OSCDumpTruck

Here’s my take on the fuel pump ground upgrade/refresh. For better or for worse, I thought this was a solid way to do it.

Looking a little rough right now, some fresh paint will be night and day difference! The Borla exhaust tip for the mighty 2.5 Also am rocking some KYB shocks that were recommended by Kolak. Great ride with these.

Soon to go in the engine bay. I’ll use my Renix top half with the bottom half of the later air box. No more warp! We’ll see how the quality it on this replacement coolant bottle, mines still working but has busted tabs

That’s interesting that the earlier ones were external, however I just received my 90’s bearing retainer in the mail today. NOS mopar one. Should be getting the bellhousing soon. Looking forward to that job when the time comes.

I was pretty bummed about it a week ago! We’ll keep them on the road one way or another. My plan was to clean up my flywheel and use a clutch for a 94 2.5 XJ with my TBI flywheel. From what I’ve gathered researching, that should work. On the ZJs, they had the external slave in 93. No conversion needed when I did that swap on my 98, just a CPS for a 98 ax15 XJ.

Haven’t had this issue with my e-brake but I’ll be wary now! I rarely use it cause I don’t want to break it.

Thank you very much! Have wanted to make a build thread for a long time now. I really do like the 2.5, it’s a great motor for running around town. Not having new flywheels available is a bummer. Couple other things I just thought of that I plan on doing. 1: I have a full rebuild ready for the throttle body (injector, regulator, seals, etc) 2: Someday swap in my non-disconnect front axle that’s been sitting in my shed. I converted my stock disconnect one to a solid axle shaft in 2021. The first seal lasted a couple months. The second one is still going strong! 3. Harmonic balancer.

We are now up to speed and at present day! Plenty to do and will post pics when I do it. 1: Big 7 battery cables (making my own, using their fuse holder and military clamps) and install steel battery box to replace my cracking plastic one. 2: Swap over the header panel, front bumper (will get matched to the rear bumper powder coat) and fenders from one of the XJs. I have three 8 slot grills to choose from. Wanted a 10 or 21 slot at first but think the 8 will do just fine. 3: Finish up the last of Cruiser54’s ground upgrades. Last one is the blower motor ground. Will also replace resistor while I’m at it. I just did the fuel pump ground wire upgrade by the gas tank, will have to post pics of that. Did that in a way I haven’t seen anybody else do it using a ground stud instead of splicing in a wire. 4: I have a 97-01 air box bottom half that I will use with my Renix top half. My Renix box is super warped and the all thread I used to unwarp it 5 years ago bugs me. 5: Charcoal canister and valve cover breather hose reinstall. 6: Clutch master is slowly starting to seep, have ordered the parts to convert to external slave. I just found out that there are no new TBI flywheels available anymore, so hopefully mine is good! 7: Paint it back to factory black!

I got the call they were ready for my seat. Forgot to mention in my last post I had put the black mini console in as well. This picture still has the gray one in.

Black vinyl Sun visors installed.

Older style lower dash panel cleaned, along with the black arm rests and window crank handles.

I make a junkyard run once or twice in a year. Happened upon this 86 XJ with black interior! Grabbed what I could from it.

I scored and the blue XJ had a working factory cassette head unit. Bought a cassette adapter and am enjoying the vintage sound. I mostly listen to hair bands and grunge in this. I am rocking the stock size door speakers. Polk iirc? Also got the relay cover that I never had. Will also be putting a charcoal canister back in from the blue XJ. These XJs have those little things my MJ was missing.

Remember I said I wanted to go back to the Renix header panel and fenders? I had the chance at a couple dirt cheap 1990 XJs that were an hour away on the same street. Both drove home on the freeway. Both have great parts to donate. White one was nasty smokers rig, and will be cleaned up and flipped. Blue one will be sold off mostly intact. If I had the time I would take the 4.0/Aw4 from one and convert my MJ. Unfortunately I don’t, but luckily I’m pretty content with the 2.5.

Parked back in the driveway I first saw it in. With no AC, vent windows, or rear slider, tinted windows were a must!

I’ve had a bunch of time today to post all these, might get caught up to present day. 33x10.5 spare tire from my ZJ. I knew from the very beginning I did not want to lift this truck. Rides nice and is light. Can you tell I like those mammoth wheels? Yikes! They’re priced well, are black, and have the 5 spoke design. All wins.

Late winter/early spring of this year. Converted my exterior lights to leds, with the exception of the headlights of course. In preparation for new paint, I bit the bullet and got some Key Parts tail light housings. Will look pretty sharp I’m thinking.

Cup holders in action! The seat was ripped when I got it, and had started getting worse. It was time to get reupholstered. Our local upholstery shop is not fast but they do high quality work. Present day I am still waiting, but they have the seat now. The AMC horn button isn’t necessarily accurate for an 89. I have an AMC decal on my ZJ! Chrysler made the money off of AMC ideas.

Freshly detailed, probably the first time ever! At this point I had swapped out the glove box and lower cubby to the oem black from the other dash. I also had changed all of the heating vents to black, and applied new felt for them to ride on. Two toned dash and interior was coming together. The dash cover I used is a nice material (Dashdura black) by Dash Care.

We are now into September of 2025. I was already full speed ahead fixing and changing things interior wise. I also had held onto to my original doors and decided I wanted to get them repainted the original classic black, along with my original door panels. Snagged some interior door handle bezels from a newer xj to ditch the chrome. Ebay sent me a factory black dash that, after some thought and lack of time to pull the dash, decided to not use. I still have it. Glad I left my original in place. Ended up getting a nice dash cover and am very happy with the look.

It took me 4 years to have it click that my dash clock didn’t work because the bulb was out!

Exactly, there when you need it!

SMS headliners to the rescue! My original headliner was donated to another local Comanche. I cleaned up the roof and put some Eastwood on it. Huge difference!

2025, the year that things started to ramp up. I had never been a huge fan of the 2 spoke steering wheel, and got my hands on a basic 3 spoke. One of my favorite changes so far. This is when I started to want to head back to a place I’d already been. Stock bumpers, fenders, and renix era header panel! Things I had already had. Live and learn. I also wanted a receiver hitch, so I got one from krustyballer. Why a hitch with a 2.5L? For light duty sign hauling of course! So I properly wired up the plug and powder coated the original factory bumper that I had held onto.

Forgot to mention, I also switched to the 84-96 style door mirrors instead of the chunky facelift style.