Brand spankin new member with my recently purchased 97 XJ 4.0

[supark]

yeah I'm actually pretty impressed with how "flickable" the car is. It's an unexpectedly really awesome city daily driver - I get about the same mpg as my 5 series in the city, the driving position and visibiilty is great, and it's pretty easy to parallel park in tight SF parking spots - I didn't realize that it's as long as my friend's honda fit, another great city car.

Ordered a DEI keyless entry system for $40, that'll be my next project. Figure I don't need a security system with the immobilizer installed - if I plan on parking the thing in a shady area for any length of time I can always just remove the immobilizer key. I've noticed that car sirens and all that crap really aren't a deterrant to petty thieves who just want to smash your window and grab whatever's on the seat.

Also really really want to get a set of crager soft 8s in 15x8 with 4" backspacing from summit racing - just trying to decide if I should go chrome or black finish.. decisions decisions.

 

[FlexdXJ]

yeah I'm actually pretty impressed with how "flickable" the car is. It's an unexpectedly really awesome city daily driver - I get about the same mpg as my 5 series in the city, the driving position and visibiilty is great, and it's pretty easy to parallel park in tight SF parking spots - I didn't realize that it's as long as my friend's honda fit, another great city car.

Ordered a DEI keyless entry system for $40, that'll be my next project. Figure I don't need a security system with the immobilizer installed - if I plan on parking the thing in a shady area for any length of time I can always just remove the immobilizer key. I've noticed that car sirens and all that crap really aren't a deterrant to petty thieves who just want to smash your window and grab whatever's on the seat.

Also really really want to get a set of crager soft 8s in 15x8 with 4" backspacing from summit racing - just trying to decide if I should go chrome or black finish.. decisions decisions.

Well if you park it next to your BMW nobody will want to steal it anyways! I love my soft 8's. I would check out the Black Rock series wheels that are sold through quadratec.com. From what I have heard they are made by Cragar too and look awesome!

 

[Ecomike]

Well if you park it next to your BMW nobody will want to steal it anyways!

Funny you mention that. I once parked my old beat up station wagon for an entire day (several times) with the back tailgate window down at the University. (I was in a rush and forgot to raise it).

I had a good $500 to $1000 of electronic tools, and other goodies in the tail gate area just setting there. No one touched a thing. They figured the rig was so old, and with the glass down, that no one would leave anything valuable in it.

 

[beraad44]

go with the chrome to match the bumpers

 

[supark]

I'm nixing the transmission cooler - took a look and an auxiliary one is already installed on the car as it came with the factory tow package. Did the transmission fluid and filter last night - took me freaking forever because the dipstick tube wouldn't come apart until I wrestled with it for about 2 hours. Glad I changed it out though - the fluid that came out was dark grey, almost black. I'm going to dump the fluid again in a week and then refill to cycle through more of the old fluid.

Also swapped out the spark plugs with champions. The ones that were in the car still looked pretty good (even carbonization and wear across the plugs which was great to see), but the gap was much larger than factory spec. Car seems to run about the same with the factory spec'd champions, but worth it for piece of mind.

Just received my aftermarket keyless entry unit - a DEI one, so tackling that this weekend. And also received a wheelskins leather steering wheel cover to cover up the wear on the stock steering wheel. I've had good luck with them in the past - great quality leather and the lace-up looks like it comes from the factory if you do it well.

Next up is differential and transfer case fluid. I tracked down a pretty good condition chrome rear bumper for super cheap up north so gonna pick that up and swap it out rather than repair try to repair and paint the old one. I kinda like the look of the chrome.

Hearing a front end suspension clunk. Thinking maybe tierods as the steering isn't quite on center and there's a fair amount of play. Going to jack up the front end this weekend and do the usual checks for play on the suspension bits.

 

[Ecomike]

There should be a drain plug on the tranny pan. It only drains about 3 quarts of the 10 quart total (IIRC) that the tranny holds, so I would suggest draining it daily, after about 10-25 mile of driving each day, and refill with 3 quarts of Dex III each time. Do that at least 3 times in addition to what you already did, and pray that you got to it soon enough. Brown/black color is not good!

Don't wait!

 

[supark]

There should be a drain plug on the tranny pan. It only drains about 3 quarts of the 10 quart total (IIRC) that the tranny holds, so I would suggest draining it daily, after about 10-25 mile of driving each day, and refill with 3 quarts of Dex III each time. Do that at least 3 times in addition to what you already did, and pray that you got to it soon enough. Brown/black color is not good!

Don't wait!

yup - you gotta use both to limit the enormous mess of tranny fluid on the ground. Even then a fair amount spilled out.

 

[Ecomike]

yup - you gotta use both to limit the enormous mess of tranny fluid on the ground. Even then a fair amount spilled out.

Not sure you got my point. Pulling the pan does not empty the torque converter. There is no drain plug in the AW4 Torque Converter, so it must be flushed in several 3 quart drain and fill steps now. That black stuff can and will burn out clutch plates real fast.

 

[supark]

Not sure you got my point. Pulling the pan does not empty the torque converter. There is no drain plug in the AW4 Torque Converter, so it must be flushed in several 3 quart drain and fill steps now. That black stuff can and will burn out clutch plates real fast.

yup - that's why I mentioned I'll be draining it again and cycling through some more refills to get the rest of the crap out.

 

[ktwalker01]

What are ya smoking when you say the wheels are ugly, this was my old 1995 Country it was a 2wd so i got rid of it. All i did was did rubberized black coaint on the trim, and painted the wheels black between the paint n everything cost me no more than 70$ to do all of that.

 

[sbxj]

What are ya smoking when you say the wheels are ugly, this was my old 1995 Country it was a 2wd so i got rid of it. All i did was did rubberized black coaint on the trim, and painted the wheels black between the paint n everything cost me no more than 70$ to do all of that.

I don't need to smoke anything to know those wheels are fugly :laugh3:
what a waste of $70

 

[supark]

What are ya smoking when you say the wheels are ugly, this was my old 1995 Country it was a 2wd so i got rid of it. All i did was did rubberized black coaint on the trim, and painted the wheels black between the paint n everything cost me no more than 70$ to do all of that.

Well how about we can both be right I just really dislike them. Really want to get a set of mickey thompson alloys, but the street tires I think would look pretty lame with them, and being that it's a street only jeep throwing out a perfectly good set of tires with around half their life just seems like a waste.

Nice looking jeep though - I wasn't digging on the chrome bumpers at first but I'm really liking them now. I tracked down a pristine rear for only $10 locally!

Also gave up trying ton install the keyless entry system myself and brought it to a shop to have them finish it up - I'm comfortable doing pretty major service to the drivetrain and such myself, but electrical scares the crap out of me.

 

[Ecomike]

Also gave up trying ton install the keyless entry system myself and brought it to a shop to have them finish it up - I'm comfortable doing pretty major service to the drivetrain and such myself, but electrical scares the crap out of me.

Shocking!