Jeep Nathan and Tanja's 99 XJ Build up

[thenag]

Every experience is different but things I've bought from China always seem to come towards the faster side of their timeframe.

My Chinese bolts were in CA on 12/16, then Houston 12/18, then "North Houston 12/20" I am not sure why it took 2 days to go from Houston to "North Houston" But the bolts are in the states, hopefully they will get here in the next couple of days, then I get to decided if I actually want to use them. A lot of the bolts I found that were the right size were "cabinet hardware" I am going to put one in a vice and see how much force takes to break.

I have had a pretty bad cold so not working on the Jeep has been a good thing anyway.

Nathan

 

[thenag]

So my Chinese bolts finally came in before New Years. They are 6mm x 20mm with a .75 thread. I did intentionally break one and it broke at about the same torque as a 1/4 cap bolt from Marshall's, so good enough. Interestingly enough I found a AX-15 FSM for a 1997 TJ and it DID NOT specify to use new bolts on the shift forks.



Got the transmission together..



And dropped in the motor and transmission together with the help of my father in law it went pretty well, This picture is most of the stuff on the passenger side hooked up...



Then came time to install the new hottness...





The filler neck actually is further away from my York than my old radiator



I did have to re-route this upper PS cooler line, the radiator pushed it into the headlight assembly, so the radiator didn't technically drop in, I had to buy some PS hose...



"in for a penny in for a pound.." I don't like to think about how much this Mishimoto Liquid Chill Synthetic Coolant cost.



So the first time I pulled the stick on the transmission I trimmed the spring and added a couple pieces of metal to the top of this thing. To release the stick you have to push down and twist. The twist was nearly impossible with a greasy smooth piece of metal. So I 6011'd it. Really you would only need one "tab" but I am really proud of it.



I was able to start the jeep, the coolant wasn't circulating, I had to fill the block from the heater bypass. The motor got to up to temp and the radiator was still cold. I figured maybe I left a shop towel in the water pump or something stupid. When I pulled the lower radiator hose off the (now drained) radiator nothing came out of the block, then I pulled the lower radiator hose off the water pump and managed to catch about 1/2 a gallon of really expensive coolant in a bucket, and I had about 1 gallon go on the floor. There was not any obstruction in the lower radiator hose, it is orientated in a way that an air pocket could be trapped preventing coolant from getting to the water pump. I have not had any issues filling this thing before. The hose was not collapsed or anything. The lower radiator hose was acting like it was blocked but nothing was blocking it and it was not collapsing while running. So I am waiting for another gallon of really expensive coolant. I am going to fill the entire system with distilled water and see if it works. If it does then I will drain it and put in the expensive coolant. Of course my detached garage does get bellow freezing some times so I have to be careful with using straight water. (I can't leave it in there over night)

Oh while I was trying to figure out why the coolant wasn't circulation I thought "maybe turning on the heater will help"... well the heater didn't turn on so I must have left something under the dash un-plugged... DOH!

So right now the grill is off again, the radiator is out, the water pump is off...


Nathan

 

[thenag]

So I filled the cooling system up with distilled water from the heater bypass next to the thermostat, started it up and the coolant circulated properly. So I let it cool drained out what I could and filled it with the coolant that I was able to keep off the floor.

So the jeep is together, I will probably take it out for a little test run this afternoon. I am waiting for this January rain storm to let up.

a couple of more pictures, including the tiny funnel I used to fill though the heater bypass.







I will keep you posted as to how cool my 4.6L stays...

Nathan

 

[thenag]

So it has been extra "climate changy" here in Salt Lake this winter. After driving around in 50 degree weather with my hood vent "closed" The temp gauge never goes above 210.

However I have had not one but two coolant leaks, I had the lower radiator hose pop off while I was turning off of Bangerter, then a few days later I had some drips from the hose going into my new heater core. I am not sure why the hoses are slipping/leaking, maybe that synthetic coolant likes to seep/slip... Anyway due to losing most of my coolant on Bangerter I only have about 1/2 of the synthetic coolant left in the system.

The engine is running really good. I guess being able to install the exhaust manifold with the engine out of the jeep is the reason for no noticeable exhaust leaks. Between that and the re-positioned crankshaft sensor to advance the timing the thing is running good. I will dyno it before the summer.

The rebuilt AX-15 is a whole lot smoother, it is still a bit hard to pull into 2nd when it is cold. That was like that the first time I ever drove the jeep and when my wife bought it before we met. The other gears change much smoother.

The jeep itself has been extra "twitchy" on the highway. It always had a little pull from the detriot in the rear, but it seems much worse. I may have to drop in the spider gears, if it makes a big difference I will be installing an ARB in the rear. Really the issue is that I have 120lb spare tire up high out back. I might look at lowering it.

