Project "Honcho" - The '87 MJ

[Minuit]

Love the upholstery. If I didn't know better I would say the door panels were stock. Very nice interior overall. Is the trim on your dash bezel chrome or the dark blue that I seem to see on most of the older ones?

 

Is wiring the door speakers (correctly) as easy as I think it is? Does the wire just go through the kick panel?

 

Either way, I love how the build is progressing and I like the idea of doing video updates. I may just take that idea for myself. :thumbsup:

 

Oh, and I approve of your taste in music :cheers:

[Guest]

Love the upholstery. If I didn't know better I would say the door panels were stock. Very nice interior overall. Is the trim on your dash bezel chrome or the dark blue that I seem to see on most of the older ones?

 

Is wiring the door speakers (correctly) as easy as I think it is? Does the wire just go through the kick panel?

 

Either way, I love how the build is progressing and I like the idea of doing video updates. I may just take that idea for myself. :thumbsup:

 

Oh, and I approve of your taste in music :cheers:

Yes; the wiring for the doors run behind the kick panel through a small rubber nub. Easy to get to, and it was made a lot better when I installed the flex tubes(?) that the wiring fit inside. 

 

Also, the "chrome" is just silver touch up paint. I actually got the idea for it from RockMJ and his very sharp looking Toxic Orange MJ he had. 

 

 

At this point I started to think about some custom gauge overlays for the MJ. I had seen what others had made and I never really liked them so I took some measurements of the gauges and made my own. At this point I replaced every bulb in the dash, and glovebox. Those little bulbs arent cheap! Some paint work I did of the dash and the trim.

 

A unique touch

 

 

And some of the smaller interior pieces that were refinished. Its such a PITA to clean and prep each and every one of those pieces

 

 

 

In any case, thanks for the kind words! :cheers:

[Minuit]

 

Love the upholstery. If I didn't know better I would say the door panels were stock. Very nice interior overall. Is the trim on your dash bezel chrome or the dark blue that I seem to see on most of the older ones?

 

Is wiring the door speakers (correctly) as easy as I think it is? Does the wire just go through the kick panel?

 

Either way, I love how the build is progressing and I like the idea of doing video updates. I may just take that idea for myself. :thumbsup:

 

Oh, and I approve of your taste in music :cheers:

Yes; the wiring for the doors run behind the kick panel through a small rubber nub. Easy to get to, and it was made a lot better when I installed the flex tubes(?) that the wiring fit inside. 

 

Also, the "chrome" is just silver touch up paint. I actually got the idea for it from RockMJ and his very sharp looking Toxic Orange MJ he had. 

 

 

At this point I started to think about some custom gauge overlays for the MJ. I had seen what others had made and I never really liked them so I took some measurements of the gauges and made my own. At this point I replaced every bulb in the dash, and glovebox. Those little bulbs arent cheap! Some paint work I did of the dash and the trim.

 

A unique touch

 

 

And some of the smaller interior pieces that were refinished. Its such a PITA to clean and prep each and every one of those pieces

 

 

 

In any case, thanks for the kind words! :cheers:

 

 

Oooh, the silver paint looks nice. I don't need any more stuff to do eventually!

 

Glad to see wiring up the door speakers isn't going to be all that difficult. I think mine was a radio delete, so it didn't have anything in the doors. :thumbsup:

[Guest]

Spent five hours at my local P&P today. Went in with the goal of getting MJ / ZJ parts, and left with both. Got what I needed to finish out the ZJ, and managed to snag a snazzy chrome front bumper for the MJ, as well as a few other much needed things.  :banana:

 

All the the bumper needs is a small divot hammered out, and to address the surface rust on the backside. Aside from that, it's pretty pristine. Only took three years to find too...  :shake:

[Guest]

Cleaning up the new swanky bumper. Just soap and water; haven't gotten a chance to polish it up yet. 

 

Sanded and treated with rust reformer on the backside. It will come back down to be painted, so I can add more when the time comes, if it needs it.

 

Installed with new hardware. Ditched the old T50 torx bolts in lieu of grade 8 hex bolts. Much better and easier fitment. 

 

Lookin' sharp, lookin' for love.  :thumbsup: Well... not so much the second though.  :yes: That divot on the left side is really going to bother me, but I'll manage. I won't complain, seeing as it took me years to find a decent chrome bumper. Next on the list is door check hinge, among some other small doodads and whatnots.

 

Another bit of decent news is some new upgraded fog lights soon to be ordered. Finally decided to ditch the dinky part store "Chrome" finished lights in lieu of a better, much more durable set. 

 

Very soon....  :brows:

[Roost426]

Awesome truck you have there! Mine has the chrome bumper but has began to rust some ontop is there any way to clean them up or do they need to be rechromed?

[Minuit]

Are those the 57 series lights? Let me/us know how you like them. I plan on grabbing some KC lights sometime in the future. That chrome bumper looks slick - I came about a heartbeat and a half from grabbing one when I was at the junkyard last time.

[Guest]

Awesome truck you have there! Mine has the chrome bumper but has began to rust some ontop is there any way to clean them up or do they need to be rechromed?

Depending on how bad the rust is, you could possibly light / wet sand it off without ruining the finish. Most of the time it's easier to get it re-chromed. At least that's my .02.

 

Are those the 57 series lights? Let me/us know how you like them. I plan on grabbing some KC lights sometime in the future. That chrome bumper looks slick - I came about a heartbeat and a half from grabbing one when I was at the junkyard last time.

Yeah, those are the 57 series. Hopefully I can make them work on the stock mounting points without having them look silly or overly big.  :crossfingers:

[Guest]

Poser pictures. I wish the weather had permitted me to take these days prior before I sent Ben the ones for MJOTM. I'm very picky about the shots I take, and I rather like these, truth be told. I don't know why I have such a hard time getting good pictures of this truck when I really need to. :dunno: Weather at the beach was great for the frst trip of this FL summer. Will be going back next weekend most likely. :yes:

 

 

 

 

In the meantime, waiting to order parts... Story of my life, unfortunately.  :thwak:  Always waiting.

 

Nifty reminder list of parts to get / check on:

 

GM Weatherpack connectors: http://www.hipoparts.com/weather-pack-3-pin-sealed-wiring-connector-kit/

KC Hilites 57 Series: http://www.amazon.com/KC-HiLiTES-716-Rectangular-Plastic/dp/B0002MAF8S

XJ OEM speaker connectors: Junkyards

 

Check on carpeting - Rock auto (black with mass backing)

Check on Sliding rear glass

Check on steering stabilizer

Check on ZJ V8 TRE

 

Need to fix:

 

Radio wiring, again.

Rear speaker wiring

Clean up YJ glove box latch from last trip

[Guest]

After a few months of being away, nothing really new to report. Just been driven and enjoyed. Still have to fix a few issues in the engine bay with some wiring, but nothing major or life-threatening. Truck progress will probably be put on hold for a good while due to me going to Tech School starting in August. Got a lot to do between now and then. :fs2:

 

Maybe for my birthday in September, I'll have a nice sliding rear-glass window installed. One can hope, right?

 

Oh, and I'm in the process of trying to sell my 5.9 Grand Cherokee. Will have more info next week, when I get a physical title for it. I hate this new "electronic everything" nonsense happening nowadays...

[outlaw star]

 

Welcome to the club, fellow central floridian. Impressive you made it out of Bithlo alive. Some Orlandoans refer to it as the nightmare before Christmas (look at a map of east Orlando and you'll get the joke). I have been crazy busy but hope to meet you and many of the other area mj'ers sometime soon. Good luck with your build and there are some great people on here who give great advice.

Buck.

Thanks Buck. Would like to meet some of you central floridian MJ'ers one of these days. Feels good knowing I'm not the only Comanche owner around central FL. :cheers:

Nice build man. I'm down in Palm Beach.

[outlaw star]

Nice build man. Have to meet up at Jeeptoberfest this year.

[Guest]

Not much to report. Going to be taking the radio out to address some wiring issues with the passenger side speakers. Still driving like a champ, and will be saying goodbye to the 5.9 here soon. Got it headed off to my sister's place in northern MN here in a week or so. Gotta get the last bit of fun out of it that I can. :yes:

 

Oh, and just waiting to start Tech school here in a few weeks. Looking forward to long days of wrenching. :wrench:

[neohic]

... saying goodbye to the 5.9 here soon. Got it headed off to my sister's place in northern MN here in a week or so...

 

How far into MN? Having it shipped or planning on driving?

[Guest]

I wish I had the time to drive it up there, but it's getting shipped.  :( I'd love to take a Jamin' Jeepin' Roadtrip; I was thinking about driving up there last year, but that was a no-go because of the bad winter going on.  :ack:

 

The town is a little slice of a place called Bemidji (sp?). From what my sister told me, it's about 30-ish minutes outside of Minneapolis, if I'm remembering right. Gets colder than all get out there too, apparently; you guys can keep the snow. :yes:

[neohic]

Uh... Bemidji is a little more than a 30 minute drive from Minneapolis... more like almost 4 hours. Very familiar with Bemidji too! That's right up there where I've been selling my stuff all summer. My mother in law lives in Lake George which is about 20 miles south of there. Also a stone's throw away from Itasca (very good camping there). I whole area is very cool... both figuratively and literally.

 

Too bad to be condemning a solid vehicle to an undoubtedly rusty MN disease though.  :(

[Guest]

Whoops, my bad. Dunno why I thought it was only a stone's throw from Minneapolis :dunno:

 

She's pretty good at taking care of her vehicles though. She loves the thing to death. I'm sure she'll drive it till it's falling apart and worn out. :yes: IIRC; the couple I bought it from drove it for years up north before hitching it to the RV and going around the country, and it does't have anything of note wrong with it as far as rust goes, so maybe it's a lucky truck.

[Guest]

Went junkyardin' for the first time in a few months today, and there were 2 MJ's in the yard, and not totally picked over with a fine-tooth comb for once. Ended up snagging a pair of MJ specific bucket seat brackets of an 89 for only $15! :banana:

 

Tried to get the factory 3 piece slider that was surprisingly in good shape, but didn't have the scratch for it. I'll just deal with getting an aftermarket one; I like the look better.  :brows:

 

Still no 2.5's in the yards; haven't seen one in almost a year now. Starting to think most of them have gone to the big yard in the sky. :( At least the ones down here in the SE.

[88whitemanche]

Good run....

I have only seen 2 in the jy since I've gottten mine but am glad to see them pop up in craigslist more and less in the jy....

But does suck that miami has over 100jy and only 2 are pick and pulls....so who knows how many are there hiding...

[Guest]

Back in brown. May need a bit of a washing, but they're 1000x more comfortable than the bench seat. Not sure what they call the driver's seat style of bucket, but that's got to be the comfiest seat I've sat in for a very long time. :thumbsup:

 

 

[Minuit]

I've been wanting to swap buckets into the MJ for a very long time... this isn't helping :D

[Guest]

They're pretty nice. No complaints other than they could use a wash. :thumbsup: Oh, and some seat covers until I get them re-upholstered.

[outlaw star]

Back in brown. May need a bit of a washing, but they're 1000x more comfortable than the bench seat. Not sure what they call the driver's seat style of bucket, but that's got to be the comfiest seat I've sat in for a very long time. :thumbsup:

 

 

"Butterfly" buckets. What do you need from a 2.5L? There's a bunch of them down here. People knock on them, but they're just as hard to kill as the 4.0L why else would variants of the motor be used different vehicles for a good span of time. Performance may be low but reliability is high.

[outlaw star]

Back in brown. May need a bit of a washing, but they're 1000x more comfortable than the bench seat. Not sure what they call the driver's seat style of bucket, but that's got to be the comfiest seat I've sat in for a very long time. :thumbsup:

 

 

"Butterfly" buckets. What do you need from a 2.5L? There's a bunch of them down here. People knock on them, but they're just as hard to kill as the 4.0L why else would variants of the motor be used different vehicles for a good span of time. Performance may be low but reliability is high.

[Guest]

"Butterfly" buckets. What do you need from a 2.5L? There's a bunch of them down here. People knock on them, but they're just as hard to kill as the 4.0L why else would variants of the motor be used different vehicles for a good span of time. Performance may be low but reliability is high.

Mostly a 2.5 TBI fuel sending unit to get refurbished and kept. Perhaps a fanshroud as well, but aside from that, just minor interior things. It's hard remembering what you're looking for sometimes. There's times I'm thankful I don't have 20+ RENIX sensors like the 4.0 guys to deal with.