87 Original owner...time to hand down the Oddball.

[irieco]

This is my first post although I've been wrenching on this beast for years.  To be more exact, the last time I messed with it was over 15 years ago.  I'm the original owner.  Now my son just turned 17 and it's time to hand it down.  I looking to restore her to her former self or better.  It's going to be a long road.  This unit has seen a lot of living.   The dealer blew up the engine at 38K miles (that's an entirely different story).  Started as a daily driver, used it as an old school SCORE chase vehicle for Mike Q, Benny Cannala, and the Lewellin brothers (for those of you who are old enough),  and then a bit of street fun that lead to an engine fire.  Used to have a Sneeky Pete throttlebody NOS system.  I didn't know that it would weaken the injectors / seals.  It resulted in a weenie roast under the hood.  To this day I can't figure why AMC put the fuel injectors right over the exhaust manifold.  I had to replace all of the electrical, vaccum, plastic, fuel rail, etc.  Never repainted the hood, so I just spray painted an eightball over the burnt spot.  I started to call it the "Oddball" and the name stuck.  I'm hoping that I can pick up some wisdom on this site.

[JMO413]

Good looking truck! Welcome to the club. 

[89 MJ]

21 minutes ago, irieco said:

The dealer blew up the engine at 38K miles

Please tell us more. 

[irieco]

1 hour ago, 89 MJ said:

Please tell us more. 

 

It would leak 1 drop of oil every couple of days from the rear main seal.  The Jeep was still under warranty so I decided to take it in before it expired.  Big mistake!  The yoyo that did the repair did not install the oil pump correctly and as I was driving to work from the dealer, it tossed two rods and it destroyed the motor.  I freaked out and reamed the dealer a new one over the phone. They actually said to me "I don't know what you did to it".   I was so tweaked, I didn't realize that my supervisor and director were standing right behind me when I hung up the phone.  They just turned around and walked away.  35 years later...it's funny.  I still think that the original motor had more speed and torque but I did smoke a lot of pot back then.

[fiatslug87]

Welcome! Add yourself to the original owner thread.

 

[MiNi Beast]

some wisdom, lose the 8 ball. 

[Pete M]

nice!  got any pics of it back in the day? 

[irieco]

Well as I take my first steps into restoring the old girl, I'm already getting pressure in the frontal lobe of my brain. I've already ordered the 4 port fuel injectors recommended on cruiser54 and started to look at the “Book”. I removed the fuel filter and ordered a new one. Dropped the tank and took out the fuel pump. Wow the stuff in there was nasty. The hanger grommet had turned into something that looked like the main character in The Blob movie. It has the consistency of slime and sticks to anything it touches. It almost seems alive!

 

After reading a multitude of posts regarding the fuel pump and hanger, I'm still not sure which way is the best way to go. I ordered a pump from Autozone and there was no way on earth that it was going to work. I've ordered a Bosch 69302 pump now and I see that it might work with a little modification. I also found a Meat & Doria fuel pump that seems to be the same size that puts out 3 bars of pressure (43.5 psi). I'll reuse the hanger as long as I can find a new grommet to replace “The Blob”. There are also Delphi CHP10147 and CHP10148 complete pump and sending units. Some sites say they fit and some sites say they don't. I've read that it maybe backwards (filter and float) or the potentiometer may be backwards. That would be OK with me. “E” is for energy and “F” means your... finding a gas station.

 

Any words of wisdom would be appreciated.

 

p.s. Should I start another thead for this question or just keep adding on the "project" post?

[irieco]

15 hours ago, MiNi Beast said:

some wisdom, lose the 8 ball. 

 

Yeah back in the day it was impossible to talk your way out of a ticket.  "It must have been another red Jeep with an 8 ball on the hood officer".

[irieco]

Found my answer in one of the posts.  Thanks!

[MontanaManche]

This is awesome. ive always thought about buying a brand new truck and just keep running until it died but new trucks are more complicated for my liking. Excited to see how this restoration turns out!

[BeatCJ]

I just replaced the fuel pump in mine, got it from Summit Racing. It's the same pump that the company that refurbishes sending unit uses. It came with two bands that isolate the pump. They don't allow the clamps to work right, though. The OEM isolators on mine were soft, but not sticky, so I reused those to get things to clamp in place,then added two nylon cable ties. We'll see how long it lasts, I may have to revamp it before long.

 

US Motorwerks, or something like that. If you want, I'll look up the part number.

[Pete M]

16 hours ago, irieco said:

p.s. Should I start another thread for this question or just keep adding on the "project" post?

 

 

there's no set rule, but tech Qs from the OP should really get put into the Tech forum because more people look there than the build threads and so more eyeballs = better chance of finding someone with the answer.