Got the engine mounts done this past weekend.

Driver's side:


Passenger side:


Overall:


Hood closed:


Currently I'm about 1cm away from the axle with the oil pan, so I'll likely clearance the pan a little, and eventually put a lift kit in the jeep to really get away from the oil pan.

At the top of the engine, the thermostat housing on this engine is gracefully touching the framework of the hood, so I'll clearance that a little with a few love taps from a hammer. Another problem was the cap on the power steering pump was also gracefully touching the hood, so I'll twist the power steering pump a couple degrees just to clear the hood better. Both items touching the hood are BARELY doing so, and the hood closes no problem.

The transmission mount was a stock XJ 5-speed trans mount that I got from a fellow member here (thanks Thexjfiles!!!), so that saved a lot of trouble in locating things. With the stock tranny mount, the stick shift lever and driveshafts should fit much better.

Other than that, it's nice to push the Jeep out of the garage for the first time in a while, but I wouldn't want to drive it currently with how close I am to the axle and oil pan (anyone wanna donate a 3" lift kit? )

 

I am subscribed

 

Toss a $50 spacer up front and start her up

 

Someone give this man spacers!

Must hear run...

 

Love to see this swap actually happening. So many people talk about it on this forum, but never follow through.

 

I don't mean to be a pain in the ***, and you've probably realised this by now, but the gauge cluster you posted a picture of isn't actually from an XJ.

I'm not sure what it's off, but I'm in the UK, and diesel XJs here have identical gauges to 4.0 ones, except the red bars on the tacho extend to 4000 rpm instead of 5000 rpm and they say "Diesel fuel only".

Also, in the blank panel to one side of the gauge cluster they have some little lights.

If you need to find any parts for a diesel, try ebay.co.uk for eBay UK, and see if you can get anyone to ship the stuff over to you!

 

Yeah, the gauge cluster was wrong.

 

I'm 99% sure that those gauges aren't from a Cherokee, as the pre-97 ones look like this http://i1119.photobucket.com/albums/...6-31-06_12.jpg

Not that it actually matters now that you've sorted it out, I just found it strange.

Anyway, I really like your Jeep and what you've done to it!

Out of interest, how hard is it to find places to fill up with diesel in the states??

 

Turns out the guage cluster came from an Opel or something stupid... So, that won't work. No biggy... Just kinda lame. The guy that I had ship it to me had some shop ship it to him, and they sent the wrong vehicle to him. So, I have these parts, and not going to ship them back to the UK because it's expensive, and won't probably deal with getting actually Jeep XJ parts for a while, because again, it was expensive...

Diesel is super easy to find at stations. Almost all stations have it, but don't advertise the price on the sign... But it's there usually.

At the moment, been collecting parts (driveshafts, lift kit, blah blah). After moving from one house to another, things slowed down. The new garage is bigger, but un-insulated, so with well-below freezing temps here, the garage isn't fun to be in. So, collecting parts keeps me out of the garage, prepping for warmer temps. I'm getting super anxious to work on it though.

At the moment, I've been researching what to do about vacuum, at the brakes and at the heater and cruise control. I have a Ford Superduty electric vacuum pump, so I'll try to get a resevoir for it, and a pressure switch, and run vacuum that way... Hopefully it works. If anyone has any ideas on vacuum systems, please let me know.

 

It's beginning to sorta warm up in MN (6" of snow expected this Friday again though), so i got out to the unheated garage and started putting the budget boost in the XJ. Almost done with the rear, then I'll move to the front. Good to have progress again, was getting cabin fever this winter... I'll get some pics of the lift in it once i'ts done.

Next year, totally hoping to have heat in the garage...

 

Damn makes me want to stick a 4bt in my rig !

 

I'm using a 2.3L 4AT, not the 3.9L 4BT

Not sure a 4BT would fit in an XJ...

 

Finished the lift kit (3" full add-a-leaf in rear, 2" spacers in front). Then put the MTRs on, with the black wheels from a Grand Cherokee. Looks pretty good at this height, with black wheels and such:


Removed some wiring for the fuel injection stuff that is no longer needed. It's likely that the ECM will be pissed off, but I'll be happy with diesel under the hood:


Began to flip the turbo on the engine around.

Here is before being flipped:


Here's after the flip (still a work in progress):


The turbo is lower, but more specifically, the exhaust now points to the rear (instead of forwards), and the intake points forwards (instead of backwards). Should make exhaust and intake plumbing look cleaner. Will finish plumbing it in soon.

I also did some work with the center console, switching from automatic trans to manual trans lever and such. Looks good, and OEM.

Also have an electric vacuum pump from a VW, which will supply vacuum for power brakes and such.

 

Very nice.

 

Subscribed! Did you get it started yet? I know nothing has been posted in a couple months, but...