Driveway Ornament To Daily Driver: 7 Years!

[Minuit]

Oh man, I have so much updating to do. Hang on fellas, this is gonna be a long one.

 

Timing Chains And Oil Pans Are A 3,000 Mile Replacement Item: November 2015-January 2016

 

This update will be pretty light on pictures. I did not take many, as my thought process was "just get this damn thing put back together" rather than "I want to tell the internet just how much I suck!" If throughout this thread you have gotten in your head any idea that I'm a good mechanic, the first part of this chapter may change your mind.

 

The weekend after I wrote the last post, I went to the junkyard and picked up a timing cover from a '95 XJ. As far as I know, all 4.0 timing covers between 1991 and 2000 interchange. Not sure on the Renix years. My 1995 cover does not have the boss near the harmonic balancer, but it does have timing marks. I've been told the timing marks were eliminated in later covers, but I can't prove that personally. Anyway, mine looks like this. Notice the lack of a vertical boss near the timing scale. Not sure what its purpose is, besides making it a PITA to put the serpentine belt back on:

 

 

Be VERY careful when threading the front oil pan bolts into the timing cover. The timing cover is aluminum, and overtightening the bolts will strip the threads. This is what got me into trouble in the first place.

 

Once I had my timing cover, I picked up where I left off with my timing chain re-replacement. It all went back together a lot easier than the usual. The engine ran fine (but sounded crappy) when I started this job, so I didn't pay much attention to the timing marks past more than a quick glance. I figured I'd just put it all back together the way it was. So I did.

 

The truck didn't run that day. It didn't run for another month and a half. Make sure your damn engine is in time when replacing your timing chain, people.

 

And just to put the dinglecherry on the $%@t sundae, I also discovered this:

 

 

Pretty sure an oil pan isn't supposed to look like that. Don't know how it got this way. I don't care. Let's just fix it. Also, Dorman oil pans are crap. They don't fit right even when they're the right shape. If you need an oil pan, go to the junkyard and pull one from a newer (~95+) XJ. The factory gasket for the later engines is rubber, which is nice in that it's actually possible to remove the oil pan without damaging it beyond use (unless unlike me, you are extremely lucky), unlike the earlier engines. 

 

 

Done. Courtesy of a 1995 XJ with about 260k. Thankfully this yard doesn't poke holes in oil pans. This particular XJ had been pretty picked apart and had the transmission removed. I could grab the engine by the flexplate and tilt the engine, which made the job easier. The oil pans on these later engines just fall off when you take the bolts out. Don't bother with an earlier one. Factory oil pans are also of a FAR higher quality than aftermarket and will actually fit the engine.

 

While I'm on the subject, don't let anyone tell you the oil pan bolts are 11mm and 13mm. They're 7/16" and 1/2". The 4.0 is an AMC engine with a design dating back to the early '60s. Many nuts and bolts that directly interface with the engine are English sizes. Regardless, use the socket that fits properly and don't blindly believe what people on the internet tell you.

 

Alright, time to go back to work. I decided to remove the old new oil pan and wait until I had the front of the engine together to install the new old oil pan. It's easier to fit the timing cover without an oil pan in the way.

 

Line up the timing marks like this. Don't just look at it and think it's fine. Make sure they're actually lined up. There should be a straight line through the middle of the crank sprocket, timing marks, and cam sprocket. You probably don't want to do this twice.

 

 

 

Surprisingly, the engine ran when timed correctly. It even sounded decent!

 

I'm in a time crunch right now, so this is as much as I can put up for now. Tune in some time in the near or maybe far future for when I actually get my truck driveable!

 

Note to self: I need to take more pictures

[Minuit]

When re-installing the oil pan, DO NOT forget the half-moon shaped piece that braces the rear! If you forget this piece you will have a severe oil leak at the rear of the engine that no amount of bolt tightening will fix! It looks like a stupid piece of sheet metal but it's important!

 

I decided to replace my standard sheet metal rear oil pan brace/seal/thing with a newer design, which I'm told makes a better seal:

 

 

 

I think you can still get these new. I purchased mine from a certain Chrome Freak, who packaged it with two socket head cap screws to make installation easier. Also, the picture really shows how nasty my engine bay is.

 

Now that I had the engine running, it was time to tie up a few loose ends. Namely, a driveline vibration, the lack of a working heater, and some extremely worn upper control arm bushings. In the interest of getting it driveable, I decided to tackle the driveshaft, which I'd suspected to have been out of balance for some time. A local driveshaft shop determined it was out of balance (and unfixable), so a few bucks later I had this:

 

 

It's a good idea to replace your u-joint strap kit every time the driveshaft is removed (Moog #47310 or Dorman(yuck) 81020 are correct)

 

With the new driveshaft it drives pretty well. It still has a vibration, but significantly less than before. The transmission mount is noticeably bad (I can grab the transmission tailhousing and make it wiggle and clunk) but I'm not sure how to proceed here. I'm not ruling out the D35's multitude of bad bearings either. Naturally, the truck decided to take its revenge on me for waking it from its slumber by sprouting a severe fuel leak at the filter the very next day. It was quickly fixed with new soft fuel lines and a new filter.

 

Next, I decided to do something about my upper control arm bushings. They looked like this:

 

Editor's note: I intend to make my UCA bushing replacement and later heater core replacement into DIY writeups, so they'll be written in a more instructive tone than my usual. This is intended to be the first in a series of a few in depth writeups covering difficult repairs on these trucks.

 

 

 

 

No es bueno.

 

On 2WD trucks such as mine, this job presents a unique challenge. For whatever stupid reason, Jeep decided they didn't need to make the upper control arm bushing mounts strong enough to survive the process of pressing out the bushings without a special tool. Fortunately, the junkyard and your local home improvement/hardware store has everything you'll need to do this job without breaking stuff.

 

Before we replace any parts, let me make some things clear:

 

- You will probably see the bushings listed as being for a 4WD truck. They are the same part, whether your vehicle is 2WD or 4WD.

- As an optional upgrade, you can use bushings for a WJ (1999-2004) Jeep Grand Cherokee. The design of the bushing sleeve is superior. I used the stock replacements in this procedure (Moog K3128)

- I recommend replacing the upper control arms rather than replacing just the bushings. The cost is similar, and the stock control arms are not very strong.

