Kitch's '88 Build, with new pics!

[88MJXLS]

well, this weekend saw a lot of work on jeeps, mine and my buddies, he managed to suck a washer thru his snorkel but thankfully it stayed in the intake (found that out AFTER we had the top half of the engine apart, haha)

found a black header panel at the junkyard that was in great shape so it's now on my jeep, only downside to this weekend - found out there's gas in my oil :wall: and my fuel pump just crapped out on me

[88MJXLS]

Good news!! got the new fuel pump and will be putting it on the MJ in a matter of hours, also found I can get 4 32inch Wrangler MTR tires for $375 thru a friend of a friend.

[Automan2164]

Good news!! got the new fuel pump and will be putting it on the MJ in a matter of hours, also found I can get 4 32inch Wrangler MTR tires for $375 thru a friend of a friend.

 

If you got the pump from at parts store the cradle will be wrong, but you should be able to remove the pump from the cradle, and put it into yours... (No one makes a pump/sender for MJ's anymore... All the parts stores assume its the same as an XJ, but, it ain't.)

 

Rob L. :typing:

[88MJXLS]

Good news!! got the new fuel pump and will be putting it on the MJ in a matter of hours, also found I can get 4 32inch Wrangler MTR tires for $375 thru a friend of a friend.

 

If you got the pump from at parts store the cradle will be wrong, but you should be able to remove the pump from the cradle, and put it into yours... (No one makes a pump/sender for MJ's anymore... All the parts stores assume its the same as an XJ, but, it ain't.)

 

Rob L. :typing:

 

ok dokey, gotta' love mods :P

any reason they made the pumps for the XJ different from the MJ or just to mess with us MJ owners? haha

[Automan2164]

Pumps are the same, however the arm/sending unit is not the same between XJ/MJ... Has to do with the shape of the tanks... They are short and shallow on the XJ's, while the MJ's are taller... You will see the difference once you get the two together.

 

You know what I mean by exchange the pumps right?

 

Rob L.

[88MJXLS]

Pumps are the same, however the arm/sending unit is not the same between XJ/MJ... Has to do with the shape of the tanks... They are short and shallow on the XJ's, while the MJ's are taller... You will see the difference once you get the two together.

 

You know what I mean by exchange the pumps right?

 

Rob L.

yep, swapped the pump out last night, went without a hitch. The only problem is that it wasn't what kept my 'Manche from starting. There's no power going to the distributor or the pump so there's no spark and no gas. A couple of my buddies and I were up til 3am trying/checking everything we could and have no idea why there's no power going to either of them, I think maybe it's just a short somewhere in the wiring (I mean, it's is 22 years old after all)

[500 MJ]

The ground needs to be connected that goes to your fuel pump. If you jumper the big black (I think) wire from the harness to the frame, your fuel pump should work then.

[88MJXLS]

It's been a while, haven't done much to my MJ lately aside from finally sending it to the shop to have the fuel pump situation fixed because I need to be able to drive my daily driver. Had to run a new power wire, Advance Auto sold me the wrong pump, and had to have the sending unit repaired - $480 after all was said and done, wish I could've put it towards other things, but hey, crap happens. On the upside, I now have a new tank and fuel pump, as well as a like new sending unit, and the Jeep runs a lot better, now if only I could keep the birds from crapping on it... lol

 

School's done for now, so I can start putting some money into the Jeep. New adjustable trackbar, 3" lift for the front (for now) new paint job, rockers, rear tube bumper and a revamped front bumper are in the works, along with redoing the bed lining - the current cheap spray-on bedliner is flaking off, just wanted it to last thru the winter to help keep the rust away and do it better in the spring anyway so I guess you could say it was just a test run

[88MJXLS]

Time to resurrect this post and start on the actual build!

 

I'm going to Florida this week so nothin' new's gonna' happen to the MJ, BUT I get paid the week I get back, which means I'm gonna' finally get my lift ordered from hellcreek!!!! (after a year...)

