neohic

Awesome to see this back at the top!

I think there’s something with the alternator mount. It’s a series of washers that looked a bit suspect to me but it went back together how it came apart. Never had a problem in the past. I’ll know more when I take a closer look.

Yup. Wifey came to my rescue this afternoon with the tools needed to put the belt back on. Limped it home at low RPMs to avoid loosing the alternator again. I’ll have a closer look at it Friday morning.

Drove into work this morning. Came to an intersection to hear an odd sound, no power steering, and my volt gauge reading way low. I had just a block to go so I just went for it. Turns out it threw off both v-belts, chewed up the power steering belt, and wrapped the alternator belt up in the front driveshaft. Glad I put the old belts in the ammo box for just in case.

Welcome back!

More truck stuff. With the old CJ engine gone the bed got filled with the borrowed engine hoist and stand. I ran the 4.2 down to FN Jeep this morning. If you’ve never heard to them, it’s an indoor used parts dealer that caters to everything Jeep related. There’s a new owner as of about a year ago and he’s been moving things into a bigger online presence. Super good dude and I invited him to join us in the vendor section in the classifieds. He’s got some MJ specific parts but also tons of XJ/MJ stuff. There’s also a big crate filled with 2.1 diesel stuff. Need something specific?… he probably has it. Before I left I picked up a ‘97+ wiper motor to do Airborne Janitor’s upgrade. Looking forward to my wipers not sucking anymore.

Rob still has his and it’s still clattering. He’s a wealth of knowledge on them too. Kinda wish he’d come back around here. JeepcoMJ has connections with them too. Pat’s dad had one. Not sure if it’s still in the family or not.

Nope. The diesel option was only ‘86 for the Comanche. Short beds came along in ‘87.

Back in the shop today to finish tidying up some things. The under hood wiring needed a once over along with some interior bits. Mainly getting the heater box and dash cleaned up. The heater box got simplified since the cables to move the internal baffles were falling apart. Now it’s fixed for full heat and a split between defrost and floor. The switch will be in the panel I made a little while back. New switches and a USB port were ordered today since these mismatching finicky ones haven’t fixed themselves yet. There will be an on/off switch for the USB and rear light along with an on/off/on for the two speed blower fan. As for the rear light… … it’s a super basic tractor light that used to live on the roof of my old Cherokee. It’s probably a place holder since it’s in pretty rough shape. I like the simple utilitarian look of it though. Good to have everything functional again. Haven’t run the new engine much yet. I should probably put some miles on it.

I’ve never had an issue with the cheap pans. Before installing, I check the gasket surface with a straight edge and “adjust” if necessary. I always use the expensive, blue Felpro gasket too. The one piece is awesome with a little RTV in the corners.

Truck stuff. Getting rid of the old 4.2 from the CJ on Monday.

Yes! Yes! Yes! I like when old familiar threads work their way back to the top.

Heats up nicely. It stays at 50° when I’m not out there and sometimes I’ll bump it up depending on what I’m working on. I see it in the electric bill though. Of all the compromises, I’m happy with it.

Time to make this thing a runner again. My truck was sneering at me the other morning. Between yesterday and today I got nearly everything wrapped up. Still have a good size list of things that I found along the way and some loose ends. Finally with all the right parts sorted out, the engine slid right in. Almost everything went right back where it was except for the power steering pump. I went back and forth on running the later model serpentine belt, alternator, and power steering setup. I like the simplicity of how it was so on went the v-belt accessories… almost. The power steering pump mount wanted to share space with the exhaust manifold. Being I already gave the middle two runners a small dimple to fit the intake, I figured cylinder #1 wouldn’t mind either. Then came the two bolts into the intake that I knew wouldn’t line up. The throttle linkage came up short too so I made it adjustable to dial everything in nicely. I wrapped up the exhaust and got everything ready to fire. … and it did! Prior though, this fuel injection kit really wants to see a full 12 volts that mildly bit me when I went to start it after just rolling it over to get some oil pressure. In the mean time of letting it sit on the charger, I took apart the heater box and changed out the heater core. Of course I found a mouse nest. Who doesn’t find evidence of mice at some point in their CJ? After the charger did its thing, the key got turned, it fired right up, and I set the timing and gave it another once over. The throttle response is awesome! I still wouldn’t call this thing a hot rod or anything, but the seat-of-the-pants dyno told me that the new engine has a few more horses still in the stable. The Jeep is at a good point to put it back outside for now to get my truck off my back. I’ll get back to it soon to finish up the little stuff. Anybody need a used 4.2?

Bump for a solid build. I really miss updates in this truck. Hope all is well.

Ha! Not sure how the forum decides what picture to throw on for a thread preview. Had I been the one to decide, it definitely would’ve been a more flattering picture from her youth.

Bo did this a while back in his truck, Onyx. Page 10 he goes into detail on mounting a TJ tank:

I like a big bench for toodling around slowly with my arm up and over the back rest. Your truck isn’t what I think of when I think “slowly”. My vote goes to the buckets.

Beautiful truck. Well done!

… let’s try this again. Yesterday must’ve been an off day since I went out to the shop this morning and just dropped the distributor right in. I swear that distributor just wouldn’t go in regardless of the number attempts or by rotating the oil pump. Who knows…

… and we’ve stopped again. I got so caught up in the pilot bushing that I completely overlooked the throwout bearing. In hindsight, I should’ve just returned the clutch kit and got one for a ‘76. Now I’m waiting on that before I can toss the engine in. Why not do small things like drop in the distributor? … nope. The camshaft gear has the same amount of teeth as a stock 4.0 distributor but the gear on the aftermarket distributor is different enough that it won’t drop in. The distributor shaft is slightly smaller in diameter too so I can’t just swap them. Motor mounts? … close but also a negative. Anybody know the thread size for my empty hole on the driver side of the engine? It’s the same in a 4.0 as in a 4.2. That hole had a 7/16-20 bolt in the 4.2 but it wasn’t tight. That same bolt in the 4.2 barely engages the threads in the same hole in the 4.0. Must be metric?

I’ll take a chocolate malt. Staying up late or getting up early?

Okay… moving forward.

Got home, rearranged the shop so I could play “musical engines”, swapped the oil pan, got the new engine off the stand, and measured the outside diameter for the pilot bushing. I need 1.055” outside and .673” inside. That’s a bone stock bushing for a 1976 CJ from the parts store. $4 instead of Novak’s $18.