- The control arm contains only the frame end bushing; the axle end bushing is pressed into brackets on the axle.

 

To brace the bushing mounts, I used the #1 main bearing cap from the same engine I pulled the oil pan from in the first part of this chapter:

 

 

It's a tight fit that will require some tapping, but this will keep your bushing mounts from bending in under pressure. If you don't have a main bearing cap handy, the same thing can be achieved by cutting a "saddle" out of heavy steel tubing. Either way, you absolutely can not skip this step. If you do not use something to brace your bushing mounts, they WILL bend.

 

The most common recommendation you'll come across for a pressing tool is a ball joint press (rentable at pretty much any auto parts store for free). This is a bad idea for a few reasons:

 

- A ball joint press is pretty heavy. The thing weighs in the neighborhood of 20 pounds. Sure, it might not seem like that much, but you don't want to wrestle with that much weight above your head if you can help it. And you probably don't want to break your face if you drop it.

 

- A ball joint press is big and the screw is rather long. On one side of your work area, the oil pan is in the way (I did this job with my oil pan off so I didn't have to worry about this). On the other side, the spring is in the way. Space is very limited in this area of the suspension.

 

Instead, I decided to make something with a few nuts and bolts that does the same job with a much smaller profile and much less weight:

 

 

This is a press I made using (from left to right) a 3/8"-16x6" Grade 8 bolt (not the bolt in the picture), an assortment of washers, a 1" knockout cup, a 1-3/4" knockout cup, more washers, and a matching Grade 8 nut. The left side presses out the bushing, and the right side receives it. If you don't have knockout punches available, sockets can do the same job (I recommend impact sockets as they are less likely to explode or chip under pressure.) This press can also be used to press in the new bushing by reversing the position of the cups. The 1" knockout cup I used is almost exactly the diameter of the bushing, so I needed to be careful. If you use something significantly smaller than the bushing's diameter, your bushing will probably come out in two pieces. With this setup, both bushings came out in 1 piece.

 

Remember to only do one side at a time! If you remove both upper control arms, it will be very difficult to get the axle to line up when you're done.

 

With these tools, the job is relatively straightforward. On my truck, the axle-end bolts had a T50 Torx head (inboard) and a 15mm hex head (outboard). The frame end bolts have anti-spin collars on them, so you don't need to hold the bolt head. The frame-end nuts are also 15mm hex, I believe.

 

Be VERY careful to not strip the Torx head from the axle-end bolt. Make very sure you are using the correct size socket (the Torx socket should fit very tightly in the bolt head) I recommend spraying the bolts with penetrating oil in advance of the job, and having a torch ready in case the bolts decide to seize.

 

 

Here you can see just how little room you have to work with. The shiny thing in the top left is the bottom of my oil pump. Anyway, once the bolts are removed (they can sometimes be hard to get out of the holes) the control arm simply lifts out, and then you can replace the bushing. When pressing the new bushing in, be very sure that it gets started straight. If you're using a press similar to the one I talked about earlier, you can also use it to press in the new bushing. Make sure the new bushing's lip is seated flush with the bushing mount. Once that's done you can proceed to reinstall the control arm.

 

No matter how careful you are to make sure the axle doesn't move, chances are you will need to adjust the axle's position to make everything line up again. The factory bottle jack can be used to push the axle away from the frame, and ratchet straps can be used to pull it closer. Alternatively, you can just leg press the axle into position :D

 

Torque specs on the bolts are 55 (axle end) and 65 (frame end) ft-lb. Make sure to torque the bolts with the vehicle sitting at ride height. The factory service manual cautions against using the Torx head on the axle end bolts to apply torque.

 

This chapter still isn't over, but I have quite a bit more material left to cover. Maybe I shouldn't go as long in between updates next time?

 

:banana:

 

[Minuit]

For this final installment of "crap I did over the winter break," we're going in deep. Open heart surgery.

 

Here's how they put these things together in the factory:

Step 1: Suspend heater core in air.

Step 2: Build vehicle around heater core.

 

Around May last year, as I was finally getting the truck on the road again after the rear main seal replacement from hell, the heater core decided it had done its job long enough, and began puking coolant at an alarming (and floor-covering) rate. Not willing to dive in after spending so much time working on it, I elected to bypass the heater core and deal with it later. It wasn't cold in May, but it's cold now, and I'd like to have working heat again.

 

IF YOU HAVE AIR CONDITIONING, THE ENTIRE A/C SYSTEM MUST BE COMPLETELY EVACUATED PRIOR TO THIS PROCEDURE. YOU MUST OPEN UP THE A/C SYSTEM TO REMOVE THE HVAC BOX. FAILURE TO EVACUATE THE SYSTEM BEFORE DOING SO CAN RESULT IN SERIOUS INJURY. REFRIGERANT IS NO JOKE.

 

Since you are opening up the A/C system to the atmosphere, you should also replace the receiver/drier unit afterwards. They are extremely cheap and help to prevent corrosion in the system. It's a $13 part on Rockauto. There's no excuse for cutting corners this small.

 

If you can swing it, there's no better time to replace your A/C evaporator. It's $60 on Rockauto, but do you really want to do this twice?

 

To do any of this, you need to take your dash out. Don't believe any idiot rednecks that say you don't, because you do. There is an excellent writeup HERE. This writeup also covers the process of heater core replacement in far more depth than is appropriate for this build thread, including a full teardown of the heater box so I see no reason to make this into a writeup.

 

 

Here's the heater box out of the truck. The weather on the day I did this could not possibly have been any better so I was very happy to do this outside with the garage door open rather than inside on the bench.

 

 

Uh, you're not supposed to be in there. Don't put anything you want to keep on top of the dash or it stands a good chance of falling down inside the HVAC box. Actually, just don't put stuff on top of the dash period.

 

 

I can see no reason why this would possibly leak.

 

 

Watertight like a sieve!

