1998 Cherokee 4.0 Ltd - Project

[Fourpot]

Since fitting the big wheels and tyres, the jolly old speedo has been somewhat pessimistic, showing 65mph when it's actually doing 70mph. so today I changed the speedo drive cog thingy to put the speedo back in the realms of reality.

A quite simple job, one bolt clamps the unit into the transfer case and just one electrical connection to undo and the unit pops out. The gear can just be pulled out of the unit and the new one pushed in.

Reminded that this car was once owned by someone with shares in sealant, I cleaned that out and fitted a new O-ring. 

The orange cog is the original and the black one is the new ratio which claws back the error from fitting much bigger tyres.

 

 

Edited July 28, 2018 by Fourpot

[Fourpot]

Valves bathing in coca-cola...  Always worked for a GPMG gas plug!

[Vantastic]

That rotten wiring looks scary, especially when I start to do the head on mine this weekend....

[Fourpot]

Got the block and head back from Headshop in Warrington.  Nice and clean!  Bought some High temp engine enamel in Chevy orange.  Putting a coat on to stop anything going rusty again, but I'll give the whole engine another coat when it's all back together. Such nice paint, I was tempted to start spraying anything in sight; tool box, shoes, motorcycle, my hair....

[V]

What head work did you have done?

[Fourpot]

54 minutes ago, V said:

What head work did you have done?

Just a thorough clean and a check for gasket face straightness. I'm going to polish the ports and chambers a bit, then re-seat the valves.

I'll paint the block tomorrow. That's had the same clean and check and then a +40 thou bore and hone.  I was quite confident the block was sound as, when I had it hanging from a rope to get it off the engine stand, it rang sweet as a church bell when I tapped it with a spanner.

[V]

I have a 0331 head on my 2001 and I'm just dreading the day when I found it has cracked between No.3 and 4. The older heads are much more reliable and could be swapped in theory except for having to deal with the coil packs for the later ignition system. I will let these guys have a look first before buying a new head from Clearwater.

[Fourpot]

...and the block.

[Fourpot]

In my endless quest to buy twenty versions of everything and end up with one, I have got another track bar for the XJ. I recently fitted a RHD adjustable track bar which really helped set the front axle where it should be, but then I saw a double shear job that is proper heavy duty, for right-hand drive cars and is adjustable. 

https://kevinsoffroad.com/products/xj-zj-adjustable-double-shear-track-bar-kit-for-right-hand-drive

Fitted it today.

It comes with a new bracket that drops the chassis end of the track-bar by about 3/4". It eliminates the tie-rod type end that the stock track-bar has so no need for greasing and is inherently stronger.  

The bar itself has an extra little kink in it so that, at the axle end there is no contact with the top part of the bracket at any point in the suspension travel.

Was quite easy to fit, just took the last one off and replaced it. As usual, smothered it in Waxoyl.

Edited August 17, 2018 by Fourpot

[V]

I can't properly see from the pictures but it looks like your new track bar may place the upper track bar pivot in a lower plane than the pitman arm pivot. The ZJ/ZG pitman arm has a bigger drop, you might need one of these to cure bump steer.

[Fourpot]

41 minutes ago, V said:

I can't properly see from the pictures but it looks like your new track bar may place the upper track bar pivot in a lower plane than the pitman arm pivot. The ZJ/ZG pitman arm has a bigger drop, you might need one of these to cure bump steer.

The track-bar and steering rod look more parallel than before. They were nearly parallel but not quite...  The advert blurb says the slight drop reduces the bump-steer that can result from even a small lift. I'll have to see how it goes. Haven't driven it yet. But, now I know where to look for a longer Pitman arm if I need one.. Thanks.

[Fourpot]

Had a look at the relative angles of the track-rod and the steering drag link. This wasn't done with laser beams or anything, just a good spirit level/protractor, so not totally scientific. There is a difference of about 3 degrees, but to cure that small angle, I'd need to drop the chassis end of the track-bar further. 

I suppose that as the two bars are not the same length (the steering drag link is much longer), then any suspension movement is going to alter the closeness to parallel that the two bars are at and therefore cause some bump-steer, even at factory stock? I'm thinking the only way to avoid it would be to have a parallelogram situation, where the track bar and drag link are fixed one directly above the other  (or directly in front of)  at each end and are the same length..?

