Minuit

Yeah, something like that. I found that making my doors seal up tight made a huge difference. The triangle windows pivoting or not are a big cause of noise too. If they don't fit perfectly they like to whistle. Sent from my LG-D850 using Tapatalk

I'm resistant to this only because of the loss of space associated with doing so. I guess there might be some creative options for where to install an adequate sized sub and enclosure, more research would be needed. I should pull my interior out and check what's in there either way. I guess I could just try fading them out and letting the better Polks do the majority of the work too. I agree on the sub, it takes up way too much of the MJ's meager dry storage space for me to bother. Adding an amp (even a small relatively cheap one) will give you some more bass to work with. I don't know how much homework you've done on this so you may be aware of this already, but I wouldn't bother with adding a bunch of "sound deadener" like Dynamat and the others. It doesn't really stop sound from coming in, it just makes panels heavier to cut their resonant frequency. I put almost half of the "bulk pack" of Dynamat in my truck - on the floors, roof, doors, almost everywhere, and I was very disappointed. The only change I noticed was the doors made more of a "thunk" than a "clang" when closing them from the inside. No noticeable decrease in anything else. A much better way to go to cut road noise would be to add something like 1lb/sqft mass loaded vinyl below the glass line. A little more involved than rolling Dynamat everywhere, but it depends on how far you want to go.

I've seen a few people install 6x9s or 6-1/2s (if I was hacking on my truck to put bigger speakers back there they'd be 6-1/2s) but I've never seen it well done. Considering that rear speakers shouldn't really be prominent in the soundstage anyway, I'd be inclined to add an amplifier and/or sub first. I don't think you'd see too much benefit just from swapping the 4x6 rear speakers to 6x9s. There are amps out there that cost about what a set of good 6x9s would cost that would make a much bigger difference. I generally recommend Polk Audio speakers, however I'd call them a little bright sometimes. Don't know why, but it seems like over the past couple of years my ears have become extremely sensitive to treble frequencies. Other people I install them for have no such complaints, so it's probably just me. I have a factory 56002467 radio with aux in and stock size speakers with the same Alpine amplifier as schardein. My sound needs are more than met, but my goals are to have a stock appearance more than anything else. I couldn't stuff mine behind the radio, so it's behind the gauge cluster (about where the Renix ECU is located) with enough air around it so that heat shouldn't be a concern. Even with the limitations of the factory radio and speaker level inputs, the system has absolutely no trouble keeping up with my 77dB worth of highway noise. If you want bass, add a sub. Considering that rear speakers shouldn't be prominent anyway, swapping out the rear speakers for something bigger isn't worth the hassle to me. A sub or an amp is a much better use of the money IMO.

Good luck, dude...

I'm glad at least a few people know how to say it properly - this being a Jeep oriented forum I'd be disappointed if people didn't. Great video too, I love seeing old advertising (I have a collection of old Jeep brochures including some of the XJ/MJ ones I really ought to scan at some point) and training videos like these, especially the 80s Comanche ones that Rob posted a few years ago. Safety really wasn't much of a concern when they made this, was it? :D

BWD: Broken When Delivered. Pure C.R.A.P too, you must've gotten one of the rare good ones. I've been burned enough by their parts (especially EGR valves for some reason) to prefer a junkyard part over BWD.

I also had a Wells temp sender read stupidly high. Gauge would read 225-240 when actual temp was around 200. I'd rather have a 30 year old used Mopar part than some of the aftermarket $#!& out there these days. It's a thermistor, how hard can it be to make one read properly?

That's the harness that comes from the radio, I need the harness that comes from the dash.

I just bought a 1986 AMC radio, but I need the wiring harnesses on the Jeep side. About 6" of wire will be plenty. There are two connectors, one male and one female. Pre-1988 XJs and MJs should have these connectors. If someone knows what kind of connectors these are, that would be good to know also.

After a long search I've scored a like new 8956001910 AMC Dolby radio (the one in the video), so I'll be finding out its secrets soon!

To each his own but I'm very happy with how it turned out. I can blast Led Zeppelin out of the tape deck with the windows down at 60 with no distortion, so mission accomplished in my book. Definitely couldn't do that before.

Installed the KTP-445u today. I followed my schematic exactly and it worked without any problems. Here's a pic (before I wrapped it up in tape) of my harness: I installed the amp on its side behind the gauge cluster, basically in the same position that Renix trucks have their ECU. That's really the only place to put even a small amp in the MJ's dash and still be close to the original radio plug. I suppose next to the TCU would also be a good place, but you'd have to extend some wiring. My limiting factor as far as packaging went was that the input (radio-amp) harness was extremely short. It's the part above the two white plugs in the picture. The provided input harness is about 6" long once you cut off the RCA jacks and combined with my radio-amp adapter, it was only just long enough to reach. The output harness (left side of pic) is WAY too long for my needs, since I was going from the amp back into the factory wiring. If I would've known there would be so much extra wire I would've cut off about a foot off of the output harness. The power and ground leads are about the right length to reach to the dash ground and the fusebox. There's a lot more wiring going on behind the radio now, but the original plug tucks in the space to the right of the radio and the adapters fit behind the climate controls. I was expecting to have a tough time getting the radio back in, but it wasn't a problem. The amp doesn't get anywhere near as hot as I thought it would, so that's a definite plus. The installation is completely invisible to a casual observer, and the only sign that something aftermarket is there is the add-a-circuit on the fusebox. On the add-a-circuit I used two 15A fuses - one protecting the original circuit, and one protecting the amp. The radio and amp don't share a fuse. Since this is just a small amp, I don't think the extra load on the fusebox is cause for concern, but if the amp was fused at any more than 15A I would be running a new power wire from the battery. Other than that, it's an amplifier. It makes music louder. I tested with both of my radios and the 2467 still runs out of bass at about half volume and the more powerful 7214 does a little better (limitations of speaker level inputs, you see) so the gain will have to be adjusted accordingly. The gain settings (there's one for front and rear) are set at about 50% from the factory, and that's enough to turn the volume knob on the factory radio basically into an on-off switch. I have the gains set at about 1/6 now, but I might turn them up a tiny bit later once I give it a test on the road. One big downside of how I had to install the amp is that it's a huge PITA to adjust the gain controls. The gain controls are on the input side of the amp, which is facing up inside the dash. Really wish they were somewhere else, since I'll have to take the gauge cluster out to adjust them. Overall, having about an hour of listening time with it, I'd say it does the job nicely. Just don't expect miracles since with a factory radio you're stuck with using speaker level inputs. One thing I noticed is that after turning the key on the amp takes a second or so to turn itself on (in speaker level input mode it turns on when it senses a signal coming from the radio, so you won't need a remote turn on wire), so don't turn the volume up right after starting the truck or you'll be in for a very rude awakening once the amp wakes up. Parts list: - KTP-445U amp: $150 from Crutchfield, available elsewhere cheaper but Crutchfield has 2-day shipping to TN and I needed it quickly. Comes with output and input harnesses. - Metra 70-1002 adapter - plugs into original radio harness plug - Metra 71-1002 adapter - plugs into radio - A metric crapton of uninsulated butt splices (mostly 18-22awg but some 14-16awg for power leads) as well as adhesive lined heatshrink tube (probably used about 2' of heatshrink in total) - One uninsulated ring terminal to attach to instrument panel ground, 16-22awg - Add-a-circuit fusebox tap with 2 15A fuses, I cut off the tacky looking blue butt splice and used my own. - Zipties to secure amplifier to truck

Yup. Although if you google you'll find all sorts of people taking offense over the name of the Cherokee, so I'm sure there's someone out there who'll get their fee-fees hurt. I do think whoever decided to sell a truck called the "Comanche Eliminator" wasn't really thinking straight, but I'm not offended, just amused.

Wow, that 2.1 is impressively spanked. Is that a common problem with those, or did it get really, really hot? Great story and a solid looking truck, I'll be following this for sure.

So is there not a way to intercept the signal before its amplified? Well, there's a way, but it'll require picking off the L/R audio channels before they go to the radio final amp stage and wiring them out to RCA chassis jacks. I was going to say that and it's maybe something worth pursuing, but it's hardly a practical solution for the home gamer that just wants an original looking dash. Since this is a more technical thread, I probably should figure it out and report back. Truthfully, though, if you're going that far, even as someone who hates aftermarket radios I think you're probably better off getting one. Yeah, that's what I said before I started a business doing exactly this kind of thing At this point I'm just guessing but I think you could tap the pre-amp signals from the same board that has the aux input pins at one of two connectors (you'll want the signal right after it passes through the volume and tone controls). I need to get my hands on another deck that I don't mind screwing up for experimentation purposes. Hard to find these things in junkyards these days.

