started paying attention to what I put in it.

GL-5 gear oils use sulphur as a lubricity enhancer. Sulphur is incompatible with brass and eats it. We got everything put together today and drove the Commanche about 50 miles. Ran some errands, picked up some feed. The seat is really stiff and doesn't move easily. Need to fix that. It might be binding. My mounts on one side ended up being slightly off, even after I had checked them. It's totally gutless. I got it up to 75mph but I had it floored in fourth gear and we were on level ground. It runs 60-65 pretty good. It is decent while running around town. It needs lower gears. It shifts really good. Nothing wrong with the transmission I don't think. It does make an odd noise when decelerating, but that might be the remnants of the catalytic converter rattling around. The fuel gauge isn't working. The speedometer wasn't working but randomly started working toward the end of the drive. Then when I slowed to enter my driveway it quit again. I didn't take pictures because we were too busy having fun. I'll have more later this week.

All the rebuild kits that I searched up do use brass. That's for the AX-5. I don't know about the AX-4. I'd rather err on the side of caution as I really don't want to do a transmission swap on this truck if I don't have to. So far it's been a pretty cheap rebuild project. I ended up using STA-LUBE GL4 for my AX-15. It was the only thing at my local Napa that was yellow-metal safe. Thanks for the tip though. I'll look out for that stuff. Today my daughter got the bottom side coated with another layer of primer over the sealant. The top side on the passenger side got the same treatment. We are currently in the middle of installing the new clutch master. My clutch slave is external, thankfully, but a friend told me of a way to bleed the system that shouldn't require removing the slave. Once the rust under the master cylinder is wire brushed and primed/painted over, we will continue with the swap, bleed the system, then prime the driver's side floor again. Tomorrow morning the Herculiner goes in.

The only stuff I could find locally is $80/gal. Very, very expensive. The guy took pity on me and gave me a discount. Ended up being $60 out the door. Still very expensive. I'd recommend caution. Most GL-5 gear oils contain sulphur, which is highly corrosive to brass. It eats your synchros. I don't doubt there is a yellow-metal-safe GL-5 lube out there, but if you read the bottles almost all of them say "DO NOT USE IN TRANSMISSION WITH BRASS SYNCHROS!"