DirtyComanche

I think I'm going to seal the front one, but use the boot from it on the rear, and then just run a filter off it. If it gets gross, I'll do somehting else. And I know it would explode if I sealed it. But the guy at the auto parts store said I could seal both of them, and I was kinda thinking "umm". Then I told him I though the valve cover would lift off and spary oil everywhere and he agreed that might be a possibility.

So, say you just seal up the stupid holes in the valve cover... What will explode? On the same page, is there any reason why you can't block one of them, but vent the other?

Yeah, it wasn't yet at that point. I don't have a rad cap, and there isn't actually any coolant in the entire thing. And I need to set the idle a little better - it would only run with the throttle cracked. I can get a clip then, I found my camera. I'm also hooped on my tach. I can't seem to find the connector for the tach output on a GM HEI. And my power connector for it is about 30 years old and rotten. I might have to try the auto parts store again. And my PCV is messed. Gotta take in the boots tomorrow and try to get something to work.

I ran it for 15 seconds. It sounds gnarly.

I made a cone filter setup with a peice of plastic pipe the right size with some fittings in it for the random PCV crap. It worked. Flowed way better. Then it fell off. But yeah, you can. One of the lines control the flapper thing in the front of it (designed to pull warm air from the header, for no apparent reason) and can just be thrown out. 2 larger ones are PCV or evap. And there might be another smaller one for some reason or other.

You can fudge on it though. A stock 4-oh header isn't too bad in the flow department. I think a guy can use the HO ones which are a little better, just they lack EGR. IMHO, you'd see more performance in the exhaust side by port matching the head than changing the header. The rest of the exhaust might be worth 'improving' though. However, I know little about the cam choices for a 4.0.

I actually have to agree on the side mount spare. IMHO it isn't the BEST location, but it sure beats being under the truck. Or in the case of many SUVs, under the cargo area in the back. There's been a few times where I've changed a tire (or helped) that it was made far less enjoyable by it being hard to access the spare. A rear mount on the tailgate would be great if they could swing it. Unfortunatly production vehicles often have a lot of things done to them more for 'styling' than function. So, I'd imagine that unless there was a large favorable reaction to it being side mounted (or anywhere else readily visible) it would be far more likely to be stuffed under the bed or somewhere else fun. In this day and age, it seems everybody would rather call a tow truck than change a tire. And ditto on the truck being a truck thing. A truck has to have the bed detached from the cab, IMHO. I'm not a fan of the ridgeline for many reason, and the unitized everything body is one of them. That won't last during 'real' use. In all fairness to Jeep/DCX/Whoever owns them now, I am not what they would consider a target customer. The newest vehicle I have ever owned is my dodge, a 94. And I don't look at new vehicles with ANY intention of buying them. And certainly not with the intention of wheeling or modifying them. I get chicken enough playing with things on my dodge. Hence, my opinon on what they do or sell is really void, as it won't make them any money. And similar can be said of a lot of people who do not like the turn the jeep brand has taken. And you have to remember how unhappy everyone was when the cherokee came out. It was unibody! ACK! Or even the YJ with its 'square headlights'. A buddy of mine still gets flak for that. And there's those 'old timers' who thought the CJ5 was way too luxary, and that real jeeps had the gas tank under their seat. Things change.

That grille would be f'ing badass on my MJ. Which gives me a bad idea actually. I might be able to get my dirty little paws on one. Uh-oh.

Oh, and while I'm at it, I want a period accurate willy's pick-up on the assembly line. They're cool too.2

Over-priced SUVs are a statement. They'll always sell. I hate almost all of the new jeeps. Really. Even my mom's WJ is sadly lacking off-road (it could be fixed at least). And it's all been down hill from there. Compass ugh. Liberty ugh. Commander, hmm, I've actually ment to test drive one but I'm not welcome at the dealership. Off-road it would still be ugh. JK or whatever it is (new wrangler) - looks decent. I checked one out pretty good because a friend bought one. It has promise. The little 3.8L V6 (or whatever it is) actually seemed to be alright. If I had it my way, jeep would be producing period accurate CJ2As. Period accurate as in EXACTLY how they'd have come at the time. @#$% safety standards, I'd rock one as a DD. I actually like a lot of the gladiator concept. It could have been better, but close enough. They should get in bed with cummins and put 4BTs and 6BTs in everything. The mechanical ones. While they're at it, they should come up with an aluminum block and head for those things. That'd be cool.

The avaliable trannies aren't great either. Do the 4.0 swap with a matching AW4. Life will be much better.

