Pete referbs another black MJ (current phase: teardown and discovery)

[fiatslug87]

55 minutes ago, Pete M said:

I dislike mice. 

 

[Pete M]

the floor is coming apart, some places faster than others.  the good news is that the inside of the frame is in excellent shape. the bad news is that it looks like I'll be removing the steering column, pedals, and harness because the rust just keeps going up the firewall.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

I put a box underneath to catch the particulates

 

 

 

 

the rear of the cab was hiding a bunch of whole rust under the sealant.  doesn't appear to be rot though. 

 

[Pete M]

pickin' away at the rot.  this is definitely a young man's job.  lol.  my back is feeling this.

 

 

[Pete M]

also got the fuse box separated and the harness pulled.  still gotta get the pedals out of there.  there's evidence that someone has been in here already (aside from the mice).  hood cable bracket screws were damaged, the cable was routed wrong, and the upper nut for the clutch master is missing. 

 

 

[Pete M]

test fitting the new floor  

 

I'm still a long way from installation, but am immensely pleased with the fitment of the Key Parts stuff

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[jeepin4on4]

A lot of work Pete! The reward is when its driving down the road sparkling with that new truck smell and not the mouse smell. 

[jodawill]

I was upset today when I discovered a pinhole in the bottom of my B pillar from a small patch of rust. Seeing these pictures makes me feel a little better.

[Pete M]

wrestled the pedals off and the firewall looks to be solid.  yay!   but the clutch master looks... problematic. 

 

 

 

[rosco11]

On 7/31/2026 at 10:26 AM, Pete M said:

test fitting the new floor  

 

I'm still a long way from installation, but am immensely pleased with the fitment of the Key Parts stuff

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These look so good from Key Parts.. I had to get an xj pan and beat and beat on it until it was in shape enough to weld in. You're doing great work Pete! Nice job!

Side Question: Is there a way to proactively prevent cowl leaking? I am back at my mj project after some time, a lot of time off.  

[ratrapp]

i had to get xj pans and beat and trim them too.of course they make mj pans after I'm done lol.

Edited August 13 by ratrapp
misspelled

[Pete M]

12 hours ago, rosco11 said:

These look so good from Key Parts.. I had to get an xj pan and beat and beat on it until it was in shape enough to weld in. You're doing great work Pete! Nice job!

Side Question: Is there a way to proactively prevent cowl leaking? I am back at my mj project after some time, a lot of time off.  

 

I think the key is keeping the cowl free from debris inside.  

[Pete M]

well, after a month of being way more ill than normal, I'm finally back at it.   the biggest update is that we're going to hire a dry ice blasting service at some point, so I'm tweaking the plan so we can take full advantage of that when it happens.  currently stripping the engine bay as best I can, finding fun new problems as I go.   eventually I need to pull the bed so we can clean the underside and the frame on the day of spray. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

fun with rust!    this is the airbox hardware

 

 

 

 

[Pete M]

water pump

 

 

[Pete M]

she's up on stands   had to buy another pair of 6 tonners, but oh well.   I think I own 8 pair of stands now?

 

 

 

now that the tires are out of the way, I find the rear flaps are actually fronts

 

 

 

[Pete M]

while poking around trying to remove the harness I found mouse issues in the wiper parts.  might as well remove that too I guess.

 

[Pete M]

booster is gone.  even if we weren't doing the dual booster upgrade, this thing would be out. 

 

 

 

 

also found this little guy on the fender corner

 

[Pete M]

lookin' pertty barren in thar.   

 

at this point I'm probably going to yank the drivetrain out to give the dry ice guy better access to everything.   it's only like one more teensy step to get the hoist out of the barn, right?   

 

 

[Eagle_SX4]

45 minutes ago, Pete M said:

booster is gone.  even if we weren't doing the dual booster upgrade, this thing would be out. 

 

Double check that the shuttle valve operates in the distribution block while you have the brake lines apart. Mine was seized in place.

[Pete M]

definitely will do that if we use it   had that problem with the last truck I restored and since thise truck has been sitting, I su[sect everything is bad until proven otherwise.  

[Pete M]

well that was 2 hours of my life.  nothing is allowed to be easy   there are 10 bolts holding a fender on and, no matter my precautions, most all of them snapped the u-clip in half and spun in place.  plus the lower 2 were once used to jack up the truck at some point so they were of course bent.   (don't do that!)  I was able to eventually get most with pliers grabbing the nut, but still needed to cut one and drill out another.  plus whomever decided to use those tiny retention washers on the flare bracket bolts can bite me.

 

but the fender and flare and antenna are now removed and I can address the rust and other stuff    

 

all I know for sure is that I'm using a giant tub of antiseize when I put the truck back together 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

check it out!  one actually came off with the studs intact!    I don't dare reuse it, but yay anyways!   

 

[89 MJ]

So at what point does this go from a refurb to a full blown nut and bolt resto?

[JZLAJeep]

49 minutes ago, Pete M said:

there are 10 bolts holding a fender on and, no matter my precautions, most all of them snapped the u-clip in half and spun in place.

I found that nearly all the bolts snapped. Our fix was to grind them out, replace them with I think #10 bolts, and tack welded the bolts in. 

[Pete M]

got the other side off before darkness fell.