 

 

Here's the new heater core: Spectra "Premium" part # 93024. I have a generally very negative attitude towards aftermarket parts, and this thing exemplifies why. It completely lacks one of the screws that the factory heater core has holding it to the heater box, and the one screw hole it does have is too small to accept the factory screw without being drilled (or punched) wider. The foam seal around it is also about 25% the size of the original one, but the original seal is probably soaked and unusable if you're doing this job. It does fit correctly in the heater box though, but that's about the only good thing I can say. Oh, and Spectra packs these things terribly. They don't cushion it at all. I had to have Rockauto send me a second one since the original one they sent me was "customized" at some point in shipping. Mopar heater cores run in the multi-hundred-dollar range, unfortunately.

 

Make sure the new heater core holds pressure (cover one of the holes and blow into the other) before you put it in!

 

 

Be very careful that you don't dislodge the defroster door. As far as I can tell there's not anything holding it in place and it's a huge pain to get put back right. Make sure it's in place before you put the dash back on.

 

Once you have the new heater core in place, just put everything back together. Make sure you're not pinching any vacuum lines and make sure everything stayed together and in its proper place. I strongly recommend getting someone to help you put the heater box back in. It's probably the only part of this job that requires it.

 

To cut a very long story short, my heat works very well now. Here's a picture of my dogs not looking at the camera.

 

 

I was very lucky to stumble upon a set of NOS Mopar slush mats, part number 82204675.

 

 

 

 

 

These are one of my proudest MJ possessions at the moment. They look and fit way better than the aftermarket junk that was in there. The driver side floormat comes with a plastic barb you screw into the carpet to hold the floor mat, pretty cool. And for the first week or so they made the truck smell like an old dealership :)

 

After that, it was time to get the temperature and oil pressure gauges working again. Simple enough - you just need to swap out two sensors on the engine. The part numbers I used were:

 

Temperature: Wells TU108

Oil Pressure: Standard Motor Products PS315. 

The '91 shares gauge senders with the Renix years. As always, prefer Mopar to the aftermarket junk part numbers given above.

 

I have read in a couple of places that 1996 gauge clusters don't work with '91 trucks due to "electrical differences". Like most things you read on the internet, this is total crap. 1996 XJs don't have a temperature sender in the head, but the cluster doesn't care where it's getting the information from.

 

The oil pressure sensor is pretty simple to change out. It sits right by the oil filter. I couldn't find a wrench that fit it, so I just used a crescent wrench.

 

 

The temperature sender is located on the back driver's side of the head just in front of the engine ground and is a major pain to get to. It's a 13mm hex.

 

 

(pic not mine)

 

If your experience is like mine, you'll have to go a sixteenth of a turn at a time with a wrench behind the intake because the valve cover prevents you from getting a socket or a gearwrench on it until the hex part of the sender is above the lip of the valve cover.  :fs1:  It took longer than it should have, but knowing what temperature my engine is running at is more than worth the trouble.

 

Once I fired up the engine, I got a nice little surprise:

 

 

Never thought my engine would be making over 60psi of oil pressure when cold and 40 when warm. I was worried I wasn't even going to reach the minimum acceptable 13psi, but this little MJ is full of surprises! I also observed that the engine runs at exactly 210... as long as you're in motion and above idle. A quick poke around revealed that my fan clutch was on the loose side, so a replacement is on the way.

 

That brings us up to around the end of January. Just in time to make another update about what I've done since then...  :papers:

[Minuit]

Running Out of Things To Fix: February-March 2016

 

Let's start this chapter right.

 

 

For the past couple of months, I started noticing a faint "honk, honk" sound coming from the engine. At first it was very quiet and only occurred at most once every three weeks, so I thought nothing of it. As time went on, it started getting louder and more frequent, finally getting to the point where the engine would honk almost every other time I started it. A quick feel around the engine bay revealed that the noise was coming from my distributor. Upon taking out my old distributor, I was greeted with this:

 

 

Here's a good chance to make an upgrade: Distributors from 1994 to roughly 1997 feature the same connector as early HO distributors (possibly also Renix?), but the sync sensor (aka the "pickup coil") is easily removable without pulling the distributor.

 

 

1994+ distributor in front, my 1991 original in back. I pulled my "new" distributor from a 1997 Grand Cherokee. I believe 1997 is the cut-off for these, as later engines I looked at had a different style of plug. The plug you want looks like this:

 

 

This pic is awful, but there are 3 flat pins on the plug. As long as the plug on the distributor matches the plug on the vehicle, it will work (assuming the sync sensor on the junkyard distributor works, of course).

 

The hardest part of this job is making sure you put the distributor in the right place again. The easiest way to do this is to turn the engine by hand until the distributor rotor is facing straight forward:

 

 

If you get it a tooth off, you'll notice. It will probably take several tries to get right, since the rotor turns as it's lowered into the engine. Make sure to replace the gasket (Fel-Pro 70051) and make sure it's seated correctly and doesn't get damaged in the process. It might be a good idea to get a couple.

 

Installation truly is the reverse of removal:

 

 

While I was at it, I put on a shiny new brass terminal cap and rotor. The rotor is specific to 94+ distributors, but the caps are exactly the same. Now, if the sync sensor dies the distributor won't have to be removed to replace it, and the honk sound is gone! Not surprisingly, the engine runs better when it's not wasting a few horsepower trying to turn a nearly seized distributor.

 

I'll go on record saying that I'm extremely disappointed the 97+ door seal swap. Perhaps results might have been better with Mopar door seals, but I'm not willing to shell out $174 per side to find out. The 97+ door seals made the doors require what I consider excessive force to close the doors, and caused the doors to visibly protrude at the top corners of their openings. That ain't gonna work, so I replaced the door seals with the correct and proper replacements, Crown 55025514.

 

 

These fit exactly as I remember the torn up factory seals fitting, with only a very small gap at the top corner. Compared to the 97+ parts:

 

 

Massive difference. The doors now close like they should. I've noticed absolutely no change in wind or road noise, either.

 

At this point, I'm starting to run out of major problems that need to be fixed, so now I can spend time on my favorite things, small details. My soft inner fender liners looked like this:

 

 

so I nabbed a pair of still pliable liners from a '96 Cherokee:

 

 

These are pretty easy to remove, but you have to remove the fender flare nuts to get them off. Prepare a solution to re-attach the flares beforehand, because you will break some of the studs. The factory style brackets are still available, so I chose to replace them.

