'88 MJ Restification (lots of pictures):

[JeffK]

Worked on my door panels and the power windows. I ended up using the rear door switches from the donor '96, I also grabbed the door handles which looked nearly new:

 

 

You can see the butterscotch happiness I started with here, complete with broken window crank :ack: :

 

 

I pulled the door panels, I found the PO had put in some Infinity speakers, nice. After I reassembled the door, I reused the plastic backers from the '96:

 

 

I've got the right door complete and I'm about half way through the left. The '96 I got the motors from had nearly new window rubber/felts and I installed them along with the motor and regulator. The power windows are pretty sweet. Here's the complete right door:

 

 

The only issue I had installing the new panels, was on the upper part of the arm rest. For some reason the stud on the black armrests about an 1/8" shorter than the stud on the old butterscotch ones. I just left the little chrome thingies off and no problem.

 

:cheers: Jeff

[Kittrell]

If I missed seeing it posted in here. Those door panels are old limited panels. Fairly hard to come by in such great shape, good find. Looks great in the MJ................... :cheers:

[Kittrell]

Another great upgrade is to swap out the wind wings for the solid glass out of a newer first gen XJ. This mod cuts the road noise almost in half.

[Darren]

Those door panels look really good. Nice job.

[JeffK]

If I missed seeing it posted in here. Those door panels are old limited panels. Fairly hard to come by in such great shape, good find. Looks great in the MJ................... :cheers:

 

No, I didn't post it, but your are correct. It was an 88 limited. Nice call.

[JeffK]

Those door panels look really good. Nice job.

 

Thanks, the guy at the trim shop was real helpful and I'm really pleased with the end results.

[oregonman]

This morning I decided to take a closer look at the fuse box. I was having some electrical issues like no dash lights, no dome light, turn signals etc, and I wanted to check for damage from the old clutch master cylinder leak.

 

 

I had pulled the fuse for the instrument light and replaced it. It still didn't work, so I tweaked the fuse box connectors with the end of my test probe and Voila dash lights. Further inspection showed a few more issues. Like missing and and crumbling fuses:

 

 

My inspection also included the solution for the mystery jumper. One side of the terminal for the HAZ/BRAKE fuse was gone :eek: and the previous owner had put a fused jumper between the remaining side of the HAZ/BRAKE slot and the power side of the unused HTD/WDN slot.

 

 

I decided to replace all of the fuses, several crumbled when I removed them:

 

 

The new fuses and a little tweaking got my lights up and running. I'm going to do a little research and may look into replacing the entire fuse box, but I'll leave that for another day.

 

 

The left front turn signal wasn't working and the indicator in the cluster didn't blink, so I pulled the front lamp and found some suspect wiring and and a smoked up bulb:

 

 

The socket ended up being cracked and the terminals were corroded, so a $1.43 at the bone yard and 3 heat shrink terminals later-success:

 

 

 

 

:cheers: Dude my Mj was in the same shape when i got it broke window crank. a bunch of busted fuses ... nothing worked but it turned on and both the front turn signals were cut :doh: . but i payed someone to fix all. but it still has a prob when i have my light off and i use turn signal the cd player dies , but when i have the lights on cd player does not die. so i guess with the head light on all the time its saver i guess :banana: :thumbsup:

[JeffK]

Due the the neglected clutch master cylinder leak, my electrical issues are continuing. I blew the dome light fuse and when I pulled the fuse the terminal fell apart. It gets better, my main water leak on the drivers side is between the fuse box and the firewall. Since I'm going to have to pull the fuse box to replace the gasket I picked up a fuse box from an '89 XJ automatic at the JY, and my plans replace the existing box entirely with the new XJ box. By my count there's about 25+ connections to solder. :ack:

 

For future reference here's the fuse box layout, As of now I plan on using Circuit #11 for my power windows.

 

 

FUSE & CIRCUIT BREAKER IDENTIFICATION

1. 25 Amp-Rear Washer/Wiper.

 

2. 15 Amp-Radio, Cigarette Lighter.

 

3. 25 Amp-Blower Motor.

 

4. 20 Amp-Turn Signal, Back-Up Lights, Rear Window Defogger Relay.

 

5. 10 Amp-Dome Light, Courtesy Lights, Glove Box Light, Cargo Light, Radio Memory, Power Mirrors, Teltak Connector.

 

6. 15 Amp-Hazard Warning System, Stoplights.

 

7. 10 Amp-Parking Lights, Headlight Warning Chime/Buzzer, Instrument Panel Light Dimmer.

 

8. 7.5 Amp-Gauges, Instrument Cluster, Seat Belt Warning, Headlight Delay, Chime Module, Overhead Console.

 

9. 5 Amp-Instrument Panel Illumination.

 

10. 25 Amp-Rear Window Defogger.

 

11. 30 Amp (Circuit Breaker)-Power Door Locks, Power Seats, Trailer Towing Wiring Harness.

 

12. 10 Amp-ETR Radio, Power Antenna.

 

13. 7.5 Amp (1988)-Transmission Control Unit.

 

14. 25 Amp-Headlight Delay, Horns, Security Alarm.

 

15. 5.5 Amp (Circuit Breaker)-Front Wiper.

 

16. 30 Amp (Circuit Breaker)-Power Windows.

 

17. 10 Amp-Clock, Security Alarm (Ign) .

[JeffK]

Finally finished swapping out the fuse boxes. Bright shiny connections and no missing ones:

 

[JeffK]

Last week I went to a different pull a part across town, and they had a few MJ's. This one I didn't understand. I was told the head gasket was blown and the guy drove to the yard. It's a 4.0/auto and the body was about 90% straight. There are a few accessory miscues (like the grab handles :shake: , but it has sound floor boards, a decent and complete gray interior, good tail lights and a repairable tail gate. Shame.

 

[JeffK]

Then of course there were the others, this one had column shift, but someone had busted it up to get the key cylinder out:

 

 

This one gave up a couple of small interior pieces:

 

 

then there's:

 

 

:cheers: Jeff

[WahooSteeler]

Last week I went to a different pull a part across town, and they had a few MJ's. This one I didn't understand. I was told the head gasket was blown and the guy drove to the yard. It's a 4.0/auto and the body was about 90% straight. There are a few accessory miscues (like the grab handles :shake: , but it has sound floor boards, a decent and complete gray interior, good tail lights and a repairable tail gate. Shame.

 

 

did you ask the guy if he'd sell the whole thing? windshield says 278k, so seems like it'd be perfect to get the whole thing and swap a new motor in. :brows:

[JeffK]

Last week I went to a different pull a part across town, and they had a few MJ's. This one I didn't understand. I was told the head gasket was blown and the guy drove to the yard. It's a 4.0/auto and the body was about 90% straight. There are a few accessory miscues (like the grab handles :shake: , but it has sound floor boards, a decent and complete gray interior, good tail lights and a repairable tail gate. Shame.

 

 

did you ask the guy if he'd sell the whole thing? windshield says 278k, so seems like it'd be perfect to get the whole thing and swap a new motor in. :brows:

 

I asked if he thought about selling it and he said 'it'll make more money sitting where it's at'.

[freakjeep93]

that sucks it looks real nice id buy it ad drive it

[dakal]

great bunch of work

 

thanks for all the pics!

[jbhill]

you should get the slider out of that red one, I'm sure someone here needs it lol.

[jbhill]

you should get the slider out of that red one, I'm sure someone here needs it lol.

[JeffK]

great bunch of work

 

thanks for all the pics!

 

Thanks.

[JeffK]

I've spent most of the past two days swapping out my fuse box. A couple of weeks ago I pulled a pretty nice fuse box out of an '89 XJ auto. One wire at a time and resoldering the the wire to the terminal. Pretty tedious. Finished up late yesterday:

 

 

Reinstalled it today PITA to do by yourself. The red wire is factory (from the XJ) and is connected to a 30 amp circuit breaker that would normally supply the power seats and door locks, but I hooked my power windows to it:

 

 

With the power windows connected to this circuit it allows the windows to be rolled up or down without the key. I did this intentionally, I read a post about it on NAXJA and seemed like a neat idea. We don't have small children or any near us, but if that changes it's a simple one wire swap. Here's a picture from a few minutes ago we got a pretty good shower late to day and no far no water leaks:

 

 

I also reinstalled my 'new' steering column. This on has tilt and I'm liking it. I also took a little time to time up all those unused connectors that were hanging down and the only thing hanging down now is the module for the intermittent wipers, which mounts on the lower dash panel:

 

 

Don't look like a whole lot of progress. but the list of stuff that didn't work prior to the fuse box install included horn, interior lights, dash lights, tail lights, etc. All of this now works. I'm pretty pleased... :banana: :rotfl2: :banana: :rotfl2: :banana:

 

:cheers: Jeff

[Pete M]

Now that you're so good at it, you need to come re-do my 90's fuse box. :brows:

[JeffK]

Now that you're so good at it, you need to come re-do my 90's fuse box. :brows:

 

Sure, I'll bring the beer you get the pizza. :cheers:

 

With the seats and the steering column out of the way it wasn't nearly as bad as I had thought it would be. With a little trial and error I decided to solder the wires directly to the terminal instead of splicing all 25+ connections. Kinda like this:

 

 

Laid the boxes out side by side and did one wire at a time.

[FireFighter32]

Nice build!

[JeffK]

Nice build!

 

Thanks,

 

I've finally wrapped everything up under the dash and I've got all the lights working. Pretty much finished reassembling the dash, door panels etc. today. The interior colors I'm coping from an '89 XJ Limited that I robbed the door panels out of. That Limited was the only one I've seen like it:

 

 

The power windows work good so far, and it's nice not to jiggle fuses to make stuff work anymore:

 

[JeffK]

Picked this seat up off Craigslist last week for $50. Drove down to Salisbury to get it. It's not a grungy as the pictures show. Pretty decent shape. No rips, no tears and the previous owners weighed less than 300lbs. Dropped it off at the upholstery shop Monday:

 

:cheers: Jeff

[DodgeFan01]

The interior colors I'm coping from an '89 XJ Limited that I robbed the door panels out of. That Limited was the only one I've seen like it:

 

I really like the colors of the interior! They look freakin sweet together! Did you get the dash from the 89 XJ as well or paint yours? What are you going to do with the seats? Black? Black with Blue Vinyl? :brows: :popcorn: