Platinum Member Fourpot Posted December 30, 2018 Author Platinum Member Share Posted December 30, 2018 (edited) Fix one clonk, another will take its place... This one I could make happen by just rocking the car at the front (I thought it may be a worn engine mount). Found the culprit, the bottom end of the driver's side drop-link. It looked like the bush was knackered, which was annoying as I only replaced all the drop link bushes with some fancy ones when I did the lift about two years ago. On disassembly though, the top ones clearly weren't looking very fancy at all. The bottom ones were OK and it was the steel tube inside the bush, on the clonky side, that was worn. In fact it oddly seemed to be a different diameter to the other side, now about 1mm more - hence the clonking. I bought some shiny poly-bushes (again), this time posh red, with nice snug inner steel bits. Fitted up and no clonk. Easy job for a change! No road-test yet as I'm still waiting to fit the new steering pump. Edited December 30, 2018 by Fourpot Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Platinum Member Fourpot Posted January 5, 2019 Author Platinum Member Share Posted January 5, 2019 The new steering pump arrived this week, so today was the day to put it on. Dismantling was easy enough, it's a bit fiddly undoing the three bolts that hold the pump between its bracket and the manifold. You have to undo the fan shroud and then poke a socket through one of the holes in the pulley wheel. I expected some difficulty getting the high pressure hose off the pump, so had bought a new hose assembly as a precaution. Just as well. The old one was not going to come off the pump. Of course there's always a bit of trouble... There are holes in the pump body that the three bolts go through. The bolts go into threads in the manifold. On the old pump, the holes are smooth bored and you just have to poke the bolts all the way through until they engage with the threads. The new pump's holes were also threaded and unfortunately they didn't quite match up, so I had to drill them out. Great, on it goes, first bolt in and wiggle the pump to get the other two lined up. This was when I realised that the low pressure return point on the reservoir pointed in the opposite direction to the original, which meant that a) it fouled one of the aircon hoses and b) the low pressure hose wouldn't reach it. So pump back off and dismantle the reservoir in order to use the original reservoir. Finally got it back on, the hoses fitted and the belt and fan shroud back on. Top up the reservoir with fluid and bleed it through (by running the engine and turning the wheel lock to lock a few times, with the wheels just off the floor so they can turn without resistance). Road tested and all good. That clonk has definitely gone too. It was dark and I was only going around the block, so I couldn't really see the buttons on the steering wheel, to find out if the cruise control is now working - but I pressed one anyway and a little green 'cruise' light came on. So the buttons have life now. I'm going on a long trip tomorrow so I'll read the handbook and check it out all the way down the M6. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Platinum Member Fourpot Posted January 6, 2019 Author Platinum Member Share Posted January 6, 2019 Drove from Cheshire down to Southampton today. Cruise control works fine, all functions and buttons work and it was so nice to just trundle effortlessly along. The first time I engaged it, it was a little disconcerting as the throttle opens up slightly and the weird bit is that the accelerator pedal actually heads away from my foot towards the floor. I thought the car was about to launch itself over the horizon, but it settles in an instant. I became more familiar with it all during the journey: how it transitions from my control to cruise control and back again. Disengaging with either the 'cancel' button, switching it off, or touching the brake, is very smooth, with no engine braking suddenly coming in. It was quite nice to feel the accelerator pedal come back up to my foot, as if it is saying 'all yours'. So now the only thing that doesn't work as it did when new, is the electric headlight levelling thing. Happy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Platinum Member Fourpot Posted March 3, 2019 Author Platinum Member Share Posted March 3, 2019 Well, the XJ has been working hard these past weeks, getting a lot of mileage on the clock. This week I drove all the way from home in Cheshire up to north of Lairg in Scotland and back again. A ten-hour trip each way, total of just under a thousand miles. She was smooth and happy the whole way, although I really must quieten the exhaust down as I'm nearly deaf now! Buuuuut..... on the way up, I started to hear a slight whirr, above the exhaust noise. Couldn't work out where it was coming from, not the engine (if I stuck it in neutral whilst still at speed, the noise didn't change) so drive-train somewhere. At the next coffee and fuel stop, I got underneath and had a good look. No oil anywhere, nothing hotter than normal. I started to think that my brain had just zoned in on the sound. The Jeep was parked for four days before returning home, still not a drop of oil or fluid anywhere. I'm home now and today had a really thorough look underneath in the garage. Now I find oil on the inside of the rear off-side wheel. Damn, looks like a shaft outer oil