Chunk, A 1984 XJ

[eaglescout526]

Well while I waited for my wife to nap I decided it was time to do a little addition. 
 

 

Added the Renix 2.5L bottle and 86 specific air cleaner. Doing the bottle was a cake walk compared to the cleaner bracket. Getting the cleaner positioned with the bracket and marking one hole to drill and get a screw in for precise fitment. 
 

But I’m happy with where they sit. Currently my issue is the power steering lines and where they meet the preheater hose but i don't know if I am gonna use such yet or not. 
 

Currently my main focus is to put the front portion of the interior together ever so delicately. 

[eaglescout526]

So I initially went out to work on chunk this evening and remove the rear side glasses in favor of the chrome waggy weatherstripping. Instead I said to myself, “hey, test the fuel sending unit wiring and make sure the gauge reads.” Well it didn’t…no continuity between the connector at the dash and the FSU connector. Great! Needless to say I skipped a lot of the diag to jump to testing for continuity. I don't know why but that’s the only wire of the harness I got that’s not working. So I dug out the original body harness, salvaged the tan wire for the FSU and ran it outside of the harness. I was not about to go and find the break in the wiring of the harness….sigh. Glad I tested it now rather than down the line when I had the interior 100% together. 
 

 

Hopefully I’ll get the glass on both sides changed out tomorrow and the rear at some point. 

[eaglescout526]

 

Chrome and red are meant to go together. Now I need to do the rear window

[jpnjake]

1 hour ago, eaglescout526 said:

 

Chrome and red are meant to go together. Now I need to do the rear window

They absolutely do 

 

Although I believe chrome goes well with Everything…

[eaglescout526]

 

Rear window swap done. I’ll admit this one was tough and not having long enough string to do the install made it a challenge that I overcame with a bunch of flat heads lol. 

[eaglescout526]

22 minutes ago, jpnjake said:

They absolutely do 

 

Although I believe chrome goes well with Everything…

Lol agreed. Chrome for the XJ is easier to find than MJ so this one will be waggy like with all the chrome I can fine. Minus doing the door handles and window trims. 
 

I just realized. We got a chrome tailgate handle for the MJ. But I don’t recall the XJ ever getting one. 

[Gjeep]

XJ’s lookin good. 

[eaglescout526]

Thanks G!

[eaglescout526]

 

 

All the upper pieces are in. Those A-pillars scare the hell out of me. They are so fragile and much different than the later years that I had to be very very delicate with installing them. Sadly the pass side is still cracking where ever it feels like but finding these pillars are getting more and more challenging. 

 

But I am particularly proud of this:

 

Chunk here doesnt have the mounts for the oh $h!T handle and so I improvised. I had a spare panel I was using to test SEM grays on long ago and its the same plastic as the A-pillars(whats bad is I think its a two door rear upper panel piece, oops) and I cut a couple little rectangles and made myself some handle delete plugs so it doesnt look like I have an ugly set of holes in the panel to where something should go but can't put there at all. I like them, not the most flush and best fitting but they work and look factory.

[Pete M]

I wouldn't have given them a second thought unless you pointed it out.   Jeep did a lot of stuff like that back in the day. 

[eaglescout526]

Yeah 84 is the best example of finding non standard stuff until 85/6. Had I known what unique pieces I was getting into, I would’ve opted for say 85 or an 86 over 84 but this one has also been a fun challenge. Now if I wasn’t a stickler for original, I would’ve slapped in some regular new interior parts and called it a day. 

[eaglescout526]

 

Drivers side door and pass rear door panel is finally on. After waiting a month for new door felts I feel major progress is coming along. 
 

I was a working on the rear door yesterday and I got the top screw for the divider bar out as that was easy. But the main torx holding it to the door was pretty much stuck and i don't know why. So I stripped it and welded a bolt to it. Bolt worked until it broke. Ok crap. So I hit a point when installing the new felts that I needed to remove the bar and so a pair of vice grips and 20 min of cranking the old bolt out and it came out. I have no idea what is wrong or why the bolt was so tight to come out, even a new bolt is still tight but there’s no rust except what I saw on the old

bolt. Oh well. 
 

I also figured out how to take the front door felt for the window that rolls down and adapt it to fit the fixed window and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. Some light trimming and it looks pretty factory and not goofy. Hopefully I’ll have the door reassembled soon and I can close the door on the middle section of the XJ interior and move on to the rear section.  