Just found out my neighbor has a complete set-up for painting vehicles and is really good at it (used to do it for a living I guess) so my MJ should have a fresh paint job by late fall!! :D Also thinking about a 97+ fender/header panel swap, seeing as the fenders are all sorts of jacked up (never ordering replacement fenders again, next time I'm going to lkq or route 14, absolutely nothing lined up with mine :fs1: )

 

I came across this duplicolor "bed armor" with kevlar the other day (http://www.duplicolor.com/products/bedArmor/) think I might give it a shot, with the rebate it's about the same price as Herculiner :dunno: any thoughts?

[woody62]

do u still have the jeep bedliner?

[88MJXLS]

do u still have the jeep bedliner?

 

Sorry it took so long to get back to ya. The bedliner was warped real bad so it got tossed, sorry man, that's actually the reason I got the spray on bedliner.

[88MJXLS]

Well, so much for making some progress on the Jeep. The engine died on me 3 times today in the span of 5 minutes, idles for a lil bit then dies, won't even stay running long enough to get in gear to move it :fs1:

 

I'm sidelining it for now and getting another car so I can actually put some time into fixing it and not rush myself and mess something up. The past few months my engine's been giving me trouble so I'm thinking about an HO and ax-15 swap (might as well since the engine's already gonna' be out :cheers: ) and getting rid of the engine I currently have in it altogether.

[500 MJ]

There are lots of things that it could be. I chased my tail with a problem starting my '90 for about 9 months. Finally took it to a mechanic to find out my ignition control module was shot. Truck has been turn-key reliable since then.

 

Keep me in mind when you swap. I'm interested in all of the renix sensors and harness stuff you don't want.

[88MJXLS]

There are lots of things that it could be. I chased my tail with a problem starting my '90 for about 9 months. Finally took it to a mechanic to find out my ignition control module was shot. Truck has been turn-key reliable since then.

 

Keep me in mind when you swap. I'm interested in all of the renix sensors and harness stuff you don't want.

 

I'm hoping it's something like that, and I just missed it cuz I'm always around it, need a fresh set of eyes to check it over. Jerry's lookin over it on monday (he's one of the best and most reliable mechanics I know) so I'll find out what's wrong with it in a couple days then start planning everything out.

 

I'll probly wind up doing the HO and ax-15 swap either way so I'll be sure to save all the sensors and harness for ya when I swap it out :cheers:

[88MJXLS]

So far the shop's found that the injector o-rings are shot, and the fuel pressure is 1/3 of what it should be... I just had a new pump put in a couple months ago so I'm wonderin if there's blockage somewhere, maybe the filter's just full of 22 years of junk, lol. Waiting to find out what else they might've found, I'm ready to have my 'Manche back :thumbsup:

[88MJXLS]

Hey guys, just a quick update before I crash. Doing some cosmetic work on the 'Manche tomorrow, cutting out all the rust, welding in some fresh metal, changing out the VC, Herculining the bed, and hopefully getting the power door swap done. Probably going to get the doors on either way, just a matter of whether or not I get around to hooking 'em up before the end of the day tomorrow.

 

Also planning on pulling some decent overtime at work for the next month and a half, so the lift, rims, and tires should be happening soon too! It's nice to have a consistent full-time job now so I can kinda' plan out some of this stuff. I'll post pics tomorrow of the stuff I get done :cheers:

[88MJXLS]

Alright fellow addicts, I don't know if anyone follows this post anymore, but it's time to resurrect it! In my hiatus from CC I've made a fair bit of progress with the good ole MJ, I'm in the midst of getting a new computer so I won't have any pictures (or be able to fix the picture errors in the original posts) until the middle of this week when it arrives.
I can, however, tell you what's been done so far:
New-to-me doors off an XJ have been swapped in, spacing is just a bit off
Swapped in the "sorta fit" fenders that actually fit fairly well
Installed 8" lift springs in the front, Re-shoed her with some beefy 33" tires on 15"x8" rims
Welded on Brush/bull bar and Light bar, Mounted and wired fog lights to Brush Bar and Light Bar
Got a new-ish rust free MJ rear bumper (courtesy of Rob), new hitch/receiver, air box, and full gauge cluster
I'm working two jobs right now so I've been working multiple 14-16 hour days a week and haven't had any time to install the bumper, hitch/receiver, and full gauge cluster, or go to LKQ and get everything I need for a bucket seat conversion, or even work on the MJ at all, and it's killing me! :fs1: Hopefully in a couple weeks one of my jobs will become full-time though, and then I can give the MJ the the time that she so deserves :yes:

A new paint job is definitely in the MJ's future (not a big fan of the whole tri-color look right now, lol), as well as new shocks and some new rims and tires.