seal. Wheel off, drum off, diff-cover off, C-clip out, shaft out. Pulled the seal out and had a look inside the bearing. The bearing had failed. The cage thing had worn almost through on one side, so the rollers were only just held in! Not far from a serious issue! There were thin shards of metal and lots of tiny 'flakes' too. This had breached caused the seal to fail. Luckily the shaft is fine. The annoying thing is that I replaced both shaft bearings only year ago... So I took the wheel and drum off the other side, pulled the shaft out and that side is all fine. The oil in the diff (what was left of it) and near-side axle tube was fairly clean, so luckily none of the horrible metal bits had migrated into the diff. I had to use a lot of brake cleaner on the brake parts and I'll probably need to replace the shoes as there was oil on the material surfaces New seal and bearing ordered, not expensive. I'll take the diff carrier out and give it all a thorough clean, then put it all back together. Now I need a hire car as I don't have time to do anything before I have to go away on business again (At least I'll get a lot more to the gallon in a diesel Focus, so that should offset the hire cost a bit!). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Platinum Member Fourpot Posted July 30, 2019 Author Platinum Member Share Posted July 30, 2019 The new stainless steel exhaust I had put on in early 2018 was too loud, still had a restriction at the manifold to down-pipe joint and some of the bends lost diameter. I've had a new new system fitted now by JP Exhausts in Congleton. Much neater fit around the gearbox, fully 2.5" all the way along and the whole thing is a little closer to the car so gaining clearance from the ground. It's reverted to a rear exit and it makes a much nicer, still head-turning, noise. The improvement in flow has resulted in a noticeable increase in mpg too. about 1 mpg. Doesn't sound much but that's 5%!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Platinum Member Vantastic Posted July 31, 2019 Platinum Member Share Posted July 31, 2019 May I ask how much the pipe was? Congleton is not too far away.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Platinum Member Fourpot Posted July 31, 2019 Author Platinum Member Share Posted July 31, 2019 £900.. System bought included two Cobra silencers and a sports cat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Platinum Member Vantastic Posted August 5, 2019 Platinum Member Share Posted August 5, 2019 Ah cheers.. I think I will need to take up a paper round then! As my Jeep only cost £1200, it will be hard to justify at the moment Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Platinum Member Fourpot Posted February 24, 2020 Author Platinum Member Share Posted February 24, 2020 On 05/08/2019 at 12:11, Vantastic said: Ah cheers.. I think I will need to take up a paper round then! As my Jeep only cost £1200, it will be hard to justify at the moment My Jeep only cost me £850..... to buy. Lord knows how much I've spent since! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Platinum Member Fourpot Posted February 24, 2020 Author Platinum Member Share Posted February 24, 2020 Well folks, it's been quite some time since I last put anything on this thread. The old Jeep has now had it's 21st birthday, the garage has been tarted up and I've bought a normal car (well, a Skoda Octavia Scout) to drive while the next chapter commences. Time to get the 4.6 stroker finished off and into the car, the rear disc conversion and the Grand Cherokee front brake upgrade. There'll be some lightening too, as I spend less than 1% of the Jeep's time off road and about 70% on motorways, so the entire Smittybilt XRC bumper set-up with light bar, lights and winch, plus some new, unused XRC rock sliders, will be for sale as a job lot. Watch this space! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Platinum Member Fourpot Posted February 29, 2020 Author Platinum Member Share Posted February 29, 2020 Started the process of the engine swap today. Front bumper, lights and winch all off in one go and as one unit. Grill off and cooling radiator and transmission cooler off too. It took a while to unravel all the wiring I'd put in for the winch and lights, and take off all the loom tape. I need to get an aircon bod around to de-gas the aircon, then the heat-exchanger can come out too. Then I'll start to disconnect everything ready to pull the engine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Platinum Member Fourpot Posted March 2, 2020 Author Platinum Member Share Posted March 2, 2020 Aircon bod came today (Martin Kitt of National Aircon) and took the green stuff out. So I started just undoing things and un-bolting bits. Drained the oil and now next step is to actually take the engine, gearbox and transfer case out. Delightfully, everything just undid nicely, no sheared nuts or bolts and no snapped fastenings! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Platinum Member Fourpot Posted March 24, 2020 Author Platinum Member Share Posted March 24, 2020 I have now taken the exhaust right off to give me more room, everything is disconnected. I've been trying to decide whether to: take the transfer case off and pull the engine and gearbox out as one or, drop the transfer case and gearbox as one and lift the engine out on its own. drop the TC and then the gearbox one at a time, then pull the engine out take all of it out from the front. So I started with option 1 and despite having taken every nut and bolt off, it won't budge. So I decided to go for option 2. Got the bolts off, except the two star shaped ones at the top, because I just cannot get enough room to turn a socket wrench with sufficient force and security. As for option 4, I'm concerned about the balance and the load on the hoist and trying to hold up the back of it all whilst juggling it out. so that's out. Option 3 is no better than 1 or 2 at the moment. So I'm going to sit in a chair with a coffee and stare it into submission... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Platinum Member Fourpot Posted March 25, 2020 Author Platinum Member Share Posted March 25, 2020 Well, after staring it out and it staring back, I went over everything again to see why I couldn't get the transfer case off. There are six studs/nuts. I gathered up and counted the ones I had. Five. Doh! I'd missed the bottom one as it's hidden above the mounting cushion. With that undone, it came off easily. Dropped the gearbox lower, so I could reach the top two engine to gearbox bolts. These are torx bolts and a pain. I still couldn't shift them, so decided to try and just get the engine and gearbox out together. It turned out to be very easy, so that's how it'll be going back in when the time comes. (It helps a lot having a balancer/tilt thing on the end of the hoist, and also to remove the engine mounts completely out of the way before attempting any jiggling.) So now the whole lot is out, I can start to clean and tidy the engine bay and underneath the car, with paint and Waxoyl where required. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Platinum Member Fourpot Posted March 26, 2020 Author Platinum Member Share Posted March 26, 2020 Had a bit of tidy-up in the garage and cleaned the floor, ready for the next stages. Manifolds off too. Due to the design (flaw) of my fancy exhaust header, there is one manifold bolt that is a b'stard to get off. Hard work even with the engine out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Platinum Member Fourpot Posted March 26, 2020 Author Platinum Member Share Posted March 26, 2020 (edited) Started to get all the bits I need off the engine, ready to go on the 'new' one. There's a lot! AC compressor, alternator, thermostat housing, water pump, starter, distributor, dip-stick tube, torque converter, engine mountings and various pulley wheels and brackets. Happily, no dramas getting it all off. (Still need to get the flex-plate off.., the bolts are on tight so I've dosed them with some penetrating oil, before attempting to take all the skin off my knuckles tomorrow) Edited March 26, 2020 by Fourpot Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Platinum Member Fourpot Posted March 27, 2020 Author Platinum Member Share Posted March 27, 2020 That's it, everything that I'm taking off the old engine is now off. I'm sure the flex-plate needs to be put on in the right orientation as the crank position sensor takes its info from the holes in the edge. So I've marked where the plate goes in relation to a hole in the crank end flange. I'll need to check the hole is in the same place on the new crank. Anyway, Gunked and jet-washed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Platinum Member Fourpot Posted March 29, 2020 Author Platinum Member Share Posted March 29, 2020 (edited) Got under the bonnet again today, I've started taking off/out as much as I can so I can clean and re-paint the engine bay. The main loom will be a pain as a lot of it just disappears into the firewall, so work will be done with most of it just held up out of the way. Hopefully I'll put it all back together correctly... I'm terrified someone will find out where I live and break into my garage, now that there's a loo roll in one of these pictures! Edited March 29, 2020 by Fourpot Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Platinum Member Fourpot Posted March 29, 2020 Author Platinum Member Share Posted March 29, 2020 That's everything out that's coming out... Only one bit broke, that was the front offside brake pipe. I may go for a new set anyway, or make some up. Giving it a Gunking and jetwash tomorrow to get the real grime off, but it'll still need a good scrub with brushes and sponge to get down to the paint. The pile of bits looks ever more daunting! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Platinum Member Fourpot Posted April 2, 2020 Author Platinum Member Share Posted April 2, 2020 OK I lied, some more bits had to come off. All the engine mounting points, the steering box and bracket and the brake servo (which looked like it was going to be a right pain). I found some significant surface rust down the nook below the servo that I couldn't reach, so off it had to come. A simple four bolts inside the firewall below the steering shaft and a clip that holds the end of the servo rod to the brake pedal. Well, nearly simple. The shaft is in the way of getting a spanner or socket on one of the bolts. I had visions of having to take out the whole shaft, but, after undoing the UJ at the steering box, was able to angle the shaft enough to get to the last bolt. Took an angle grinder to the rusty bit and happily it was just surface stuff, albeit a bit flaky. Then more scrubbing and scraping with Gunk and finally soap and water and it was looking clean. Then I spent a good while keying the existing paint with wire wool followed by hoovering and use of a hot air gun to chase out any left over water (there're plenty of places for it to hide). Finally a good coat of 'direct to rust' satin black paint, which had to be done in two stages so as to be able to move the looms in between each one. Looking much better now and once the paint has had a few days to fully dry and harden, I can take all the old tape and trunking off the looms to clean and re-do it all. (I maybe should have done it before painting). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Platinum Member Fourpot Posted April 6, 2020 Author Platinum Member Share Posted April 6, 2020 I spent a couple of hours today, surgically removing all the old trunking and loom tape from the loom in the engine bay. I couldn't believe how much mud had got in to it and how far! I used new red tape to keep the bundles in the same positions with the various branches all similarly taped so I know how it all goes. I think this was a Monday morning or Friday afternoon loom, as there were so many little kinks and unnecessary loops in it. I found a couple of breaks in it too, where it had been forced around tight corners. I'd had to make by-passes of wire to solve the consequent function loss problems previously, so now I was able to properly repair any damaged or strained wires. Then all given a clean wash with soapy water to get the mud out. I had ordered some fancy orange cable conduit to replace the black (as the engine bay is now black and the engine will be Chevy orange), but when it arrived each diameter was a different shade, so that'll have to go back. I'll finish the conduiting and taping bit by bit, as I put all the various bits back into the engine bay. That way I can work out the best route for everything. Certainly the original loom was squashed or tight in places which wouldn't have helped its durability. And yes, I should definitely have done this before I did the painting! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Platinum Member Fourpot Posted April 8, 2020 Author Platinum Member Share Posted April 8, 2020 I had one more loom related task to box off today, the bit that has the injector wiring. Some while ago, as you can see on here a couple of pages back, I had an intermittent fault which I traced to the wiring to No.1 Injector. I had to do a bit of bypass surgery, to fix it. Now I've taken apart the whole lot. All the wiring that feeds the injectors, everything on the intake manifold, throttle body, the first O2 sensor and the coolant temperature sender. Just in time I think. Nearly all of it was glued together from melting and the tape was like burnt pastry! In the end, I carefully made notes of what colour wire goes to what and amputated the lot!. I'll reconstruct it once the engine is in and this one piece of loom will become three. With the engine in, I can place the loom for the injectors and beyond higher than stock so it stays cooler (together with a few other things to keep the exhaust heat at bay). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Platinum Member Fourpot Posted April 11, 2020 Author Platinum Member Share Posted April 11, 2020 (edited) Different areas of the truck today. I took the roof rails and bars off. ALL the bolts came out easily so I could just lift the whole lot off. Taking the bars off the rails however, was a different story. Two of the sliding/locking buttons broke. I plan to use the same 12 fixing points and the original bolts to attach a home-made roof rack as and when (and if ever) I feel the need to put one on. Also took the fuel tank off. The hoses had to be cut off as they were proper glued to the filler cap end and the screws for the hose clips holding the tank end on are inaccessible (as it turned out, the tank end clips were badly corroded and one actually broken, lucky to be still holding the hose on. This is a nuisance as they 1997 on hoses don't seem to be available in the UK. I'll have to see what I can make up. Another thing broke, on the long bolts (with the hook at the top) that holds the tank straps on, just sheared off. New one needed. Despite having run the tank to well below empty before I took the Jeep off the road in March, once the tank had (well, fallen on me when the bolt sheared) come out it had enough fuel to completely fill the quad and half a 20-litre Jerry can! I took the tank off to have a good look at the body work above it as it probably hadn't been covered when the car was Waxoyled. It hadn't, but the tin is all nice and clean apart from a fine coating of dusty mud. Edited April 11, 2020 by Fourpot 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Platinum Member Fourpot Posted April 21, 2020 Author Platinum Member Share Posted April 21, 2020 Unable to source any of the J-bolts that hold the tank up, I made some. Two M10 x 300mm coach bolts, heated and bashed to the right angle, then the heads ground down to fit the slots in the body. That'll do nicely.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Platinum Member Fourpot Posted April 21, 2020 Author Platinum Member Share Posted April 21, 2020 Finally, some parts are going back into the engine bay. Aircon evap cylinder and reservoir, ABS modulator and ECU. Scrubbed, de-rusted where necessary, re-painted and then fitted (once I'd remembered how some of it connected up...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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