Little Red (T.J.'s XJ)

I would second that, as you'll save $400. That said, I still need to tackle my manifold for the third time to hopefully get it to seal properly. Plenty of similar stories floating around with those running the APN header, may be in part due to the crappy gasket they include.

It is a pain in the ass but it only took me 3 hours the second time around. Tools you definitely want are ratcheting wrenches and a fuel line disconnect tool. The one I got looks like this: http://www.amazon.com/Lisle-39400-Angled-Disconnect-Tool/dp/B000W0UZHG/ref=sr_1_12?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1405948089&sr=1-12 not really worth trying to jerry rig something to get it off IMO.

If you want a hand with it I could probably help you out sometime, or if you wanted to see what was involved you could swing by when I'm doing mine.

Then again, way less of a pain in the ass to let someone else deal with it.

Also if you want a comparison of the defroster vent you can take a look at mine next weekend if you'll be on the run.

Honestly, I'd much rather let someone else deal with it than have to do it myself. From the get-go the cost of the replacement manifold and the work was going to be built into the budget of it, and that's reflected in that $1000 number I threw out last week regarding the amount of work it will need to be roadworthy. My chief concern is the bolts not coming out/breaking off in the motor, and the old man has already said he's not going into the engine bay with a torch to try to get them free (a sentiment which I second), so I'm willing to let it be someone else's headache. Plus, it kills two birds with one stone having the mount done at the same time, another project I don't have to deal with.

As far as the defroster goes, I will take a look at yours Jake just for comparison, but I'm not sure how much good that will do me. The issue I'm having is that the defroster works and seems to be blowing like mad, but only a small amount of air is actually coming out of the vent at the foot of the windshield. It sounds like a vacuum somewhere up in there is disconnected, but you can't see much even with the panels of the dash out so that's gonna be an adventure when I get around to doing it.

Once the manifold is taken care of, next order of business will be plugs/wires/cap/rotor (it needs plugs and wires especially bad), addressing the brakes, and then lowering the back end (it's tough to tell from the pictures but the rake it has going on is huge). I'd say by this time next month it should definitely be on the road.

I was actually really afraid of the same thing but they all came out fairly easily, it will be nice to not deal with that or the motor mounts though. Which mounts are you planning on going with?

I think I know what you're talking about with the vent, mine does that sometimes while its switching over (doesn't help that the PO removed the vacuum reservoir). Could be a vacuum leak or a sticky actuator?

Little late to this party, apparently, but:

x3 on doing the manifold yourself.

That was actually one of the first major projects I did on the YJ, even back before I actually knew what I was doing.

I followed this tutorial:
http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f12/how-replace-your-cracked-exhaust-manifold-1063245/

It was actually much easier than I thought it would be.  Just basically take off, then put back on in reverse order.  Just be careful and label things as you take them off and it's pretty simple.

Oh, and the reason I replaced mine is because there was *no* gasket, which resulted in a loud ticking noise that I originally thought was a lifter, ha ha.

Also, those manifolds are *notorious* for cracking at the joints, even after replacement.  Many guys swap is an expansion joint "flex" style to fix that and have had great success


And in terms of changing the timing chain, normally I'd say it's not necessary and they typically outlive the engine, but in your case it actually probably is in need of it.

Yay!  This means I get to share my timing chain replacement write-up I did that no one *ever* looks at, ha ha.

http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f19/timing-chain-write-up-1326191/

Again, definitely something you can do yourself.


That is a screamin' deal you got.  As sad as it makes me to see a highly-visible club YJ start taking a back seat, this is definitely the better platform to build from and should make an *awesome* vehicle.

Indeed. As a bonus you can clean your intake manifold while its off, probably could use a good cleaning if its never been done before.

Actually you've got it reversed Geoff. The YJ is going to be the dedicated woods rig and the XJ will be my everyday/occasional camping beater. Little Red is just a much more traditional everyday vehicle than the YJ, and it has too many creature comforts for me to turn it into a woods rig, despite it's 4.0 grunt and beefier rear end. So don't worry, the YJ isn't going anywhere.

As far as the manifold goes, my mind is pretty set on having the work done for me. Between it and the YJ, I'm quickly losing my weekends (which I fully understood when I took it on so there's no one to blame but me on that), and frankly I want it on the road by the beginning of August (to at least get a little bit of use out of the A/C while it's still hot out for example) and that won't happen unless a shop does it because of time constraints. And in full disclosure, I'm getting a little bit annoyed listening to my girlfriend constantly quip about my weekends being dedicated to Jeeps, and the longer it sits the more fed up she gets. She remains unimpressed with the long way it's come already in a short period of time (because even I admit it's pretty much been a lawn ornament), so some physical proof needs to be seen. Mostly it comes down to it being a good amount of work that I'm willing to let a professional do. I've read a lot of the write-ups online and I'm confident I could do it, I just don't want to.

All of the other stuff that needs to be done is where I'll save costs. Hell I was anticipating having the water pump done at a shop and we did in the driveway so we've saved where we could already. Even with the manifold replacement I'm well within the budget I set aside for the thing (keep in mind I was willing to drop $2000 on other projects that needed just as much work) which is why I'm not losing any sleep over having a shop do it. I do appreciate that you guys think I could handle it myself, but it's not to be.

THOOPY3 wrote:And in full disclosure, I'm getting a little bit annoyed listening to my girlfriend constantly quip about my weekends being dedicated to Jeeps, and the longer it sits the more fed up she gets.

Ha ha, no further explanation needed. We've all been there and sometimes it's worth it just to have a weekend back. If it becomes every weekend and your only output, it really ceases to become any fun.

Just as long as you know you *could*. I hate to see people outsource projects just because they don't realize they're capable, because then they'll never get to larger projects.

But sometimes to get to the projects you *want* to do, you have to delegate some of the projects that you *have* to do!    

(On a personal bragging note, I rewired a wing of my house this weekend, which I had *never* done any household wiring before. But because of incrementally larger electronic projects on the YJ I had the tools and the confidence to do it and even got confirmation from an electrician that it was done correctly! It's times like that that I realize that every stupid project and expense on these Jeeps has a ripple effect that saves time, money, and dignity so many times down the line)

Wise words. I hear ya on the time issue, I've made a point of not working on mine on the weekend as I can usually get a project done during the course of a week even if I can't get it done in a single night after work. It helps that I bike to work as often as I can though, would suck if I needed it for commuting.

Yeah it's tougher for me because the XJ is at my parent's place, and I would kill everyone around me if I had to do that ride from Lexington to Reading everyday at 5 like I used to. It takes me conservatively 50 minutes to travel what amounts to like 11 miles. My issue too is that every vehicle in the family armada needs work done, so often my time turns into other vehicle time. Case in point, the water pump on my brother's car let go sometime between Friday during the day and Saturday morning, so when I showed up on Saturday and noticed the various puddles in the road my day began with an investigation into that.

Further, the old man's Explorer has a cracked right strut and busted sway bar link, and a failing EGR valve that occasionally throws a code; my mother's F-150 also has a cracked right strut, some sort of brake issue that is not related to pads/rotors/calipers that we can't pinpoint (possibly failed/failing master), and for the second time in its 10 years of existence needs the cam phasers redone (which is a $2000 job that we can't do). All things on the to-do list, and I don't even have time for my own projects as it is.

With my father's arthritis and my brother's complete lack of ability/willingness to aid in car projects, the onus falls on me to be the shop hand. To boot, most weeks the old man works everyday (all seven of them) until 3, so projects requiring two people don't start until 4, and nothing ever goes according to plan so it's a recipe for working on cars from 8 in the morning until like 10 at night...then getting home and hearing about it from your girlfriend. Put it all together, and you have my reasoning behind just wanting someone else to deal with my manifold woes. I've always loved and still do love tinkering with cars, but you can see where I'm coming from.

...Damn.

Hugs?

Haha, not quite that bad. I make it sound worse than it really is. The good thing is my mother doesn't really drive the F-150, but it's also due for an inspection which is why the crunch is on. Truly a situation where I wish there were more hours in a day (and driving over idiots on the highway was kosher) because If I had it my way I'd work on the Jeeps everyday. And that being said I'd much rather do this stuff while I'm young and mostly commitment-free, so I gotta tip my cap to you Geoff with a new baby boy and property to take care of. I've told my girlfriend I've got at least two more Jeep projects in me before I'm ready for any of that.

A couple of bits of progress were made over the last couple days. First, the title finally arrived from the Registry on Monday, so I can finally get the process of registering it moving, which means I'm close to getting the manifold and motor mount replaced. Very nice of the Registry to take care of things in such a timely manner.

Second, my mechanic was able to get a patch on the tire to sure up the leak. However, he premised that by saying not to take it on the highway, which is going to be an issue. The old man has suggested throwing a tube in the tire now that it's patched, and I think that's going to be the next step. Since those tires will be on the YJ, which will not be driven daily, I'm less worried about any ill effects from that.

I think I'm making another junkyard run this weekend as well. I plan on grabbing some replacement interior panels for the Cherokee (the ones in the back cargo area are shot) and some front seats from a Pontiac Sunfire for the YJ.

