A rebuild of #miRustyJeep...

Had some buddies over for "jeep night" tonight. They sat around and drank beer and gave me a hand when requested. I got my intake and exhaust manifold off. Broke 2 of 4 bolt for the cat pipe to manifold...funny thing is that they were replaced when I did my rear main seal a couple years ago. Not sure what it is about exhaust bolts but they are a bugger. I'll have to buy some new U-nuts and bolts for them. Going to try and weld my heat shield up since the OEM welds are broken. My cats are still good and I have new O2 sensors to go in. I did find a failure in the exhaust gasket on cylinder 3 and 4 too. Additionally, I have at least one cracked Fuel Injector. Doesn't look like its leaking, but I'm going to look to replace them all. At 152,000 miles, I don't feel bad spending for new ones.

Once I get this back together, I'm going to start getting serious about the transmission install. I have my cooler in, the new/used radiator is clean and I pull the pan off the transmission to replace the filter and install my Dorman pan with my brazed in bung for the sensor. I still have to re-wrap the harness for the firewall and work on the switch panel inside. Oh, and I need to get the bushings in the Crank switched from the manual stuff to the Auto stuff.


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Had some buddies over for "jeep night" tonight. They sat around and drank beer and gave me a hand when requested. I got my intake and exhaust manifold off. Broke 2 of 4 bolt for the cat pipe to manifold...funny thing is that they were replaced when I did my rear main seal a couple years ago. Not sure what it is about exhaust bolts but they are a bugger. I'll have to buy some new U-nuts and bolts for them. Going to try and weld my heat shield up since the OEM welds are broken. My cats are still good and I have new O2 sensors to go in. I did find a failure in the exhaust gasket on cylinder 3 and 4 too. Additionally, I have at least one cracked Fuel Injector. Doesn't look like its leaking, but I'm going to look to replace them all. At 152,000 miles, I don't feel bad spending for new ones.

Once I get this back together, I'm going to start getting serious about the transmission install. I have my cooler in, the new/used radiator is clean and I pull the pan off the transmission to replace the filter and install my Dorman pan with my brazed in bung for the sensor. I still have to re-wrap the harness for the firewall and work on the switch panel inside. Oh, and I need to get the bushings in the Crank switched from the manual stuff to the Auto stuff.


View attachment 384558

Time for a decent cleaning now that everything is out of the way! :ROFLMAO:
 
Had some buddies over for "jeep night" tonight. They sat around and drank beer and gave me a hand when requested. I got my intake and exhaust manifold off. Broke 2 of 4 bolt for the cat pipe to manifold...funny thing is that they were replaced when I did my rear main seal a couple years ago. Not sure what it is about exhaust bolts but they are a bugger. I'll have to buy some new U-nuts and bolts for them. Going to try and weld my heat shield up since the OEM welds are broken. My cats are still good and I have new O2 sensors to go in. I did find a failure in the exhaust gasket on cylinder 3 and 4 too. Additionally, I have at least one cracked Fuel Injector. Doesn't look like its leaking, but I'm going to look to replace them all. At 152,000 miles, I don't feel bad spending for new ones.

Once I get this back together, I'm going to start getting serious about the transmission install. I have my cooler in, the new/used radiator is clean and I pull the pan off the transmission to replace the filter and install my Dorman pan with my brazed in bung for the sensor. I still have to re-wrap the harness for the firewall and work on the switch panel inside. Oh, and I need to get the bushings in the Crank switched from the manual stuff to the Auto stuff.


View attachment 384558

I think the amount of heat cycles these bolts go through make them prone to seizing. When I did my auto swap I had to cut one of them off and my Jeep has been a SW Jeep all it’s life.
 
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I think the amount of heat cycles these bolts go through make them prone to seizing. When I did my auto swap I had to cut one of them off and my Jeep has been a SW Jeep all it’s life.

I think we don't know crapola about those dumb things. I've removed dozens upon dozens of them without a single issue. Then I see about half that many that have been replaced with normal hardware which says someone had a problem.
 
I'll have to buy some new U-nuts and bolts for them.
I think I have one in a bag with the Mopar part number on it and I'll see if I can find it. If that is true, I'll get it to you. I have never found them in the aftermarket but I stopped trying a couple of years ago so Dorman may have some chinese kids making them now.
 
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I think the amount of heat cycles these bolts go through make them prone to seizing. When I did my auto swap I had to cut one of them off and my Jeep has been a SW Jeep all it’s life.

I think we don't know crapola about those dumb things. I've removed dozens upon dozens of them without a single issue. Then I see about half that many that have been replaced with normal hardware which says someone had a problem.

My bolts were trashed the first time I pulled the down pipe. I replaced them with 10.2 bolts and u nuts from the hardware. The first time they came off, the heads had lost size so it was really fun. I have no way to know if that was factory or not.
 
I think I have one in a bag with the Mopar part number on it and I'll see if I can find it. If that is true, I'll get it to you. I have never found them in the aftermarket but I stopped trying a couple of years ago so Dorman may have some chinese kids making them now.

I’d love the part number if you have it handy because I ruined the u-nut cutting the bolt off. One of the guys in my church manages the parts department at our local Chrysler dealership so he might be able to source me something comparable.
 
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Been picking away at the jeep between getting the flu a week ago and Christmas parties. This is the slow part of a project for me, as I'm repairing and refinishing those items that I've not touched before, like the CC solenoid bracket, horn bracket, etc.

Yesterday, I did finalize the install of my cooler and bolted the condenser back into the grill shell. I also bolted the intake and exhaust manifolds back on. Had to order some new (well, refurbished) fuel injectors and a new fuel rail.

Why new injectors?

Number 3 looks like this.

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And since they should all be balanced, I made the decision to replace them all.

