Jeep Nathan and Tanja's 99 XJ Build up
- Thread starter thenag
- Start date
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- build thread
$101.51 with tax.
Most places are about $100.00.
I would recommend TurboLabs, Joe seems really knowledgeable, they do have an AWD dyno if needed.
Far too long for an update, really didn't do much this summer, only went wheeling a few times.
I changed my differential fluid in the spring and noticed that my rear diff cover had a dent that had pushed the cover into the ring gear.
So I ordered a pair of covers from Ruff Stuff Specialties.
Beefy 3/8 steel
I love Ruff Stuff, they ship fast. I ordered over the weekend they were in my mail box on Wednesday. (they put those covers in a USPS flat rate box... "if it fits it ships" but I almost needed a dolly to get the box to the house lol)
My only comment is that on the website it asks if you want to add $7.50 for bolts. It doesn't have a picture for bolts or a description, well the "bolt kit" is a handful of grade 8 3/8 bolts. So I paid $15.00 for 24 grade 8 bolts. I would have gone to Marshall's Hardware and bought something different.
I coated the covers with my last bit of Chassis Saver, it was just about hard so it didn't go on very well.
Well of course nothing can go on this Jeep without being modified. I have ground down the lip on my 14 bolt and my truss will interfere with the top of the cover too. So I cut the new cover. (cover already coated with chassis saver) You can see that I am going to have to cut up a brand new LubeLocker gasket too.
Well I had the steering apart and figured that I could install my front diff cover. here is new and old and difference of how much more the new one sticks out.
Hey that isn't much more than the OEM one that might clear my steering linkage!
Nope...
So looks like I need to cut about here; There is plenty of space between the cover and the ring gear at that point.
(btw cutting 3/8 steel with a cutoff wheel on a grinder sucks)
After several hours I had a nice hole, this is the test fit
This is my cardboard plug/patch. I fired up the plasma cutter and cut some 3/16
After some welding and grinding I had this;
Too many pics for this post...
I changed my differential fluid in the spring and noticed that my rear diff cover had a dent that had pushed the cover into the ring gear.
So I ordered a pair of covers from Ruff Stuff Specialties.
Beefy 3/8 steel
I love Ruff Stuff, they ship fast. I ordered over the weekend they were in my mail box on Wednesday. (they put those covers in a USPS flat rate box... "if it fits it ships" but I almost needed a dolly to get the box to the house lol)
My only comment is that on the website it asks if you want to add $7.50 for bolts. It doesn't have a picture for bolts or a description, well the "bolt kit" is a handful of grade 8 3/8 bolts. So I paid $15.00 for 24 grade 8 bolts. I would have gone to Marshall's Hardware and bought something different.
I coated the covers with my last bit of Chassis Saver, it was just about hard so it didn't go on very well.
Well of course nothing can go on this Jeep without being modified. I have ground down the lip on my 14 bolt and my truss will interfere with the top of the cover too. So I cut the new cover. (cover already coated with chassis saver) You can see that I am going to have to cut up a brand new LubeLocker gasket too.
Well I had the steering apart and figured that I could install my front diff cover. here is new and old and difference of how much more the new one sticks out.
Hey that isn't much more than the OEM one that might clear my steering linkage!
Nope...
So looks like I need to cut about here; There is plenty of space between the cover and the ring gear at that point.
(btw cutting 3/8 steel with a cutoff wheel on a grinder sucks)
After several hours I had a nice hole, this is the test fit
This is my cardboard plug/patch. I fired up the plasma cutter and cut some 3/16
After some welding and grinding I had this;
Too many pics for this post...
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final test fit
I did weld the inside and covered the inside of the weld with gray RTV. the patch is above the oil level (although it will get splash off from the ring gear) so even if it leaks it shouldn't leak much.
I also didn't take pictures of the welds... MikeGyver I am not...
Here is a shot of it painted, since I was out of chassis saver the patch is just rattle can. So now I have a "weak spot" in the cover right behind my tie rod... so yeah if a rock gets through my tie rod I only have 3/16 plate at that point. lol
On the Jeep it looks like it was meant to be that way. Hopefully it seals
Oh yeah shot of the d60 lubelocker
Hopefully I don't have modify the rear cover anymore, I need to pick up a gallon of gear oil so I can change it...
Nathan
I did weld the inside and covered the inside of the weld with gray RTV. the patch is above the oil level (although it will get splash off from the ring gear) so even if it leaks it shouldn't leak much.
I also didn't take pictures of the welds... MikeGyver I am not...
Here is a shot of it painted, since I was out of chassis saver the patch is just rattle can. So now I have a "weak spot" in the cover right behind my tie rod... so yeah if a rock gets through my tie rod I only have 3/16 plate at that point. lol
On the Jeep it looks like it was meant to be that way. Hopefully it seals
Oh yeah shot of the d60 lubelocker
Hopefully I don't have modify the rear cover anymore, I need to pick up a gallon of gear oil so I can change it...
Nathan
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BlueWolfFab
Running Behind
- Location
- Eagle Mountain
I notice your wheels are still straight in that test picture, as your wheels turn the tie rod moves closer to the cover, does it still clear even when the wheels turn?
Just a camera angle, the tire is full lock to the left
BlueWolfFab
Running Behind
- Location
- Eagle Mountain
Nice I see it now my bad
my bad
RogueJeepr
Here!
- Location
- Utah
Cool.
Hopefully one day I'll get some of those ruff stuff frame stiffeners.
Hopefully one day I'll get some of those ruff stuff frame stiffeners.
A couple shots of the rear. I didn't have to make any additional modifications. The cover does have a little tiny nub sticking out past the housing. If I am under there with a grinder I will hit it. Or it might be self clearanceing...
Overall I am happy with the covers. I want to pick up some button head allen bolts, I had to use a really thin wall socket and it was still tight in a few spots. (I won't use button head for the bottom bolts, when a button head allen head gets hammed it becomes really hard to get off. a hammered regular bolt can be grabbed with vice grips)
Oh yeah this is the spot that a rock pushed the OEM cover into the ring gear.
Overall I am happy with the covers. I want to pick up some button head allen bolts, I had to use a really thin wall socket and it was still tight in a few spots. (I won't use button head for the bottom bolts, when a button head allen head gets hammed it becomes really hard to get off. a hammered regular bolt can be grabbed with vice grips)
Oh yeah this is the spot that a rock pushed the OEM cover into the ring gear.
If you didn't see posts #12 and #17, I welded the frame stiffeners to the Clayton suspension bracketry. Primarily all my suspension hangs off the Frame Stiffeners/Clayton cross members. The rear coil bucket is some what tied in with some plating. I didn't go near the front coil seats but other than that the entire rig sits on at least 3/16 steel that is all connected. Other than the ugly welds it is really well thought out.
Nathan
So the other day I said to my wife "this winter I am going to re-make the broken plastic center console bracket out of metal to stiffen up the center console"
Then I was flipping through quadratec and saw this...
http://www.quadratec.com/products/12249_7390.htm
It is $50.00 If I build it, I would use scrap metal so materials would be basically grinder disks and electricity, main thing would be my time. It is in the console so no one would see it.
I will probably end up buying it, but still haven't ruled out building one. I guess it is only for 97-01 so I doubt Carl would want to go through making a "weld your own kit"
Nathan
*edit* found this pic on JCR's site
god damn I might pay $50 just for their video, almost, almost as good as Teraflex
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-I_tltLoao
Then I was flipping through quadratec and saw this...
http://www.quadratec.com/products/12249_7390.htm
It is $50.00 If I build it, I would use scrap metal so materials would be basically grinder disks and electricity, main thing would be my time. It is in the console so no one would see it.
I will probably end up buying it, but still haven't ruled out building one. I guess it is only for 97-01 so I doubt Carl would want to go through making a "weld your own kit"
Nathan
*edit* found this pic on JCR's site
god damn I might pay $50 just for their video, almost, almost as good as Teraflex
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-I_tltLoao
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Pile of parts
Well-Known Member
- Location
- South Jordan
5 horsepower!
So after following a couple of buggies around Moab (Thanks Shane)
and dropping into a hole that I am surprised did not trigger the air bags, I had a couple of small welds on the front axle crack, and crunched my restrictive exhaust.
Since I needed to repair some welds, and swap manifolds, and wanted to service my Johnny Joints...
4 of the 8 Johnny Joints on the front end are getting close to needing new bushings, I put them on the lowers so I can get to them easily after I get into the rears and figure out how many I need total. I am sure it is from not greasing them enough. One of them I cannot grease in vehicle, I now have a 90 grease gun tip that sort of works...
I didn't take any pictures of my welds, if you want to see nice welds look at one of mikegyver's threads
Onto the re-re-re-re-re-do of the exhaust
and dropping into a hole that I am surprised did not trigger the air bags, I had a couple of small welds on the front axle crack, and crunched my restrictive exhaust.
Since I needed to repair some welds, and swap manifolds, and wanted to service my Johnny Joints...
4 of the 8 Johnny Joints on the front end are getting close to needing new bushings, I put them on the lowers so I can get to them easily after I get into the rears and figure out how many I need total. I am sure it is from not greasing them enough. One of them I cannot grease in vehicle, I now have a 90 grease gun tip that sort of works...
I didn't take any pictures of my welds, if you want to see nice welds look at one of mikegyver's threads
Onto the re-re-re-re-re-do of the exhaust
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So I have been wanting to re-re-do the exhaust ever since I had the jeep dyno'd at turbo labs. My exhaust guy to keep the exhaust out of the front yoke ran 1.75 inch pipe for the down pipe. This was heating up the oil pan, I had oil pan temps near 500 degrees. (I ran full synthetic). Joe, at turbo labs, said that for 250hp general rule is you 2.5 inch pipe all the way, although for what I am doing 2.25 would probably be great. So after doing some research it seems that what Joe said is kind of a rule of thumb and it seemed that my 1.75 inch down pipe was not good.
Since I crunched it, it was time to try something different.
The JY motor that I built my stroker was a 2000 (and came with the manifolds). In 2000 they signifigantly changed the exhaust manifold to add a couple of cat's right after the manifold. Here is the 91ish to 99 and the 2000+
So I installed the manifold, left the front springs out and loaded the jeep onto a trailer. With the suspension sitting on the bump stops the exhaust guy would see full compression and have a really good idea where he could run pipes.
So he started to look at it and called me up "hey this manifold won't work"
Turns out the 94ish 7120 head that I have installed has very large exhaust ports, so large that the 2000+ manifold doesn't cover them.
(look for the laser pointer in this picture, that is looking into the exhaust port)
So "to the internet" I went and found out that the 7120 has very large exhaust ports, then the 0630 (96-99) got smaller and the 0331 got really small. To add to the confusion the 0630 MY1999 shares a gasket with the MY2000.
I found that you can make a plate that is about the size of the 2000+ gasket and install the 95 gasket, the plate and the 2000 gasket and that will cover the holes.
So I sent a message to Carl, (I Lean). He must have been board because he cranked out the adapter plate quickly.
Here is the 95ish gasket on the 2000+ manifold
Here is a shot of the 2000+ gasket on the 2000+ manifold
Here is Carl's plate with the gaskets
And Carl's plate on the 95ish gasket, this is what my effective exhaust is...
nice shot of the plate on the engine, this was the first one Carl made, I had to enlarge the bolt holes slightly
So far it works well, I did have a #4 misfire code come up. Since I had to move the engine electrical it is possible that one of my solder connections on the #4 fuel injector got messed up, it is also possible that the engine is weirded out since it can breath. I should dyno it again it drives better, we will see what happens as I get more miles on it.
Once again Thanks Carl!
