Project CRD MJ is born:

[HOrnbrod]

Will definitely settle an inch or so with that camper shell on top. I added a set of Teraflex shackles to get mine back up after about eight months.

 

[Sir Sam]

I finished cutting off the old bracket and I got the new one trimmed to fit.

I finished cleaning up the floor with the wire wheel and flap disked the area where the bracket needs to be welded down. I'll hit them with some copper weld through primer before welding, then follow up with seam sealer and POR15.

[Sir Sam]

I opened up a tube of seam sealer, I had the option to buy brush on or caulk tube, so I went with the black caulk tube. I think I might order some of the brush on and see how it works, I'm nut sure the caulk gun method is always the best for what I need to do.

This image has black seam sealer on black por15, so its a little hard to make out, the short is there is a patch panel, por 15 over the area top and bottom, and then seam sealer over the weld area. The seam sealer came out in in long strands from the tube, so I spread it around evenly with a wood paddle to flatten and smooth. It seems to cover pretty well and the consistency and rubber pliability look good long term. Its a urethane product so it should hold up well long term.

 

I dug the body harness out of the mess of stuff in the bed, I need to make some modifications in the rear section. The white plugs in the lower right of the image are usually behind the plastic which is under the spare tire carrier. These plug into the turn signals and factory wiring harness for trailer lights.

The MJ uses a different tail light setup than the XJ - its the same as what the XJ wagoneers had. This is more what trailer lights are like, or older vehicles. So the brake and turn are combined into one bulb.

I need to do some rewire work, including what I will do for trailer lights, and shorten the wiring to sit in the cab as those connectors are not weather rated. Right now I am planning to put them in the drivers rear void space behind where the stock rear speaker sits. Then I will tie that in with the factory plugs to the MJ rear harness that exits through a rubber grommet in the floor.  

[Sir Sam]

Freerider came over and helped me burn on the seat brackets. Note the  copper weld through primer I put down. It's a conductive primer so that  you don't leave something as bare steel once you weld over it.

After that I cleaned the floor with Acetone and got to work with the POR15:

[Sir Sam]

Got the fuse box in place today and started laying out the interior harness's, The dash harness's and engine bay are easy enough to deal with since they pretty much sit in the same place for the MJ as the XJ. However the body harness is a little different, today I placed it in the cab as is and didn't like how it was working out since the harness was meant to work with the 4 door XJ.

I stripped out the rear door wiring for the courtesy light and power windows, as well as the rear overhead light wiring. I still need to pull out the speaker wiring, rear wiper, and defrost wiring. I also then need to figure out how to arrange the remainder of the rear light wiring. the plugs used at the back of the XJ behind the spare tire will reach part way, but are not weatherproof connectors so they really shouldn't be used under the bed as-is.

I stripped the harness wrap bare so I could move some things around, but I am attempting to avoid a million splices in the harness.

 

[Sir Sam]

Short video showing the interior harness work:

 

[Sir Sam]

Tested the TJ gauge cluster finally!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpO4isRTThs

However I thought the KJ plugs were the style I needed but it turned out they have more pins than the TJ, so I need to find the same connector type but with fewer pins to fit the TJ cluster.

Grrr, back to the junkyards to raid 15 year old Chryslers.

[Sir Sam]

Longer video showing the engine bay harness work that needs to occur:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RX91ttWpfXQ

[Sir Sam]

I will need to do some more testing in the future where I read through the OBDII port with a scanner to show what PSI to oil pressure sensor is seeing, and how that translates to the position on the TJ guage cluster. The TJ cluster is reading oil pressure through the PCI bus from the ECU, and then displaying that as an analog value. The question comes up as the the calibration, when it read "half" what PSI was that? When it went higher to 3/4 what PSI was that?

If you noticed the oil pressure gauge is the only one that does not have any units shown. This is because on the 2002+ TJ the oil pressure gauge is basically just an idiot light! The sensor on the newer TJ is a discrete, meaning it is either open or closed. In theory, when off or no pressure the switch is open circuit, and then when the engine is on and oil pressure is "good" it is closed. This way if your oil pressure drops below "good" or if it fails it should go open circuit. What the TJ ECU does is read this open or closed switch and send a value to the cluster. So the TJ cluster reading from the ECU only sees 0 PSI/bad, or X PSI/good. This means that on a stock TJ the oil pressure gauge either shows zero, or middle. Since the gauge is then basically just an idiot light they removed the units of measure.

However since the CRD ECU does read an analog pressure from the oil pressure sender the REAL psi is transmitted over the PCI bus, and since the TJ cluster is reading a real analog value it drives the gauge accordingly. The only thing left for me is to determine exactly what pressure the middle means, and exactly what pressure the high means.