[Fourpot]

Fixed the rear de-mister months ago. Only today have I been able to see that it actually works  (two lines not working, but good enough to see)

[Fourpot]

 I've been throwing a million ideas for a 'cold air intake' around in my head for ages. As many will know, the kits sold as 'cold air intake systems' are often nothing of the sort. They take air from exactly the same place as the stock system.  They show good figures usually because the new system flows much better.  I recently had a OBD2 (vai phone app) plugged into the car while on the road with Mrs reading stuff. The intake air temp was a shocking 60C!  (OK it was August, but anyway..) My current set-up, though high-flow, still gets its air from just behind the radiator.

So, I need to get the air from outside the engine bay altogether. So, Snorkel? Under the scuttle-top?  Thinking about the Mem-Sahib's truck, which is diesel and has a big bonnet scoop for the intercooler, I'm plumping for a scoop to shove air down through the bonnet into an air-box and then via a high-flow filter, into the engine.  

The scoop will be connected via a flexible hose from the bonnet down into the top of the air-box, then via a vertically-mounted cylindrical K+N filter, up through a hose, two 90 deg turns and down into the throttle body.  Mock-up made of cardboard, then I'll get the filter and hoses for further fit-checking before getting someone to make it out of aluminium (I have someone in mind locally).

The bonnet scoop will be fixed to the bonnet so I can turn it around easily. Thus when facing forward, at speed, it will create a positive pressure in the intake. If I go off-road, where there's no advantage of it pointing forward at the lower speeds, I'll be able to turn it around quickly, so no water-splash, extra dust or other stuff will go down the hole.

[Fourpot]

Spent most of today cleaning and lapping the valves... about 20 mins per valve for the lapping - by hand. Then put them, with the springs, back onto the head. (Rocker cover put over to keep things clean for now)..

I had thoughts of polishing the chambers and ports. However, large parts of the valve faces and all the chamber and port surfaces have a roughish cast surface. I decided there would be too much metal to take out, meaning a LOT of time and grinding tool stuff and the danger of me leaving a wall or valve too thin. So, sod it, cleaned up and that'll do.

 

Edited October 20, 2018 by Fourpot

[Vantastic]

Did you put new plastic pipes/fittings on the rocker? Mine seem very loose, are they easy to remove?

And most important, how much HP does the red paint give? I have a big can of engine paint I am itching to use.... lol

[TimC]

46 minutes ago, Vantastic said:

Did you put new plastic pipes/fittings on the rocker? Mine seem very loose, are they easy to remove?

And most important, how much HP does the red paint give? I have a big can of engine paint I am itching to use.... lol

I think the red paint gives approx. a 1.2 - 2.5% boost in HP depending on shade. Some metallics can give a little bit more.  

[Fourpot]

On 23/10/2018 at 12:02, Vantastic said:

Did you put new plastic pipes/fittings on the rocker? Mine seem very loose, are they easy to remove?

And most important, how much HP does the red paint give? I have a big can of engine paint I am itching to use.... lol

Hi, yes new fittings on top. The old ones were fairly hard to get out, mostly because the rubber was old and rock hard. But if you're fitting new ones (not expensive at all) then cutting the rubber with a knife, as I did, will not be an issue. 

Not sure about the paint horse-power. I may get an ECU programmer to factor in the colour before it goes on a rolling road. The biggest hp gain so far has been the straight-through exhaust, which has given me roughly an extra 600bhp (well, it sounds like it has). 

[Fourpot]

Got the K+N filter to go into my home made airbox. Now I can build the box around it but for now, I've just plonked it onto the end of the stock intake hose.  The in-line foam filter may not have been providing quite enough flow at wider throttle. The K+N is quieter, so probably less restrictive. Haven't opened it up yet though..

[RichBris86]

your engine work looks amazing! I'm really jealous now!, I should have painted mine up when I did the rebuild. keep up the good work.

 

also, don't suppose you know anyone who is after a 2.5 xj do you? I'm just testing the waters as I feel the need for a change. 

[Fourpot]

On 18/11/2018 at 13:40, RichBris86 said:

your engine work looks amazing! I'm really jealous now!, I should have painted mine up when I did the rebuild. keep up the good work.

 

also, don't suppose you know anyone who is after a 2.5 xj do you? I'm just testing the waters as I feel the need for a change. 

Thanks Rich, coming together nicely.   I've no idea who might want a 2.5, they are becoming rarer and good ones are very difficult to find I believe.

