DirtyComanche

So my 2dr XJ seats didn't work out as well as I hoped. The driver's seat was pretty thrashed, so I planned to swap them side to side anyways. However, when I drilled the brackets off the driver's seat I found that the rails were badly cracked. I think I can just drill the 'stop' rivets out of the rails and swap them over too, but I'm not sure if I am that interested because the seat isn't in great shape anyways. I honestly would like to pick up a set of 2dr JK seats and try to make them fit. Somebody on here did try it (who has long since sold their truck and moved on), and got the driver's seat to fit fine, but had no luck with the passenger seat. I am not sure why the passenger one wouldn't be able to work... So I may try hitting the boneyard and seeing just how spendy such a pair of seats would be. Anyways, I did put the passenger one in on the driver's side, which I am happy with for now. At least I have reasonable access to back there without having to take the seats out. It also meant I could put my first aid kit where it 'belongs' - which is on the back of the seat.

8 ohm speakers, that's pretty weird. Trust AMC to decide to do something like that. :rotf:

I never check preload once the carrier is in. I have no idea what it would be, and I'm not sure it's a very valid measurement at that point. I just add shims equally to each side until it's quite difficult to hammer the carrier in with my large deadblow.

I found the pedals to be a bit slick, mostly the clutch, so I figured "Why not get some grippy 'race' pedals!" So, Amazon I went, and BAM, in my mailbox: The clutch and brake one went on easy enough, other than there wasn't much for flat surfaces in the right place to drill through and bolt them on. The gas pedal was a different matter completely. It wound up pretty butchered. Back side: I moved it around a bunch of times trying to find the best place for it. I wound up shaving the sides down a bit, and centering it on the pedal like this: It wound up being way too close to the brake pedal, and test driving it confirmed that. So I flipped it upside down, moved it over, and cut one row of holes off it: All in all I think I'm happy with it. The clutch and brake pedal are good, the screws are a bit wonky because there isn't a flat spot to put them into, but I can forgive that. I might pull the gas pedal back out and trim it some more, I haven't decided. I also regret not looking for a matching pedal for the parking brake, but I think I can live without if need be. One thing that has me puzzled is that I grabbed a gas pedal out of the shed rather than jacking up the one that was in the truck. After I put it in I realized it sits way higher. Pedal I pulled out of the truck: If you look at the final picture of the pedals installed, you can see the pivot is in a different location. So, did I swap a HO pedal in by accident? It should not have been one, as it was the gas pedal that went with the clutch/brake pedals out of a parts XJ that definitely was a Renix. Or was the original pedal in my Comanche wrong? I compared it to the pedal in my XJ (also Renix) and it is the same as the one I swapped into the MJ, BUT my XJ has a HO throttle body on it and I don't specifically remember if I bent the Renix pedal or put a HO one in and then wound up bending it too (the floor is not normal in my XJ because there is a doubler and a NP205). I actually had doubts if I was getting full throttle out of the original pedal in my MJ, since it sat so low to the floor to start with, but I never investigated. Anyways, this was another one of those projects that should have taken about 15 minutes but turned into about 3 hours. :rotf:

6 pounds is 6 pounds. The M90 won't be capable of producing 6 pounds with the increased displacement of the stroker, that's the issue. It just can't move enough air. I think realistically it might make about 3 pounds on an engine like yours, and yeah, not much gain there after parasitic loss. A M90 came up for sale locally, so I was doing some reading. :yes:

One thing I noticed with the new injectors is that if you lug the engine down way low, it is able to recover from it much better, and it has more grunt in general while being lugged. So that is certainly a worthwhile improvement. I tracked down some 2dr XJ tilt forward seats, just gotta clean them up and swap the brackets. The guy I got them from was parting out several XJs, I didn't have much time but I did manage to snag the center console brackets out of the same rig. My console was put in without them, basically it was just held by the screws up front and the seats. IIRC the MJ rear bracket isn't exactly the same as an XJ one, but it works well enough. Brackets: So at least my console isn't flopping around anymore. Of course I'm just going to have to pull it back out to replace the inner shift boot, whenever I track one down that isn't destroyed.

Yup, 12-15 in-lbs of preload, 6-10 thou of backlash. Having to really hammer the carrier in is a good thing, it sounds like you've got it right. Just avoid the first drive being a long stint on the highway, it's going to make some heat the first couple times its driven. And I suggest using a decent synthetic oil. The factory normally shimmed between the head of the pinion and the bearing, so some install kits come with those shims.

That's really bringing a new meaning to 'base model'. I have no idea though.

The race is the easy way if you don't have setup bearings. But yeah, add .005 and see how it goes. I'm thinking it will be more than that, but it's always a guessing game. Make sure you get the pinion preload in spec, or if you can't that it's just on the tight side and then take it easy on break in. Likewise, carrier bearing preload is your friend, unless you use a case spreader and hammer the carrier in it's pretty much impossible to have too much.

You need a whack more pinion depth. Are you shimming under the race or the bearing?

Where did you pick up the carpet? And what did you paint the interior with? It's looking really nice.

It goes under a non-critical bellhousing bolt, I can see you have them in the picture... I think on the other side though. None of my stuff is set up like that though.

You could try swapping it but my gut says it isn't the problem.

TPS adjusted correctly? IAC is actually functioning? Throttle is actually closing?

Does it currently work? There apparently isn't much difference between them.

Use a wrench with it on stands like that. If it really won't go, something is broken. It should come out of 4wd with very minimal force, only the spring pressure on the detent ball will be holding it at that point. At that point if it still won't go I'd take the linkage off the tcase (14mm nut/stud holds it on, IIRC) and try shifting it with a wrench on where the linkage attaches (has two flat spots to mesh with the linkage), if it's still bound up the problem is likely in the tcase. With my home built linkage I can shift it with only one finger on the lever.

beds kinda trash, didn't bother me to drill through bondo. No loss then.

Nice Dodge. I've had a couple of those. The last one tried pretty hard to kill me. I recommend replacing the ubolts in the rear if it's had a lot of miles, or been abused.

This is the wrong subforum. Somebody might see it and move it. Your transmission issue might be as simple as the clutch needing to be bled. Or it could be way more complicated, such as worn synchros or the clutch is worn out or assembled wrong. More info would help with diagnosis, such as if it happens only when stopped, or moving. Also being an 89 you might have the terrible Peugeot BA-10/5 transmission, which any minor issue with it is a likely sign of imminent total failure. Your brake problems could be a lot of things. I'm guessing you couldn't fully bleed it since one of the bleed screws is broken off? Also, there is a funky bleeding procedure because of the load sensing valve in the rear, it is posted in the tech section and somewhere in this section I believe. Beyond bleeding them, I'd guess that your hoses have gone soft and are ballooning under pressure. Or it is actually leaking, just slowly. The line behind the fuel tank is notorious for rusting, and the wheel cylinders can weep if they get old, so those are two places worth looking. You can make the closed system cool properly, but it is hard to keep it working because the expansion tank is a piece of junk. Running hot is normal, it is a 195 degree thermostat and the temp sender is in the back of the head. So seeing over 200+ on the gauge is not at all abnormal. Also the gauges are notoriously poorly calibrated. Another common thing is the fan clutch wears out and no longer functions, plus often if there is an aux fan it no longer functions either, so they're things that are worth checking/repairing.

I threw in a set of Volvo 746 injectors today, since I wasn't really able to do anything else useful. I guess they made some sort of a difference in regards to throttle response, nothing earth shattering there. It did seem to clean the idle up a bit. I popped the cap off the disty and realized I must not have looked at it since I bought it, it desperately needs a new one and a rotor, so I got those ordered. I did the plugs and wires though since I had them on the shelf.

I don't see how a proper body shop could possibly fix all those panels for $3200 - the guy with the Chevy better fight that. $8-10k seems reasonable to me.

Maybe 500km on it now. 200km on gravel/dirt/some abusive stuff. Everything still works fine.

Why did the head gasket go (a second time at that)?

Might look into a 67-68 Camaro fuel tank... It's a promising shape. Edit, the picture I had was not of a Camaro tank... Hmm, going to have to try to find out what. 2nd Edit, it is said Camaro tank, but only the Holley EFI verison. And it isn't cheap. At all. http://www.jegs.com/i/Holley/510/19-101/10002/-1

All the threads that said it fit were regarding the Peugeot, at least that I saw... I mean, it would work, it does look like it is exactly like the one that is in there, minus the one I have is destroyed. My understanding is that the one for the AX-15 is slightly different, or is moved back just a bit, but I don't have anything here to compare to. Might be more of a junkyard item.