Yellowoctupus Posted February 8 Author Share Posted February 8 Quote Love the extra character the painted on decals add. Protect them with your life The old timer I bought the truck from originally requested I remove them (as it's still an active business). He was probably concerned it could attract negative attention if I robbed a bank with it, or was caught hoon-ing around town or something. I told him it was going to Guam, so he was ok with the decals staying on. Some guy in MA contacted me trying to just buy the doors off it after I bought the truck. If they weren't rust free, I might have considered it, but they're super clean still. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yellowoctupus Posted April 15 Author Share Posted April 15 Brakes I had 2 major brake issues that came up at the same time, so I went to the junkyard, loaded up on parts and tore into it earlier this week. Good excuse to upgrade. My booster was leaking (drawing air through the pedal side), and the combination switch ( proportioning valve looking gizmo) was also leaking a lot of brake fluid THROUGH the plastic threads for the switch. I initially was going to simply replace the o-rings in the combo valve, but couldn't get any in the correct material on island without waiting for (possibly) another month. The hydraulics store I went to checked the o-ring sizes off a chart (they didn't actually measure them) but said they were the following sizes: Additionally, they MUST BE EPDM. Not Buna, Viton, etc. Take those sizes listed above with a BIG grain of salt as the girl behind the counter had NO idea what EPDM was, which surprised me seeing all of the seals / o-rings etc that they DID have. Anyways, since they didn't have the right seals, I instead bought a dual diaphragm booster from a 2000 WJ Grand Cherokee (this one was a 4.0 with ABS, don't know if it makes a difference). I also used the master cylinder from the WJ, however got a proportioning valve from a late model XJ (2000??). I removed my stock, load sensitive proportioning valve, and removed the 'return line' that goes into the nose of the stock combination valve. There are two modifications you have to do to make the stock brake lever/brake light switch work with the WJ booster, which is to drill the booster pushrod out to 5/8", and a flat needs to be filed on the end of the pushrod to make the light switch work. The distance from the EDGE of the 5/8" hole to the flat is 0.115" I know some folks grind this, but I would caution against grinding as some of those same people took too much off, or said their lights still didn't work (again, either uneven, too much removed, too little removed etc). It took me AT MOST 5mins to file it flat by hand. The XJ proportioning valve bracket will fit on the WJ master cylinder if the holes are cut into slots: The booster hole pattern on the XJ is SLIGHTLY different from the WJ (MJ=3-3/8" WJ is probably ) however the fact that the WJ booster has smaller studs (WJ-M8 vs MJ-3/8") means the studs on the new booster still slide through through the stock firewall holes. The pinch seam above the booster AND to the sides need to be massaged to clear the WJ booster. I over massaged the passenger's side initially. Oops. At first, the master cylinder, which is pretty tall looks like it will hit the hood, but it does not. I believe the WJ push rod is ~1/8"-3/16" longer that the MJ pushrod, which combined with the brake lever mechanical advantage, makes the pedal sit a bit higher than stock (~3/4" higher than the clutch pedal?). Not too bad, but not level with the clutch pedal like I'd have expected. Some washers or a spacer between the booster and the firewall would fix it. I may fix it later; I'll see if it bugs me much driving. In summary, the brakes work GREAT. Way better than the stock, correctly bled setup. The fronts lock up before the rear, and it feels well sorted out. (And I don't have do to that crazy MJ bleeding procedure ever again!!!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yellowoctupus Posted April 15 Author Share Posted April 15 Been troubleshooting a few rough running issues, found 3 vacuum leaks!! 1. The intake boot from the MAF sensor to the TB was maybe oil soaked from it's previous life and the rubber got kinda gooey and split. (GM PN: 25180042). The original boot is bonded to the plastic intake tube, however after it's pried/cut off, the new boot is sandwiched on and it's all held tight with the hose clamp. Different than the original design, but seems to be working fine. 2. MAP sensor seal was ripped AND the little 'barbs' were all compressed on one side. It was VERY loose in the intake. (GM PN 16194007 for the LS1 intake) 3. I completely missed blocking off this unused port until I replaced the MAP sensor seal. Oddly enough I found a rubber cap IN MY DRIVEWAY that I have no idea what it came off of but it fit perfectly on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gvthnks Posted April 16 Share Posted April 16 1st, Nice truck. I love that you're keeping the logos on the sides. Preserves it's character. 2d, enjoy Guam. I lived there for 18 months in '89 and '90. Did some traveling from there, but not nearly enough. If you're into War 2 history, you'll never be this close to some of those sites as you are now. I forgot about the Island Wide 35mph speed limit. I had a Honda Interceptor for a while when I was there. Nimitz Hill was a fun ride up and down. 3rd, None of our work (USMC) vehicles had AC in them. We survived. Of course, I was 18 YO and about 140 lbs so it mattered less. Heck, even our barracks AC didn't work a lot of the time. I had the bike and a Nissan 200sx that I bought for 400$. We referred to it as a Guam Bomb. Had to do a headjob on it to get it running. There was a good machine shop in Agana, although I had to get the head gasket set from the states. I'm sure the internet has helped with most things there, like everywhere else. I'd love to go back and visit some day. Looking forward to reading about your progress on the truck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yellowoctupus Posted April 17 Author Share Posted April 17 1. Thanks for the compliment. 