shelbyluvv

Then I washed her up and took some glamor shots. She's no model but she does look good from a distance. and a few interior shots because the 97 interior looks so sweet. That's all for now. I'm saving up to get her painted this summer. It won't be a high dollar job. I plan to wheel the truck so a big money paint job doesn't make sense to me. I am also going to put the factory Eliminator decals back on it... Maybe

Today I decided to tackle the axle joints and my sticking caliper. I knew the drivers side was my problem child but didn't know to what extent. I pulled the brakes and hub to get to the joint. When I finally got it out it actually scared the piss out of me. I've been driving this truck for months on this u-joint! How it didn't cause any damage to the stub or axle is beyond me. I then started digging into the sticking caliper. First I found the retaining bolts were seized in the sleeves. Then I found these nasty grooves in the knuckle. I whipped out the grinder and smoothed out the knuckle and ended up with this. I bought new sleeves and bolts but it would seem that the knuckle had stripped the bolt holes at one point ant the stock bolts would not work. I grabbed a drill and drilled the new sleeve to allow a bigger bolt to slide through it. I moved on to the passenger side and it was nothing like the other side. The u-joint was good and the knuckle was in good shape. I replaced the u-joint and cleaned up the knuckle and put her back together.

TJ tank will fit there easily. It has the same angles as the rear cross member. You are already OBD-II as well.

That reminds me... I need to go find my 19mm wrench that took a ride into the yard.

Thanks Buck. This fiasco really tested my patience. I'm glad it worked out.

Newest engine was picked up. It is a 93 engine. I had to change the intake for my 97 one and my APN header. I need to put the XJ oil filter adapter on it. The oil pressure sender was replaced also because it was bad. Once the engine was in I fired it up and she started to overheat and had a serious case of blowby. I was about to light it on fire and roast marshmallows over it's burning carcass. My little girl talked me out of the "Onyx bon fire" and we left it for the night. I went out this morning and pulled the temp sender in the back of the head and burped the air out of it. I also pulled the plugs and sprayed WD40 into the holes. Thinking maybe the rings were stuck from sitting. I also swapped in the 97 distributor while I was letting the rings soak. I put the plugs back in it and she fired right up and the blowby and overheating was gone. Either the 93 distributor was pulling timing or the WD40 loosened the rings. I don't really know what fixed it? I took her for a test ride and got the dreaded CEL. Pulled the code and the o2 sensor died. Replaced it and all was well again. On the return trip she started pulling hard to the left. The caliper is sticking on that side. It has done it before but I forgot about it. I'll fix that next week. All in all I am very happy to have my baby back on the road!

Jesus stopped by today when I was working on the MJ. Nice guy but the language barrier was kinda tough to get through. I think he said, "Hay mang, chu wanza sell you chairkee truck?"

Mine was saying empty at 1/4 tank with the XJ cluster. Try your cluster an see if it works. If not just make a note and buy a TJ cluster later on.

Get a load leveler too. Well worth it. A few tips after swapping two engines in the same truck this week. Remove everything on the front of the engine first. Rad, alt, ac compressor, power steering pump, everything that will unbolt. Revome the front driveshaft if 4wd. Next remove the bolts from the exhaust manifold and where the cat connects. Place a floor jack under the trans crossmember and jack it up until a little of the truck's weight is pushing down. Remove the bolts into the frame rail and lower the trans down all the way. Remove the CPS and top E14 bolts. Break the two big bolts loose but do not remove. Fish the head pipe out also. Jack it back into place and use the nuts only to hold it up. Remove starter, dust cover, and flexplate bolts if auto. Hold the trans to the truck not the ground. I used a 2x4 and wood blocks across the lower control arms. I have drop brackets though. Remove the last two bell housing bolts. Hook up the hoist and lift engine so the motor mount bolts can be removed. Now yank it out. Don't forget the ground strap and O2 sensor wiring.

My TJ tank was 16 gallon. I did have issues with the gauge being off. The gauge would say E when I still had a couple gallons left. The TJ cluster fixed it. Your results may very. I'm just telling you what my truck did.

No way that is 250 with bolt ons. More like 220 max, if that. You don't get the full advertised power out of every bolt on mod.

Here are the remains of the rod bearings All the pretty parts in the pan. That lead me to this. Image Not Found Well that lead to this... My $20 engine with a "lifter tick" wasn't what it was advertised as. It knocked worse than my original engine. I spent about an hour trying to diagnose the rattle and it started to miss. When I shut it off it was spraying coolant out between cylinders 4 and 5. YAY! Cracked block. I am picking up another engine tomorrow that is guaranteed not to be DOA. This one better be good or I'm junking the truck.

Nope

I think up until 02 was plug and pray. You'll have to research that to make sure though.

The pot values were different enough that I didn't like guessing if I was almost out of gas. Now if the light is on then I need gas.

I moved your post out of the thread they were in so you could get more visibility.

I don't use them as much any more since I have to pay tax and can usually find it cheaper from another vendor online. Lately www.streetsideauto.com has been my go to place for performance parts. I got 4 Bilstein 5100 shocks and a 5100 steering stabilizer from my Ram for $319 shipped from them. That's like $64 a piece shipped for Bilstein shocks. You can't beat that deal!

get a wireless security camera ASAP. Just in case they decide to take a different approach than you envision. Video proof is golden once it comes time to go to court. You can get them fairly cheap and they super easy to install.

I had the same issue with RFI from bad leads. The car was an 87 Shelby Charger and would run great on hot, dry days. If it got cooler and the humidity got above 70% it would run like total crap. It took me months to figure that out. I tried to keep my date coded wires for originality but ended up going with Magnacore 10MM to cure a couple different ignition related issues after I went to 18 psi of boost. It's amazing what weird problems you can encounter with a computer controlled engine!

There are two different Summit warehouses within a couple hundred miles of you. I can get stuff within 24 hours if I time it right.

Rick get ahold of Spencer at Jeepsticker.com for the tailgate stickers.

Can you post pics of them both? I see this argument all the time and would like to see the actual difference between the two.

I just bought a Harbor Freight 2 ton engine crane and 2 ton load leveler for $216 shipped. Use retailmenot.com to find the 25% off coupon for one item. Then do two separate orders to apply the discount to each order. It may be cheaper to have one single shipment for our northern brothers though.

Welcome Home! I hope she got some liberty time to see the sights.

I'm right there with you man. Mine blew the bottom end out of it last week. I got a cheap engine and will have her running again next week.