terrawombat Posted September 1, 2011 Author Share Posted September 1, 2011 Sir Sam posted a video of the stuff on his VW van. It was a bit of a pain in the butt to apply and I'm not certain it'll do the trick but time will tell... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terrawombat Posted September 2, 2011 Author Share Posted September 2, 2011 I began routing the engine bay wiring today. The engine bay harness for the lights, front turn signals, fog lights, wipers, washer, etc. is out of a '98ZJ with a 4.0L. I'm not sure if I'll stick with this harness or yank the one out of my donor 5.9L ZJ since it has the provisions for the electric fan in it already. It's basically just an extra 60A fused circuit in the power distribution center and I'm not sure if I'll be going electric or mechanical fan. At the very least, I can get the engine bay wiring harness routed and fitted properly. It's going to be extremely frustrating and interesting to get this to work, but the fit isn't all that bad and it definitely looks plausible. Also got the brake booster in and front lines hooked up. Temporarily blocked off the line going to the rear since I don't have the rear axle completed yet. It's currently bolted in the truck, but it's on the stock leafs and the pinion angle isn't correct and it's not even centered. When I finally get my 3" rear leafs from Hell Creek, I'll get those bolted up, pinion angle set, new perches welded, axle painted, and permanently mounted in the truck. In the meantime, the front brakes are bled and seem to work. I may have an extra hand for much of the day tomorrow, so I think we'll concentrate on getting the engine/trans outta my donor 5.9L ZJ. Unfortunately, the updates will be few and far between starting next week as I begin my new job in Maryland. I'll be coming home some weekends to work on the truck, but I hope to find my own place in MD with a garage so I can haul the thing down there with me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terrawombat Posted September 2, 2011 Author Share Posted September 2, 2011 The wiring has begun... The last picture is my wiring information station. I have one laptop with the XJ PDF manual up and the other has the ZJ. So far I have power to the instrument cluster, interior lights work, ignition switch trips the starter relay, and the blower motor runs. This will probably be a long process of testing, splicing wires, and then cleaning it all up. What is really annoying about the ZJ engine bay/lighting harness is that a lot of the power/signal wires are on the opposite side of where the XJ stuff is. I imagine by the time this is over and done with, I'll have a pretty hefty bundle of wires crossing over the top rear of the engine bay to get the wires where they need to be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
87Warrior Posted September 3, 2011 Share Posted September 3, 2011 I had to laugh out loud when I saw the two laptops. That would be the most effective way to compare the two sets of schematics. How are you going about recording what splices you made and what wires are connected between the two harnesses? I just asume you are doing some sort of record keeping with your engineering background. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terrawombat Posted September 3, 2011 Author Share Posted September 3, 2011 I have a preliminary spreadsheet that has all of the wire colors/wire gauges, which connector they are in and what their function is. Unfortunately, the wiring diagrams for both the XJ and ZJ are somewhat cryptic in how they describe certain things. For example, they will label a lot of the wires as "Fused B(+)", but they won't tell you where it's supposed to be fused to, so you have to look at the wire color and location and go back through the wiring diagrams to figure out what it's used for. So far, I've just been determining each 12V power wire coming out of the power distribution box and giving it a nice, easy to understand name, like "HVAC Blower 12V Power" and updating my spreadsheet with the names I've been giving the wires. Eventually I'll have a fully updated spreadsheet with more decriptive names and I should be able to create a wiring schematic, if I have the time or energy at that point. While looking through the wiring diagrams, I realized that the 12V power wire for the interior lighting also supplied power to the radio, so I pulled the radio out of the '98ZJ donor, threw it in the MJ, but since I don't have the antenna mounted yet, I didn't get any stations to come in. So, I found an old box of junk in the storage room in my shop and it just so happened to contain an LL Cool J CD, so I'm currently rocking out to that. Don't call it a comeback, I've been here for years... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terrawombat Posted September 3, 2011 Author Share Posted September 3, 2011 Well, here's how she sits before I take off for Maryland. Kind of bummed since I had a full head of steam going on this project, but I could also use the break. Big ticket items left are: Engine bay to interior wiring Paint trans tunnel and then spray with undercoating Pull 5.9L and 46RE from '98ZJ donor Clean engine/trans, paint Install engine/trans Retrofit Dakota fuel tank to fit Route fuel and rear brake lines Interior wiring cleanup/splicing Install new rear leafs Set pinion angle on Ford 8.8 and weld perches Paint Ford 8.8 and install Mount Drivers door Mount front fenders, header panel, hood, and front bumper Mount bed and rear bumper Complete exterior repaint Yikes - that list looks longer than I thought. Oh well, one step at a time. I plan to use my weekdays down in MD to do research and order any parts and then come back to NJ on the weekends to wrench. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terrawombat Posted September 11, 2011 Author Share Posted September 11, 2011 Came back to my shop in NJ for the weekend to get some more wiring done. I started permanently soldering, heat-shrinking and electrical taping up wires that I knew were in the correct spot. I concentrated on the passenger side of the vehicle since there were fewer wires and I had figured most of those out. Started like this: Ended like this: A little cleaner and I need to arrange things in the engine bay, like the PCM, so I can get the wire routed correctly and when I'll be using push-mount style zip ties to tie it into the sheet metal. I worked on the drivers side a little bit and was able to figure out the wipers. The XJ's intermittent wiper logic is on the wiper switch on the column. The ZJ's intermittent wiper logic is a combination of a relay in the power distribution center (the underhood fuse/relay panel) and a ground signal from the ZJ body control module (BCM). Since I won't be using the ZJ BCM (except for possibly wiring it into the CCD network so my engine stays running for longer than 3 second), I had to reroute and snip some wires to get the wipers to work correctly. I also swapped a ZJ wiper motor onto the assembly so that the ZJ engine harness plugged right in. Seems to work just fine. I also tried to work on the fog lights, since the XJ donor supposedly came with them installed. The front was smashed up and the front bumper long gone, but it had the fog switch on the interior panel. Turns out someone must have swapped it in because the wiring for the fog lights is non-existent. I would have had to come up with something creative since the XJ uses a relay in the PDC for the fogs and the ZJ uses a relay on the interior junction block (which is not in the system). I thought about using the now-unused intermittent wiper relay, but it operates off of a ground signal, whereas the XJ fog relay operates on a 12VDC signal. I could take apart the PDC and re-wire it, but not sure it's worth the trouble just yet. Also tried to get the horn to work. This is an interesting scenario since the XJ has a relay on the interior junction block for the horn, while the ZJ uses a relay in the underhood PDC. I can get the relay in the interior to click, but it sends a 12VDC signal to the underhood PDC, when it's looking for a ground. Solution will to be to remove the PDC relay and jumper it out and just let the XJ operate normally. I want to do it this way so that the "panic" button on my keyfob toots the horn. Not sure how much I'll get done tomorrow as I ran out of supplies. Need more shrink tubing and good electrical tape. Here are some other pictures: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
88MJNC Posted December 29, 2011 Share Posted December 29, 2011 Very nice Project. :bowdown: :popcorn: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terrawombat Posted December 29, 2011 Author Share Posted December 29, 2011 Thank you. Just wish I had a place to work on it where I live now. The truck is over 150 miles from me and I maybe touch it once a month, for about 10 minutes. Whenever I finally get a house and build a shop, I'll finish it up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Comanche County Posted December 30, 2011 Share Posted December 30, 2011 Keep it up Terra, just seeing each piece of progress is especially gratifying. You're making a heck of an MJ. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terrawombat Posted November 12, 2012 Author Share Posted November 12, 2012 Yikes. Nearly a year and no update on this project. Bought a house back in April and have been busy with projects around that house that need to get done before I can move to the garage. Finally had a chance to mess with my garage this past weekend and was able to go from (sorry about the crappy pic, only one I had was from my home appraisal in April): To: First time having a fully-operational garage door that doesn't require me to risk my life trying to open and close it! I need to cut out some old lumber on the left garage door framework and replace with new before I can get that one up. Also need to get my shelving up, workbenches made and stuff put away. My shop currently looks like a storage container, somewhat due in part to the fact my woman grew up thinking that a garage is a place for storage - not a place where men work. I should start leaving car parts in her closet... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terrawombat Posted November 12, 2012 Author Share Posted November 12, 2012 Forgot to mention - my plan is to grab this rig over Thanksgiving or Christmas. I'm taking extra days off of work to visit my family, but if I can find a tow dolly then I'll haul this thing back with me and dive back into it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Automan2164 Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 Haha. My GF knows... The garage is off limits. She used to ask about parking her car in there during the winter, but after reminding her that the garage is for projects and stuff that doesn't move under it's own power. I feel you on the house projects... They take away from the 'fun' stuff. Rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terrawombat Posted November 12, 2012 Author Share Posted November 12, 2012 Mine is beginning to understand the difference between a garage and "my shop." Most of the crap that is in my shop right now is a result of her cleaning up for hurricane Sandy while I was up in NJ visiting my family for my bday. She basically just drug everything in through the door and piled it up - not that I mind because it was going to go in there, anyway. I suspect less and less will be moved into my shop when I fix both garage doors and can actually move large objects (i.e. my project MJs) inside - right now it looks like there is lots of room because I only have a standard 3' door for access and MJs don't fit through that... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mpace6a Posted May 12, 2013 Share Posted May 12, 2013 Any updates on this beast? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terrawombat Posted May 12, 2013 Author Share Posted May 12, 2013 Nope. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sohosh Posted May 12, 2013 Share Posted May 12, 2013 I have to thank you, every time I see one of these being done I learn tons just from the pictures! I have no Idea what a Comanche in the condition yours is in is worth! So how much did you pay for the pick up if you are able to tell me, in my area there very few and the prices i have seen range dramatically! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terrawombat Posted May 12, 2013 Author Share Posted May 12, 2013 I paid zero dollars and cents for the truck. It was given to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Newton Posted September 27, 2016 Share Posted September 27, 2016 Any updates on this project? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terrawombat Posted September 27, 2016 Author Share Posted September 27, 2016 Any updates on this project? There are no further updates on this truck. Sitting in storage waiting for me (or the next generation of me) to get back on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shelbyluvv Posted October 1, 2016 Share Posted October 1, 2016 Mine is put on the back burner also. House shopping and retiring from the Marines have made me start saving money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terrawombat Posted October 1, 2016 Author Share Posted October 1, 2016 Life moves pretty fast and priorities get shifted every day. Ideally when I bought my house 4.5 years ago I should have brought this MJ with me, but I opted to leave it in NJ on my parents farm tucked away in a barn along with a bunch of tools and machinery I wish I had with me in MD. The plan was to expand my current shop to make room for the projects I had to leave behind, but that just hasn't happened yet as I'm still battling the permit office. So, for now I've just got to make due with what I've got and knock out some other projects that I've stumbled on along the way (diesel MJ & Hatteras boat to name a couple). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeepman Posted January 31, 2017 Share Posted January 31, 2017 This thread is a little old but here is an option for better air intake and more HP... http://www.hughesengines.com/Index/products.php?partid=24773 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terrawombat Posted January 31, 2017 Author Share Posted January 31, 2017 Already got that little guy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeepman Posted January 31, 2017 Share Posted January 31, 2017 Sweet... I am doing a 5.9L swap into an XJ for a customer right now and found this thread, I was going to go this way for my MJ but went stroker instead so back to figuring out the engine mounts since the engine sits up so high, I can't figure out how the OP made those mounts work because at that same level I can't close the hood but don't have 2 more inches to drop... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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