Greenjeans Posted February 8, 2023 Author Share Posted February 8, 2023 21 hours ago, Pete M said: you better have grabbed those seats I only got the steering wheel and the wood grain dash trim (eBay bound). I left the seats. They are nice though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted February 9, 2023 Share Posted February 9, 2023 where is it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greenjeans Posted February 10, 2023 Author Share Posted February 10, 2023 On 2/8/2023 at 7:44 PM, Pete M said: where is it? Savannah GA in a junk yard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greenjeans Posted February 10, 2023 Author Share Posted February 10, 2023 This should give me just a touch of bling. Amazon aluminum shift knob. Pushing down works the same as pressing the button on the factory T handle. The T handle is ok but it reminds me of a cheap shifter in an 80’s mustang and this XJ needs more class. It will also sort of match the factory stainless 3 bar steering wheel. I originally bought an eight ball to drill it out and try to use that. Then I found this and it’s already drilled. There’s no capture screw, I’m going to work on that dilemma. So it will pull right off the top if you pull on it. But it moves up and down perfectly to release the shifter lock. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greenjeans Posted February 12, 2023 Author Share Posted February 12, 2023 Wrapped the Y pipe after I painted and primed it with vht exhaust paint. This was not fun to install! I wrapped it in hopes that it won’t spread heat to the floor and transmission pan. It’s tight up in there.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greenjeans Posted February 12, 2023 Author Share Posted February 12, 2023 Full exhaust in. Too many hours of my short life spent on that task 😁. The red stripe shows where the front driveshaft will be. That little detail added some complexity to the project. On my list of things I wish I could afford is a custom stainless exhaust system built by someone who knows what they’re doing. Maybe someday… I also put a spare that matches my tire size in the back and it actually screws down and fit in the factory location ….but just barely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted February 13, 2023 Share Posted February 13, 2023 but now it's done. forever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greenjeans Posted February 13, 2023 Author Share Posted February 13, 2023 12 hours ago, Pete M said: but now it's done. forever. It should outlast me 😁 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greenjeans Posted February 22, 2023 Author Share Posted February 22, 2023 Seems like I’m moving at a snails pace now…. I modified the XJ transfer case shifter by adding a tab to the “gate” so it will hopefully stay in 2wd, which is in the center of the stick travel. I cut off the hockey stick and welded on a 10mm bolt so it will accept a screw on knob. That knob is huge! I made it on the lathe about 10 years ago for a Honda shifter. I may Chuck it back up in the lathe and shrink it some. Oops no picture of it…. I used two tie rod ends from a lawn mower shop and two 7/8 wheel studs welded end to end (offset slightly) to make up my linkage. I drilled various 1/2” holes in the lever from the 241c transfer case to give me more adjustment to get my geometry right. A couple hours of fiddling and it goes in all positions. 4wd low is all the way forward like a Chevy truck that the transfer case came from. This ended up being a very short throw shifter, no idea how that will pan out yet…. Originally I was going to use a cable for this shifter but I grew tired of trying to get the adjustment right and figured this would be easier to adjust. It’s installed now and seems to work good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greenjeans Posted March 5, 2023 Author Share Posted March 5, 2023 The last couple days I’ve been working on the wiring in the gauges. No pictures nothing really cool to show anyway. I did chase my tail today for about two hours for pretty much nothing. My brand new auto meter oil pressure gauge was reading zero when I ran the oil pump with a cordless drill through the distributor hole. So I thought either I have no oil pressure (new pump installed), A clogged or kinked line, or a bad gauge. So I put an alternate gauge on and I had 35 psi on the nose. Pulled the hose off blew it out of there no restrictions. And I put air into the back of a gauge through the little brass fitting and no indication with air pressure on it. So I took the little brass fitting apart and there was something black and rubber looking in it. I thought it was some kind of diaphragm maybe to keep pressure bounces from affecting the gauge or something. So I removed it and looked at it carefully and I think it is a rubber plug for some other application or used like a rubber bumper. I have no clue how I got in there because the gauge is brand new. There were no other ones in the package.. looked like rubber bumpers for an ash tray door or something like that. The gauge worked perfectly with air pressure after that. And I was tired at that point so I quit for the evening. I had the valve covers hot tanked at a local engine shop and I painted them and installed them. Power steering pump and lines are in radiator and coolant lines are in. The transmission pan leaked when I put transmission fluid in so I had to re-torque those pan bolts. I have a slight leak at the fuel pump so I will have to address that before I go any further. Then it’s on to the distributor installation and carburetor installation. I want to hear this thing runs so badly that I think I will just hotwire it at some point and start it up. Then go back to neutering the engine wiring harness properly. I need to wire in a few things and delete a few things and I do not want to get in a hurry with that before I can start it with the normal key. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greenjeans Posted March 5, 2023 Author Share Posted March 5, 2023 One more problem I ran into for anyone converting to 4wd…. My original speedo cable was to short to reach the transfer case.. I should have pulled the old one out before I ordered the wrong one from Rock Auto. My ‘86 doesn’t use the one with the white plastic end that connects to the speedo. It looks like it’s the metal nut type.. back to the Rock Auto site to try and figure that out.