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My 95 2-door stroker project...

She runs!!!!!!

We got the long block assembled and in last weekend. Everything went in okay, no hiccups. Had to drain the gas tank (bad gas) and get some spare fuel injectors since the original injectors were clogged.

When we went to prime the motor we discovered we had low oil pressure. Pulled off the valve cover and looked over the valvetrain, no problems other than lifters in cylinder 1 and 2 weren't pumping. Scratched our heads for a bit then realized we hadn't plugged the oil galley behind the cam gear. Doh! :eek:

Finally went to start it and the motor would just crank. Double checked the indexing on the distributor and it was a little off. Adjusted it... she started right away! The motor sounds great! We idled it for about 20min and did a walk around to make sure things were okay.

I took it for a quick spin. First impressions... The Centerforce clutch engages very sharp with not a lot of give. Almost killed it backing out of the garage lol. This thing is a blast to drive. Between the 4.10s, stroker, and a manual it was such a breath of fresh air over a 4.0 3.55 auto. Plenty of power...PLENTY! I got used to the clutch engagement fairly soon and I'm comfortable with it now.

The suspension rides stiff and solid :). I didn't bother flexing it out or anything since I was too anxious over the motor. Sounded like the rear brakes were grinding a bit. We set the drums brakes pretty tight so they might need to be adjusted. I'll get pics of the rig up soon.
 
Should do a disk brake conversion in the rear. Would be much better then stock drums. Simple swap too but kinda costy unless you find almost everything you need at the junk yard.
 
Well, I drove it some more today. For about 30min. The grinding noise are the front rotors rubbing up against the calipers. They are pretty rusted and probably warped, I'll get new ones. The centerforce clutch and the 4.6L torque take A LOT of getting used to. I killed it once today crawling little dirt piles around my house. The 95 gauge cluster sucks, don't show RPM, water temp, or oil pressure. I'd like to double check those to make sure everything looks good. I did notice today I did a WOT run in second gear and the power cut out. Maybe I need more fuel?

Overall I'm satisfied and can't wait to get the interior back in. My seats look like ass and I tried spraying the carpet at the car wash and it doesn't look any better. I wish some people weren't so trashy and would take care of their belongings! :mad:
 
jeepdude25 said:
did you get the wheels powdercoated???
Click to expand...

No, I painted them with rustoleoum hammered black. I sprayed a few coats on them almost two years again and it holds up great! I need to touch them up since I had new tires installed (they moved the weights when balancing). I used rustoleoum hammered on the bumpers too.

I haven't had any luck finding replacement tan carpet or seats. If you know where to find a nice clean set let me know. I'm contemplating on just buying new carpet. Maybe if I can find black seats/carpet that'd work, I don't know. Maybe I can rent a rug doctor and rehab at least the seats.

For the rear carpet, I was thinking about just bedlining it and putting in some cargo nets. I don't know!!!
 
The problem with using a steam cleaner on the seats is that you end up getting deep into the foam. The foam is also stained and holding spills..... so you end up drawing up more "dirt" than you need to and it's really hard to get things clean on the surface if you keep pulling up stuff from the foam.

I've removed the seat cover material and simply ran it through a couple cycles in the clothes washer using some Simple Green sprayed on 'em, washed them on a gentle cycle and then laid them out in the sun to dry - they turned out looking damn near brand new. I wouldn't use a clothes dryer - at least not with any heat - they're hard enough to stretch back on without the risk of shrinkage.

To put the seat back material back on, turn it inside-out and just roll it down, pressing in on the foam just below the material as you go. The seat bottom goes on fairly easily. :thumbup:
 
YELLAHEEP said:
The problem with using a steam cleaner on the seats is that you end up getting deep into the foam. The foam is also stained and holding spills..... so you end up drawing up more "dirt" than you need to and it's really hard to get things clean on the surface if you keep pulling up stuff from the foam.

I've removed the seat cover material and simply ran it through a couple cycles in the clothes washer using some Simple Green sprayed on 'em, washed them on a gentle cycle and then laid them out in the sun to dry - they turned out looking damn near brand new. I wouldn't use a clothes dryer - at least not with any heat - they're hard enough to stretch back on without the risk of shrinkage.

To put the seat back material back on, turn it inside-out and just roll it down, pressing in on the foam just below the material as you go. The seat bottom goes on fairly easily. :thumbup:
Click to expand...

Thanks Troy, I'm absolutely going to give this a shot. Did you use any detergent or only the simple green?
 
wy_jeep said:
Thanks Troy, I'm absolutely going to give this a shot. Did you use any detergent or only the simple green?
Click to expand...

Just Simple Green. Scrubbed the bad spots with a brush before the wash. I'm sure laundry detergent would work ok, but Simple Green gets rid of the oily stuff better. I was really pleased with the results. The pass. seat had coffee or dark soda stains all over the seat and lower part of the seat back - like someone always sat their beverages on the seat or something. It was mechanic owned, so the driver's seat was pretty dark with dirty uniform/clothing transfer too. It was a tan/fabric interior from a '95.
 
Sorry guys. I haven't really updated the thread since I started driving the Jeep.

I used Troy's advice on the seats and they turned out great! Taking the covers off of the front seats was a pain, but it's definitely worth it. I have about 850 miles on the new motor and I've had no problems. I've driven it round trip to both Laramie and Ft Collins. It is SO NICE to be able to leave it in 5th gear on the interstate. I travel right at about 80mph, even heading west against the wind on I80 is on problem. Gotta love having the extra torque.

About 700 miles on the motor were with the stock filter. It made a HUGE difference replacing that with a larger cone style filter. Keep in mind I have a completely upgraded exhaust, BBK throttle body, and 99+ intake manifold...those mods probably made the addition of a filter more significant. I'm still on stock injectors and I have yet to datalog to see if I'm running lean or not. I've talked with PFI speed in Ft Collins. It cost $180 to dyno tune (includes welding the bung for the wideband O2 sensor). My PCM can't be reflashed, but if I install an Apex'i S-AFC they said they can tune with that. I'm thinking about getting the 24lb/hr injectors and the AFC and having it tuned. Or if anyone in the CO area has tuning experience, I can use the $180 to buy a wideband and do it that way. Thoughts?

Anyway, I'll get some updated pictures on here soon. Thanks to everybody for the help!
 
Here's a couple I just took. I need to trim the front fenders so they are even with the bumper.

DSC00916.jpg

DSC00915.jpg
 
Jeezus........ what the hell is that thing on your roof? :puke:

:D
 
I'll get around to trimming the front fenders eventually. The rear bumper was easy to install. Just had to open up the holes a little bit to fit the 2x2 brackets in. The bumper sticks out a little, but actually it works out good since I can step on it to load/unload the roof rack. :).
 
Good to hear... my plan was to put a peice of 1/4 inch plate between the rear xmember and weld it to the bumper. Glad it worked out for ya...
 
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