The other option I have is that I could install a Banks Torque Tube for a 2000+. I emailed their tech support and they said "we don't know of any difference on the 4.0 heads" I sent him some pics of the gaskets and he said that they use the same flange for 91-06 4.0. So if that is true their header should work for me. (it is one of those headers that looks like friggen pretzel, if I had 2.5 inch exhaust I would probably be considering it)
I need some pics of the completed exhaust, the reason for the 2000+ manifold is that it is high enough that the exhaust can come around the front of the oil pan sump... I will get some pictures...
So just a little footnote on why this exhaust adapter plate is even a thing. The 2000 XJ's got a head casting 0331 that is extremely prone to cracking. So if you have an otherwise nice 2000 xj with a cracked head, you could find a JY 7120 or 0630 head and throw it on, however you have two issues, one is the exhaust manifold doesn't cover the ports, so you can run a plate like I did. Running the 1999- manifold isn't an option for the 2000+ xj due to the pre cats installed. So without having a total custom exhaust built a bolt in header, or this plate fills the exhaust leak on the manifold. The other small issue is 2000 was the first year for coil on plug (on the xj anyway) so you have to make a bracket to hold the coils. (or you can do custom spark plug wires and run a coil pack from a Viper/Caravan... no kidding google it, it is a pretty cool mod to get rid of your coil rail and have a Viper part on your Jeep...)
I will post up results as we get more miles on it
Since I crunched it, it was time to try something different.
The JY motor that I built my stroker was a 2000 (and came with the manifolds). In 2000 they signifigantly changed the exhaust manifold to add a couple of cat's right after the manifold. Here is the 91ish to 99 and the 2000+
So I installed the manifold, left the front springs out and loaded the jeep onto a trailer. With the suspension sitting on the bump stops the exhaust guy would see full compression and have a really good idea where he could run pipes.
So he started to look at it and called me up "hey this manifold won't work"
Turns out the 94ish 7120 head that I have installed has very large exhaust ports, so large that the 2000+ manifold doesn't cover them.
(look for the laser pointer in this picture, that is looking into the exhaust port)
So "to the internet" I went and found out that the 7120 has very large exhaust ports, then the 0630 (96-99) got smaller and the 0331 got really small. To add to the confusion the 0630 MY1999 shares a gasket with the MY2000.
I found that you can make a plate that is about the size of the 2000+ gasket and install the 95 gasket, the plate and the 2000 gasket and that will cover the holes.
So I sent a message to Carl, (I Lean). He must have been board because he cranked out the adapter plate quickly.
Here is the 95ish gasket on the 2000+ manifold
Here is a shot of the 2000+ gasket on the 2000+ manifold
Here is Carl's plate with the gaskets
And Carl's plate on the 95ish gasket, this is what my effective exhaust is...
nice shot of the plate on the engine, this was the first one Carl made, I had to enlarge the bolt holes slightly
So far it works well, I did have a #4 misfire code come up. Since I had to move the engine electrical it is possible that one of my solder connections on the #4 fuel injector got messed up, it is also possible that the engine is weirded out since it can breath. I should dyno it again it drives better, we will see what happens as I get more miles on it.
Once again Thanks Carl!
The other option I have is that I could install a Banks Torque Tube for a 2000+. I emailed their tech support and they said "we don't know of any difference on the 4.0 heads" I sent him some pics of the gaskets and he said that they use the same flange for 91-06 4.0. So if that is true their header should work for me. (it is one of those headers that looks like friggen pretzel, if I had 2.5 inch exhaust I would probably be considering it)
I need some pics of the completed exhaust, the reason for the 2000+ manifold is that it is high enough that the exhaust can come around the front of the oil pan sump... I will get some pictures...
So just a little footnote on why this exhaust adapter plate is even a thing. The 2000 XJ's got a head casting 0331 that is extremely prone to cracking. So if you have an otherwise nice 2000 xj with a cracked head, you could find a JY 7120 or 0630 head and throw it on, however you have two issues, one is the exhaust manifold doesn't cover the ports, so you can run a plate like I did. Running the 1999- manifold isn't an option for the 2000+ xj due to the pre cats installed. So without having a total custom exhaust built a bolt in header, or this plate fills the exhaust leak on the manifold. The other small issue is 2000 was the first year for coil on plug (on the xj anyway) so you have to make a bracket to hold the coils. (or you can do custom spark plug wires and run a coil pack from a Viper/Caravan... no kidding google it, it is a pretty cool mod to get rid of your coil rail and have a Viper part on your Jeep...)
