Operation 'Basket Case MJ'

Gojira94 · May 6, 2022

Craigslist find in Raleigh. POs were trying to take 2 MJs and make 1 good one. Originally a 2.5l / AX-5 / 2WD. At some point in the past it was 4.0 swapped and the harness swapped/ spliced, along with a Renix 429 ECM. Currently has an early era 2.5l bolted to the mounts with an AX-5 behind it. The 2.5 I say must be early era because it has provisions for a mechanical fuel pump on the passenger side of the block. It does have a single popper TBI intake on it right now. I briefly considered pulling the 2.5, light hone & rings, recondition the head, fix all the leaks. But to have any fun at all with it, I'd need to invest in converting the AX-5 to 4WD and end up with a weak combo not capable of doing much more than pulling itself up a steep hill.

Plan:
1) complete 95-99 drivetrain swap and run it on the Renix ECM.
2) (re)build fuel system, kind of suspect at the moment
2) acquire Dana 30 front axle, swap either front or rear carrier/ gears to match. Not 100% decided on ratio, I like 3.55 F/R but need to look at the AX-15 trans ratios again to see what makes the most sense.

Goal:
light duty factory-ish (to start) good, reliable runner 4WD for climbing/ hiking access roads on trips in western NC/ beyond.

Shopping list:
1) ~~complete 4.0l / AX15 / NP231 drivetrain~~ (acquired! Thanks, Shreddinlettuce!)
2) late HP Dana 30 from an XJ, front shaft
3) figure out rear DS length, cut & balance service

Gojira94 · May 15, 2022

Pulled the interior yesterday to see how bad the floor pans are. This one had a vinyl floor liner over jute padding with fiberglass matting along the exhaust route on the passenger side. It's been a month since it was outside getting washed but the floor pan was still wet to the touch :eek:

Passenger side, there's a big hole by the rocker just behind this (where did that pic go?)

Driver's side - holy crap... look how far it goes up toward the firewall.

Gojira94 · May 16, 2022

I'm finding I have no appetite for doing the floor pan work. For lack of a welding rig of any sort, and the time that's passed since I last tried to weld sheet metal, I'm thinking I'd rather pay somebody to do it properly. I don't know whether to have someone come on site and do it now, or wait until I've got it running which could be a while. I could've had a complete drivetrain but I didn't move fast enough on it, and now options are slim on finding an AX-15 and decent 94-99 XJ/MJ chassis-compatible 4.0.

ghost · May 16, 2022

Having converted and built an MJ from 2wd to 4wd good luck! We used the hesco kit for the TB to run the HO off the renix system. The early 2.5 was a carburetor motor in the xj in case you didn't know.

Gojira94 · May 18, 2022

Yeah, I figured there were iterations of the 2.5 going a long way back into the carb era. Just not sure where the POs scraped this one up from, maybe an old CJ from the end of the '70s or early '80s. Will be up for free as soon as I can pull it. Same with the AX-5. Any takers? Free, just come get. My engine hoist is in Durham but a buddy of mine 2 mi. down the road would probably let me borrow his for a couple hours.

Repeat: free carb-era 2.5 & AX-5 combo up for grabs...

Gojira94 · May 24, 2022

Been cleaning up all the dash parts that show, stripped down the column, cleaned and lubed the ign switch and high beam rods. Also installed a new key cylinder. Will have to do the door locks as well. It came with no keys at all but it does have a title lol. All dash wiring labelled and accounted for, ordered ctsy lights and a clock (didn't come with either). Repaired the hacked radio wiring and ordered speaker connectors for the doors and cab corners. I did a Dual AV head unit, TBX10A sub and Sony Walmart speakers in my 92 C1500, like the way it came out for the price, so I'm going to do the same for this MJ. And a stock radio can go right back in with no wiring hackery in the future if ever needed/ wanted. Harness to speaker connections and the radio harness to aftermarket are Metra, ordered from Crutchfield. Main dash is ready to pull so I can clean up under it and get into the HVAC box and clean it out, too.

Having zero luck with finding a decent engine and AX-15 so I'm working on what I can in the meantime. Those floor panels... Any recommendation on who is the go to in the Raleigh, NC area? I'd like to hire someone to come do it on site so I can put the interior back together and cross it off the list. If I wait until it's running and legal, it'll be a lot longer than I want to wait on that.

Gojira94 · Jun 5, 2022

A little progress made. In trying to figure out what year the 4.0 harness and computer came from, I've determined it's from an 89-90. It has the B+ latch relay feed pin in pin 12 on the diagnostic connector instead of 5 like an 87-88 would have.

Front lights harness repaired and cleaned up. Missing the passenger side horn...

