Car Enthusiast Posted September 1, 2019 Posted September 1, 2019 Hey, I had a thought. I am looking at a completely stripped down MJ and after reading about swapping a 97 and up dash into it I was wondering if it would just be easier to cut out the whole firewall and put in the firewall from the appropriate year XJ.
gogmorgo Posted September 1, 2019 Posted September 1, 2019 Depends on your ability. I've seen a couple builds where people have just cut out and moved over the spots that are different. I'd think dealing with a handful of smaller pieces would be less work than doing the whole thing.
Car Enthusiast Posted September 1, 2019 Author Posted September 1, 2019 I was thinking of taking it to a shop to have it put in so they could tram it out and put it on a frame rack.
Dzimm Posted September 2, 2019 Posted September 2, 2019 Do not cut the entire firewall out. The only thing it needs is one small hole on the passenger side for an hvac box stud, a small filler piece for the hvac passthrough (I used a piece of rubber instead of new steel), and the driver's side just needs the steering column hole moved slightly. Look through some 97+ threads such as Alexia's and you'll see a very small area of the firewall (12" x 6" ish) gets moved over. On my build, I just made the hole slightly larger on the original MJ firewall and filled in with a larger (built my own) rubber grommet, no transfer necessary. Absolute waste of time and energy to move the entire firewall. Could even cause leaks or unnecessary weakness in the truck. Not knocking your idea (all ideas are welcome for anything) I'm just very strongly advising against it.
AZJeff Posted September 2, 2019 Posted September 2, 2019 14 hours ago, Dzimm said: Do not cut the entire firewall out. .... Could even cause leaks or unnecessary weakness in the truck. Not knocking your idea (all ideas are welcome for anything) I'm just very strongly advising against it. I agree with this assessment. The complexity of welding in a large irregularly shaped piece outweighs the benefits.
shelbyluvv Posted September 9, 2019 Posted September 9, 2019 It's not just a dash swap. You have to swap all the wiring also if you want the stock 97+ gauges to work. If you are making a custom cluster be ready to spend $500+ on all new gauges.
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