[Fourpot]

I have recently added a deeper drop pitman arm to sort of restore some of the steering geometry that was different after installing the lift kit and to match the drop made by the new trackbar bracket. Once the steering rod was off from the bottom of the pitman arm, I found a bit of play in the pitman arm, so it could be moved a mm or two and produce a clonk. The short story of the ensuing disaster I have put on a different thread (no pun intended), but suffice to say I ended up with a reconditioned steering box.  Not too scary to get off, as it's been off before when I put on the Smittybilt bumper, and not too hard to put back on either. New fluid in and bled and the steering certainly seems to be a little more together, though it is at this point that I found a new bluddy disaster as a result of taking the steering box off.....  watch this space!

[Fourpot]

Well, so far so good. Went for a round trip of about 40 miles the other day and the steering is nice and responsive. So what, you ask, was the ensuing issue?

If one detaches the steering shaft from the steering box the only thing stopping it from spinning round and round endlessly is the electrical connection from the wheel itself to the car. This connects the horn, airbag and, in my case, the cruise control switches to the main loom. It's not the strongest of things, a sort of tape with five strands of wire through it, in a coil inside a sealed unit called the 'clock-spring'. I had a feeling it may have been a little less than good as the cruise control has never worked since I've had the car, the horn can be a bit intermittent and the cruise control switches themselves seemed to be  loose/broken. And now the airbag light was on permanently and the horn didn't work at all.

So, armed once again with Youtube and Google wisdom (and a heap of caution after last time) I set about getting the clock-spring out to see if I could fix it (being reasonably handy with a soldering iron). It's behind the steering wheel itself (bluddy would be wouldn't it), so that had to come off first. 

Battery disconnected and the cables touched together to discharge any capacitance in the airbag. Next, two bolts to get the airbag off and this is when I find the cruise switch mounts are broken off, so scan ebay for some replacements which I found for a mere 30 notes. The wheel is held on with just one nut which came off easily. Now, the hard bit is prising the wheel off the splined shaft, so I used a small hub puller. There are two threaded holes in the (aluminium - hmmm) wheel, either side of the shaft, for this very purpose. Puller bolts in and snugged up. Tighten centre bolt. Keep tightening centre bolt, Tighten centre bolt a lot, then Pop! No, the wheel had not come off the shaft, one of the puller bolts had pulled the thread out of one of the two holes. I went for some coffee.

After some thought, I used puller claws to grip the wheel instead of the two bolts and tightened up again, ready for the wheel to shatter at any moment. Bang! The wheel came off nicely. Phew!

I managed to get the clock-spring unit off without breaking any of the plastic locating tabs and took it into the house for some finer surgical procedures in the warm, with more coffee.

The thing is held together with some very small torx screws. Smaller than any torx bit I had, so I used a Dremel to cut some little slots in them so I could use a flat-blade screwdriver.

The tape-wire was snapped off at one end. Some delicate trimming,  soldering, gluing, insulating and conductivity testing later, it was all back together. 

Then all I had to do was put the wheel back together. This went very well indeed, even with the time I spent making sure the clock-spring was centred with the steering shaft and road wheels centred too and applying copious amounts of anti-seize compound on the shaft splines, in case I have to do this again some time.

Quick test drive, airbag light goes out properly and stays out, moving the wheel lock to lock, all still functioning as it should. 

Can't test the cruise yet as I took the actual unit out from under the bonnet, as it was redundant, with the little clip that holds the cable to the throttle body being bust too. I'll re-fit it some time over Christmas.

So, a simple adjust the pitman arm job became a two/three day expensive bitch-of-a-job (though at least fixing the clock-spring cost me nothing and I may just have cruise control for the first time!)

Edited December 7, 2018 by Fourpot

[frosty]

great write up, keep them coming. 

[Fourpot]

Today I refitted the cruise control unit. I have moved it from its original position slightly as there seemed to be insufficient room behind it for the main loom, which was being squished by the bonnet hinge. I utilised one of the holes from the bonnet stay bracket and drilled another for the other end of the cruise unit bracket. 

I also had to fix the throttle body end of the cable as I'd broken the plastic bit off when I installed the 62mm throttle body. I used a cable connector and a bit of wire. 

Now hopefully, I'll have cruise control.  Hopefully. Because yesterday I found that the steering pump is giving out. Works great when driving along, but if the engine drops to idle or less than 1,000 rpm (which is anytime I lift off the throttle, it being an automatic) I have no power steering, which was quite damn scary negotiating junctions.

So now I have to swap out the steering pump before I can drive it again. Bluddy pain as I've only just sorted the steering box and the clock-spring...