DirtyComanche

You can take the fan motors apart and scotchbrite the bushings and put silicone grease or something like that on them instead of drilling anything. You just have to be careful when you put it back together to not mash the brushes. At least I've been able to do it on several of them. Often you can bring a dead fan motor back to life by cleaning up the commutator and brushes.

Careful. Lots won't. They hit the intake runners, not the flange, you can't just grind something to make them work. You can give up flow on your exhaust ports (the valves are smaller anyways) without losing power providing the intake ports flow better, as in the intake side is more critical. No, stroker guys don't use that head. If you're spending that much building an engine you're going to get the best head, it only makes sense at that point. It's a little different scenario when you have the head sitting around.

That's an opinion that seems to go against the grain.

Seems like a solid plan for a build.

Before you drill your hinges to 5/16" try getting a 7mm metric bolt (10.9 grade preferably, 8.8 would be fine) that's the right length, and drill the hinges to 17/64. The 7mm bolt will be a bit too large for the hole, but since your hand drilling them there might well be enough wobble that it will be close to going, so you can file the hole out a bit and get it. Or final drill it with a letter J drill and a steady hand, which is only about a thou and change larger than 7mm. I suppose you could use a 7mm drill, but nobody stocks metric stuff. You don't want to oversize them too much or the hinge itself will want to stretch. I put high tolerance 1/4" bolts in the last set I did, they're just a hair bigger than a normal 1/4" bolt, it was enough that it tightened them up for the time being.

That mount would have probably been okay if they hadn't drilled the holes so large and close to the edge (they were probably running a heim with a gigantic bolt) and if that brace piece had actually been run from the mount all the way across the UCA mount and down to the axle tube (and not made out of angle iron). And the welds should have been better. You also can't just move the mount up without doing something with the steering to compensate for that. You would need to either drop the pitman arm (not a good idea, the XJ arm already has a lot of drop), go to high steer (good idea if you can accomplish it properly), and/or raise the frame side track bar mount (good idea if you can accomplish it properly). Also the stock track bar is a POS and belongs in the garbage. I'd never buy a D30 that was on something that was wheeled. It is probably bent. Although I doubt they did much wheeling with that mount on there, it would have failed. How the mounts were made and geometry was changed due to that on my XJ... I had to move the track bar frame side mount up as high as I could because I couldn't get a pitman arm with any drop to work with the clearances I had... But the point is if you move one thing, you're going to have to move something else, which will likely turn into moving everything.

I'm fairly much with DesertRat1991 on this. But I'd do it a little different. I'd look at the condition your coil springs are in before buying spacers. If the truck has any lean, or one is broken or has and uneven set in it, or they're super rusty and the truck has lots of miles, I'd say you're better off buying some V8 ZJ style coils. Moog makes some variable ones for not much money ($50/pair or so): http://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=201281&cc=1182057&jsn=2521 I don't actually know how much lift they will give you, its should be almost 2" or a bit less. They actually list them as being a "Heavy Duty" option for the XJ, and they have about a 3/4" more free height and 20lbs more rate than their regular XJ ones. Being variable rate they will be a little nicer ride. Their regular XJ coils for comparison (they're also variable rate): http://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=201281&cc=1182057&jsn=2521 For shocks I would say just buy some Bilsteins and get it over with. I can dig you up the P/N for a rear that fits since Bilstein doesn't list it, if you want. Maybe 5% of lift kits come with shocks worth running, the rest are complete garbage. If you don't want to spend as much do the fronts at least, the rears will be less noticeable. For the control arms the stock replacement uppers are fine. Do the bushings in the axle too, I'll warn you they're a pain in the butt to change. I'd get WJ arms for the lowers and mod them so they fit, they have a vibration absorbing bushing in them that does improve the ride. Moog WJ arms: http://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=3983961&cc=1381452&jsn=390 Something like $30/each. (I didn't feel like switching the pricing on the site, I have it in cnd so it's a bit of a guess on the conversion). Mevotech: http://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=6115977&cc=1381452&jsn=398 $40/each, obviously a better product. You'll also want some caster shims and maybe new forks (they tend to break when you go to put the shims in). I think Hornbrod or Cruiser posted the p/n for these at some point, I don't know it and they may be dealer only. Adding a couple shims will make it drive better. Spend the rest of your budget on upgrading the steering to the V8 ZJ/later XJ stuff, a new steering stabilizer, swaybar bushings and end links, and replacing any worn ball joints or brake parts, or anything else that looks ugly when you get in there. IMHO the end result of doing this will be much better than throwing an entry level lift kit at it.