I am working on a way to read the calibration from the processor onboard, which may allow me to change the scaling factor on the gauge. Likely that will be much further along, I'm just happy the Main functions, fuel level, coolant temp, RPM, and presumably speed all read correct.

In final form this will be wired into the normal dash wiring for the cluster for all functions such as turn signals, lights, 4wd indicator, etc, leaving the obdii port completely open like factory.
 

[Sir Sam]

My coworker came over last sunday to use my pressure washer on his newly acquired wildernest to get it cleaned up, I decided it was a good time to open mine and take a look inside the back of the MJ........I'm find all sorts of parts I forgot where back there.

Fun times ahead! Looking forward to having both MJs out and be camping!

[Sir Sam]

I made some progress on the TJ gauge cluster, I cannot seem to program less than 1000 miles, I suppose thats close enough to zero? I was just really looking forward to seeing it run up from zero. I might keep playing with it, I also want to figure out to reprogram the VIN.

[Sir Sam]

Wiring work continues on the main engine harness:

Auto trans stuff removed:

I gotta start sitting down the with the Xj wiring diagrams and the KJ wiring diagrams to see what I can adapt from one to the other, and what I need to add, like glow plug relays. etc.

[A-man930]

love me some diesel swap action.  keep up the thread

 

[Sir Sam]

Continued playing with the TJ cluster reprogramming. I was trying to get it to say BOOBS. But the miles are a little off for it to work cleanly. 

 

 

 

[A-man930]

some people never grow up... myself included.  

[Sir Sam]

15 hours ago, A-man930 said:

some people never grow up... myself included.  

 

If laughing at "80085" on an odometer is wrong I don't wanna be right. 

[INjake89mj]

 

 

 

[terrawombat]

I cut out the 97+ XJ seat brackets and welded them in just like you did and when I did the test fit of the 97+ seats, I was less than thrilled.  I felt that the seats sat way too high in that configuration, although I didn't have any issues with headroom.  The height at which my legs came off the front of the seat and the angle they needed to be to get to the pedals just felt awkward, if that makes any sense.  I wound up trimming the brackets on the actual seat to lower it a bit and it felt a lot more natural.  Might be a total non-issue for you, but just thought I'd mention it.

 

Also, while I was messing around with the seat brackets, I decided to modify the recliner assembly to allow the seat to flip forward.  Was incredibly simple and only required you to remove the "stop" pin in the assembly.  Of course, this could also be a total non-issue if you have 2-door seats :)  Obviously, mine were from a 4-door.

[DirtyComanche]

2 hours ago, terrawombat said:

Also, while I was messing around with the seat brackets, I decided to modify the recliner assembly to allow the seat to flip forward.  Was incredibly simple and only required you to remove the "stop" pin in the assembly.  Of course, this could also be a total non-issue if you have 2-door seats :)  Obviously, mine were from a 4-door.

 

That's good to know.

[Sir Sam]

2 hours ago, terrawombat said:

I cut out the 97+ XJ seat brackets and welded them in just like you did and when I did the test fit of the 97+ seats, I was less than thrilled.  I felt that the seats sat way too high in that configuration, although I didn't have any issues with headroom.  The height at which my legs came off the front of the seat and the angle they needed to be to get to the pedals just felt awkward, if that makes any sense.  I wound up trimming the brackets on the actual seat to lower it a bit and it felt a lot more natural.  Might be a total non-issue for you, but just thought I'd mention it.

 

Also, while I was messing around with the seat brackets, I decided to modify the recliner assembly to allow the seat to flip forward.  Was incredibly simple and only required you to remove the "stop" pin in the assembly.  Of course, this could also be a total non-issue if you have 2-door seats :)  Obviously, mine were from a 4-door.

 

Terra,

 

I know what you mean about too high, since the back of the MJ cab raises up it changes the seats a little, and make them sit a little higher, I think cutting and lowering the rear XJ brackets is a good idea for most XJs seats.

 

I have dual electric seat bases that will let me adjust the height and and tilt of the the seats, so I am hoping it is a non issue.

 

I also scored a set of 2 door seats that were trashed awhile back and removed the 2 door tilt mechanism with knob and installed them into the seats I will use.

 

I also scored the drivers door panel from the 2door so I can make the proper door panel switch setup for the MJ. Been gathering parts for a long time, hoping it comes up as close to a factory 2002 2.5 CRD MJ as possible.

[terrawombat]

23 hours ago, Sir Sam said:

 

Terra,

 

I know what you mean about too high, since the back of the MJ cab raises up it changes the seats a little, and make them sit a little higher, I think cutting and lowering the rear XJ brackets is a good idea for most XJs seats.

 

I have dual electric seat bases that will let me adjust the height and and tilt of the the seats, so I am hoping it is a non issue.

 

I also scored a set of 2 door seats that were trashed awhile back and removed the 2 door tilt mechanism with knob and installed them into the seats I will use.

 

I also scored the drivers door panel from the 2door so I can make the proper door panel switch setup for the MJ. Been gathering parts for a long time, hoping it comes up as close to a factory 2002 2.5 CRD MJ as possible.

 

Wow, you have basically amassed the ideal set of components for swapping in 97+ XJ seats into an MJ.  I don't think you'll run into any issues with those seat bases as I used to have a '99 XJ Classic with the electric height/tilt control.  I never looked all that closely at how it was setup but it was able to adjust the seat height so that it was about 1-1.5" lower than the fixed height in my '01 XJ Sport that had the standard, no-frills seat bases.

 

No matter how many 97+ interior parts you gather you'll always have the B-pillar panels and the upper rear carpet panel to remind you that you're still rolling around in a late 80's/early 90's Jeep.  If you happen to come across an individual that is able to identify this subtlety then it is safe to assume their MJ/XJ knowledge is at a very respectable level.

[Sir Sam]

25 minutes ago, terrawombat said:

 

Wow, you have basically amassed the ideal set of components for swapping in 97+ XJ seats into an MJ.  I don't think you'll run into any issues with those seat bases as I used to have a '99 XJ Classic with the electric height/tilt control.  I never looked all that closely at how it was setup but it was able to adjust the seat height so that it was about 1-1.5" lower than the fixed height in my '01 XJ Sport that had the standard, no-frills seat bases.

 

No matter how many 97+ interior parts you gather you'll always have the B-pillar panels and the upper rear carpet panel to remind you that you're still rolling around in a late 80's/early 90's Jeep.  If you happen to come across an individual that is able to identify this subtlety then it is safe to assume their MJ/XJ knowledge is at a very respectable level.

 

I also lucked out and found black interior parts a long time back, so I have black b pillars that matches the agate very well. 

[terrawombat]

18 minutes ago, Sir Sam said:

 

I also lucked out and found black interior parts a long time back, so I have black b pillars that matches the agate very well. 

 

I wasn't referring to the difference in color between the two generations.  Even the 84-96 grey and tan interiors aren't a perfect match for the 97-01 grey and....tan/beige/whatever Chryco called it.  I always assume that anyone who does the 97+ conversion properly will need to lay down some interior paint somewhere along the lines.

 

What I was referring to was the subtle differences in the design of the early AMC/Jeep panels vs the later Chryco XJ panels.  The surface texture on the 97+ panels is a lot smoother and they also have larger radii on every edge.  Once the interior is fully assembled the seats practically cover the entire B-pillar panels and the rear upper carpet panel never in anyone's line of site so it won't even be noticeable unless you're looking for it.

[Sir Sam]

10 hours ago, terrawombat said:

 

I wasn't referring to the difference in color between the two generations.  Even the 84-96 grey and tan interiors aren't a perfect match for the 97-01 grey and....tan/beige/whatever Chryco called it.  I always assume that anyone who does the 97+ conversion properly will need to lay down some interior paint somewhere along the lines.

 

What I was referring to was the subtle differences in the design of the early AMC/Jeep panels vs the later Chryco XJ panels.  The surface texture on the 97+ panels is a lot smoother and they also have larger radii on every edge.  Once the interior is fully assembled the seats practically cover the entire B-pillar panels and the rear upper carpet panel never in anyone's line of site so it won't even be noticeable unless you're looking for it.

 

Yup I gotcha on the texture, the "leather" pattern on the plastics changed. I actually have both the original tan interior and the black plastic, PLUS an agate 01 interior and the "camel" tan 01 interior. I'm keeping both as options in reserve, I might switch between them for fun even. I like the agate but I have never had the "camel" interior, and I think it would match nicely with the PR4 flame red exterior.

 

I can find agate paint to make sure the rear parts match.....but I cannot find "camel" paint to get my yellowish tan to match the 01 camel tan.

[Sir Sam]

I finally found the TJ gauge cluster plug I needed, found a random plug in a WJ, I think for climate control stuff, that had the correct pin count.

 

The next day while pulling a subaru engine I found the same plug(in grey instead of black), under a subaru dash.

 

So now I have 2, and multiple KJ cluster plugs as spares.