neohic Posted February 17, 2017 Author Share Posted February 17, 2017 Thanks guys! The plan for the ZJ tank is to cut out the big huge cross member and replace it with a smaller tube structure. I'll be doing away with the stock MJ tank as I really don't think I need the extra capacity and I don't want to deal with transfer pumps. Simplicity is the name of the game! When it comes to replacement parts I want to keep with only one vehicle... and ZJ parts are cheap. Pretty sure the only "new" part going into this truck that isn't from a ZJ,XJ, or MJ is an aftermarket CJ(?) radiator. The ZJ unit is too wide to fit with the steering box where it is. I want to keep the mechanical fan from the 5.2 (remember... simplicity) so I'll be removing the stamped front cross member and replacing it with a tubular one that'll go under the new radiator. ... probably, anyhow? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HOrnbrod Posted February 17, 2017 Share Posted February 17, 2017 Wow - how did I miss this? Great work Ben as always - subscribed. Would be great if Jim could see this one day............ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted February 17, 2017 Share Posted February 17, 2017 what is wrong with the factory 23 gallon tank and fuel pump? if I remember right, the 2.8 v6 MJs had a mechanical pump at the engine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DirtyComanche Posted February 17, 2017 Share Posted February 17, 2017 what is wrong with the factory 23 gallon tank and fuel pump? if I remember right, the 2.8 v6 MJs had a mechanical pump at the engine. And the resistance range for the sender will be wrong. By using the ZJ parts he will be keeping everything the 'same.' Personally I'd probably throw an el-cheapo electric pump off the stock tank and use it as an aux tank to transfer into the ZJ tank, but gas stations are kinda scarce around here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wiggilez Posted February 17, 2017 Share Posted February 17, 2017 what is wrong with the factory 23 gallon tank and fuel pump? if I remember right, the 2.8 v6 MJs had a mechanical pump at the engine. yup no pump in the tank on the 2.8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neohic Posted February 26, 2017 Author Share Posted February 26, 2017 Spent a long day working on this today... doesn't really look like it though. Started to get a little discouraged with things today as it seems like I haven't gotten much of anything done for a while. Lots of little things still getting done... lots still to do. The floor was today's big job. As usual, it's always worse once you start cutting. I've said it before that this is probably to most solid MJ I've started with, and yet this is definitely the biggest floor patch I've done in one of my own trucks. I under estimated the size of the patch I needed from a junk XJ, so rather than using new material (kind of the theme going thus far) I "borrowed" a patch from a junk Scout II. Glad to be done with this. Some other boring but essential projects that got done today was to clean up the vacuum lines, swap over the fuel lines that run down the top of the trans (ZJ stuff), harvest the plastic fuel lines from the donor, and I removed the factory tank from the truck. Seeing the ZJ fuel lines in the truck really got me rethinking how I want to approach the fuel tank solution. I'll do some research and do some thinking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xjrev10 Posted March 7, 2017 Share Posted March 7, 2017 Looking good as always buddy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neohic Posted March 18, 2017 Author Share Posted March 18, 2017 Sorry for the delay in updates, folks. Been busy with other things and working on other such non-worthy of an update type of stuff. Between last weekend and today, there was some real head scratching that came down to some fairly simple solutions. The fuel pump was the first as I originally planned on using the plastic tank from the donor ZJ. Seeing how far back that was going to be and not being completely sure of where I'd be cutting once the bed gets bobbed, I decided that the best thing was to reuse the original MJ tank. So... how does one do such a thing being that the ZJ uses the giant drop in style module?... cut it up. Not a real big deal to look at being that it just looks like an MJ fuel sending unit. It's the original unit to the truck so it never had a fuel pump in the tank. Couple hose clamps... cut up the tab for the gauge sender... drill some holes for the near absurd amount of wires for a ZJ pump... and voila! Everything tucks neatly back inside the tank. Then the problem of what to do about those plastic lines which really didn't turn out to be that much of an issue at all. I made up some adapters since the 5.2 doesn't have all that much pressure to run anyhow. Then came the issue of the rear driveshaft being too long. Again, not a big deal. I've done dozens of these in the past with zero issues. Hang the cluster on the