[quicksilver]

Well then, i wired up the wideband, finished wiring up the last fan, topped off the coolant and prined the oil pump one last time for 2 minutes. Plopped the distributor down in the hole, properly indexed, and got no fire........

..............

Unfortunately it was snowing today/tonight, and it started to get pitch black when I attempted to start so I couldn't really get into trouble shooting it.

I have election day off, so when I do my civic duty, I'll come home and get into troubleshooting. I need to get a fuel pressure gauge since someone snagged the one I had, just need to make sure I got fuel pressure, I will check for spark somehow, I'm on my own so it makes it a bit more difficult. I haven't checked compression yet, but that ought to be pretty damn good at this point.

One thing that comes to mind since Ive read into this bs, is that another individual had painted their block too, and had no start issues, turned out paint on the block prevented a good ground, though i plugged the hole for the oil dipstick tube bolt hole, i wonder if there is enough paint around it to prevent good contact. The thing about that though is that my gauges at the dash work, all of them, and I had them go out due to broken ground wires for that bolt..... who knows, hopefully its something dumb like this though.....

 

[quicksilver]

I also never degreed my cam in. I knew I should have done it while I had the engine on the stand, but never got into it then and knew I'd kick myself in the ass if I didn't, cause I'd have the need to check it later on.

We're at that later on point now. Chances are its alright, but I installed a double roller set, which instead of having the timing mark on the tooth of the cam gear, had the mark in the valley instead.... also the crank gear has a bunch of different key ways to advance or retard the cam as well..... I lined up the double roller set with a stock set for comparrison just to ensure I would get the new set lined up correctly and felt fairly confident over it. Yet here is a photo of a cutout degree wheel with my cams specs on it.

I suppose the only thing I'll have to do is pull the valve cover to check this, but its still going to be a pain regardless, though not as painful as having to pull the head. Doesn't stop me from wanting to throw a bunch of s*** around, would have been nicer if the damn jeep just started on first attempt!!!

 

[quicksilver]

So..... it turns out the distrinutor was 180 off. I put the compression tester on after checking everything else, rotated engine by hand and watched crank timing mark, sure as shit, im off 180. More to come in a few hours, hopefully the break in goes flawlessly now

 

[XJSuperman]

Just to clarify, you mean the timing between the dizzy and the engine, not the gear on the dizzy shaft that you already moved?

 

[quicksilver]

She runs now, working on the cam break in currently

 

[quicksilver]

Just to clarify, you mean the timing between the dizzy and the engine, not the gear on the dizzy shaft that you already moved?

That is correct. But you are also onto something with your second statement as well. I did have to rotate the dizzy gear back again to the original spot. Silly me I guess.

 

[TgRamsey]

Happened to me on a dizzy replacement. Had to turn motor again, and set and lock the dizzy to 5. Fired like a charm. Glad you worked it out!!

 

[quicksilver]

Cam break in was a success, it ran smoothly through the whole process. I believe i may have given myself a vacuum leak, cause in my haste I forgot to hook up the large vacuum line to the intake. Typically its hooked up to the intake box, but ive got that cowl snorkel. I'm happy it runs now,,ecstatic actually. I cant wait to get it on the road now to finish the break in procedure. Need to change oil and filter, then I need to cut a hole in the hood to clear some things.

 

[Gluckmysock]

Woot woot

 

[quicksilver]

Had a big scare, drove the jeep on Saturday and performed a piston ring seating procedure, which is driving from 30 to 50 mph under heavy acceleration for 10 passes. I made it to the 9th pass and after that it started misfiring bad. Wasn't sure what happened, but I had an idea that it may have been collapsed lifters.... it had so much power!!! Why did it have to start acting up!!!??

Well I got back to the troubleshooting today. Compression test on all cylinders again, 150+- 3 psi on all cylinders, which is great since it went up from 125 to 130 before the ring seating. Checked for spark, got that, checked fuel injector signal again since I figures those connectors were the issue again. Sure as shit..... i got the new connectors in today which was great, so I took the time to splice those connectors in tonight. I also adjusted up the fuel pressure regulator to run at 49 psi. Fired up the jeep and she ran strong again!!! Need to tone down the fuel pressure though, afr was at 10.9 for the short duration it was running. But im getting there now! I'll have it dialed in in short order now.

 

[quicksilver]

Got out over the weekend and had a chance to run the jerp around a little bit, this thing runs like a top now. Afrs are good while making passes at different throttle openings, lots of torque at the low end. Pulling steeper hills in second gear at low speed are no problem now, still running 3.55 gears and fully locked, so theres a lot of drag and weight to push with all thats been done to this jeep. I have some videos to post, ill get to those later on, since I believe i have to load em up to youtube....

Enjoy the poser picks, lol.

 

[Gluckmysock]

Awe yeah buddy!

 

[quicksilver]

Almost 500 miles on the new engine and shes running pretty strong. I couldn't be happier. Still waiting for the hood I ordered back in October, it seems that the company that makes rhen is going under, but supposed to finish any open orders. Havent heard anything since Nov 20th, which wasn't much anyway. Currently trying to get my money back from then since I used PayPal, which I've heard they're good about that. Once this gets resolved, I guess I'll be ordering through the one company I found down in Florida.

 

[quicksilver]

I'd also like to mention that I got my jeep into a snow covered parking lot, we got a half foot of heavy snow here, so I could drive it and see how it handles with front and rear lockers. Boy did I get a lot of oversteer in 2wd, even 4wd was bad unless I feathered the throttle in a turn.