Nathan

 

[thenag]

Since I have a heavy Spare Tire that is up and out pretty far I talked myself into getting some new rear shocks. I really looked at the Tereflex Falcons, which are "designed for a JK", I figured I would have some fitment issues in the rear, specifically around my exhaust. It is a close fit as is and the bigger shock diameter might be an issue. So I ordered a pair of aggressively dampened Bilstein 5165's. I believe that I can install custom shim packs in these shocks. When I was messing around with the rear end I measured and came up with 18 inches between shock eyes and ordered 17 inch shocks. Well when I installed them they were almost fully compressed sitting on the bump stop... so yeah I could sent the shocks back... Or since I hate my axle side shock mounts anyway I could make new shock mounts.

Badda-Bing


Passenger full compression sitting on bump stop, you can see the shock mount is already tweeked up a bit.



So bust out the cardboard and plasma cutter...










You can see the o-ring on the shaft that is where they moved at full compression, I moved these mounts out and down, It gained me almost 2 inches of shock length.




The external reservoir on the passenger side could not be mounted to the shock... because of the exhaust... So it was mounted to a body cross member with the hose clamps and modified rubber mounts that came with the shocks. I did throw some paint up there after this picture. (so I didn't have to modify the shocks... but I did have to modify the reservoir mounts..)







Since the rear was sagging (worlds heaviest XJ!) I stuck some 2 inch spring spacers on top of the springs, I somewhat intend to cut/grind about 1/2 an inch off of these but really I probably won't ever get to it.

*EDIT... POST 313 I RE-DO ALL OF THIS TO OUTBOARD MY REAR SHOCKS...*

 

[thenag]

(10 pics... so here is the spacer...)


And after all that I thought... why didn't I think to outboard my shocks before messing with all this. My tires are spaced out far enough I could fairly easily have built an upper mount off the coil spring seat... I would need shorter shocks so since I just paid $400 for a pair of shocks it isn't going to happen anytime soon.

Nathan

 

[thenag]

So I ordered some new MOOG tie rod ends... and the threaded part is much shorter than the current ones. My tie rod has always been a little shorter than I liked and my drag link is much shorter than I like. So I ordered a piece of DOM and some TRE inserts from Ruff Stuff. I will use my old tie rod to make a new drag link. The new MOOG ends have the grease zerk on the front of the TRE, I think I like it. My other problem is that I tapered my knuckles a little too deep so the TRE's don't rotate much. I am seriously considering drilling them to 7/8 and using an insert. I don't like the idea of an insert but if they didn't work well I wouldn't think Ruff Stuff would still sell them. I figured that the Red paint would make it easier to see any cracks in the welds Of course I also just realized that I won't fail safety inspection for heim joints and should have probably just put heim joints on the tie rod...

 

[Badger]

I would be putting some needle zerks on those joints. They look like they're just waiting to get snagged on a rock and broken off.

 

[thenag]

I would be putting some needle zerks on those joints. They look like they're just waiting to get snagged on a rock and broken off.

I like those, why haven't I seen those before...

The zerks don't stick out that much, with the over the knuckle TRE's I would have to be really messed up to hit them on a rock. I do have a couple of zerks on Johnny Joints that I am surprised I have never scraped off...

Thanks

Nathan

 

[thenag]

So since this winter maybe Jan 2018 the jeep has been weird on the road. Not that it has ever been a smooth calm ride but it handled ok and predictable. When I rebuilt the transmission I guess I finally got the exhaust all sealed up and now it accelerates decently.

However, since this winter, while driving it would feel like driving in a heck of a gusty cross wind. I tried all kinds of tire pressure, new shocks, re-balanced the tires, new tie rod ends, I even put the regular spider gears in the 14 bolt. I adjusted my rear anti-rock as stiff as it would go and it still felt a little squirrely on the highway.

Since I adjusted my anti-rock when we went to Moab one of my antirock mounts ripped off the frame (it was a poor weld too, but has been fine for 5 years until I adjusted it)

So I finally decided to drop my rear links and inspect my Johnny Joints. I rebuilt them about a year ago. Well one of my upper arms the JJ had a small amount of play on both ends.

I still have enough JJ bushings to rebuild 4 joints so I am going to re-rebuild the 4 on the uppers.

I am also going to re-weld the antirock mount and... I am going to outboard my shock mounts (which I should have done a few months ago while messing with shocks)

So currently the gas tank is out of the Jeep and I am getting ready to play fabricator...


Nathan

 

[Jay5.9L]

When was the last time you got it to the alignment shop?

 

[thenag]

When was the last time you got it to the alignment shop?

Um... Never... It has always gone down the road straight with no death wobble, even though the rear axle is shifted to one side about 1/2 inch.

Anyway after out boarding the rear shocks, repairing the anti-rock mount, new tie rod ends, rebuilding ALL Johnny Joints, removing the hydro-assist steering, balancing the tires, removing the rear detriot (remember removing a detriot in a 14 bolt is super easy), playing with castor, and playing with many different tire pressures...