 

Here's what came off of the driver's side:

 

 

 

If those holes weren't there, I'd almost like the way these trucks look without flares. Good to see the fender under there is still in good shape. Anyway, after putting everything back together I had this:

 

 

Much better. You may need to take the front bumper off to make the front of the passenger side liner fit correctly (as the vacuum bottle might get in the way).

 

If you've been keeping up with some threads I've made in the past, you'll know I've been wanting to put a factory radio in my truck for quite some time. The previous radio was a Kenwood that I was happy with, other than the fact that it didn't look right in the dash, and the wiring behind it was... questionable at best. Only two speakers were hooked up, and they worked oddly, at best. However, I only wanted a radio that I knew the tape function still worked in (yup, I do have a modest collection of cassettes). Many thanks to TN bro relyt120 for hooking me up with not only the radio, but the somewhat difficult to find dash tweeters that came with the optional Jensen Accusound audio system.

 

 

I've always liked the way these radios looked, and it turns out I like the way they sound, too. I took this opportunity to repair the wiring, using crimp connections as opposed to the twisted 'n' taped previous job with some wire nuts added in for good measure.

 

Before:

 

 

After:

 

 

In my case, I had two different wiring harnesses on hand, one from a 1991 Cherokee and one from, if I recall correctly, a 1993. Both were identical to each other and matched the wiring colors on my truck's harness. I reused the stock wiring except for the front left speakers. 

 

I made a few posts in earlier threads discussing stock radios where I suggested that the Comanche and Cherokee wire colors were different, and that all Internet wiring diagrams (including the FSM) weren't correct. I was wrong, because I assumed the wiring diagram on the radio casing was looking into the front of the connector, which is not the case. In any case, the 1991 Cherokee and Comanche stereo wiring colors are identical, and the FSM and Intenet color charts are correct, at least for 1991 Comanches.

 

 

Here is the wiring diagram for the factory radio harness. Note that the graphic is looking into the back of the harness, not the front.

 

Anyway, here's an updated interior shot:

 

 

 

When I was at the junkyard, I picked up a set of updated (1995-1996?) vinyl door water dams, as the ones on my truck were completely gone. They are made out of a thicker material, and also provide some sound deadening properties:

 

 

I also wanted them to be easily removable for service:

 

 

I also took this opportunity to add 5-1/4" speakers to the doors in the factory location:

 

 

I also added the dash tweeters used in the optional "Accusound by Jensen" factory audio system. They are not very powerful, but they are noticeable. Imitating the factory wiring, they run off the same signal as the front speakers. The tweeters have integrated bass blockers so they will only play higher frequencies. The audio system responds very well to increasing the treble setting on the stock radio, which I believe is a result of the tweeters. I may replace these with either 2" tweeters or 3-1/2" full range speakers at some point.

 

While I was in "car electrician" mode, I also did a simple mod that allows my cooling fan to be turned on by a switch in the dash, as well as by the ECU. More details here: http://comancheclub.com/topic/48804-electric-cooling-fan-issue/?hl=aux+fan&do=findComment&comment=496745

 

On the HO models, all you need is a switched ground on the wire corresponding to pin 31 on the ECU harness. On the '91 harness, this wire is blue and pink. I had one more place left for a switch on the dash, so I grabbed a factory fog light switch at the junkyard and installed it next to my (currently for show) actual fog light switch as per the wiring diagram in the link above. Now the fan can come on if the ECU decides the temperature is too high, the A/C clutch is engaged, or if the switch in the dash is flipped. Nice to have when sitting in traffic, as my truck does run slightly warm (220ish indicated) when not moving. Being able to manually control the fan certainly does help to keep the temps a little lower.

 

Recently, I got my hands on a set of NOS Cherokee front mud flaps, which I installed on the rear. This gives a far cleaner look than the regulation Comanche rear mud flaps. I detailed the exact process of making these work in a DIY writeup: http://comancheclub.com/topic/49907-using-front-xj-splash-guards-on-the-rear-of-an-mj/

 

 

 

My front right wheel center cap started making a really annoying clicking noise (thanks, tire shop who broke them!) because it was slapping against the wheel with every rotation, so I took it off in my apartment parking spot. I got some pretty odd looks from my neighbors for jacking up and taking a wheel off of my truck in the parking lot, but the noise is gone.

 

 

These wheels probably won't be on the truck for very much longer. They photograph nice, but the clear coat is missing from a couple of them and one is starting to develop surface rust. If you're in the middle TN area and you're selling a set of nice Ravine wheels, hit me up.

 

Next time, maybe I'll do something with these?

 

 

:wavey:

[Minuit]

No time to make a real update, but...

 

 

And yes, they do flip forward. Details on how I did it to come.

[Minuit]

Jeep Comanche Sporliminatoredo: November 2014-April 2016

 

This update has been a long time coming.

 

It had been a forgone conclusion basically since I got the truck that the bench seat was on borrowed time. It was very worn out, provided little to no support even when new, had some pretty nasty stains in it that just would not come out, and just didn't fit what I wanted. To make matters worse, I've lost some weight recently, and as a consequence, I couldn't drive the truck for much longer than 90 minutes without making my rear end pretty uncomfortable. According to some family members that have been around since the truck was new, the bench wasn't comfortable even in 1991. Those of you who have been following this build for a while (or just look back a few pages) will know I have these in my posession

 

 

Major shout out to relyt120 for hooking me up with much of the stuff pictured way back in 2014, as well as a number of other things since. One small problem was that the floor bracket sliders had their mounting studs cut off for some reason:

 

 

This, combined with the fact that there were more pressing matters going on with the truck at the time meant the seats went on the backburner. The seats were mechanically in perfect condition, but I didn't care much for the vinyl covers, which smelled horrible and needed replacement anyway. This left me with a few options for how I wanted the seats to look:

 

- My original plan, "Jamaica fabric", found in base and Sport model XJs and the pattern of the original bench seat.

- Leather, found in Limited, Briarwood, Wagoneer, and some Country XJs. Not easy to find in junkyards in my area, and even then usually in rough shape.

- "Luggage fabric", standard in Laredo and Country XJs, and of course the Comanche Eliminator and Laredo. Very common.

 

Options 2 or 3 were what I really wanted, but I had a set of Option 1 seat covers on hand just in case. I couldn't decide between 2 and 3, until the decision was made for me on a recent junkyard trip:

 

 

Option 3 it is then! These seats belonged to two different 1993 Country XJs about 100 feet apart in my favorite junkyard. These seats are legendary in the Jeep community for being very comfortable, and how. Apart from some minor dinginess which cleaned up very nicely, the only blemish in either seat was a small tear in the driver side seat's left bolster.

 

You may be screaming at your computer right now, "but those are 4-door seats! If you bolt them in your MJ you won't be able to get behind them!" Or not, you probably don't care that much. In any case, these are 4-door seats and will need some surgery to make flip forward, and by surgery I essentially mean "swap the padding and covers from the nice seats onto the folding forward frames of the dingy seats, and then mate the franken-seats to MJ floor brackets". In typical Minuit fashion, these seats are a mishmash of various parts from different vehicles.

 

The process of disassembling the seats is pretty straightforward. Here's the flip forward seats, both assembled and stripped to the frame:

 

 

Flip forward frame on the left, 4dr frame on the right:

 

 

I see no way to make 4-door seats tilt forward. The frames are too different. However, the padding and covers are pretty much 100% interchangeable. Even the wingback padding will bolt on to the MJ frames:

 

 

I then reassembled the seats, with this "recipe"

 

- 2 door XJ/MJ "flip forward" frames

- Seatback padding and covers from 4-door luggage fabric seats, including bolster plates. Holes for tilt lever and latch mechanism made in seatback covers and foam padding.

- 2 passenger side seat cushions, with luggage fabric covers. All cushions are completely interchangeable between fabric types and sides.

 

The end result of the aforementioned swaperoo is this:

 

 

Remember how my MJ floor brackets had the mounting studs cut off of the seat sliders? We can re-use the sliders from the XJ brackets and swap them onto the MJ brackets. The hard work is separating the sliders from the floor brackets. The conventional way involves drilling a million spot welds, but there is an easier way.

 

 

The sliders are stopped in both directions by rivets. If the rivets at each end are removed, the seat slider can be removed from the floor bracket. The sliders roll on these bearing assemblies (in this picture, the top of the bracket faces towards the left):

 

 

Since the bearing assemblies have stops in both directions, they must be removed one at a time. To do this, remove the rivet at one end of the sliding rail, then slide the rail as far toward the now-removed rivet as possible. The bearing assembly that the slider rolls on should move towards where the rivet used to be, but stop just short. To remove the bearing (and free the slider), hold the bearing assembly in place with a pair of vice grips, and hammer the slider in the opposite direction. After a few repetitions, one bearing assembly should fall out:

 

 

Repeat this process for both ends of both sliders on both sets of brackets to remove the sliders.

 

 

One of the sliders from the MJ floor brackets. Note the cut stud that attaches the seat to the slider assembly. The sliders from the XJ floor brackets are identical.

 

 

Once both sets of sliders were separated from their respective floor brackets, I swapped the good sliders to the MJ floor brackets and re-assembled everything with bolts in place of the rivets. In case the sliders ever need to be removed from the MJ brackets, the process will be greatly simplified. I used some leftover 5mm bolts from my mud flap project, but most any hardware of similar size will do. The bolts will only function to limit the sliders' travel, so there is no real need for high grade hardware. With the sliders swapped to the MJ floor brackets, the seats can now be attached in the truck:

 

 

You will need the seat belt receivers from a bucket seat equipped vehicle. Yes, the stain on the passenger side seat cleaned up nicely.

 

The result? These seats are certainly the most comfortable automotive seat I've ever sat in. Quite possibly the most comfortable seat of any type I have ever sat in. I find excuses to drive around just to sit in these seats. They are that good. They keep you in place, too. The truck is considerably more fun to drive now that I don't have to keep myself from falling off the seat when turning. There is one downside, though:

 

 

Of course, now that I had bucket seats, I had to do something with the space between the seats. Wouldn't it be nice to have a center console? If only I knew where to find one...

 

 

You're coming with me. You also need the bottom air deflector.

 

Not including the shifter, three brackets attach the console to the truck. One is part of the transfer case skid (or if you don't have 4x4, the blockoff plate for the hole the shifter goes in), one in about the middle of the transmission tunnel, and one at the rear. Writeups elsewhere on this site may claim that one or more of the brackets aren't necessary, but come on. Do it right. You don't want your console to wiggle, do you?

 

The front bracket is easy to find. Feel around where the transfer case shifter would be (or where it is on a 4wd) and you should find a small hump. Cut the carpet/floor liner there. That's one of the console mounts:

 

 

This bracket takes a single #8 sheet metal screw. If there's one thing I recommend keeping in stock if you have one of these trucks, it's a healthy supply of #8 screws. Basically every screw on the interior is #8. I like the black chrome ones from Lowe's, and I've basically replaced every screw in the truck with them at this point. The shifter assembly also holds the console in place, but I'm not swapping a floor shifter in yet, so we'll leave it out. The console won't fit quite right until it's in, but it's not a big deal.

 

The middle and rear brackets require some drilling. Fortunately, the holes are pre-punched. To find them, line the console up just with the front bracket and follow the screw holes down. Here's roughly where they're positioned relative to the console:

 

 

 

Simply find the divots and finish drilling holes in their location. The factory held these brackets on with self-tappers. I used more #8 sheet metal screws. If you're using #8 screws like me, drill a 1/8" pilot hole and then run the screw down into the hole to create the threads. You only have one chance to not mess this up, so be careful. Repeat this procedure for the rear bracket, once again using the console as a guide for the rough location of the pre-punched divots. Yeah, the cuts in the rubber floor aren't pretty, but it's getting covered up by the console anyway.

 

The XJ has a plastic air duct running under the console that allows air to flow to the rear seats. This is of limited use in an MJ, so I chose to not put it in. The correct solution for the MJ is a block-off piece on the air deflector at the front of the console. Until then, some air will uselessly flow into the console on the "BI-LEV" and "HEAT" settings.

