'90 MJ (2wd - Daily Driver)

[89eliminator]

very, very nice

[Darren]

I'm so jelous. :bowdown:

[kmack]

its the first mj with a rumble seat. :banana:

[500 MJ]

Time for an Update! It's only been about 5 months :dunce:

 

I've been through alot with this truck in the past few months. Lets just say that a few hundred dollars later and lots of time trying to trouble shoot why it wasn't running good, I found that my ignition control module was toasted on it. :nuts: So I replaced that and now (with some help from all of the other new parts I bought for it) its running great :fool:

 

I've been driving it for the last week and I'll be taking it to Madison when I move there to start my job on June 1st. It drives great on the freeway and in town. I'm so used to driving the '88 around on the roads that I kinda forgot how "normal" trucks drive. :thumbsup:

 

Don't think that I'm done working on MJ's. All summer long I will have nothing better to do than put the majority of my time into making this one look better and better. I've got lots of small surface rust (paint scrapes that were never taken care of) to fix on this. One by one they will be disappearing. I might start putting it in primer once I am done with fixing the rust and I have all kinds of seals and rubber parts to replace on this truck. Florida sun was nice to the steel, but it just toasted the rubber parts.

 

Enough talk, here is how the truck sits right now...

 

 

Just for fun:

 

[freakjeep93]

very very very nice dude I'm redoing a 2wd 4cylder comanche but I'm gunna lifty it and put 31s on it ............but it will never look that nice :bowdown: :cheers:

[500 MJ]

Well, lots of things have been happening to the truck lately.

 

I've been grinding off all of the surface rust that was all over the truck thanks to the peel and stick rubber trim that was on it when I got it. That stuff did nothing but hold water and even though I like the look of it, I'll never put it on a vehicle I own because of what its done to this one.

 

After I grind out all of the rust I can with my abrasive pad on the drill (its the best I can do now without having my Dad's shop), I spray the bare steel with self-etching primer. I then cover the primer up with some Gloss White Valspar Tractor Enamel - it was on sale at Fleet Farm, looks good too. I'm doing this because all of this work is temporary, in a few years its all coming off and the whole truck will get the (same color :rotfl2: ) re-paint then when I restore it.

 

I take before pics of everything so I can document where the rust was for future reference...

 

 

After some quick spraying...

 

 

It at least looks better and the rust has been neutralized for now... :dunno:

 

The body hasn't been my entire focus though, I've also replaced the front brakes with a set of slotted rotors and carbon metallic pads - the best ones I could find for the 2wd front axle. Got all my parts from http://www.frozenrotors.com. So far they are WONDERFUL!

 

 

 

 

 

I'm looking into how feasible it is to get a nice set of wheels now for the truck, I might wait until next spring though to do this to help keep them nice...

 

AND, after personal debate, I've decided that I want to remove my '97+ Front Clip and return the truck back to its stock setup. I've already struck a deal to change out the clip to a fellow CC member for some parts. I'll be getting some sought after MJ stuff in return for the clip and I'll be much happier with the look of the old style grille again...

 

How it sits now...

 

[freakjeep93]

i like the 97+ clip sell it too me :D not rly i got no moneys but id love to do that to my jeep spmetime

[500 MJ]

We are bringin sexy back!

 

 

I finally got a free weekend to undo the swap of the '97+ front end. I used parts that I had from the original front end as well as LOTS of parts that I got for free from Geonovast over the summer for helping him scrap out a few Cherokees. Thanks Again Correy!

 

 

This stuff is all temporary until I get the good stuff to put on there. Both fenders have some dents in them and the passenger one (original to the truck) also has some rust on the inside of it. The header panel that is on there was hanging on my wall as a display but in times of dire straits it came through and somehow bolted on to the front. It looks nice but it is cracked under neath, I'm holding it together with some hood shims. There's nothing wrong with the bumper other than I don't have end caps for it.

 

All in all it came together nice for free parts.

 

I'll be making the swap for the clean parts soon. They will get a nicer paint job on them over the winter or next spring and then I'll pop them on and give the truck the white paint for it all to finally match again. For now, this works. :clapping:

 

You might have noticed all of the fender flares are off the truck, they will be going back on. I'm just rustproofing the bottom side of it right now and wanted them out of the way.

 

I also replaced my coolant overflow tank with one from Crown Automotive. This one is SOLID, shouldn't have any more issues with it getting hot and morphing/cracking like I was having. I'll keep you all posted on how it performs. Everything so far seems good.

 

[MiNi Beast]

looking good as always.

[freakjeep93]

i think it does look better stock

[500 MJ]

Been a while since the last update.

 

I'm still driving the truck around all of the time, within the last few weeks I've been on 4 - 8 hour road trips with it back and forth to Michigan. Still running fine.