Slowly but surely things are coming along.

Good to see some progress. Can't wait to see it on the road.

You'll have to let me know how the Sunfire seats work.

I've considered swapping out my seats a couple times for some more legroom, but I love my crazy patterned OEM Rio Grande seats too much to put *Pontiac* seats in, ha ha.

CrawlingForward wrote:You'll have to let me know how the Sunfire seats work.

I've considered swapping out my seats a couple times for some more legroom, but I love my crazy patterned OEM Rio Grande seats too much to put *Pontiac* seats in, ha ha.

I know what you mean, but I've heard good things about the Sunfire seats, and they should be a direct bolt-in. The seats I grabbed a few years ago at the junkyard were from a '93 YJ and they have "Jeep" embroidered in the cloth. They're nice looking and in good shape cosmetically, but just like the ones they replaced they're now doing the fat boy lean (and by that I mean the drivers seats), and I've actually had my old vinyl passenger seat as my driver seat since earlier this year (I think, things are beginning to blur). When I was at the junkyard a few weeks ago I scouted out a Sunfire that I'm planning on grabbing the seats out of, and hopefully it's still right where I left it. The thing's a Franken-Jeep anyway so I'm not particularly concerned with sticking to YJ-only replacement parts.

I did end up going to the junkyard this weekend, and picked up the replacement rear interior panels. They were a piece of cake to get out, but getting them in is probably going to be a little more difficult, as unlike at the junkyard I can't just cut my rear seat belts with a knife. I'll be putting those in in the coming weeks.

I also swapped on the 31s from the YJ, as it is now sitting on the 32s that came with the XJ when I bought it. I think the Moabs give it a real nice look. Once they're shined up a bit, and the rake is gone from the rear end, they'll look right at home.

I also had my first run-in with XJ electrical problems. I had the thing running to move it into the driveway, and looked down at the dash to see that the "AIRBAG" light was on. Random but OK shit happens. Then I noticed that the tach had bottomed out to zero. D'oh. Further inspection showed the cluster (minus the battery gauge oddly enough) wasn't doing anything. Good news is I shut the thing down and restarted and everything was back to normal. I've been told that they're notorious for electrical issues like this, and go figure I witnessed it first hand a few years ago in my buddy's Cherokee. The same thing happened where all the gauges bottomed out and noting on the cluster worked at all. It randomly started working a little while later. For now, no big deal unless it happens constantly or for extended periods of time.

Here's some glamour shots of the fleet "in action."

The new manifold and factory rear shackles have been ordered and should be arriving later today from Crown. It's just about time to get this puppy on the road. I was hoping to drop it off at the shop this week before I head out on a backcountry camping trip from Sunday through Wednesday, but go figure the mechanic I'm taking it to is on vacation through Friday so the earliest it will get to him is probably this time next week.

Once the manifold is taken care of (fingers crossed that's the majority of the knock when it's running), next up will be plugs, wires, cap and rotor, brakes all around, and addressing the issue with the steering. I was hoping that taking the crappy tires off the thing might be the answer to the steering problem, but it wasn't so now we're leaning towards a bad axle u-joint, which the old man said he could hear when I was moving the thing around over the weekend. And if I'm going to have one replaced might as well do the other, but that shouldn't be too costly. It sucks I keep pushing it back, but I'm for real saying that come the end of August it will be on the road as an everyday vehicle. In the meantime the YJ has been surprisingly nimble and fun to drive around town with the bigger meats on.

From what I understand the main dash wiring connector is the culprit. Clean it out really good and use dielectric grease liberally.

Good to know, when I get some time in the coming weeks I'll mess around with that. I'll have to take the dash panels off anyway to install a new radio so I can do that all at the same time.

I'm more concerned about the rear shackles giving me grief. I've read some horror stories about the welded nut breaking free inside the unibody, so starting probably tomorrow I'm going be hitting the bolts with PB blaster as often as I can. That rake has got to go.

PB blaster is your friend.

Alright, more moves have been made. The Cherokee is officially registered and insured, and for the first time since owning it I got a chance to take it for a few joy rides. As was easy to tell from driving up and down the road, the steering definitely needs some work. The tie rods ends on the passenger side knuckle and the pitman arm are totally cooked, and it's pretty easy to tell they're the culprit behind the steering slop (as well as worn out u-joints). That being said, she shifts nice, accelerates decent for a vehicle with a major exhaust leak, and for being so jacked up and improperly lifted actually drives quite well. The brakes are a bit hairy, but at no point did I get over 40 mph and don't have plans to do so until they're replaced so it's manageable.