I will post up results as we get more miles on it
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So I needed some new rubber bump stops and ordered them from qudratec, I also picked up a pair of headlights.
Just in time to switch off of Daylight Saving Time I got to test it out. The left is the new, right is old. The picture actually does it justice. This is low beam, high beam is a bigger difference.
quadratec had a few of these H4 Conversion kits, I chose this one because it explicitly said "DOT approved" and it came with bulbs. They were a bit cheaper than some of the kits so hopefully they hold up well. They did not come with instructions, but it is only 6 screws to install each one. It came with a rubber boot to go over the back of the bulb, due to the Jeep connector I had to cut the boot a bit, hopefully that won't be a problem with water/gunk on the base of the bulb.
Just in time to switch off of Daylight Saving Time I got to test it out. The left is the new, right is old. The picture actually does it justice. This is low beam, high beam is a bigger difference.
quadratec had a few of these H4 Conversion kits, I chose this one because it explicitly said "DOT approved" and it came with bulbs. They were a bit cheaper than some of the kits so hopefully they hold up well. They did not come with instructions, but it is only 6 screws to install each one. It came with a rubber boot to go over the back of the bulb, due to the Jeep connector I had to cut the boot a bit, hopefully that won't be a problem with water/gunk on the base of the bulb.
So I will do a little update. The plate Carl made (that I refer to as the "restrictor plate") Does seal. The exhaust makes a ricer like farting noise at about 2300 rpm. I have had the "cylinder #4 miss-fire" issue a few times. This seems to be the same type of "heat soak" or "heat sink" issue that 2000 and 2001 XJ's have. (Basically since they have pre-cats right under the intake, a non-circulating fuel system, and a tiny engine compartment the injectors heat up after shut down and if you turn it off for only a little bit it runs poorly until cool fuel gets up to the fuel rail) However I had this happen when the outside air temp was 40 degrees. Every other "heat soak" issue people say it is only during summer or only on hot days. My exhaust manifold seems to be really hot. I will check it with an IR temp gun today or tomorrow. What I have "learned" about exhaust is that any restriction or bend causes heat. So my restrctor plate is probably causing significant heat at the head/manifold.
So I have solved all my "hot oil" issues and now have hot other things...
So for some reason Banks put their 4.0 Header for the 2000 on sale. Banks also says that use the same flange for all the 4.0L from early 90's to 2006. This is also backed up by a header install video on youtube in which you can see that the banks gasket has much larger exhaust ports than the 2000 engine he is installing it on.
So I have a Banks torque tube 51306 coming in soon.
Boy that looks like a fun thing to install in vehicle huh?
I also changed back to the OEM heat range spark plug, does anyone know what running a "too high heat range" spark plug will do?
Pics of SS header coming soon
Nathan
*edit*
So I ran the XJ pretty hard pulled over and used an IR temp gun to check the temperature of the exhaust manifold and intake manifold, exhaust was 680 degrees and intake was about 220. Outside air temp was about 40 degrees.
So I have solved all my "hot oil" issues and now have hot other things...
So for some reason Banks put their 4.0 Header for the 2000 on sale. Banks also says that use the same flange for all the 4.0L from early 90's to 2006. This is also backed up by a header install video on youtube in which you can see that the banks gasket has much larger exhaust ports than the 2000 engine he is installing it on.
So I have a Banks torque tube 51306 coming in soon.
Boy that looks like a fun thing to install in vehicle huh?
I also changed back to the OEM heat range spark plug, does anyone know what running a "too high heat range" spark plug will do?
Pics of SS header coming soon
Nathan
*edit*
So I ran the XJ pretty hard pulled over and used an IR temp gun to check the temperature of the exhaust manifold and intake manifold, exhaust was 680 degrees and intake was about 220. Outside air temp was about 40 degrees.
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