[eaglescout526]

Rear door is assembled, rear bottom seat and associated panel pieces are in. I’m getting closer to having the interior assembled and having fuel injection next in line. I found the wire associated with the fuel pump to power the pump with the Renix harness, my next trick will be finding a wire to plug into the connector and finding a vacant spot in the C100 to put that into and then wiring it up to the relay for the Renix engine harness. It surprises me still that AMC didn’t offer this as a DIY or dealer kit back in 86, it’s pretty simple and I can see there being good money there to really make your early XJ worth it back in the day…but I digress the idea. 
 

Also since I have the back panel off I will be adding the power lock for there. I originally wasn’t going to but since the panel had to come off for the lamp switch on the latch to make sure it was working, I might as well go full power doors now. 

[eaglescout526]

Some progress today. I am installing a rear cargo cover, why not, deck this XJ out like its the first model year! Oh wait, it is lol. Any who, I am reading the installation instructions for the cargo cover and it tells me to "Drill (1) 3/32" dia. holes at top raised point of a group of (4) at front of trim panel for locating post on spacer-item(10). Ok....? I am stuck at this point and couldnt figure it out what the hell this meant, so I looked up some pics and got no where. I just took a guess, peeled the sound deadender away and started doing some alignment and some drilling to the pass side panel as the first step per the instructions. Well after some drilling and frustration of aligning this spacer, I peeled away some more of the sound deadener, I found four bumps that match the configuration of the spacer.

 

 

Well son of a b!t**! So after screwing up the panel, I drilled the right holes out, inspected the rest of the panel for the bumps, drilled them out, looked at the other panel and that one is already trimmed for the cover hardware! Cool! I found the two bumps I needed to drill for the lack of the spare tire on the inside. Now I am out of light buckskin SEM again and I am waiting for the JBweld to cover the holes I drilled and will paint. 

 

Next up will be finishing the rear panels of the interior, installing the tire carrier I bought from G a couple years ago and then should be Renix install. I am finding random curve balls ahead of this Renix install. Like The fuel pump wiring is there in the new harness I installed which is great! But it is open on the other side, but it shows in my 88 wiring manual that it goes into C100, so now I need to find an open spot in my C100 to run this pump wire, to run it out to the relay. I love how mostly plug n play the Renix will be and it surprises me still that AMC didnt off this as an upgrade to for the older years as a "we value your Jeep Cherokee as much as you do, so here at AMC we are offering a 'fuel injection update kit' to get more bang for your buck. Visit your local A/J/R dealers today" type deal. 

[eaglescout526]

Sunday I got lots done it feels like.

 

Got the cargo cover installed properly

 

Yes I know its Nutmeg in color, I have a NOS honey one but with spare tire on the inside and two other tans but both are the same issue as the honey. But thats ok AZ sun will fade it a little haha. 

 

Buttoning this up means I can finally put the rear seat back together!

 

 

I love this color combo of havin the honey and almond work together.

 

Oh and the wife hopped in the back seat as the first passenger. Dork.

 

 

Up next is a few different things. I had a creative block yesterday as I didnt know what I wanted to knock out. I am at the point where I am ready to do the Renix swap, install the automatic leveling system/air shocks, running boards I got from someone on here a little while ago, NOS mud flaps of the tire carrier.

 

Renix-missing fuel lines and wire for fuel pump(got lines located and wire I can probably make)

 

A.L.L.S(Automatic Load Leveling System) - Was missing air lines for the front shock kit, rear kit was complete. But both of these werent able to tie in as these kits are made for putting an air hose to them and adding air yourself. I figured out who makes these Delco shocks and its Monroe. They have shocks very, if not exactly the same as what I have, all the way to the ports on the shocks themselves. I found their air line kit, ordered a couple, hoses are plenty long enough to set up the system how I need to tie them to the compressor and even come with some tees to tie both sets together. This one is gonna be fun and my favorite to do.

 

Running boards just need some TLC before I toss them on

 

Mudflaps-Ill have to dig those out and put them on and I felt lazy to do that haha.

 

Tire carrier-I lack the right bits as per the instructions.

 

Oh I also got some NOS parts in today. Two of which are trailer harnesses. One is the harness that you need that has the relays and inline circuit breaker and the other connects to the relay harness that goes to the class one trailer plug. I think I have some NOS class I harnesses somewhere that will pair with these along with an NOS trailer hitch to install. So now I have to take off the rear panel of the drivers side and piggy back off a couple connectors for this harness to work. Granted I doubt I will ever tow with the XJ, but knowing I can will be nice. 

[JolietJEEP'84]

Will you be painting the steering column?  Looks like it's currently black...

[eaglescout526]

3 hours ago, JolietJEEP'84 said:

Will you be painting the steering column?  Looks like it's currently black...

