Sputter's Return to Stock

Well that was fun. About 2 hours of wrenching, banging and cursing and the hollow tube that used to be a catalytic converter is out. FedEx is still not here. I think I am done for the day. Heading out on a vacation so won’t be back at it for another week. In the meantime, can someone come by and clean up this mess?

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New cat assembly going in today. Also got some new roll bar padding and some interior pieces to refinish. If time, I will work on troubleshooting my electrical issues.

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Cat assembly went in without a hitch. Pressure test indicated some minor leaks so I torqued things down a bit more. O2 sensor is giving me some issues and I suspect it’s not connected fully. Will check it out once everything cools down. Also changed the oil and filter and started the resurfacing of the interior pieces.

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Well I should have known it was too good to be true. This thing was running great and so I added the cat assembly. Shortly there after, it started dying while driving and getting harder to start. After a couple of days, it would crank but no start. Only the CAT and the downstream sensor were swapped out but I was getting more evac errors. I pulled the camshaft sensor and found that it had been damaged by the tone wheel due to bad installation on my part. I figured no biggie - I’ll just get a new one. The symptoms are consistent with a failed camshaft sensor so that was probably it. Just installed a new one and no dice.
So now I’m back to a jeep that will crank but not start. Guess I’ll have to start back over with voltage checks to the coil, plugs and fuel. I know this is the 2.4 ugly unicorn, but if you have any suggestions I’m all ears! Going to check out the tone wheel and make sure it’s not bent. Also going to check the timing belt and make sure it did not skip a tooth.

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Well timing still looks good and a new camshaft sensor did not help. I’m going to put things back together and try some starter fluid in the intake. If that doesn’t work, I’ll need to check out the voltage to the camshaft and crankshaft sensors.

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Got lucky this time. Fuel pump relay was bad. Sprayed some started fluid in the intake and it wanted to start. That narrowed it down to fuel. Before messing with pulling the gas tank and checking wiring, I thought I would take the easy way out and swap out with the horn relay. Amazing such a simple part can cause so much chaos when you don’t know what you’re doing.

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Took the jeep to pep boys to get an alignment. Steering and wheels were as crooked as a politician but they are straight now. They also found I had a leaking wheel cylinder which drained the master cylinder. Always something with this thing. Anyways the brakes are solid now and I’m comfortable taking it to Daytona for paint on Saturday. Finishing up some up final prep for paint - taking off any trim or bolts to avoid masking. Also spent time using a Brillo pad on the wheel wells.

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Final prep work this evening. Driving it to Daytona for paint tomorrow. Six months later than I planned, but better late than never. Removed some final bits of undercoating removed, and few more pieces of trim. Also finished the fender body work which turned out a lot better than I expected.

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Recoloring the new to me door panels and console lid. Had to disassemble the door panels a bit because the inside pockets were trashed and they needed to be refinished as well. Cut the plastic tabs on the back and hit them with a torch to get them to come off. Will let the colorbond cure tonight and then hit them with the matte clear.

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Finished up the clear coat on the inner door panels and console lid. Moved on to the fender flares removing years of paint layers from them, then coating with herculiner and then some clear coat.

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Still doing research to track down my issue with no horn, airbag light on and no air/fan. Radio also does not appear to have power. I am sure this is something I did when I pull out the dash and put everything back together. Some people say I have a failed clockspring and I was going to go that route when I came across this post on another forum which seemed more inline with with my symptoms. I am assuming they are referring to this ground?

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Got the jeep back from paint today. Two day turn around. Turned out a lot better than I expected. Looks a lot better in the sunlight with all the metallic flake but here’s a couple evening shots. Got to add all the fenders, bumpers and accessories this weekend.


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Having a bit of fun with this jeep (finally). Added back the headlight trim and the hood latches. Blinkers looked terrible so I wet sanded, polished and ceramic coated them. They look new! Tomorrow I add back the fender flares, taillights and mirrors and refinish the bumpers. Also hope to add back the re-keyed cylinders and inside door panels.

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Slow going this weekend. I expected to make a lot more progress, but the trim pieces are a lot more difficult and the paint is very delicate. Already I screwed it up in a number of places. In any case, I got a few things accomplished. I refinished the bumpers and was able to mount the front one and finish out the front end. Got the OEM mirrors and taillights installed.

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