In other news, it will be heading to the shop on Tuesday for the manifold replacement, motor mount replacement, and swapping of shackles. I could probably do the shackles myself, but I'm just gonna let someone else deal with it so I don't have to sweat it out and spend the whole time worrying about something happening. I may end up doing the front brakes this weekend, along with the plugs and wires, and replacing the interior panels. Baby steps.

My project for the day today was installing a new radio. And per usual, something that should have taken an hour took more like six. I already knew that the previous wiring was an absolute joke, so I was prepared for a battle, but this was far worse than I expected. It seems the PO hacked up the factory wiring harness, so the front speakers are wired separately from everything else -- for what reason I have no idea (more on this farce later in the post).

I got the radio wired up relatively quick, but as soon as I went to install it in the dash it grounded out somewhere and refused to work. At first I thought the fuse on the back of the radio had blown, but it was fine, and even replacing it did nothing. Turns out that unknown to me I had blown the IOD fuse (under the hood) and the radio fuse (in the kick panel). What led me to the IOD fuse was the fact that after the radio grounded out none of the gauges or the odometer worked on the dash (thank Cherokee Forum for that info). So I replaced the blown IOD fuse, rechecked all the wiring on the radio, went to install it, and the bastard grounded out again and re-blew the IOD fuse. At this point I was in full on raging bull mode.

After picking up some more fuses, I jumped in head first and made sure nothing could ground out and that everything was attached securely, determined to get this damn thing to work. Just to make sure I hadn't cooked the radio, I placed the power leads on the positive end of the battery and the ground to the negative, and to my pleasure it was still working so I knew whatever it was was something on the vehicle. After making sure EVERYTHING was wired and secured properly, I hooked the battery back up, turned the key to ACC, and...still no goddamn radio. Now ready to burn the thing where it lay, just for shits I rechecked the owner's manual that came with it and lo and behold I somehow missed that there is a radio fuse in there, and of course it was blown.

So after replacing that fuse, I turned the key to ACC and...voila, musical bliss. Good god. But of course, for every step forward there's at least one back, and the one back in this case is that only two of the speakers actually kinda sorta work: the one in the driver's door (only when the door is open and not closed though, because who wants to listen to the radio with the door closed?) and the driver's side rear. So I took the radio out once again just to make sure it wasn't me in my stupor who wired things wrong, and as I feared it wasn't. So now I need todecide if I want to spend the time and money to replace the speakers and the wiring, or if I just want to deal with it for awhile and worry about it farther down the road.

Here's some photos of the install from hell (I apologize as like the day they turned out kinda shitty):

Before:





During:



After:

Grabbing the bull by the horns, nice work TJ! I hate wiring, sometimes it just has a mind of its own.

Andrew Miller wrote:Grabbing the bull by the horns, nice work TJ! I hate wiring, sometimes it just has a mind of its own.

Yeah it was an absolute bear. I had similar issues when wiring up the one in the YJ which is also why I wasn't looking forward to this, but the issue with the one in the YJ was that the radio I bought had been previously returned and didn't work...so really nothing I did.

Also this is a follow-up to my last post, it's not the tie rod ends that are shot in the steering department it's the drag link ends. Need to brush up on my steering term vocabulary.

New drag link and drop pitman arm should be arriving today, and the plan is to throw those on tomorrow. I plan on renting a pitman arm puller and hopefully a pickle fork from AutoZone to make it happen. I also plan on giving the front brakes a thorough look-over to figure out what exactly needs replacing. My guess is everything but calipers, but it may need those too so who knows. I may also attempt to install the rear interior panels if I'm not beat from trying to get the pitman arm off.

Another thing I forgot to mention the other day is (now that I don't have four tires constantly sitting in the back of the thing) that I finally set up the rear seat in the factory position only to discover that the dumbass PO removed the seat belt hardware for the bench's middle passenger. So now I need to meander back to the junkyard at some point and spend like $5 on something I shouldn't have to. It's an insignificant amount of money and not a huge deal, but it's the fact that I have to waste time on something so mundane that irks me most. $20 to anyone who can provide me with a sound reason for why someone removes just that belt assembly and leaves everything else in tact.

Ha ha ha, I really shouldn't be laughing as hard as I am. Sorry, man. Just think how attached you'll be to this thing when you get past all this ridiculousness.

So glad no one ever messed with wiring on any of my vehicles. If it's your daily driver, it might be worth it to invest the time and money for proper wiring and speakers. I know for me that's important.

Good luck with the pitman arm. I hear that's a royal PITA. I think many people just cut a wedge in it and pop it off that way. Seems much easier than the alternative.