ReikoX's 1998 Jeep XJ Rebuild

ReikoX · April 2, 2019, 3:35pm

Ordered up an LED interior light set. The headliner is also on my short list.

Worked on the Jeep this weekend. Sorry, only a couple of pictures were taken as I actually got my hands dirty and was turning a wrench. We had to remove the intake manifold to get to the exhaust manifold. The old manifold had a huge crack almost making one of the tubes come apart in two pieces. We were able to get the old manifold out and the new headers back in within about 3.5 hours. Once we got the exhaust header in, we had a few vacuum lines break on us. So we had to go through all of them and repair them. As we were repairing them, they would break more. I may order a new silicone vacuum line set. It’s about $70, but I should never have the problem again.

We started to hang the exhaust, but we missed the hanger and had to start over. Since we were tired, we decided to do it another day. Right now the Jeep runs, but sounds like a dragon when you slam on the gas. While we were under there, we noticed the rear main seal is leaking. Probably a new oil pan, looks like the previous owner slammed the pumpkin into the oil pan. I’m suprised it doesnt have a hole in it.

cannabissequoia · April 2, 2019, 3:44pm

…if only… that headliner were a mattress upside down, in the Luvmobile

i hope you have an idea of what you’re getting into; cars were my first serious obsession. it’s a rich man’s hobby, imo. sometimes you get lucky & they give you a porsche.

had 12 VWs before turning 25.

<— got a '76 914 2.0 free

ReikoX · April 2, 2019, 3:49pm

Jeep = Just empty every pocket

anon95954822 · April 2, 2019, 5:31pm

You would get along well with my brother, as he has several VW projects on the go… But he wasn’t given a Porsche, just a '64 Karmann Ghia

Peace
DaFozz

STIGGY · April 6, 2019, 6:32pm

Just call her PIG PEN From Charlie Brown comic series
I mean look at the sand flying LOL

anon58740919 · April 6, 2019, 6:50pm

Inspired by your thread. And the fact the registration plate if I was to buy as a personalised (contains my initials) would be around £1600. I thought it was a steal at £600. Found a courier to deliver to my door for £150 from darn sarf. Should be here by lunch tomorrow.

2001 Yamaha xj900 diversion.

Being wrapped in a nardo grey vinyl. Engine polishing etc. Supposed to be really nice bikes to learn proper service technique etc on. Not the prettiest of the bunch but you see almost perfect examples with over 150k miles on the clock still running like day one

cannabissequoia · April 6, 2019, 8:16pm

I’m a 4-wheel-only tool, so that bar or frame tube on the outside looks like a PITA, but …

anon58740919 · April 6, 2019, 8:19pm

Lol it’s a couple bolts to drop engine bars off mate

Esrgood4u · April 6, 2019, 8:52pm

All Yamaha bikes are massively reliable mate. XJ900s are bullet proof. I’m more a Yamaha R6 or R1 lover though if I had to buy Yamaha. Suzuki hayabusa though now that’s more my style

cannabissequoia · April 7, 2019, 1:02am

[sigh]

I remember when the shop I worked at got the 4-wheel dyno & the one of the first tests was a formula/open-wheel car with a 350hp hayabusa turbo motor. VERY loud.

Rich mens fun.

anon58740919 · April 7, 2019, 5:40am

I actually asked my mate about a 99 R6 in Fiat plastics but he’s not wanting to sell with the nice weather coming back unfortunately.
The front end of this is going to be done cafe racer style because I can’t cope with the amount of ugly involved in the front fairings/headlight/clocks. It’s definitely not my usual style

Esrgood4u · April 7, 2019, 7:55am

Very loud, very fast and very fun

Albannach · April 7, 2019, 11:08am

Nice project bro

ReikoX · April 8, 2019, 6:40pm

Finished up the exhaust this weekend. Last time we worked on it, we missed the hanger for the piece from the header to the catalytic converter. So we took it off and hit the hanger. Then we noticed this was rubbing on the cross member that holds up the transmission. We did some banging, but that didn’t give us enough clearance.

So we did a bit of grinding, which helped. And finally we ended up putting a spacer between the hanger and the support. This pushed it up enough to keep clear the cross member.

Next we fit the catalytic converter, muffler and tailpipe. The tailpipe was giving us some trouble fitting, so we had to remove the shock and the tire.

Once we got it where we wanted it, we began to weld it together.

After all this work, we were ready for a break.

We weren’t too pleased with the way the tailpipe was getting in the way of the leaf spring shackles. So, we cut off the tailpipe so we could reposition it.

We cut out the bend and made it a bit shorter. Once we got it all fit and ready we welded up the new tail pipe.

Finally, we got it Fit and installed, ready to weld!

Victory!

beacher · April 8, 2019, 6:45pm

Looks ‘fun’ haha. You know what I mean…

What’s with the crazy shot glasses?

ReikoX · April 8, 2019, 7:05pm

The lower chamber has the chaser (ginger ale) the top has the shot (whiskey).

Hashtree · April 8, 2019, 10:45pm

Looking good @ReikoX. In the picture with the grinder it looks like the guys shirt just caught on fire!

ReikoX · April 9, 2019, 3:22pm

That only happens when he is welding.

ReikoX · April 25, 2019, 7:48pm

Phase 1: Complete!

I bought this vehicle from out of town. Where it was previously registered, it did not require an emissions test. So the first step was to fix the emissions so it would pass. The header, cat, muffler, and tailpipe were all replaced. New O2 sensors were installed, and the codes were cleared. I had an issue with the first O2 sensor I bought (pre-cat) was dead out of the box. I bought a second one and the check engine light cleared. I drove the snot out of it for about a week and the check engine light never came back on. I hooked it up to my OBD-II meter and it showed the CATALYST readiness monitor was not completed. I tried to get it to complete for a while, and finally just said F-it and took it to be checked. It turns out my year car will pass even with one of the readiness monitors not complete. I also had a code related to the gas tank. My fuel sending unit is bad, but that sensor is in the fuel tank, which I don’t want to replace right now.

I wanted to keep track of MPG as I continue to work on the Jeep. Right now I’m getting about 14 MPG. I snapped a shot of my odometer, I chuckled to see 1337, 1337-Jeep

The next step is to replace my rear shocks. I only had one, the other was apparently ripped out. I thought I had the spare rear shock, but it turns out to be a front shock. I ordered a new set of rear shocks and a set of bar pin eliminators. The bar pin eliminators have two purposes. The first, and intended purpose, is to replace the bar pin in the shock with a bolt. The second purpose will be to fix the connector that got ripped out with the old bar pin inserts. The previous owner had fixed them by cutting a hole in the floor of the Jeep and putting a bolt with a nut in through the body.

ReikoX · May 6, 2019, 3:53pm

Not much progress has been done on the Jeep lately. I have a camping trip coming up soon, so we have a lot of work planned. New shocks, bar pin eliminators, and bump stops all around. It also needs a front drive shaft before it can roll.

My buddy had his transmission go out on his TJ. He called the shop and they said they could take it Saturday, but they close at 1:00. Everyone in the neighborhood said they would help. By 9:00 we were out there starting to remove his transmission. By 12:30 it was in my Jeep and on the way to the shop!

We tried to hot wire the winch, but it was bound up. So we decided to remove it.

When I got the Jeep the steering wheel was off by about 15 degrees. We adjusted it so now it’s straight when the tires are straight.