Floor panels arrived, looks like the fit will be good. Haven't started cutting anything out yet. It'll need an extra patch on the driver's side behind the clutch pedal. May be able to use a leftover piece of the rear portion of the new floor pan.

Gojira94 · Jun 5, 2022

4WD shift linkage from a 96 XJ; cleaned and painted. Plus the plate for the trans side.

Also pulled a 2 lamp harness piece from the shift console of that 96 XJ. One lamp for the transfer case position indicator, plus an extra for something else (96 XJ was an auto).

Gojira94 · Jun 5, 2022

Interior panels all cleaned and reconditioned as well as possible. Dome lights are Euramtecs. Old ones were dust held together with electrical tape. Still have to pull and condition the driver's door panel and drop the dash to clean it and under it. Considering shaving down the cracked portion and doing a vinyl over foam layer or something. Worst case a carpet dash pad...

All 4 crappy aftermarket fog lights ("Blazer!!") pulled off, all associated wiring cleaned from factory harnesses, repairs made where needed. Hacked in 4 flat trailer lights connector also gone, repaired and split loomed the plate lights and rear lamps harness.

All factory connectors in the dash restored to factory. Procured a correct clock. Added ash tray light, courtesy lamps/ brackets for them. Sony head unit, 6.5" door speakers, 4x6 rear speakers acquired. Using Metra modular connectors so as not to hack up the factory harnesses again. Cargo lamp and dome lights wiring will be modified cleanly with spade connectors, best course at this point.

Gojira94 · Jun 5, 2022

Still working through the engine bay wiring. Ignoring/ working around the 2.5 that sits there at the moment. Sorted and loomed all the strays on the passenger side, repaired the orange wire from the fuel pump ballast resistor at the starter relay. Pulling and cleaning everything as I go, down to the engine bay sheet metal. Now that the wiring on this is repaired and verified, I'll pull it and clean it and its wire leads. Cleaning the wires themselves takes the mystery out of wire colors and helps to spot chafed wires looking to start fires..

Gojira94 · Sep 4, 2022

The more I dig into this thing, everything and I mean everything needs fixing or replacing...

Wiper transmission and motor rebuilt with new bushings. Motor works but I'm not 100% sure on the park function. Resealed with RTV, then hosed down the top with Flex Seal rubber in a can. The original cover was completely rotted. Duplicolor DE1634 on the trans parts.

Small thing, but pedal pads are nice. The parking brake pad is the same as any GM GMT400 truck

Gojira94 · Sep 4, 2022

Pulled the dash and the heater box. This MJ doesn't have A/C so it's pretty simple, but damn, so. many. pieces. 2 large mouse houses in it and the heater core is original so out it comes. Once I got it apart and the heater core out, the smell of mouse piss was overwhelming. Glad I got in here. First I cleaned the surface grime from the dash, front and back and inside the air passages in the lower half. The heater box is getting full wash by hand. The defrost and floor door surface foam is fragile but not trashed under the surface so those thankfully won't have to be re-coated with (I don't know what would be suitable). The blend door foam is a more sturdy sealed foam design so it's fine. The box liner foam areas are stained but intact and now clean. Cut and capped the pink vacuum line for the heater valve (long gone anyway)

Just need to finish up the blower motor and temp blend door in the last pic. The rest was the delicate part

Gojira94 · Sep 4, 2022

Now I'm ready for the floor pan work and subsequent re-spray of the interior metal on the floor. Extensive cutting needed on the driver's side. The upper brace on top of the floor pan is too far gone to save. Passenger side cleaned up ok, not nearly as bad. Passenger side will get a patch of the outboard half, cleanly against the door sill. There should be enough left from the back part of the driver's side replacement pan to make a patch for the firewall behind the pedals.

Gojira94 · Sep 4, 2022

Brakes plans...

The rear parking brake cables are missing but being the only real rust in this thing is in the floor, all the brackets are there and good to go. I'm going 95-96 booster/ master, 97-01 calipers/ pads/ soft lines. Leaving the rears drum for now, probably won't convert to disc anytime soon, if at all. The rear load sensing proportioning valve is there but the rod is gone, so it's getting deleted and the front valve will be a Wilwood 260-11179. I've read of issues getting the brake switch to work reliably with grinding the rod on the 95-96 booster so I'm trying something different. Make a bracket that mounts on the 84-90 manual pedal assembly upper bolt for a traditional adjustable 2-pin brake switch. This is a pic of my 87 pedals. There are holes on either side, 2 inboard, 1 outboard that can be used to mount a support brace for the longer piece of the switch bracket. Just an idea, the pedal assemblies on Ebay used, for a 95-96 are just under $300, so nope.

Gojira94 · Sep 4, 2022

Firewall side of things. This 2.5l has become the albatross around my neck. I'd let it go for free (now $100 with AX-5 on Craigslist) but I don't want to attract the meth head scrappers in my area, to scope out my place while they're picking stuff up. PLEASE come get this thing for FREE if you're within range lol.

Duplicolor only makes Colorado Red in a 2oz. touch up bottle/ pen/ whatever. However, Rustoleum's Colonial Red is close enough for spraying the floor and engine bay after I get them cleaned and prepped. This first pic under scotch tape against the cap on the can turned out as bad as I thought, looks better through a plastic bag on top of the cap. This chip came from the floor pan so it's never seen the light of day since March, 1987 (I was a junior in high school). For the engine bay I'll follow it with at least one coat of a ceramic clear for durability.

Gojira94 · Nov 27, 2022

Air box, continued - the seal to keep air from bypassing the route to the heater core/ evaporator for A/C equipped vehicles is going to be no good after so many years, I got some simple window air conditioner foam and coated it with 3 light coats of flex-seal, with custom trimming around the heater core in/out:

Gojira94 · Nov 27, 2022

Also, finally got the engine bay clear the other day- went to a father/ daughter project XJ not too far from here in NC, so I can finally start the clean and prep for engine bay paint and floor repair, and then get the Dana 30 under it. Interior can then go back in and engine work can begin.

I'm also in the process of sourcing good quality but cost effective parts for brakes (pretty much all new parts from 87 rear brake stuff, 95-96 booster/ master, calipers, pads, rotors, hoses). MTS Company still is around and has the JPSU-6P4.0 sending unit/ pump assy available. Once brakes and fuel are squared away I can get down to final mechanical details, including Renix flywheel and clutch kit and new internal (for now) clutch slave. My trans case reclock jig, showed up, looking forward to getting that done.

Gojira94 · Nov 27, 2022

It's been a while since I made brake lines. I made copies of the 2 on the rear axle, which came off ok but the nuts are really crusty. The gravel guard wire came from a US family company in Ohio, through Amazon ("The Stop Shop"). Line is AGS PAC-325 PVF coated with 3/8-24 inverted flare nuts (also AGS). I have them mocked up with an 18" hose for 95 & up XJ (O'Reilly auto BH622067). I deleted the rear valve so the hose will mount in the factory tab next to where that valve used to mount. I just have to make single long line to the Wilwood manual valve going up front. 95-96 brake master and booster acquired. I can mock that all up and run lines and then yank it back out and sort out the engine bay clean/ paint.

I'll made a bracket for the manual brake bias valve, from these 2 SBC plug wire mgmt plates I've had lying around. The mounting studs for the 2.5L bracket location are a good anchor. A little bending and shaping and it clears the steering shaft and keeps it away from the exhaust.

Gojira94 · Nov 27, 2022

Here's my fuel rail. Shreddinlettuce tossed in some extra parts that came with his 93 YJ drive train. Since he's going LS swap in his YJ he threw in the extra stuff he never got around to installing. This fuel rail is everywhere - Ebay, Amazon, etc. about $120, under brand "Fasster." The quick disconnect it had is now cut off and welded shut (the rail is sold for returnless systems, though the vendor does have a regulator/ gauge kit to go with it if you want). The ends are ORB-8 so I opted for quick and dirty, using an Aeromotive 13107 LT1 regulator I have on hand. I swapped out the F-Body LT1-specific fittings and put the inlet at the back of the rail. I could have gone fancy and done -AN stuff but fuel injection hose clamps are fine for 31-39psi. I'll probably swap the regulator out for an Aeromotive 13301 not too far down the road so I can put the 13107 back in the drawer as a spare for my Firebird.

Gojira94 · Nov 27, 2022

Brake line to the rear copied from the original, but run over the top of the X-frame with the rear lighting harness and dropped on top of the rear hose mount.

Gojira94 · Nov 27, 2022

Scored a spacer off a 98 XJ at the local boneyard. Cleaned up pretty nicely. I'm going to hit the closed-cell foam 'gasket' with a light coat of FlexSeal before final installation.

New lines all flared and attached. About 30ft of line, all bent by hand/ eye. AGS PolyArmor, pretty easy to work with and I prefer it over NiCopp any day.

Pulled it all back out except the valve to rear line for final floor cutting and engine bay paint prep...

Gojira94 · Nov 27, 2022

Engine front accessories mocked up. Alternator relocated up top. Still has the YJ PS pump and brackets. I may swap that over to 96+XJ since I already have the bracket, and it'll give more belt clearance for the lower radiator hose.