Two For One—A Go Fast TJ and J10 Build

Well I threw a P0301 code again yesterday at 66.6 miles, hopefully that's not a bad sign lol. Pretty sure the napa camshaft sensor shit the bed again. Actually have a line on some OEM Mopar ones even though they are discontinued, if anyone is also interested in these, feel free to pm me and I could possibly pickup a few of them and ship them out.
 
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Console is pretty much done. Just have to make a shifter cable bracket that attaches to the trans since the one supplied with the shifter bolts into the same spot my trans pan heat shield does, and I don't want to deal with changing that again.

Had to fiddle with the cable clamp on the shifter body to get it to line up right. Used the Burke mill to make a little aluminum spacer block to space the cable down a bit

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Also got the NSS and the the reverse light switches and cams installed. Had to grind some clearance into the two cable rails for the bolt heads for the cams, but it all went together fairly well. The switches they used put the switch blade terminals right above the shifter cable, so I had to bend those 90* and have the wires exit towards the back of the shifter.

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Painted the console a different color than the trans tunnel pan just to try it out, and because I can't remember where I bought the first color from lol. The shifter console got some Krylon Black Metallic Stainless. I think I like this color a bit more, it seemed to even out a lot better and look more uniform. Though it had so much flake in it my hands looked like I was feeling up a stripper by the time I was done.

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The standard 5 foot shifter cable is way more than I need, a 3 foot would be perfect, but it seems winters only goes as short as a 4 foot cable. I'll probably just make it work for now.

Now back to the fun part, finishing up all of the engine wiring...
 
Well I found one OEM camshaft position sensor. Only $130 shipped to me... Hopefully it works.

If anyone else needs one, the first dealership I spoke to said even though it's discontinued, there are 6 other dealerships around the country that still have some, so might be worth calling the local dealer to see which one closest to you has one
 
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Well I spent about 6 hours yesterday staring at the wiring trying to remember what I had figured out before I did the shifter.

Trying to find a good answer on whether or not I should use a fusible link, fuse, or two fuses on a power cable running straight from the alternator to my positive battery post. If anyone has any insight I'd really appreciate it.

I've seen a lot of conflicting info and I don't know enough to know what's right or wrong.

Currently I was planning on a 2 gauge cable straight to the alternator, another 2 gauge cable straight to the starter, and a third 1/0 cable going to the factory Chevy underwood fuse box to use it as a power distribution for anything else on the truck like accessories, trans cooler, etc.
 
Behold my masterpiece. If anyone sees any glaring mistakes or ways to do it better, please speak now

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Doesn't the fusible link normally go between the battery and the PDC?
 
Doesn't the fusible link normally go between the battery and the PDC?
I don't know. I always thought fusible links were kind of an alternator thing. Tox is going to check his harness for me and let me know how his is set up.

A fusible link or maybe a MEGA or MIDI fuse between the battery and the PDC would probably be a good idea as well though
 
Well shit, threw another P0301 code again yesterday, that's with a brand new OEM Mopar Cam and Crank sensor. When I installed this can sensor I used my friends fancy scanner to verify the sync on the cam sensor and it was at 0* +/-1*. I even adjusted it out of spec to make sure it was reading correctly then adjusted it back.

Now I'm suspecting it's not the cam sensor, but it does seem odd that it goes away for a couple thousand miles after replacing.

Going to try and check the coolant for exhaust gases today, my TJ has the non TUPY head and it hit 225 or so this last summer when my fan clutch was bad. I've had a very small amount of coolant disappearing, but I was just attributing it to a very small seep at my T-stat housing and the hose going from the resi to the top of the radiator. It's still all dyed green from me putting the leak tester in it, it dries to an orange color, but there's always a bit of green at those two spots when I pop the hood.

The oil doesn't appear to have any coolant contamination, not milky at all. So if something is cracked in the head or gasket, it must be just leading straight into the cylinder

Also think I have a vacuum leak as my blower vents don't always switch correctly. Seen some guys using cigars to smoke check the system, might try that.

Any other ideas?
 
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I had a seemingly random P301 code pop up on mine. I swapped plugs, pulled injectors and switched them, trying to figure out what was causing it. I also had a failed anti-siphon valve in my fuel pump. I eventually got around to replacing the fuel pump... And my p0301 code hasn't come back since. Doesn't make sense to me, why a bad pump would always show up as a cylinder 1 misfire, but there it is.
 
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I had a seemingly random P301 code pop up on mine. I swapped plugs, pulled injectors and switched them, trying to figure out what was causing it. I also had a failed anti-siphon valve in my fuel pump. I eventually got around to replacing the fuel pump... And my p0301 code hasn't come back since. Doesn't make sense to me, why a bad pump would always show up as a cylinder 1 misfire, but there it is.
Yeah, I took the jeep over to my grandpa's on Thursday and did a little work. Found some vacuum leaks around the throttle body gasket. Pulled it off, cleaned it up along with the IAC sensor, and reassembled. Also found the hose going to my vacuum resi was dangling and split. Got that fixed and did a combustion gas test on the coolant system. The test fluid didn't change to yellow and there wasn't much air to suck out before it had a vacuum inside, so I think that tells me my head isn't cracked and the gasket is good.

