New Guy from the Old Pueblo

[MJ20]

Hello everybody. My name is steve and I live in tucson. I bought an ’89 short bed with 200k on it for a new project rig and wanted to join this forum for some comanche talk, as well as post some pics and ask some questions and such.

 

My new truck has the 4.0/15/231 combo and is a tucson truck with no rust. It’s in really good condition except for a few things. The only real problem I need to address is the door latch post on the driver’s side pillar was ripped apart and badly welded back in place. Now it’s cracking around the welds. I am going to have to cut it completely out and weld in a large patch for a new post. The main thing is the unibody is in great shape and it wasn’t wheeled so it’s a great platform for the build I want to do. The interior is decent, body has a few dents I don’t care about and it has air conditioning. I paid $800 for it and drove it home.

 

The engine is a ’97 ho out of a tj with all the renix stuff put on it from the original. It has around 70K on the engine I was told. It runs pretty well but the po couldn’t get it to pass co2 last time at emissions. It has a vacuum leak at the disco that may be the problem. I’ll be going through everything soon and will get it to pass emissions. The original engine also came with truck. I have been reading up on the renix stuff and from what I see the engine swap was done correctly. I’m new to renix stuff but not to 4.0 ho mfi.

 

I also have a ’91 xj cherokee (4.0/15/231) that I have owned for 14 years and an ’86 J20 full size jeep (360/727/208). I’m about done with ten years of building up the J20 and now the comanche is next with some future mods being planned for my cherokee. I sold my ’80 CJ5 last year to fund some of these new projects. Three jeeps are all I can afford anyway, lol. It’s going to be cool to have big and little jeep pickups.

 

I already have some goodies bought for the comanche. I bought a full inst gauge cluster and cruise control stuff out of an ’89 xj for it. I bought a dana 44hp front axle out of a ’77 F150 for it. I bought a dana 44 rear axle out of an ’87 xj which may or may not go in the truck.

 

Well here are some pics. Not much to look at and a stocker to boot. It’s going to be wheeled mostly on the rocks in the southwest when I get it built, hopefully in a couple years.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My family of jeeps

[JeepcoMJ]

nice fsj!

 

it didn't pass emissions because it has a HO motor in it. no egr valve and running with renix stuff it's gonna have higher co2 than the truck's year was permitted to have.

 

easy fix is to replace the catalytic converter with one that controls co2.

[JeepcoMJ]

for that cruise control you will need the lower cable as well...the one currently in it isn't gonna work

[MJ20]

nice fsj!

 

it didn't pass emissions because it has a HO motor in it. no egr valve and running with renix stuff it's gonna have higher co2 than the truck's year was permitted to have.

 

easy fix is to replace the catalytic converter with one that controls co2.

 

Thanks, I’ll research that cat. I’ve never heard of one that controls co2 before. The truck has a brand new cat in it but prolly just a standard replacement.

 

I’m going to have to look at the engine again. I thought it had an egr from the renix swap. They do a visual on that here in pima county. I am just learning the renix stuff and don’t have much reference yet because my ’91 xj doesn’t have it. I am familiar with the egr system that’s in my J20 though. Any similarities?

 

 

for that cruise control you will need the lower cable as well...the one currently in it isn't gonna work

 

What lower cable are you referring too? I thought I got everything I needed as far as a mechanical speedo was concerned. I’ll do some research and get whatever I need because I need cruise control.

 

I’m already glad I signed up here. I was going to wait until I had a more decent rig to show off and post it in the Comanche showoff sticky.

[JeepcoMJ]

nice fsj!

 

it didn't pass emissions because it has a HO motor in it. no egr valve and running with renix stuff it's gonna have higher co2 than the truck's year was permitted to have.

 

easy fix is to replace the catalytic converter with one that controls co2.

 

Thanks, I’ll research that cat. I’ve never heard of one that controls co2 before. The truck has a brand new cat in it but prolly just a standard replacement.

 

I’m going to have to look at the engine again. I thought it had an egr from the renix swap. They do a visual on that here in pima county. I am just learning the renix stuff and don’t have much reference yet because my ’91 xj doesn’t have it. I am familiar with the egr system that’s in my J20 though. Any similarities?

 

 

for that cruise control you will need the lower cable as well...the one currently in it isn't gonna work

 

What lower cable are you referring too? I thought I got everything I needed as far as a mechanical speedo was concerned. I’ll do some research and get whatever I need because I need cruise control.

 

I’m already glad I signed up here. I was going to wait until I had a more decent rig to show off and post it in the Comanche showoff sticky.

 

if it's running renix and has the egr...then it's probably a renix head and intake as well...i'm no expert on that, so post up pics and others are sure to help. they have an nox reducing catalytic converter so I'd assume there's something like that for the co2. do you have an evap canister?