2. Guam's been an interesting experience so far. We lived in Hawaii for a few years, and I expected it to be the same, in my head. In some ways it's similar, but in many other ways, it's not. So far people are real friendly though, so that's cool. 3. I've only owned one car that had AC before, so It's not the end of the world not having it (and I lived in Redding, CA where it would be over 115 during the day!) but since it's 95% done, it will be nice to have it completed. I also picked up a Guam Bomb out of my neighbor's backyard, a '95 Mini Pajero 4x4, turbo 660cc. Great for an island with a low speed limit as I don't care how much boost 660cc has, it's never going to be fast! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yellowoctupus Posted April 17 Author Share Posted April 17 A few weeks ago I got a fuel leak behind the intake manifold, turns out it was the Jeep quick disconnect o-rings. Of course, nothing available at Napa, or any other local parts stores (are you noticing a trend here??) but I had a few quick disconnects I had salvaged over the years that just HAPPENED to have the right size seals in them. Talk about lucky. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yellowoctupus Posted May 24 Author Share Posted May 24 Finally put my windshield trim back in place! Shout out to @ghetdjc320 who travelled thousands of miles to bring me this trim! The stock trim snaps in place on plastic clips, but somewhere along the way, when I was straightening out the bends/dents in my original trim, I flattened out the little hook/ bend which mates to the plastic clips in the sheetmetal trim. A little heat on a promotional screwdriver and now I have an odd trim tweaker. Just one more in the big box of weird custom tools. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yellowoctupus Posted May 24 Author Share Posted May 24 Got my subwoofers in and rear speakers installed. Makes that stock AMC radio sound better than it is! I had some 4" Panasonics which someone had put under the dash (poorly), so I put those in the b-pillar trim. In the doors, I put in some speakers (Boston Acoustics??) from some home speakers, and the subs are no-names that I picked up in high school. To put it into perspective, I graduated in 2003, so they're, like a fine wine, "well aged". Seeing how long it took to make a simple sheetmetal bracket, I would suggest if you've got $40 kicking around to just purchase the brackets that are made by one of our fellow MJ'ers, but I had some sheetmetal, and it wasn't a bad project, just a time sucker. Bent wire template showing rear clearance. I took off 3/8" but still didn't have to cut into the Jeep sheetmetal for the magnet clearance. Yes, of course I used a rusty desk drawer I found on the side of the road for these brackets. And no, I did not paint them. If it rusts away inside my truck, I will have bigger issues to worry about. I'll post up the sketch out of my notebook with dimensions, should someone else also want to waste a bunch of time making their own speaker brackets :) Kinda funny that AMC had the wires there, the original stereo has a R/F fader knob, but they never bothered to put in the rear speakers or brackets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yellowoctupus Posted May 24 Author Share Posted May 24 Never would have thought of a leak here. (Where the welch plug is pressed into the slip yoke.) I think I have to revisit the RTV again (it's not 100% stopped leaking) with the driveshaft removed so I can goop the sealant in there better, or maybe use JB Weld if I can clean it well enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Salvagedcircuit Posted May 25 Share Posted May 25 On 5/24/2025 at 9:58 AM, Yellowoctupus said: Got my subwoofers in and rear speakers installed. Makes that stock AMC radio sound better than it is! I had some 4" Panasonics which someone had put under the dash (poorly), so I put those in the b-pillar trim. In the doors, I put in some speakers (Boston Acoustics??) from some home speakers, and the subs are no-names that I picked up in high school. To put it into perspective, I graduated in 2003, so they're, like a fine wine, "well aged". Seeing how long it took to make a simple sheetmetal bracket, I would suggest if you've got $40 kicking around to just purchase the brackets that are made by one of our fellow MJ'ers, but I had some sheetmetal, and it wasn't a bad project, just a time sucker. Bent wire template showing rear clearance. I took off 3/8" but still didn't have to cut into the Jeep sheetmetal for the magnet clearance. Yes, of course I used a rusty desk drawer I found on the side of the road for these brackets. And no, I did not paint them. If it rusts away inside my truck, I will have bigger issues to worry about. I'll post up the sketch out of my notebook with dimensions, should someone else also want to waste a bunch of time making their own speaker brackets :) Kinda funny that AMC had the wires there, the original stereo has a R/F fader knob, but they never bothered to put in the rear speakers or brackets. Nice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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