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Headlights and heater cores

I'd love to work and hangout too. Let us know.
 
I've still got a jacket of yours in the shop.
 
I'm soon going to be installing some LED lights in the shop. Hopefully this will dramatically improve the amount of light in there.

Once that job is complete, I will be getting ready to replace the heater core. I think I've decided it will be easier to just eliminate the A/C components in the XJ. I hate to make that decision but it would make the engine bay cleaner and more airflow over the radiator. There will be one less system to worry about that never gets used anyway.

I still need to get my door looked at too. Stupid hinges are giving away on the drivers door.
 
I'm soon going to be installing some LED lights in the shop. Hopefully this will dramatically improve the amount of light in there.

For the WIN!!!!
 
I got some cables for the Grand due to a shipping snafu. I grabbed these from Mark since they weren’t going to work on his truck.
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It’s a 4 ga wire kit which should be sufficient for the Grand.


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I got the door hinge welded and everything seems good in the "closing" department. The door lock is still giving me fits as it goofed up again last night.

It's tough for a 400 pound guy to crawl over the center console to the drivers seat since the lock won't unlock.

I think the electric door lock actuator is sticking and not allowing the lock to release. I need to figure out how to disconnect the actuator from the door latch mechanism.
 
I got the door hinge welded and everything seems good in the "closing" department. The door lock is still giving me fits as it goofed up again last night.

It's tough for a 400 pound guy to crawl over the center console to the drivers seat since the lock won't unlock.

I think the electric door lock actuator is sticking and not allowing the lock to release. I need to figure out how to disconnect the actuator from the door latch mechanism.

It's likely like the XJ and has a metal connector with those little plastic things you have to pop loose and turn.
 
It's likely like the XJ and has a metal connector with those little plastic things you have to pop loose and turn.

Is the actuator directly below the door latch?
 
Mark picked these up on Friday to replace my drivers side Lazy Boy in the 1994 XJ. The seat back was failing and I was driving around with a gansta lean.

We installed them Saturday and it’s so much nicer now. They were out of a 1991 XJ.

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Mark picked these up on Friday to replace my drivers side Lazy Boy in the 1994 XJ. The seat back was failing and I was driving around with a gansta lean.

We installed them Saturday and it’s so much nicer now. They were out of a 1991 XJ.

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In the xj's I've seen the door actuator is below the lock yes. Those seat are almost the same as my 84. Was a red with that tweed look in the center. Always loved that style.
 
I finally reassembled my driver side back door panel. The power window wouldn't go back up so I had to work it back up with help from my hand.

I also got a replacement rear seat belt installed on the passenger rear. It's nice to have it usable for hauling kids around again.

I have got to do a heater core soon. I've got to order it and a valve cover gasket. Looks like a dash removal part is on the horizon.
 
Since it is fall break, I took off work and decided to tackle the heater core replacement. I had watched some YouTube videos and felt I knew what I was doing and what to expect. Boy was I wrong.

It was a total fiasco. Many tasks I had to do multiple times, sometimes 3. My father in law helped me a lot.

I will post the pictures and go back and add text soon.

Taking the dash loose.
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I failed to take a lot of pictures of certain steps. Uggh.

The original leaky core. It was a nasty, gooey mess in there.

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The only picture I took of the new core. I bought it at O’Reilly’s and it doesn’t look anything like the original but it fit. It was all aluminum. If I was smart, I would have ordered the cheapest one from RockAuto as it is a perfect match for the original I removed.

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Parts going back in. HVAC box is in and the dash is in place. But wait, it gets good here.
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Notice how everything is looking good, right? It wasn’t. I got to the point of installing the lower valence when I realized the transmission control plug wiring was too short. You guessed it. We trapped the wire around a HVAC box stud. The steering column had to be dropped, dash disconnected, washer bottle and charcoal canister removed to get everything out of the way to remove the HVAC nuts to remove the box. Uggh!!!!!!

Once that was done, the wiring was routed correctly and everything looked to fit right.