 

regarding the speedo cable, you have the short upper cable and the small connector that attatches to it that has 2 wires going to a connector correct? that's the UPPER half of what you need. now you need the lower cable that attatches to it...the one that is in your truck won't work because it's too long and doesn't have a nut on the end to screw into that connector (Speed sensor).

 

you probably don't need to switch over the speedo cluster to do this...you may if the cables have different connectors.

[mfpdm]

nice fsj!

 

X2! :bowdown:

 

Welcome to the club! :cheers:

[pingpong]

Nice rigs... Love the FSJ

 

Sounds like you have a solid plan. Are you going to narrow the front D44, and what kinda suspension you going to run?

[jeepdoggydogB]

Welcome! Your J20 looks awesome, the front grille looks like the Gladiator style. They just did a feature on a mod like that on Xtreme 4 wheel on Spike TV for a 79 full size Cherokee. :cheers:

[MJ20]

 

if it's running renix and has the egr...then it's probably a renix head and intake as well...i'm no expert on that, so post up pics and others are sure to help. they have an nox reducing catalytic converter so I'd assume there's something like that for the co2. do you have an evap canister?

 

From what I was told the engine swap was done by a pro. The po says they used the intake and exhaust manifolds and the fuel rail because of the elec connections. It has the renix flywheel and dist. I’ll have to look and see if it has an evap canister.

 

I haven’t picked up the original engine yet. I’ll be able to tell if they used the old head because it will not be there. What I know is the comanche was purchased new in tucson but the original owners lived just outside of pima county so emissions were not required. The engine swap was done. Then last year the original owners gave the comanche to their grandson who is attending the u of a and lives in tucson. His registration required emissions and it failed. It has a vacuum leak and needs the disco module looked at. It doesn’t want to engage from lack of vacuum. I wasn’t that concerned about it because I am swapping axles anyway but I am going to find out what is wrong. I had a vacuum leak on my xj and it was the vac lines to the module.

 

 

Nice rigs... Love the FSJ

 

Sounds like you have a solid plan. Are you going to narrow the front D44, and what kinda suspension you going to run?

 

I’m planning on staying full width. I bought the 44hp after three months of searching and at the time was looking at the t&t full width kit. Then the 44 out of the ’87 xj became available so I bought it thinking I may narrow the 44hp. The axles became available before I could find an mj to buy. I am planning to do a rear soa and still thinking about the front.

 

I bought a 14 bolt for the J20 so the dana 60 rear axle in it may become available now. I swapped a front dana 60hp out of a f350 in to the J20 when I did the soa a few years ago so I have all the 8-lug stuff left over from the low pinion 44 that was the stock front axle. I’m leaning towards the dana 60 because I just can’t seem to get excited about a semi floater rear axle, although I have been looking at a 9” axle that became available recently.

 

I thought I would be spending $2k or $3k for an mj so now I have some extra cash to play around with. I searched for a year before this comanche showed up and for the price it is exactly what I wanted. All I have to do right now is get it to pass emissions and then I will register it. I bought it last week and got the title transferred, added insurance, and drove it home. You can tell with all my typing that I am excited.

 

 

Welcome! Your J20 looks awesome, the front grille looks like the Gladiator style. They just did a feature on a mod like that on Xtreme 4 wheel on Spike TV for a 79 full size Cherokee. :cheers:

 

The grill is from a ’68 gladiator and new cj5 headlight buckets. I fabbed some angled mounts for external bolt access and some brackets to reposition the tranny cooler, condenser, and power steering cooler. There’s a lot of stuff behind that grill and it took some doing.

[JeepcoMJ]

vac. disco is vacuum from the t-case not anywhere else, so that leak isn't your problem with emissions.

[MJ20]

I looked over the emissions stuff and the engine has an egr and a canister. So the renix intake manifold was swapped. I did find a vacuum tee blocked with a screw from the intake to the booster when I checked the egr. Otherwise everything looks very good. You can see in the pic a screw in the vac line. I don’t know what goes there, I don’t have any of that stuff on my ’91 xj. I’m getting an ’89 fsm soon.

 

[mfpdm]

I did find a vacuum tee blocked with a screw from the intake to the booster when I checked the egr.

 

Just look at my 89, it doesn't have a tee. PO may have just used that instead of replacing the hose. :dunno:

[pingpong]

I did find a vacuum tee blocked with a screw from the intake to the booster when I checked the egr.

 

Just look at my 89, it doesn't have a tee. PO may have just used that instead of replacing the hose. :dunno:

 

 

Thats what I was thinking

[feerocknok]

I'm going way :offtopic: on this, but how's the Tuscon weather right now? I'm going down there on Sunday for a week.

[MJ20]

I'm going way :offtopic: on this, but how's the Tuscon weather right now? I'm going down there on Sunday for a week.

 

The weather will be around 100°f, 15% humidity. Nice for us but may be a little hot for you. The evenings will be really nice.