column, hook up the rest of the wires, and... ?!?!... nothing. My worst fear of a no start situation came true! I removed a healthy amount of wires out of the harnesses so my first thought was that I went too far with things. Then what about the old wires from the donor that lived their whole lives resting in the exact same place until I came along and moved it all around?! What about... ?!?! WHAT ABOUT... ?!?!?!?!... what about the simple stuff? Fuses?... good. Wires?... nothing looked broken. Relays?... bingo! Both the ignition and fuel pump relays were toast. A quick rearrange with the ABS and AC relays and... ... we have lift off!!! :banana: The brakes got a temporary fitting to the ZJ proportioning valve so I can move it around the yard, the trans got filled up enough to move, and then it was time to go for the day. So to recap: it starts, it moves, it kinda stops, and it now leaks fluids where ever its parked! :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yellaheep Posted March 19, 2017 Share Posted March 19, 2017 Nice progress Ben! Gotta be exciting! I think you should name it "Joe". Jim Oshel Edition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted March 19, 2017 Share Posted March 19, 2017 So to recap: it starts, it moves, it kinda stops, and it now leaks fluids where ever its parked! :D It's now officially a Jeep again! . :MJ 1: . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cody4359 Posted March 19, 2017 Share Posted March 19, 2017 Looking good man, I'd love some extra power from the v8 in mine. Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
500 MJ Posted March 21, 2017 Share Posted March 21, 2017 Nice progress Ben! Gotta be exciting! I think you should name it "Joe". Jim Oshel Edition. Great idea! Glad you got it running Ben! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neohic Posted March 25, 2017 Author Share Posted March 25, 2017 Ran into a little bit of an issue in the form of a bigger puddle of trans fluid than I was comfortable with. Anyone ever done a 231 swap in place of a 249?... you need to swap out the input shaft. :idea: Oops! The 249 shaft is longer so it engages the output seal in the transmission. Pulled everything back apart today to I could take care of that. Not a huge deal. It gave me an excuse to have a look inside my mystery 231. Turns out it needed nothing! Definitely a nice surprise. So for a recap, my t-case is the abomination of a 231 case, 249 input shaft and planetary, with the front output yoke from the original 207 from the truck. After the mixing and matching, I wanted to get back on finishing up under the hood. All of the ABS and airbag wiring was removed. So much more room for activities!!! In the ABS module's place on the driver's side went the ZJ's washer fluid bottle, and an evap canister from an XJ. I really wanted to reuse the air box from the ZJ but I don't see that happening. Next on the list is a little bit more wiring clean up, and then a long list of several small projects. :wrench: ... and I apologize for the lack of pictures in this post. :roll: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shelbyluvv Posted March 29, 2017 Share Posted March 29, 2017 I have the same setup in my T-case. Works good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neohic Posted April 8, 2017 Author Share Posted April 8, 2017 Howdy, folks! Had a nice morning working on the Oshel Edition today. Started off with finishing up the wiring to the front... I think. :crossfingers: All I had left to do was to splice in the sockets and pigtails from the old header panel into the ZJ harness. The plan is to continue running old sealed beam headlights and to keep the indicator housings uncut. Sure was nice to finally see it with an old familiar face. :) Really too bad the whole header panel is in terrible shape. Most of the mounting studs are either broken off or all stripped out. Same goes for the screws for the indicator light housings. Maybe I can find one in better shape that's the same color with similar patina? While it was on there I took some measurements for space for the future radiator. Then this happened... ... now you see me... ... now you don't! Now, before anyone starts freaking out, this has been the plan the entire time. There's a temporary crossmember tacked in there to keep everything happy, but I'll be patching up the front of the frame and then adding a tubular crossmember that'll go under the frame. Loosely hanging the radiator in there, it doesn't even look like it'll hang down any lower than the original did! We shall see. Then there's the dash. I've been picking at it a little bit through the week trying to figure out what pieces I'll be using. The dash is already in rough shape so I really had no concern for cutting it up. Really too bad the cluster from the ZJ is bigger than the original, but it is what it is. I'm sure I could've figured a way to use an HO XJ cluster, but I'm using what I have. Should I want to spruce things up in the future, I'll look into