Mira's '93 XJ 2-dr. build (11-year-old's first Jeep)

[1x1_Speed_Craig]

*HUGE* thanks to my fiancee, Amy, for suggesting yesterday that we move the axle-less '99 donor Cherokee to the corner of the garage to make room for Mira's pending engine swap. It was easier than anticipated to move the XJ about 6-8 feet diagonally.

With all the parts we continue to get from this Jeep, it's the gift that keeps giving!

 

[1x1_Speed_Craig]

Due to excessive rust in the floor of Mira's Jeep, we will likely scrap the entire project (tongue in cheek). I pulled the seats, console & carpets tonight, and this is what I found. Woot!

We'll be bringing the XJ into the dealership shortly to get the air bag sensor relocated, as recall was not taken care of by the previous owner(s).

 

[1x1_Speed_Craig]

It was a productive weekend for Mira's Jeep. Although I didn't have my girls with me this weekend, I made some good solo progress.

• Fixed driver door speaker wiring, and installed driver-side Infinity XJ tweeter (passenger side to be installed soon), then rocked out to the Foo Fighters, which sounded great!
• Installed 4-flat trailer wiring.
• Fixed broken driver door stop.
• Removed the rear seat, and all seat belt bolts through the floor, and reinstalled after using anti-seize.
• Got rear carpet ready to remove, with the exception of drilling out the riveted factory tie-down point (must be removed to get the carpet out).
• Fought for a couple hours with one broken seat bolt (still never got it out). It's the only bolt that hasn't come out like butter. I was unsuccessful at getting a good enough weld with a nut on the broken bolt, so I'll hit it with an EZ-out next (ironic name...I have never had good luck with them).

The XJ is going in to the dealership next weekend for the airbag sensor recall, and potentially some other work. More to come...

Craig

 

[1x1_Speed_Craig]

Several updates...

The XJ is back from the dealership, where they did the following:

• Airbag control module relocation (Recall)
• Fuel tank sending unit replacement (Recall)
• Replaced rear main seal & front crank case seal. The Cherokee no longer leaves "tracks" in the garage.

I also bought 2 new transmission cooling lines (not knowing that there are 3, one of which I need to still get) to replace leaky ones. We'll do that shortly.

I also picked up a set of overpriced (but rust-free) doors just to get the interior door panels to replace, in particular, Mira's passenger one. I'm reselling the doors (driver door is VERY nice, but passenger is dented), but keeping the interior panels. They're hard to find for manual windows/locks, so despite being overpriced, they were located only 20 minutes from my house, so I can't complain.

Here's Mira's old inner door panel, which has been bedazzled with random sheet metal screws to hold the door pull on the door.

Here's her new replacement door panel:

I also rented a Bissell commercial carpet cleaner, and spent several hours (almost five?!?) shampooing Mira's old carpet pieces (which will be sold), and her new darker carpets, seats, and headliner. It's not perfect, but here's her replacement carpet after shampooing. Eventually, I'd like to look at a set of WeatherTech floor mats for the Jeep.

The POR-15 paint application you haven't heard about...

Mira's replacement carpet had some rust marks/flakes that transferred from the floor of the donor vehicle, and I don't want it starting rust in her clean, rust-free XJ. I considered Dynamat or Eastwood Thermocoustic Barrier, but don't have the money for either right now (spendy). So, I used a 4-oz. can of POR-15 paint to cover the rust marks prior to reinstalling in Mira's Jeep. It may be overkill and/or OCD, but that's how I roll.

 

[Fore Wheeler]

Looking great! Maybe I will have a chance to lay eyes on the jeep tomorrow?

We have a WeatherTech rep that is on the boards here, her name is Kelly, aka BlkHwk13, when it's time get ahold of her.

See ya tomorrow

 

[1x1_Speed_Craig]

Looking great! Maybe I will have a chance to lay eyes on the jeep tomorrow?

We have a WeatherTech rep that is on the boards here, her name is Kelly, aka BlkHwk13, when it's time get ahold of her.

