eaglescout526 Posted October 10, 2022 Author Share Posted October 10, 2022 Fuel leak addressed. Still have idle issue but as soon as it gets warm it idles and revs real nice. So I need to actually adjust the fast idle to warm up and then it should do just fine. Gettin closer to doing a drive around the block. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
87MJJeep Posted October 10, 2022 Share Posted October 10, 2022 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eaglescout526 Posted October 20, 2022 Author Share Posted October 20, 2022 Got a box of goodies today, stuff that will help with the engine to run right and what not. Apparently there’s a vac check valve on the back of the manifold that goes to a smaller hose. I didn’t know this until I found the part online and all I had was a terrible plastic hose connector holding the two hoses together. So that’s fixed. Also replaced some rubber tubes that go from the valve cover to the filter housing. Also got my interior lights working again. Stupid door switches. I should suspected this after working on Jeeps haha. Glad that’s working, shortens my list down quite a bit. Added power steering fluid, pump didn’t sound happy but it’ll get better as it cycles fluid through it. I’ll probably have to flush the fluid a few times before it’s a happy pump again but hey, power steering works. Also found a leak at the oil filter, so that accelerates the idea of doing an oil change. Once I got the new check valve in and made sure everything was good I got it fired up again and it sounds better and takes on fuel better than previously. Got it to idle at 1k and then warmed up to 750. Played with the choke some as it kept dying once it tried to get to 750 to idle. Got that squared away but I’ll definitely need to replace the tabs that are supposed to hold the choke in place. Fuel cap has also been replaced with a standard one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eaglescout526 Posted October 27, 2022 Author Share Posted October 27, 2022 Did some more work this evening. Mostly addressed the column issue that had been bothering me. Got the Mopar(heh) snap ring in place after trying to get the column to set in place where it needs to, to get the snap ring where it needs to be to hold the lock ring down. Along the way I found out the horn works! Woot. So now I gotta get the horn contact rebuild kit to fix the issue of the button not making contact. Also tasked the wife with fixing the tail lamps and making sure the bulbs work and now they all do out back. Gettin closer for a road test. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eaglescout526 Posted October 29, 2022 Author Share Posted October 29, 2022 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eaglescout526 Posted October 30, 2022 Author Share Posted October 30, 2022 Let’s see what I got done today. Lowered the fuel tank to check its shape and it’s in damn good clean shape. Original tank too as I found the build sheet pictured above. Got the new choke screws on and got it dialed in. I was able to back the car off the little drive and back onto it. Fixed the turn signal circuit and that is working like it should. Now I have a new problem. I filled the cooling system up and found a leak on the drivers side head at the front of the block….yay I get to tear down the upper half of the engine to do some gasket work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eaglescout526 Posted November 2, 2022 Author Share Posted November 2, 2022 Welp went and addressed some issues last night. Ordered a horn contact kit, fixed that. Horn worked for maybe 15 seconds before the relay up and died lol. So I found one in my parts collection to use in place. Then I addressed the dash illumination issues and lo and behold I saw the infamous blue printed circuit. Great. I took my time and was careful with it. Cleaned all the contacts and what not and one of the taps for the cluster connector was ripping. Took extra care until it just said “nope!” And fell right off. Ugh. New printed circuit on the way. And that tab was for the oil pressure gauge. One step forward two steps back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
87MJJeep Posted November 2, 2022 Share Posted November 2, 2022 Hopefully sooner than later you will get to one step forward is only one step back. Then one step forward and no steps back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eaglescout526 Posted November 2, 2022 Author Share Posted November 2, 2022 That’s the idea. I’ll get there. I just gotta think that it’s not like my MJ where everything was left untouched. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eaglescout526 Posted November 28, 2022 Author Share Posted November 28, 2022 Two steps forward, 5 steps back. I went over with the intentions to work on the electronics in the doors. So I got the drivers side window moving up and down and I decided to try to get the lock solenoid to activate, it does not and luckily Jeep uses the same solenoids but this one looks rebuildable so I will have to drill out the damn rivets….and see what’s going on with it. So I replaced the door handle and that’s a damn chore and a half right there. I took out the entire glass as I couldn’t see what I was doing with the nuts holding the handle in place on top of the bottom portion of the glass being dirty. So I took this as an opportunity to clean the dirty portion of the glass and lube up the guides and put grease in the rails and all the moveable parts I could find. For power windows from 79’ these or at least the drivers side works pretty damn well for it’s time. Goes up at a good speed and down fast thanks to gravity. So new door handle in place, power window operating I say I got something accomplished. Next I tackled an issue I’ve been having with the carb assembly. It hasn’t been feeding fuel right since I did an adjustment a little while back to the power piston and of course it bent one of the metering rods. So I straightened it and put it back together. Tried to start it and boy did it not want to run at all. Ugh. Took the top off the carb again and found the rod bent again and this time it broke when I straightened it. So I replaced it with a new one I had idle by and I found my issue for this problem, i don't have the retainer that is supposed to hold the power piston in place. I think once I rectify this issue, we should be good to go again. Hopefully once that’s fixed I’ll get the passenger side power windows operating and I’ll tackle the lock solenoids. I think I know why they don’t operate, I’m sure I vacuumed out a pound of dirt and glass, yeah glass, not sure what that’s about, out of the bottom of the door and I suspect the solenoids are contaminated. At least this car also has electrical that’s unmolested like my MJ. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eaglescout526 Posted December 18, 2022 Author Share Posted December 18, 2022 So I got the retainer on the power piston and it’s in place like it should be. I got it to run, now I had to get it to run right and I did this by adjusting the choke. Now I have a new issue where it acts like it’s getting too much gas when it’s being revved which is possibly is and contributes to my poor adjustment of the choke. Sadly the batteries I have died on me so I couldn’t do anymore testing and I think I got the car overheated too since it doesn’t have a working cooling system thanks to the head gasket being bad. But I’ll get this fixed before I tear the engine down for the head gasket repair. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted December 18, 2022 Share Posted December 18, 2022 you're trying to get it to run right before swapping out a bad head gasket? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eaglescout526 Posted December 18, 2022 Author Share Posted December 18, 2022 1 minute ago, Pete M said: you're trying to get it to run right before swapping out a bad head gasket? Yeah. Just more trying to get the carb set to where it will at least be a guaranteed fire up. Sounds wonky I know but I don’t think it’s bad at a cylinder to cause a leak and be running weird. But it could have easily gotten worse. I plan to take it all apart soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eaglescout526 Posted January 15, 2023 Author Share Posted January 15, 2023 Back at this beast. So I goofed around with trying to get it to start and come to find out as I was removing the manifold, its out of fuel haha. So i got the intake manifold off this evening. That was bit of a chore but I am very happy with how clean it is! don't worry, I vacuumed off the oil shield before removal and the inside. Next is to get the heads off to replace their gaskets. Now assessing the intake manifold. I think it needs a electrolysis bath as it has some surface rust but luckily it seems like the layer of dirt that was caked on saved it with the exception of some bolts for the t-stat, EGR and the heater tube. Those may not be fun to remove and will go slow with those. I know I do need a new EGR and I am looking at the possibility of a t-stat housing alongside the t-stat. Oh and a new oil shield too. Yes I did get the hose off and scrapped all the dirt off and its clean. I am gonna go at it with a wire brush and drill tomorrow to really get all the surface rust off and see what I am dealing with. The underside though is as clean as the engine is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eaglescout526 Posted February 7, 2023 Author Share Posted February 7, 2023 Got the manifold dersuted and cleaned up ready for paint. Had to remove these two bolts before paint. One is a rounded or almost rounded bolt thanks to the amount of rust it went through and the other is a broken bolt from the ERG. Thank goodness there was enough bite left, even broke the EGR in the process which I don't care, it is bad and needs to be replaced anyways. And it should be ready for pontiac blue paint soon I am going to replace the t-stat housing as it is kinda trashed but usable, the in-the-manifold choke heater tubes and the EGR as it is stuck and now broke lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eaglescout526 Posted February 14, 2023 Author Share Posted February 14, 2023 I forgot to update this and I don’t have the pic but the manifold looks damn good. I’ll have to take a pic of it as I took