neohic

I thought about doing something like this a long time ago. At that time I was looking very closely at copying a product called the Tire Gate. Here's a link: http://www.pickupspecialties.com/Tire_gate/tiregate_prerunner_series.htm. Perhaps that could some wheels turning for you?

I use PB too... never had any problems with it though. What was the cure for future reference?

^Same.

There's enough... but just barely. Sitting in it and get in and out just fine, but there's only a couple inches between my head and the tube. I would imagine my future self will thank me given a bumpy road.

Well... one step back today, but also one step forward. I ended up cutting out the rear of the cage for now to think about some things. It was really the rear spreader bar that had to go to make way for the seats to move back another couple inches. I'd really like to put one back in as it would add so much in terms of side impact strength, so I'm sure a replacement with a couple of bends will be in its future. The next thing on my list was to figure the front spreader bar/steering column mount. After looking closer at things, I had a little bit of a bind in the column. Seems as though the body lift from last year screwed up the location of the front of the column. The hole was originally put there by whoever had the body in the first place. It needs some cleanup anyhow. I'll come back to that later also. Today I really wanted to get something accomplished after removing the entire rear of the cage. Why not move outwards? My original plan was to have some side protection but I've never liked the look of tube along the side of the interior. Made up a pair of these... ... along with some mounts... ... to hang the new "crash bars" (for lack of a better term) underneath the body. I'll come back add some triangulation to them once the body is off and out of the way. As for now, it'll wait for another weekend.

Only a couple months gone by... not too bad for me getting back to a project. It's been a rough holiday season and, quite frankly, I just didn't want to work on anything. All that's done now, so it's time to get back to work. Ever since I mounted the seats, I've never been crazy about getting in and out of this little thing. I was okay with where the seat was, but then there's the line of sight through the windshield that was filled with more steering wheel than there should've been. So? I had to borrow something from my wall to play around with some numbers... That steering wheel was what was in my '72 Beetle when I first got it. It wasn't all that bad to drive with, but it won't ever win any beauty pageants. I'm sure it'll make its way back to clock duty, but until then it's solving a problem! Then it was to get back to the cage. ... added a bump for some additional headroom... ... and that's were I fell off track again. I threw away a few pieces of tube that just didn't look right to me. Trying to get a nice "roof" line without going too tall seemed all too difficult. I like the lines of where this ended up, but I'm now wishing that I was about six inches shorter. The seats came out, seat tracks cut down, then seat tracks got removed all together... it comes down to I either need smaller seats or I need to start cutting material. Neither of which I really want to do.

Looking very good, sir!

Glad to see you kickin' around here again, Brent! You are correct though that his '86 did come with a 4.0 from the factory. Here... something to catch up on. :typing:

I'd say that it still needs a little more! Not sure how much time that clattering engine has left. Let it get up to temperature and it clacks like a diesel. I know that it's on its second engine already as the first one was firing on five cylinders (for one reason or another) and the replacement is about one oil change behind the rest of the chassis... about 255k hard and neglected miles. I can't help but think I'll be out on some wheeling trip in the future and have another episode like the trans going out. We'll see, I guess. The floor and the roof is another concern of mine. The floor will be an easy fix come spring time (along with rear u joints and rear diff seals), but the corners of the roof are getting some serious rust. It'd be easy enough to treat it like the Kleenex it is and just throw it away and get another XJ, but I can't help but feel committed to this chassis after the cutting, plating, and modifications that its gone through. I wouldn't turn down grafting on another roof, but I sorta like the idea of using it an as excuse for the start of a simple exo cage. I dunno... with more and more talks of picking up and moving, I'm sure it'll just get what it needs for this year. As far as the engine? Maybe everyone can just keep their fingers crossed for me?

Right?! Pretty sure that was put in from the factory. :idea:

Wow! Can't believe I've had the ol' Ape for one year already! :shake:

Wow, Nick! :eek: This has got to be one of my favorite build threads. It's such a fun story from where it was to what it's not turning into. Can't help but wonder what your dad thinks of his old truck!

Easy to duplicate also... http://comancheclub.com/topic/27392-back-to-jeeps-yj-fuel-injection-build/

73... probably to pass someone.

Sell it?!?!?! Not an option. When I'm driving, I'm driving. No fiddling with the radio or eating a sandwich. Only reason I put a cup holder in that truck was for the wife. All comes back to wanting ti shift through the gears.

You're just sour you didn't claim another in the HO following. :yes:

Here I thought there was a difference in cams... should've looked into that more. :dunno: Looks like it was the same cam from '87 to '95. Really the only easy or budget minded thing I haven't done to my engine is the bigger throttle body. I'm still running the original '88 ECU also. Think I remember you posting something about '89-'90 ECUs giving a slight boost also. I slightly lean towards HO, but as far as the long standing HO to Renix debate, I could really go either way. Sorry, Cruiser... I'd consider me a draw. Fortunately, that also means that Don didn't win either. :rotf:

... but if I were to do that and it happened to be HO, should I take the time to swap it all over (if it's got an uncut harness), and would a stock Renix short block (or just a stock Renix cam in my case) get along with the HO components and computer? Still hypothetical. :laughin:

If I could find a good trans with an external slave, matching t-case, and pedals then I'd go that route. Pricing things locally though, I've found cheaper donor vehicles that I could later scrap to make up costs. Again, this is more of a thinking out loud type thread... and I'm enjoying this! :banana:

I love it in a "fun vehicle". My '98 XJ is an auto and I love it on the trail. My '88 sees streets only now and I catch myself sometimes reaching down as if to shift. I did see that thread. Lots of all too familiar pictures there.

My '88 is no trail rig. :no:

Admittedly, really just because I want to. :D

I think what it really comes down to is my want to go through all of the wiring in the truck at some point to make sure that everything is sound and swap to a manual trans. Whenever that time comes and I need to find a donor, there are obviously more '91 and up Jeeps out there than '90 and down. I'd say that it would be easier to find a Renix era to swap to being that it my current head doesn't have all that many miles, but that does narrow things down for the transmission being I have a 21 spline transfer case. Granted, early AX15s do exist for a 21 spline NP231 (correct?), but then I'd still want to swap things around for an external slave setup. I think that if I were to find the right '94 XJ, it would have everything that I need to swap to everything I want all wrapped up in a convenient package without changing anything about the look of the interior. Anytime I've ever done a big enough parts swap on a Jeep, I've found that it's way cheaper and easier to just find a donor that has everything you want. I really don't think I want more power, but I wouldn't turn it down either.

Gah! You're right. Short block... I meant short block. Original post and thread title corrected.

Not to speak for Austin, but I think they flex and move around a lot. I saw his ARB break a corner light from twisting too much.