I check them every time I have a wheel off, since it takes about 30 seconds extra per... Never had an issue, and I've run them on lots of vehicles. The key is to install them correctly the first time. That said I avoid pulling the adapters off, because it forces you to do a painful retorque where you pull your wheels off again to retorque them, then you again have to retorque the wheels again since you had them off to retorque the adapters... Although I'll point out that to do my current MJ over again I 100% would just buy a set of JK axles and not look back. (I'll stop hijacking this thread now)

I have JK Moab wheels on my MJ (and my JK, and I have 2.5 spare sets ). Yes, they're called Moab wheels, yes they're 5x5", yes they're 17" only, and yes they're nearly a flat face. I forget what the actual backspacing/offset is on them, but they don't stick out a lot. If you ran WJ knuckles and some aftermarket rear shafts or redrilled ones they'd probably work great with the JK car tire type takeoffs. Of course JK takeoff tires are now starting to dry up, so it's probably not worth pursuing unless a guy really wanted the look of the 17" wheels. OP, I'd check that your antenna is actually hooked up. AM comes in a lot easier than FM without an antenna.

It's really unfortunate that Edelbrock didn't spend more time trying to get their head to flow better. If it did it would be a lot easier to justify the price.

I always wondered why there wasn't one there from the factory.

I was glad I had my Comanche today. I've been gone 6 weeks in the winter, so lets just say it's snowed a bit in that time. It's actually less than I expected, but it's warmed up so it packed down into a foot and a half or so of heavy messy crap with 4' of windrow at the road. I got a cab home from the airport and dragged my tools back into the house, crashed out... Woke up furiously hungry, and the driveway is brutally impassible. The JK was stone cold dead, I didn't unhook the battery and obviously that was a mistake. The Comanche though, she just fired right up, I threw the rear air locker on and chewed my way out in low range. No pics, use your imagination!

Is it just me or is that gas meter dangerously exposed there? Or is that nowhere near your driveway/street? I'd have run it over if it was in my yard.

If you just want a battery that works, go with whoever has the best warranty and the most reasonable price... Which I think means Costco. (No, I don't buy batteries there, but I should) Batteries are one of the most rebranded products out there. There's really only a handful of big manufacturers.

If it doesn't clear, grind the flange on the header. It's just a bit wider on the HO than the Renix, IIRC, and there is probably some variations in construction of them over the years and OEM vs aftermarket. Walker makes a downpipe for the HO. It isn't very inexpensive ($40ish US), but I can't say if it is of decent quality or not but it looks like it doesn't have the clearance dent. With that downpipe you should be able to just throw the O2 sensor in it, but I would confirm that with somebody who has done it as the wires might not be long enough. If you have one made without the dent be damn certain the yoke on the front axle won't eat it if the suspension is on the bumpstops; I could show you what the one in my MJ looks like from just that happening when the PO swapped a real front axle in... Walker downpipe: http://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=135706&cc=1180112&jsn=2160

Pop the belt off and run it again. Doesn't take long to do and will rule out a bad idler or such. The idlers do well blow their bearings up eventually. IMHO it's folly to pull a harmonic balancer to do a timing chain and not replace the balancer... But that's me.

I'm going to say ditto on it being unlikely the online inventory will be correct. The local yard I deal with is not a u-pull-it type operation, yet they will let some people go in and pull some things. I'm on a good enough basis there that I'm one of those special people, but you're only pulling small stuff with hand tools, nothing like an axle/engine/trans. Anyways, even with all the big parts only being pulled by their own yard people their inventory is completely screwed. I was looking for a D70 rear from an 01.5-02 Dodge 2500 (rather specific) and inventory showed they had three, so the owner gave me the ID/location of all of them and off I went to look. Not one of those trucks still had the rear axle in it, in fact one of them was cut clean off behind the cab. I wandered back in to tell him that and he mumbled something not suitable for young ears, then said "I gotta go give my yard guys $#!&. Give me a minute." Same thing happened when I phoned for a Ford HP D60, I said 3.55 gears because I was going to regear it anyways and they just wanted a ratio for the yard guys, inventory showed two, neither were there, so he wound up giving me a 4.10 one at half price after they spent a whole day looking for a 3.55 one.