Is that yours Cruiser? Looks like a solid truck. Around here it'd probably get 3500 no problem, maybe more.

I've seen a couple of XJs catch fire behind the heater controls as well, probably due to that plug overheating. Not to mention the blower motor resistor. Wouldn't be a bad idea to check that every so often.

Not with a factory radio. haha nope it's totally possible Sent from my LG-D850 using Tapatalk

I'll be adding a small amp to the '91 soon so I'll be sure to document the process. Here's an amateurish schematic of the way I'm going to do it. I want to keep my truck's harness intact, so my method is a little bit more complicated and I need extra adapters. If that doesn't matter to you, your installation will be a little simpler. The amp I'll be using is small enough that it can run off the truck's existing radio fuse, so that means I won't need to run additional wiring from the battery (unless I hook it up and it blows the radio fuse all of the time, we'll see.) If you're using a bigger amp, you'll need to run a power wire from the battery. With a factory radio you'll either need an amp that accepts speaker level inputs (the signal that's been amplified already by the radio), or buy a converter that converts the radio's output to RCA low level (what you'd normally use with an aftermarket head unit). Normally, an aftermarket head unit will have RCA jacks on it, which bypasses the radio's internal amp for a cleaner signal. The factory radio obviously doesn't have that, so it's a little bit of a compromise since the radio's internal amplifier adds a little bit of distortion.

I went out and took a look at my 89's trim panels. The rear edges look very much to have been cut after the fact - the XJ panel is longer than the MJ one after the oh $#!& handle and has a "ridge" where the XJ b-pillar trim would be. The MJ panel extends to just under the B pillar trim and has no extra cuts or ridges. I bet to make the MJ parts they just cut down the XJ ones.

Yeah i want those and the A pillar ones as well. are those interchangeable with cherokee ones? Ive got my hands on a 2000 cherokee and was thinking of switching the interiors over...That being said i have a tan interior now which is in fantastic shape and seeing the prices of those panels my brain is saying "Hell yeah grab those things and lets get wrenching!!" but then my wallet is saying "Remember we are trying to do this on a budget..." If the stinkin JY would stay open longer i would have more time to go through the yard and try to find a MJ. I find that alot of them have tan/burgandy interiors. We all know the Cherokee doors fit the Comanche, so it is reasonable that the factory used exactly the same part number on both the Cherokee and the Comanche for the A pillar trim. Guess we will have to look in the parts book to verify an exact match. XJ: http://www.ebay.com/itm/LH-RH-Interior-A-Pillar-Windshield-Trim-SAND-Pair-1991-1996-Jeep-Cherokee-XJ-/401286015567?fits=Make%3AJeep|Model%3ACherokee&hash=item5d6e82aa4f:g:KjsAAOSwWxNYsDwP&vxp=mtr It's longer and has extra "stuff" where it would latch under the MJ B-pillar piece. I don't have a picture of a full MJ piece, but it looks like you could probably cut part of the XJ one off and make it work. Might grab one for experimentation purposes next time I'm at the JY.

The XJ a-pillars look close but aren't the same. You'd see it if you saw them next to each other. Sent from my LG-D850 using Tapatalk

Those exact panels have been on eBay for months. In the meantime I've sold all sorts of stuff Jeep and non-Jeep here and elsewhere. There's no cashing in going on when stuff just sits waiting for a sucker to come by.

If a "rebuilt" trans pops out of second gear, I'd be leery of other sketchy crap going on inside it... I'd hope that a rebuilt transmission would be able to stay in gear, but I suppose that's expecting too much of our friends at High Impact Transmission.

Jeez, I let a nice pair of those go for $90 shipped. Same guy has a set with the typical screw holes being busted out for $180. The prices I see for stuff on eBay are ridiculous. I seriously saw an auction for a factory radio get up to $125, and it was just a normal tape player. I have 5 of the things and I haven't paid more than $30 for a single one of 'em. While we're here - the key to not destroying those panels is to tighten the screws as if it's an oil filter. Don't be a gorilla.