it more. Until then... ... I'm happy enough with how it's coming together. The steering wheel though... :ack: It really doesn't do it for me. I guess an older steering wheel will physically bolt on, but it'll screw up the clocking ring for cancelling the turn signal switch and the switch sits way too close to the wheel for the high beams to function properly. I have no cruise control, no wiring for the airbag, and therefore no reason to keep this ugly wheel. Maybe I can make up a spacer and run an older wheel? Suppose I'd have to live with the turn signals not cancelling on their own. Not a huge deal?... I already deal with this in the Ape, anyhow. :hmm: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neohic Posted May 13, 2017 Author Share Posted May 13, 2017 Been a number of weeks now since an update... I'm probably due. The past few weeks have been busy. There has been some house buying situations, thrashing on customer vehicles before heading everyone out to Moab, and then Moab itself... which was awesome. Since the last post, the radiator has been mounted along with transmission coolers, front end, and a host of other small things that most wouldn't care about. With the stock front crossmember cut out, a tubular unit was bent up to replace it. ... and then cut out a whole bunch of material for better air flow to the auxiliary transmission cooler. The point of wanting to run two coolers is to keep trans temps down on the trail. The main cooler is cooled by the mechanical fan. The other with the mini fan will run off of a switch. Then... ... and... Had I any intentions of keeping the stock front bumper and lower valance, you'd never even know what was going on behind there. :D 'Cuz Racecar. Soon enough. . :MJ 1: . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted May 14, 2017 Share Posted May 14, 2017 moab pics? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neohic Posted May 14, 2017 Author Share Posted May 14, 2017 Stay tuned to the Pub, Pete. Probably tomorrow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimoshel Posted May 14, 2017 Share Posted May 14, 2017 be watchin for it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neohic Posted May 17, 2017 Author Share Posted May 17, 2017 Oof... looks like I've got about a month to get as much done as I can on this truck. More on that later. :peek: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neohic Posted May 18, 2017 Author Share Posted May 18, 2017 Stuck around at the shop tonight with the itch to take it down the road and back. Mission accomplished! :banana: Pictures tomorrow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neohic Posted May 19, 2017 Author Share Posted May 19, 2017 Pictures as promised along with an additional update... windshield day! :D Even the installer was amazed with the lack of rust. ... and the current configuration of underhood stuff. I was filling the radiator last night all the while looking at the upper hose being higher than the cap. It's kinda nice having a few junk radiators around that can give up their filler neck! :idea: Little bit of plumbing left. Leaps and bounds for this over the last few days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neohic Posted May 21, 2017 Author Share Posted May 21, 2017 Exhaust day! This was a real treat. Typically in the past, this is done on jack stands and a creeper. So here's a real problem. With moving the engine over in the engine bay to clear the steering shaft I ran into an issue underneath. This clearly needs to go. Actually, I've been going back and forth on going with a radius arm suspension or a three link and this just decided it for me. The other side obviously has the driveshaft. I might still look at a three link but... .. and then this happened... which I am totally not happy with. Keep in mind that it is NOT permanent!!! To keep things somewhat happy until the permanent suspension gets built a single stock upper arm should never be trusted. :doh: The Comanche gods are definitely frowning at me for this. With that, I now have tons of room for an exhaust. Things started with the stock ZJ collectors out of the manifolds and then quickly turned into another "scrap yard special". Giveth to the scrap, and the scrap giveth back. :D After that, I changed the oil, topped off the transmission, took care of the plugs and wires, and took it down the road again. Much better to drive! Maybe now I'll finally bleed the brakes! :idea: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
500 MJ Posted May 23, 2017 Share Posted May 23, 2017 Looks great Ben! Oof... looks like I've got about a month to get as much done as I can on this truck. More on that later. :peek: So what was this all about? Why the rush? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HOrnbrod Posted May 23, 2017 Share Posted May 23, 2017 Why so many reducers Ben? No room above the cross member for the bigger pipe? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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