I’ve thought about it. I don’t know if I will or not as I don’t know if that’s how the columns came in 84 or if the PO swapped it. But I can not for the life of me seeing the PO going through the trouble to swap the column and steering wheel over for a tilt. 

[eaglescout526]

Fuel line shave been procured and cleaned. Now slowly I will be doing the swap. First thing first is to put that wire in for the fuel pump as its cramped at the drivers side to really get in there. This is where the fun begins.

[eaglescout526]

Front bumper is off, tow hooks installed, just waiting on the front support brackets to show up so I can get this buttoned up and have the bumper installed.

 

 

While I was in here I tore down the original bumper to paint it up and drill a couple holes for the front bumperettes...wellIll I somehow screwed up when drilling the second hole and drilled it farther from my original marking, not sure how I did that. Luckily when I got MJCARENAS parts stash, he had a front bumper predrilled, yes I should have just swapped bumpers but the problem was is that the bumper was a badly spray painted blue. So more work wouldve been involved at first vs drilling a couple holes. See my logic...so now the newer bumper is set up and ready to be installed. I am pretty satisfied with how it turned out though. Some rustoleum rust reformer as a primer/way to cover the blue paint and finish off the landau black to have the finished product on the hood. Even sprayed the back side of the marchals to make them look nice.

 

Also got the aftermarket hitch assembly off. Got a NOS AMC one to toss on along with the appropriate wiring harness selection for it. That hitch was a blast to take off. Nothin like destroying rusted hardware to get the damn thing off. Almost dropped the gas tank to use a cut off wheel only to remember that I have nut splitters that can do the job more effectively. Also I hate the idea AMC came up with to mount the rear bumper, sure its highly effective but you gotta get a small wrench or ratchet up in between the mount itself to remove the top bumper bolts. Fun times, hopefully I can get it off, put on the NOS mounts and get the tire carrier on.

[eaglescout526]

 

 

Front bumper is on as are all the pieces for the tow hooks. Looks damn good with a bumper that looks nice and clean. Still working on procuring a NOS rear bumper. I hate understaffed dealers, they take a while to find what you’re looking for. But I have patience. 
 

I did get the old rear bumper off though. That was fun. Learned I do need to replace it hence the procurement of a new bumper. It’s dented and bent to where it doesn’t look good anymore which is unfortunate. But I did get the NOS mounts on which looks good. 
 

Got the wire for the fuel pump in the plug and into C100 at the fire wall. I couldn’t believe there was an open spot right at the top in position ZE or EZ depending on how you want to read that bulkhead. Now I am ready for the injection swap. 
 

I also made a new bracket for the auto leveling sensor, I should be able to get that ready soon along with having to make an extension harness to get from the rear to the engine bay, made that too short stupid me. Oh well. 

[eaglescout526]

 

The original coil!!! Damn. I’m working on tearing out the computer control wiring and emissions. So far yanking out the emissions hoses has been satisfying. 

[eaglescout526]

Look at all the fun I am having!!

 

This has been a challenge, the pass side of the bay is cleaned up and rid of the ECU wiring. Currently what you see is the FI starter relay in place to test what remains of the main harness and it along with power still works and gets to the cab and front lights. Now the drivers side is the fun. I worked on de-pinning the diag port which FYI are Molex connectors and the same connectors for the Renix diag ports. Both ports are de-pinned and fished through the main harness and separated. The only things I have had to cut are ECU related wires out of splices, no terminals have been cut to make things easy for this, I am being thorough and clean so if I want to put it all back with minimal work. 

Next I have to unplug the C100 and remove any ECU pins there which I believe is just power related wiring and get it prepped for Renix.

 

I also snagged a distributor from my spare 2.5L as I forgot this one has the vac advanced one for this set up and I can't use that with the FI. Fun fact, Renix era distributors look to be sourced from Ford as the one I have says Motocraft and has the original AMC part number and serial number tag on it.

 

Also learned I will need to get a new starter. Had to do some digging on why that is and it seems to be based solely on the type of fuel system. I didnt think this would be a problem but when I started getting sparks from the starter wire and compared it to my MJ, I concluded I will need to get the FI starter. 

 

Fun times to be had!

[Salvagedcircuit]

1 hour ago, eaglescout526 said:

Look at all the fun I am having!!

I heard the house special tonight was a special Béarnaise sauce to go with that linguine

Good luck my dude

[eaglescout526]

1 hour ago, Salvagedcircuit said:

I heard the house special tonight was a special Béarnaise sauce to go with that linguine

Good luck my dude

Hahaha it sure looks that way!

[Eagle_SX4]

That is about how the engine bay on my Eagle looks right now. Working on removing all the unused wires from the Cherokee harness I used to convert it to fuel injection.