Going to try and replace my leaky valve cover gasket, do a compression and leak down test while it's off and inspect my rockers and pushrods since I've had a bit of the usual lifter tick for a while now, maybe I'll get lucky and just have a worn pushrod or something.

With all of that ruled out along with the cam and crank sensors being good, it seems like just a misfire wouldn't be enough to cause the lack of power and dying I've experienced a couple times not too long ago. Starting to think it could be a fuel starvation issue, my pump is factory with 155k on it. Wondering if it's on its way out or if maybe the filter socks are getting plugged up.

If not that, could be coil rail or injector related. Inspected the injectors with a stethoscope while it was running and they all sounded the same and appeared to be firing consistently
 
Well, not the TJ update I was hoping for, but it's got a new motor now. Compression and leak down test confirmed I had a cracked head or gasket issue leaking coolant into cylinders 1 and 2, luckily not into the oil. 95% it's the head that cracked, since I replaced the head gasket around 80k miles ago chasing an oil leak.

Was gonna be $800ish for a new head and gaskets. Found an 04 grand Cherokee 4.0 with 130k on it that I got to see run in the vehicle. It was in a crash, so was pretty sure the motor was fine. Junkyard said the compression test was 150-160 on all cylinders vs my 130 on my good cylinders and 110 on cylinder 1.

Did the swap last week at a friend's shop and my grandpa came to help too. Went pretty smooth, swapped my oil pan, intake and some new low miles OEM exhaust manifolds on to the new motor. Not sure if the new manifolds had warped from the 30k or so miles they had on them, but they were only flat within .030"ish. Had them resurfaced locally, then finished them off with some 180 grit on a piece of Blanchard ground aluminum.

Took 4 days start to finish, but the new motor seems to run real nice, a lot less ticking than my old one. Doing a long drive tomorrow to see what my new mileage is like and to pick up a new toy...

When I pulled the oil pan off my old motor, I found some metal chunks in the bottom of it, pretty surprising. Not exactly sure what it is from, though I'm leaning towards it being a failure of a bearing in the oil pump drive, something I didn't know I needed to worry about, thought it was just the 05-06 OPDA's that caused all the trouble. Think a magnetic drain plug will be replacing my drain valve on the pan...

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Also made a change to the flowmaster cat setup I've got. The flowmaster flanges for the catalytic converter to manifold seal are just some laser cut plate with a sharp corner trying to seal the flare in the pipe to the donut on the manifold. The OEM flanges have a bit of a radius to the corner that I think helps keep the joint sealed as it pivots. I've had a hell of a time keeping the new ones sealed, even with tightening them while they're good and hot. So, I turned some rings on the lathe at work with a large taper on the inside to try and spread the load out over more of the flare on the pipe. Not sure how well they will work, almost embarrassed to show them, but it was day 4 of get this shit running so I can go to work on Friday, so I rushed it a bit

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The old motor made it about a 150k, hopefully this one goes a bit longer. Maybe I shouldn't drive it so hard...
 
A bit late with a new years update, but last year went pretty well. Around March I asked my employer for a $4 raise, liked everything about working there except the low pay, penny pincher said no and told me to come back in six months to talk something over. Came back a month later with my two week notice after I accepted a job at a different shop for a $4 raise and 4k sign on bonus, 8 hours later penny pincher was telling me to pick a number, informed me of private stock options that were available, said to name my schedule, etc. Wanted to try something new, so I told him no and left two weeks later. The new shop was alright, a lot bigger of a company and they loved to throw money at me, got another $3 raise two months after starting and a couple of bonuses while I was there. The pay and the 3 day weekend schedule was great, but man did working there make me want to stick my head into the lathe chuck at 3k rpm and end it all.

After 8 months of contemplating the consequences of my actions, I ran into my old foreman in town. Ended up going golfing with him and finding out they'd love to have me back, of course I couldn't let him know how badly I want to come back. After bluffing my way through a couple of meetings with him and penny pincher, I talked my way into another small $1 raise, keeping my weekend shift schedule which they don't normally run, so I get to work all by myself, and a three year contract with a 4k sign on bonus and a $2 raise every year for the next three years.

Just kind of funny how if they had said yes to my initial request for a $4 raise, they would've had me happy as a clam working a four day shift at $23 an hour. Instead over the course of 9 months I went from $19-$28 an hour with a lot of bonuses and a much sweeter deal overall.

Now, instead of a just running a 4 axis lathe, I run a 4 axis horizontal mill, a 7 axis mill turn, the same 4 axis lathe, the brand new 4 axis lathe showing up next week and a brand new 5 axis mill showing up in April.

Rant over, just wanted to share. Back to jeep stuff
 
Well I had a slight run in with a fire hydrant the other day, mostly just from me being a dumbass. Hydrant was perfectly fine, the jeep not so much, though I got pretty lucky.

Shredded one of my new duratracs and just tweaked my drag link a little. Glad I had the replacement certificate on the tire from Discount Tire, was only $40 for a new one. Threw some cheap Napa steering parts on it and made a tool to help me set my toe. Didn't account for the 1.5" thick plate not leaving me any room to get the lug nuts on, so I'll have to go back and counter bore those holes later. Still worked good enough to get it close since I tore it all apart in the middle of the rain. The big plates are some 1.5" Blanchard ground 6061, and the rods are .5" thick MIC-6 plate that's parallel within .005", so it should be pretty accurate once I counter bore the wheel stud holes

Maxxed out the drill press for the first time in a while, 1.375" spade drill through 3" of 6061 with no pilot hole. Just got bound up due to poor chip evacuation, if I would've used the shop vac from the start it wouldn't have had any problems.

I had a super sketchy plan to get the hub hole from 1.375" to 3" with my little horizontal mill, but it didn't pan out and I just bored the plates on the Bridgeport at work.

Also scored a currie steering setup with only 50 miles for $260, so I'll be swapping that in eventually.



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Whipped up a booty fab toe jack and a pair of rollers the last two days.

The toe jack works pretty well so far, the main test is later today. Please ignore my ugly ass welds, my little Hobart 190 tried it's best on the .75" flat bar. Didn't want a huge fillet on the lifting side of the toe, so I drilled and tapped the toe to bolt it to the arm with two 3/8" countersunk bolts. Then ground some undercuts in all four sides and welded it up.

It was pretty tippy without the base, a 6"x3" .25" wall tube fit the base of the harbor freight jack perfectly. Cut out the top side, welded that piece to the bottom, trimmed it a bit and drilled and tapped the top side for two 3/8-24 jack bolts. Got some nuts underneath in case the threads aren't enough on their own. Drilled and tapped the ram for 9/16-12 bolt to secure the toe to the jack, and it's got a little radius piece welded to the backside to slide against the body of the jack.

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The rollers are 6"x3" .25" tube with some 4"x2" .12" wall wings for the caster mounts. Welded on four sides to the big tubes, hope I don't regret not boxing in the ends of the tubes. Just needs to hold about 2klbs total over the four wheels.

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Definitely not planning on dragging home another piece of machinery everyone says I don't need... Updates to come
 
Perks of working at a machine shop that is short on space for new machines. Got both of these pallets for $120 total.

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If anyone can help me figure out a ballpark price on what that 26" long piece of .5" wall 12" square stainless tubing would cost to buy new, I'd really appreciate it. Thinking about selling that piece
 
Well here's a teaser pic. My rollers didn't quite bolt up to the base, gonna have to fix those, but shouldn't be too hard. Took me a few hours, but the toe jack worked flawlessly and I was able to get the whole thing 9.5" up off the ground.

This is a Weigel camelback drill press, I think it's their 21" model. It's unlike any other camel back I've seen before, they put a lot more effort into the castings up at the top and it's comes with all the bells and whistles that are hard to find on others. So far I've found one old forum post about Weigel and a few copies of old brochures. Unlike the brochures though, this one has a 5MT spindle taper whereas they list it coming with a 4MT. I don't think it's been modified too much, and everything seems to be complete and not broken.

Camelbacks have a ton of rotating inertia and gobs of torque. The motor on this one is rather small at just 1.5hp, but it has 6 spindle speeds ranging from 400 all the way down to 15rpm. It is also supposed to have some type of clutch assembly built in for power tapping purposes to prevent broken taps.

It also has an elevating table as well as a sliding quill support on the vertical dovetails. Rough measurements show that I should have around 2 ish feet of quill travel I think. Though I've never run one of these before, so it'll be a learning experience.

It also has gear driven power down feed. To give you an idea of what this drill can do, when I'm running CNC machines at work for example I would run a 1/2" drill in steel at .001"/rev of feed for every .0625" of drill diameter, so .008" per rev for a 1/2" drill.

The highest power down feed rate on this drill is .043"/rev, which is absolutely insane. I've never even topped .020" with the fancy tools and equipment at work, don't know if I'll ever have the balls to test that out. .043"/rev would be about the right feed for what I would run a 2.6875" diameter drill at.

I'm very excited to bring this thing to the shop, though the only problem I haven't figured out yet is how to get it through the garage door. On my rollers it's about 8ft tall, and my garage door is a little under 7ft. Current plan is to pick it up next week, take it to a friend's shop to disassemble, move, and reassemble in my shop.

If anyone has any ideas on how to safely tip it over a bit I'd love to hear them. It's probably right around 1500-2000lbs.

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