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greenjeans Posted March 7, 2023 Author Share Posted March 7, 2023 I got a new speedo cable today, I think it will work. It’s 80” long, has a GM style speedo end (snaps in good), threaded end seems to fit into my transfer case. Pioneer part number CA3001. $10 at OReillys. I checked all the bulbs in my instrument cluster and found the factory “4wd” light indicator, put a bulb in that and I’ll try to get that to illuminate in 4 Lo. Started wiring the lights for the Autometer gauges into the factory light switch. Baby steps but still some progress.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greenjeans Posted March 9, 2023 Author Share Posted March 9, 2023 Don’t even think about it, just walk away… 😁 122k mile ‘94 Firebird with a 3.4. Good spare motor.. this yard would be about $450 for the motor pulled (not doing that myself again). Was a “runs & drives” car from a local auction. Towing service took it to the auction, now in the JY. Hopefully they will crush it soon so I can stop thinking about it 👍 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greenjeans Posted March 9, 2023 Author Share Posted March 9, 2023 ‘94 “tiredbird” 😁 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The86manche Posted March 9, 2023 Share Posted March 9, 2023 4 hours ago, Greenjeans said: ‘94 “tiredbird” 😁 It's got all the fuel injection, and if you felt adventurous you could supercharge it like I am on a 2.8 I picked up Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greenjeans Posted March 15, 2023 Author Share Posted March 15, 2023 I started messing around with the wiring. Glad to be at this point, I think… I neutered out some of the uneeded smog connections. Got the nerve up to put the battery in. I forgot to put the bonding cable from the back of the block to the firewall. Nothing worked.. put that in and stuff started working.. the lights came on in my new gauges but no crank. Then I realized that I have no neutral safety switch on the 700r4 so I’ll have to figure out how to defeat that tomorrow. My pioneer stereo came on but is acting weird. It worked fine when I tested it on the bench. I used two connector plugs from crutch field so it “should” have been plug and play 🤷🏼. Back at it tomorrow… Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greenjeans Posted March 16, 2023 Author Share Posted March 16, 2023 JY 3.4 rumbles to life. The air cleaner was not bolted down and had no element in it so it was rattling I think maybe a lifter was tapping. This is a pick and pull motor and it has not run in a year so hopefully it’ll straighten out some. That weber seems to work pretty good right out of the box. It was a little running rich and burning my eyes a little but there’s plenty of time to tune it. Tail pipe is rattling against the leaf spring. Carter fuel pump was dead on 3.5 pounds with no pressure regulator. Overall a good day I was happy to finally hear it run even if it was just for a few seconds. 👍 IMG_7618.MOV Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted March 16, 2023 Share Posted March 16, 2023 it's alive!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greenjeans Posted March 17, 2023 Author Share Posted March 17, 2023 Still learning how to tune this Weber. I’ve read for hours on the Internet and I think I have it down now. Of Course it will need tuning again, going to be a continual learning process but it seems to run pretty decent. Leaking a couple fluids but no gas or water so that’s good. Just 1000 little details that need finishing up. And first burn out in the gravel. 👍 30 minutes idling, never got over 190 degrees. I took the 5 psi check valve off of the fuel return line and the Carter pump is running 2.5-2.75 psi now, perfect. IMG_7627.MOV IMG_7627.MOV IMG_7632.MOV Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gjeep Posted March 18, 2023 Share Posted March 18, 2023 Congrats — looks clean and sounds good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greenjeans Posted March 18, 2023 Author Share Posted March 18, 2023 A couple of updates…. My fuel pressure went to zero after a couple miles of shakedown. It just sounded like it ran out of gas…. I’m going to pull the fuel pump in the next day or so and see if it’s really dead or just vapor locked. It still made noise but no pressure. I knew that mounting it under the hood was a risky proposition but that’s where I wanted it. It is supposed to be down by the tank. So I may have killed in advertently… otherwise I was trying to tune the timing, Weber and TV cable for shift points.. that’ll have to wait.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greenjeans Posted March 19, 2023 Author Share Posted March 19, 2023 I thought the fuel pump was ok and only had a ground issue but I think it’s not able to keep pressure after about 5 minutes. Doesn’t get hot to the touch, keeps on whirling. I suppose it could be losing pressure due to an air leak, but there are no fuel leaks. I need more time to play around with it but I’d rather get on to other things. Just can’t live without a steady fuel supply. I may pull it off after work one day and bench test it. found the source of an aggravating power steering leak, just the plug where I deleted the pressure switch. I spent hours and hours today fooling with the distributor and timing. I finally nailed it I hope. 10 degrees initial, with 15 degrees of advance coming in by 2700 rpm and 20 degrees of vacuum advance to help off idle. It’ll light up the tires on slick concrete so it’s good enough for now 👍. I can’t road test it anymore due to the fuel pressure dropping at will.. boy I sure wish I could tune the Weber again now that I have the timing figured out. Another day… Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greenjeans Posted March 21, 2023 Author Share Posted March 21, 2023 Fuel pump update…. The factory return line that I plumbed in on the output side of the electric pump is my problem. I put a small pressure adjuster in that line and turned it almost closed and the vehicle now drives without running out of gas. I don’t know if this will be a permanent solution, probably not but at least I found the problem. I should probably just cap off the return line all together and just get an adjustable pressure regulator before the carb like everyone else does 🤷🏼 After work i only have about an hour each day to tinker with it. I need to either get the front end all tightened up and sort of aligned now or work on the pesky driver door that doesn’t shut right next. At least the throttle response is good it goes on it’s own finally.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted March 22, 2023 Share Posted March 22, 2023 a victory is a victory Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greenjeans Posted March 22, 2023 Author Share Posted March 22, 2023 6 hours ago, Pete M said: a victory is a victory Yes sir! I need a bunch of little ones at this point! 😁 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now