Upon reassembly, I chose the best parts I had so my colors are a bit wacky.
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So then I finally got everything back together with a few goofs. When I dropped the column down the linkage popped apart so the lower valence had to be removed to drop the column to put it back in place.

What a total cluster. And it gets better when I started to deal with the underhood heater control valve and hoses. I broke the original valve and had to cut the hoses. While at O’Reilly’s, I picked up a new valve and molded hose. Yeah, it wasn’t quit molded the same. So fitting the valve was way more of a chore than it should have been.
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Here is the molded replacement hose. Yeah, not quite the same.
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In the end, I got it plumbed and running and all seems good. Yay!


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Then I went to shut the hood and it wouldn’t latch. At this point I’m as frustrated as I have another delay. So while messing with the latches I go to pull the hood release and this happens.

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That isn’t what you want to happen. The good news is the hood isn’t stuck shut.

Luckily a few years ago I bought some hood release buttons from BleepinJeep. They have a great step by step video on YouTube but it seems the buttons are gone now. Summit Racing has them though. The hood has always given me fits so now the will be installed.
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So here I go!


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For a change, this upgrade was pretty straightforward. Here is the kit I used.
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Here are the main tools I used for the job.
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The first task was to drop the grill. It went very well.
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Next I removed the strikers for modifications.

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Then I had to open up the holes for the pins.

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Larry cut some sections of all thread rod on a lathe and put a point on them so I could locate where to drill the holes in the hood. Worked like a charm.

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Then I used a 2.5” diameter hole saw to remove the inner liner of the hood. I did this by myself and just about messed up my hood.

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I then opened up the hole and used a knock-out punch to make the 1.5” diameter hole in the hood skin. This worked very well and left a very clean hole.

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And here you can see where I just about drilled through the outer hood skin.

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I covered the outside of the hole with tape so I could paint the raw metal from below.


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Then I mocked up the hood pins.

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Next, it was time to modify the strikers. I had to remove the metal bars with a grinder.

Before:

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After:

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After bolting the springs back in, I installed the buttons.

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I then adjusted the pin height so the hood was flush with the fenders and grill.

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After a bit of adjusting, the buttons work great.

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This has to be one of the easiest modifications ever. It works great and looks good to boot. Best of all, there is no stupid cable to mess up.
 
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After getting everything done, it was time to take a test drive on this cool, dreary day. I cranked up the defrost and it warmed up and blows hot. It didn’t fog up inside like it was doing before.

The only bugger in the whole deal is my check engine light is now on. I must have bumped something under the hood.

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It has been a long week of work but I’m glad it’s done.
 
I drove the Jeep the other day to work and noticed it wasn't blasting hot air like I thought it should. In the process of checking some things, I found fluid in the drivers side floor board. It sure seems like antifreeze but there were no fresh trails on the transmission tunnel to show a recent leak. I'm worried I'm going to be tearing into this dash again.
 
Boy oh boy has this been a fun journey.

A year after the heater core replacement came another round of repairs. My daughter has been driving the XJ and it has recently had some issues just dying in the middle of the road.

I will do some updates a bit later, showing the few pictures I took of the repairs it took to get it back running again.
 
The XJ is just been sitting now. I've replaced the CPS, cap, rotor, plug wires, plugs, and valve cover gasket on this thing and it still dies. It will sit and idle perfectly and sounds so smooth. It will get up to operating temperature and idle just fine and then it will miss. Sometimes it dies and sometimes it just has a hiccup and continues to run. If it does die, it will start right back up. I'm not sure what else to look at. I think the distributor pickup is about the only thing left.
 
The XJ is just been sitting now. I've replaced the CPS, cap, rotor, plug wires, plugs, and valve cover gasket on this thing and it still dies. It will sit and idle perfectly and sounds so smooth. It will get up to operating temperature and idle just fine and then it will miss. Sometimes it dies and sometimes it just has a hiccup and continues to run. If it does die, it will start right back up. I'm not sure what else to look at. I think the distributor pickup is about the only thing left.

Have you checked compression and done a leak down test?
 
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