See ya tomorrow

Thanks, Dan. Yes, you can take a look tomorrow. If you have 20ish minutes, I can give you the not-so-grand-tour of Mira's XJ, and also the beginnings of my FC170 project.

Thanks for the tip regarding Kelly with the WeatherTech mats. I'll definitely keep that in mind.

I'll see you tomorrow.

Craig

 

[1x1_Speed_Craig]

Mira changed her own XJ spark plugs today.

A previous owner had installed Champion platinum plugs (which I heard don't work very well in Jeep 4.0s), and the gap varied from 0.048-0.055". They were supposed to be 0.035".

The new, properly-gapped NGK "standard" plugs made the 4.0L run much more smoothly, but we still have a slight backfire when revving the engine. We'll have to get it into a shop in the spring to get that checked out.

 

[1x1_Speed_Craig]

The biggest news...letting the cat out of the bag...

After careful consideration, we have decided to keep Mira's XJ 2WD for now. Call it a "Prerunner". Call it a "Mall Crawler" (I'm sure it'll live up to its name). The bottom line is that we already have a solid driveline in this XJ, and she won't be driving it too horribly far once she gets her license, as her mom & step-dad just bought a house that is basically across from the high school. We can always convert it to 4WD down the road, should we want to do so.

We're also on somewhat of a deadline now (however, this did not factor into the 2WD decision). A friend is setting up a Jeeping weekend in Grayling, Michigan in June, and we're going to try to get Mira's XJ ready to go by then. It'll be a lot of 2-track trails, with a little more difficult stuff (relatively speaking) sprinkled in.

So on to the actual updates (somewhat anti-climatic, given the polar vortex we have been so fortunate to be experiencing here in Michigan). My free time has also been split with rounding up key parts for my Jeep FC170 project.

Mira's interior door panels, inner quarter panel trim pieces, and inner rear hatch panel are removed, and ready for a coating of Eastwood Internal Frame Coating once we get a little warmer weather (holding our breath).

My girls earned some extra money a couple weeks ago doing a "power part-out" on this inexpensive '92 XJ 2-door. It was in & out of the garage in about a 24-hour timeframe. We kept a handful of parts for Mira's XJ, most notably a set of 3-month-old rotors and calipers that had been installed on the XJ shortly before it was parked due to rusty floors and frame. Mira needed front brakes, so this worked out perfectly, and cost us nothing after parting out the Jeep.

What's up next?

• Apply a coating of Eastwood Internal Frame Coating once we get a little warmer weather.
• Reinstall the replacement carpet/interior.
• We have some new Moog upper control arm bushings ready to install, along with low-mileage drag link & tie rod, and upper control arms that I pulled from my (former) '05 LJ when I swapped in 1-tons and long-arm suspension. We also have some new adjustable lower control arms from TeraFlex, who sponsored Mira with these. We plan to knock out all of this front suspension and front brake work soon, and put a coat of paint on the dead float 2WD front axle in the process.
• Finish up our JCR Offroad (another of Mira's sponsors) DIY front & rear bumpers.

We have a lot to do by June, but I think we can knock it out.

 

[jdougn]

Great to see how well this build is coming along and to see the big smile on Mira's face!

 

[clean4drxj]

I run the NGK plugs in mine and have had great luck with them, I am not a fan of champion plugs.

 

[REVROK]

NGK's seem to be the 4.0's best friend

 

[Fore Wheeler]

Hate Champion plugs.

I use AC Delco

 

[1x1_Speed_Mira]

With the weather getting better, we got some work done on my Cherokee today. We got the passenger door panel removed, the new passenger side tweeter speaker installed, and the donor inner door panels pulled and ready to install in my Jeep. :rof:

First we took off the inner door panels to be able to install the tweeter speaker on the passenger side. The previous owner screwed in the armrest with like a billion screws, so that was tedious, but we got them out and the door panel off. We installed the tweeter speaker on the passenger side (the driver speaker was already on) with no trouble at all. We then moved on to the donor doors and took my "new" door panels off. We're waiting for the weather to get warmer :sunshine: so we can use some Eastwood rust-proofing inside the doors before installing the replacements. :laugh:

 

[NCCherokee]

Man I wish I had thought to keep my old carpet around as a work surface for swapping my door. Threw it away yesterday. Keep up the good work.

 

[1x1_Speed_Craig]

Man I wish I had thought to keep my old carpet around as a work surface for swapping my door. Threw it away yesterday. Keep up the good work.

Thanks!


I had the day off work today with my girls, and made some GREAT Spring Break progress on Mira's Jeep.

First, I started late last night repairing the extensive rust (note: tongue-in-cheek...this equated to light sanding), and threw on some POR-15. Normally, we use Eastwood paint, but the brush-on POR that we already had worked decently-well in this case. I'm still not a real fan of the stuff, but hopefully, it'll keep her floorpan in good shape for a decade plus.

(Not pictured) We got an early start this morning, and swapped out the 35-tooth speedometer gear for a 34-tooth gear I had from my '05 LJ to correct for the larger tires. The stock tires (confirmed with the dealership via the VIN) were P215/75R-15s (27.7" tall), while the 31" BFG KM2s measure an actual 30" tall. The speedo should be fairly dead-on now.


Mira then got her "new" (replacement) door panels reinstalled. The original passenger one was a little buggered-up by a previous owner.

Mira then threw a second coat of POR on the floor to seal it up. Carpet and seat reinstall will happen fairly soon (perhaps even this weekend).

We also replaced Mira's front brake pads & rotors with some new ones from a parts Cherokee we bought a couple months ago. They had about a month worth of use on them before the vehicle was parked, and were in almost new condition. This was Mira's first experience with brake work, and she realized how simple it really was.

 

[Fore Wheeler]

Gloves? Or did she put her hand in the por15 can? Lol.

Ya know, if you're ever going to put a drive axle in the front, this would be the time to install the shift handle.

 

[1x1_Speed_Craig]

Gloves? Or did she put her hand in the por15 can? Lol.

Ya know, if you're ever going to put a drive axle in the front, this would be the time to install the shift handle.

:laugh2:

 

[1x1_Speed_Craig]

There's no doubt Mira is my child...she REALLY enjoys making Jeep parts pretty.

Today, we scuffed & primed her windshield wiper arms, "new" (low-mileage from my old '05 LJ) tie rod/drag link, and her new TeraFlex adjustable lower control arms, just to make them match her other underpinnings (TeraFlex sponsored her with these LCAs). We primed them with Eastwood Extreme Chassis Black Primer, and will top-coat them with Extreme Chassis Coat Black Satin (Eastwood also sponsored her).

 

[1x1_Speed_Craig]

Mira's front carpet & seats are installed again (seats not shown in pic, though).

We made some minor progress on the XJ today. Mira finished up her (freshly painted) driveshaft install. It's a new-to-us one from a 4.0L/AX-15 manual XJ (I installed new U-joints before the install), and is 1/2" longer than the stock driveshaft. Since the pinion on her Dana 44 was shorter than the original Chrysler 8.25, the extra length helps. We traded a pair of front & rear XJ 4.0L/AX-15/NP-231 driveshafts from a '92 XJ we parted out to my Jeep buddy, Caleb (who's converting a manual 2WD to 4WD) for this 2WD driveshaft.

I'll say once again that the Eastwood Extreme Chassis Black paint leaves a very nice finish!

She also got the rear interior hatch cover reinstalled (no pics) after we sprayed some Boeshield T-9 inside the hatch to hopefully slow rust after she starts driving it through salty Michigan winters.

Finally, Mira helped dear ol' Dad change the oil in his (my) Jeep. She also helped move a stubborn, rusty non-rolling Jeep FC170 out of the garage. Therefore, Mira earned her keep today.

 

[jeeperjohn]

Looks like dad's got a nice project sitting in the background as well :thumbup: