87MJTIM

Restoration Part Deux – Part 1. I want to follow up and give a conclusion to the MJ restoration that started more than two years ago. Let me start from the beginning. In 2012, I took the MJ to a body shop (BS) to get the rust repaired. The shop was recommended by the owner of a local auto repair shop. He said that the BS did really good work. I took it to that BS for them to look at my truck. They said they could do the work, and it should only take a few months. After eight months, they were finished. (Lots of drama that I won’t go into.) The work done was not of the quality I hoped for. They replaced the floors and the rear wheel arches. The floor was a hack job, and the arches were filled with bondo. The flares were cut up and glued to the bedside. After a few years, the bondo was cracking. This started my journey to find a shop that would do a proper restoration. I searched for shops that advertised restorations. I tried contacting them to see if they would take on my project. Just about all said no. While driving one day, I passed by a shop with restoration in its name. I searched for the shop on the internet and sent an inquiry about taking on my project. I got a reply that he would like to look at it. I met the owner and showed him what I wanted. He showed me his shop and what he could do. One of the vehicles he was working on was a ’43 Ford GPW. You can see it in the pictures I posted previously. He was a young guy – late 20s, early 30s. I’ll call him “P”. He seemed really hungry for the work. We arranged for me to drop it off in late November 2022. It started out well. P would send pictures of the work he had done along with a progress invoice. I got progress updates for the first three months. That was about the last time I posted on the work, February 2023. There are events that occur that make you question how things are progressing. The first one for me was when P sent a progress invoice with the request that I pay soon so “he could make payroll this week.” That is what you would call a Clue. (Some background about me. I am CPA with almost forty years of experience working with business for accounting and tax needs. I have seen many businesses fail. One common reason for failure is not making payroll and not paying Uncle Sam what is due. P was on that path.) Not long after the last invoice, I got a call from P. He says he is moving his shop to another location. He will be partnering with another shop owner. He assured me that my truck will be taken care of and work will continue at the new location. A few weeks go by without hearing from P. (Keep in mind that my work schedule keeps me very busy from January through April 15. I couldn’t do much to follow up with P.) I finally got a call. He tells me that he is hiring a lawyer and says that the guy he “partnered” with ripped him off. This was mid-March. Not a good time for me. P says he is opening his own shop again in a much farther location than his first shop. He wanted to know if I would transfer my truck to his new location. I said don’t do anything until I can speak to the other shop owner and see the condition of my MJ. After April 15, I reached out to the shop with my MJ. I told them who I was and that my MJ was in their shop. They were very surprised to hear from me. They had no idea who owned that truck!!! My wife and I went to the new shop. A large, open area garage with ten bays for vehicle and a professional paint booth. The owner (“J”) showed us around and told us about himself, his experience, and his business. He is someone that knows about making payroll. He showed some of the vehicles he worked on. Some were restorations and others were resto-mods. J also filled us in on his “partnering” with P. P was in way over his head with running and operating a business. In addition to the payroll issue, he was several months behind on the rent for his shop. J offered to pay all of P’s expenses in exchange for P coming to work for J. J bought all of P equipment and tools and all 12 project vehicles P was working on. (Twelve projects for one guy and one employee is too much, in my opinion.) J told us that if we wanted, we could have the MJ shipped to P’s new shop. We decided to leave it with J. This was May 2023. End part 1. Intermission.

There was a product Undo (I think) that will allow you to remove stickers and stamps from paper. It doesn’t stain or leave a residue. My wife bought at craft stores. If you can find that, try dripping it on the emblem.

Brandon, are you still making MJ hitches? What is the going price? How much to ship to 21774? Thanks.

...and Inspector Gadget...

"It is good to know other people pay attention to the lessons learned in Science fiction, as with many things sci-fi becomes reality, Think Star Trek: communicators/tricorders = cell phones, there are so many other things that became reality," That's not entirely true. What ever happened with Maxwell Smart's shoe phone?

Pretty neat! https://keychainguy.com/products/1986-1992-jeep-comanche-keychain

Look at the back of the cluster for the flexible circuit board. Look for break in any of the contacts.

For an AX15, the fill plug is left side toward the top. Drain plug is on the right side lower. Be sure you can open the fill plug BEFORE draining the fluid.

Sounds like a "ask me how I know" incident.

I'm glad you found my thread useful.

Good eye. I chose my words carefully.

I used Felpro gaskets all around on a 93 4.0 in my CJ. Felpro states in the instructions that RTV is not needed. I did not use any RTV (unless instructed) and so far no leaks. Your results may vary.

Learn something new everyday. I have never seen those before. "Never mind." Emily Litella

Looks great! The rear window is not original. Jeep used a 3 panel window. The door mirrors are after market. Try getting XJ mirrors to replace the others.

I believe the single wire connector is for the engine compartment light - if equipped.

Stumbled up on this site. It has some useful info for an AX15 swap. https://boxyjeep.com/blogs/knowledgebase/manual-transmission-swap-guide

I stumbled upon this site when I saw the overflow bottle bracket for open cooling system conversion. https://boxyjeep.com/products/jeep-2-5l-egr-plate-1982 Search around. There are other MJ/XJ parts.

I hope to have a final update very soon. I will have a LONG dissertation about the process.

I was getting 20 +/- on highway when I had 3.07 gears. I swapped to 3.55 and MPGs fell to 17/18 on highway. Stop-n-go/city was in the mid-teens.

There should be two similar connectors, one on each side.

Is it for fog lamps?

One more thing: The AX15 input shaft tips have two diff sizes. Early models (89-93) have tips that are ~1/2". Later models (94+) have a 3/4" tip. You will have to replace the pilot bearing/bushings with your MJ if you get the later model. I found that the bushing for a '75, CJ5, w/ a 304 cu. in. engine fits. Search RockAuto for the part.

If you stay with the BA10, the int slave cyl for an AX15 is compatible with the BA10. If you go for the AX15 swap ext slave cyl, you will need a list of parts: 1. AX15 with ext slave cyl bellbousing, plus the internals of the bellhousing. 2. NP231 transfer case with 23 spline input shaft. (Your existing TC has 21 splines and will not fit the AX15.) 3. The transmission cross member and transmission mounts. The cross member for the BA10 does not have the drop section the AX15 requires. 4. An external slave cyl, or buy a pre-bled hydro master-line-slave kit. 5. TC shift linkage. There is a diff between the two transmissions linkages. Others may add to the list.

I was having problems with my radio display light going out. The radio would play and keep memory, so I knew it was getting power. I did Cruiser's instrument panel ground upgrade and that fixed the radio display and the other lights improve a lot.

What transmission do you have in it? The BA10 case splits in half from front to back. The AX15 come apart in three sections.