DirtyComanche

If you still have the factory overloads it won't make any difference, but I'd still order from either of those guys.

Is acid dye safe for a seat belt anyways?

Honestly, there's so much WTF about this that I'd say pull the valve cover off and look at the rockers... Make sure they're all moving, and use that to verify it is on #1 compression.

That thing looks mint. If it was mine I'd be swapping an engine in it right meow.

I had to pull it apart and look at the wires. I think I actually compared it with my spare harness that was marked in the end... You can only get it so wrong though, and I'd think unless they had every pair of them wrong that you would still get it to at least sorta fire, especially if you're dribbling some gas down the TB. Does it puff black smoke or anything when trying to start it?

That would certainly cause problems.

Any ideas what was done with the engine? Is this just a junkyard engine that was stuffed in? Or is there any evidence it was opened up at some point?

He said it didn't. It's fairly clear that it's most likely a spark issue. Either at the wrong time or too weak. Edit, said it didn't run with fuel dribbled down the TB. Technically that's not ether, but I don't use ether myself...

It's actually incredibly easy to put the injector harness on wrong. No, I've not done it, but I've dealt with trying to troubleshoot it.

Will it run on starting fuel or with gas dribbled down the TB? Rule out if it's ignition or fuel. Injector harness could be on wrong, which sucks. But I'd say more likely the disty is indexed wrong.

You get what you pay for with them. I bet if they jigged it correctly they could knock out near perfect reproductions that could retail for $400~. The headers you see on eBay for $74 don't have much hope, you just can't do it for that cheap, especially since the eBay retailer still has a profit margin on that (probably only $7-14 dollars, but still, you can't build that with any degree of accuracy for $60). The Chinese have been making all sorts of fake stuff that you would never know wasn't, aircraft parts are among that...

Somebody with a good unit to clone and a few bucks could make some money getting the barefoot Chinese children to copy them in 304 SS.

Cheap pads will do that. It's amazing how soft they are and how fast they will wear. Assuming the pistons aren't sticking and the caliper guides aren't worn, like Eagle says. Another rare issue is the pushrod in the booster being wrong, resulting in the brakes dragging all the time. Or you could have something stopping the pedal from fully returning.

Axle wrap is an overstated problem with SOA. I think most of the people that squawk about it don't have and have never driven a SOA MJ. Remember all the XJs came SOA, and it's not like you see them having massive problems and being denied on obstacles because of axle wrap. SUA is a crappy way to combat it anyways, assuming you're not limited by arbitrary rules. You're better off with a properly designed anti-wrap bar if you have a real problem with it. Also, the other big issue with SUA is that the springs, spring plates, and shock mounts are hanging down under the axle, which is completely counterproductive to gaining ground clearance. You need an adjustable track bar for more lift, although you can cheap out and redrill the bracket on the axle. This isn't the greatest solution as the factory piece isn't the strongest. Honestly if I was you I'd not screw with it until I had more money to spend. Just go SOA and long arms with new shocks all around. I have not long armed mine yet, and even just with the 3.5" RE springs the ride is garbage on potholes and washboard because of it. With a long bed you're not going to need a SYE for angle reasons. That said I still believe in them and would do one, others will disagree. If you're to do it, doing it at the same time as going SOA makes the most sense as you can set the pinion angle correctly then.

What thread size/pitch is the knock sensor on the Renix? M8x1.25? And how critical do you think the factory placement is for it to function ideally? Has anyone moved it to another boss in the block? It would make sense that it needs to be somewhere in the middle of the block as to be equally likely to detect knocking on cylinders 1 and 6. It's not really a MJ thing, trying to put it in a J truck and the motor mount picks up on the boss for the knock sensor. Brown Dog makes a threaded adapter that would fix the issue, but it's $50 US to my door.

This. Other than he said he's swapping in a 4.0 I guess. I remember running around with open header(s) on stuff and thinking it was great. I'd say just start with a cheap glasspack, a Red Hot is like $25 or so. When it gets annoying move up to something slightly more expensive, like a $35 multi chamber muffler; I have Raptors on my plow truck. Don't throw that original glasspack away though, keep it to throw back in WITH the other muffler when you get annoyed again.

You could probably do it in desktop dyno.

If you want to turn heads, whistle tip is the way.

He's got a 4 cylinder though.

If the rest of the Jeep is nice I'd consider just buying a new one. You already have the external slave and bellhousing, and I'm assuming you're getting a deal on the Jeep because it has no third gear. Like I said, I think you can get one cheaper than Novak's price. Brand new, with a warranty.

How loud is loud?

I do have to admit that such a rolling environmental disaster is rather cool in its own way.

The ZJ ones are all the same. Watch out for the WJ ones, they are not. And 2000 was the changeover for TJ engines.

Is there a shop anywhere in the first world that charges only $50/hour though? It's $100-135 in my experience, dealer is about $150. Honestly I would buy a brand new one before trusting some sort of 'rebuild' any day of the week. As I see it, the only good options are buy new ($1540 US), buy a good complete unit from the boneyard ($650 CAD here no discount, so that's about $500), or buy a parts XJ that you know shifts correctly for ???? (normally can be had for under $1000, but you probably want to pick and choose so you get a transmission worth swapping in). Then plan to buy a flywheel, clutch kit, and a master/slave, plus you might as well change the transmission mount while you're there for another $20.

Lots of rebuilders do not really rebuild them, they pull them apart and fix whatever is blown up. Hence probably wanting to see it... You can buy a brand new one later style one from Novak for $1540, it comes with everything other than a bellhousing. I doubt Novak is cutting any sort of a deal, so I'm sure it can be found cheaper. So don't pay anything more than that for it to be rebuilt. Ideally if you're going to do this you should track down an external slave bellhousing and convert it over. Another good option would be to get a whole later style AX-15 from the a wrecker.