I'd bet money that the bed is shot. They have a bad habit of rusting like that. When you pull off the flares there will be pretty much nothing left. The front fenders might be kinda icky under the flares too. Luckily they're easy to get. The doors look like they can be saved. The cab looks alright, you will probably have to mess with the rockers a bit to clean them up. The floors might be icky too, but they're an 'easy' fix.

FWIW: I have/had dual ford taurus AUX fans (the littler ones), and they will fit an XJ/MJ well enough. Other than the rad had to go about 1.5" foreward, and the studs on the stock mech fan pulley have to be shaved. I used the smaller ones because the fit the stock rad better without a shroud of any sort. And anybody who thinks they don't work as well as the mechanical fan... They pull WAY more air for the most part. Yes, they won't pull as much as when your motor is at 4-5Krpm, but do you have it there all the time? Well, some people do, but I won't get sidetracked. The point is at idle I can have them CRANKED and keep the motor cold no matter what. Granted, it doesn't make as much heat at idle or low RPM as it does at a higher one, but that's another debate too. Anywho, regarding the stock elec fan, don't use the horrible existing wiring. In my XJ, I'd go outside at about 5:20 in the morning in the middle of winter, the temperature would easily be about -35 C, fire up the motor and the fawking fan would come on. EVERY time. Stupid POS. I pulled it for the winter becuase of that.

Yeah, blew by that deadline. Next weekend? It's really close. A little more playing with the cooling system and it is done. Buy a few dollars more in electrical connectors and fuse holders and I'll have the wiring done. Throw on a few more DG clamps for the liquid propane line, and it's done. Then weld a bunch more of the cage. Then I just need to book it in for the propane to be tuned and certified, and it should be trail ready. I think I can actually get the propane close enough to make a run on it before then, but we'll see. Oh, IDK what I did with my camera, so not really taking pics...

You CAN cut them off so it doesn't even look like they ever existed. Which is a hell of a lot easier to do on an XJ. But it is possible on a MJ. You just have to be handy with a drill and a grinder... Mine are all gone other than a peice of steel that is flat up against the frame. I could take it off, but it isn't worth the effort on my truck.

The ignition system works way different. Which is probably part of the reason? I'm not a spark plug guy. I ran champions since I bought the truck. The same champions that is. I bought some NGKs for this 'rebuild' because the store didn't stock champions. And I wanted to set the gap for propane (which I didn't actually do in the end, I just threw them in. I will regap after I talk to the propane guy)

Round earth? Or egg shaped? BS! We all know it's flat. NASA photos of it being round are photoshops - a conspiracy by the governments of the world to make use think we aren't the centre of the universe.

That grille is worth a bunch. I'd ask why you want a 60 rear? Most of them are 30 spline junk (strong as a D44). And they have a weaker R&P then the 14B. And the 14B carrier is BEEF. Oh, and detroits are hella cheap for a 14B. Man up and shave the 14B. There's a reason why a lot of the comp guys are running them now.

Once you shave a 14B, it's one of the strongest axles for the size.

They look sweet. I actually liked the old style BFG M/T in the visual department. It's just a classic off-road look. Anyways, if all it is is an updated tread design, it will (IMHO) not make up for the shortcomings of that tire. That is, in an off-road situation. They're a pretty good compromise tire.

You could get away with just a new steering setup, but the OTK conversion costs very little and will raise the steering 1.5"~. It's a cheap mod for what you get.

Tell rusty's you want to run it OTK, and they will ream the DL/TR attachment point the other way (or perhaps it can be flipped, with the JCR setup you MUST tell them or it will not work). Then just drill the knuckles and tack/weld in those little cone flipsert things. Then looks at your track bar to DL angle/length relation and decide if you need to move anything (upper TB brack, lower bracket, TB length, pitman arm, etc). You can fudge on it, the only way to tell is to drive it and see if there is any bumpsteer. If you have steering problems before the install, check your ball joints and steering box while it's all apart.

Yeah, the 4.0 was a very large engine for that size of truck. How times change.

I had a thread on it. Where it was discussed a bunch. I still have an AW4 lying on the floor of the garage waiting to go in :roll:

It's just a beefier version of the stock setup, which is fine. If you think the stock design was intelligent. Which, IMHO, it isn't. It'd work fine for many applications (I'll say up to 3"), but beyond that it'll just be problematic. Just like the stock setup. I know of somebody with it, and it was not money wisely spent. The RK setup looks horrible. Seems they attach the DL to the TR below it's centre line to try to keep the angles the same as stock. Looks like it will bind and screw up. Besides, I spy heims. Not friendly on a street driven setup.