If it won't fire or start with starting fluid you need to verify if your ignition system is working. Pull a spark plug and check, or stick an extension in the boot, etc. I know nothing about that engine, but it's troubleshooting 101. If you're providing it with fuel (starting fluid) and it won't fire, then there is a problem with the other two things you need (air or spark). I also imagine that you might have stuck injectors, which would explain the pump continuing to run, and the lack of willingness to start (too rich to fire). But probably not. Or you didn't give it enough starting fluid, and the fuel pump or regulating system has $#!& the proverbial bed. There should be a schrader for a fuel pressure test gauge somewhere, but again, I don't know.

Looks pretty nifty. A guy would pay a fortune to have that done up here. Why the black center console lid? Just to match the tray insert in the console?

If it was in an XJ it probably came out of a regular Explorer. Verify this. The Ranger/Sport-Trac axle is the same width but uses 27 or 28 spline axles (I don't remember specifically, but they're junk) and almost certainly had drum brakes. Ask the owner to give you the companion flange off his driveshaft, along with the 12 point bolts that mate it to the pinion flange... It will save you money. The correct type of spacers will not require new studs as they bolt to the current set of studs, then your wheel is bolted to the set in them. Example: https://www.amazon.com/gp/cobrandcard/marketing.html/ref=cbcc_pb_547314662_m?pr=con321&inc=50gc&ts=7u1o8ipnq4l75016sxy6f8v8r5sblzt&dasin=B0035HIEN0&plattr=math&place=priceblock&imp=A2QQD6IP2MNX79

You can buy the control arms new from the aftermarket for not a lot of money. They are considered a wear part because the bushings are so time consuming to replace. Moog: http://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=3983961&cc=1381452&jsn=390 Something like $30/each. (I didn't feel like switching the pricing on the site, I have it in cnd so it's a bit of a guess on the conversion). Mevotech: http://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=6115977&cc=1381452&jsn=398 $40/each, obviously a better product. There is Mopar ones available too, but they're unreasonably priced at about $120/each. I'd probably buy the Mevotech before fighting a set out of the junkyard that already have a couple hundred thousand on them.

Go look in a junkyard if you have time, I think you'll find the later ones are a bit thicker. I don't know what wheel you have now, but there's some variations over the years.

It's a GM steering column, so basically any aftermarket wheel meant for a pre-airbag GM column will fit. I'd look for another Jeep wheel personally.

Why? Seems rather inconvenient.

Lots of guys here have done the swap, just not everyone chimes in. IMHO it makes more financial sense to use the HO intake and TB than having the Renix one bored out, assuming you have access to HO parts for cheap. Since you've got a WJ to steal stuff off of, I'd use that intake and throttle body. The only real hurdle of using the HO TB is adapting the Renix TPS to it, which is really just some fiddling around and finding the correct bolts. Will it make much more power than the Renix one? Probably not much, but the design is at least theoretically better. There is some other complications with using that later intake, IIRC, as the fuel rail was quite different due to them going to a returnless setup in those years (fuel pressure regulator is in the pump). You can also go to the MAP sensor that is on the throttle body with the later setup, which IMHO is a cleaner and more reliable install; there is a writeup or thread on this here somewhere (probably started by Hornbrod, I know he uses that setup). The HO throttle body also uses a much more normal air intake, so if you want to build your own intake, switch to a different filter/box setup, or get an aftermarket intake it's much easier to find one that will fit. Also, the Renix intake WILL interfere with some of the aftermarket headers, as the Renix intake is very low and upturns the runners before going into the head. The whole reason I wound up going to the HO intake was that the header I had would never have come close to clearing the Renix intake. The factory HO header will not interfere with the Renix intake like that, it just might need some grinding on the flange like I mentioned earlier. I don't know if that power steering pump is worth using, or any different than the Renix one. Most likely it's more or less exactly the same, except it might have holes in the pulley to make accessing the bolts easier. In which case either use it or throw it on the shelf as a spare. I should have specified I used the V8 WJ pump as it was factory ported for use with the hydraulic cooling fan setup they had, so it's a great pump if you've got hydro assist steering; however the pulley offset is different between it and the typical XJ 4L stuff so you either have to swap the pulleys or mill the bracket down.