The fuel rail was full of corrosion (yeah, shocker). Its also bent. I contemplated cleaning it up and painting it, but I found a NOS one for less than 200 dollars shipped. It would have bothered me, especially since I've already replaced the O-Rings on these injectors and they are REALLY chewed up again. I assume it was the corrosion.

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So, that stuff should all be delivered this week. I also had to fire up my home plating set-up. The wide, heavy Bellevue washers that pin the intake and exhaust manifolds to the head were in REALLY bad shape. I'm just not going to pay dealer prices for hardware like that (I didn't even look to see if they were available) so I cleaned em up and re-plated them.

Here they are originally.

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After a quick trip through the sandblaster and wire wheel they were nice and shiny again...but raw steel. Dripped in the plating bath, you can see the electrolysis taking place (the bubbles)

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And after plating. The process is pretty quick (less than 5 minutes per). They are kind of a dull gray, which is how you know the zinc has transfered.
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After a quick wipe with some SimiChrome to polish the zinc

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Add some new, Grade 8 3/8-16 x 1.25" bolts and things are good as new

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More to come, but I'm getting close to putting the big parts back on again.
 
Plucking along, slowly but surely. I worked on restoration again this weekend. One of the heatshields on my bank two cat had rusted and broken its weld. It was still mostly there tho, and my cats still are not plugged, so rather than spend 1000 dollars on a new one, I welded in some new steel and patched over the worst of the holes. I don't expect it to last terribly long...but its solid again for now. No pictures because I'm a pretty terrible welder to start, then when you get some rusty metal in there of variable thickness....yeah, its ugly.

I also got the pilot bearing and manual transmission crank bushing out and replaced with the one for the 42rle. That was a Giant PITA. Had to weld a nut on and try to use all thread to pull (push) it out. Well, I couldn't get the weld to stick. That bushing is some powdered metal bullshit. Kept breaking off. I did finally get it, but I used a lot of curse words to get there.

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I put some paint on some brackets, got my new auto radiator bolted in and stashed my new Fuel Injectors and Rail.

Started working on the interior. Been kinda thinking about how I wanted to do the switch bezel. I had grand plans to model up a new bezel and print one. I will still probably do that, but to get this project in forward gear, I just decided to follow wandering trail and install a couple of independent switches for my lockers and bypass all the "safeties" Chrysler's lawyers made them install.

I bought a couple cheap switches off Amazon (Carling Contura copies from China, I assume). They have a red and white light in them to match the factory scheme of White for illumination and Red for indication of ON. Well, the lights were opposite that...Red for illumination and White for on...Can't have that. I disassembled the switches and de-pined the LED's, swapped their positions, and re-soldered the LED's to the board. I tried to just flip the top of the board to the bottom, but the LED's didn't work due to their directional nature. Once that was complete and the switches were tested, I pulled the center stack out and planned out where to put them. That big flat area where the early model TJ's had an Ashtray looked perfect!

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Used a 3/8" drill bit and my body saw to cut the plastic. That worked really well and didn't burn or melt anything. Cleaned it up with a file and installed the switches!


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And the whole switch panel. With a Hardtop, rear wiper, Auto Trans and Factory Locker switch...this panel is FULL


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Doesn't give me any room for lights (which I don't have, anyway, yet) so I will need to figure something out when that time comes. I can see (har, har) at least three more switches for lights in my future (rock lights, some sort of small bar up front, and some rearward facing lights). I also plan on some fog/driving lights that will run off the factory switch and relay. Looking at KC's right now, but that isn't going to happen for a while. I still have armor, a big brake kit and Good shocks to buy.
 
Not for nothing but I've welded 1/2" nuts over the hole on at least a half dozen of the pilot bearing bushings to jack them out of the crank. Never had any issue with weld sticking. Did you hook the ground on the frame or something?
 
I had to get the switch mounts that go in your vents because I have so many switches. They do make a switch panel that goes on the lower part of the dash next to the door.

What does the stock locker switch do?
 
Not for nothing but I've welded 1/2" nuts over the hole on at least a half dozen of the pilot bearing bushings to jack them out of the crank. Never had any issue with weld sticking. Did you hook the ground on the frame or something?

I grounded to the nut, that was shit. I grounded to the engine and got better penetration. I also had to up size my wire. I’m a pretty terrible welder.
 
I had to get the switch mounts that go in your vents because I have so many switches. They do make a switch panel that goes on the lower part of the dash next to the door.

What does the stock locker switch do?

Well, it activates the lockers…

Lol, the system is programmed to trigger both lockers from a single, momentary contact switch. Rear locks first, then front, and only if your in 4low, and going 5 mph or slower, etc. I’m one of those weirdos that likes to have the indicators in the dash work too, so the easiest way to achieve independent control is to hijack the signal off the factory switch. The safety stuff will be bypassed, and the switches will trigger the pumps through the relays and pcm like normal (I think). Until it’s hooked up and working, I’m only making shit up in my mind
 
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I grounded to the nut, that was shit. I grounded to the engine and got better penetration. I also had to up size my wire. I’m a pretty terrible welder.

I thread the bolt into the nut, put the ground clamp on the head of the bolt and use that to push the nut in place. I'm not going to try and visualize the ground path through the block and bearings past the oil film to finally get to the crank.
 
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I thread the bolt into the nut, put the ground clamp on the head of the bolt and use that to push the nut in place. I'm not going to try and visualize the ground path through the block and bearings past the oil film to finally get to the crank.

I did the same (which is how I grounded the nut). Dumb me had 25 thou wire in the machine, that was a big part of my struggle. Once I realized it and switched to 0.030”, I made some headway. Still broke the nut out of the bushing, but not before I got it far enough out to use my blind bearing puller.