1999 XJ Build

#22
Lowrange on here and most boards. It depends on what area is rusted. Most xj's rust out over the cat/muffler. As for the upper shock bolts I make eliminators out of angle and weld them in. Easy and never have to bother with those damn tinny *** bolts again. Any pictures of the rusted area? I actually have 3 xj's around back right now but one has bad floor pan rust. IDK about the other two. Andy is your best bet though. He has about 7 I think!
I'll get better pictures of the rust when I have it outside in better light. So far I've gotten lucky and haven't broken anything off except for the sway bar end link bolts. It has rust over the muffler, and slightly worse in the drivers' side floorpan up near the front of the footwell if that makes sense. Worst right around the large drain plug.
 
#24
Another update to this:

The motor is back together and runs fine. Turns out the guy I bought it from also bought a set of lifters, so those were thrown in as well. I should have looked in those boxes better. :shaking:

The rod bearings were worn, but no signs of scoring so I put new stock size bearings back in. The rear main seal didn't give me any trouble and that main bearing looked nearly new, so I feel good about not dropping the crank. The entire thing was cleaned and flushed as best I could with the block still in the Jeep. I did pull the radiator again and backflush it after running a bit to clear out any crud broken loose. I'm still missing bits and pieces under the engine bay that were either broken or not there in the first place.

There are two issues right now that need to be fixed before I drive it. The TPS is bad and throwing all sorts of codes, and of course the housing cracked when I drilled out the stuck screws so that will need replacing. If anyone has a spare feel free to bring it to the meeting tomorrow night and I'll take it off your hands. The other issue is the NSS that also threw a code after running it awhile on jackstands. I'm going to try to disassemble it and clean it.

I was able to finish painting the new header panel and get that put in today along with the brush guard that came on it. I need a few clips here and there to tidy it up and that's just about it.

 
#25
Another update to this:

The motor is back together and runs fine. Turns out the guy I bought it from also bought a set of lifters, so those were thrown in as well. I should have looked in those boxes better. :shaking:

The rod bearings were worn, but no signs of scoring so I put new stock size bearings back in. The rear main seal didn't give me any trouble and that main bearing looked nearly new, so I feel good about not dropping the crank. The entire thing was cleaned and flushed as best I could with the block still in the Jeep. I did pull the radiator again and backflush it after running a bit to clear out any crud broken loose. I'm still missing bits and pieces under the engine bay that were either broken or not there in the first place.

There are two issues right now that need to be fixed before I drive it. The TPS is bad and throwing all sorts of codes, and of course the housing cracked when I drilled out the stuck screws so that will need replacing. If anyone has a spare feel free to bring it to the meeting tomorrow night and I'll take it off your hands. The other issue is the NSS that also threw a code after running it awhile on jackstands. I'm going to try to disassemble it and clean it.

I was able to finish painting the new header panel and get that put in today along with the brush guard that came on it. I need a few clips here and there to tidy it up and that's just about it.

Nice work, good to see it coming along


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#27
I'm having an issue with the axle side front track bar mount that I need to fix before I drive this thing much. I replaced all of the steering components and noticed the hole in the mount was ovaled out. Also, it had an SAE grade 5 bolt in there with what I assume is the original M10 flag nut. Makes me wonder what else is rigged up on this thing.

I have a couple of ideas to fix this. One would be to punch out the metal sleeve from the new track bar and machine a new sleeve to fit tighter through the bushing AND through the holes in the bracket. The other option I see would be to weld a washer to the axle bracket and replace the bolt. Has anyone else dealt with this?
 
#28
I'm having an issue with the axle side front track bar mount that I need to fix before I drive this thing much. I replaced all of the steering components and noticed the hole in the mount was ovaled out. Also, it had an SAE grade 5 bolt in there with what I assume is the original M10 flag nut. Makes me wonder what else is rigged up on this thing.

I have a couple of ideas to fix this. One would be to punch out the metal sleeve from the new track bar and machine a new sleeve to fit tighter through the bushing AND through the holes in the bracket. The other option I see would be to weld a washer to the axle bracket and replace the bolt. Has anyone else dealt with this?
That is common on the D30. I have in the past fixed it with the washer idea and also I've welded a nut to a piece of .25 steel and welded it back there too.
 
#29
That is common on the D30. I have in the past fixed it with the washer idea and also I've welded a nut to a piece of .25 steel and welded it back there too.
I have done the same thing. Most track jeep bars you can't press out the bushing sleeve. I would see if you can drill out the sleeve and bracket for a larger bolt.


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#30
I have done the same thing. Most track jeep bars you can't press out the bushing sleeve. I would see if you can drill out the sleeve and bracket for a larger bolt.


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Good to know. I'm going to take it home with me this weekend and try to use the drill press on it.
 
#31
I haven't had as much time as I'd like to tinker with this thing as of late, but I am 3/4 of the way done with the suspension. The new radiator came and took care of the running hot issue I was having. The old one was flushed twice but it was still clogged badly enough to prevent using the AC in traffic. Stays at 210 on the gauge now. It sounds like a tractor at idle, so Art would be proud. The front suspension rebuild went fine, but the rear is giving me fits. The passenger side is done but the driver side gave me this surprise when I couldn't get a lug to budge with the impact. Heated it and snapped the lug itself off almost flush with the taper. I assume this will need to be torched off, but I won't be able to fix it for another couple of weekends.

 
#35
Small update:

I've been driving it a bit and noticed some coolant disappearing from the overflow. Looking under the valve cover I can see a trail where it's been leaking through the coolant passage between #3 and #4. This is an 0630 head. I'll be needing another head by the look of it. Haven't yet decided if it's worth it to find a junkyard 4L/AW4 and rebuild both or just pick up a new head. As soon as that's sorted out I'll be pulling the carpet and fixing the rust issues.
 
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