I rotated the tires... and the problem went away. I could drive at highway speeds comfortably again!

I had the tires re-balanced and then started moving tires around to try things out.

As near as I can figure the two tires on the front are worn in a weird way. (maybe that thing about DIY alignment...) Either one of the worn tires in front will cause the "wiggle" With them on the rear it drives fine. I don't know if anyone else has had issues with 1/2 worn Kevlar MTR's or not.

That is good enough for now, I have brought my toe closer to 0.

Nathan

 

[thenag]

So you know how a while ago I said "I should have outboarded my rear shocks"

Well since I had to re-do a anti-rock mount I could drop the gas tank and do some uni-body welding.

(remember to get carpet out of the way so it doesn't catch fire, remember the seat belts too.)



Upper mount coming together



Plated and painted (yes that exhaust is going to be an issue...)



Unfortunately I had to cut off the lower shock mounts I just made a few months back



Here are the new ones coming together... Yes I know they hang down quite a bit, but they are still higher than stock JK's And Yes I should box in the front of them so they don't grab rocks as much...





I was able to piece together a decent exhaust from parts I had



It does handle a heck of a lot better, the body roll on corners is much less.

I still need to re-coat my gas tank skid plate, I have spent way too much time trying to figure out my "wiggle" now that that is taken care of I can get back to other things. (of course my v10 is still giving me a p0300 random misfires that I haven't figured out yet so I should get that fixed)

Nathan

 

[thenag]

So since my stupid duty is giving me a p0300 random multiple misfires, that I can't figure out, the jeep has become my daily driver for the time being. The good thing about that is really notice all the things wrong with it.

Well after 18 months the Eldorado Parking brake setup no longer holds the Jeep.

The arm that pulls on the parking brake has a hex hole in it. If it was splined these calipers would be great. It is easy to adjust them, but the arm never goes where I want it, it is either too tight or too loose.

Anyway I ground the arms a little so I could get to the next spot on the hex hole. In doing so I had to go back to the OEM cable brackets.

Pics

Un-modified arm

 

[thenag]

I am going to try to keep from cussing...

"so what did you do on the 24th of July?"

Oh I was running some errands in the jeep and long story short I had an exhaust valve stick open...









There was coolant leaking from the head gasket, I never saw it on the ground and the exhaust hid it well. (you can also see a melted red urethane motor mount... I guess I need to track down a motor mount heat shield from a 00-01...)



So yeah stroker with around 10,000 miles on it needs a cylinder head. I am taking it to Clegg this week to see if it is still straight, if not I will be in the market for a new cylinder head...

I haven't decided what caused the fault, maybe too much timing advance, maybe too hot of spark plug, maybe failing head gasket, maybe it got hot a few times, maybe running ethanol free fuel that doesn't have techron... probably a combination of things

Nathan

 

[I Lean]

Dislike.

 

[Pile of parts]

Crap! I love your xj... Even though you may not right now.

 

[Lifelong Jeeper]

Crappy! That’s my fear for my engine project that I’m doing, but hopefully it will be reliable and long running.

I bought EQ Heads for the 360 I’m building. You should look into them if you need to buy a new one. I assume they have one for the 4.0.

 

[Jay5.9L]

That sucks. Let us know what Clegs says. Anyone have experience with the edelbrock aluminum head?

 

[thenag]

Crap! I love your xj... Even though you may not right now.

It has, uh "had" been overall running better than it ever has since it was built up, the outboarded rear shocks helped the handling a lot, the rebuilt transmission shifts fairly smooth for a AX15, I got the engine and exhaust dialed in so it had good acceleration, it even started getting 1mpg better than it had, it some how even seemed quieter on the highway... then boom.

Crappy! That’s my fear for my engine project that I’m doing, but hopefully it will be reliable and long running.

I bought EQ Heads for the 360 I’m building. You should look into them if you need to buy a new one. I assume they have one for the 4.0.

Follow a good manual, double check everything, It will be fine, I am sure that my issue was not in the rebuilding it was in the (miss)-tuning. adding 15% displacement to a 4.0 and trying to take advantage of that without a team of engineers is probably what caused my issue, (or the head warped... then I can blame Chrysler...)

I had not come across the EQ's, there are a few companies that make new heads for these engines, they are all about the same price. They are based off the 0331 casting which is 2000+ Which means small exhaust ports, but since Chrysler had a bunch of 0331's crack there is a need for new ones.

That sucks. Let us know what Clegs says. Anyone have experience with the edelbrock aluminum head?

If I didn't think I would just ruin it I might try the edelbrock... heck if my head is warped and I have an issue getting a replacment one I might still...

My head was ported and had bigger GM valves put in it. (or at least I was told that it had GM valves) so if it is not warped it is worth keeping.

Oh the "heat tab" is still on the head so it didn't significantly overheat, but with the coolant leak from the head gasket I would bet it is warped... we shall see.

Nathan