it back to the car. I still need to get parts for it but that’ll come with time. I think next up will be to replace the head gaskets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eaglescout526 Posted February 19, 2023 Author Share Posted February 19, 2023 Cylinder heads are up next for removal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eaglescout526 Posted February 20, 2023 Author Share Posted February 20, 2023 I got the drivers side cylinder head off today!! Several hours later. The head bolts being on there for 40 years didn’t help me much. And a bolt holding a wire tube/guide and the dip stick tube really didn’t help me with removing the head. But I’m happy to say both the cylinders and valve train are clean and rust free. And n infamous cracks between the cylinders. I would’ve gotten a pic of the cylinders but I ran out of light it took me that long. Had to ask a friend to help me haha. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eaglescout526 Posted February 20, 2023 Author Share Posted February 20, 2023 Fun stuff today! So i got the manifold separated from the head. Blasted the hell out of the heat shield nuts with heat and got them all free except one, snapped the nut off and I have learned that these manifold bolts are unique...dammit. I feel like I am working on an MJ again with this car. Also given the experience I had last night with taking the head off, I like inline engines more now haha. Now for the not so fun. All the bolts are off and I discovered two cracks on the manifold, one huge and the other is starting to make its way, so there will be some welding in the future as I already have to remove a broken bolt anyways. Now for the head. The head itself is in fine shape, ran rich for a bit when I had it running and it turns out my leak wasnt due to a bad head gasket....but a rusted out freeze plug. So I now have to get this head serviced which is fine it might need it given the cracks of the exhaust manifold. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eaglescout526 Posted February 25, 2023 Author Share Posted February 25, 2023 Here is the bolt I broke. I am getting an NOS one thanks to a member for the lead on one. Not the broken one but that’s what these things look like. I keep telling myself MJs are hard to work with but so far the T/A 403 has proven to be a different animal despite there being more made than the MJ but I digress. Now for the rusted freeze plug one side is brass and the other is clearly iron to my surprise. On the bright side if it had any water, it all ran out this plug before it ever froze over. Also the head is in the shop. Probably won’t be ready till Wednesday when I will take the other head to be fixed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
89 MJ Posted February 25, 2023 Share Posted February 25, 2023 Glad you were able to come up with a stud. I’d been looking, but hadn’t found anything aftermarket. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eaglescout526 Posted February 25, 2023 Author Share Posted February 25, 2023 5 minutes ago, 89 MJ said: Glad you were able to come up with a stud. I’d been looking, but hadn’t found anything aftermarket. I think it’s one of those really specific things that I could look up manifold bolts all damn day and get nothing like this bolt. It’s like the CPS bolt for our Renix Jeeps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eaglescout526 Posted February 27, 2023 Author Share Posted February 27, 2023 Got the pass head off, broke some more bolts along the way and found that one of the exhaust bolts at the exhaust pipe was already broken half way. So more welding to do! Also got the pistons cleaned up I think they came out pretty good. Found out the lower head bolts were painted so I will be painting those now to match. Now to rinse and repeat with the pass head and get the exhaust manifold off and find some bolts to replace it the busted ones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eaglescout526 Posted March 3, 2023 Author Share Posted March 3, 2023 Got the drivers side head back today. I asked the shop owner if it was the same one haha. Also got a new printed circuit in today. Tested it to make sure everything works….and I goofed up. I touched the ground circuit while testing the lamps on the cluster and it melted a small section of the circuit. Well I know basic soldering and it does the job right now. Can’t believe I made that mistake. I might make a failsafe wire to go from the ground point to another ground on the cluster to ensure my solder doesn’t fail. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eaglescout526 Posted March 11, 2023 Author Share Posted March 11, 2023 Passenger side head is done and the shop removed the two broken bolts too! I didn’t think they would’ve done that but I’ll take it! Also as I dig more and more into finding things to be powder coated, I have fully learned and accepted that I do indeed need to buy a full radiator core support. It is too far rusted on the drivers side right at the battery tray to be of use and stay installed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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