I think it may be fun to drive on some snowy roads, but I'd like anyone's input with tips and pitfalls to look out for while driving under snowy conditions With auto lockers.

 

[quicksilver]

Tonight I ordered one of those teraflex hand control throttles. I have been thinking about one for my xj for a long while, just never got around to looking into the topic til now. It will be much nicer when wheeling on the rocks to have hand control while I use my two feet for brake and clutch control. Also, it will be nice for when I air down and air back up, having the capability to lock the throttle at a higher speed to keep the oba system pumping that air out quick.

 

[quicksilver]

I took some time today and installed the hand throttle. I'm happy with how it works, the throttle body springs it back closed after you let off, and you can adjust the tension on the handle to keep it locked at a certain rpm. One thing I did notice is that the cable either stretched, or seat itself better in the jacket. Going with the latter, but now the setup isn't tight like I first had it.

I also went to the freights today and picked up some goodies

Had a gift card and the 25% off coupon knocked $30 off the synthetic line, so not a bad deal, had to get rid of the crappy steel cable that was all kinked up. Had to get a little creative with mounting it though since the synthetic won't fit in the steel cable stock location.

The hole for the steel is just enough to get that in there and hold it down with the plug, the synthetic is about 9/16", not gona fit in that 3/8 hole and it also has a spliced eye on the end, I didnt want to have to cut it off to make things work. So I dug through some hardware, found a small carriage bolt, large flat washers and a nut and popped the drum apart to make this photo above happen. There were already holes in the side of the drum, though not a whole lota clearance behind it against the clutch side. The combination I found worked at least.

I got to work on getting the line reeled up under tension, put three wraps on the drum by hand to begin with, then went ahead and applied the ebrake and began to pull in the line.. i used hand throttle to pit rpms at 2000, could def hear the system dragging with the winch going. Took 6 minutes 38 seconds to reel up 80 ft of line under some light load. Some time was added in also to switch from remote to wired controller, it didnt want to cooperate right off the rip. I'll chock it up to bad connection at winch controller since when I plugged the wireless controller back in it worked.

Then I really got to test it out since I decided to run the jeep up an icy slope, probably 45° at least, got myself jammed up and had to winch forward. Wireless controller worked like a charm as well as the synthetic line held well.

I'm happy all in all with what I've bought and how well the rig performs. Now I have 80' of line that won't kill me if it decides to break, its less susceptible to kinks and getting all wadded up, and the steel was only 65'.

 

[4.3L XJ]

Very nice

 

[quicksilver]

Ordered my e brake cable this morning, and according to rock auto it should be here Thursday morning. As per my other thread regarding the weak leaf springs, I'll get to work replacing those this weekend, long as the weathers decent, and replace the broken cable as well.

The e brake must have seized up a few weeks back when I was taking my jeep through mud and water in some fields, then the weather got cold. Pulled it one day and felt something give sharply, but it still worked. When working on adjusting my brakes the other day I noticed the cable had a few broken strands, so I figured it wouldn't be long for this world. Well, yesterday when testing the winch out and finishing up with spooling it up, the cable finally gave with one sharp pull of the handle. Oh well, a little more work but it won't be too bad since I just had everything apart. One of these days I'll just install line locks all around and use them in conjunction with the e brake.

 

[XJSuperman]

Wow, making more progress I see. That harbor freight hook gives me the willys, I don't think I would want to risk that one, just my opinion. Hopefully you get a hood soon! I hate dealing with companies that don't deliver on orders. I had a friend with a hand throttle in a TJ that was fun to drive with. Kinda weird running down the road using it, felt like I had nothing to do with my feet lol. Im trying to convince another buddy he needs one in his CJ.

As for the lockers in the snow, my Spartan likes to lock from time to time but being aware of it is the biggest step in driving with it. My front is the Eaton wormdrive and its smooth as butter, don't even know its there, no matter the road conditions.

 

[quicksilver]

I honestly think its been so long since I posted in here until recently, that I forgot to tell you guys about some of the stuff I have gathered up. Let's see if I have photos at all.....

Well, I guess I dont. Anyway, I was able to pick up a set of 95 era f350 axles, so I have a d60 hp front and sterling 10.25 rear. They are some stout mamajamas, theres no denying that. I ended up ordering parts from a site located in Michigan, I got the master rebuild kit, some USA standard 5.38 gears, and yukon zip lockers. Im fairly certain that the UPS guy hated my guts when he had to drop the order off. Even with having 5.38s, the pinion is still very stout, I've seen the pinion for a d35 in 4.88, and this makes that looking a toothpick in comparison.

Granted I've had this stuff for a couple years now, I've been trying to build other stuff prior to doing prior to building these axles. Then moving didnt help the cause since I have no garage now, but that seems like it'll change in short order.

Plans are once I have an enclosure, to tear down these axles, clean em up good, get some steel and weld up some trusses and set the gears up. Ive been building up my collection of tools, some bought, some home made, just to make the whole process easier. I'm undecided on whether to run coil springs or take a stab at coilovers, the rear is going to get 4 linked, so I'm thinking the compact packaging of CO is highly appealing.

With the gear ratio that I have for these axles, I'm thinking that I'll end up running a 38" or 39" tire, dont wanna go too large or too high with lift. Im liking the height I sit at now, so with a bunch of fender well trimming, I think I'll be fine with the size tire I want to run. Some stretching will be in order too, I really hate when I come off a ledge and my rear bumper smacks rocks, you can hear the sheet metal crinkle, lol, done that a few times.