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beater!

Took the amethyst XJ to Philly and back this week, almost 20 MPG round trip, even with running AWD the whole time.

20190517_Amethyst_Fuelio.sized.jpg
 
Does look like that, but that guy in the green shirt looks to be heading over to pick it up...
 
Cooling system can't seem to shed heat fast enough in the summertime, and temps will creep to red if its not actively managed. Replaced everything else so trying a different radiator, the Mishimoto. More or less a drop-in replacement. Limited testing has gone well so far, but won't know for sure until the next time I drive up a mountain road at 3000 RPMs in the summer.

Mishimoto_Installed.sized.jpg


Some people say retarded timing from a stretched chain will cause the problem. Will look into that over the winter.
 
My 89 would climb rapidly on uphills in the mountains, even at night time summer temps, but always dropped right down when the road flattened out. I don't think that's unusual with any XJ.
Are you running a flowkooler water pump? I have em in both of mine and they made a world of difference especially at crawling speeds.
 
I notice mine gets a bit warm climbing the mountain on PA501, but like Rich's 89 used to do, once I crest the hill and the load comes off, it starts coming back down.

That reminds me, I need to lay in a fan clutch before NACFest (can't remember how old mine is, and want to have it on-hand in case I need it).
 
I notice mine gets a bit warm climbing the mountain on PA501, but like Rich's 89 used to do, once I crest the hill and the load comes off, it starts coming back down.

That reminds me, I need to lay in a fan clutch before NACFest (can't remember how old mine is, and want to have it on-hand in case I need it).

Rob I've got one in hand off that 00 I'm parting out. I'll bring it up if you want.
 
Thanks, but I think I might just get one this weekend and put it on, rather than risk a boilover on the drive out - last time I drove it, it was creeping up a little while I was sitting still idling, and after getting it rather hot while limping it the one mile to the shop with no belt (siezed alternator; didn't hurt it but it belched out a bunch of coolant and rattled me a little) I think I'd rather play it safe and do it sooner rather than later.
 
Just put a new battery in Fiona and she's been sitting here idling for 45 minutes and the electric fan has never even kicked. She's just cool I guess.
 
Had a great time at NACFest. The jeep ran great!

2019_06_28_NACFest_Trail_20_small.jpg


The only real problem was the sector shaft seal blew out on Saturday morning but I was able to deal with it by looping the power steering pump lines and driving out on manual steering. Thanks to Rock2pus for pulling a spare gear box from a donor at the park office even though I didn't get a chance to swap it.

Replaced the seals yesterday and seems to be holding. I found a couple more problems today while putting it all back together. First, the driver side UCA bolt was absent / gone, no idea where it went (edit--still visible in the pic above). And the fan wires fell out of the connector while I was reinstalling the fans over the gear box, so I got the chance to rewire the connector as well.

We have a neighborhood parade on Thursday and then possibly heading to the SEC Crawl in Harlan afterwards (not sure yet).
 
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Had a great time at NACFest. The jeep ran great!

2019_06_28_NACFest_Trail_20_small.jpg


The only real problem was the sector shaft seal blew out on Saturday morning but I was able to deal with it by looping the power steering pump lines and driving out on manual steering. Thanks to Rock2pus for pulling a spare gear box from a donor at the park office even though I didn't get a chance to swap it.

Replaced the seals yesterday and seems to be holding. I found a couple more problems today while putting it all back together. First, the driver side UCA bolt was absent / gone, no idea where it went (edit--still visible in the pic above). And the fan wires fell out of the connector while I was reinstalling the fans over the gear box, so I got the chance to rewire the connector as well.

We have a neighborhood parade on Thursday and then possibly heading to the SEC Crawl in Harlan afterwards (not sure yet).

Glad everything shook out ok for you, Eric!
Funny, I've lost that same bolt twice....
If ONLY that was my issue this year.:wow:
 
Waited a few days before posting. It doesn't seem like anything significant blew up in the Redhead gearbox, it just picked up some mud in the sector shaft seal. Fkng mud. Also the shaft had some wear that let the mud get in so I sanded and polished the shaft prior to repair. I'm less impressed with the rebuild quality after seeing that wear ring though.

Redhead_Rebuild.jpg
 
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