 

Before the snow hit I got a few more things done. I redid all of my front tie-rods.

 

 

Also put some front tow points on the truck in case I end up in a ditch sometime this winter...

 

 

Waiting for the springtime now, its too cold and snowy out there to do anything more. :(

[Pete M]

how did you attach the shackle brackets?

[500 MJ]

I'm planning on doing a DIY thread on it once I get around to drawing the brackets I made on AutoCAD...

[Pete M]

sweet. I look forward to it. :thumbsup:

[500 MJ]

Well,

 

I've been having issues with the heat in the truck not working now that its cold out. I first started under the hood. I flushed the heater core, new T-stat (with hole drilled for bleeding) and tested everything I could think of testing before ripping into the block (yes, I even burped the system once I was done).

 

So thinking that it was the water pump I went out and bought a new hi-flow one from Hesco. Very nice product. From what I've seen of the new NAPA water pumps, I think that Hesco uses the same new casting and then throws their impeller on it. I laid some dough down for it, but its a very quality product from every angle.

 

Installed:

 

So, thats it, no other thing could keep this heater from working, right? WRONG. :wall:

 

Darn thing still doesn't kick out heat once you start to move air through the radiator, it heats up some when its warm and idling in park. I'm thinking its a vacuum issue now and that means its going to be easiest to troubleshoot by ripping the dash apart. So I'll do that once its nice out and I'll most likely change out the entire HVAC box for one without A/C from a yard (I prefer things simple as possible, A/C didn't work anyway). For now the '88 gets the tap for long drives that need a good heater.

[500 MJ]

We had a great day today outside so I resumed the grinding and painting process on the drivers side of the bed. Ground out all the rusty spots and shot them with two coats of primer and a topcoat of enamel. Came out pretty nice when you stand back to look at it.

 

 

 

Slowly but surely this one is coming around. Still have to fix that Heater system though, gotta get the parts to do it first.

[Automan2164]

:popcorn:

 

Rob L.

[500 MJ]

Take out the dash:

 

 

Out with the old:

 

 

In with the new:

 

 

The old heater core was toasted. I could hardly blow any air through it compared to the new heater core. The old foam seal around the toasted heater core was melted to it, somewhere along the line it got way HOTT.

 

I haven't plumbed the new one in yet (I was running a coolant bypass to keep the truck on the road prior to installing this new box), should be hooking it up this week though.

 

Dash is mostly together again, enough to move the truck around the driveway. Taking my time cleaning everything up before I put it back together...

[500 MJ]

Time for an update.

 

The newly rebuilt heater box works GREAT. Finally blowing nice and hot, I hate to say it but I can't wait for winter now!

 

Last weekend I took the truck back to Michigan for the Memorial day weekend and hauled another load of junk back over to Wisconsin on the return trip. The old girl took it like a trooper and cruised along just fine. Now I've got my canoe over here so I can use it!

 

 

I've also been hitting the local junkyards for the past month or so and I found something of interest to me there:

 

 

I got the springs and driveshaft coming with it. I don't know what the future holds for it, but it WILL be going in this truck sooner or later. ;)

[freakjeep93]

dana 44?

[500 MJ]

dana 44?

 

Yes. I wouldn't waste my time with anything else.

[freakjeep93]

kool thats what i thought it was.

[500 MJ]

Axle has been disassembled and moved into my basement. I can't trust it sitting outside with all these other Comanche guys in Wisconsin. ;)

 

Used the truck for the last three weekends, moving my girlfriend from Michigan to Wisconsin, Made a circle trip of Lake Michigan with it in the process. Running just wonderful all the way.

 

Swapped in new transmission cooler lines, old ones were leaking drops in the driveway. They were doing it ever since I bought the truck. Now it doesn't leak a drop of anything on the drive. Getting close to 120,000 on the ticker... Lots of life left, very pleased with my $675 purchase a few years ago. She's rock solid and ready to roll whenever I need her.

[500 MJ]

Still going strong. Drove the truck when we needed it all through the winter and now I have my first spot of rust-through on the driver's rocker-panel.

 

NO WORRIES though. I'm watching it like a hawk now and I've done this repair before on the '88. Its just a pin-hole right now, but the area around it is getting soft. When I take care of it, I'll cut out a good chunk of the rocker and make it solid again. This one lasted 21 years, not bad. I don't ever plan on driving the truck in the winter again. So, it's future is nice and safe.

 

Took it for a spin today and it drove wonderfully. Haven't had it out for a few weeks now, spends most of the time parked in the driveway except for that occasional trip to the lumber-yard or junkyard. Still love having it around!

[MiNi Beast]

any updates? is it 4wd yet? :popcorn: