The 1300 dollar fixer upper surprise project

[eaglefreek]

Making some progress. You're almost there.

[tougeagle]

Sweet. Keep the pics coming. Maybe seeing your progress will light a fire under my arse.
Did the bolts pop out of the trans, because they were 10mm and not 3/8"?

I was using standard hardware store 3/8" bolts.

[tougeagle]

Went to the junkyard yesterday, and got very very lucky. The 94 Cherokee I'd seen there a few days ago was still there and remained largely untouched. They also had dropped a 96 with a manual trans less than an hour before I got there, so it too was untouched. I grabbed the dizzy from the 94, along with the coil connector and pigtail. I managed to snag both pcv valves from the 96 without damaging them, amazingly enough, along with the clutch system (slave and master) and CPS. I was very tempted to grab the harness but I don't want to buy another 02 sensor and bung (since they started OBDII in 96) and have to go through thinning out the harness again. Was bad enough to do it on  mine.

Anyway, I got the trans bolted completely to the mount last night, along with getting my exhaust almost complete. I even managed to almost get rolled over, since the transfer case had not fully engaged in 4 HI and detented to neutral, and I didn't have the parking brake on. My exhaust (specifically catalytic converter) managed to stop it a foot later and wreck my carefully tacked welds in the process. At that point, I gave up on the exhaust for the night.
The transmission mount bolts definitely ate ground clearance, but again, this car's going to shine in the snow, not offroad, I'll be using a cherokee for that, eventually.




I didn't get the chance to get to my exhaust today. It started getting too cold and wet. As of last night though, what it looked like when "complete":



However, now this section is separate. I have to line it up JUUUUST right to keep the muffler from hitting the floor pan and driveshaft, but not suck up more ground clearance at the same time >_<:


I did manage to get the CPS installed. It's a real PITA that requires very good feeling in your fingertips, and a long reach...

Since it's supposed to get cold and nasty for a while, I'm done working on the car for a few days. I'm also completely out of money

On the bright side, I got to test the 4.0 starter, since I have something to actuate the clutch now XD. It works It's nice to hear it crank over again.

[tougeagle]

No, no, no. I meant the threads were 10mm or possibly even the oddball 7/16". That's why the 3/8" bolts would pop out. It doesn't matter now, you've already got them helicoiled.

 I like your exhaust loop. Mine does the same thing. Are you going to run a Cat?

Ahh, I wondered if that's what you meant, and thanks!
Yes, I am definitely running a cat, and I personally dislike people who don't believe they need one. Seeing mountain ranges at 10,000 feet in elevation on highway 285 disappear in a gray-blue haze is extremely depressing.

[tougeagle]

No, no, no. I meant the threads were 10mm or possibly even the oddball 7/16". That's why the 3/8" bolts would pop out. It doesn't matter now, you've already got them helicoiled.

 I like your exhaust loop. Mine does the same thing. Are you going to run a Cat?

By the way, I just figured out how to give eggs, so I'm givin ya one for the fuel pump wiring advice

[tougeagle]

So close... I need to wire the coil connector in, replace the dizzy with the 94 I grabbed, and wire/plumb the fuel pump and pressure regulator. I may even have enough fuel line to do that, since the person who sold me the 95 pcm gave me the metal fuel line along with it.... Sunday I hope to get to the junkyard and get those axles off that Eagle before it's crushed. I won't be able to purchase them, but if I can make it there before they send it to the grave, they'll let me set the axles out back until I can pay for them....

[tougeagle]

Replaced the 92 dizzy with the 94, you can see the difference in the layout, 92 on the left, 94 on the right. I figure it's probably fairly important to make sure they match generations because of the cam position sensor inside of them.


I know how to reclock/install a dizzy, and in doing so, decided to take a pic of my damper when my #1 cyl is TDC... The white mark next to the notch on the damper is lined up with the white mark on the timing cover. I don't know if that's zero or not, but it doesn't look like it. However, when I slide a long 3/8" drive socket extension through the spark plug hole and watch its movement, it tops out at that mark. The motor was rebuilt, perhaps the person who did it used that as 0 degrees instead......?


Also managed to wire the coil in. Since taking on this project, one of the most valuable tools for this project, especially the wiring, is my little yellow multimeter. Saves me SO much headache and lets me know if I did it right or not when I have no other way of telling. The wiring looks hack, but I'll tape it over and shroud it up later...


Installed the fuel pressure regulator as well, and hooked it to the steel line running to the back of the car



It looks like I might be taking my dash a different direction now. I was mistaken in thinking the small sensor located ahead of the speedometer gear port on my transfer case was the speed sensor. Since Hesco doesn't make the adapter I need, I may swap my gauge cluster out again, for one from a cherokee, so I can have the electric speedometer mated with the VSS. I don't think it would look too bad in an Eagle though It was something I'd considered doing a while back, but decided against, and am now strongly reconsidering.... If you have experience wiring one into the Eagle dash, lemme know


From my cherokee. R.I.P......

[eaglefreek]

I'm still concerned about your FPR. An EFI regulator is usually mounted after the fuel rail except in returnless systems which are quite complicated. The FPR maintains the pressure in the fuel rail by bleeding off fuel back to the tank to maintain the set pressure. So the way you have it mounted, your adjusted pressure will be between the inlet of the regulator and the outlet of the fuel pump but a varying pressure between the regulator and the rail. Without a return line and with nowhere to go that pressurized fuel will find a way out somewhere. They don't work like a carb regulator or an air pressure regulator on an air compressor. I know the people you bought it from said it would work and if I had a nickel for everytime a salesperson told me something about their product that was untrue I'd have a couple pockets full of nickels. Just be careful when you first fire it up. I hope I'm wrong and it works for you.

[tougeagle]

I'm still concerned about your FPR. An EFI regulator is usually mounted after the fuel rail except in returnless systems which are quite complicated. The FPR maintains the pressure in the fuel rail by bleeding off fuel back to the tank to maintain the set pressure. So the way you have it mounted, your adjusted pressure will be between the inlet of the regulator and the outlet of the fuel pump but a varying pressure between the regulator and the rail. Without a return line and with nowhere to go that pressurized fuel will find a way out somewhere. They don't work like a carb regulator or an air pressure regulator on an air compressor. I know the people you bought it from said it would work and if I had a nickel for everytime a salesperson told me something about their product that was untrue I'd have a couple pockets full of nickels. Just be careful when you first fire it up. I hope I'm wrong and it works for you.

I think I see what you're saying. I'll contact the people who sold me the pressure regulator and get some instructions for my kind of system..

[tougeagle]

I did some looking on Hesco out of curiosity, and found this. My fuel pressure regulator is similar to that, in that it has one in, one out. I have that same fuel pump, so if I plumb the fuel pressure regulator the same as it is in the picture, it should be okay, since it's the same basic design (standalone pump and regulator, returnless). I'm wary of installing the fuel pump in the engine bay, but for as long as it's on the spark side of the block, it should stay cool. The setup makes sense,  in terms of what direction the pressure changes occur....

http://hesco.us/img.asp?tn=showandtell_formsRecordsPhotos&fn=LargePhoto&idn=ID&id=63417

[tougeagle]

I emailed Hesco a minute ago and finally just asked if my regulator would work with their pump, as it is single inlet single outlet (though I think the gauge can be removed to allow for another outlet.... or inlet. I'm not exactly sure yet. I'll admit it. I jumped the gun on this one part >_< I should have done research into the fuel system first...

[tougeagle]

On a slightly different subject, I solved the VSS mystery, finally. Since the 249 J has the large speedometer hole like our stock transfer cases do, there is no adapter from hesco for it it. However, I came up with an idea, and if it works, I'm going to post it in the Eaglepedia. I'm going to grab a speed sensor from a 93-95 (if I remember correctly) speed sensor from a cherokee or dakota pickup truck. The cherokee has to have an auto trans with factory cruise. These are the units that use both the speedometer cable and the integrated vehicle speed sensor.

I might have to hit up the local hardware store to make it adapt to my speedo cable and instrument cluster.  It would completely solve the vss issue. I would have a working vss but only a cable going to the transfer case.

[tougeagle]

I think I was overthinking the FPR issue. I can probably remove the fuel pressure gauge from the other side of the regulator, then have one line coming out of that port to the fuel rail, the other line going in to the other side of the regulator, and the return line to the tank coming out of the bottom. Since the system is OBI, I need to run 3 bar, 39 psi to achieve stock injector flow rates. I've got the fuel pump almost completely plumbed in, though the cold and snow is hitting hard and fast, and keeping me from doing too much right now >_<

[tougeagle]

I threw in the towel on the 70 dollar waste of money today (the FPR)... I went to the junkyard in search of a front driveshaft for the cardan joint, along with a speed sensor with mechanical speedometer. While there, I decided to grab the fuel rail off the 94 'kee I've been poking, prodding and picking from for a while...

Out of the three things I spent hours in the deep mud and water looking for, and removing, I only got to install one of them today >_<. On top of that, the city will very soon start fining me for having the car outside without plates, so my brother came over earlier today to (attempt) to help me get the car in the garage. Only then does a driveway angle become extremely apparent..... Needless to say, the car's parked in front of the house now, after three tries. At least now, I'll be working on pavement, for the first time in six months, which anymore is a luxury to me. The car cover he bought, that I picked, was too small, and was the last line of defense against the biggest HOA in fricking Denver... Ugh.

The cherokee driveshaft just happens to be way too long, by several inches, as my ignorance showed me today...


It doesn't look like it, but it is with the cardan joint, which I needed because the 231 and up (maybe lower, dunno) t-cases use U-bolt yokes.  I was expecting the cardan joint to be a separate entity from the driveshaft, but apparently not. So that's unusable jeep driveshaft number 4 cluttering my garage floor now.

And, (not so) new fuel rail:



I forgot how much of a PITA it can be to install a fuel rail and injectors when the rubber grommets don't want to slide in. A little saliva around each rubber ring fixes that, as it dries quickly. Of the pair of fuel lines that came with the wiring harness I bought on craigslist months ago, only one of them works for my rail, as the other is clogged with orange gunk. At least I remembered to keep the plastic snaps for the quick connects on the lines. I have to run to the yard again on Weds for, hopefully, the LAST of the stuff I need for the car. I can't use my pretty white 92 valve cover, thanks to the twist and lock pcv valves being completely out of production and off store shelves (hesco included). I have to get the valve cover from that 94 when I go, if it's still there, along with some more engine bay fuel line. Normally, the elbows of every single jeep pcv valve in the yard are broken off, but I was lucky enough to be out on a warm day for that 96 clutch master, and snagged a set of good ones while I was at it. I wish I had the time to justify painting the upcoming valvecover...

And finally, the one significant accomplishment today that might actually help others out significantly as well. I discovered how to adapt a vehicle speed sensor with cable driven speedometer , without attaching it to the transfer case, since our eagles use a rather unique transfer case cable input. First, the sensor, grabbed from an early 90's Dakota pickup (that also had an AX15 on it....)


Second, the piece needed: (sorry for bad pics, I've been too busy to charge the batteries for my decent camera)


If I recall correctly, 1/2" to 3/8" steel pipe bushing. Some electrical tape has to be used around the threads, so the large end of the bushing will catch the threads in the speed sensor. The cable side (on stock setup) of the speed sensor is exactly the same size as the speedo cable input on the back of the instrument cluster, and the 3/8" bushing is a near-perfect fit for both. Again though, you'll need Teflon or electrical tape around the speedo and bushing threads..





It is a rather unorthodox way to do it, but it is just a simple sensor that derives electrical energy from kinetic energy, and I doubt the sensor has a designated direction built into it, so it should work out.

And of course, the not so fun part:


Broken tip. Took me two minutes flat to pull the instrument cluster out, I've become well versed in it as this was my fourth or fifth time at it >_<. This time though, I'm going to hook up the tach while the cluster is out... The problem is, where does the yellow wire go? I know where the green goes....

[tougeagle]

I ended up JB Weld-ing the vss to the pipe fitting on the back of the speedometer. I hope I didn't make the wrong decision in doing so, as I've come to realize getting the instrument cluster back in is far from easy, and as of yet, a fruitless labor. However, from what I read on Lonestarjeepclub.com, the renix jeeps with cruise used a section of speedo cable and shroud about a foot long, between the transfer case cable, a vss, and the speedo cluster. I might have to go that route, or drop my entire dash down a few inches until the cluster is secured. It DOES fit in there, the problem is getting it back in there. I took the cluster off of the dash bezel, and was able to get it back there so I could test fit the speedo cable to the sensor. I at least found out it's a nice snug fit. I finally figured out the wiring too, since stock Jeep VSS's are three wire, but the one I need to use is a two wire. The third wire that is eliminated is the orange 8v supply wire, according to this thread at CJOffroad.com http://cjoffroad.com/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=18850&SearchTerms=vss,wiring

Also, the locations of the other two wires are switched around.

Tomorrow (or today, I guess) junkyard run for valve cover....