Oh, and I found a low-quality video I took with my phone after getting the new VC and Thermostat installed, here ya go:

 

Better daytime photos/vids coming this week! :thumbsup:

[mpace6a]

Looking forward to the pictures!

I'm still pretty new to the forum, so I just stumbled upon your thread, but it sounds good to me!

[88MJXLS]

Alright, finally have the pictures, so here we go!

 

We'll start with the "cosmetic" work, my friend and I cut out the rusted rockers and welded in some fresh sheet metal

 

Unfortunately, there wasn't much rocker left to trim due to the amount of salt that Rockford uses.

 

Driver's side cut out:

 

Passenger's side cut out:

 

Ethan (a friend of mine that welds far better than I do.) welding in the new sheet metal "patch" on the driver's side:

 

The driver's side taped off and primed with a zinc primer that's supposed to prevent rust:

 

Passenger's side taped and primed:

 

Driver's side primed and ready for bed liner (and some filler in the holes in the fender):

 

Passenger's side primed and ready for bed liner:

 

Some shots of the finished product (bedlined bed and lower molding):

 

New "sorta-fit" fenders on:

 

Bull-bar welded on and lights wired up:

 

33" tires on 15's mounted up and "new" doors swapped over

 

8" front springs installed:

 

And a bed kinda full of stuff that still has to get put on (bumper that's in better shape, hitch/receiver, air box, ordering 4 new shocks today):

 

Just need to wait 10 days (til 1 Sept.) and get new plates, it's cheaper than paying $119 then turning around and having to renew the plates again at the end of September. Then once the shocks/hardware get here and I get the shackles installed, I'll be able to drive the MJ again! I still have some things planned, like a new paint job, new rims and tires, maybe a snorkel? (run from the stock air box, so that it can be detached when I'm not wheeling, using a second fender, so that I'm not driving around with a hole in my fender.)

 

Day 1:

 

as she sits today:

 

What do you guys think?

[Automan2164]

Looks good, but those short arms look like they are screaming for help... Any longarms/drop brackets on the horizon?

 

Rob

[Automan2164]

 

Day 1:

 

 

You still have these wheels?

 

Rob

[88MJXLS]

Looks good, but those short arms look like they are screaming for help... Any longarms/drop brackets on the horizon?

 

Rob

 

Thanks Rob! Ya, the short arms are just holding out until I can afford long arms. I'm hoping to get long arms in the next month or two, any brands/styles that you suggest, or that I should stay away from?

 

 

Day 1:

 

 

You still have these wheels?

 

Rob

 

I actually still have all four original rims and tires, you want them? May have to clean them up a little bit, because they've just been sitting, but I don't really have any use/plans for them

[Automan2164]

Looks good, but those short arms look like they are screaming for help... Any longarms/drop brackets on the horizon?

 

Rob

 

Thanks Rob! Ya, the short arms are just holding out until I can afford long arms. I'm hoping to get long arms in the next month or two, any brands/styles that you suggest, or that I should stay away from?

 

 

Day 1:

 

 

You still have these wheels?

 

Rob

 

I actually still have all four original rims and tires, you want them? May have to clean them up a little bit, because they've just been sitting, but I don't really have any use/plans for them

 

You want to make an even trade, wheels/tires for the trackbar since it looks like it fit? I would have to look at the wheels/tires again, but that might work.

 

Rob

[88MJXLS]

You want to make an even trade, wheels/tires for the trackbar since it looks like it fit? I would have to look at the wheels/tires again, but that might work.

 

Rob

 

Sounds good to me. I'll have to clean 'em up a bit since they've been sitting in the bed of the MJ for quite some time, and I'll make sure they still hold air