 

Once your holes are drilled and your brackets are installed, just put your console in! When you're done, it'll look something like this:

 

 

Very nice. It's increasingly more of a lie to call my truck a SporTruck. It's a floor shifter and carpet short of being an Eliminator inside with a few touches from the Laredo. Thus, I have no choice but to call my truck's trim package the Sporliminatoredo.

 

Between this update and the last, I replaced my broken aftermarket fan shroud with a genuine Mopar one (they are still available) and my cooling fan with the upgraded 94-96 8-blade fan, to improve my cooling somewhat. My truck never overheats, but it does get a little warm for comfort when sitting in traffic. Today, I sat in traffic for almost an hour because of an accident:

 

 

During that whole time, my gauges looked like this:

 

 

Very nice. Note the switch to the right of the fog light switch; it controls the electric fan. Highly, highly recommended.

 

When I made it back up to Cookeville, a feature my truck has been sorely lacking through the years was waiting in the mail:

 

 

This is one of two different styles of cupholder for this era of truck. The other version sits on the passenger side of the console and intrudes on the already limited passenger side room. Crown makes a cheap reproduction, but you really want a genuine Mopar one like this. As usual, the aftermarket one is made of thinner and crappier material. This piece is solid.

 

That's all, folks!

 

:banana:  :banana:

 

but seriously, my 25 year old Jeep is more comfortable than luxury cars that cost 5 times as much when new.

 

 

 

 

[FarmerBrown5]

I love the new look! That Country looks to be in good shape with a lot to offer, too! 

[Minuit]

Thanks man! I considered getting the woodgrain stuff from the Country when I bought the console, but decided against it. When I went back a few weeks later all of it was destroyed by someone to get to the heater box :( I still think I probably should have picked it up, because it was in pretty good shape.

 

Sent from my LG-D800 using Tapatalk

[acerocknroll]

Awesome writeup! Good to know that's another option for replacing the bench. Truck is looking great man!

[Minuit]

Thanks! There's a lot more to the "writeup" but I didn't think it fit in a build thread where I'm trying to be somewhat concise.

[relyt120]

Looking really good!

 

I might have some seat belts with the plastic somewhere  :hmm:

[Minuit]

I know this is a lot of posts for one day, but here's what I hope to achieve after my summer break starts in the next few weeks as well as parts lists. Let me know if you see anything missing.

 

- Add an aux input to the radio. This is an easy and well documented procedure so I expect no real difficulties. Just need to order the materials to make an aux cable. I have loads of 18AWG auto wire so this may be the beefiest car aux cable ever made.

 

- Lift front end using factory V8 ZJ springs aka XJ Up-Country springs. May or may not get springs from junkyard. Don't really want to mess with spring compressors any more than necessary. Lift shouldn't be more than 2".

 

- Fix wonky gas gauge. My sender is in rough shape and we've recently found a source for new HO fuel senders.

 

- Find some Ravine wheels. I think one of my Cooper tires may be messed up since there's a tire speed vibration I can't get rid of despite multiple balancings. Might need to find another set of tires to confirm.

 

- Polish tail lights. I have the materials to do this about 5,000 times over.

 

- Swap to 96+ stamped valve cover. I have every part for it now including new CCV tubing.

 

Order:

- New fuel tank vent valves

- 3.5mm TRS connector

- 2 pin connectors, find size

- 2 upper spring insulators

- V8 ZJ/upcountry XJ coil springs(?) (or $$$$$ OME 2930, need to determine desired lift)

- Front bump stop pads

- Fuel sender, maybe Bosch fuel pump kit

- Door check pin and bracket

[Minuit]

I just got ninja'd in my own thread... this is unacceptable! :D

 

Looking really good!

 

I might have some seat belts with the plastic somewhere  :hmm:

 

Thanks a bunch man! Couldn't have done it without parts I've gotten from you over the years :thumbsup: Not too worried about the seat belts right now, but let me know if you find some in better shape than mine. If not, no big.

[Minuit]

A New Friend!: April-May 2016

 

I haven't done a lot of stuff with the recently, mostly small things:

 

 

I put on the 3D printed seat tilt bezels strokermjcomanche sells. I like 'em a lot, even without paint. I think I'll keep them black, it blends well with the other interior trim. Those stupid roll pins are a huge pain to get out. Hammering a nail into them and pulling it out seems to be the best way.

 

 

I put on a new Mopar fan shroud (yes, you can still get these new) - I just broke the 2nd cheap aftermarket one in 3 years. The Mopar version is more expensive, but hopefully it'll last longer than 6 months. These are a lot less painful to swap if you take off the upper core support.

 

I also swapped the electric fan for an 8-blade one from a '96 XJ. The '95-'96 fan uses the same connector as the Renix or early HO fan but pulls more air. Quieter too. Of course, the manual control I hooked up earlier works just fine with the new fan.

 

 

I figured I needed at least something to break up the front end. Why not rep Team Mopar? Thanks for no electrical problems! Speaking of electrical problems, the '91 made a new friend!

 

 

The '89 of many colors used to belong to TN bro relyt120. I got a new project (with 3 pedals too!), the truck got a new home, and relyt120 got his driveway back. Everyone wins! The '89 came with some goodies the '91 will be benefitting from, including a drop-in Duraliner bedliner:

 

 

This one blocks the tie-downs at the corners of the bed and needs to be removed every so often to clean the bed underneath, but I'm willing to accept that to keep the still somewhat clean bed protected. Looks pretty nice too and can be taken off in about 15 minutes if needed.

 

The addition of the '89 won't change anything with the approach I'm taking to the '91. The '91 still has unconditional first priority on all parts and maintenance, and will still be getting the lion's share of the upgrades. Besides, the '89 makes this one seem like a Town Car by comparison. However, the '89 runs cool so it'll probably get more miles until either the weather cools down a bit or I solve the '91's warm running problems.

 

[Fernando87mj]

What a beauty , hope to get mines as good as this one someday .

[relyt120]

Looking good with the bedliner in.

 

Got to ride in the '91 when he came to pick up the '89 and the pictures really don't do it justice!

[Minuit]

Thanks guys :thumbsup:

[Minuit]

Well hot sweet diggity damn, I actually did something to my truck this summer! Just a teaser since I have no idea when I'll be able to write this up.

 

 

[relyt120]

Lookin good!  :thumbsup:

[Minuit]

Much appreciated :thumbsup: I've gotten so far behind on my build threads. I might be able to update them next weekend, maybe?

[Minuit]

DOTDD: Special Hard Drive Crash Edition: June-November 2016

 

Here I go again, not updating for months and months at a time. I suppose it's kind of like cleaning, where you can do a little bit every once in a while or put it off and spend forever getting caught up. Anyway, I've made a few changes to our esteemed Silver Truck recently, but sadly I can't show you any of it because the hard drive I had the pictures (about 300 of them) died violently. As long as I'm not forgetting anything, here's what I did in text form. You might even learn something. Or not, that's not up to me. That means I get to indulge in my next favorite thing after fixing trucks, writing at length about stuff nobody but me cares about, so buckle up and get ready for a wall of text!

 

- Add an aux input to the factory radio.

The standard Chrysler tape decks have I think 3 different variations, and all of them can have an auxiliary input added with absolutely no electrical changes to the radio itself. There are two pins on the radio's circuit board, TP371 and TP471 on my model, that will accept an audio signal and play it over the radio/cassette player. There's a number of ways to do this, the simplest of which is to cut up a pair of earbuds and twist the leads around these pins. But since I am Minuit, I decided to come up with a more elegant, and more complicated solution that allows me to mess with electronics and buy more tools. Don't take this as a tutorial, since this requires a few specialized tools and skills and there's easier ways to do this.

 

 

I created a plug-n-play aux input adapter using a headphone cable with a 3.5mm jack at one end and individual wires at the other, D-sub connector contacts, and a plug at the radio so that the radio could be easily removed. I then ran the cable under the center console with the 3.5mm jack coming out where the handbrake would on an XJ. The cable is fully shielded and tinned at the wire ends to prevent corrosion. A full list of materials can be found HERE. To do it this way, the materials cost is approximately $11 after sales tax and shipping.

 

 

The cable exits with plenty of spare length at the handbrake opening. A phone or MP3 player can be plugged in and left in the tray of the console. 

 

 

3.5mm phone jacks are pretty clever. Each part of the jack carries a different signal - the tip of the plug corresponds to the left audio channel, the middle (known as the "ring") carries the right audio, and the base (known as the "sleeve") serves as the grounding point. On my cable, white and red are swapped, so if you decide to do this check the datasheet for the materials you're using.

 

 

On this radio, pin TP471 corresponds to the right channel, and TP371 corresponds to the left channel. The green lead is a ground, which should be attached to a grounded surface in the radio. Each lead has an open barrel D-Sub contact crimped on its end, covered with heat shrink tubing for additional strength. The D-Sub contacts tightly slip over pins TP371 and 471 to allow for a firm, but removable connection. For a ground, I flattened another D-Sub contact with a pair of pliers to make an ersatz fork terminal. These 28AWG open barrel terminals require a proper crimper. THIS is the one I use. It has a good selection of interchangeable dies for a variety of projects.

 

 

Here's what a crimped open barrel terminal looks like. It takes some practice, but a proper ratchet crimper provides much more consistency than a pair of crimping pliers. Open barrel connections grab both the conductors and insulation of a wire for an exceptionally strong joint. The tiny 28AWG joint in the picture can support a 5lb weight hanging completely by the contact with absolutely no worries. For reference Molex, the manufacturers of the terminals used in this writeup, specifies a minimum 2lb of pullout force for 28AWG wire. This was the 5th crimp I made with this tool, so the placement wasn't perfect, but still far, far better than a pair of pliers.

 

 

The cable can be snaked around the radio to exit at either side. When the top cover of the radio is installed, the cable is held in place. I added a Molex connector outside of the radio for easy removal. While I can't provide a sound sample, the sound is extremely clear when tuned to an empty frequency. The only downside is very slight static during quiet parts of songs, but it is in my opinion a small concession to retain the stock radio. The reactions from my passengers when I showed them the aux cord were worth it alone.

 

 

- Convert from a column-mounted shifter to a floor-mounted shifter.

 

Almost all of the pictures of this process were lost, but here's the rundown of what I did and what you'll need if you want to do this yourself.

 

 

Things you'll need:

 

- Pre-1995 floor shift assembly (duh)

- Pre-1995 park lock cable. Only necessary if you want the added safety of not being able to remove the key unless the transmission is in park.

- Pre-1995 floor shift cable

- To do it properly, a steering column from a floor shift automatic vehicle. I also chose to keep my original lock cylinder, which made the process more difficult. If you don't care about keeping your original key you'll have an easier time than me. I also kept my original steering wheel.

 

Before you start the swap, you'll need to make sure there is a hole located approximately halfway down the firewall on the left side of the transmission tunnel. This is the hole for the shift cable. If it isn't there, you'll have to make it. That's the only really difficult part of this swap.

 

Here's roughly the steps you'll need to follow.

 

- Remove the shift cable at the transmission end, then at the base of the steering column. Push the column shift cable through the firewall.

- Remove seats and carpet to expose the shifter hole cover plate. Remove both cover plates (if 4WD, the shifter assembly will be in the place of the 4WD shifter cover plate).

- Pull the new shifter cable through the hole in the base of the transmission tunnel  and attach it to the transmission.

- Install the floor shifter assembly in the place of the shifter cover plate and attach the shifter cable at the shifter end.

- At this point, I transferred my ignition cylinder to the new tilt steering column.

- Replace the steering column if desired. Expect to have a difficult time removing the intermediate shaft. It may be easier to loosen the intermediate shaft at the steering box end and keep it attached to the column. Good a time as ever to replace the intermediate shaft if it needs replacing (it probably does). It would be much easier to have a helper, but if you're like me and do your truck fixing at 2 AM, it's possible to do it alone.

- Run the park lock cable from the shifter to the steering column if desired.

- Cut a new hole in the carpet, add your choice of center console, put everything back together and enjoy your floor shifter! 

 

It's really not as big an undertaking as it might seem, and it gives you the perfect chance to do a few upgrades along the way if you want to. I personally like the floor shift a lot better than the column shift.

 

- Ravine Wheels!

 

 

Ravines are absolutely my favorite Jeep wheels, and I knew I wanted a set on this truck pretty much from the very beginning. I lucked out and found a seller on Craigslist selling the wheels, usable Michelin tires, and a full set of new lug nuts for a price I was willing to pay the day before school started.

 

The only trouble spot with these wheels is the front center caps - they don't play nice with the 2WD wheel bearing's huge dust caps. The proper fix is to convert to 4WD  A good enough workaround as pioneered by an anonymous CHROME FREAK is to use THESE chrome wheel bearing dust caps. Trouble is, they're ever so slightly smaller than the original dust caps. However, you can cut up an aluminum beverage can and shove it in between the hub and the dust cap to make up the difference:

 

 

 

Much better than the ugly stock caps. Make sure you use a thick enough spacer to make the wheel caps fit tightly. I had to buy 2 sets of these things because one flew off since it wasn't tight enough! You should have to pound the cap in.

 

~to be continued. I need to sleep~

[buxmj]

Cool work minuit, like always.  

 

Buck.

[Minuit]

Much appreciated as always Buck. The other truck has a big, way more interesting update coming soon :) For the immediate future, progress on this truck is winding down since it's in a pretty good state right now. I have one more small update to make and we'll be up to date with where it sits currently. Future fixes will concentrate more on the finer things, like interior sound levels, ride comfort, etc unless I find one of a number of things on my "buy immediately" list. And then there's that paint job I'm supposed to be saving for...

[Minuit]

Black, Finned Things: October - December 2016

My (original) 1991 radiator was beginning to show its age and had recently developed some weeping hairline cracks, and I was experiencing some intermittent warmer-than-desired running (not necessarily overheating, but upper radiator hose temps in the ~220 range on a hot day were hotter than I'd like) and massive temperature spikes when coming to a sudden stop after driving for a while. In addition, I would notice that the temp gauge would gradually creep up as I drove on the highway, even on cool days.

 

All of these issues are signs of a radiator that doesn't radiate enough, so I bought a radiator that radiates more:

This is a CSF 3 core copper radiator. It's approximately twice as thick as the stock unit and much heavier. Thankfully, UPS didn't customize my radiator fill neck like you see so often. One of my favorite things in life is overkill, and so I figured that the stock replacement would be insufficient for driving to school and back.

 

The swap goes like any other radiator swap so I won't bore you with the details, but you will have to get rid of these brackets at each side:

I assume those brackets are for a later model A/C condenser or something so they only have to make one radiator to cover the later XJs as well. You also have to transfer the rubber cushions from your old radiator.

 

While I was in there, I plumbed in a Hayden 678 transmission cooler. The specs sheet says these are suitable for up to class C motor homes, so this is probably overkill for a stock street driven truck that doesn't tow anything, but considering the AW4's reputation for overheating I wanted overkill. I positioned it behind the aux fan mostly to make routing the hoses easier.

It was an unbelievably tight fit getting it in there without having to remove the header panel, but I did it. Not going to bore you with the details except to mention that you want the hot fluid coming in the bottom and working its way up the cooler if you're mounting it sideways. I plumbed it into the system in the generally accepted way, after the fluid leaves the radiator. If you want an all-OEM parts solution, many XJs had a factory transmission cooler. Look for a wide, short cooler in front of the A/C condenser.

 

It's a tight fit, but I ran the lines like so. I later snipped off part of the tail of the hose clamp so it wouldn't touch the fan. Using a smaller hose clamp would probably have been a better idea.

 

Other than needing to break off 2 brackets and scratch the paint on a brand new $250 radiator, I was happy with the CSF radiator's fit, and very happy with what it did to my temperature gauge:

After replacing the radiator, the temperature gauge now sits new-car steady right on top of the 2 in 210 regardless of outside temperature, driving conditions, speed, and phase of the moon. I presume this is 195* on the gauge, and an infrared thermometer pretty much verifies this. My upper radiator hose temperature hovers between 185 and 200 degrees, and my lower radiator hose is in the 120-130 degree range, both right where they should be in my book.

 

My transmission is probably quite a bit happier now that its fluid is actually being cooled by an actual cooler. Immediately after adding the cooler, the AW4 seemed to shift a little bit more smoothly but this is probably just in my head. Unusually for an aftermarket part, I've had no reliability problems with either the radiator or transmission cooler since I installed them in October. So far, I can definitely recommend both products.

 

I finished with final exams on December 8, and true to my restless nature by the morning of December 9 I was working on my trucks. The first thing I decided to tackle was my fog lights. I bought a new pair of them about 2 years ago and put them on the bumper but never wired them up. As someone who absolutely hates the thought of adding fog lights in the usual aftermarket way, I knew I wanted to either use the factory wiring or build a new harness that incorporated fog lights. I found a 92 Laredo in the junkyard with its factory fog light wiring intact (the connectors hadn't even been cut off. Incredible!) and snagged the harness. Adding factory fog lights to an MJ is pretty simple. The trucks are all wired for them out to the front lighting harness connector, so you can add them simply by swapping out your original front lighting harness with one that has fog lights and adding the switch in the cab. Be careful though, since I believe the pinout for the connector changed at some point from what our MJs have, and I believe it was for the 1994 model year, but I can't confirm that year personally.

 

Out comes the header panel...

Other than taking off the header panel, you just remove your old harness and put the new one in the same place.

 

I hooked up the harness with the header panel off just to test the function of the lights.

 

I almost forgot that on HO trucks you have to add another fuse in the PDC slot marked Aux Lamps to make them work.

That's better. 

 

Hey Buck, remember how I said I wouldn't be doing anything interesting to this truck unless I found something on my "buy immediately" list?

 

To be continued...

 

[gogmorgo]

If the AW4 gets too cool it doesn't shift so great either. But I've only noticed that on a cold start well below 0°F so you may not encounter that I suppose. But just an FYI.